Dr. Richard J. Cox, head of the archives track at the School of Information Sciences at the University of Pittsburgh, has posted a review of Lara Jennifer Moore’s Restoring Order: The Ecole des Chartes and the Organization of Archives and Libraries in France. I find it an intelligent review that gives a clear sense of … Read more Richard Cox reviews Lara Moore’s Restoring Order
In the current issue of the New York Review of Books there is a review article by Hugh Eakin about the loss of Iraqi antiquities and records in the current war, titled, “The Devastation of Iraq’s Past.” From an historic standpoint, the great loss of Iraq’s cultural record and the inventions of Google will probably … Read more Review article of six books on the loss of Iraqi antiquities
From Erik Estep, sent out by email today: Hello Everyone, I’m very pleased to announce the Library Juice Book Club. Here are the details: (1) The first book is Questioning Library Neutrality, edited by Alison Lewis. The anthology covers a lot of ground an will give us much to discuss. If you are at interested … Read more Library Juice Book Club
A favorite debate of pessimistic sophomores, or perhaps sophomoric pessimists, is as to whether our society and its future is more like George Orwell’s 1984 or Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World. It’s such a common juxtaposition and so simple to talk about it that I bring it up at the risk of terribly oversimplifying things. … Read more Intellectual Freedom advocacy in a Huxleyan world
If you’d like to purchase Questioning Library Neutrality for your library but need to supply a review from a mainstream source in order to justify it, the answer is here. In the July issue of Library Journal there is a nice review of the book that should do the trick.
A book of interest: Mark Bauerlein’s The Dumbest Generation. What it says is that the under-30 generation is so removed from books and reading that it is shockingly ignorant, and we should all be worried. Bauerlein blames the internet. The Chicago Tribune published a decent review a few days ago. The students at the university … Read more Book: The Dumbest Generation
I’d like to share news about a few forthcoming books. There are others, but these are the ones I’m ready to announce: From Library Juice Press: Information and Liberation: Writings on the Politics of Information and Librarianship, by Shiraz Durrani The Library Takes Up The Case: Generating Library Power by Mikael Böök and Anders Ericson … Read more Forthcoming books
John Miedema of Slow Reading has posted a brief review of Questioning Library Neutrality. Thanks, John!
I’m bringing this double-sided flyer with me to ALA tomorrow to hand out to people who visit my reception on Saturday night, and to guests at the Alternative Press Reception on Monday night. Check it out and distribute it at work if you’d like selectors to consider LJP books…. Thanks….
You (or your library) can now place a standing order for books published by Library Juice Press or Litwin Books. Standing orders will get a 25% discount from the cover price. Also, when you place a standing order you’ll have the opportunity to purchase any of our previously published books at the same 25% discount. … Read more LJP Standing Orders
Jeff Lilburn has reviewed Questioning Library Neutrality for the blog LibrarianActivist. His review is careful not to be overly excited by the book, but is much appreciated as the first review of the book to hit the screens, and by a person who understands what the book is trying to say. Thank you Jeff and … Read more Review of Questioning Library Neutrality
Thank you The Onion, for this: “Area Eccentric Reads Entire Book.”
Nicholas Carr writes in the Atlantic Monthly that “Google is Making Us Stupid,” focusing on the way a decade of web browsing has altered the way his mind works to the extent that he now struggles to read long texts. I pretty much know what he is talking about – I do find it harder … Read more Is Google Making Us Stupid?
SRRT Newsletter issue 162/163, June 2008, is now up on the web in PDF form. This issue has a schedule of SRRT events at ALA in Anaheim, news from the Feminist Task Force, the International Responsibilities Task Force, and the Task Force on the Environment; a report from the Coordinator, resolutions on the crisis in … Read more New SRRT Newsletter
Are you going to be at the ALA Conference in Anaheim later this month? Litwin Books / Library Juice Press will be holding a reception. I will be showing the eight books we have published so far and networking with readers and authors. I look forward to meeting you at the reception if you’re interested … Read more Library Juice Press / Litwin Books Reception at ALA in Anaheim
Thomas Mann’s Foreword to David Bade’s Responsible Librarianship: Library Policies for Unreliable Systems: There is a kind of “code word” situation that has developed in the library profession in recent decades; it is manifested in an appeal to a set of beliefs that, while largely unarticulated, is nonetheless socially endorsed without a perceived need for … Read more Thomas Mann’s Foreword to Responsible Librarianship
I’m slow to catch this one, so I’ll just mention it (as an important scholarly paper that argues for the future of paper): William Powers’ “Hamlet’s Blackberry: Why Paper is Eternal,” a discussion paper for the Joan Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics, and Public Policy.
The L.A. Times reports that… the organizers of the this year’s Turin Book Fair made it an occasion to honor Israeli authors on the 60th anniversary of the nation’s founding, which understandably has made a lot of people angry. So, lots of boycotts of the book fair and heightened security. Yeah, it’s unfortunate that this … Read more Israel-Palestine conflict comes to the Turin Book Fair
Felipe Meneses of Mexico City has written a brief review of David Bade’s Responsible Librarianship: Library Policies for Unreliable Systems. It’s in Spanish, so you may or may not be able to read it without a friend to help. Thanks, Felipe!
Questioning Library Neutrality: Essays from Progressive Librarian Editor: Alison Lewis Price: $18.00 Published: April 2008 ISBN: 978-0-9778617-7-4 Printed on acid-free paper Questioning Library Neutrality: Essays from Progressive Librarian presents essays that relate to neutrality in librarianship in a philosophical or practical sense, and sometimes both. They are a selection of essays originally published in Progressive … Read more New from LJP: Questioning Library Neutrality