intellectual freedom Archives | Page 18 of 30

The Revolution Isn’t Just Digital

By Alan S. Inouye | January 11, 2012

The digital revolution in libraries is not exactly a secret. Every day we read about some upheaval in the ebook industry, a new development in digitization, or yet another service from Google. And the recent announcement of an ALA-wide initiative on digital content and libraries, while important and necessary, won’t exactly make media headlines. It … Continue reading The Revolution Isn’t Just Digital →

Joanne Budler

January 3, 2012

Kansas State Librarian Joanne Budler recently terminated the Kansas Digital Library Consortium’s contract with ebook vendor OverDrive to become a beta tester of 3M’s new Cloud Library ebook lending service. The change is the culmination of a nearly yearlong battle over whether the consortium owned the content it had purchased or had simply licensed it. … Continue reading Joanne Budler →

Making Progress by Fives

By Dorcas Hand | December 30, 2011

At the Australian School Library Association conference in October 2011, Executive Director Karen Bonanno offered several excellent insights in her keynote (Vimeo, 31:46) that are useful to all librarians in this era of tightened budgets and job opportunities. School librarians in particular may want to implement Bonanno’s five-finger mnemonic to craft that one-minute elevator speech … Continue reading Making Progress by Fives →

Add to Your (Library) Cart

Welcome to the first Outside/In, our new column for American Libraries. Some readers may remember us from Public Libraries magazine, where we wrote the Internet Spotlight column about web topics relevant to librarians and the public library sector. Our goal with this new column is to share practical information, news, and tips about emerging web … Continue reading Add to Your (Library) Cart →

Last Week in E-Content

December 12, 2011

Last week was a busy week for e-content, so here is your quick Monday morning catch up on three trending topics: OverDrive was bad, Kindle was jailbroken, and iBooks was fontified (I think that is the correct word for when you add fonts to a device). Rumblings continue to plague OverDrive. After last month’s lost-and-found … Continue reading Last Week in E-Content →

What’s in a Name?

By Joseph Janes | December 7, 2011

If you haven’t googled the word “Santorum,” now would be a good time—otherwise most of what follows won’t make a lot of sense. Fair warning: What you find won’t be pretty (i.e., it will be explicit), but it will be instructive. Now that we’re all on the same page, let’s examine this phenomenon. The neologism … Continue reading What’s in a Name? →

ALA Members Get Their 15th FIL in Guadalajara

December 6, 2011

“For those who are worried about the future of print books, I encourage you to go to the Guadalajara Book Fair!” recommends ALA President Molly Raphael, who attended FIL (La Feria Internacional del Libro) for the first time this year. “The print book was so dominant that it was hard to find exhibitors who were … Continue reading ALA Members Get Their 15th FIL in Guadalajara →

OCLC Launches New WorldShare Platform

By George Eberhart | December 5, 2011

OCLC announced the release of a new platform December 5 that will let its member libraries create, configure, and share a growing number of new services and web-based library applications. The new OCLC WorldShare Platform, a shared technical infrastructure, will serve as the host for OCLC WorldShare Management Services, a significant expansion of the Dublin, … Continue reading OCLC Launches New WorldShare Platform →

Thanksgiving Week Serves Up Net Neutrality

By Beverly Goldberg | November 23, 2011

The concept of net neutrality became a reality November 20, when long-sought rules slipped into effect to protect equitable access to online content. However, an unresolved lawsuit filed by Verizon in January continues to challenge the underlying principles codified by the Federal Communications Commission. The FCC regulations (PDF file) establish three rules crafted to “preserve … Continue reading Thanksgiving Week Serves Up Net Neutrality →

Penguin Taking Ebooks, Going Home

November 22, 2011

[UPDATE: Scroll to end.] Loaning ebooks is like playing with some other kid’s ball on the playground. There is always a risk that the other kid will take back his or her ball and go home, leaving you and your friends empty-handed. Yesterday, Penguin took back its ebooks and left OverDrive and libraries who had … Continue reading Penguin Taking Ebooks, Going Home →

