Two items discussed during the ALA Executive Board Spring Meeting, held April 20–22, 2012, at the Association’s Chicago headquarters, illustrate the wide range of issues and activities affecting our members and their libraries. The board approved procedures and guidelines for ALA’s first Virtual Membership Meeting and discussed the current impasse regarding ebooks and libraries and … Continue reading On a Screen Near You
The librarians of Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, joined the ranks of the worldwide open-access (OA) movement May 14 by voting to make their scholarly articles freely available in the university’s institutional repository, the Scholarly Commons. Based on Harvard University’s model policy, MU’s open-access principles take effect immediately and make the libraries the first department … Continue reading Open Access Spreads to Miami University
Harvard University Library (HUL) is poised to launch a massive reconfiguration of its services in July. Reorganizations usually trigger anxiety in any work setting, so the mandated realignment of 73 libraries into streamlined reporting structures and shared services was bound to create a stir. Despite a series of communications from Harvard officials since January, campuswide … Continue reading Are Harvard’s Realignment Throes Unique – or a Cautionary Tale?
More than 350 librarians and library supporters from across the country converged on Washington, D.C., from April 23–24, to meet with members of Congress to discuss key library issues during ALA’s 38th annual National Library Legislative Day. The event focused on supporting federal funding for the nation’s libraries.
A spring proposal by District of Columbia officials to eliminate more than 50 school librarian jobs for the next academic year has triggered a public relations nightmare for the city council, where the proposal originated. “Libraries have long been one of the really weak links in the District of Columbia Public Schools,” grassroots activist Peter … Continue reading D.C. Officials Feel the Heat over Planned School Library Cuts [UPDATED]
A few days ago, a Finnish librarian I know posted a picture on Facebook of several people reading while riding public transportation. Only one person was reading a physical book, and my friend mused about the future of libraries. Ever the optimist, I suggested to her that the future will involve librarians providing virtual reference, … Continue reading Building the Shelfless Library
Communities across the U.S. celebrated the valuable contributions of the nation’s libraries during National Library Week (NLW), April 8–14. This year’s theme was “You belong @ your library.” From flash mob reading and author events to mock cake decorating and bookmobile programs, NLW and each special designated day during the weeklong observance brought a variety … Continue reading National Library Week 2012: “You belong @ your library”
Concern over federal and state budget cuts to library programs motivated Georgia State Librarian Lamar Veatch to make his 15th annual trip to Washington, D.C., for National Library Legislative Day (NLLD). In fact, Veatch asserts, coming to D.C. is a big part of his commitment to librarianship. “My job is to represent libraries, and it’s … Continue reading One State’s Experience at National Library Legislative Day
Did you know there are an estimated 2 million home-educated children in the United States? According to a report from the National Home Education Research Institute, there were approximately 2.04 million American homeschoolers in 2010, and that number is increasing by 2%–8% each year. That’s almost 4% of all school-age children in this country. Do … Continue reading Make Room for Homeschoolers
I’ve been a librarian for 30 years and have seen a lot of changes during that time. I’ve welcomed them as new challenges, even as I’ve seen many of my older colleagues become very negative—whining, complaining, and vowing to retire before they have to alter their ways. But in the past couple of years, the … Continue reading My Year of RDA
I’m sure you found all of these as fascinating as I did, undoubtedly also wondering where this was going. These facts and a few gazillion others come to you courtesy of Factual, the brainchild of mathematician Gilad Elbaz, who gave us the company that is now Google’s AdSense. In Factual’s 500 terabytes of storage, there’s … Continue reading Data, Data Everywhere
Bookmobiles have a proud history of service dating back to the late 1850s, when a horse-drawn collection of books began making the rounds in Cumbria, England. Here in the United States, the first bookmobile is widely attributed to Mary Lemist Titcomb, a librarian in Washington County, Maryland, who in 1905 posited “Would not a Library … Continue reading Bookmobiles: A Proud History, a Promising Future
