All posts by George Eberhart

Newsmaker: Emma Boettcher

June 11, 2019 George Eberhart

When did you first try out for Jeopardy? I first auditioned for the show when I was just about to graduate from high school. At the time, I was trying to get on the show’s College Championship. (I could audition for that as a high school student because the tournament would tape and air when … Continue reading Newsmaker: Emma Boettcher →

Spotlight, Trends

A Sensory Wonderland

June 3, 2019 George Eberhart

Louisville (Ohio) Public Library opened an innovative Sensory Space in August 2018 with the help of a $50,000 Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) grant. It offers teen sensory relaxation sessions, adult sensory exploration, sensory storytimes, and other activities for patrons on the autism spectrum. Louisville is one of the first public libraries to offer … Continue reading A Sensory Wonderland →

Bookend, Features

Bookend: Finding Flora and Fauna

June 3, 2019 George Eberhart

Martin R. Kalfatovic, BHL’s program director, estimates that its 20 member libraries and 22 affiliates have scanned upwards of 147,000 titles, ranging from the 15th century to the present, with information on more than 180 million species. “Though most of them are scientists,” he says, “about 72% of our users are also interested in the … Continue reading Bookend: Finding Flora and Fauna →

Columns, Dispatches from the Field

Online Learning Is Here to Stay

June 3, 2019 George Eberhart

Whether we laud its growth or fear its presence, online learning is here to stay. The Babson Survey Research Group, in its 2018 report, found that enrollment for distance education students has steadily increased for the past 14 years, with nearly 69% of all distance education students now enrolled in public institutions. Distance or online … Continue reading Online Learning Is Here to Stay →

Columns, On My Mind

Trends in Accreditation

May 20, 2019 George Eberhart

The 2010 ALA-COA Memorandum of Understanding is clear on that. It makes no mention of preparing students for other professions or for alternative information careers outside librarianship. Nor is there mention of “information science” or any of the other pursuits often included under the umbrella term the information professions. However, including the term information studies … Continue reading Trends in Accreditation →

Columns, Dispatches from the Field

Digital Badges

May 1, 2019 George Eberhart

In education Digital badges encourage students to cultivate and showcase granular skills beyond their report cards and prepare them for the workplace. In Teaching with Digital Badges: Best Practices for Libraries (Rowman and Littlefield, 2018), contributing author Amanda Rose Fuller details a workforce-readiness digital badge initiative developed at Aurora (Colo.) Public Schools. This program, designed … Continue reading Digital Badges →

Features

A New Digital Strategy for America’s Library

March 1, 2019 George Eberhart

“What you’re doing in helping us transcribe these letters is bringing to life the letters and the thoughts of people from decades and centuries ago,” Hayden said at the event. Letters to Lincoln is just one of the many projects launched or under development as part of LC’s new five-year digital strategy announced October 1. … Continue reading A New Digital Strategy for America’s Library →

Columns, Dispatches from the Field

AI and Machine Learning

March 1, 2019 George Eberhart

For example, Google’s Android operating system records, measures, and collects information and sends that data to servers. These servers use billions of data points collected from tens of millions of users as input for their machine learning systems. When you ask an Android phone to show you pictures from the beach, a complex set of … Continue reading AI and Machine Learning →

Columns, Dispatches from the Field

Discovery Services

January 2, 2019 George Eberhart

An academic library can assemble several combinations of products, depending on the ways in which it organizes its website and discovery environment and the types of resource management systems it has in place. One critical debate has recently emerged: Should discovery services be bundled or acquired à la carte? Perspectives differ regarding the benefits of … Continue reading Discovery Services →

Dr. Dave demonstrates Bernoulli’s principle with a leaf blower and toilet paper at Ohio State University’s Whiz Bang Science Café at Worthington Libraries. Photo: Worthington (Ohio) Libraries

