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In Their Own Words


August 12, 2010

“Our Authors, Our Advocates” was launched at my Inaugural Banquet during Annual Conference in Washington, D.C., in June. I was deeply honored to have as my special guests four wonderful authors who spoke so eloquently. They were, by turns, funny, passionate, compelling, and thoughtful, and they illustrated how authors can partner with us to advocate … Continue reading In Their Own Words


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The First First Library


August 9, 2010

The next time you find yourself in Canton, Ohio, make a stop at the National First Ladies’ Library, home of the Abigail Fillmore Library Room. This room replicates the first permanent White House library, established by Millard and Abigail Fillmore in 1850. Although the library remained mostly intact for more than 50 years, just a … Continue reading The First First Library



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It’s Not Monkey Business


August 9, 2010

If by vocation or avocation you’ve come to cherish children’s literature, you’ve no doubt encountered some skepticism about this particular passion. For too many people, children’s books simply don’t merit serious consideration. As Seth Lerer aptly observes in his award-winning Children’s Literature: A Reader’s History from Aesop to Harry Potter, “For a long time, what … Continue reading It’s Not Monkey Business


Joseph Janes

Who’s in Charge Here?


August 2, 2010

Lady Gaga is totally playing us. I mean, “Alejandro,” a song that even ABBA couldn’t get past the semifinals of the Eurovision Song Contest, a video that includes her wearing a machine-gun bra that Madonna would be embarrassed by . . . and it’s a worldwide hit. (For my money, “Bad Romance” is much more … Continue reading Who’s in Charge Here?


Unnecessary Choices


July 28, 2010

Members of the American Library Association have been talking a lot about books these days, the future of the book as a delivery mechanism, as opposed to a quaint artifact. Readers of American Libraries have responded by writing some provocative articles for the August 2010 issue about the future of the book in a digital … Continue reading Unnecessary Choices


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Surveying My Sex Appeal


July 26, 2010

The following story is a cautionary tale for all of those people who say that the internet has replaced the reference collection and that Google has replaced reference librarians. On a cheery morning in late April 1992, I had a flight of whimsy. I woke up to the sounds of birds chirping outside and thought, … Continue reading Surveying My Sex Appeal


New from ALA


July 26, 2010

In the first edition of Developing an Outstanding Core Collection Carol Alabaster outlined her principles of adult core collections, based on her work at Phoenix Public Library. In the second, she revisits those principles to make sure they are still valid (they are) and also addresses the technological changes that have occurred since the first … Continue reading New from ALA


Guided by Barcodes


July 22, 2010

Whenever I’ve created an instructional handout for students, I’ve struggled with what to include. For everything that ends up on the sheet, there’s usually five times as much that would be useful to students in the class. I include the URL to a web page with more content, but URLs are often long and I … Continue reading Guided by Barcodes


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Frankie Catches a Break


July 20, 2010

I recently finished reading James Kaplan’s Frank: The Voice, a wonderful new biography of Frank Sinatra from his birth in 1915 through 1954, when he won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor in From Here to Eternity. What impressed me most about the book—besides the account of Sinatra’s volcanic love affair with Ava Gardner … Continue reading Frankie Catches a Break


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Hope, Hype, and VoIP: Riding the Library Technology Cycle


July 15, 2010

After the initial hype is past, the real value of an emerging technology unfolds as librarians adopt, test, and learn from it on the ground. By understanding a tool’s practical library affordances and how they are adopted, adapted, and rejected, we can better evaluate its local promise critically, creatively, and with an eye toward sustainability. … Continue reading Hope, Hype, and VoIP: Riding the Library Technology Cycle


Signage: Better None Than Bad


July 12, 2010

A quick search of the photo website Flickr for the keywords “library signage” can produce interesting results. You will find everything from café-style chalkboard advertisements to sheets of white paper with a few pieces of clip art thrown in. Poor visual communication can create a frustrating environment for users, but it's a practice that librarians … Continue reading Signage: Better None Than Bad