Each January, librarians, publishers, parents . . . and, well, anyone who has an interest in books and reading . . . awaits the announcement of the Youth Media Awards at the ALA Midwinter Meeting. While awards help us define the criteria for “good” books, the lists of winners and notables are just a few … Continue reading Great Lists of Great Reads
I applaud the hard work of everyone who has tackled the thorny issues confronting libraries in the increasingly hostile ebook environment in which we find ourselves. However, I believe we are missing an essential component in any solution: copyright law reform. At last summer’s ALA Annual Conference in New Orleans, I listened to an impassioned … Continue reading We Need Copyright 2.0
In the 1990s, libraries were pioneers in providing access to the internet in their communities. Even today, libraries are the only place some community members can get online. Over the past few years, libraries have begun positioning themselves as the go-to place for digital creation technologies, providing hardware and software that most people wouldn’t have … Continue reading Providing the Tools
Just a month after the Simi Valley (Calif.) City Council voted to withdraw its city library from the Ventura County Library System, the union local that represents southern California library workers is suing to have the decision reversed. Filed January 10 in Ventura County Superior Court by Local 721 of the Service Employees International Union … Continue reading Union Sues to Block Library Outsourcing RFP
This piece is excerpted from the January 2012 issue of Library Technology Reports. You can purchase the full issue on the ALA Store. Google “smartphone user.” Click on Images. What do you see? When I tried this, I saw some graphs, pictures of devices (many of them BlackBerrys), and a bunch of white people, mostly … Continue reading Bridging the Digital Divide with Mobile Services
All of you who’ve weeded a collection know the challenges I face. Former American Libraries Editor Leonard Kniffel left me a legacy: file drawers stuffed with materials from his 15 years at the helm of this magazine. As someone new to the American Library Association and to this publication, it’s been somewhat daunting to determine what … Continue reading Treasure Hunt
My first American Library Association Midwinter Meeting was in 1976. After stimulating learning experiences at two Annual Conferences, I really wanted to get involved. Colleagues advised me that Midwinter provided the best venue to do that with its focus on ALA business meetings. ALA’s open meeting policy allowed me to observe meetings related to my … Continue reading No Longer Business as Usual
Kansas State Librarian Joanne Budler recently terminated the Kansas Digital Library Consortium’s contract with ebook vendor OverDrive to become a beta tester of 3M’s new Cloud Library ebook lending service. The change is the culmination of a nearly yearlong battle over whether the consortium owned the content it had purchased or had simply licensed it. … Continue reading Joanne Budler
At the Australian School Library Association conference in October 2011, Executive Director Karen Bonanno offered several excellent insights in her keynote (Vimeo, 31:46) that are useful to all librarians in this era of tightened budgets and job opportunities. School librarians in particular may want to implement Bonanno’s five-finger mnemonic to craft that one-minute elevator speech … Continue reading Making Progress by Fives
For compiling best lists, that is. I either make or participate in the making of at least three different kinds of best-book lists every year. First, there’s the Booklist Editors’ Choice list, published in our January double issue, but I’m only one voice among many in putting together that annual compendium. Then there’s my Back … Continue reading It’s That Time of Year
Despite the opposition of library boosters in Osceola County, Florida, to the proposed outsourcing of county library operations there, the county commission has approved a five-year contract with Library Systems and Services, Inc. (LSSI) to run the library. The 3–2 vote to approve the nearly $25-million contract, which LSSI has assured officials will save the … Continue reading LSSI Gets Its First Florida Library Contract, Eyes Simi Valley
Welcome to the first Outside/In, our new column for American Libraries. Some readers may remember us from Public Libraries magazine, where we wrote the Internet Spotlight column about web topics relevant to librarians and the public library sector. Our goal with this new column is to share practical information, news, and tips about emerging web … Continue reading Add to Your (Library) Cart
