For those of you who in the Edmonton, Alberta area, I will be giving the keynote speech at the Forum for Information Professionals at the University of Alberta’s School of Library and Information Studies next month. I will be speaking in the morning on Friday, February 5th.
I have posted the first chapter of Juris Dilevko’s The Politics of Professionalism: A Retro-Progressive Proposal for Librarianship to the Library Juice Press website: Chapter One: Fateful Choices. It is the introductory chapter and provides a good feel for the book as a whole.
Humanism and Libraries: An Essay on the Philosophy of Librarianship Author: André Cossette Translator and Editor: Rory Litwin Price: $15.00 Published: December 2009 ISBN: 978-1-936117-17-8 Printed on acid-free paper André Cossette’s Humanism and Libraries is a concise but rigorous investigation into the foundations of librarianship—its definition and its aims. Philosophical and logical in its approach, … Read more New book: Humanism and libraries: An essay on the philosophy of librarianship
The Politics of Professionalism: A Retro-Progressive Proposal for Librarianship Author: Juris Dilevko Price: $32.00 Published: November 2009 ISBN: 978-1-936117-04-8 6″ by 9″ 242 Pages Printed on acid-free paper This book presents a retro-progressive proposal for the education of librarians: the removal of library education from the jurisdiction of universities, which in recent decades have become … Read more New from Library Juice Press: The Politics of Professionalism: A Retro-Progressive Proposal for Librarianship
This post is a presentation of two lists of priorities – first, priorities of the Social Responsibilities Round Table (SRRT), and second, a list of the kind of issue that I think SRRT ought to emphasize instead. The first list is as complete a list as I was able to compile of the subjects of … Read more Two sets of priorities
It comes up periodically and gets a little more serious each time. The Special Libraries Association is asking members to approve a name change to the “Association of Strategic Knowledge Professionals,” or ASKPro. Lots of SLA members say, “What’s in a name? It’s a matter of being recognized as what we are. Don’t take words … Read more SLA —> ASKPro?
I should have posted something about this earlier, sorry. I will be speaking at Drexel in Philadelphia tomorrow afternoon (Tuesday, 8/11/09), at the iSchool, 5pm, Rush Building, Room 014. They have posted a description to their news site. If you have a chance to go and you have found out about it here, say hello … Read more Speaking at Drexel
Just a brief note on a topic I will return to later… I find that librarians think of change in one of two ways: Change is happening to the profession; or Change is happening in the environment (social, cultural, economic, political) and the profession determines how it will change in response. These two ways of … Read more Professionalism and attitudes toward change
So You Want To Be a Librarian Author: Lauren Pressley Price: : $15.00 Published: July 2009 ISBN: 978-0-9802004-8-5 Printed on acid-free paper. Now on sale. Librarians tend to love their work and consider librarianship a great career. This book is by a talented librarian who wants to introduce people to the profession. If you are … Read more New from LJP: So You Want To Be a Librarian
CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS Greening Libraries, edited by Monika Antonelli and Mark McCullough and published by Library Juice Press, is a collection of essays, papers and articles on various aspects of the green library movement. The editors are seeking articles from a variety of perspectives on a wide range of topics related to green practices, sustainability … Read more Call for Submissions: Greening Libraries
A cultural theme in America for the past few decades has been a certain conservative populist “anti-elitism.” Barack Obama’s victory despite his vulnerability to the charge of elitism – owing to his statements about small town America “clinging to guns and religion,” his educational background, and his personal choice to assume an intelligent audience when … Read more Anti-elitism and academic libraries
CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS Gen-X Perspectives on Librarianship (working title), edited by Erik Estep, Rebecca Tolley-Stokes, and Martin K. Wallace; published by Library Juice Press. Seeking previously unpublished scholarly manuscript contributions for an anthology relating to the “Gen-X experience” from a librarian perspective, or, the “librarian experience” from a Gen-X perspective. Also welcome are critical perspectives … Read more Call for Submissions – Gen-X Perspectives on Librarianship
I enjoyed this article from the May 1st issue of Library Journal by Barbara Fister: “Publishers & Librarians: Two Cultures, One Goal.” Barbara is an academic librarian in Minnesota and an author of mystery novels at the same time. Her work as a popular author gives her an insight into the world of publishing that … Read more Barbara Fister on librarians and publishers
Questioning Library Neutrality: Essays from Progressive Librarian, edited by Alison Lewis, has been out for a while. I was just taking a look at it, and it occurred to me that it might be a good thing to put Alison’s introduction to the book online, so I have done that. It’s a good, quick read … Read more Questioning Library Neutrality – Introduction
Speaking of Information: The Library Juice Quotation Book Compiler: Rory Litwin Editor: Martin Wallace Foreword: Michael Gorman Price: $15.00 ISBN: 978-0-9802004-1-6 5.06″ by 7.81″ 172 Pages Published: May 2009 Speaking of Information: The Library Juice Quotation Book is a compilation of quotations originally collected for the “Quotes of the Week” section of Library Juice, an … Read more Speaking of Information: The Library Juice Quotation Book
Library Juice Press and Litwin Books will be sharing a booth with the Alternative Press Center in the exhibits hall at the ALA Annual Conference in Chicago, July 9-14. We will be at booth number 1637. I hope you’ll drop by and say Hi. On Saturday night, July 11th, from 7pm to 9pm, there will … Read more Library Juice Press at ALA
A co-worker of mine shared this video with me, done by somebody she knows at the library at Indiana University. I think it is great, creates such a sunny feeling about their library’s services, and gets the important things across. I am going to talk my co-worker into copying Carrie Donovan so that we can … Read more ASK video
This is going to be my obnoxious post for the year, the kind of post I write periodically that leads to ugly Google results on my name. There are things that I sometimes need to say that I know a lot of people won’t like. Helps me maintain a sense of integrity, I guess. Like … Read more Library 2.0 talk enters backwardation
CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS Out Behind the Desk: Workplace Issues for LGBTQ Librarians (a working title), edited by Tracy Nectoux and published by Library Juice Press as part of the series Gender and Sexuality in Librarianship. Seeking submissions for an anthology of personal accounts by librarians and library workers relating experiences of being gay, lesbian, bisexual, … Read more Call for submissions: Out Behind the Desk
Librarians, in my experience, are mostly ambivalent about Wikipedia, and we have good reason for our ambivalence. Wikipedia is a new phenomenon, which means it requires reflection and thought in order to understand where it is valuable and where it is not appropriate for us to use. I think that for many of us, our … Read more Wikipedia as an auxiliary reference tool