One of my children received this as a holiday gift: The Student’s Survival Guide to Research, by Monty L. McAdoo. This very readable guide instructs on the methodology of research, from choosing a topic to planning and doing research to producing the final product. McAdoo stresses the iterative nature of the process and introduces related … Continue reading Aiding Student Research
Some aspects of the scholarly cycle have persisted for centuries: Scholars write to one another discussing their work, present findings at departmental colloquia or conferences, publish an article, and when there’s a body of research, revamp it into a book. In Scholarly Communications: A History from Content as King to Content as Kingmaker, John J. … Continue reading Scholarly Communication
Even if we would like, we cannot know every book in our collection; nor is it likely that we will know the reading interests of every patron. How then do we advise those looking for reading suggestions? Crash Course in Readers’ Advisory, by Cynthia Orr, reviews the basics of readers’ advisory services, starting with a … Continue reading Understanding Diversity
The 9th edition of the Intellectual Freedom Manual, edited by Trina Magi with Martin Garnar for the American Library Association’s Office for Intellectual Freedom, has been completely recast from earlier editions. The policies and guidelines; essays on issues, principles, and law; and practical help all remain. Added are information on copyright, tips for responding to … Continue reading Keeping up with continuing education
The Mother of All Booklists: The 500 Most Recommended Nonfiction Reads for Ages 3 to 103, by William Patrick Martin, is basically a crowdsourced book list. The author gathered 155 authoritative and influential lists of award-winning books and recommended reading lists from a spectrum of organizations, including parenting groups, state commissions on libraries, libraries, library … Continue reading A Celebration of Reading
In December 2014, the New Jersey State Library predicted “5 Public Library Marketing Trends to Expect in 2015.” One is “visual storytelling.” We’ve seen the rise of this in social media and online news. Do we even read the story now if there is no accompanying picture? But it is the story that is important. … Continue reading Storytelling for Kids, Teens, and Even Adults
Rare book collections are not just limited to well-known libraries—they may be present in any size or type of library local history collection, or special collection surrounding an event of importance to the larger community. Sidney E. Berger’s Rare Books and Special Collections is a handbook to help an administrator understand the special aspects of … Continue reading The Convergence of LAMs
Technology has been changing libraries for as long as baby boomers have been in the workforce, or longer, if you consider that typewriters supplanted “library hand.” The internet increased the complexity and diversity of this change, enabling librarians—or anyone, really—to access information in more formats and in more ways. Effective use of these new means … Continue reading New Technology; New Skills
The essays in the 2014 edition of Banned Books: Challenging our Freedom to Read, by Robert P. Doyle, outline how case law has extended the protection of the freedoms of speech and press to include freedom of expression of ideas and information. This background reading informs use of the “First Amendment Action Guide,” an advocacy … Continue reading Intellectual Freedom: A Core Tenet
Through her long career, Peggy Johnson, author of Fundamentals of Collection Development and Management, now in its third edition, has been one of many librarians who has taken the profession from book selection and purchasing to collection management by addressing such issues as cooperative collection development, collection analysis, and scholarly communications. Her book’s introduction explains … Continue reading Building the Collection
In Recognizing Public Value, Mark H. Moore, professor at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, uses seven case studies to highlight the problems of recognizing and measuring social value. Publicly supported agencies and institutions gain social value not just for the good they do but because the public has agreed … Continue reading Businesslike Management
In 1887, the Newberry Library in Chicago opened its doors as a public research library, with ALA charter member William Frederick Poole at the helm. The Newberry 125: Stories of Our Collection highlights 125 objects in the collection. The array of objects—from beautiful illuminated medieval manuscript Psalters to Thomas Bewick print blocks to a photograph … Continue reading The More We Change
