I’ve never been on a surfboard, never even seen one up close, but after finally getting around to reading Don Winslow, I’m starting to dream about being able to hang 10, if only I was 40 years younger, and my twenty-something self was endowed with far more agility and upper-body strength than that wimpy-looking kid … Continue reading Surf’s Up
In April, we conducted an online survey of our readers, in order to find out what American Libraries is doing right and what we could be doing differently. A big thank you to the nearly 3,600 participants, who represented all types of libraries (public, academic, school, and special). You answered 31 questions about your preferred … Continue reading What You Told Us
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
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
Libraries know the future is digital, but how do we get there in these times of shrinking budgets and staffs? In a tough economy, a collaborative approach makes digitization possible for many libraries. By joining a mass digitization collaborative, the historical society, museum, public library, or academic institution new to digitization can launch a small … Continue reading Step Easily into the Digital Future
On eight school-day mornings every September, school buses pull into the Selma–Dallas County (Ala.) Public Library every hour starting at 9 a.m., unloading 40–50 bubbling 1st graders. They line up excitedly outside the door and then head in for one of the library’s best programs for kids. “Welcome to Your Library” has been welcoming 1st-graders … Continue reading First Things First: First-Class Service for 1st Graders
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
Perhaps we’re past the point of having to explain that graphic novels, with their knack for attracting reluctant readers and hitting developmental sweet spots, have a legitimate place on library shelves. Perhaps. But what about the idea that graphic novels encompass such a wide range of themes and create such layered experiences through word and … Continue reading The Case for Graphic Novels in Education
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
Many libraries don’t screen films. Many just “play and walk away.” Here’s how to make your screening a quality cultural event equal to your book discussions. Your library’s films are some of the highest-quality work in your building, often unjustly ignored, maligned, and simply consigned to “popular material” (Charles Dickens or Alfred Hitchcock, anyone?) when … Continue reading How to Offer More than a Movie
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
