American Libraries: You made headlines last year by giving $1 million dollars in small grants to independent bookstores, and now you’re doing the same for school libraries. The problems bookstores are facing are well known, but school libraries haven’t received as much national attention. Why did you decide to focus on school libraries? That’s exactly … Continue reading Newsmaker: James Patterson
In late 2006, after many stops and starts, I finally got up the nerve to change my gender to female and began living my life as a woman. As libraries have changed and evolved, I’ve been changing and evolving right along with them. I have been very fortunate throughout my transition from male to female; … Continue reading A Lot to Feel Proud About
When collection budgets are squeezed and shelf space is at a premium, digital collection assets can shine … assuming they’re available and affordable. Librarian Jessamyn West wrote at librarian.net in a 2012 article “Let’s Be Honest about the Ebook Situation” that several large publishers, including Macmillan, Simon & Schuster, and Hachette Book Group, refused to sell … Continue reading Building Out the Book Niches
I am also proud of my project to support the job seekers who are our patrons. The presidential initiative Career Development Facilitators program not only created an opportunity for 20 library employees from around the country to help patrons and job seekers address various components of job searching and career planning, it also created a … Continue reading Engaging All of Us
Publishers put forward new, innovative business models; platform providers responded by enhancing their services; and librarians waited patiently (or sometimes not) for access to titles while their patrons did the same. It all worked out more or less the way these things should. The commercial market adjusted to digital disruption and did so because all … Continue reading Digital Library 2.0: Continued Expansion of the Universe
The Alice Marshall Women’s History Collection is named for Alice Kahler Marshall (1923–1997), a local journalist, researcher, and avid collector, who was fascinated by the “contradictions between the realities of women’s lives and the stereotypes of women’s behavior.” The collection, compiled over 50 years, encompasses material on all areas of women’s lives from the 15th … Continue reading Bookend: A History of Women’s Lives
Annual will also feature a full slate of author programs, award presentations, special events, and other activities. This preview offers a small sample. For a complete listing, visit alaannual.org. Conference highlights The Opening General Session, on Friday, June 26, 4–5:15 p.m., will feature Roberta Kaplan, the litigator who helped invalidate a key section of the … Continue reading 2015 ALA Annual Preview
Some are white-tablecloth establishments that present culinary masterpieces with warm formality, while others are so casual they practically toss you your food, a paper plate, and a napkin from out of the side of a truck. It’s impossible to get in and out of San Francisco without having a gastronomic epiphany, or at least a … Continue reading Dining in the Golden City
This is an issue of integrity, of the collective adherence to a code and standard of values, of maintaining human records as complete, unimpaired, and undivided as possible. The ability to consult the evidence and sources used by researchers and authors will be lost if those digital records are not available. The ability to research … Continue reading Preserving the Born-Digital Record
Two issues came to the fore in the fall. Adobe Digital Editions experienced a privacy breach that led to unencrypted personal information being transmitted online. DCWG responded, and the Library and Information Technology Association (LITA) and ALA’s Office for Intellectual Freedom (OIF) assisted with technical and policy advice. Adobe took quick action to address the … Continue reading ALA’s DCWG, Ebooks, and Directions
Paul Sawyier Public Library implemented a biometric identification system in October 2008. Since then, patrons who sign up for a library card have the option to enroll in the finger identification system, which is required only when using the public computers and the media box located in the lobby. To check out materials or log … Continue reading Biometric Access
Not only can students learn from these presentations but so can professors who develop LIS courses and help students gain the necessary skills to succeed in 21st-century libraries. This need to bring the real and the academic worlds together underscores the importance of the work that the Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA) has done … Continue reading The Future of Library Services to Teens
