Scholarly Libraries in the 21st Century
596705
Scholars and users of university libraries should not miss this book. Matthew Conner conveys the deep concern that librarians have in reaching out to all patrons while keeping up-to-date with emerging technologies amid tightening budgets.
248544
A wonderful read and valuable reference tool for anyone interested in connecting political, theological, economic, and scientific events. The author develops a great appreciation of the seismic shift in social structures that occurred over a 200 year period. The book's ideas helps put current events into new perspective, while appreciating the importance of belief.
122920
Peter Suber, being an ardent open access philosopher, supporter and advocate, writes different dimensions of open access movement in this book. He describes historical global movements of open access to scholarly literature for bringing transparency and enhancing accessibility to  public funded research results. His overwhelming efforts helped in developing many national and institutional open access across the world.
3725103
Very thorough. Part of a collection. Wish I could afford the rest of them right now but I can't.  Cannot figure out why my library got rid of the copy which I bought back from you. Seems to me local libraries are not very intelligent
1643465
Timeless and completely relevant in the 21st century.
861499
This is an absolutely wonderful reference.  In addition to the raw data, there are sections on major sales, famous folios, famous individuals involved, brief material histories, and a delightful section entitled "Shakespeare Folio Lore".  The compiler's perspective as a Librarian is also a welcome change from typical Shakespearian scholarship.  This is a wonderful book to consult if you suffer from a biblio-fetish.  It is also one of the few books I've seen to give much needed attention to the F2, F3, and F4.
3290223
Beautiful, functional, well-written, a great addition to the library
3789926
Professor Lessig describes how managing copyright for the digital age will have an impact upon every individual in the future.  As we develop and share digitial content how we protect or even abuse copyright will determine if the Internet and other digital technologies will improve information for the global citizen.  We stand at the door of one of the greatest era in history, however, how we use and protect digitial information will determine how history will judge our efforts for generations to come.  Lessig's book gives us the foundation to build upon and will be up to each individual to determine the final outcome.
4842578
The authors appear to make an attempt to thoughtfully include the latest information in the new editions while maintaining a smooth educational material flow.  The focus of the text remains as touching on a plethora of systems analysis related concepts.  However, I believe how all of these concepts truly fit together in a cohesive body of knowledge is ultimately left to reader to assemble.  The illustrations, figures, and tables are also excellent in the Kindle version.
1873022
Maurice Tauber's "Technical Services in Libraries" is one of those great classics of applied general librarianship that bears reprinting for generations of librarians even in the automated future. This is one of the primary textbooks, as published by Columbia University Press for then-current use (i.e., rather than as an historical reprint), used in one of its editions in my several courses in technical services (acquisitions, cataloguing, and classification), when I attended library school at Kent State University at the beginning of the 1970s. By that time the book had become a venerable standard work long used in teaching and practising librarianship. I read it cover-to-cover at least four times over the years of not only my library service studies, but throughout my career afterwards, and I consulted it on frequent occasions.

Now, of course, the book may seem a mere relic of pre-automated times in library practice, but it is more than a mere curiosity, unlike textbooks and other monographs of the kind of lesser stature from past decades. However, for libraries and documentation centres, especially small public, school, or private libraries, which still are wholly or partially "in manual mode" rather than fully automated, much of what Tauber explains and suggests (taking into consideration changes especially in cataloguing codes, as well in current-day sources to consult in selection and acquisition of library materials, since Tauber's time) still would have direct relevance in library operations and functions.

Tauber's book exhibited a marvellous way of presenting cataloguing, classification, acquisitions, and related functions and services in a manual (pre-automation) library with a vision that emphasised quality as well as practicality and good economy. In that regard, the work is of continuing value in settings where one or the other of those goals is in danger of, or has been, compromised. Tauber concentrated not too exclusively on theory (as modern library science textbooks do all too excessively) but also on how to carry out library functions, manually, of course, in welcome detail. His vision was so well focussed on quality in the light of practicalities and on service that this book remains a jewel of librarianship literature for any age of readers interested in librarianship. May the various reprints of Tauber's work always continue to keep it in print!
2584234
I read this book from start to finish without stopping. Powerful ideas and clarity about the values of both neighborhood libraries and research libraries, the distinctions between the functionality of ebooks and print, and community activism in service to historical preservation. Scott Sherman's book and his work has relevance for museums and other civic organizations threatened by destruction.
593072
I can think of no better time than now for a book that explores from so many directions the importance of libraries, librarians, and the free flow of information. Kyle Cassidy has created here a moving and humanizing panegyric, a love letter to knowledge and the people with a passion for sharing it, for making it readily available for all who seek it. Cassidy's delightful photographic portraits of librarians from all corners of the world alternately reinforce and shatter some stereotypes we have come to associate with librarians, and the words of the librarians themselves form a richly layered and complex madrigal that celebrates their common passion for empowering people with the information they need and entertaining them with the whimsy they desire. Cassidy includes short essays on libraries from the likes of Neil Gaiman, George R. R. Martin, Nancy Pearl, and Amanda Palmer that reinforce for the reader a sense of community among those of us for whom libraries have always felt like home, for whom librarians have always felt like family. Beautifully written, photographed, and edited, this book deserves a place on the (no doubt already overstuffed) shelves of any reader or seeker of knowledge.
2827011
This is a scholarly book, with a great many notes and an extensive bibliography. This has long been a problem with Kindle ereaders. The subscripted numbers indicating notes might be linked to the Notes section, but clicking one jumps you to the note, resets your farthest page read, and prevents you from jumping back to your place in the text.

