March/April 2013Volume 52, No. 2

Throwing Your Whole Self In: A Conversation With Henriette Lazaridis Power

In Henriette Lazaridis Power’s The Clover House, Callie Brown, a young woman adrift both professionally and personally, receives news that her beloved uncle has passed away in Greece. For Callie, a first generation Greek-American, this news means a journey back to Greece and a reunion with her mother Clio, with whom she has a fractious […]

Tailored to Succeed: Meeting Community Needs Also Helped the Library

Parkie Peck, branch manager of the Natural Bridge Branch of St. Louis County (Mo.) Library (SLCL), stood behind the circulation desk, watching the reading tables fill with customers. It was a typical afternoon in January 2009, all too typical, and she was trying to anticipate whether and how trouble might start. At Natural Bridge, the […]

Picturing Classification The Evolution and Use of Alternative Classification in Dutch Public Libraries

Libraries, especially public libraries, have been enthralled with decimal classification systems since Dewey’s flash of inspiration at the end of the nineteenth century. His genius invention—to classify library materials using a subject-based decimal notation system—allowed for an extensible interfiling of library materials previously unknown. Decimal-based classification notation is brief, expressive, and hospitable, making it ideal […]

New Product News – Mar/Apr 2013

Ingram Adds Access Model to MyiLibrary Is your library having trouble keeping popular e-book titles available? Instead of buying up multiple copies of e-books with no way of reselling them, Ingram now offers a way for libraries to pay for access credit so that concurrent users can access the same e-book at the same time. […]

In Search of Better Metrics

This may not be the column you’re looking for. One of the great advantages this platform has given me is the opportunity to sound like I know what I’m talking about. Working with new discoveries gives you the opportunity to proclaim yourself the first “expert” in any discipline. While it’s always been my goal to […]

Working with Teens It’s Everyone’s Job

I attended an Association for Library Services to Children (ALSC) National Institute a few years ago where one of the guest speakers was a teen librarian. She made a joke about how she enjoyed being in a room of children’s librarians because they were so warm, welcoming, and cheerful whereas teen librarians were angsty, moody, […]

Turning Outward

This past January, I was privileged to be invited by American Library Association (ALA) President Maureen Sullivan and Executive Director Keith Michael Fiels to travel to Chicago and participate with twenty-four other library leaders, in an initiative called “The Promise of Libraries Transforming Communities.” With funding to ALA from the Institute of Museum and Library […]

Outcomes + Outreach The California Summer Reading Outcomes Initiative

Public library summer reading programs make a difference. They help children and teens retain and enhance their reading skills during the summer. They help adults model reading activity for youth. And they provide a haven and a community for readers. But how do we share the impact of our work? How do we extend our […]