“If we don’t advocate for ourselves, then who’s going to advocate for us?” asked Cindy Singer of the County of Los Angeles Public Library and moderator of the “Privatization of Libraries: What’s at Stake for Your Profession and Community” session. That question set the tone for the afternoon and advocate librarians did. The room was … Continue reading This Is Our Last Public Space
Even though he wrote The Googlization of Everything (And Why We Should Worry), Siva Vaidhyanathan has plenty of good to say about the company. “Google has actually treated us very well,” he said during his Auditorium Speaker Series speech. “Google does a good job with what they offer and they do it for free…. They’re … Continue reading Vaidhyanathan Speaks on the Limitations of Benevolence
Activist writer Dan Savage keynoted the ALA Annual Conference in New Orleans today by explaining how his new book, It Gets Better, was inspired by a rash of suicides by gay teens who commit suicide because they cannot picture a future that would be good enough to make up for the pain they are in … Continue reading Dan Savage Keynotes ALA Conference with Message of Positive Subversion
One of my biggest mistakes as a library administrator was getting rid of the card catalog. No, I’m not talking about replacing it with a digital version. Everyone did that back in the ’80s. That was a no-brainer. What I mean is that after we installed the OPAC, I sent the physical card catalog into … Continue reading Dead Trees We Have Known
Engaging with library users on the web is no longer restricted to simply putting a static HTML file on a server and calling it a successful website. Yet without technical assistance and forethought, content management can be an actively complex and frustrating process. A content management system like WordPress lets you manage your website more … Continue reading WordPress as a Library CMS
One of the best parts of my job, especially this time of year, is marveling at great achievements; how splendid it was to witness an old friend and erstwhile student, Eric Meyers, defend his dissertation last month. Eric’s dissertation covered a lot of territory; he studied the relationship between group information-seeking processes and the products … Continue reading As They Like It
When we library staff members are struggling to respond to incoming phone calls, email, text/instant messages, tweets, Facebook and LinkedIn updates, and people stopping us in hallways to ask for help, it’s easy to forget that we, too, need learning resources and communities of support. Many of us who are responsible for organizing and providing … Continue reading Professional Growth through Learning Communities
In a surprise announcement June 2, two of the leading names in digital reference publishing told their library customers that they have merged to strengthen the value of their databases and print resources. EBSCO Publishing, a subsidiary of EBSCO Industries founded in 1944 and headquartered in Ipswich, Massachusetts, has acquired the staff and product lines … Continue reading The Merger of the Century: EBSCO Acquires H. W. Wilson
Collegiality extends across time and borders, as ALA Library Director Karen Muller was recently reminded when she saw a colleague’s photo in the media and realized that her former coworker was toughing out an unenviable ordeal. The person Muller recognized in the photo accompanying an April 5 USA Today; story was Jane Gillis, rare book … Continue reading Jane: Karen Says “Hi”
While much has been written recently about using Facebook as a promotional tool for libraries and librarians, opinions vary widely on Facebook’s effectiveness in reaching library users. It’s indisputable, though, that Facebook can successfully promote advocacy on behalf of library-related issues, based on the creation of a Facebook Page that generated community awareness in western … Continue reading Fanbase to the Rescue: A Massachusetts Tale
Suffering from the after-school network grinding-to-a-halt syndrome? Have a flat or declining budget with little state or local political support? Can’t figure out how to pay for a bandwidth upgrade to support patrons’ online activities such as searching for jobs and applying for e-government services? If you haven’t considered the e-rate program lately, now’s the … Continue reading Refresh Your View of E-rate
President Barack Obama signed into law the evening of May 26 a four-year renewal of the Patriot Act that included none of the reader-privacy and Fourth Amendment protections sought by freedom-to-read groups such as the American Library Association, the Association of Research Libraries (ARL), and the American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression (ABFFE). Obama authorized … Continue reading Patriot Act Renewal Renews Reformers’ Determination
