After decades of strong leadership, Livermore (Calif.) Public Library, where I am a trustee, now has an opening at the top. Library Director Susan Gallinger has retired and we are faced with the challenge of replacing her. We spent the last board meeting with the city manager discussing the characteristics of her replacement. We talked about the … Continue reading What About the Children?
In every town, there are probably community members who have written novels, poetry, and other works whose writing has never seen the light of day. There are probably others who have the creative potential to write the great American novel, but are daunted by the idea of getting it published. Those works, both written and … Continue reading Community Creativity
I started reading George Pelecanos in 1997, when he published King Suckerman, which is, of all things, a fictional homage to the “blaxploitation” films of the 1970s. Combining the eccentric flash of Pulp Fiction, the noir soul of David Goodis, and the idiosyncratic heart of Elmore Leonard, this wildly violent novel effectively evokes the comic … Continue reading Pelecanos, Locked and Loaded
I’ve never been to Ketchikan, Alaska, but I wouldn’t mind being there right now, contemplating the amazing vista of woods and mountains from the Ketchikan Public Library windows. I’d be happy to check out the reading room view from the Spartanburg County (S.C.) Public Libraries’ Middle Tyger branch, too, watching the river tumbling over rocks. These … Continue reading Dreamy Reading Rooms and More
But don’t just take Joe’s word for it. OCLC’s surveys on the “library brand” regularly turn up the same result. In fact, in Perceptions of Libraries 2010, OCLC found that in the previous five years libraries have become even “more strongly associated with books than they were before”—69% in 2005 vs. 75% in 2010. Or … Continue reading How Low Can Our Book Budgets Go?
The first step is to form a building committee that represents various constituencies: political representatives of the wider community, the library board of trustees, the professional staff, frequent library users, interested citizens, and donors. All have vital ideas and opinions. The design process involves analyzing the physical and cultural setting for the building, preparing a … Continue reading Melding Minds to Make a Library
Wasn’t it considerate of the folks in Chicago to arrange for that unexpected (and most welcome) stretch of lovely, clement weather? I was steeling myself for the typical onslaught, packing the sweater for icily over-air-conditioned meeting rooms, only to be greeted by blue skies and 70 degrees. And a couple million hockey fans. So I’m … Continue reading The Toxic Middle
What does a commercial-free space mean to you? With corporations doing their best to surround children with advertising from birth, providing commercial-free spaces is essential to our continued democracy, which depends on creativity and critical thinking, skills that pervasive marketing can repress. Libraries, with our continual campaign for intellectual freedom, are the perfect places to … Continue reading Sponsored by Your Library
Each year, the American Library Association recognizes the achievements of more than 200 individuals and institutions with various awards. Chosen by juries consisting of colleagues and peers, this year’s award winners were chosen for their leadership and vision, as well as their continued investment in the profession through mentorship. The following honorees represent only a … Continue reading Honoring Excellence and Leadership
David “Skip” Prichard became president and CEO of OCLC on July 1, succeeding Jay Jordan, who retired after 15 years at the helm of the nonprofit library consortium. He had most recently served as president and CEO of Ingram Content Group in Nashville, and before that was president and CEO of ProQuest Information and Learning. … Continue reading An Interview with Skip Prichard
By now, we’ve gotten used to the idea that many children’s books identify a Reading Level (RL) somewhere on the jacket or back cover. This number is handy for parents and children’s librarians trying to find books of an appropriate comprehension level for young readers. But where did the number come from? It was generated … Continue reading Guide to Reading Levels
More than one-third of US adults and nearly 17% of children and adolescents were obese in 2009–2010, according to a January 2012 data brief from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Center for Health Statistics. Those numbers mean that every public service facility in the country—including libraries—should be prepared to meet the needs … Continue reading Is Your Library Plus-Size Friendly?
