BEA For All: A Librarian’s Guide to BookExpo America 2013
To make the most of BEA, here are the offerings that are best for librarians—not all of them are particularly aimed at our profession, but eavesdropping on “the other side” can be illuminating. Though ebook questions feature heavily, we’re moving on from library availability concerns to debates surrounding secondhand ebooks, the effects on authors, and e-publishing of out-of-print titles.
Send Me Your Library Cats | Editorial
Cats are frequently a part of the library landscape. Just as they find a nook in shops, cats find a shelf at many libraries and add their feline charm to the service.
PLOS Launches New Labs Division to Develop Publishing and Software Prototypes
The Public Library of Science (PLOS) last week launched PLOS Labs, a new division that will develop software prototypes and coordinate open-source development projects aimed at generating “disruptive ideas and products for scientific communication.”
Poetry Goes (Sort of) Viral, Undying Love for Nick Carraway, and an Unlikely Roadtrip | What We’re Reading
This week, Library Journal and School Library Journal staffers are reading some books very much of the moment: the follow-up to Code Name Verity and the genesis of Baz Luhrmann’s fizzy film. Others are stuck in the past, or someplace in the middle.
Data-Driven Libraries Part 2: Understanding Customers Through Segmentation Analytics
Wednesday, June 12, 2013 2:30 – 3:30 PM ET Customer segmentation studies and data analytics combines demographic data with lifestyle information to help public libraries better understand who their customers are and what services best meet the community’s need, whether school-aged children or empty-nester couples. This type of GIS-based market segmentation can also help inform strategies around such initiatives as a levy ballot and also eliminate inefficient marketing efforts. Register now!
What is Alleged Defamation Worth? $1 Billion, on a Librarian’s Salary
Here we go again. Another academic librarian received a letter threatening legal action over criticizing a publisher’s practices in a personal blog. But it’s not Edwin Mellen Press that’s the plaintiff this time; Jeffrey Beall, University of of Colorado, Denver librarian and author of the Scholarly Open Access blog, received the letter from OMICS Publishing Group, an OA publisher based in India (with an office in Los Angeles).
For Brooklyn PL, Planned Sale of Branches Promises Opportunity, Provokes Concern
BPL, one of three systems in New York City and the country’s fifth-largest library (by population served), has suffered consistent underfunding of capital needs, with its 59 locations facing a $230 million backlog of deferred maintenance, barely dented by the $15 million annual allotment of capital funding.
Their solution: sell two aging libraries that occupy valuable land, and work with real estate developers to include libraries in residential towers. It’s not uncommon for urban libraries to consider mixed-use buildings, though few face the real estate froth characteristic in Brooklyn.
Making Room for Innovation
Two library service prototyping spaces, in two very different places, have a remarkable amount in common. Nate Hill runs and operates the 4th Floor in Chattanooga, a large public library loft space operating as a flexible community makerspace and event space. Jeff Goldenson co-ran and operated Labrary, a 37-day design experiment occupying a vacant storefront in Cambridge.
Latest Articles
Poetry Goes (Sort of) Viral, Undying Love for Nick Carraway, and an Unlikely Roadtrip | What We’re Reading
This week, Library Journal and School Library Journal staffers are reading some books very much of the moment: the follow-up to Code Name Verity and the genesis of Baz Luhrmann’s fizzy film. Others are stuck in the past, or someplace in the middle.
Gallery: LibraryAware Community Award Winners Canton Public Library and Township (MI)
On Friday, May 10, Michigan’s Canton Township and the Canton Public Library were presented with the LibraryAware Community Award.
Send Me Your Library Cats | Editorial
Cats are frequently a part of the library landscape. Just as they find a nook in shops, cats find a shelf at many libraries and add their feline charm to the service.
It Takes Two: Up Close with Librarians Margaux DelGuidice and Rose Luna
“[Our] library in Freeport is the heart of that community,” says 2013 Mover & Shaker Margaux DelGuidice, who shares duties with fellow honoree Rose Luna at the Freeport Memorial Library in Long Island, NY. These two powerhouses also hold full-time teacher librarian positions at two area high schools, and have devoted countless hours to professional advocacy. In our interview, they share their inspirations and passions, their best practices for constructive collaboration, and their goals for the future of libraries.
Dan Brown’s Dante: Positioned to Dominate Best Sellers
LJ reviewer Jeff Ayers on the king of the historical thriller, he’s back!
A Battle Joined: Gettysburg | May 15, 2013
To coincide with the 150th anniversary of Gettysburg, check out these recent titles.
Skip Prichard Named CEO and President of OCLC, Will Take Over July 1
Skip Prichard was named the next President and CEO of OCLC, effective July 1. (In the meantime, he will serve as President-elect, effective June 3.) Prichard will succeed Jay Jordan, who will retire June 30, after 15 years as OCLC President and CEO.
Prichard most recently served as President and CEO of Ingram Content Group, a position he left just shy of a year ago, saying he’d met the goals he came to achieve. Previously, he was President and CEO of ProQuest Information and Learning, a position he vacated after the business was sold to Cambridge Information Group in 2007.
Q&A: Jay Bushman, Co-Creator of Welcome to Sanditon
In Jane Austen’s unfinished novel, Sanditon, a group of people set out to build their own town on the English seaside. Welcome to Sanditon is a modern, multiplatorm adaptation of the novel from the team behind the wildly popular Pride and Prejudice–based videoblog series The Lizzie Bennet Diaries. Jay Bushman was the transmedia producer and a writer for the Lizzie Bennet Diaries and is Welcome to Sanditon’s showrunner and creator.
