Librarianship is a profession with a strong tradition of mentorship. At some point in grad school, every future librarian has the daunting assignment to “find a librarian and interview him or her about his or her job.” You groan, you sigh, you poke around on the internet, you start sending e-mails or making calls, hoping … Continue reading Mentorship from Both Sides
Now that the debate over raising the debt ceiling is over and the smoke is beginning to clear, the question remains: What does this really mean? And, more specifically, what does this mean for libraries? First, a recap: With little time to spare, Congress finally passed on August 2 the Budget Control Act of 2011, … Continue reading A Librarian’s Primer on the Debt-Ceiling Deal
At the request of the FBI, Brighton (Mich.) District Library Director Nancy Johnson is spreading a cautionary word to library colleagues about a series of illegal attempts to hack credit card accounts by testing them on her library’s online-donation website. Here’s the scam, according to Johnson: Someone has been using our library online donation option … Continue reading Credit-Card Hackers Target Library’s Online Donation Page
For the last four years, Marshall Breeding has conducted an online survey to measure the satisfaction rate with multiple aspects of the automation products used by libraries. The results of four editions of survey data, along with brief interpretive narratives, have been published on Library Technology Guides. The May/June 2011 issue of Library Technology Reports … Continue reading Librarians’ Assessments of Automation Systems
Over the past decade, a large number of academic libraries have created online learning objects for their patrons. Whether it was a basic guide on doing research or a suite of tutorials for every database and topic, there has been growing recognition that learning objects are an important way to instruct patrons at their point … Continue reading Tutorials That Matter
“This is one of the best days I’ve had in two years!” exulted Cathleen Russ, director of Troy (Mich.) Public Library the morning after some 58% of voters saved the library from closing permanently by approving a five-year operating millage. The August 2 special election was the third library referendum held there in the past … Continue reading Third Time’s the Charm for Troy Public Library
Andrew Carnegie had a radical idea. In 1895 when he developed the public library complex in Pittsburgh, it included swimming pools, music halls, art galleries, and a natural history museum. He wanted to ensure that his mill workers and their families had easy access to excellent cultural assets. The original building still stands today. However, … Continue reading A Pioneer Evolves
Wake up, librarians! No-fee public access to government information is in danger, because on July 22 the U.S. House of Representatives voted 252–159 to drastically cut the Government Printing Office (GPO) appropriations for FY2012 and eliminate funding for the GPO Federal Digital System (FDsys). FDsys was created by GPO in 1994 to fulfill the requirement … Continue reading Government Information in Peril
Summer is an island. The trees around my house come into leaf, a bright and wafting curtain of green between me and the neighborhood. Spring semester has ended, and fall term lies far in the distance, little more than a dot on the horizon. Wavelets ripple and inch near, passing, but not pressing, reminders of … Continue reading My Midsummer Metamorphosis
The three-branch Santa Clarita (Calif.) Public Library opened its doors over the Fourth of July weekend as an independent city system for the first time since city officials voted in August 2010 to depart from the County of Los Angeles Public Library. By all accounts, hundreds flocked to the openings to check out materials, eyeball … Continue reading Privatization – and Pushback – Proceed in Santa Clarita
The second National Joint Conference of Librarians of Color, “Gathering at the Waters: Celebrating Stories, Embracing Communities,” takes place September 19–23 in Kansas City, Missouri, a joint effort of ALA’s five ethnic caucuses—the American Indian Library Association; the Asian/Pacific American Librarians Association; the Black Caucus of the American Library Association; the Chinese American Librarians Association; and the … Continue reading Views from the JCLC II Fundraiser in New Orleans
Forty years ago, Daniel Ellsberg leaked the Pentagon Papers, documents that revealed the secret history of the United States’ involvement in Vietnam from 1945 to 1967. Since then, Ellsberg has been a lecturer, writer, and activist on controversial U.S. interventions and the need for patriotic whistleblowing. Ellsberg was a prominent guest at Annual in New … Continue reading Daniel Ellsberg
