July 31, 2014

Christian Fiction Book Roundup

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There’s more to Christian Fiction than “gentle reads” and bonnet fiction, and the genre continues to expand and appeal to more and more readers. Join Library Journal Christian Fiction editor Shelley Diaz on August 19 as she moderates the Christian Fiction Book Roundup webcast, for a sneak peek at the latest inspirational titles. Register Now!

Leadership Communication: Getting Beyond the Basics | Leading from the Library

Steven Bell

Look at any job description for leaders at any level and there it is under essential qualifications: excellent communication skills. Recent leadership literature suggests there’s more to it than being a good listener and an articulate speaker.

The Way Upward | Design4Impact

THINGS ARE LOOKING UP The underside of VCL’s five-story floating staircase provides patrons with strong wayfinding from the start

Wayfinding in libraries is too often an afterthought. But not in Vancouver, WA, where the newly constructed Vancouver Community Library (VCL) had signage planned into the design. The Fort Vancouver Regional Library District hired the Miller Hull Partnership architects as well as wayfinding specialists Mayer/Reed and AldrichPears for “interpretive installation.” The result is an intuitive setup that gives patrons the broad brushstrokes at a glance, while being future-proof enough to accommodate shifts in the collection in the years to come.

Taming a Wild Country | Peer to Peer Review

Kevin L. Smith

Looking back, the irony is so heavy-handed that it seems contrived. As my colleagues and I were preparing for our MOOC on Copyright for Educators and Librarians, which launched for the first time last week, the only resource that we wanted to use but could not successfully negotiate the permission for was Susan Bielstein’s book about negotiating permissions. It would have been great for us and, I am convinced, for the Press if we could have offered a single chapter of it for our over 8,000 MOOC participants to read. In the event, however, we rediscovered the fear and lack of sound business sense that grips the publishing industry, but also discovered the richness of the free resources that were available to us.

Missouri Extends Protection of Library Records Data to Digital Materials

Missouri Extends Protection of Library Records Data to Digital Materials

Missouri library patrons can now rest assured that their library records for checkout of digital materials will remain private, thanks to a new state law.

Amazon Reveals Sticking Points with Hachette

Amazon Reveals Sticking Points with Hachette

In a Kindle forum post dated July 29, Amazon reveals specific details of its sticking points with Hachette Publishing Group over profit-share and ebook pricing—and in doing so, doesn’t do Hachette any favors.

We Need Diverse Books Incorporates

We Need Diverse Books Incorporates

The now-ubiquitous #WeNeedDiverseBooks (WNDB) hashtag and campaign has filed for incorporation in Pennsylvania, according to a WNDB blog post dated July 29.

Ernie DiMattia: A Remembrance

Ernest DiMattia

Ernest A. DiMattia Jr., president of Stamford, CT’s Ferguson Library, where he had worked since 1976, died of cancer on June 26 at the age of 74. Alice Knapp, Director of User Services at the Ferguson Library, shares some of her memories of him with LJ below.

Librarians, Media React to Launch of Kindle Unlimited

Library Unlimited

Describing the service as a potentially “disruptive challenge to libraries,” Jamie LaRue, principal of LaRue and Associates Consulting, told LJ that “even in rural areas now, a lot of folks have ereaders, and find that they prefer ebooks. This kind of service, at that price point, will probably result in another market shift. $9.99 is a pretty good deal.”

Michigan: Detroit Public Library Would Be Forced to Close If Current Property Tax Not Renewed (Proposal L)

From WXYZ-TV: Detroit voters will decide the fate of the Detroit Public Library on the August 5 primary ballot. The vote will decide if the Library continues its current operating millage of four mills, which supplies 86 percent of its operating budget. [Clip] If the proposal doesn’t go through the current millage will continue through […]

Dark Night: Library Burlesque | Backtalk

This is the true story of how the librarians of New Zealand’s largest city decided to show a little leg and unleash the power of burlesque on its ­community.

CALI Author and Open Education | Peer to Peer Review

Dorothea Salo

Last month I enjoyed the distinct privilege of keynoting the Conference for Law School Computing (also known as “CALIcon”), a gathering of legal educators, law librarians, and IT professionals in law put together by the Center for Computer-Assisted Legal Instruction (CALI). I can’t say enough in praise of the ever-present spirit of sly spirited fun at this conference.

Back to the Future: When Visioning Pays Off | Editorial

Rebecca T. Miller

Empty moving boxes perch on filled ones all through LJ’s offices. One of them now contains a record I’ll look forward to referencing in another nine years. As our staff gear up to move to a new space, I focused on weeding paper documents that had migrated from one workspace to the next. Packing can be a process of discovery. Among the fossils excavated was a blue folder holding the agenda and notes from a think tank, “2020 Vision: Idaho Libraries Futures Conference,” held in Boise in August 2005.

SC Libraries Seek To Override Trespass Bill Veto

South Carolina’s public library directors, confident they have the necessary votes in the state legislature locked up, plan to press ahead with efforts to see a library trespass bill adopted into law, even after a recent veto by Gov. Nikki Haley scuttled their hopes, at least temporarily.

Taylorism Comes to Campus | From the Bell Tower

Steven Bell

Just because technology allows us to do something, should we? That’s a big question being asked in higher education when it comes to student performance tracking analytics and predictive analytics.
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