Paralibrarian of the Year 2016: Brown Biggers
In a compelling entry supported by 20 passionate letters from the academic community of the University of North Carolina, Greensboro (UNCG), and beyond—including deans, faculty, administrators, librarians, community leaders, and coworkers—Brown Biggers was overwhelmingly recommended for LJ’s 2016 Paralibrarian of the Year Award, sponsored by DEMCO. Among the highlights, nominators pointed to Biggers’s communication and teaching skills, technological expertise, commitment to service both at his job and in the larger Greensboro community, and genuine love for people.
Dennis Walcott Named CEO of Queens Library
Former New York City Schools Chancellor Dennis Walcott was named president and CEO of Queens Library (QL) on March 1. Walcott, a native of Queens, was selected by the board after a six-month national search. He succeeds Bridget Quinn-Carey, who has served as interim president and CEO since former QL president Thomas W. Galante was placed on administrative leave and then fired in December 2014 for alleged misconduct and mismanagement of library funds. Quinn-Carey will return to her prior role as QL executive vice president and COO. Assuming Walcott’s appointment is approved by the New York State Department of Education (DOE), he will assume his duties at QL on March 14. Although he is not a librarian, Walcott’s career has been devoted to education and social services, serving high-level administrative roles in New York City’s government and community organizations.
NCSU Offers Social Media Archives Toolkit for Libraries
North Carolina State University (NCSU) Libraries recently debuted a free, web-based social media archives toolkit designed to help cultural heritage organizations develop social media collection strategies, gain knowledge of ways in which peer institutions are collecting similar content, understand current and potential uses of social media content by researchers, assess the legal and ethical implications of archiving this content, and develop techniques for enriching collections of social media content at minimal cost. Tools for building and enriching collections include NCSU’s Social Media Combine—which pre-assembles the open source Social Feed Manager, developed at George Washington University for Twitter data harvesting, and NCSU’s own open source Lentil program for Instagram—into a single package that can be deployed on Windows, OSX, and Linux computers.
Hachette To Buy Perseus Publishing Arm; Ingram To Acquire Distribution
Hachette Book Group (HBG) announced on March 1 that it had entered into an agreement to buy the Perseus Books Group, an independent publishing company. On March 3, Ingram Content Group announced its plans to purchase Perseus’s distribution operations. The two agreements come a little more than 18 months after an initial deal to sell Perseus’s entire operation to HBG fell through. Both parties hope to close the deals by the end of March, pending regulatory approval. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
Editors’ Spring Picks 2016
From the Syrian cuisine of Aleppo and the rescued manuscripts of Timbuktu to women crime writers and the Broadway phenomenon that is Hamilton, these 33 new books have captured our imagination this season
Proposed Federal Budget Could Cut State Library Funding by Nearly $1 Million
President Barack Obama’s Fiscal Year 2017 (FY17) budget request to the U.S. Congress, released on February 9 by the U.S. Government Publishing Office and the Office of Management and Budget, included $230,000,000 for the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS). Of the total FY17 appropriations request for IMLS, $228,593,000 is allocated for programs and administrative costs authorized by the Museum and Library Services Act (MLSA), which comprises the Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) and the Museum Services Act (MSA). Some $182,429,000 would go toward programs authorized by LSTA: grants to state library agencies, Native American and Native Hawaiian library services, the Laura Bush 21st Century Librarian Program, and National Leadership Grants for libraries.
Paralibrarian of the Year 2016: Brown Biggers
In a compelling entry supported by 20 passionate letters from the academic community of the University of North Carolina, Greensboro (UNCG), and beyond—including deans, faculty, administrators, librarians, community leaders, and coworkers—Brown Biggers was overwhelmingly recommended for LJ’s 2016 Paralibrarian of the Year Award, sponsored by DEMCO. Among the highlights, nominators pointed to Biggers’s communication and teaching skills, technological expertise, commitment to service both at his job and in the larger Greensboro community, and genuine love for people.
The Wrong Umbrella: In search of a stronger model | Blatant Berry
I’m concerned that the Canadian Library Association (CLA) has decided to disband. It isn’t just that I remember many of the top Canadian librarians I befriended and the good times I had at CLA conferences. The Canadian librarians I recently talked to were very unhappy about the dissolution of CLA (though they were too few to be a valid sample, and their views are too close to mine to help me understand what brought about this drastic action).
Latest Articles
The Wrong Umbrella: In search of a stronger model | Blatant Berry
I’m concerned that the Canadian Library Association (CLA) has decided to disband. It isn’t just that I remember many of the top Canadian librarians I befriended and the good times I had at CLA conferences. The Canadian librarians I recently talked to were very unhappy about the dissolution of CLA (though they were too few to be a valid sample, and their views are too close to mine to help me understand what brought about this drastic action).
Paralibrarian of the Year 2016: Brown Biggers
In a compelling entry supported by 20 passionate letters from the academic community of the University of North Carolina, Greensboro (UNCG), and beyond—including deans, faculty, administrators, librarians, community leaders, and coworkers—Brown Biggers was overwhelmingly recommended for LJ’s 2016 Paralibrarian of the Year Award, sponsored by DEMCO. Among the highlights, nominators pointed to Biggers’s communication and teaching skills, technological expertise, commitment to service both at his job and in the larger Greensboro community, and genuine love for people.
