Two recent news reports have signaled the displacement of human professionals with technology in high school education. A local newspaper wrote a glowing piece about a Massachusetts high school principal who laid off the librarian and used the funds to transform the school library into a technology center. And in its report about the demise
◊ Change Management ◊
Fast food and haute cuisine
While shelving materials last week, I pondered the challenge of balancing quality and demand. The issue as we know it has been debated for decades, judging from this reference:1 In former times public libraries were known as ‘the people’s university.’ Now, it seems, their highest aspiration is to become, in the words of Charles Robinson,
What’s next for public libraries?
Today’s post spotlights the work of Richard Watson, a futurist based in England and Australia. His current project focuses on the future of public libraries. Public reports are expected during Aug/Sept, and Watson has been blogging about the project this month. The work team has posited four scenarios, and each is an interesting read for
Library brand effects
Automatic Effects of Brand Exposure on Motivated Behavior: How Apple Makes You “Think Different”, a study from the Duke University Fuqua School of Business, suggests that even brief exposures to corporate logos have behavioral effects. Watching the video on the study made me realize public libraries have not adopted a common logo. I think it
Library neglect
In a passionate, must-read editorial from March 2005, William Ecenbarger calls the state of public library funding a “national calamity”. The author attributes root cause to “a kind of indifference bordering on neglect on the part of library patrons, and a kind of neglect bordering on negligence on the part of public officials“. I don’t
Consolidate and conquer
The U.S. public library system is wonderfully and fatally interspersed. The wonder comes from its reach, diversity and cooperation. Thousands of libraries span the American landscape. Each reflects its local constituency and caters to its unique needs. They do so with enough standardization to enable anyone to enter a library anywhere in the country and seek assistance,
Research not entertainment
Earlier this month, a Tampa newspaper quoted a local County Commissioner’s view that “libraries [are] a place to convey knowledge, to learn things” and “ought to be used for research, not for entertainment.” It made me wonder how embedded the dichotomy between learning and fun remains in the public conciousness and to what degree patrons
Managing the message
On June 11, MSNBC’s TODAY show ran a 4 minute segment on public libraries. It echoed newspaper stories of the past few months by reporting a dual recessionary effect of increased library usage and jeopardized funding. National coverage is a welcome development. It’s time to help the mainstream media realize there’s a compelling story here—and
A critical undercurrent in libraryland
My literature surveillance includes the Annoyed Librarian, written for Library Journal by a pseudonymous blogger. This blog is a careless diatribe and the comments that accompany each post are often worse. I don’t like it.1 Nonetheless, I scan every article and most of the comments—and gather lots of other people do too. In late 2007,
In the library with the lead pipe
Over the past few months, I’ve followed more than a dozen library blogs to develop my blogging acumen and learn about libraries. I’ve been hoping to find librarians who use blogs to unleash their curiosity and expression, demonstrate scholarship, critical thinking, library advocacy and activism, and extend the medium. Eureka — I came into the
