I guess it’s the week for small town library drama, although I’m not sure this one would make a good movie of the week. Maybe a brief spot on 60 Minutes. A kind reader sent this article criticizing a weeding project at a public library in Urbana, IL. The title gives a good indication of [...]

A Kind Reader alerted me to this excellent fodder for a television movie of the week about a librarian in Round Lake, NY. Like many compelling narratives, the movie of the week could begin in medias res, with an angry group of protesters gathered at a library board meeting shouting about something. The camera fades [...]

The ebook revolution we’ve all been told is coming seems to be sputtering out before it can even begin, all because of fear and greed, which is probably what stops most revolutions. Read this very informative story at Wired: Why Book Publishers Are Still Dragging Their Heels on Selling You E-Books. It's a depressing statement [...]

You’re probably aware that last week the news broke that the NSA has been collecting telephone information about all Verizon customers for the past seven years, specifically “telephony metadata” such as which numbers called which other numbers at which time. Oh, and they can access all the stuff on Google, Facebook, and Apple servers. The [...]

A Kind Reader forwarded an email about some new cutting edge research by a couple of librarians. It’s the sort of research that will be sure to increase their chances of tenure. As with so much research done by librarians, it consists of a rigorous and scientific survey at Surveymonkey. Before you click through and [...]

Here’s a potential book challenge for the ALA OIF to think about. A school board in Ohio that allegedly wants to teach their children to think critically is considering a new policy “recognizing that many important areas of study involve issues on which differing positions are held by individuals or groups.” So far, so good. [...]

The paperless public library is preparing to rear it’s paperless head again according to this BBC article. The comparison to the paperless office is amusing because I don’t think many offices have managed to accomplish that feat. The soon to be paperless library will be in Bexar County, TX, which apparently has never had a [...]

Normally I don’t link to the other AL because there’s usually not much of interest there, but I noticed this column in AL Direct and had to take a look. In it, Joe Janes writes about how the applicant pools for library school have shifted over the past 25 years. In the olden days, “library [...]

This came up a wee bit a few weeks ago when I suggested that making children work off overdue fines wasn’t the best way to make them want to use the library. Apparently the Free Library of Philadelphia also thinks fines can be a problem, because they want to make sure fines don’t keep children [...]

With all the bad news in the world, it’s good to know that one problem of concern to some librarians is solved. At least I assume it’s a problem of concern to librarians, because I found the article announcing the solution at LIS News. The good news? The digital divide is no more. According to [...]