May 2016

Flying With a Book

If you’re flying in or out of Chattanooga TN airport, you’ll have the opportunity to stop and pick up a book (payment on the honor system) to read on your flight, courtesy of the Friends of the Library.

Here’s the story from Times Free Press.

If you’re flying in or out of Chattanooga TN airport, you’ll have the opportunity to stop and pick up a book (payment on the honor system) to read on your flight, courtesy of the Friends of the Library.

Here’s the story from Times Free Press.

The purposeful change at the heart of librarianship

Adaptation to change that’s based on thoughtful planning and grounded in the mission of libraries: it’s a model that respected LIS thinker and educator Michael Stephens terms “hyperlinked librarianship.” And the result, for librarians in leadership positions as well as those working on the front lines, is flexible librarianship that’s able to stay closely aligned with the needs and wants of library users. Stephens’ new book “The Heart of Librarianship: Attentive, Positive, and Purposeful Change,” published by ALA Editions, is a collection of essays from his “Office Hours” columns in Library Journal which explore the issues and emerging trends that are transforming the profession.  Among the topics he discusses are:

the importance of accessible, welcoming, and responsive library environments that invite open and equitable participation, and which factors are preventing many libraries from ramping up community engagement and user-focused services;
challenges, developments, and emerging opportunities in the field, including new ways to reach users and harness curiosity;
considerations for prospective librarians, from knowing what you want out of the profession to learning how to aim for it;
why LIS curriculum and teaching styles need to evolve;
mentoring and collaboration; and
the concept of the library as classroom, a participatory space to experiment with new professional roles, new technologies, and new ways of interacting with patrons.

From The purposeful change at the heart of librarianship | News and Press Center

Adaptation to change that’s based on thoughtful planning and grounded in the mission of libraries: it’s a model that respected LIS thinker and educator Michael Stephens terms “hyperlinked librarianship.” And the result, for librarians in leadership positions as well as those working on the front lines, is flexible librarianship that’s able to stay closely aligned with the needs and wants of library users. Stephens’ new book “The Heart of Librarianship: Attentive, Positive, and Purposeful Change,” published by ALA Editions, is a collection of essays from his “Office Hours” columns in Library Journal which explore the issues and emerging trends that are transforming the profession.  Among the topics he discusses are:

the importance of accessible, welcoming, and responsive library environments that invite open and equitable participation, and which factors are preventing many libraries from ramping up community engagement and user-focused services;
challenges, developments, and emerging opportunities in the field, including new ways to reach users and harness curiosity;
considerations for prospective librarians, from knowing what you want out of the profession to learning how to aim for it;
why LIS curriculum and teaching styles need to evolve;
mentoring and collaboration; and
the concept of the library as classroom, a participatory space to experiment with new professional roles, new technologies, and new ways of interacting with patrons.

From The purposeful change at the heart of librarianship | News and Press Center

How to print things

This page has two main purposes:

To present a new method, the “Möbius method”, for printing and reading double-sided, loose-leaf documents.
To collect and summarize concise explanations of the pros and cons of different methods for printing and reading loose-leaf documents, including single-sided, standard double-sided, and Möbius double-sided. (If you know of other methods, or have anything to add, please contact me!)

From How to print things | blog :: Brent -> [String]

Capitol Hill Books Has DC’s Most Curmudgeonly Store Owner

Capitol Hill Books’ Jim Toole (“If you have to put an age down, say 110”) had already lived a fairly full life before he took on running the secondhand book shop after its original owner passed away in 1994—he earned a degree in history from UCLA, a masters from American University, and served in the Navy for 30 years. Now he says he spends 85 to 90 hours a week tending to and stocking the stuffed-to-the-brim store across the street from Eastern Market, which he expanded to fill the basement and top floor of the rowhouse.

From Capitol Hill Books Has DC’s Most Curmudgeonly Store Owner | Washingtonian

Capitol Hill Books’ Jim Toole (“If you have to put an age down, say 110”) had already lived a fairly full life before he took on running the secondhand book shop after its original owner passed away in 1994—he earned a degree in history from UCLA, a masters from American University, and served in the Navy for 30 years. Now he says he spends 85 to 90 hours a week tending to and stocking the stuffed-to-the-brim store across the street from Eastern Market, which he expanded to fill the basement and top floor of the rowhouse.

