Library News, Reviews, and Views
The more things change, the more they remain the same—or do they? While history was brought to bear in numerous respects during the past year, some significant changes occurred on the government information landscape. That said, this year’s list of notable titles reflects an enduring interest in aspects of the past mirrored in current reality.
If you want to change the world, you need to be in the right place at the right time. You need a good idea, vision, motivated peers, and the determination to make a difference.
This year, a small and mighty group of librarians put this formula to the test as they organized an international movement to participate, educate, and advocate at South by Southwest Interactive, the leading conference for innovative, technology-driven ideas, applications, and entrepreneurship.
Marriage. That’s how many librarians describe collaborative efforts with other organizations to fund and construct new library buildings, including joint-use facilities, to serve their communities.
Libraries have long shared acreage with other organizations as part of a civic campus, but today’s partnerships provide more than a convenient location for government services.
Libraries sharing buildings with centers of recreation and learning report that their partners bring exposure to new users. Libraries are also forming partnerships to share buildings with other agencies focused on education, such as colleges and historic societies. In the East Bay Area of California, the Lafayette Library and Learning Center building is shared by the library and the Glenn Seaborg Learning Consortium, a partnership of 12 education, science, and arts institutions.
A branch library in Portland, OR, is considered to be part of the first public-private housing partnership. Since it opened, other libraries nationwide have entered into similar arrangements, with lessons learned for libraries.
By Marta Murvosh In this series Introduction and best practices A partnership’s success will be determined by librarians’ abilities to communicate clearly and compromise. Shared sites The library and at least one other organization build on land owned by at least one partner. Shared buildings The partners each set up house in a building that [...]
I’m sitting at the airport in Columbia, South Carolina, thinking about libraries. I’ve spent a great day with around 40 library directors throughout the Palmetto State who gathered together to wrestle with big issues. Melanie Huggins, director of the Richland County Public Library hosted, and Denise Lyons from the State Library of South Carolina brought [...]
This post has been edited to remove Orange County, FL, from the list of those that have declined to collect the book. Brevard County Public Libraries garnered widespread national media attention when library services director Catherine Schweinsberg pulled the system’s copies of the bestselling novel Fifty Shades of Grey from circulation. “It didn’t meet our [...]
The proliferation of free online resources has caused user habits and expectations to change drastically in the last decade, and there is no doubt that they will continue to evolve along with technology trends and advancements. Publishers, specifically reference publishers, have needed to meet these demands and have striven to exceed them – delivering new and innovative ways to access authoritative facts quickly, easily, and accurately. Some now deliver the next step in the research experience – providing effortless pathways beyond the facts and figures of free resources or standard reference, making the user’s journey into encyclopedias, scholarly works, and journal articles effortless and seamless. These publisher initiatives have the potential to revolutionize the role of reference in the library, and the way reference is used by researchers at every level.
Why are traditionally-published reference resources still necessary? What are publishers doing to make them accessible, usable, and discoverable in the library and on the free Web? How are these changes impacting reference’s presence in the library? How are user habits affecting how reference is published, developed, and utilized? Register now to hear our esteemed panel, including Oxford University Press’ Robert Faber, Editorial Director for Reference (UK), Dave Tyckoson, reference librarian and Associate Dean at California State University, Fresno, and Dinah Birch, Professor of English Literature and Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Research and Knowledge Exchange at the University of Liverpool and Editor of the newest edition of the classic Oxford Companion to English Literature, 7th Edition, on a panel moderated by Library Journal and School Library Journal Reference Editor Etta Thornton, as they tackle the topic of the ever-changing role of, and need for, authoritative reference in today’s libraries in the “Wiki age.” Register now!
This week we made a big – organizational and personal – announcement: I have been selected as CML’s new Chief Customer Experience Officer. The CXO, for short. Wow!
The Brooklyn Public Library’s Central Branch and the Jefferson Market Library in Manhattan’s West Village are among forty historic places in New York City competing for $3 million in grants through Partners in Preservation, a collaboration between American Express and the National Trust for Historic Preservation.
More than 95 percent of librarians who responded to a recent survey said that “government agencies and businesses shouldn’t share personal information with third parties without authorization and should only be used for a specific purpose,” according to the preliminary findings of a study released by the American Library Association’s Office for Intellectual Freedom
LJ’s Career Insights reaches out to our Movers & Shakers and asks about key moments in their careers. Lisa Bunker is one of our tech leaders. Vitals CURRENT POSITION Social Media Librarian Pima County Public Library, Tucson, AZ DEGREE MA, Information Resources and Library Science, University of Arizona, Tucson, 2001 POTTERIZE IT SXSW 2012 panel [...]
Wednesday, June 13, 2012, 1:00 PM EST With the acquisition of its last remaining competitor in 2006, OCLC became the only full service bibliographic utility in the U.S. The idea for a new, low-cost, highly functional alternative to OCLC for cataloging arose from a series of conversations with librarians who wereinterested in having a choice in library cataloging services, removing restrictions on the use of data, and finding a way to reduce costs during tough economic times.
SkyRiver Technology Solutions, launched in 2009, is increasingly seen as a viable alternative to OCLC. Our panel will examine the future for competition in the library cataloging marketplace in light of changing assumptions about library service, new technologies, and unprecedented economic challenges. Register now!
INFOdocket by Gary Price
Library Journal Social Club