In Stevens County, Washington, public libraries are a fairly new concept. Residents voted to form a library district in 1996, transforming a hodgepodge of donation-based collections run by volunteers into a modern system. Over the past decade library staff have worked hard—not only at providing service but also on shaping perceptions of what exactly a … Continue reading Transforming a Hodgepodge
Growing up, my athletic prowess was legendary. Strong, graceful, fleet of foot, gifted in multiple sporting endeavors, and a role model to friends and rivals alike. I was also, coincidentally, third in line for the throne of France. Seriously, I stank. I was a dork and physically untalented, didn’t care and hated it; gym class … Continue reading As the Web Fades Away
I’ve spoken to library staff from libraries all over North America and have heard countless stories about innovative new services that failed. I always ask people why they think the initiative didn’t work at their library and the answer has always been about the culture—whether it was because of controlling IT staff, managers who wouldn’t … Continue reading Nurturing Innovation
When she was researching her first book, The Dead Beat: Lost Souls, Lucky Stiffs, and the Perverse Pleasures of Obituaries (2006), Marilyn Johnson decided that “the most engaging obit subjects were librarians,” especially since so many of their obituaries contained some form of the sentence: “Under her watch, the library changed from a collection of … Continue reading Outside In
Once when I was working the reference desk, a seemingly normal community college student (no exposed underwear, multiple tongue piercings, neck tattoos, or a message shaven into his hair) asked why so many Civil War battles were fought in national parks. He wanted information on the subject because he had decided to write a research … Continue reading Why Librarianship Endures
Intellectual freedom is one of our bedrock values, and as the intellectual freedom issues and challenges libraries face are always evolving, so must the profession’s response. The eighth edition of the Intellectual Freedom Manual offers, among other updated material, three “new Interpretations” of the Library Bill of Rights; 10 revised Interpretations; resolutions on the retention … Continue reading New from ALA: September 2010
Have you noticed that we seem to have entered an era of heightened competitiveness? Lots of wagon-circling and turf-protecting. Libraryland as one big happy family aside, shrinking funds are bringing out the tiger in us. For example, the decades-long competition between OCLC and rival library vendors came to a head July 28, when for-profit SkyRiver … Continue reading The Competition Intensifies
Elmore Leonard’s friends call him Dutch. Many of his fans do, too, and while using a nickname presumes a degree of familiarity to which those of us who only know Leonard through his books aren’t entitled, we can’t help ourselves. We feel like we know him. Leonard’s fans tend to stay the course; his 44th … Continue reading Happy Birthday, Dutch
I spend a week in Door County, Wisconsin, every summer and so was interested to open Reading Places: Literacy, Democracy, and the Public Library in Cold War America and find out it is based on events in Door County in the 1950s. A regional library consisting of seven existing libraries and two new bookmobiles was … Continue reading Regional Reading Places
Over the years, librarians and researchers have studied the usage of books, journals, meeting rooms, photocopiers, programs, and just about any other resource or service libraries have chosen to provide. The reasons for doing so are simple: Librarians wish to provide their communities with resources and services of the highest utility, effectively foreseeing which materials … Continue reading Measuring E-Resource Use: Standards and Practice for Counting Remote Users
Last time, I discussed QR codes and how they can link you to content that provides further information about an object. But what if you didn’t have to put barcodes all over everything you wanted people to scan? What if all it took to get that content was to walk up to an item or … Continue reading Your Reality, Augmented
We strive to provide great customer service, yet few of us actually use the “C” word. We have many names—patron, borrower, user, reader—but “customer” remains controversial and typically we avoid it. Not so at Howard County Library, located in the Baltimore suburbs. At HCL, they embrace the term, feeling that it accurately conveys the relationships … Continue reading The Customer’s Always Right
