How often have you heard people complain in the last few months that our president, senators, and congressional reps are all acting like little children—especially during the shameful national debt ceiling crisis? There we were, on the brink of an unprecedented double-dip recession, and our federal elected officials persisted in pointing fingers at each other, … Continue reading No More Kidding Around
The library world was thrilled at the September 21 announcement that library vendor OverDrive had enabled its library customers to loan the ebooks they’d licensed from OverDrive to patrons with Kindle e-readers—provided that the ebooks were in Kindle-maker Amazon’s sales inventory. Since then, examination of the fine print between OverDrive and Amazon has caused ethical … Continue reading Librarians Weigh Kindle Ebook Lending against Reader Privacy
Here I sit, minding my own business (OK, working a crossword puzzle and catching my breath after an exhilarating class session with our new graduate students about the future of the book and how libraries will respond to whatever is happening) when an email pings with a request to write an “extra” column for American … Continue reading Steve Jobs, 1955 – –
Are your website visitors doing what you expect them to do or what you want them to do? Are they following the path you thought they would follow when you designed your menu system? Are visitors to your digital-library page finding the link to historical photos of your city or the university’s archival images? These … Continue reading Using Web Analytics Well
Each week I have at least one conversation about how schools and libraries are working to support teaching and learning in STEM: science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. I’ve discovered that some librarians are struggling to figure out what their role should be in the STEM universe. I’m here to give you a few pointers. First, … Continue reading The Lowdown on STEM
The individuals and libraries shown here have been singled out by their peers for their extraordinary achievements. These are the highest and most prestigious awards given by the American Library Association, but they are only a handful of the 200-plus awards presented annually by ALA, its divisions, round tables, offices, and other units. Meet more … Continue reading Leading By Example: 2011 ALA Award Winners
“Remind me how to pronounce Eyjafjallajökull?” “What music should I play for a piece about polar bears?” “David Hasselhoff—singing at the fall of the Berlin Wall. Can you find tape?” Welcome to a typical day at the National Public Radio library in Washington, D.C., where over 10,000 such requests come in each year from staff, … Continue reading Broadcast Collaboration
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I wasn’t intending to write a “9/11” column, really. The 10th-anniversary rumblings have already begun as I write this, and I’ve started to ponder what I’ll do on the actual day (apart from pulling the covers over my head and muting the inevitable pregame and halftime goings-on during NFL opening-week games). Then, over coffee and … Continue reading What’s Gone Is Gone
Blockbuster was much in the news last fall, though not in the favorable light it once enjoyed. The cultural phenomenon and former stock market darling that once prospered through aggressive marketing, savvy exploitation of technology, and keen insights into customer preferences filed for bankruptcy in September 2010. Though some analysts thought the filing could give … Continue reading Avoiding the Path to Obsolescence
In April, we conducted an online survey of our readers, in order to find out what American Libraries is doing right and what we could be doing differently. A big thank you to the nearly 3,600 participants, who represented all types of libraries (public, academic, school, and special). You answered 31 questions about your preferred … Continue reading What You Told Us
At the request of the FBI, Brighton (Mich.) District Library Director Nancy Johnson is spreading a cautionary word to library colleagues about a series of illegal attempts to hack credit card accounts by testing them on her library’s online-donation website. Here’s the scam, according to Johnson: Someone has been using our library online donation option … Continue reading Credit-Card Hackers Target Library’s Online Donation Page
For the last four years, Marshall Breeding has conducted an online survey to measure the satisfaction rate with multiple aspects of the automation products used by libraries. The results of four editions of survey data, along with brief interpretive narratives, have been published on Library Technology Guides. The May/June 2011 issue of Library Technology Reports … Continue reading Librarians’ Assessments of Automation Systems
