Our mission with Outside/In has been to take useful ideas from the larger world of trends (outside) to see how they apply to libraries (in). In that vein, we’re bringing you a roundup from our spring Libraryland conference tour, during which we made several stops and met hundreds of amazing folks and organizations along the … Continue reading Spring Libraryland Tour
Many librarians have embraced the use of active learning in their teaching. Moving away from lectures and toward activities that get students using the skills they’re learning can lead to more meaningful learning experiences. It’s one thing to tell someone how to do something, but to have them actually do it themselves, with expert guidance, … Continue reading The Guide on the Side
Ed. note: The following is the text of a speech given April 1 by retired United States Rep S. Douglas Maynard before the 4th Annual Restore Intellectual Property Protection for Economic Recovery Summit and Retreat. First of all, to the members of Restore Intellectual Property Protection for Economic Recovery, I wish to extend my sincere … Continue reading Let’s Put an End to Socialized Intellectual Property
The focus on electronic publishing and access through libraries to digital editions (ebooks) has been intense, particularly in recent months. The policies and practices of the “Big Six” publishers—Hachette, HarperCollins, Macmillan, Penguin, Random House, and Simon & Schuster—in relation to access to ebooks through libraries (or lack thereof), have elicited strong responses from across the library … Continue reading Hot Issues Drive ALA Presidential Priorities
Librarians who teach are always looking for ways to get patrons more actively engaged in instruction sessions. Research has shown that active learning can have positive effects on student learning and certainly helps to get students to reflect on the application of what they’re learning. In large lecture classes, most active learning exercises simply aren’t … Continue reading Click Here to Engage
When I think of history, two quotations come to mind. One, by Marcus Cicero, says history illuminates the present; the other, by Henry Ford, says we must live in the present: “History is the witness that testifies to the passing of time; it illumines reality, vitalizes memory, provides guidance in daily life, and brings us … Continue reading The Librarian’s History of the Library
At the recent Public Library Association conference in Philadelphia, my friend and Booklist columnist David Wright, who was giving a presentation on literary fiction, used a term I had never heard, translit, to describe that boundary-breaking kind of novel that shatters all the too-often pigeonholing categories we use to compartmentalize modern fiction. The term, David … Continue reading Translit: New Genre Collapses Time and Space
Chances are, your library is chock-full of people. Some are staff and there may be the occasional vendor. But the vast majority—those who visit libraries—are part of a group that library workers have had significant trouble defining. How library workers view library patrons reflects our philosophical worldview. Much has been written on how patrons perceive … Continue reading Just Whom Do We Serve?
More than 6,000 librarians visited Philadelphia March 13–17 for the Public Library Association National Conference. Below are some images from the four days of speakers, sessions, exhibits, special dinners, and networking opportunities. All photos by Paul Coker.
What is your favorite library space? Perhaps a school library reading nook, or the august reading room from your university days, or maybe the balcony stacks in your hometown? The architectural design—and of course, a facility’s resources—draws you to these places and encourages you to stay awhile. That’s why American Libraries features new and now library … Continue reading Of Design, Danes, and Daffodils
Two years after the earthquake that struck Haiti on January 12, 2010, vast numbers of Haitian people are still struggling just to return to something resembling normal life. Haiti Library Relief dollars are making a difference, but the need is so vast that donors have to focus their efforts on sustainable projects that will advance … Continue reading Two Years Later, Haiti Library Relief Moves Slowly Forward
A group of 3rd-graders from Brooklyn’s P.S. 399 watched Robert Louis Stevenson’s A Child’s Garden of Verses being printed on demand in bound paperback format March 7 at Brooklyn (N.Y.) Public Library’s Central branch. The children were invited to a ribbon-cutting ceremony to introduce the library’s new Espresso Book Machine, which can print more than … Continue reading Books-on-Demand Technology Comes to Brooklyn Public Library
