LISNews: Librarian News

I can't tell if this guy is dead serious (and small-minded) or ready to pull the satire card. Anyway, Michael Bowers, is awfully cranky about all that wasted taxpayer money that goes to his Orland Park, IL library and bookmobile. Apparently, he's on a tear because the bookmobile was in an accident that the city had to shell out big bucks to cover.

I thought government was to put out fires and defend the borders. Not to give us stuff to read. I mean, thanks to the private sector, it's already everywhere you look. If I simply bought one copy of every magazine offered at the corner Mobil station — covering everything from Kawasaki motorcycles to Esquire women we love to Forbes financial advice — I'd be reading for the next year.

The rest of his loopy rant is here at the Star.

AshtabulaGuy writes "This was drafted to be submitted to Library Journal for BackTalk but due to its publication schedule it is submitted with some minor adjustments for the community here to chew upon... April Fool’s Day is traditionally a day of fun. For librarians everywhere it is a day when we watch Wikipedia wondering what may happen (this year saw the introduction of the "vandalize this page" button for a brief time). Over at Blake Carver’s shop, known as LISNews, a story was placed online this year with links to all of the "fun" at LJ’s site.
For "NexGen librarians" like myself, though, one of the jokes hurt. Not every "NexGen" finds work immediately after leaving school. Indeed, many scrape, claw, and have to fight to even get interviews that they will probably not succeed at. Over the many recent months, I have remained proud of graduating from my library school and having been inducted into the my chapter of Beta Phi Mu. Although pride can be a nice thing, pride does not pay the bills and I have had many crop up while I have been seeking work. -- Read More

New Pages offers an opinion piece written by the late Jessica Powers, author and Carmelite Sister, on why libraries should stock more literary magazines. In that libraries today are forced to keep their collections to those most likely to be utilized by their community, they sometimes fail to provide that community with the work of up and coming writers before they become authors of full-length books.

Another problem is the often transient nature of such magazines...after a few issues, many are gone never to reappear. Her article recommends nevertheless that they are worth the effort to seek out and to collect. Fellow Wisconsin poet Tom Montag is quoted as saying "Little magazines are essential to contemporary literature; the librarian who ignores them betrays that literature."

Academic librarians were quick to react to the threat posed by Internet competition. In 1989, half a dozen years before the first official release of Netscape, they recognized the explosion in networked information and proposed "information literacy," a reinvention of the educational function of the academic library.

Stanley Wilder goes on to criticize academic libraries for their choice and suggests a different method for teaching students.
See the full story at The Chronicle.