Francine Fialkoff Blog

April 28, 2009 | Link This | Email this | Comments (0)

While there's little direct money for libraries in the economic stimulus package, there's still time to weigh in on funding for LSTA. The American Library Association (ALA) Washington Office has just released a new action alert, asking library advocates to contact their Senators to urge them to sign on to the letter being circulated by Senators Jack Reed (D-RI) and Olympia Snowe (R-ME) in support of LSTA funding (at $300 million) and Improving Literacy Through School Libraries Program ($100 million). 

According to Sheketoff, the letter needs a substantial number of Senators to sig...Read More

March 24, 2009 | Link This | Email this | Comments (0)

Kudos to the winners of libraryland's newest award, Shovers & Makers, a takeoff on LJ's own Movers & Shakers, and the brainchild of Joshua Neff and Steve Lawson. It answers the question (after the annual Movers & Shakers list comes out every March 15), "What about the rest of us?" 

Well, now, the rest of us have a chance to become Shovers & Movers, and the criteria are just as daunting as those for the M&S, with one big difference: you must nominate yourself and write your own profile. Some of LJ's Movers are already there, too. As the ...Read More

Industries: People

March 16, 2009 | Link This | Email this | Comments (0)

In 2002, when we first launched Movers & Shakers to identify librarians and others who were “shaping the future of libraries,” we had no idea how strongly it would resonate in the library world. We wanted to shatter the old library image and recognize the changing face of the profession, as new, younger, generally unsung librarians brought up on technology entered the field and began to alter it. We expected to skew toward twenty- and thirtysomethings and we have. But given that librarianship often attracts career-changers and that librarians—no matter their age—have embraced technology and Library 2.0, we have found no age cap.

The hundreds of nominated Movers & Shakers that first year gave us an indication of not ...Read More