Lari's Bookshelf

Web librarians, ebranch librarians, cybrarians and other similar terms are proliferating the literature of the library world. What exactly do these terms mean and when will librarians stay ahead of the curve and finally be able to provide the finished product of the best library website ever? There's the rub. They can't. What is relevant now will be obsolete before you know it. Technology changes a lot in just a few years, and sure, there are ways for librarians to create websites that can stay relevant longer (especially when taking UX and accessibility standards into consideration). But if websites aren't quick to adapt to what users want and when they want it, they will fail to provide a friendly user-centered experience. We have to start thinking about library web services as always evolving. Websites aren't buildings. When we think of a library's website in terms of a digital branch, we might think of the old brick and mortar concept of...

Some of you may be aware of my recent censorship rant inspired by a book banning at a high school in Missouri. Two books including Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse Five and Ockler's Twenty Boy Summer were banned. Well I'm excited to hear about a recent announcement from the Kurt Vonnegut Memorial Museum. They are giving away FREE copies of Slaterhouse Five to students who were affected by the book banning. Check it out! Click on the image to visit the website. I love seeing people standing up to censorship. As long as people reach out to the people affected by book bannings, and stand in solidarity with them, censors will fight a losing battle.

My first REALLY cool experience with a library was when I started attending community college at 17. I walked into the Molstead Library on NIC campus, and there was this big " Banned Books Week " display. It sucked me in. There were all these books that I knew of or even loved on display with chains around them: Adventures of Huckleberry Finn , Of Mice and Men , Harry Potter, Brave New World , and more. I had no idea that books were even BANNED in America. I grew up believing that libraries in a "free society" were bastions of free information to any and all who would want it. I had heard of stuff like that happening in tyrannical, despotic nations, and in the past, but in modern day U.S.A.?  It was unheard of to me. Of course, I was a naive, then. Hardly aware of the necessity for ALA's "Banned Books Week." The issue of preventing censorship in libraries eventually became one of my passions. When I was a student at Brigham Young University, I ha...

1. Ask a Patron What They Plan on Doing with Their Checkout If you are a librarian or library para-professional, and someone asks you to find something for them, don't ask them what they are doing with the information. Even if it seems harmless. For example, let's say someone asks you for a book on flower arrangements, and you say, "Oh! Are you planning a wedding? Because I used an awesome book for my wedding blah blah blah." Then they look at you solemnly, and says it's for the funeral of a loved one. I'm not saying don't perform a reference interview. Just don't ask personal questions or get personal yourself. It's just better not to go there. 2. Engage in Conversation with a Person Who Is Telling You Too Much This problem arises from an opposite situation to the one mentioned above. You get an overly eager patron, who is chatty and starts to tell you every little detail about their event/party/book club/study group/project., their person...

They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.  -  Ben Franklin Unfortunately, the Patriot Act is not a thing of the past. It is arguably unconstitutional and riddled with controversial provisions . Despite campaign promises , President Obama extended the Patriot Act in May of this year  without any new civil liberties provisions or amendments. The seemingly valid attitude of "well, if I'm not doing anything illegal than why should I care" is a little naive. The fact is, once the government gets on 'in' on your personal information, and what your are choosing to read, whose to say this will cease in the future? Do people honestly think that one day terrorism will just end and we'll all get our rights to privately and freely access information unless the people speak out against it? And while authorities could technically get a warrant if they suspect suspicious activity, sometimes it's ...

I had the pleasure of visiting a town named Winchester in Virginia last month. While there, I stopped by the Handley Regional Library and, with mouth perpetually agape, snapped lots of photos until they closed and asked me to leave the building. The library was first opened in 1913 because Judge John Handley (a self made man who immigrated from Ireland) of Scranton Pennsylvania willed $250,000 (which would be nearly 5.5 million today) to " . . . open a Public Library for the free use of the people of the city of Winchester forever ." Here are some pictures of the library from the outside: Upon entering this timeless temple to knowledge and steamy paranormal romances, you stand in a glorious rotunda.  Here is the library's magical golden directory. Look, they had to change some things and you can tell because they put little metal strips over some words! And then I started exploring the different sections of the library... Disembodied hand! Teen Sp...