All posts by George Eberhart

Flooded stacks of the Port Arthur (Tex.) Public Library. Photo: Port Arthur (Tex.) Public Library

Trends

Hurricanes Harvey and Irma

November 1, 2017 George Eberhart

Depending on their location, some libraries sustained significant damage from the ensuing flood waters, while others escaped with only a little cleanup required. The flood also affected many librarians and other library workers due to the damage to their homes. Public libraries Houston Public Library reopened 18 of its 42 locations on September 5, according … Continue reading Hurricanes Harvey and Irma →

Columns, Dispatches from the Field

Open Source Software

November 1, 2017 George Eberhart

Integrated library systems (ILS), as well as the new genre of library services platforms, are offered to libraries primarily as proprietary products controlled by a single vendor. Libraries that use these products remain dependent on that vendor for ongoing software development, solutions to systemic problems, and service enhancements. While proprietary software remains the dominant approach, … Continue reading Open Source Software →

Features, Newsmaker

Newsmaker: Margarita Engle

September 1, 2017 George Eberhart 1 Comment

A Cuban-American, Engle is the first person of Latino descent to receive the honor. She was also the first Latina to be awarded a Newbery Honor in 2009 for The Surrender Tree: Poems of Cuba’s Struggle for Freedom. What poets have had an influence on your writing? This is such a challenging question, because I … Continue reading Newsmaker: Margarita Engle →

Columns, Dispatches from the Field

3D: A Status Report

September 1, 2017 George Eberhart

One thing that has helped the 3D printing business take off is the availability of freely shareable models for just about anything. The most popular online library of 3D models is Thingiverse, a free resource owned by MakerBot Industries. Thingiverse allows anyone who has created a model to upload it to the website and make … Continue reading 3D: A Status Report →

Google promoted its “Libraries Ready to Code” joint initiative with ALA.

Features

Tech Power

July 19, 2017 George Eberhart

I probably spend more time in the exhibit hall than most conference attendees—you may have seen me browsing the aisles or rushing to my next appointment. The meetings I have with company executives and product experts inform much of my research and writing for months to come as a chronicler of the library technology industry. … Continue reading Tech Power →

Clippings from The Greenville News and The Piedmont

Features

Desegregating Libraries in the American South

June 1, 2017 George Eberhart 10 Comments

It’s long past time that library organizations and individual libraries do something to recognize the black kids—many of them still alive like Joan Mattison Daniel—who risked their lives at this critical time. Here are some of their stories. The Tougaloo Nine At 11 a.m. on March 27, 1961, nine students from the historically black Tougaloo … Continue reading Desegregating Libraries in the American South →

An officer escorts five men from the Alexandria (Va.) Library in August 1939. They were arrested and charged with disorderly conduct.

Features

“I Always Will Refuse”

June 1, 2017 George Eberhart

August 21, 1939. Five African-American men—William “Buddy” Evans, Edward Gaddis, Morris L. Murray, Clarence “Buck” Strange, and Otis Lee Tucker—walk into the whites-only Alexandria (Va.) Library (now the Barrett branch library). Strange’s younger brother Bobby, 14, serves as lookout and courier. The men, who range in age from 18 to 22, ask for library cards … Continue reading “I Always Will Refuse” →

A young Jesse Jackson (center) was one of the Greenville (S.C.) Eight in 1960. Joan Mattison Daniel is third from the right.

Features

The Greenville Eight

June 1, 2017 George Eberhart

Another of the students was Joan Mattison Daniel, a then-18-year-old freshman at Morris Brown College in Atlanta, who recently told American Libraries that “Jesse Jackson was responsible for our getting together to stage the sit-in. He had come home in January and needed a book to write a paper. The book was not at the … Continue reading The Greenville Eight →

Columns, Dispatches from the Field

From Theory to Practice

June 1, 2017 George Eberhart

The term “quantitative analysis” can seem daunting. But like many other professionals, I developed research skills on the job and jumped at any opportunity to learn about quantitative methods. One of the challenges I faced was how to make sense of data sources and use them in ways that support effective decision making. Over a … Continue reading From Theory to Practice →

Columns, Dispatches from the Field

Design and Conquer

May 1, 2017 George Eberhart

Be clear and concise. Ensure that the data you are illustrating is comprehensive and accurate. The goal is to convey the greatest number of ideas in the smallest amount of space in the shortest number of words. A good resource to review for inspiration is The Visual Display of Quantitative Information by Edward R. Tufte. … Continue reading Design and Conquer →

The mock-up for the "Greetings from Williams Field, Arizona" postcard used source materials from photographs, including the man in the first "I" and the planes that fly across the top. The text was hand-lettered. The final product was printed in 1943.

Features

Greetings from the Newberry Library

April 17, 2017 George Eberhart 1 Comment

For the first five days of her first job out of college, as an intern for the Lake County Discovery Museum in Wauconda, Illinois, Hamilton-Smith oversaw the transfer and preservation of about 2.5 million postcards and related materials. Each item held a different degree of historical significance, none of them were cataloged, and all were … Continue reading Greetings from the Newberry Library →

Mary Miller assists with the rehousing of the Orange County (Fla.) Regional History Center media collection during the inaugural Preservation in Action (PIA) service project at the 2016 ALA Annual Conference. She is helping to preserve a film about the underwater "mermaid" performers at Weeki Wachee Springs, Florida. Photo: Jessica Bitely

Features

Saving At-Risk Audiovisual Materials

March 1, 2017 George Eberhart

Libraries have been collecting audio and video for many years, and audiovisual librarians well know the value of voices and moving images. Within the profession itself, Technical Services Manager A. Arro Smith—author of Capturing Our Stories: An Oral History of Librarianship in Transition (ALA Editions, 2017)—has been chronicling the oral histories of retired librarians on … Continue reading Saving At-Risk Audiovisual Materials →

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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