Ever wonder about libraries and whether they will be around 10, 20 years from now? How about librarians? What do they really do? How do they manage to survive in the current economic climate of cutbacks, cutbacks, cutbacks? And of course there is the problem of low pay. In fact libraries have been closing or due to fiscal cutbacks in cities and states, their hours may have been slashed and book budgets reduced and yet librarians have a strong will to serve to provide access to all regardless of background.
Then there are the trends in libraryland towards online libraries, shifting from books and magazine to electronic access to information. There is the challenge of new and multiple technologies, which libraries must adjust to and master, and master they do. Libraries are often in the advance guard techologically and, after all, indexing and subject analysis are what libraries have been good at and these skills are fundamental to online databases, even Google in its massive search indexes.
But it is a fact, libraries are changing with the rest of the society. So, now, along comes one of best books of 2010, This Book Is Overdue! How Librarians and Cybrarians Can Save Us All, by Marilyn Johnson, author of Dead Beat. She wanted to know where libraries are now and where are they going. While Ms Johnson is a journalist, her report represents several years of research, interviewing and doing participant observation work much as a sociologist or anthropologist. What she has produced is a definitive work on libraries and where they are going and she provides a very readable experience that allows behind the scenes appreciation of the struggles librarians undergo to provide continuous service and access now and into the future. She puts a human face to libraryland, cuts through stereotypes, and shows the marvelous diversity of libraries, librarians and displays it warts and all.
Reading Johnson's book you will learn about problems associated with computerization, the migration from library automated system to another, life in public libraries, specialized libraries, large Public Research libraries such as the New York Public, reductions in space forcing collections out, the discarding of previously sacred Reference materials, the struggle to maintain and archive for future readers and researchers critical primary sources, the effect of forces attempting to invade privacy of library card holders, the effect of the Patriot Act and libraries at the Connecticut State Library who fought to maintain First Amendment Right even under threat of possible jail time. She tells the story of Radical librariians, tattooed librarians and Second Life librarians.
Libraries have always fought to preserve access. Your library card and what you read is protected by libraries. Marilyn Johnson writes about the history of libraries and their struggles.
Second Life is an online community, where people develop their characters and avatars. Johnson focuses on a group of real life librarians who decide that it would be found to stake out a part of the Second Life community and created avatars and characters along with a Reference Desk in Second Life. Who were these real life librarians playing their roles in the virtual world as well as the physical world? Johnson created her own character and avatar and started playing a role and investigated Libraryland in Second Life. Finally she was able to meet in the physical world some of these role players. It is a fascinating story.
Whatever Johnson tackles in This Book Is Overdue, she provides indepth, accurate coverage and there is never a dull moment! This is an extremely fine work and hugely entertaining. If you are curious about librarians and libraries; if you love libraries and want to see them preserved; if you are interested in what makes libraries tick, then READ THIS BOOK! It provides loads of insight and represents where we are now in the physical, online, and virtual road.
Marilyn Johnson will be at the Forbes Library in Northampton, Wednesday, September 15, starting at 7pm. She'll do readings from her book, answer questions and sigh your book. For librarians and non librarians. Find out where libraries are going.
And now I have to go because This Book Is Overdue! You'll find it at the Berkshire Athenauem and other libraries.
Then there are the trends in libraryland towards online libraries, shifting from books and magazine to electronic access to information. There is the challenge of new and multiple technologies, which libraries must adjust to and master, and master they do. Libraries are often in the advance guard techologically and, after all, indexing and subject analysis are what libraries have been good at and these skills are fundamental to online databases, even Google in its massive search indexes.
But it is a fact, libraries are changing with the rest of the society. So, now, along comes one of best books of 2010, This Book Is Overdue! How Librarians and Cybrarians Can Save Us All, by Marilyn Johnson, author of Dead Beat. She wanted to know where libraries are now and where are they going. While Ms Johnson is a journalist, her report represents several years of research, interviewing and doing participant observation work much as a sociologist or anthropologist. What she has produced is a definitive work on libraries and where they are going and she provides a very readable experience that allows behind the scenes appreciation of the struggles librarians undergo to provide continuous service and access now and into the future. She puts a human face to libraryland, cuts through stereotypes, and shows the marvelous diversity of libraries, librarians and displays it warts and all.
Reading Johnson's book you will learn about problems associated with computerization, the migration from library automated system to another, life in public libraries, specialized libraries, large Public Research libraries such as the New York Public, reductions in space forcing collections out, the discarding of previously sacred Reference materials, the struggle to maintain and archive for future readers and researchers critical primary sources, the effect of forces attempting to invade privacy of library card holders, the effect of the Patriot Act and libraries at the Connecticut State Library who fought to maintain First Amendment Right even under threat of possible jail time. She tells the story of Radical librariians, tattooed librarians and Second Life librarians.
Libraries have always fought to preserve access. Your library card and what you read is protected by libraries. Marilyn Johnson writes about the history of libraries and their struggles.
Second Life is an online community, where people develop their characters and avatars. Johnson focuses on a group of real life librarians who decide that it would be found to stake out a part of the Second Life community and created avatars and characters along with a Reference Desk in Second Life. Who were these real life librarians playing their roles in the virtual world as well as the physical world? Johnson created her own character and avatar and started playing a role and investigated Libraryland in Second Life. Finally she was able to meet in the physical world some of these role players. It is a fascinating story.
Whatever Johnson tackles in This Book Is Overdue, she provides indepth, accurate coverage and there is never a dull moment! This is an extremely fine work and hugely entertaining. If you are curious about librarians and libraries; if you love libraries and want to see them preserved; if you are interested in what makes libraries tick, then READ THIS BOOK! It provides loads of insight and represents where we are now in the physical, online, and virtual road.
Marilyn Johnson will be at the Forbes Library in Northampton, Wednesday, September 15, starting at 7pm. She'll do readings from her book, answer questions and sigh your book. For librarians and non librarians. Find out where libraries are going.
And now I have to go because This Book Is Overdue! You'll find it at the Berkshire Athenauem and other libraries.
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