From Capitol Hill Books Has DC’s Most Curmudgeonly Store Owner | Washingtonian

TLSWikipedia all-conquering

The all-conquering encyclopedia of the twenty-first century is, famously, the first such work to have been compiled entirely by uncredentialled volunteers. It is also the first reference work ever produced as a way of killing time during coffee breaks. Not the least of Wikipedia’s wonders is to have done away with the drudgery that used to be synonymous with the writing of reference works. An army of anonymous, tech-savvy people – mostly young, mostly men – have effortlessly assembled and organized a body of knowledge unparalleled in human history. “Effortlessly” in the literal sense of without significant effort: when you have 27,842,261 registered editors (not all of them active, it is true), plus an unknown number of anonymous contributors, the odd half-hour here and there soon adds up to a pretty big encyclopedia.

Boys who live with books ‘earn more as adults’

Three economists at the University of Padua – Giorgio Brunello, Guglielmo Weber and Christoph Weiss – studied 6,000 men born in nine European countries and concluded that children with access to books could expect to earn materially more than those who grow up with few or no books.

They studied the period from 1920 to 1956, when school reforms saw the minimum school leaving age raised across Europe. They looked at whether, at the age of 10, a child lived in a house with fewer than 10 books, a shelf of books, a bookcase with up to 100 books, two bookcases, or more than two bookcases.

From Boys who live with books ‘earn more as adults’ | Education | The Guardian

Modern Public Libraries Can Help Bridge the Digital Divide

Yet the digital revolution has proved not to be the demise of libraries, but their rebirth — and today, they are more relevant than ever to the people and communities they serve. Many patrons come to us as generations before them did, in search of good books and helpful research materials. Others, like Kim, pass through our doors determined to change the course of their lives. Taken together, their stories signal a bright future for our society’s most democratic institution.

From Modern Public Libraries Can Help Bridge the Digital Divide – Next City

Yet the digital revolution has proved not to be the demise of libraries, but their rebirth — and today, they are more relevant than ever to the people and communities they serve. Many patrons come to us as generations before them did, in search of good books and helpful research materials. Others, like Kim, pass through our doors determined to change the course of their lives. Taken together, their stories signal a bright future for our society’s most democratic institution.

From Modern Public Libraries Can Help Bridge the Digital Divide – Next City

The Bad-Ass Librarians of Timbuktu

JOSHUA HAMMER’S new book, “The Bad-Ass Librarians of Timbuktu”, traces the story of hundreds of thousands of medieval texts as they are rescued in 2012 from near-destruction by jihadists linked to al-Qaeda in Mali. It is at once a history, caper and thriller, featuring a superherolibrarian, Abdel Kader Haidara, as the saviour of an entire culture’s heritage.

From Paper trail | The Economist

JOSHUA HAMMER’S new book, “The Bad-Ass Librarians of Timbuktu”, traces the story of hundreds of thousands of medieval texts as they are rescued in 2012 from near-destruction by jihadists linked to al-Qaeda in Mali. It is at once a history, caper and thriller, featuring a superherolibrarian, Abdel Kader Haidara, as the saviour of an entire culture’s heritage.

From Paper trail | The Economist

Library Metadata Specialist – Accidental Computer Programmer

So by accident or design you found yourself in a position that involves computer programming. A common situation for library metadata specialists. I recall projects in graduate school where we mapped records from one metadata format or standard into another. Yet, we never discussed who creates the scripts to transform the records with your mapping (spoiler: its probably you). The result of this for me, someone who did not come from a computer science background, was getting the skills I needed through a mixture of things recommended by mentors, co-workers, and internet searches. Here is what worked best for me.

From Library Metadata Specialist – Accidental Computer Programmer – Heidi Uphoff

LYRASIS, DuraSpace Leaders Discuss Dissolved Merger

“I think we’re both looking at this aspirationally,” Miller said. “It’s not ‘what went wrong?’ If anything there was a reinvigoration, ensuring that missions are supported well…. At the end of the day, I think our communities are going to benefit from this…. We’re not for-profits, we don’t have marketing budgets, but maybe this, in some ways, has helped showcase some things that institutions might not have known about DuraSpace and might not have known about LYRASIS.”

From LYRASIS, DuraSpace Leaders Discuss Dissolved Merger