During my travels as president-elect, I often spoke about the challenges and opportunities of becoming 21st-century libraries that incorporate new formats, technologies, and ways of learning. By transforming libraries for this new era, we are leaders in a rapidly changing and increasingly global economy that depends on people getting the right information, at the right … Continue reading Advancing Advocacy
The students are skeptical when the librarian says, “I want everyone to take out their cell phones and check to see if you can get reception in the library.” The young scholars hesitantly pull out their mobile devices unsure of what to make of this request. “Your assignment is to charge up your phones for … Continue reading Unquiet Library Has High-Schoolers Geeked
Readers’ Advisory mavens Jessica E. Moyer and Kaite Mediatore Stover tapped the expertise of some fellow enthusiasts, and The Reader’s Advisory Handbook is the result. Sarah Statz Cords offers advice on adding nonfiction to the readers’ advisory equation, David Wright covers adult storytime, and Heather Booth discusses expanding readers’ advisory service to young adults. These … Continue reading New from ALA
“Library fines got you down? Help build our Facebook page to 500 people & I'll waive fines of two students.” This message streamed across the Luria Library’s Twitter feed. In less than 140 characters, it perfectly portrays the playful and forgiving nature of its library director, and demonstrates the rising value of social capital, which … Continue reading Social Eyes
Espionage and library science seem an odd mix, but it’s certain, according to Rosalee McReynolds and Louise S. Robbins, that Philip and Mary Jane Keeney, who were called to testify before the House Committee on Un-American Activities in 1950, were spies. As related in The Librarian Spies: Philip and Mary Jane Keeney and Cold War … Continue reading Librarian Spies
There are two things that Congress and Libraryland need to eliminate from their thinking before government information can truly move into the digital age. The first is the word “printing,” as in Government Printing Office (GPO). The second is the word “documents,” as in Superintendent of Documents (SuDoc), the branch of GPO that actually runs … Continue reading GPO Must Go
The Oxford English Dictionary has been called the world’s greatest dictionary, and it has been joined by what might be called the world’s greatest thesaurus, Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary. This is no ordinary synonym-finder. More than 40 years in the making, it covers nearly a million words and expressions from Old English … Continue reading Historical Thesaurus
One rainy day in May, I gathered my umbrella and ventured into the Massachusetts countryside. My destination was not the charming farms nor the region’s myriad historic towns; instead, I went to the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art, which resides on quiet West Bay Road in Amherst. The museum itself was quiet, too, … Continue reading My Artful Diversion
The Open Archives Initiative Object Reuse and Exchange specification defines a set of new standards for the description and exchange of aggregations of web resources. This presents an exciting opportunity to revisit how digital libraries are provisioned. ORE and its concept of aggregation—that a set of digital objects of different types and from different locations … Continue reading Aggregating Web Resources
When I listen in on one of our Booklist webinars, it’s hard for me to concentrate on what’s being said—not because there isn’t always something interesting to hear but because, as a Booklister, I’m mainly just hoping that nothing goes wrong (sound problems, panelists dropping the baton as they pass controls to one another, etc.). … Continue reading Hidden Treasures
I don’t know anybody who hasn’t been hurt by this economic debacle that seems to be turning the entire country on its head—any number of countries, in fact. At the American Library Association, we’ve been hit just like everybody else. It is tempting to do a lot of hand-wringing and tooth-gnashing because it seems as … Continue reading Rolling with the Punches
Copyright is a subject with which I believe most librarians have a love-hate relationship. I am mostly in the love-it camp, but not necessarily in the love-all-the-regulations-and-guidelines one. I enjoy immensely the detective-work aspect of finding the copyright owner and then requesting permission for use of a copyrighted work. Nothing makes my day more than … Continue reading A Passion for Copyright
