Through her long career, Peggy Johnson, author of Fundamentals of Collection Development and Management, now in its third edition, has been one of many librarians who has taken the profession from book selection and purchasing to collection management by addressing such issues as cooperative collection development, collection analysis, and scholarly communications. Her book’s introduction explains … Continue reading Building the Collection
Su Kim Chung is head of special collections public services at UNLV Libraries—home to the Center for Gaming Research, which includes a world-renowned Gaming Collection that documents the history, economics, and regulation of the gaming industry; and the Oral History Research Center, which collects oral narratives from local residents. Several of UNLV’s digital collections provide … Continue reading Bookend: Vintage Vegas
You’ve been working on adapting The Giver into a movie for almost two decades. Why do you think this book has such potential as a film? Well, I was looking for a project to do with my father, Lloyd Bridges, and I wanted to make a children’s movie. So I started to look through some … Continue reading Newsmaker: Jeff Bridges
Standing in the Cecil B. DeMille Reading Room, Mehr holds one of the library’s prized possessions: director Fred Zinnemann’s shooting script for the Academy Award–winning 1953 film From Here to Eternity, filled with his handwritten production notes.
In Recognizing Public Value, Mark H. Moore, professor at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, uses seven case studies to highlight the problems of recognizing and measuring social value. Publicly supported agencies and institutions gain social value not just for the good they do but because the public has agreed … Continue reading Businesslike Management
You’re known for making movie cameos. What is your favorite one to date? Stan Lee: I did one in the new Captain America: The Winter Soldier movie. I think it’s a very funny one. We’re pretty partial to the librarian you play in The Amazing Spider-Man. Do you have a spidey sense? No, I wish I … Continue reading Newsmaker: Stan Lee
I know you’re not supposed to ask this of writers, but how’s the current book going? Slowly! It’s never good for me to stop and start, and with this book I’ve had to do that several times. Two years off to write and produce the Tiger Eyes movie. Months away from it for other reasons. But … Continue reading Newsmaker: Judy Blume
The maker movement and makerspaces have swept the country and grown in numbers in libraries in recent years, as communities and libraries work to support science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics education by offering spaces and equipment where users can learn as they create. American Libraries spoke to representatives from three library makerspaces—Megan Danak, principal … Continue reading Making Room for Informal Learning
Steve Leggett, program coordinator of the National Film Preservation Board at the Library of Congress (LC), laughs as he retells this Hollywood urban legend. Nevertheless the story contains truth. Scores of films were destroyed during cinema’s early years by studios that viewed silents as obsolete. These silent classics were not seen as works of art … Continue reading Saving Our Celluloid Past
Pruett is speaking of her library’s experience with the Edge Initiative, a management and leadership tool library staff can use to evaluate and strengthen public access technology services to achieve community goals. The Edge Initiative, often referred to simply as the Edge, will begin a nationwide rollout in January. Pruett’s library was one of the … Continue reading How to Get the Edge on Technology Access
Franklin clearly envisioned that libraries would play an active role in advocacy and the improvement of communities. On January 24–28, librarians from around the country will arrive in Franklin’s native Philadelphia for the 2014 ALA Midwinter Meeting and Exhibits to discuss the future of their profession and its impact on the communities they serve in … Continue reading Philadelphia: 2014 Midwinter Preview
Why do you think story is the tool with which to combat the “real-life horcruxes” of inequality, illiteracy, and human rights violations? A good story opens us up, makes us vulnerable. And in that moment of vulnerability, we can be preyed on or prayed for. We’ve seen stories put to a lot of bad use. … Continue reading How Harry Potter Changed
This Man’s Life
