Tiah Edmunson-Morton, archivist of the Oregon Hops and Brewing Archives at Oregon State University Photo: Krista Joy Johnson

Hoppy Days

May 1, 2016

Edmunson-Morton had been at OSU Libraries for seven years and had the itch to do something different. So in 2013, she pitched the idea of collecting and telling the intertwined story of hops and beer—the first such archive in the US—and within a couple of months it became reality. The first hops were planted on … Continue reading Hoppy Days


Joshua Hammer, author of The Bad-Ass Librarians of Timbuktu and Their Race to Save the World’s Most Precious Manuscripts.

Newsmaker: Joshua Hammer

March 24, 2016

When reading your book, I didn’t know whether to be scared out of my mind about the jihadists or think it’s the greatest thing that these librarians were able to get the manuscripts out of danger. JOSHUA HAMMER: I think both reactions would be appropriate. Fearing for more than 350,000 medieval manuscripts in the city, … Continue reading Newsmaker: Joshua Hammer


Clockwise from left: AFU Director Anders Liljegren and librarian Ingrid Collberg; one of several alien models in the AFU archive; the AFU library walls, decorated with UFO book covers; UFO modeled after photos taken by US contactee George Adamski in the 1950s; The Supernatural Magazine, published in Dublin in 1809. (Photos: Clas Svahn)

Bookend: The Real X-Files

March 1, 2016

Director and archivist Anders Liljegren, who created AFU’s specialized subject classification scheme, works with Collberg and more than 20 volunteers. “Since 1973, AFU has grown from a single bookshelf to a facility used by researchers from many countries,” Liljegren says. “Ingrid’s background in working with French materials is particularly valuable.” AFU also houses 50,000 issues … Continue reading Bookend: The Real X-Files


Christy Karpinski and a selection of political buttons from the Busy Beaver Button Museum in Chicago. Photos: Rebecca Lomax/American Libraries (Karpinski); Busy Beaver Button Company (buttons)

Bookend: Pushing Buttons

January 2, 2016

Enter Christy Karpinski, who has since turned that internship into a permanent position as digital librarian and museum manager at Busy Beaver’s Button Museum, which now displays 9,000 pinback pieces of cultural history and ephemera. Karpinski’s background is in photography, but she has also made websites and organized digital collections of photos, which spurred an … Continue reading Bookend: Pushing Buttons


Opening image from The Story of the Stuff

In the Wake of Tragedy

December 14, 2015

University of Tennessee Digital Humanities Librarian Ashley R. Maynor has created a multimedia web documentary, titled The Story of the Stuff, that looks at what motivates people to send physical memorials to the victims and survivors of such tragedies. After Newtown, Maynor says she “witnessed firsthand the growing phenomenon in global culture that we’ve seen … Continue reading In the Wake of Tragedy



David Gibson. (Photo: Geo. Willeman/Library of Congress)

Bookend: Game On

November 1, 2015

David Gibson, a moving image technician, is LC’s videogame steward, and he earned the role by chance. “I was the youngest person in the office, so they gave me the job,” he says, laughing. He does credit gaming as a youth and while in graduate school with providing a background to archive the 4,000 videogame … Continue reading Bookend: Game On


Karen Muller

Understanding Diversity

September 21, 2015

Even if we would like, we cannot know every book in our collection; nor is it likely that we will know the reading interests of every patron. How then do we advise those looking for reading suggestions? Crash Course in Readers’ Advisory, by Cynthia Orr, reviews the basics of readers’ advisory services, starting with a … Continue reading Understanding Diversity


A few of the 75 Civil War–era photographs that were taken from Bangor (Maine) Public Library and later recovered. These images, along with 50 original World War I– and World War II–era posters that were stolen, had an estimated value of $31,000. The image of the officer leaning over his chair helped identify the set as belonging to the library.

Thwarting Book Thieves

September 16, 2015

What Graves didn’t know was that by the time he brought them to the dealer, the owner had already seen the items at the library a few weeks earlier. “I had been talking about them to the owner while he was visiting our special collections area,” says special collections librarian Bill Cook of Bangor (Maine) … Continue reading Thwarting Book Thieves


The Long Now Foundation's Rosetta Project

Library of the Future: Learning with the Long Now Foundation

July 1, 2015

Danielle Engelman, director of programs, began her presentation at ALA Annual with an explanation of Long Now’s signature project, the 10,000 Year Clock. The clock is an icon for long-term thinking, envisioned as a way to get people to think in very long terms about the consequences of their choices. Of significant interest to attendees … Continue reading Library of the Future: Learning with the Long Now Foundation


Heidi Abbey Moyer (Photo: Bob Skalkowski)

Bookend: A History of Women’s Lives

June 1, 2015

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


NYPL's Space/Time Directory

Knight News Challenge announces winners of $3 million in grants

January 30, 2015

ALA President Courtney L. Young opened the session, drawing a parallel between the mission of the Knight Foundation and ALA, both of which, she said, believe in the democratizing effect of keeping the public informed and engaged. This year’s News Challenge received 680 submissions, which were narrowed down to 41 semifinalists. In the end, 22 … Continue reading Knight News Challenge announces winners of $3 million in grants