Library catalogs have evolved over time as technology has changed. The last 150 years have seen a progression from book catalogs to cards, and eventually, to online catalogs. Each of these changes has provided new capabilities that can be adopted for improved user services. The next step in this evolution is on the horizon, and … Continue reading Cataloging Horizons
You’ve got to feel a bit for Wikipedia cofounder Jimmy Wales. Here’s a guy with a fairly simple but incredibly powerful idea: Create a way for people to share what they know with the wider world and in the process build a resource that can be of great benefit to everyone. As he said in … Continue reading Whither Wikipedia?
I recently started teaching another great group of future librarians at San José State University about Web 2.0 technologies. I’m always in awe of their enthusiasm for the subject matter and for their chosen field. This year, I also feel a little sad, knowing that some of them will likely struggle to find work after … Continue reading Your Virtual Brand
I recently started teaching another great group of future librarians at San José State University about Web 2.0 technologies. I’m always in awe of their enthusiasm for the subject matter and for their chosen field. This year, I also feel a little sad, knowing that some of them will likely struggle to find work after … Continue reading Your Virtual Brand
It’s been one of those winters when I’ve wondered if one really feeds a cold (achoo!) and starves a fever, experimenting with soups that require no further icy treks to the grocery store (achoo!). Coincidentally I had already made arrangements for my history students to see titles that include the 1964 Seventeen Cookbook in the … Continue reading Stirring Up Inspiration
I find it fascinating that so many people try to put a sad face on retirement. Just think of the common terms we use for retirement: "over the hill," "being sent to the glue factory," "hanging up the spikes," "riding into the sunset," "being put on the shelf" (presumably intended for librarians), and "being put … Continue reading I Blog, Therefore I Matter
The phase “Gilded Age” may conjure up visions of Newport mansions, but the era was a formative time for libraries. Librarianship in Gilded Age America: An Anthology of Writings, 1868–1901 compiles articles, letters, and other documents from familiar names in library history, among them Charles Ammi Cutter, Melvil Dewey, and John Cotton Dana. Also here are … Continue reading Gilded Age
Bill Mayer imagines a library without librarians. The way he sees it, his campus is filled with activity and he wants his librarians to be a part of the action. “Their role isn’t to simply go out and generate more visibility” he explains, “but to become more involved with everything that is going on around … Continue reading Change at American University
Coping with change–especially shrinking budgets and growing demands–is the focus of several pieces in American Libraries' January-February issue, and just the act of reading them has inspired me to approach 2010 with new resolve. All of us who work for the advancement of library services in this country are going to need what James LaRue … Continue reading Resolutions and Rollouts
What makes a library inspiring to its users? The key component is the relationship it builds with the people it serves. Seattle Public Library is a showcase for this attribute. In 2008, just in time to face what has become a global financial crisis, the library completed the 10-year "Libraries for All" campaign, which resulted … Continue reading Inspiration, Seattle-style
What is the recipe for creating a circulation worker? You add three or four able-bodied individuals, one tablespoon of a circulation study guide, bake for about one month of trial-by-fire on-the-desk experience, and you have what is called the circulation worker. As a former circulation worker who ultimately became a reference librarian (in other words, … Continue reading The Faces of Circulation
What’s your favorite book? If you’re like me, that’s a tough question. There’s the one that captures the mood you’re in, the one that pulls you out of the mood you’ve been in, the one with those charming turns of phrase, the one with the cunning plot turns, the one with the better-than-you’d-hoped-for ending, and … Continue reading Some of My Favorite Reads
