A headline in the November 12, 2009, issue of The Chronicle of Higher Education tells what is becoming a familiar story: “In Face of Professors’ ‘Fury,’ Syracuse U. Library Will Keep Books on Shelves.” Pressed by economic realities, hurting for space, and seeing the opportunities offered by existing and emerging information technologies, the director of … Continue reading The Myth of Browsing
The microblogging service Twitter has gifted its entire archive of tweets, totalling billions of 140-character posts dating back to March 2006, to the Library of Congress. "The Twitter digital archive has extraordinary potential for research into our contemporary way of life," said Librarian of Congress James H. Billington. "This information provides detailed evidence about how … Continue reading Historians Await Access to the Library of Congress’s Twitter Archive
When I listen in on one of our Booklist webinars, it’s hard for me to concentrate on what’s being said—not because there isn’t always something interesting to hear but because, as a Booklister, I’m mainly just hoping that nothing goes wrong (sound problems, panelists dropping the baton as they pass controls to one another, etc.). … Continue reading Hidden Treasures
Copyright is a subject with which I believe most librarians have a love-hate relationship. I am mostly in the love-it camp, but not necessarily in the love-all-the-regulations-and-guidelines one. I enjoy immensely the detective-work aspect of finding the copyright owner and then requesting permission for use of a copyrighted work. Nothing makes my day more than … Continue reading A Passion for Copyright
In Vermont, it was easy to ignore the mobile computing craze until 2009. Before that, AT&T didn’t have a presence here, so we couldn’t purchase iPhones in the state. That all changed last year, and now, barely a day goes by that I don’t see someone checking e-mail, texting, or browsing the web on their … Continue reading A Library in Your Pocket
At the ALA Executive Board’s spring meeting, held April 23-25 at the Association’s headquarters in Chicago, the board spent a significant amount of time discussing the draft ALA 2015 Strategic Plan (PDF file) and the latest revisions made to the plan based on comments provided by over 750 ALA members. The ALA Council agenda includes discussion … Continue reading Planning and Budgeting
As a public library director I spend a great deal of time searching out ways to keep my library relevant in today’s fast-changing environment. I’ve found that one method to do this is to keep myself current about societal trends and to strategize regularly about how my library might ride the wave of those trends … Continue reading 10 Tips for Tracking Trends
Library publications and blogs are filled with two types of articles these days: horror stories and fantasies. First, the horror stories. These are the news reports of budget cuts, most of which are in fact quite horrible. Academic Library X is getting its budget cut by 30%; School District Y is firing all of its … Continue reading Winning the Budget Wars
Although some may question the notion of a reference renaissance (did reference ever really die?), few would deny that “reference has been transformed from an area that focused on resources and artifacts to one that explores a human process of questioning, contextualizing, and learning.” So notes the introduction to Reference Renaissance: Current and Future Trends, … Continue reading Reference Renaissance
Face it: Teaching is hard. It’s hard from any angle, using any technology, to any learner. Even for those enviable (and few) “natural teachers,” being an educator is as at least as challenging as it is rewarding. Not only does teaching take skills, preparation, and diligence; it demands bravery, humor, and self-awareness. Now more than … Continue reading Build Your Own Instructional Literacy
