“The future’s gonna happen, whether we agree to participate or not,” said Thomas Frey, executive director and futurist for the DaVinci Institute, to participants in “Libraries From Now On: Imagining the Future.” The event, a summit on the future of libraries held May 2–3 at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., included 80 foundation … Continue reading Summit on the Future of Libraries: Day Two
Click here for the Douglas County (Colo.) Libraries Ebook Report for May 2014. Out of curiosity, I added up the price of every single title available to libraries from each source. That is, suppose you decide to buy every New York Times bestseller title available to your library from each of the vendors in the DCL report. Which … Continue reading DCL Ebook Report for May 2014
If you have heard me speak this year, then you’ve heard me repeat this often-quoted saying: “You must be the change you wish to see in the world.” I thought every library worker already had that mindset, that all of us want to change the lives of those we serve through our actions. How dismaying … Continue reading Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion
At times it felt like speed dating for librarians. “Librarians From Now On: Imagining the Future” a national summit on the future of libraries that was held at the Library of Congress (LC) in Washington, D.C. today, went fast and furious through a day of impressive speakers and discussions with invited library thought leaders. So … Continue reading Summit on the Future of Libraries
The Iowa Association of School Librarians (IASL) righted a legislative wrong this session by persuading state lawmakers to reverse a provision in a 2013 law that increased the per-pupil funding formula for school districts that shared a single librarian rather than employing their own. Enacted in 2013, HF 472 provided a financial incentive for sharing … Continue reading Iowa Restores School Librarians’ Value
School librarians in Vermont won a standards victory early this month when the Secretary of State’s Office approved Education Quality Standards that emphasize the essential role of school librarians and libraries in student success. The effective date, April 5, couldn’t have been better timed since April is School Library Month. Vermont School Library Association (VSLA) … Continue reading School Library Month Victory: Vermont Librarians Win Standards Battle
On April 22, the American Library Association (ALA) announced the names of 10 public libraries selected to participate in an 18-month community engagement training program as part of the Libraries Transforming Communities (LTC) Public Innovators Cohort. More than 80 libraries applied to be part of the cohort, which is part of ALA’s LTC initiative—a national plan … Continue reading ALA Selects 10 Public Libraries for Community Engagement Training
Here is the DCL Ebook Report for April 2014 from Douglas County (Colo.) Libraries. Click here. There seem to be two points of interest in this report. First, an April 2 blog post at Digital Book World points out that self-published works don’t always make it onto these types of lists, even when they are wildly … Continue reading DCL Ebook Report for April 2014
Earlier this week, I had the privilege of talking about US library ebook lending at the Salon du Livre—the Paris Book Fair. Representing ALA, I served on the panel “La Diffusion du Livre Numérique dans les Bibliothèques aux USA: Points de Vue des Acteurs” (Dissemination of Digital Book Libraries in the USA: Views of the … Continue reading An American in Paris
Voters in Miami-Dade County, Florida, may get a chance this summer to weigh in on whether they are willing to pay higher property taxes in order to fill a $20 million FY2015 deficit that would decimate public library services. Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos A. Giménez floated the straw-poll idea March 19 after a blue-ribbon task force … Continue reading Will a Straw Poll Save Miami-Dade Public Library?
Cuyahoga County (Ohio) Public Library Director Sari Feldman and Multnomah County (Oreg.) Library Director Vailey Oehlke represented ALA’s Digital Content Working Group (DCWG) at last week’s Public Library Association Conference in Indianapolis. One of DCWG’s major activities at the conference was to host a session titled “Public Libraries in the Marketplace: The Business of Digital Content.” This … Continue reading DCWG at PLA
In his keynote speech, “Steal Like an Artist,” author Austin Kleon referenced Brian Eno's concept that creative ideas are birthed in a network, an ecology of talent known as a scenius. The scenius runs contrary to the myth of the lone genius. Rather than subscribing to the notion that people are born with creativity in … Continue reading I Came, I Saw, I Was Part of the Scenius at SXSW
