LGBT librarians and the LGBT community are not responsible for making excellent library services happen. It is the responsibility of all of us who hold strong the values of librarianship: access, equity, intellectual freedom, and diversity. LGBT patrons and their allies want their privacy protected from prying eyes (which libraries already do well); the ability … Continue reading Serving Everyone
The poor and deteriorating state of library ebook lending in 2011 catalyzed this initiative. Waiting for publishers to take different actions would have likely worsened the conditions for libraries. A proactive policy stance must become the library community’s mainstream way of thinking and operating. This is true for ebooks and large publishers, but also more … Continue reading A Policy Revolution for Digital Content
At the same time, ALA and libraries have been exploring additional options for empowering our users to discover and publish digital content, considering privacy and preservation concerns, and expanding the lens of focus to other forms of digital content. The most recent round of John S. and James L. Knight Foundation challenge grants intersects in … Continue reading Empowering Libraries to Innovate
The transformation of enthusiasm into expertise on the ways that audiobooks cultivate young people’s literacy skills is of keen interest to Sharon Grover. Grover, head of youth services at Hedberg Public Library in Janesville, Wisconsin, says audiobooks can help children and teens build and sustain vocabulary. Grover notes that this is especially important during summer … Continue reading All Ears This Summer
Noticing this, a librarian calls up some local merchants and tells them that Alice might be pregnant. When Alice visits her local bookstore, the staff has some great suggestions about newborn care for her. The local drugstore sends her coupons for scent-free skin lotion. She reads What to Expect When You’re Expecting at the library, … Continue reading Toward the Post-Privacy Library?
It is easier to leave a project behind when you know there are people equipped and committed to supporting it. I’ve heard horror stories about libraries that have not been able to maintain technologies—from blogs and Facebook pages to mission-critical, homegrown software—after an employee left. It’s challenging to think of leaving as part of project … Continue reading Future-Proof Your Project
In each of these situations, staffers work to solve local needs for their institutions’ communities and constituencies. These professionals are also contributing directly to regional and national efforts. The local work at each of these organizations is making use of and contributing to the national digital platform for libraries and museums. The national digital platform … Continue reading The National Digital Platform for Libraries and Museums
The good news for libraries is that investment in drivers of inclusive growth—public services such as schools, libraries, and telecommunications infrastructure—represents a critically important risk mitigation strategy. Education and knowledge are essential to successful communities, organizations, and economies, and they represent the future for the information profession if, of course, library professionals keep pace with … Continue reading Transforming the Library Profession
Then, before reading, what if users had to navigate a complex registration process that could take well over an hour and create user accounts with the for-profit providers, who then try to sell them books while they browse for something to borrow? While some libraries have outsourced library services to private contractors, this approach has … Continue reading Click, Click, Read
When collection budgets are squeezed and shelf space is at a premium, digital collection assets can shine … assuming they’re available and affordable. Librarian Jessamyn West wrote at librarian.net in a 2012 article “Let’s Be Honest about the Ebook Situation” that several large publishers, including Macmillan, Simon & Schuster, and Hachette Book Group, refused to sell … Continue reading Building Out the Book Niches
Publishers put forward new, innovative business models; platform providers responded by enhancing their services; and librarians waited patiently (or sometimes not) for access to titles while their patrons did the same. It all worked out more or less the way these things should. The commercial market adjusted to digital disruption and did so because all … Continue reading Digital Library 2.0: Continued Expansion of the Universe
Paul Sawyier Public Library implemented a biometric identification system in October 2008. Since then, patrons who sign up for a library card have the option to enroll in the finger identification system, which is required only when using the public computers and the media box located in the lobby. To check out materials or log … Continue reading Biometric Access
