Yet another major reason why the Forbes.com article received so much traction in the library community is that it reflects the current fears and apprehension that exist among librarians and other public service professionals. The underlying issue is that there’s a significant problem for librarianship when it comes to articulating a public benefit message. In … Continue reading Forbes Folly
This year, the American Library Association bestowed its highest honors and awards on a variety of individuals and institutions whose achievements underscore their bold vision for librarianship and their strong commitment to the profession. Selected by their colleagues and peers, the 2012 honorees highlighted in these pages represent the best of the best in ALA … Continue reading 2012 ALA Award Winners
The Institute of Museum and Library Services and the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation made $100,000 grants this past November to eight libraries and four museums to plan and design their own digital learning labs where teens can hang out, mess around, and geek out. In the process, these young patrons learn to … Continue reading Geek Out
Art and books have been two big passions in my life, but I was not able to combine them professionally until after I was into my seventh decade. I enjoyed the 40-plus years I spent working in an academic library, but before I knew it, I was 68 and past due for retirement in 2004. … Continue reading Working Part-Time After Retirement
“Librarians of the future will be knowledge navigators. They will understand digital resources as well as printed books and other formats. Their services will not be restricted by physical location, either of the materials or of themselves.” That was what Deanna B. Marcum, then on the cusp of creating the Council on Library and Information … Continue reading What’s New in LIS Schools
How important? “In the last 30 years, nearly all net new jobs were created by start-ups, and they will continue to play a critical role in America’s economic future,” noted the US Department of Commerce’s chief economist Mark Doms in a March 23, 2011, post to Commerce’s Economics and Statistics Administration blog about business startups. … Continue reading How Public Libraries Are a Boon to Small Business
Karen Keninger became director of the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped (NLS) at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., in March. She is the first person who is blind to direct the Braille and talking-book program. Keninger is former director of the Iowa Department for the Blind, a provider of … Continue reading An Interview with Karen Keninger
[EDITOR’S NOTE: American Libraries conducted the following interview with writer Jonah Lehrer on July 29, one day before news broke that Lehrer was resigning from his position as staff writer at The New Yorker. It was discovered that he had fabricated quotes from singer-songwriter Bob Dylan and had included those quotes in his bestselling book … Continue reading A Day Before Disgrace
Anne Enright, author of The Forgotten Waltz, and Robert K. Massie, author of Catherine the Great, were the first winners of the Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction and Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction respectively. The winners were announced at ALA’s Annual Conference in Anaheim, California, on June 24. Booklist Editors Donna Seaman and Brad Hooper … Continue reading First Winners of Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction, Nonfiction
The Special Libraries Association, the international association of information professionals and special librarians in corporations, business, science, government, and academic institutions, met in Chicago July 15–18 for its annual conference and expo. The small group (final attendance hasn’t been tallied, but past conferences averaged 4,000–6,000), a fraction of the number who attended the 2012 ALA … Continue reading SLA in Chicago Enchants, Challenges Special Librarians
Interested buyers found tech products that press beyond established boundaries as well as those that enable bread-and-butter library activities in the Anaheim Convention Center during the 2012 ALA Annual Conference. Products ranged from discovery services that aim to deliver access to the universe of library collections to new library management systems bringing together print, electronic, … Continue reading Vendors Showcase Their Wares in Anaheim
The lazy days of summer are here—a time to relax, vacation, and sun by the pool. It’s also a time to catch up on all those good books you didn’t have time to read all year. For students, this season can be especially prime reading months. While public libraries have traditionally provided space for schoolchildren … Continue reading Summer Reading Goes to School
