http://marylaine.com/exlibris/xlib248.html

Ex Libris: an E-Zine for Librarians sponsored by
our bulk mail
provider,
WillCo

#248, May 13, 2005



SUBJECT INDEX to Past Issues

http://marylaine.com/
exlibris/archive.html

* * *

Neat New Stuff I Found This Week

* * *

My resume

http://marylaine.com/
resume.html
Or why you might want to hire me for speaking engagements or workshops. To see outlines for previous presentations I've done, click on Handouts

* * *

My Writings

http://marylaine.com/
resume2.html
A bibliography of my published articles and columns, with links to those available online.

* * *

Order My Books

Net Effects: How Librarians Can Manage the Unintended Consequences of the Internet, and The Quintessential Searcher: the Wit and Wisdom of Barbara Quint.

* * *

What IS Ex Libris?

http://marylaine.com/
exlibris/purpose.html

The purpose and intended scope of this e-zine

* * *

E-Mail Subscription?

For a combined subscription to Neat New Stuff and ExLibris, please click HERE, complete the form, and click on "subscribe." To unsubscribe, use the same form but click on "unsubscribe." To change addresses for an existing subscription, unsubscribe from that form and return to the page to enter the new address.

* * *

Highlights from Previous Issues:


My Rules of Information

  1. Go where it is
  2. Corollary: Who Cares?
  3. The answer depends on the question
  4. Research is a multi-stage process
  5. Ask a Librarian
  6. Information is meaningless until queried by human intelligence
  7. Information can be true and still wrong
  8. Pay attention to the jokes

* * *

Guru Interviews

  1. Tara Calishain
  2. Jenny Levine, part I
  3. Jenny Levine, Part II
  4. Reva Basch
  5. Sue Feldman
  6. Jessamyn West
  7. Debbie Abilock
  8. Kathy Schrock
  9. Greg Notess
  10. William Hann
  11. Chris Sherman
  12. Gary Price
  13. Barbara Quint
  14. Rory Litwin
  15. John Guscott
  16. Brian Smith
  17. Darlene Fichter
  18. Brenda Bailey-Hainer
  19. Walt Crawford
  20. Molly Williams
  21. Genie Tyburski
  22. Patrice McDermott
  23. Carrie Bickner
  24. Karen G. Schneider
  25. Roddy MacLeod, Part I
  26. Roddy MacLeod, Part II
  27. John Hubbard
  28. Micki McIntyre
  29. Péter Jacsó

* * *

Cool Quotes

The collected quotes from all previous issues are at http://marylaine.com/
exlibris/cool.html

* * *

When and How To Search the Net

* * *

Wanna See Your Name in Lights?

Or at least on this page, anyway? I'd like to print here your contributions as well as mine. As you've noticed, articles are brief, somewhere between 750 and 1000 words -- something to jog people's minds and get their own good ideas flowing. I'd also be happy to run other people's contributions to the regular features like Favorite Sites on _____. I'll pay you the same rate I pay me: nothing.

* * *

Drop me a Line

Want to comment, ask questions, submit articles, or invite me to speak or do some training? Write me at: marylaine at netexpress.net




Visit My Other Sites


BookBytes

http://marylaine.com/
bookbyte/index.html
My page on all things book-related.

* * *

How To Find Out of Print Books

http://marylaine.com/
bookbyte/getbooks.html
Suggested strategies, resources, and finding tools.

* * *

Best Information on the Net

http://library.sau.edu/
bestinfo/default.htmThe directory I built for O'Keefe Library, St. Ambrose University, still my favorite pit stop on the information highway.

* * *

My Word's Worth

http://marylaine.com/
myword/index.html
an occasional column on books, words, libraries, American culture, and whatever happens to interest me.

* * *

Book Proposal

Land of Why Not: an Appreciation of America. Proposal for an anthology of some of my best writing. An outline and sample columns are available here.

* * *

My personal page

http://marylaine.com/
personal.html



WORTH IMITATING

by Marylaine Block

While researching for my new book, I've been looking at a whole lot of library web sites over the past couple of weeks, and I've come across some wonderful ideas that seem to me well worth imitating.

I've come across lots of "Library Stores" on these web sites, which offer some interesting merchandise. The Fletcher Free Library (VT), for instance <http://www.fletcherfree.org/store.htm>, offers "Carnegie Building Centennial Anniversary Note Cards," with "color and sepia-tone images of the Carnegie Library from four different old post cards." With a package of 20, they throw in a copy of "A Short History of Vermont’s Carnegie Libraries."

