At West Coast Meeting, Digital Public Library of America Begins to Take Shape
Mixed Company: Libraries face the digital future ›
I spoke to some librarians and a library specialists from the Knight Foundation for PBS MediaShift about how libraries are facing Americans’ transition to reading digital books, especially given the country’s ongoing financial difficulties that have struck library budgets hard.
BookShift: What Is the Role of Libraries in the Age of E-Books and Digital Information?
#library #libraries #librarians #ebooks #digital #future #pbs
3 weeks ago on May 08, 2012 at 05:58pm with 3 notes
Via pbs.org
3 weeks ago on May 08, 2012 at 05:58pm with 3 notes
Via pbs.org
I’m of a fearsome mind to throw my arms around every living librarian who crosses my path, on behalf of the souls they never knew they saved.
Barbara Kingsolver (via curlupwithagoodbook)
There was one thing that all the speakers agreed upon at the debate – even if libraries are obsolete, librarians aren’t. Rather than dividing our time and effort on compensating for an inadequate educational system, or inequalities in the market place, we should free up our brilliant librarians to work within these organizations to make the institutions better. Why take amazing information professionals and saddle them with leaky roofs, security at the door, and maintaining physical artifacts in often duplicative collections just waiting to be digitized? We see this at the Cushing Academy, a boarding school in Massachusetts that made the press when they significantly downsized the physical collection of the library. They did so at the same time they hired more librarians. Close the library and hire more librarians.
R. David Lankes weighs in on the “Libraries Are Obsolete” debate hosted at Harvard (via thelifeguardlibrarian)
Words perfected by Phil Bradley via
“I think you’d like it here. Words fill the room and silence holds them there. It’s a sanctuary for the wise and a mecca for the curious - wish you were here”
Three librarians and the open road: the Bay Area’s own Patrick Sweeney (he of the guitar lending program), along with Lisa Carlucci Thomas (founder, consulting agency design.think.do), and Josh Habro are traveling the eastern seaboard visiting libraries and promoting the good ideas they see along they way.
Check out the Great Library Roadshow.
Librarians…
#librarian #librarians #Dewey #melvil dewey
2 months ago on March 14, 2012 at 03:52pm with 18 notes
Via fmorgana
2 months ago on March 14, 2012 at 03:52pm with 18 notes
Via fmorgana
Library History and Women’s History: An Ongoing Convergence ›
As American women entered librarianship in the late 19th century, they focused on issues of professional equity, on services to women among the general public, and on the importance of preserving the history and writings of women themselves.
And yet we haven’t had one woman serve as Librarian of Congress and there is a huge and apparent gender imbalance in library leadership positions.
Libraries and the librarians who staff them truly do have the ability to be a transformative power in their communities.
Marijke Visser in her latest District Dispatch post. (via libraryadvocates)
Better read than dead: Dan Jarvis MP on the battle to save our libraries
#uk #libraries #librarians #guardian uk
3 months ago on February 02, 2012 at 04:25pm with 7 notes
Via Guardian
3 months ago on February 02, 2012 at 04:25pm with 7 notes
Via Guardian
nypl:
Library staff at the Webster branch, then called the Webster Free Circulating Library, overlooking collection of music and arts. Circa 1910.
Via Flickr:
Conversation 1: What Are the Aspirational Goals of Our Communities?
Day 1 Questions:
1. Round 1: Pretend that you’ve each just taken a tour of your community. What did you see and hear on the tour?
2. Round 2: What would your community aspire to be, and what would change from what you saw and heard?
3. Round 3: In this picture of your envisioned community, what is different about the library?