What is Alleged Defamation Worth? $1 Billion, on a Librarian’s Salary
Here we go again. Another academic librarian received a letter threatening legal action over criticizing a publisher’s practices in a personal blog. But it’s not Edwin Mellen Press that’s the plaintiff this time; Jeffrey Beall, University of of Colorado, Denver librarian and author of the Scholarly Open Access blog, received the letter from OMICS Publishing Group, an OA publisher based in India (with an office in Los Angeles).
Because Life’s Too Short | Books for Dudes
May is for manful titles, courage and resolution, old crime stories and new thrillers. Read Hobbs’s debut novel Ghostman, Kerr’s A Man Without Breath, Hillerman’s (1986) Skinwalkers, and more.
Upcoming Webcasts
Data-Driven Libraries Part 2: Understanding Customers Through Segmentation Analytics
Wednesday, June 12, 2013 2:30 – 3:30 PM ET Customer segmentation studies and data analytics combines demographic data with lifestyle information to help public libraries better understand who their customers are and what services best meet the community’s need, whether school-aged children or empty-nester couples. This type of GIS-based market segmentation can also help inform strategies around such initiatives as a levy ballot and also eliminate inefficient marketing efforts. Register now!
More Webcasts:
- Data-Driven Libraries Part 1: Analyzing Data to Manage Print Collections
- Rejuvenate Your Space: Top Building Trends in Library Design
- Behind the Scenes with Gale Publishing Stories
- Sizzling Spring Cookbook Buzz
- eBooks: Exploring the Rapidly Evolving Options
- Some Fine Romance: Spring Titles 2013
- Perspectives on Academic Patrons: A Closer Look at Takeaways from Library Journal’s Academic Patron Profiles
- Editors’ Picks: Hot Summer Titles from HarperCollins, Macmillan, and Random House
LJ in Print
BEA For All: A Librarian’s Guide to BookExpo America 2013
To make the most of BEA, here are the offerings that are best for librarians—not all of them are particularly aimed at our profession, but eavesdropping on “the other side” can be illuminating. Though ebook questions feature heavily, we’re moving on from library availability concerns to debates surrounding secondhand ebooks, the effects on authors, and e-publishing of out-of-print titles.
Best of Both Worlds | Office Hours
An LIS student’s letter to the editor of LJ gave me pause. Krystal Taylor, studying at IUPUI (Indiana University–Purdue University Indianapolis), detailed the move her program is making from classroom-based instruction to almost 100 percent online delivery. A big-picture concern is evident: “What cost will this be to the library and information science field?” Her word for those completing an online MLS: lackluster.
Featured Posts from LJ Reviews
Poetry Goes (Sort of) Viral, Undying Love for Nick Carraway, and an Unlikely Roadtrip | What We’re Reading
This week, Library Journal and School Library Journal staffers are reading some books very much of the moment: the follow-up to Code Name Verity and the genesis of Baz Luhrmann’s fizzy film. Others are stuck in the past, or someplace in the middle.
Dan Brown’s Dante: Positioned to Dominate Best Sellers
LJ reviewer Jeff Ayers on the king of the historical thriller, he’s back!
A Battle Joined: Gettysburg | May 15, 2013
To coincide with the 150th anniversary of Gettysburg, check out these recent titles.
Q&A: Jay Bushman, Co-Creator of Welcome to Sanditon
In Jane Austen’s unfinished novel, Sanditon, a group of people set out to build their own town on the English seaside. Welcome to Sanditon is a modern, multiplatorm adaptation of the novel from the team behind the wildly popular Pride and Prejudice–based videoblog series The Lizzie Bennet Diaries. Jay Bushman was the transmedia producer and a writer for the Lizzie Bennet Diaries and is Welcome to Sanditon’s showrunner and creator.
Because Life’s Too Short | Books for Dudes
May is for manful titles, courage and resolution, old crime stories and new thrillers. Read Hobbs’s debut novel Ghostman, Kerr’s A Man Without Breath, Hillerman’s (1986) Skinwalkers, and more.
Blogs & Columns
Send Me Your Library Cats | Editorial
Cats are frequently a part of the library landscape. Just as they find a nook in shops, cats find a shelf at many libraries and add their feline charm to the service. Other animals have a library role, particularly therapy dogs. But I’m not sure … [Read More...]
Can Information Professionals Afford Apprenticeships? A Thought Experiment | Peer to Peer Review
I have a gift for picking despised professional niches. I used to run institutional repositories, and if there’s a niche in academic librarianship more despised than that, I’m honestly not sure what it might be. From the frying pan into the … [Read More...]
The Downside of Being Universally Liked | Advocate’s Corner
Libraries have no natural predators. Believe me. Having worked in partisan politics and lobbied on contentious issues, I know what it means to have opponents. Since I started lobbying for libraries no one has called me names, hung up on me, or … [Read More...]
Studying the Studies | From the Bell Tower
Having access to national studies helps academic librarians stay informed about their community members. Finding the time to read and analyze them—and make sense of possibly conflicting information—is a new “keeping up” challenge. One … [Read More...]
Best of Both Worlds | Office Hours
An LIS student’s letter to the editor of LJ gave me pause. Krystal Taylor, studying at IUPUI (Indiana University–Purdue University Indianapolis), detailed the move her program is making from classroom-based instruction to almost 100 percent … [Read More...]
