Blatant Berry: Going to the Voters

The only good things to come out of this recession are the political lessons learned by librarians. They have found new strategies to survive deep budget cuts, new tactics to convince politicians and governing authorities More...

"We Have To Destroy Sharing To Save It" | Peer to Peer Review

Barbara Fister files a dissenting opinion in the case of SkyRiver/III v. OCLC.

Libraries, Ebooks, and Competition

Libraries, Ebooks, and Competition Ebooks and the Retailization of Research Ebook Sanity E-Texts for All (Even Lucy) People keep writing articles about how valuable libraries are, even with ebooks and the Internet and all. Well, More...

Ebook Sanity

Libraries, Ebooks, and Competition Ebooks and the Retailization of Research Ebook Sanity E-Texts for All (Even Lucy) Treating the digital like the physical is insanity of the highest order. I've said it before, and I'll More...

Credits for Free

HOW'S THIS FOR A CONVOLUTED PROCESS? If you're a library support staff person—someone who works in a library without an MLS, whether you go by paraprofessional, paralibrarian, or another term—then you may be eligible for More...

BackTalk: When Personality Vanishes

Every Monday for the past three years I have turned the front of the community college library where I work into a coffee shop. Popular vindication for my efforts has been slow, but it’s been More...

The LIS Placement Gap

Help with career planning and placement was high among the many things a group of students told me was missing from their LIS education. They listed other gaps and faults, too, some from the basic More...

Editorial: FEMA Fails Again

Tamara Glise doesn't consider herself a crusader, but FEMA, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, has turned her into one. To her dismay, Glise, interim director of Cedar Rapids Public Library (CRPL), IA, has found that More...

Editorial: No Content? No Way!

Aaron Schmidt, digital initiatives librarian for the District of Columbia Public Library, may have expressed some of our worst fears in a March 4 post on his blog, Walking Paper, entitled "Libraries Might Not Provide More...

Editorial: No Better Time Than Now for LJ Index of Public Library Service

'Reality as judged by taxpayers,'; is how one librarian described the new LJ Index of Public Library Service-they're the only 'perceptions [that] really count!'; Launched by LJ February 15, 'America's Star Libraries'; has garnered mostly More...

Editorial: A Glimmer of Good News

Finally, something good to talk about amid all the gloom and doom. According to the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), literary reading, defined as 'novels, short stories, poems, or plays in print or online,'; More...

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Job frustrationsWhile I am happy for the 2007 graduates and their apparent increase in jobs and pay, as a 2008 graduate, your cover story (Stephanie Maatta, 'Jobs and Pay Both Up: Placements & Salaries 2008,'; More...

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Prejudice against gamersAs a gamer and a paralibrarian, I was disturbed and angered by Joseph Grosso's limited view of games and gamers in libraries ('Mission Aborted,'; BackTalk, LJ 9/15/08, p. 34). I grew up gaming More...

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A real womanMy coworker and I read Francine Fialkoff's 'Palin Strikes Fear in Libraries'; (Editorial, LJ 10/1/08, p. 8).... Sarah Palin never said she wanted to censor any book. She did not want to ban More...

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Friends sell those weedsI really enjoyed reading 'Green Weeding'; by Sarah Penniman and Lisa McColl (LJ 9/15/08, p. 32–33) but was surprised to find no mention of Friends of the Library groups, which have been More...

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Disability resourceMy colleagues and I in the Libraries Serving Special Populations Section (LSSPS) of the Association of Specialized and Cooperative Library Agencies (ASCLA) of the American Library Association were heartened to read Jim Blansett's 'Digital More...

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Embrace the newI can sympathize with Eddie Paul ('I feel irrelevant,'; Feedback, LJ 8/08, p. 11). It is true that all libraries are being increasingly used for Internet access, including MySpace, Facebook, and obtaining popular More...

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ALA vs. privatizationFrancine Fialkoff called for the American Library Association (ALA) to take a stronger stand against the privatization of library services ('The Privatization Threat,'; Editorial, LJ 6/1/08, p. 8). In fact, the association has More...

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PLA won't take a standWe have been undergoing serious tax and budget cuts that have significantly weakened Florida local governments, the entities that provide public library service. During these challenging times, we have had several More...

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Proud to be a librarianA 50-year-old Mexican American male with an MLS from UCLA, I want to respond to Tony Greiner's BackTalk column ('Diversity and the MLS,'; LJ 5/1/08, p. 36). Becoming a librarian is More...

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Reference weedingThank you for Laura Lampasone's timely 'A Time To Weed: Decluttering Print Collections'; (Reference BackTalk, LJ 5/1/08, p. 100). Our reference section is a mess. Now I know what I can safely pitch, but More...

How Do You Manage? Case Study: Sicko

'Another one bites the dust,'; Kathleen Dexter, librarian at the Kensington Public Library, said as Anna Coffey hung up the phone.'Yikes,'; said Coffey. 'How many does that make?';'Three today, plus two who were also out More...

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Alarmist!Your cover story by Debra J. Slone ('After Oil,'; LJ 3/15/08, p. 28-31) was excessively alarmist with regard to the issue of peak oil. Slone wrote that 'the Energy Watch Group states that the world's More...

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Transforming NYPLAs LJ reported, the New York Public Library (NYPL) recently announced a major transformation plan ('NYPL Announces $1 Billion Makeover,'; LJ 4/1/08, p. 14ff.) that will dramatically reshape this urban public library system for More...

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Tax-based bookstore?I wish Francine Fialkoff's 'The Borders Concept'; (Editorial, LJ 3/15/08, p. 8) was true. Except, possibly, for the last paragraph, it is a fantasy. Even then, those small communities that you put so much More...