An Unplugged Space

By Amanda Wakaruk and Marc Truitt | November 15, 2011

The physical library was once a place of refuge, an escape from distraction. But today, the constant need to connect and communicate has largely rendered this role obsolete. The power of coupling networking tools with instant access to vast amounts of information is now an essential feature of library programs, services, and facilities. A library … Continue reading An Unplugged Space →

A Guide to Ebook Purchasing

By Sue Polanka | November 15, 2011

For those libraries looking to purchase e-books, you are not alone. According to the Library Journal 2011 survey of ebook penetration and use in libraries, 95% of academic, 82% of public, and 44% of school libraries are already offering ebooks, and many more are considering it. For anyone contemplating purchasing ebooks, asking why is the … Continue reading A Guide to Ebook Purchasing →

Latest Library Links

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Kevin Maher writes: “With so much going on in government, now is the time to take stock of progress on library priorities, particularly when it comes to federal funding and the upcoming budget showdown. Here’s where things stand with federal budgeting for FY2026.” Maher explains the status and importance of appropriations bills, recissions, the recent reconciliation bill, the reauthorization of the Institute of Museum and Library Services, and recent court cases for federal library funding.

AL: The Scoop, July 15
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David Lemmons writes: “The gray area of whether a source is useful or whether you can trust it has become grayer and grayer over time, with the advent of accessing most of our information online. Checklists, like CRAAP, RADAR, and SIFT, are designed to help students navigate this gray area and are very commonly used across library instruction sessions. For me, though, the simplification afforded by this checklist approach misses a lot of the nuance. So, instead of relying on a specific checklist, I follow an approach I call asking crucial questions.”

Info Literal, July 9
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Geraldine Castro writes: “Sonia Beatriz Hernández never imagined she would one day be using a computer to digitize memories that included her. A transgender woman and a senior citizen, she learned everything she knows about being an archivist at her current job. Hernández is part of the Trans Memory Archive of Argentina (Archivo de la Memoria Trans Argentina), an initiative that not only preserves the history of gender and sexual dissidence, but has also inspired others throughout Latin America and the Caribbean to create their own collections.”

Wired, July 13
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Len Bryan writes: “People generally fall into one of two camps when it comes to weeding library collections. Either a person approaches weeding with great enthusiasm and a desire to clean up the collection and make it more accessible for students, make the space more inviting, create places for displays, and secure additional library funding. Or they approach weeding with great dread and trepidation, afraid they are going to throw away something that someone might need someday, that they may never get the funding needed to replace weeded books, and of possible pushback from teachers or parents about the process.”

Knowledge Quest, July 14
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Chelsea Heinbach writes: “The Librarian Parlor team knows how important it is to foster connection and community with fellow researchers, so we developed Research Community Bingo as an open resource that can be adapted for various contexts. I tested Research Community Bingo at my institution, the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. After a brief introduction explaining the rules, participants received their bingo cards and began mingling. The energy in the room quickly shifted from initial hesitation to enthusiastic conversations.”

The Librarian Parlor, July 11
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Michael Blackwell, Jennie Rose Halperin, Catherine Mason, and Carmi Parker write: “The data forces us to conclude, reluctantly, that not only does print still offer libraries a far better bang-per-book than digital, but that for most popular titles, digital collections are becoming increasingly difficult to sustain. Some smaller and independent publishers are, however, now more likely to be present in the market and offer some hope for long-term and cost-effective holdings.” ReadersFirst has additional data and analysis that was cut for space from the published article.

Computers in Libraries, July/Aug.; ReadersFirst, July 7
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“Disability Pride Month is a time to honor the history, achievements, and diverse experiences of people with disabilities. This curated collection features fiction and nonfiction titles for all ages that explore disability through the lens of pride, empowerment, and identity. Highlighting both visible and invisible disabilities, these stories reflect the richness and resilience of the disability community and the ongoing movement for inclusion and equal rights. Explore the display and celebrate the voices that challenge stigma, expand understanding, and inspire change.”

Baltimore County Public Library, July 1

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