Marylaine Block: Writer

marylaine at netexpress dot net
 Marylaine Block, Writer


Books, Articles, Columns, Miscellaneous Writings,
Book Proposal, and Articles About Me

BOOKS

  • The Thriving Library: Successful Strategies for Challenging Times. Information Today, April , 2007

  • Net Effects: How Librarians Can Manage the Unintended Consequences of the Internet. Information Today, September, 2003.

  • The QUINTessential Searcher: the Wit and Wisdom of Barbara Quint, which I edited. Information Today, 2001.




    ARTICLES

  • Library Journal Movers and Shakers issue, March 15, 2008, http://www.libraryjournal.com/toc-archive/2008/20080315.html?section=Movers+%26%+Shakers

  • "One with the Community." Library Journal< September 1, 2007, http://libraryjournal.com/article/CA6471071.html

  • "Managing the Internet." In The Whole Digital Library Handbook, Diane Kresh, ed. ALA Editions, 2007, 155-161.

  • "My First Rule of Information." The New Writer's Handbook, 2007, Philip Martin, ed. Scarletta Press, 2007, 125-129.

  • "In Need of a Better Business Model"/Auf der Suche nach einem besseren Geschaftsmodell" and "Show Off Your Library as a Place/Die Bibliothek - ein Angebot als kommunaler Raum!" In The Library as a Public Place and Public Space/Die Bibliothek als Offentlicher ort und offentlicher Raum, ed. P.S. Ulrich, BibSpider. Berlin, 2006.

  • "Grammar Matters." In Vocabula Bound, Robert Hartwell Fiske, ed., 2007, 51-54.

  • Library Journal's Movers and Shakers issue, March 15, 2007 (in collaboration with Rachel Singer Gordon), http://libraryjournal.com/index.asp?layout=LJMS&pubdate=3/15/2007

  • Library Journal's Movers and Shakers issue, March 15, 2006 (in collaboration with Rachel Singer Gordon). http://libraryjournal.com/index.asp?layout=LJMS&pubdate=3/15/2006

  • "A Hole in One: Great Golf Fiction." Library Journal, August, 2005, http://libraryjournal.com/article/CA633349.html

  • "Limited Success." Vocabula Review, May, 2005. http://www.vocabula.com/2005/VRMAY05Block.asp [subscription only].

  • Library Journal's Movers and Shakers special issue, 2005, http://www.libraryjournal.com/index.asp?layout=LJMSTOC&pubdate=3/15/2005

  • "My Life as a Librarian without Walls." Info Career Trends, March, 2005, http://www.lisjobs.com/newsletter/archives/mar05mblock.htm

  • "On Analyzing Web Sites." OPALessence: Newsletter of ALIA One Person Australian Libraries Group. December, 2004, 11-14

  • "The Right Hand Knoweth Not..." Library Worklife: HR E-News for Today's Leaders, 1, #11, November, 2004. http://www.ala-apa.org/newsletter/1n11.html

  • "Rx for Healthcare Policy." The CyberSkeptic's Guide to Internet Research, November/December, 2004, 6-7.

  • "The Wrong Words." Vocabula Review, October, 2004, http://www.vocabula.com/2004/VROCT04Block.asp (subscription required)

  • "Pearls from an OAIster." The CyberSkeptic's Guide to Internet Research, October, 2004, 4-5.

  • "Grammar Matters." in Vocabula Bound: Outbursts, Insights, Explanations, and Oddities: Essays on the English Language from the Vocabula Review, Marion Street Press, 2004.

  • "Military Life: 'Serving Those Who Serve Us' Takes on New Meaning in Time of Armed Conflict." Library Journal, September 15, 2004, 40-41. http://www.libraryjournal.com/article/CA452291

  • "Polishing the Crown Jewels: the National Library of Medicine." CyberSkeptic's Guide to Internet Research< July/August, 2004.

  • "Findlaw.com as a Business Research Tool." CyberSkeptic's Guide to Internet Research, June, 2004, 6.

  • "Dr. Everyman: Publishers Help Consumers Take Control of their Health Care." Library Journal, May 1, 2004, 61-62, 64 http://www.libraryjournal.com/article/CA411589

  • "The Sun Never Sets on the BBC." CyberSkeptic's Guide to Internet Research, May, 2004, 4-5.

  • "What's Where When: the Perry-Castaneda Map Collection." CyberSkeptic's Guide to the Internet, April, 2004, 6.

  • the Movers and Shakers supplement to Library Journal, March 15, 2004. I wrote 36 of the 50 profiles.

  • "ZDNet: Technology Mother Lode." CyberSkeptic's Guide to the Internet, March, 2004, 4-5.

  • "A Tale of Many Cities (and States): Governing.com." CyberSkeptic's Guide to the Internet, February, 2004, 6.

  • "BNA Web Watch: an Information Source and a Model of Library Marketing." CyberSkeptic's Guide to the Internet, January, 2003, 4-5.

  • "Beware the e-Vanishing Act," Library Journal, December 15, 2003, http://www.libraryjournal.com/article/CA339604

  • "The University of Michigan Document Center: a Locator of Key Official Sources." CyberSkeptic's Guide to the Internet, November/December, 2003, 4-5.

  • "Create Your Niche on the Net by Being First." Marketing Library Services, November/December, 2003, p. 5.

  • "Telling It Slant." Vocabula Review, October, 2003. http://www.vocabula.com/2003/VROct03Block.asp (registration required)

  • "A Convergence of Interests: CyberJournalist.Net." CyberSkeptic's Guide to the Internet, October, 2003, 4-5.