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A right, not a raiseThank you for naming me one of LJ's Movers & Shakers ('On the Line,'; Movers & Shakers, 2008, Supplement to LJ 3/15/08, p. 30). Because I love what the power of More...

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The two DavidsThe New York Public Library (NYPL) has traded an excellent library for half of a first floor and two cellars that they say will be a 'state-of-the-art library'; (Francine Fialkoff, 'Two NYPLs or More...

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Eradicating our rootsI agree with some of John Berry's 'The Vanishing Librarians'; (Blatant Berry, LJ 2/15/08, p. 10). Before I landed a position in reference and then my current professional post, I was a circulation More...

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No staff input at NYPLI am a staff member at the New York Public Library (NYPL) and, like my colleagues, really concerned as to what's going on. I was glad to read Francine Fialkoff's 'Two More...

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Quality from amateursRelying on amateurs for information has been a problem with the web and older information sources from day one (Carol Tenopir, 'Web 2.0: Our Cultural Downfall?'; Online Databases, LJ 12/07, p. 36). Web More...

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Community web siteI agree with Marylaine Block (';One with the Community,'; BackTalk, LJ 9/1/07, p. 52) that libraries are in an excellent position to assist people in their communities who are in need for various More...

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ALA's "insurance"John Berry raised some useful questions about the value of the American Library Association (ALA) endowment ("The Endowment's Purpose," Blatant Berry, LJ 10/15/07, p. 10). As the association's treasurer and its senior endowment trustee, More...

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Pigheaded in PhoenixThe article 'Who's Selecting Now?'; (Barbara Hoffert, LJ 9/1/07. p. 40–43) has got to be one of the most dismaying things you have ever printed that did not originate from Baltimore County. 'With More...

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Terminology hang-upJohn Berry's comments about I-Schools ('Why I-Schools Need Library,'; Blatant Berry, LJ 9/15/07, p. 10) miss a strategic point when he concentrates on whether the word library is included in the press release, names More...

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Libraries need iSchoolIn 'Why I-Schools Need Library'; (Blatant Berry, LJ 9/15/07, p. 10), John Berry laments that the 19 information schools comprising the iCaucus have omitted the word library from the iSchool 'pitch'; and that More...

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Illegal librarians?I've been around the barn on the question of what library schools should teach for a long time, perhaps even longer than John Berry ('Old Debates Renew Libraries,'; Editorial, LJ 9/1/07, p. 8). Unlike More...

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What Google decides'BEA Was a Librarian-fest'; (LJ 7/07, p. 14–16), discussing the 'heist'; of Google's computers, states, 'Lawyers might point out, however, that Google's copying does not deprive the library owner of the physical book More...

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Inept collection toolsThank you for Francine Fialkoff's editorial 'Blockbuster Strikes Again'; (LJ 6/15/07, p. 8). The techniques used for selecting materials for the library collection have not improved in 25 years. The profession relies heavily More...

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Tough job huntI can certainly sympathize with the newly minted librarian who was told there was a librarian shortage and a wealth of opportunities would soon be opening up owing to mass retirements who now More...

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Red State 'Christians';It seemed rather insane when Southerners overreacted to John Lennon's statement about Jesus. After recently reviewing his remarks on a video, I have concluded that he was stating a fact and never intended More...

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Brooklyn catches upThe words, 'which makes her the first African American woman to head a major library in the state'; caught my attention in your story 'Mack-Harvin To Head Brooklyn PL'; (LJ 4/15/07, p. 16). More...

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Toledo concernsThe Toledo–Lucas County Public Library (TLCPL) wishes to express its deepest concern over the inaccuracies reported in two separate articles that quote mystery writer Sara Paretsky.In a Chicago Tribune editorial titled 'Refusing to allow More...

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Presidential debateThere is much more at stake than 'opposition to Bush's policies'; in the controversy over the proposed site of the Bush presidential library at Southern Methodist University ('SMU's Bush Plans Protested,'; News, LJ 2/15/07, More...

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It's political, so what?I wish John Berry ('The Politics of NCLIS,'; Blatant Berry, LJ 3/15/07, p. 11) would think back to when the U.S. National Commission on Libraries and Information Science (NCLIS) was established. It More...

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It's the books, stupidA heartfelt 'amen'; to Laura Magzis's 'Books, Books, Books!'; (BackTalk, LJ 3/1/07, p. 50) about the centrality of books to our work, a contention that was well supported in OCLC's recent report More...

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Trading imagesI greatly enjoyed Francine Fialkoff's 'The Image Thing'; (Editorial, LJ 2/15/07, p. 8). My husband has always worn his hair long. Working for Indiana University (IU) libraries in a clerical position that paid less More...

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Navigation is tougherAdd my response to the many eloquent replies to Tess Pappas's impassioned plea that we all drop our various ethnicities, cultures, and/or races, the things that distinguish us from each other ('All Americans,'; More...

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Aren't we teachers?I was really puzzled why Adam Holland ('Gender Bias in Libraries?'; BackTalk, LJ 1/07, p. 64) thought there was a gender bias in hiring men in public libraries. It is a man's choice More...

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Grow ALA participationIn his 'Democracy in ALA'; (Blatant Berry, LJ 12/06, p. 10), John Berry notes that a 'relatively small percentage of the total eligible members vote in [American Library Association] elections, even with the More...

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Photo IDs needed!We are a small library funded by neither city nor county and exist solely through donations from our wonderful community and through grants and fundraisers. We have very little money to spend on More...

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NextGen impatiencePaul Henriques's 'What's Wrong with LIS?'; (NextGen, LJ 12/06, p. 84) confirms...the irrelevance of library education today. Library schools graduate librarians who don't know a gutter from a leaf in a book, who don't More...