There are fewer and fewer print dictionaries, and in fact the American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, once considered a mainstay of the dictionary collection, seems to have altogether disappeared. But language lovers can take heart in the publication of a new and wonderful resource, the three-volume Green’s Dictionary of Slang, compiled by British … Continue reading Volumes of Vernacular
We all know that “Libraries are the smartest investment.” Study after study shows that for every dollar invested by a community in library services, $2.38 (PDF file), or $4.48 (PDF file), or even $6.54 (PDF file) in economic benefits are returned to the community. Another measure of the value of libraries is the individualized calculation … Continue reading The Smartest Readers
In the summer of 1973, I attended my first conference of the International Federation of Library Associations (held in Grenoble, France) after becoming executive director of the American Library Association. The conference buzz was speculation about me (“Who is this Bob Wedgeworth?”), since I had just succeeded David Clift. Leo M. Weins, president of the … Continue reading A Tribute to H. W. Wilson
In a surprise announcement June 2, two of the leading names in digital reference publishing told their library customers that they have merged to strengthen the value of their databases and print resources. EBSCO Publishing, a subsidiary of EBSCO Industries founded in 1944 and headquartered in Ipswich, Massachusetts, has acquired the staff and product lines … Continue reading The Merger of the Century: EBSCO Acquires H. W. Wilson
Librarians were well represented at the 2011 BookExpo America (BEA) in New York City, held May 24–26, in autographing lines, workshops, and publisher parties that lasted late into the evening. Although traditionally aimed at retail book buyers, BEA has been adding more and more programming for librarians each year; for 2011, Library Journal and School … Continue reading Book Buzz Still Packs Librarians into BEA
The word atlas generally conjures up a road trip, and R. David Lankes traveled to “29 locations on three continents” to put together The Atlas of New Librarianship. But his atlas is more about data than maps—data collected from a variety of sources and providing the basis for “new librarianship,” by which he means “the … Continue reading The Road to New Librarianship
President Barack Obama signed into law the evening of May 26 a four-year renewal of the Patriot Act that included none of the reader-privacy and Fourth Amendment protections sought by freedom-to-read groups such as the American Library Association, the Association of Research Libraries (ARL), and the American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression (ABFFE). Obama authorized … Continue reading Patriot Act Renewal Renews Reformers’ Determination
The need to transmit and process information efficiently has given rise to technologies from talking drums to alphabets, from Charles Babbage’s difference engine to Vannevar Bush’s differential analyzer, from the telegraph to the internet. In The Information, James Gleick shows how many of the information-related concepts that we now take for granted evolved. This is … Continue reading A Compendium of Communication
What do young people want? When it comes to library space, they’re inclined to seek sophisticated yet comfortable areas. In a focus group that gave teens the opportunity to advise librarians and architects charged with designing the new Cedar Rapids (Iowa) Public Library, their wishes were simple: Skip the clashes of color that might be … Continue reading A Facility Forever Young
Two major topics dominated discussions during the ALA Executive Board Spring Meeting April 22–24 at the Association’s Chicago headquarters. ALA’s new 2015 strategic plan now includes a Transforming Libraries goal that calls for the Association to “provide leadership in the transformation of libraries and library services in a dynamic and increasingly global digital library environment.” … Continue reading The Digital Revolution and the Transformation of Libraries
Google emailed its newspaper partners May 19 to inform them that it would be discontinuing its effort to digitize the world’s newspaper archives and make them available online, the Search Engine Land blog reported. The project, which was started in 2008, has digitized material from about 2,000 newspapers. Existing content, about 60 million pages worth, … Continue reading Google Ends Newspaper Digitization Project
Imagine that your library building is open 24/7 with no overnight staff or security gates. What if trusting patrons to abide by the honor system actually worked? That’s the reality at Marlboro (Vt.) College's Rice-Aron Library, where an open-door policy has been in effect for decades. To understand this library, you must consider the campus … Continue reading We Never Close
