Author Archive: Carrie Smith

In the plenary session, Sarah Burnes, Jennifer Brier, Nell Taylor, and Luis Herrera discuss how archives are put together.

DPLAfest: Inclusion, Community, and Outreach

By Carrie Smith | April 25, 2017

In the same rooms where the final planning sessions establishing the DPLA were held five years ago, Executive Director Dan Cohen announced that the archive now held more than 16 million items from 2,350 member institutions and is on track to have hubs in all 50 states. The Open eBooks program, launched in 2016 to provide free access … Continue reading DPLAfest: Inclusion, Community, and Outreach →

Crowley Imaging Services’s new 100MP digital back camera system

Saving Your Media

By Carrie Smith | March 1, 2017

Document capture at Crowley Imaging Services The Crowley Company has been providing micrographic and digital archiving services for more than 30 years. Crowley Imaging Services uses equipment from its own manufacturing arm and other vendors to offer services to libraries and archives that don’t have an in-house digitization department. The company recently purchased two Phase One IQ3 … Continue reading Saving Your Media →

By the Numbers: Atlanta

4 Number of names the city went through—Terminus, Thrasherville, Marthasville, Atlantica-Pacifica—before being incorporated as Atlanta in 1847. 1905 Year that the Southern Library School, later renamed the Carnegie Library School of Atlanta, opened. Considered the first library school in the South, it was located at Emory University from 1930 until its closing in 1988. 1959 … Continue reading By the Numbers: Atlanta →

Improving Library Websites

By Carrie Smith | January 3, 2017

Syndetics Unbound Syndetic Solutions and LibraryThing for Libraries were designed to make online library catalogs more informational and interactive. ProQuest has now combined these two services into Syndetics Unbound, which provides 16 different catalog enrichment elements in one service. Many of the features will be familiar to those who are used to shopping for books … Continue reading Improving Library Websites →

Hoopla’s catalog includes more than 500,000 items and is accessible by mobile app.

Online Streaming Options

By Carrie Smith | November 1, 2016

Hoopla Hoopla, launched in 2013 by Midwest Tape, provides single-platform access to most major types of digital holdings: audiobooks, ebooks, video, and music. Patrons can access content either by streaming it from the Hoopla website or by using the mobile app, which allows both streaming and temporary downloads for offline access. Items are automatically removed … Continue reading Online Streaming Options →

Latest Library Links

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K.A. Holt writes: “As a young person I struggled to find any kind of personal representation. I read voraciously, not realizing I was searching for visibility, for recognition, for relevance. When I was unable to find any relevant reflections, I began to morph into who I thought I should be; who I thought would find acceptance and relevance. I stayed cloaked in this carefully constructed camouflage until [one art history professor interrupted me as I parroted] an Old Dude’s Accepted Opinion. No. I want you to tell me how this piece makes YOU feel, not how someone else has told you to feel about it.”

Knowledge Quest, Feb. 14
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Daniel G. Tracy, Elizabeth A. Budd, and Thomas H. Teper write: “With increasing requirements for open access (OA) by funders, academic libraries have begun piloting so-called ‘transformative agreements’ with publishers. This study documents the broad success of two transformative agreement pilots at a large research university and argues that the growth of such agreements could help transition a broad proportion of research to OA at the university and within the consortium. The success of these agreements was true across disciplines and stages of career seniority.”

Library Resources and Technical Services, Jan.
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Ann Schimke writes: “Elizabeth (Colo.) School District officials say they have returned to school libraries 19 books they removed last fall. But most students won’t be able to read or check out the books, which include The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison and The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini. That’s because the district decided to make the returned books available only to a small number of people: Specifically, plaintiffs in a recent lawsuit against the district over the book removals. Those allowed access to the books include two district students, and members of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and their children.”

Chalkbeat Colorado, Feb. 12; Dec. 19, 2024
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The US Department of Defense Education Activity (DoDEA) announced on February 7 that it would remove and review “books potentially related to gender ideology or discriminatory equity ideology topics” in DoD schools, and suppress programs, activities and holidays related to those topics. Additionally, ALA has received confidential reports that library workers on military installations are being forced to remove books from shelves, take down displays about Black History Month and cancel cultural events. Among the books removed from DoD schools is Freckleface Strawberry, a picture book by actor Julianne Moore about a girl who dislikes her freckles.

ALA Public Policy and Advocacy Office and American Association of School Librarians, Feb. 14; Stars and Stripes, Feb. 7; Variety, Feb. 16
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Megan Bennett writes: “Growing up in remote, rural areas, singer-songwriter Neko Case found that her love of reading provided an escape. In her memoir, The Harder I Fight the More I Love You (Hachette, January), she recalls repeatedly flipping through the same October 1972 issue of Mad magazine, poring over her stepdad’s collection of archaeology books, and forcing herself to finish David Copperfield. American Libraries spoke with Case about writing her first book and the role libraries have played in her life.”

American Libraries Trend, Jan./Feb.
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Megan Bennett writes: “Theater for young audiences may not receive the same recognition as productions by Shakespeare or Tennessee Williams, but it deserves its time in the spotlight, says Caelin Ross, performing arts librarian at Arizona State University (ASU) Library in Tempe. Ross oversees ASU’s Theatre for Youth and Community Collection. The collection, which Ross estimates to be approximately 5,000 linear feet, holds research materials like curricula and books, as well as scripts, production design samples, sketches, and costumes.”

American Libraries column, Jan./Feb.
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“2025 has started off with a great deal of instability to federal programs, funding, and governance. During such times as the 2025 Federal Shift, it is the role of a governing board to assess factors that could risk the achievement of an institution’s mission and develop plans to address them. While confronting risk can be intimidating, it can also be empowering. And while not every risk can be avoided, risks can often be mitigated. Now is a good time to inventory newly emerging risks and develop a response plan.”

Western New York Library Resources Council, Feb. 4

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