Each year, ALA Annual Conference hovers like a beautiful and tempting hot air balloon, ready to take us off on an amazing ride, filled with excitement, ideas, and a chance to see old friends and meet new ones. I observed ALA Council sessions this year, met with advertisers, and perused new products in the Exhibit … Continue reading Moving Along
Whether we are going back to school or not, most of us sense new beginnings in the air. And whether we are in a school library or not, we are all part of the educational process. Literacy and learning start before school. Every Child Ready for School: Helping Adults Inspire Young Children to Learn is … Continue reading Back to School
It’s the time of year when all of us connected to the publishing world begin speculating about the season’s big books. The major book shows—BookExpo America in May and ALA Annual Conference in June—have come and gone, leaving dozens of potential big books in their wakes. Now comes the predicting, the opinion swapping, and, one … Continue reading Marisha Pessl’s Night Film Leaves a Lasting Impression
We like to think we’re done when we graduate from library school, MLIS in hand. But then we meet the real world and a whole new set of questions and challenges: How, specifically, does your first employer’s library really approach customer service? How does it implement new technology? And a little further down the career … Continue reading Keeping Up with Continuing Education
Each year, I spend a good deal of time speaking to various groups about libraries and the Association. Often, I talk about library myths. One of the most widespread and persistent myths is that younger people are not joining the Association. Data, however, shows that this is just not true. In a 2009 study conducted … Continue reading Who We Are
More than 260 librarians and almost 800 library technicians who work for the Department of Defense (DOD) are being furloughed 11 days, one day per week from July 8 to September 27, due to sequestration. While this is a personal financial hardship, we are also concerned about having to cut library services for our patrons: … Continue reading Under Sequester
School librarians across the country participate in an annual ritual to mark the end of the academic year. They diligently distribute summer reading lists and encourage students to participate in their public library’s summer reading programs.This ritual is not without scholarly support. A 2010 Dominican University study, Public Library Summer Reading Programs Close the Reading … Continue reading Ramping Up Summer Reading
As a child, I dreamed of changing the world. And then I encountered Mahatma Gandhi’s philosophy: “You must be the change you want to see in the world.” I realized that dreams become reality only when we take action. So I embarked on a lifelong path to “being” the change through librarianship. I am deeply … Continue reading Libraries Change Lives
I have no beef against dogs, but I’m not a fan of dog books: too smarmy (especially when the damn dogs talk) and way too heartbreaking when the damn dogs die. That all changes, however, when it’s E. B. White writing about dogs. Or anything else, for that matter. I love his children’s books, of … Continue reading The Grief and Joy of Man’s Best Friend
It’s probably no surprise to you that sometimes library staffers prefer to work with one age group over another. Children’s services staff members may love working with kids but may not be so crazy about working with teens or adults; young adult staffers may be wild about teenagers, but preschoolers and adults may be another … Continue reading The Whole Library Approach
When librarians first began offering chat reference, most envisioned it as a medium to answer quick and simple questions. Involved research questions were best answered in person. Somehow, our patrons didn’t get the memo on this, and many chat interactions are just as involved as face-to-face reference sessions. What complicates these chat-based interactions is that … Continue reading Need Help? Join.me Online
Dealing with business models and understanding the multitude of pricing options available is the most complicated—and controversial—part of ebook acquisition. It requires a constant monitoring of policies and business practices that continually change because of industry mergers and technological advances that enable companies to frequently upgrade their purchasing plans. Pricing options are usually not explained … Continue reading Ebook Business Models