Trends

Excited about Science

November 1, 2018 George Eberhart

The library furnished students with kits that they used to gather soil samples around campus, which were then returned to NCSU’s biotechnology lab for extracting DNA to locate the “gold-pooping gene,” as Lewis calls it. They then took the samples with the most Delftia and sequenced a portion of the gold genes at the Genomic Sciences Laboratory. With … Continue reading Excited about Science →

Columns, Dispatches from the Field

Making Library Videos

November 1, 2018 George Eberhart

Video marketing popularity has surged. According to Cisco, video comprised 73% of global IP traffic in 2016, and by 2021 it is expected to increase to 82%. Your patrons are already consuming videos, so it makes sense for your library to create video content for them. Making videos can be an effective way to share … Continue reading Making Library Videos →

Latest Library Links

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Clare Starkey, Haley Lykins, and Kelli Hansen write: “In the spring of 2024, Special Collections at the University of Missouri [in Columbia] hosted a series of field trips for every sixth grader in the local public school district, more than 1,300 students. This workshop gave students a chance to experience ancient writing technologies from across Africa and Asia while interacting with primary sources, to complement the school curriculum on ancient Mesopotamia, Egypt, India, and China. This post will cover the advantages and pitfalls of hands-on teaching on a large scale, and strategies to make the most of a shoestring budget and a small staff.”

TPS Collective, Jan. 2
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Bianca Schweighofer and Julia Bartlewski write: “The transition to open access has increased the visibility of scholarly work, but understanding and managing publication costs remains complex. Shifting from subscription-based to fee-based or institution-financed models fundamentally changes processes, financial flows, and the roles of stakeholders. Additionally, the lack of cost transparency from publishers poses significant challenges for institutions and researchers, who often face hidden or unclear fees, making budgeting and financial planning more complicated. Our project, openCost, addresses this issue head-on.”

Katina, Dec. 18
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Elizabeth Kaye Cook and Melanie Jennings write: “Literary fiction is dead. Or, so we’ve been told. It’s convenient to assume that readers are to blame for killing literary fiction. But what has actually occurred is death by committee. Mirroring many other American industries, publishing has followed the path of consolidation, starting when Random House bought Knopf in 1960. The result is a monopsony, a market dominated by only a few buyers. Publishing houses used to have blood feuds, much to the benefit of literature writ large. But monopolies are always sedate, always predictable.”

Persuasion, Dec. 19
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Becky Spratford writes: “I have a goal I think all of us need to consider adding to our 2025 to-do lists. We are terrible at communicating what we do and why we are important. People outside the library world do not understand how important our work is. I want you to start speaking out about how great we are before people try to attack you. I want you to do it in 2025 but then keep doing it, on a regular basis going forward.”

RA for All, Dec. 23
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Annmarie Timmins writes: “Gov. Chris Sununu withdrew his choice for state librarian over concerns about the nominee’s public opposition to book censorship. In arguing against library restrictions, nominee Mindy Atwood was advocating a mainstream position held by many in her field, including the New Hampshire Library Association and American Library Association. The governor’s reversal demonstrates just how perilously divisive that stance has become for some conservative and religious groups. [Incoming Governor] Kelly Ayotte is likely to face similar pressures to choose someone who can earn the support of the Republican-led Executive Council.”

New Hampshire Public Radio, Dec. 17
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Robin Camille Davis writes: “So you want to hear from real people who use your library! There are many user research methods to choose from. Interviews let you get at the why and the how, not just the what. You could easily use surveys to ask a large number of your users which library services they use. But only an interview can tell you why your patrons seem to use virtual references services often but never the in-person information desk.”

Choice 360 LibTech Insights, Jan. 6
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Katherine Knox writes: “Linked data is a system of organizing information with the goal of making it easier to share and find new information, something which is very appealing to libraries. But methodologies for cataloging library materials are very slow to change. Converting libraries to a linked data system is complicated. Catalogers typically don’t have the capacity, authority, or software to test out new cataloging methods. Not all integrated library service discovery platforms used by public libraries have incorporated linked data into their search results. Nevertheless, libraries around the world are converting to linked data, especially archival repositories.”

Public Libraries Online, Jan. 6

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