Proposed Federal Budget Could Cut State Library Funding by Nearly $1 Million
President Barack Obama’s Fiscal Year 2017 (FY17) budget request to the U.S. Congress, released on February 9 by the U.S. Government Publishing Office and the Office of Management and Budget, included $230,000,000 for the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS). Of the total FY17 appropriations request for IMLS, $228,593,000 is allocated for programs and administrative costs authorized by the Museum and Library Services Act (MLSA), which comprises the Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) and the Museum Services Act (MSA). Some $182,429,000 would go toward programs authorized by LSTA: grants to state library agencies, Native American and Native Hawaiian library services, the Laura Bush 21st Century Librarian Program, and National Leadership Grants for libraries.
Watch and Learn | The User Experience
In my last column, I shared some background about a librarywide user experience (UX) project at the Chapel Hill Public Library (CHPL), NC. I focused there on communication, which, while not directly a UX topic, is essential to any ongoing, meaningful library UX work. Now I’d like to dig into some of the changes being explored.
Hachette To Buy Perseus Publishing Arm; Ingram To Acquire Distribution
Hachette Book Group (HBG) announced on March 1 that it had entered into an agreement to buy the Perseus Books Group, an independent publishing company. On March 3, Ingram Content Group announced its plans to purchase Perseus’s distribution operations. The two agreements come a little more than 18 months after an initial deal to sell Perseus’s entire operation to HBG fell through. Both parties hope to close the deals by the end of March, pending regulatory approval. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
Rising Higher | PLA Preview 2016
In its inaugural visit to Denver, April 5–9, the Public Library Association (PLA) conference schedule offers a thought-provoking yet playful agenda full of replicable exemplars from innovative libraries across the country. The packed schedule contains far too much to sum up; what follows is a smattering of sessions that caught the eye of the LJ editors who will be attending, ranging from civic inclusion to the first-ever mini hands-on how-to festival.
MIT’s Future of the Library: Encouraging Social Knowledge-Building
On February 11, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) hosted a discussion on “The Future of the Library” as part of the Eugene McDermott Award in the Arts at MIT. The award is given to a prominent artist in any field who embodies MIT’s commitment to risk-taking, problem solving, and connecting creative minds across disciplines.
In Praise of Jargon: This Academic Librarian Is Not So Sure | From the Bell Tower
Do you enjoy reading the research literature of librarianship? There is no dearth of criticism about lack of quality and too much quantity. An overabundance of academese adds to the problem.
Dennis Walcott Named CEO of Queens Library
Former New York City Schools Chancellor Dennis Walcott was named president and CEO of Queens Library (QL) on March 1. Walcott, a native of Queens, was selected by the board after a six-month national search. He succeeds Bridget Quinn-Carey, who has served as interim president and CEO since former QL president Thomas W. Galante was placed on administrative leave and then fired in December 2014 for alleged misconduct and mismanagement of library funds. Quinn-Carey will return to her prior role as QL executive vice president and COO. Assuming Walcott’s appointment is approved by the New York State Department of Education (DOE), he will assume his duties at QL on March 14. Although he is not a librarian, Walcott’s career has been devoted to education and social services, serving high-level administrative roles in New York City’s government and community organizations.
Electronic Resources & Libraries Preview
If the unofficial slogan of ER&L’s host city is “Keep Austin Weird,” the conference could be summed up as “Keep Libraries Current.” For the latest trends in how the changing digital landscape continues to impact libraries, particularly in the academic arena, head south by southwest to Austin, where the 11th annual ER&L conference will follow the iconic music, film, and interactive festival by a few weeks, April 3–6, at Austin’s AT&T Executive Education & Conference Center, the University of Texas at Austin, and online.
CONNECTING INDIE AUTHORS, LIBRARIES AND READERS
SELF-e is an innovative collaboration between Library Journal and BiblioBoard® that enables authors and libraries to work together and expose notable self-published ebooks to voracious readers looking to discover something new. Finally, a simple and effective way to catalog and provide access to ebooks by local authors and build a community around indie writing! LEARN MORE
Upcoming Webcasts
Christian Fiction Book Roundup
Wednesday, March 23rd, 2016, 3:00 PM – 4:00 PM ET / 12:00 PM – 1:00 PM PT
Don’t miss these exciting offerings presented by Baker Books Publishing and Tyndale House. There will even be an advance look at titles releasing in Summer and Fall 2016!
Register Now!
More Webcasts:
- Bon Appetit! Spring Books on Food, Drink, and More!
- Social Media Marketing for Libraries
- The Art of Narrating an Audie Award Nominated Audiobook
- Supporting (Big) Data Research
- Data Visualization
- Case Studies for Open Science
- Best Practices for Increasing Usage of your e-book Collection
- Why Books Are Still A Good Library Brand
Blogs & Columns
The Wrong Umbrella: In search of a stronger model | Blatant Berry
I'm concerned that the Canadian Library Association (CLA) has decided to disband. It isn’t just that I remember many of the top Canadian librarians I befriended and the good times I had at CLA conferences. The Canadian librarians I recently talked to … [Read More...]
Watch and Learn | The User Experience
In my last column, I shared some background about a librarywide user experience (UX) project at the Chapel Hill Public Library (CHPL), NC. I focused there on communication, which, while not directly a UX topic, is essential to any ongoing, meaningful … [Read More...]
In Praise of Jargon: This Academic Librarian Is Not So Sure | From the Bell Tower
Do you enjoy reading the research literature of librarianship? There is no dearth of criticism about lack of quality and too much quantity. An overabundance of academese adds to the problem. I review articles for one of academic librarianship’s … [Read More...]
Mind the RA Gap | Backtalk
The inconsistent treatment of readers’ advisory (RA) as a core service for adults in public libraries has led to inconsistent demand for quality RA education, which has further led to inconsistent service. Jennie Maas Flexner noted as far back as … [Read More...]
