In 2001, American Libraries published Mark Herring’s “10 Reasons Why the Internet Is No Substitute for a Library.” The article, a celebration of the importance of physical libraries in a digital age, was a hit. It hasn’t aged well. Yesterday BoingBoing published a photo of a poster made from that list, and the commentary is, … Continue reading Revisiting “10 Reasons”
London-based blogger, science-fiction author, and digital-rights champion Cory Doctorow opened Day 2 of the Conference on Privacy and Youth via Skype. “There comes a day when kids have to use their good judgment,” he said, arguing that adults are unwittingly undermining that goal by berating young people to guard their personal information while subjecting them … Continue reading Conference on Privacy and Youth: Day 2
The ALA Office for Intellectual Freedom's Conference on Privacy and Youth, currently meeting March 24–25 in downtown Chicago, is bringing together some 50 librarians, privacy advocates, educators, authors, artists, and policy experts to discuss the work they are doing to engage and educate young people in privacy protection so that they can make informed choices … Continue reading Conference on Privacy and Youth: Day 1
At my library, I’m in charge of collection development for our largest academic division. Sometimes I find the task daunting as I struggle to find a balance between buying things that will likely get used today and anticipating what might be needed in the future. The choices I make will influence the long-term health of … Continue reading Let’s Not Borrow Trouble
On March 1, I had the opportunity to join about 50 other invitees and steering committee members to discuss the scope and content of what has been named (at least for now) the “Digital Public Library of America” (DPLA). The planning effort is hosted by the Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard University, … Continue reading The First Digital Public Library of America Workshop
Over the past eight days, the biblioblogosphere erupted as word spread that terms of service were about to shift for libraries’ e-book lending rights. It began with a February 24 email (PDF file) from OverDrive CEO Steve Potash alerting customers that “Publishers are expressing concern and debating their digital future where a single eBook license … Continue reading E-Book Blues
While ALA Midwinter 2011 was starting in beautiful San Diego, I was on a plane to a different, but equally sunny destination—Las Vegas, Nevada—to attend the 2011 International Consumer Electronics Show . . . me, and 160,000 others. CES is the largest consumer electronics show in the world, with journalists, retail buyers, and manufacturers all … Continue reading CES: The Librarian’s Takeaway
The internet, along with Facebook and Twitter, was the Open University that facilitated learning about democracy for Egypt’s young people. The revolution had been brewing for the past 10 years or so, increasing by the day as more people acquired mobile devices. The ground in Egypt was ripe for revolution: Corruption was at its peak, … Continue reading Egyptians Find Their Power in Access to Information
When I first received my library degree, I religiously kept up with blogs and journals in my areas of professional interest. I’d read blogs through an RSS reader—in my case, Google Reader—and I’d try to remember to read the journals I was most interested in when they came out. Now, as the mother of a … Continue reading Keeping Up, 2.0 Style
The LITA Mobile Computing Interest Group meeting at Midwinter today highlighted an upcoming mobile service and an anecdotal study of mobile computing usage. Evviva Weinraub and Hannah Gascho Rempel of Oregon State University presented their Book Genie mobile service, set to launch January 14. Similar to Orange County (Fla.) Library System’s Shake It! app, Book … Continue reading Developments for Mobile Users
The 2011 Midwinter edition of Top Tech Trends brought together five technologists from libraries and the library technology marketplace to discuss their views on the current and future trends in libraries. The one common thread weaving through the entire discussion, almost as if they’d planned it that way, was the high potential for making library … Continue reading Data Gets Personal: Top Tech Trends at Midwinter 2011
Journalist and historian Richard Rhodes delivered the Arthur Curley Memorial Lecture January 8 at the ALA Midwinter Meeting. The Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Making of the Atomic Bomb (1986), Rhodes chose to talk to the ALA audience about the introduction and slow acceptance of new technologies, going all the way back to ancient times. … Continue reading The Clash of Old and New Technology