Many sites give their users a chance to contribute to the library more directly, and in some interesting, imaginative ways. Greenville County Library System (SC), for instance, encourages people to buy engraved bricks to be placed near the entrance of each of the new branch libraries <http://www.greenvillelibrary.org/about/fundraising/buyabrick_form.htm>. In collaboration with the Texas Kennel Club, the Dallas Public Library <http://dallaslibrary.org/> sponsors a Pet Memorial Fund; for a donation of $25 or more, the pet's name is commemorated in a Pet Memory Book and a bookplate in the book purchased with the money. And a number of libraries have established a Wish List at Amazon; patrons can click on the Amazon list to buy the library a book from that list.

All libraries do programs, of course, but it must be admitted, some programs are more intriguing than others. Among the most interesting events I saw advertised on library web sites were the "Quilt Me a Story" contest at the Pelican Rapids Public Library (MN) <http://www.pelicanrapids.lib.mn.us/index.php>; Friends of the Library partnered with the Pelican Rapids Multi-cultural committee to ask people to create quilts on the theme of Global Village, the winner to be displayed in the library this coming June.

The Princeton Public Library <http://www.princeton.lib.nj.us/index.html> (whose director is 2006-2007 ALA president Leslie Burger), is offering a three-session program on civic life in New Jersey called Politics NJ 2005. Other events it's sponsoring include a 4-day, 15-film Human Rights Film Festival and "Unquiet Fridays, featuring the Princeton Country Dancers in a program of traditional dances of the US and Britain."

King County Library System in Washington <http://www.kcls.org/> offers several intriguing programs, my favorites of which are Read to Your Grandchildren, a series honoring National Older Americans Month, and a program for teens called Read Three, Get One Free. The Dayton Metro Library <http://www.daytonmetrolibrary.org/>> sponsored a Free Comic Book Day to promote its graphic novel collection.

Among its many programs, Ohio's Stark County Library <http://www.starklibrary.org/> will be presenting a one-day workshop on grants for nonprofit organizations, and a program about its partnership with the Stark County Parks District.

Although it's hard to find it on the Smithtown (NY) Library website <http://www.smithlib.org/>, that library is sponsoring a sports book reading group, a nice way to encourage men to join book discussions and use our libraries.

Smithtown's web site does something else that's interesting: a prominent feature, Database of the Month. Using a little of your site's prime display area to introduce just one thing (at a time) that most people don't realize you offer seems to me like a good idea. Similarly, New York's Middle Country Public Library Online <http://www.mcpl.lib.ny.us/> uses a rotating signboard at the top of the screen to highlight services and coming attractions. It currently is featuring an International Museum Day program, a Community Resource Database, wellness programs, and career counseling services.

Many of the libraries whose web pages I was exploring had just won local referendum issues, and I was pleased to see that several of them thanked the voters prominently on their web sites AND, as in the case of King County Library System's "Your Library Investment" pages, give full, ongoing accounts of how the money is being used; in my view, complete openness about our stewardship of public funds is essential to building public trust.

Libraries with building projects often include architectural sketches, building plans, and construction photos. Princeton's library provides a wonderfully comprehensive view of its completed new building, with photos, a fact sheet, an overview of its public art, information on tours, etc. <http://www.princeton.lib.nj.us/new/photos.html>. Many libraries post their budgets and their strategic plans for the next couple of years.

Don't just take my word for it about the interesting and useful things libraries are doing. Go out exploring. Using the web to scout the competition can pay big dividends. Remember, the sincerest form of flattery is imitation.

And if you're already doing things that are every bit as nifty as these, I want to hear from you. As the song doesn't quite go, "If you tell me, I could write a book..."

* * * * *

COOL QUOTE:

At the root of the problem is a kind of indifference bordering on neglect on the part of library patrons, and a kind of neglect bordering on negligence on the part of public officials. There is hardly anyone who is against libraries. Rather, library budgets are being cut or restrained almost by default to fund other, more tangible services. No one's life is in danger because they can't get their hands on one of Shakespeare's plays, and so libraries are often undervalued by local officials bent on preserving "essential services."

But in fact, libraries are essential. Reading is still the most basic survival skill in today's information-driven society. Moreover, the gap between rich and poor is widening, and the libraries level the playing field.

A danger greater than closing is that if we keep pauperizing libraries, they will deteriorate to the point that it will not be worth going at all. For children from homes where the only book is the telephone directory, the library is their one great hope. But if they go and find nothing to read, they will soon be watching television instead.

William Ecenbarger. "Libraries Are an Essential Service, Too." Christian Science Monitor March 11, 2005 http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0311/p09s01-coop.html

* * *

You are welcome to copy and forward any of my own articles (but not those by my guest writers) for noncommercial purposes as long as you credit ExLibris and cite the permanent URL for the article. Please do NOT copy and post my articles to your own web sites, however. Instead, please copy a brief excerpt and link to the URL for the remainder of the article.

Ex Libris: an E-Zine for Librarians and Other Information Junkies.
http://marylaine.com/exlibris/
Copyright, Marylaine Block, 1999-2005.

[Publishers may license the content for a reasonable fee.]