Julia Skinner reviews Critical Library Instruction
Julia Skinner has posted a thoughtful review of Critical Library Instruction: Theories and Methods to her blog. Her review will give readers a good sense of whether the books is for them.
Category: Librarians’ Resources
JTA News Archive
Press release: NEW YORK (JTA) — JTA [a Jewish newswire] has launched a digital archive containing 250,000 articles dating from 1923. The JTA Jewish News Archive, which is searchable and free for the public to use, was launched officially Tuesday evening with a celebration at the Center for Jewish History in New York. Highlights of … Read more JTA News Archive
Some objections to our use of library statistics
The use of certain library statistics, mainly related to circulation and its electronic semi-equivalents, has taken on a high degree of importance in library management since 1979, when Charlie Robinson introduced the “give ’em what they want” philosophy of collection development at Baltimore County Public Library. Circulation statistics provide an easy way present an argument … Read more Some objections to our use of library statistics
Updated: Alternative Press Bibliography
Byron Anderson has updated his “Bibliographic and Web Tools for Alternative Media,” which is published regularly in Counterpoise. Sections include Reference Books/Online Databases; Web Sources; Distributors; Organizations; Small Press/Alternative Media: News, Reviews, Awards, Reprints; and Related works. Also see Byron’s guide to “Getting Alternative Press Titles into Libraries and Promoting Alternative Presses in the Library.“
Some Kindle ebooks from LJP
As I have announced, all of our books are available in ebook form, from Powells.com and Google. We are now offering a few of our books on Amazon for the Kindle platform: Speaking of Information: The Library Juice Quotation Book Humanism and Libraries: An Essay on the Philosophy of Librarianship So You Want To Be … Read more Some Kindle ebooks from LJP
2011 Amelia Bloomer Project List
From Diedre Conklin: The Amelia Bloomer Project, a product of the ALA Social Responsibilities Round Table’s (SRRT) Feminist Taskforce, announced the 2011 Amelia Bloomer List at ALA’s Midwinter Meeting in San Diego. The bibliography consists of well-written and illustrated books with significant feminist content, intended for young readers from birth to 18 years old. This … Read more 2011 Amelia Bloomer Project List
We’re in Google Ebooks
If you want to buy ebooks from Google Ebooks, you can now find our publications there. Library Juice Press and Litwin Books…
Progressive Librarian in full text
Folks at the Progressive Librarians Guild have put the full text of back issues of their journal, Progressive Librarian, online. Coverage goes back to issue number one, from 1990. I was on the editorial board of Progressive Librarian for a number of years, and consider them an important venue for library literature that works to … Read more Progressive Librarian in full text
Google’s new “reading level” filtering
Google has added a feature to its advanced search form that allows you to filter results by reading level or add information about a page’s reading level to the information in the results. Reading level is indicated as “basic,” “intermediate,” or “advanced.” Like most of what goes on underneath the Google hood, we aren’t given … Read more Google’s new “reading level” filtering
So You Want To Be a Librarian – Testimonials Wanted
Have you or someone you know been helped by Lauren Pressley’s book, So You Want To Be a Librarian? We are interested in testimonials by people who have read the book and found it helpful to them in deciding on or planning for a career in librarianship. In exchange for a testimonial of 300 words … Read more So You Want To Be a Librarian – Testimonials Wanted
Library Juice Press Gift Certificates
Library Juice Press / Litwin Books gift certificates are great as personal gifts or as library-related awards. You can pay for a gift certificate in an amount of your choosing with funds in your PayPal account or with a credit card.
McAfee Site Advisor Red-Flagging Ebscohost
McAfee Site Advisor is red-flagging ebsco.com and ebscohost.com. Something to do with detecting malware. Does anybody know what that is about? Ebsco’s response so far is that they are “working to resolve it.” No explanation forthcoming and no denial. I’m concerned and wondering what they are putting onto our computers, however it ends up being … Read more McAfee Site Advisor Red-Flagging Ebscohost
Last Words of Notable People
Bill Brahms of Reference Desk Press (a librarian publisher like myself) has just released his company’s second book: Last Words of Notable People. It is much more than a complement to his previous book, Notable Last Facts, and more likely to find extensive use as a part of a reference collection. There are more than … Read more Last Words of Notable People
Motives in the conception of the “user” in user-centered service design
The big theme in the current era of librarianship is to be user-centered. Being user centered is the key to maintaining relevance, changing with the times, and erasing the barriers to access that turn many people off to libraries. In the background of the idea of user-centeredness are two parallel but very different theories: critical … Read more Motives in the conception of the “user” in user-centered service design
The “assessment piece” and reference strategy
I want to suggest a possible strategy for reference departments in academic libraries. I think a lot of library administrators who have an eye on the future see less of a role for reference, at least in the way we currently understand it. As they see it, it seems to me, it’s a waste of … Read more The “assessment piece” and reference strategy
Critical Library Instruction – editors’ chat
Maria, Emily, and Alana met in Google Chat, as they did often over the course of this book project, to reflect on the process and product of Critical Library Instruction: Theories & Methods. Alana: Hello! Emily: Morning, y’all! Maria: Hi! Emily: How’re we all doing? Maria: I’m doing okay. Nervous about my presentation at noon … Read more Critical Library Instruction – editors’ chat
Library Juice Press Gift Certificates
Library Juice Press / Litwin Books gift certificates are great as personal gifts or as library-related awards. You can pay for a gift certificate in an amount of your choosing with funds in your PayPal account or with a credit card.
Which is friendlier to the environment, a book or an ipad?
Today’s New York Times has an informative little item comparing the environmental impact of producing an ipad versus that of a paper book: “How Green is My iPad?“
Interview with Lauren Pressley
Lauren Pressley is an Instructional Design Librarian at Wake Forest University, and the author of So You Want To Be a Librarian, from Library Juice Press. I interviewed her about her book by email the other day so that you could hear what she has to say about it at this point, now that the … Read more Interview with Lauren Pressley
C-SPAN puts entire video archive on the web
This is big news for anyone dealing with politics or gov docs collections. The New York Times is reporting today that C-SPAN has made its entire archive of programming freely available on its website. The archive contains 160,000 hours of programming. It seems that this will be a major resource for studying domestic politics in … Read more C-SPAN puts entire video archive on the web