I just listened to the latest episode of Steve Thomas’s podcast, “Circulating Ideas,” with academic librarians Lauren Pressley and Lynda Kellam. Towards the end of the show, they discussed how they’re teaching their students to evaluate information but questioned how they’re doing with the “finding things” part. “Are they [the students] making the connection that … Read more Lifelong Learning, Even for Undergraduates
I won’t comment much on this except to speculate that this may be an example of a state of affairs in journalism where reporters are making sloppy mistakes because the pace of the newsroom, like the pace of everything else in the internet era, is too quick for us to keep tabs on everything as … Read more Sloppy reporting on Saudi “City for Women”
In a Library Juice blog post some time ago, Rory Litwin recommended an essay by Karl Mannheim entitled “Conservative Thought.” In the essay, Mannheim argues that political groupings can be distinguished by specific “styles of thought” (though a style of thought will not be limited to politics). Styles of thought characterize more than just the … Read more Political Identities
Have you ever noticed that some people close their email messages with a mysterious capital J? It is not a secret code. Chris Jean has this most welcome explanation.
Phil Davis writes in The Scholarly Kitchen about “The Secret Life of Retracted Articles.” Scientific papers are frequently retracted, officially, by the journal’s publishers and editors if it is found that data was faked or for other reasons that invalidate the article’s conclusions. The problem is that the articles stay around, in libraries, on websites, … Read more The Secret Life of Retracted Articles
Emily Ford does a great job with this overview of library philosophy in In the Library With a Lead Pipe: What We Do and Why We Do It, published this morning. Much of it is a review of the literature in this important thread of LIS scholarship, covering a span that runs from 1934 up … Read more Emily Ford on Library Philosophy
Journalism students at the University of Missouri have published a very important report on book censorship in Missouri. It makes for chilling, but necessary reading. Take a look here.
Barbara Fister expresses a welcome dissenting view regarding the death of libraries and reading in the current Inside Higher Ed: “The End of the Twilight of Doom.” I agree with what she says, especially regarding the problem of high level administrators believing the hype about the death of reading, and the danger that it poses … Read more Barbara Fister on the “End of the Twilight of Doom”
Library Juice Academy offers a range of online professional development workshops for librarians, with classes starting October 1st. These workshops earn Continuing Education Units, and are intended as professional development activities primarily for academic librarians. A partial schedule of workshops is below. Visit the website periodically to see new courses as we add them. We … Read more Library Juice Academy
Auslander & Fox, Litwin Books’ imprint for general readers (i.e. not academic titles), has just published its first novel: Walt, by Ian Stoba. Walt is a wildly fun read that is over too quickly, and features a simple lobster fisherman from Tristan de Cunha, who hears unfamiliar music in his head that leads him to … Read more New novel from Auslander & Fox: Walt
Library Juice Press recently published Greening Libraries, which is about green and sustainable practices in library operations and planning. We have just made co-editor Monika Antonelli’s chapter available for free online: “The Public Library’s Role in the Transition Towns Movement.” We hope that you enjoy it and will consider purchasing the book for your library.
Like most librarians, I’ve been following the changes going on at the New York Public Library. It is one of those issues that casts a spotlight on the larger library world because of the vast importance of the institution. Charles Peterson’s essay in the amazing and fabulous journal N+1 burrows deep into the issue and … Read more Article on the NYPL in N+1
A couple of weeks ago, I went to a presentation of research projects at METRO, New York City’s major library consortium. The researchers were almost all practicing librarians, mostly at academic institutions, who worked in groups on topics of their choice. The approach of three out of the four groups was primarily to kind of … Read more Research in Real Life
The following is an email that was sent to current MLIS students at St. Catherine’s University in St. Paul, MN, announcing a reorganization of the department so that it will now be a part of the business school. I don’t know if there is any precedent for something like that. In other places where the … Read more St. Kate’s MLIS program is going under the business school
I have long been annoyed by the popularity of the Annoyed Librarian blog. It’s not because of her ideas, which I think are often interesting. It is because she has always used her anonymity as a shield for insulting people while avoiding responsibility for what she says. Many people justify anonymous public speech as a … Read more “Annoyed Librarian” is a Coward
A lot of local news, especially detailed news about suburban areas, is being outsourced to a company called Journatic, which sometimes uses fake names as bylines, as This American Life recently reported. NPR is reporting on the story in today’s Morning Edition. A good place for the details that are presently available is this story … Read more Outsourcing news agency using fake bylines
Class and Librarianship: Essays at the Intersection of Information, Labor and Capital. Edited by Erik Sean Estep (Southern Illinois University Edwardsville) and Nathaniel F Enright (Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology). To be published by Library Juice Press in 2013. The current crisis of capitalism has led to the renewed interest in Marxism and its core … Read more Call for Chapters: Class and Librarianship
Call for Papers: Identity Palimpsests: Ethnic Archiving in the U.S. and Canada Forthcoming volume in the series Archives, Archivists, and Society. Series editor: Richard J. Cox. Publisher: Litwin Books, LLC, Los Angeles, CA Volume editors: Dr. Dominique Daniel, Assistant Professor, Humanities Librarian for History and Modern Languages, Kresge Library, Oakland University (daniel [at] oakland.edu) and … Read more CfP: Identity Palimpsests: Ethnic Archiving in the U.S. and Canada
Litwin Books and Library Juice Press are announcing a new book series, to be edited by Miguel Juarez and Rebecca Hankins. The series is titled Critical Multiculturalism in Information Studies. Miguel and Rebecca are now seeking proposals for this series. They can be reached at migueljuarez.soha at gmail.com and rhankins at library.tamu.edu
Greening Libraries Editors: Monika Antonelli and Mark McCullough Price: $32.00 Published: June 2012 ISBN: 978-1-936117-08-6 It is difficult to turn on the television or read a news story today without learning about how green and sustainable practices are being implemented throughout society. Libraries are not exempt from these broader trends. In some cases, libraries and … Read more New Book: Greening Libraries