LJ Insider

June 29, 2008 | Link This | Email this | Comments (2)

So, are the people who use libraries "patrons" or "customers" or, for that matter, "users"? Consultant Joan Frye Williams, speaking yesterday at an American Library Association (ALA) Annual Conference session in Anaheim, said there's a better option. "I did the obvious thing; I talked to a bunch of civilians," she reported at a breakout session on the future of libraries sponsored by the ALA Washington Office."I didn’t give them a false choice, I said, if I needed a word to respectfully describe [library users], what should that word be?"

The answer she got was "members." There were audible "hmms" from the audience. Williams continued: "You get the card, the privilege, With that word, you get community. Our words are tr...Read More

Industries: Public Services

June 29, 2008 | Link This | Email this | Comments (0)

The executive director of the American Library Association's Washington Office, Emily Sheketoff, is no shrinking violet, and Anne-Imelda Radice, director of the federal Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), reminded an audience of just that yesterday Saturday at the American Library Association annual conference in Anaheim.

“Even before I got my passkey to the office [in 2006], Emily was on the phone to me saying 'we've got to meet,'" Radice reported, at a Washington Office session. "It’s really a delight to count her as a colleague and a friend.”

(Check the LJ 2008 ALA Annual Conference page for more live coverage.)

Industries: News & Features

June 29, 2008 | Link This | Email this | Comments (2)

So Anaheim 2008 is not Orlando 2004, as American Library Association (ALA) annual conferences go, but it’s not Washington, DC, or Chicago, either. There are a good number of hotels and restaurants within, oh, a mile or two of the Anaheim Convention Center, but maps given out by hotels, ALA, and even (yikes) LJ don’t do a good job conveying exactly how far away things are, especially given that the convention center is set deeply back from the main road and you can’t fly like a crow.

(Check the LJ 2008 ALA Annual Conference page for more live coverage.) 

Those of us walking from the convention center to the Hyatt Regency seemingly just...Read More

Industries: News & Features

June 23, 2008 | Link This | Email this | Comments (0)

Houston Chronicle critic Lisa Gray has mixed feelings about the two-year, $17 million renovation of the Houston Public Library's Central Library, writing: "The library can't compete with the retail establishments it emulates — not with Starbucks, not with Borders. The renovation makes Central pleasant but not thrilling — a satisfying place to drop in if you're already downtown."

(Photos from HPL's Flickr ...Read More

Industries: Architectural Issue, Buildings & Facilities, Managing Libraries, Opinion

June 19, 2008 | Link This | Email this | Comments (0)

Though the devastation caused in the Gulf Coast by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005 far exceeds that suffered in Iowa over the past week or so, the news from Iowa presents some sobering echoes. The State Library of Iowa reports that three libraries are seriously damaged by flooding--pictures show the Cedar Rapids Public Library under water--and at least seven libraries have suffered "mild to fairly serious" water damage.

Those libraries will need significant support from local, regional, and national agencies, and from the library community. Surely some of the lessons learned in the Katrina recovery will be applied.

Also, just as in the ...Read More