Archives

Detroit Public Library Provides Food to Fight Child Hunger

February 24, 2014

“Our kids come to our library branches starving,” says Merritt, executive director of the Friends of the Detroit Public Library Foundation. “They can’t concentrate.” Luckily, the person who asked the question was also someone who was poised to help—Brian Glowiak, vice president of the Chrysler Foundation, the charitable arm of the Detroit-based car company. The … Continue reading Detroit Public Library Provides Food to Fight Child Hunger


Meredith Farkas

Just a Game?

February 24, 2014

Everyone grows up playing games. Whether it’s hide-and-seek, checkers, or Angry Birds, gaming pervades our culture and is an indelible part of our childhoods. Online gaming has become an activity that transcends gender, culture, and age. Even nongaming online platforms contain gaming elements, such as the rewarding of check-ins at locations on Foursquare, the location-based … Continue reading Just a Game?


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A Country of Hope and Promise

February 18, 2014

Cafés, bars, souvenir vendors, and street artists line the narrow and densely populated promenades in the old colonial center of Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, where hawkers lure customers with promises of bargain prices. At night, throngs of young people stroll the oceanside of the Malecón, eating sweets and listening to street musicians, while the museums … Continue reading A Country of Hope and Promise


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Treasure or Trash Heap?

February 18, 2014

A couple of years ago I was giving a keynote presentation at a state library conference in the Upper Midwest when a librarian came up to me with a copy of my first book, Snowballs in the Bookdrop, published in 1982. She wanted me to autograph it with a personal greeting, but I hesitated when I … Continue reading Treasure or Trash Heap?


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Contagious Marketing

February 10, 2014

We live in a world of communication clutter. From the internet to endless TV commercials, newspapers, magazines, signage, the inside and outside of buses—ads are everywhere. But consider: What makes you decide to try a new restaurant, read a certain book, or see a particular movie? Is it because you saw an ad, or because … Continue reading Contagious Marketing


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Two Debuts That Will Thrill

February 10, 2014

As anyone who has followed this column knows, I read a lot of mysteries. Sure, I love to follow the careers of my favorites—Michael Connelly, George Pelecanos, Daniel Woodrell, among many others—but the thing I enjoy most about reviewing mysteries for Booklist is happening on a stunning first novel by an unknown writer. Over the … Continue reading Two Debuts That Will Thrill


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Changes and Connections

February 4, 2014

In 2011, I was elected as president of the Interna­tional Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA), the global voice of the library and information profession. With my term hav­ing ended at the World Informa­tion and Library Congress this past August, I wanted to share some thoughts on why libraries remain as relevant as ever … Continue reading Changes and Connections


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It’s Time to Act

February 4, 2014

Often statistics tell a story that spurs us to action. Consider: Only 13% of African-American male 4th graders and 11% of African-American male 8th graders scored at or above proficient on national reading tests; Barely half of all African-American males graduate from high school, and only 5% go to college; Black male teens are eight … Continue reading It’s Time to Act


Joseph Janes

A Cautionary Tale

February 3, 2014

In an alternative universe, I’m a film historian. I got hooked in college, where multiple film society screenings were shown almost nightly for a couple of bucks apiece. Heaven. And among all my genres of interest (terrible 1950s science fiction, cult stuff, noir, silents, splashy MGM musicals, and on and on), there’s a much less-recognized … Continue reading A Cautionary Tale


Karen Muller

Organizing Content

January 23, 2014

Five years ago, ALA’s Presidential Task Force on Library Education specified eight areas of core knowledge for librarians. The third area, titled “Organization of Recorded Knowledge and Information,” details how librarians provide library users access to materials. It defined three specific competences related to recorded knowledge and info: Organization and representation; Developmental, descriptive, and evaluative … Continue reading Organizing Content


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How to Get the Edge on Technology Access

January 21, 2014

Pruett is speaking of her library’s experience with the Edge Initiative, a management and leadership tool library staff can use to evaluate and strengthen public access technology services to achieve community goals. The Edge Initiative, often referred to simply as the Edge, will begin a nationwide rollout in January. Pruett’s library was one of the … Continue reading How to Get the Edge on Technology Access


Marshall Breeding

Web-Scale Discovery Services

January 14, 2014

Discovery services face complex challenges. For example, to accommodate the concerns of proprietary-content providers, discovery services must differentiate publicly available search results from content offered only to authenticated users. In addition, access to resources must be aligned with each library’s subscription and database selections. Discovery services only allow access to resources that a library is … Continue reading Web-Scale Discovery Services