If I were to write “What American Libraries Did This Summer,” it would be more roller-coaster ride than mai tais on the beach. Such is the nature of juggling several media streams, especially when tied to news and deadlines. At the top of the hill were the twin peaks of the ALA Annual Conference and … Continue reading Our Roller-Coaster Summer
Then a phoenix arose. Across the street from the closed library, a new high school was about to be built, including an 8,000-square-foot library building. Brian Bannon, Chicago’s library commissioner, heard that the Chicago Public Schools might be interested in sharing library space and costs. The idea was intriguing, and it seemed cost-effective, too. “We … Continue reading Rocking the Joint
Has your library ever thought about using technology and communitywide projects to connect with customers? It’s not easy to pull off, but if you’re successful, your library can make new friends and contacts and can provide useful knowledge or entertainment for the community along the way. Topeka, where David works, has done a number of … Continue reading Community Connections
Yet another major reason why the Forbes.com article received so much traction in the library community is that it reflects the current fears and apprehension that exist among librarians and other public service professionals. The underlying issue is that there’s a significant problem for librarianship when it comes to articulating a public benefit message. In … Continue reading Forbes Folly
What prompted me to return to Gregorian chants? A novel, naturally: The Beautiful Mystery, by Louise Penny, the latest in her wildly popular series starring Armand Gamache, chief inspector of the Sûreté de Québec. That I am an unabashed fan of this series is itself a little surprising. Usually, I prefer my crime fiction to … Continue reading Gregorian Chants Meet Thelonious Monk
In March, the National Information Standards Organization adopted RFID in US Libraries (RP-6-2012), establishing ISO 28560-2 as the recommended practices for coding data on the RFID tags used in libraries for shelving, circulation, sorting, inventory, security, and interlibrary loans. The final adoption of this data model is a big step toward standardization and interoperability among … Continue reading The RFID Opportunity
This year, the American Library Association bestowed its highest honors and awards on a variety of individuals and institutions whose achievements underscore their bold vision for librarianship and their strong commitment to the profession. Selected by their colleagues and peers, the 2012 honorees highlighted in these pages represent the best of the best in ALA … Continue reading 2012 ALA Award Winners
Have you ever seen something in your work that you wanted to change but did nothing about it? What stopped you? Maybe you didn’t do it because you were too busy, but maybe you also felt that creating change was too daunting and you didn’t feel capable of making it happen. So many talented people … Continue reading Let’s #makeithappen
The Institute of Museum and Library Services and the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation made $100,000 grants this past November to eight libraries and four museums to plan and design their own digital learning labs where teens can hang out, mess around, and geek out. In the process, these young patrons learn to … Continue reading Geek Out
Can it really be 10 years since I began writing this column? It doesn’t seem possible, yet there I am, horrible picture and all, chirpily nattering away on page 74 of the September 2002 American Libraries. A lot of water has gone under many bridges since then, which puts me in a nostalgic frame of … Continue reading The March of Time
I look forward to this year in which I have the privilege of serving as ALA president. To prepare for this important role I acted on the very good advice of a number of our past presidents and took advantage of every opportunity in my president-elect term to lay a strong foundation for what I … Continue reading The Year Ahead
About 10 years ago I had an experience with a small group of teen girls that taught me a lot about the impact of a facility’s use of space on young people. We were at the Mount Holyoke College library and I wanted to show the teens the college’s information commons. To get there, we … Continue reading Space: The New Frontier