As I was reading this ebook, an update occurred, either of the book or the ereader or both, implementing a new feature called Page Flip, which addresses this problem. Clicking the center of your page takes you to a multi-page view of your book. You can scroll forward or backward through the pages, or click a link to take you to a note. A thumbnail of your current page remains in the corner, so that you can return to the page you were reading at any time. There is also an icon that switches you to a nine-page view of the book, so that you can scroll rapidly, looking for a figure or a heading.

Page Flip is an excellent feature that I hope becomes more prevalent. The only other ebooks Ive found in my library that support it are a King James Bible and Gibbons Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, both of which are prime candidates for it.

My description here - and the extremely poor photos - are of the Page Flip feature on the Android version of the Kindle ereader. It works on the Kindle Paperwhite also, but not on the Windows 10 version of the app (which doesnt surprise me).
4498444
great book will be an effective tool for my library for my studies... thanks to the author for putting all the work into her books they are a blessing
2028884
This is a beautifully produced book -- a collection of more than 200 full-color photographs of librarians, accompanied by short quotes from them about their work, their patrons and libraries in general -- in pleasing layout on smooth, heavy paper. Also mixed in are a couple-dozen essays about library history and the role of libraries and librarians in empowering people to realize and become who they're meant to be, including a number of writers.

It strikes me as nearly a Humans of New York for librarians, though I wish their quotations were a bit longer to accommodate more depth and evocation. Still, its clear they're passionate about the safe, social, equalizing spaces they're able to create in libraries. The stunning variety of job titles, specialties and settings (public, educational, corporate) makes this perfect for anyone considering a library career.

A couple snips from the essays, this from Cory Doctorow, who writes that libraries have long been more than book depositories:

"When I found the newspaper microfilm, I was blown away, and spent a week just pulling out reels at random and reading newspapers from the decades and centuries before, making notes and chasing them up with books. We have a name for this behavior today, of course: browsing the Web. It was clunkier before the Web went digital, but it was every bit as exciting."

"Pre-Internet librarianship was like pre-Internet newspaper publishing: 'select, then publish.' [...] Now we live in a 'publish, then select' world [...] and the job of experts is to collect and annotate that material, to help others navigate its worth and truthfulness."

And from John Scalzi:
"I wouldnt be a writer without libraries, hard stop, end of story. Which means I wouldnt have the life I have without libraries, hard stop, end of story."
4817311
Avid readers love books. Of course they do! And if they love books, there is something about going into a room full of books that evokes feelings of being surrounded by so much potential for good stories, or interesting information. And so, lovers of books love libraries.

This then is a book for people like that. It is part history, part poetry, part something else entirely. It contains interesting information, but sets it out in a new and novel way so that even if you are acquainted with facts, there is plenty to enjoy in this reflective work.

I happen to know quite a few librarians (not just because I use their libraries either!) Since reading this book it has been on permanent loan to one or another of these. Most have loved it, some have enjoyed it. No one yet has returned it unread.

Would it have the same effect on non bibliophiles? I am not so sure about that. But when I finally get my copy back - somewhat more dog eared than when I bought it - I will lend it to any takers and find out.
4516113
Nicholas Basbanes has been a source of enjoyment for bibliophiles since publication of what is arguably the most enjoyable treatise on the book collecting culture, _A Gentle Madness_. In that book the heady heights of high-end collecting and the depraved depths of obsessive biblio-theft are expertly profiled. Equally delightful, his recent _Patience and Fortitude_ has a place of honor on my 'books-on-books' shelf.
While I have enjoyed many hours reading these books, which allowed me to circulate vicariously in book circles currently beyond my reach, I always wondered when Mr. Basbanes would write a book focusing on the everyman collector.
With the publication of _Among the Gently Mad_ my question has been answered, and the validity of the adage. "...be careful what you wish for..." has been affirmed for me. In a departure from his previous two works, the author not only provides delightful anecdotes on book culture, he has also constructed the most practical and up to date guide on the nuts and bolts of collecting available today. In the process he has laid bare nearly every trick and technique of collecting that I have picked up over the past several years.
The internet has, in many ways, revolutionized book collecting. Mr. Basbanes describes in what ways, and provides helpful pointers on how to maximize the 'net's usefulness, including mentioning specific web sites of interest. This material is useful not only for the new collector, but the established collector as well. Additionally, traditional book collecting via catalogue, auction and scouting are not neglected - and testimonials of collecting technique from collectors and dealers abound.
In short, if I were to begin book collecting today this is the first book I would buy, hands down. As a collector, it is one I have found very useful - and it goes without saying - entertaining. The only down side of the publication of this book is that those informed by its pages will create stiffer competition for the good books out there!