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.
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.
It is natural enough to focus on digital content, whiz-bang technology, and how libraries should provide innovative services for our communities. Yet there is more going on than meets the digital eye.
(via libraryadvocates)
PIPA, SOPA and OPEN Act Quick Reference Guide
In case you missed it, our Assoc. Director in the Office of Government Relations, Corey Williams created this helpful PIPA, SOPA and OPEN Act Quick Reference Guide (pdf). If you’re just looking for tl;dr - The ALA will continue to voice strong opposition to PIPA and SOPA, while further analysis of the OPEN Act is needed.
7 months ago on October 24, 2011 at 10:36am with 776 notes
Via nevver
The Tao of librarianship ›
There is a wealth of wisdom from the Taoist philosophy that could be applied in librarianship.
The Generation X Librarian ›
About the Book:
Generation X includes individuals born roughly between 1961 and 1981. This generation has faced major advances in technology, environmental degradation, and widening economic injustice, all of which affect libraries and librarians. This collection of critical essays highlights the special challenges that face Generation X librarians. Topics covered include management and leadership, rapidly changing technology, social attitudes and stereotypes within popular culture, and how Generation X librarians have responded to or developed in response to those themes. This work fills many of the gaps present in the professional literature on librarianship and our younger generations.
promoting the new image of librarianship. the librarian code.
1 year ago on June 02, 2011 at 01:44pm with 13 notes
Via amaecying
The MISSION of LIBRARIANS is to IMPROVE SOCIETY through FACILITATING KNOWLEDGE CREATION in their COMMUNITIES
http://www.newlibrarianship.org/