  • "Net Effects: How Librarians Manage the Unintended Consequences of the Internet." Searcher, October, 2003, 42-47. Available online at http://www.infotoday.com/searcher/oct03/block.shtml

  • "Your Guides to the English Languages: Glossarist.com and the OneLook Dictionary." The CyberSkeptic's Guide to the Internet, September, 2003, 4-5.

  • "Dealing with Digital." Library Journal, July, 2003, 40-43. http://libraryjournal.reviewsnews.com/index.asp?layout=article&articleid=CA307058

  • "Just the FACS, Ma'am." The CyberSkeptic's Guide to the Internet, July, 2003.

  • "Virtually Chasing Information: on The Virtual Chase." The CyberSkeptic's Guide to the Internet, May, 2003, 4-5.

  • "Getting Students Beyond the Net." Library Media Connection, April/May, 2003, 52-55.

  • "How To Become a Great Public Space: Marylaine Block Interviews Fred Kent and Phil Myrick of the Project for Public Spaces." American Libraries, April, 2003, 72-76.

  • Movers and Shakers issue of Library Journal, March 15, 2003, http://libraryjournal.reviewsnews.com/index.asp?layout=LJMS. I wrote 25 of the profiles, including those for Jeny Levine, Ann Sparanese, Waynn Pearson, Jose Aponte, Anne Coriston, and Mary George/Chris Christman.

  • "Vanishing Act: The U.S. Government's Disappearing Data." SearchDay, December 19, 2002, #424, http://searchenginewatch.com/showPage.html?page=2161431

  • "Just the Facts, Ma'am." The Writer, November, 2002, 19-20.

  • "Doing It Right: How Some Universities Encourage the Creation of Prime Research Web Sites." Searcher, September, 2002, 42-47. http://infotoday.com/searcher/sep02/Block.htm

  • "Who's Going To Preserve E-Zine Content?" Library Journal, August, 2002. http://libraryjournal.reviewsnews.com/index.asp?layout=article&articleid=CA237597

  • "Champions of Diversity: Five Public Librarians Talk about How They Serve Their Latino Patrons." Criticas, May-June, 2002, 20-27.

  • "Gullible's Travels: Guarding against Misinformation on the Net." Library Journal Net Connect, Spring, 2002, available online at http://libraryjournal.reviewsnews.com/index.asp?layout=article&articleid=CA210719

  • "Mapping the Information Landscape." Searcher, April, 2002. Available online, minus the actual maps, at http://www.infotoday.com/searcher/apr02/block.htm

  • "Movers and Shakers." Supplement to Library Journal, March 15, 2002, available online at http://libraryjournal.reviewsnews.com/index.asp?layout=wildcardMore&articleid
    =201300&title=%3CI%3ELJ%27s%3C%2FI%3E+2002+Movers+%26amp%3B+Shakers
    %3Cbr%3E+The+People+Who+Are+Shaping+the+Future+of+Libraries    . I wrote 25 of the 51 profiles.

  • "My Rules of Information." Searcher, January, 2002, 61-65, available online at http://infotoday.com/searcher/jan02/block.htm.

  • "The Game of the Name." Vocabula Review, November, 2001, http://www.vocabula.com/VRNOV01Block.htm

  • "Communicating off the Page." Library Journal, September 15, 2001, 50-52.

  • "The Secret of Library Marketing: Make Yourself Indispensable." American Libraries, September, 2001, 48-50.

  • "Teaching Kids Indirectly," Library Journal NetConnect, Summer, 2001, 33-34.

  • "Winning the Title," which originally appeared as a My Word's Worth column, reprinted in SPAN Connection: the Official Newsletter of the Small Publishers Association of North America, July, 2001.

  • "Beat out by Amazon," which originally appeared in ExLibris, reprinted in The Shy Librarian, Summer, 2001

  • "Keepers of the Flame." American Libraries, June-July, 2001, 65-66.

  • "Words To Be Wise," Vocabula Review, May, 2001, available online at http://www.vocabula.com/VRMAY01Block.htm

  • "Consumer Health Information on the Net." Consumer Health Supplement, Library Journal, May 1, 2001, 21-25.

  • "Secrets of a Search Expert." Yahoo! Internet Life, June, 2001, 100-101. Available online at http://www.zdnet.co.uk/help/tips/story/0,2802,e7109955,00.html

  • "Serving Men Better." Library Journal, March 1, 2001, p. 60.

  • "Afraid of Harry Potter." Library Talk, 14 #2, March-April, 2001, pp. 9-10.

  • "Grammar Matters." Vocabula Review, February, 2001, http://www.vocabula.com/VRFeb01Block.htm

  • "In the Book End Zone: Pigskin Fiction." Library Journal, October 15, 2000, p. 136.

  • "Change a Word, Change a World." The Book Report, 19 #2 (Sept/Oct. 2000), 29-30.

  • "Nicholson Baker Strikes Again." Library Journal, Sept. 1, 2000, p.176.

  • "Advertising Demeans American Values," in American Values: Opposing Viewpoints, Greenhaven Press, 2000.

  • "Computer Shy," published in The Wired Society, Carol Lea Clark, ed., Harcourt Brace, 1999.

  • "Making It Up as I Went Along," Searcher: the Magazine for Database Professionals, October, 1998.

  • "Creating an Internet Collection Development Policy: Principles of Selection." KnowledgeQuest, September/October, 1998.

  • "Becoming a Gatekeeper", in the December, 1996 online edition of Ariadne, a British print and web journal on librarianship and information science, about how I designed and selected links for Where the Wild Things Are: Librarian's Guide to the Best Information on the Net. as BIOTN was originally known.

  • I contributed seven articles to the book Twentieth Century Romance and Gothic Writers (St. James, Gale, 1982).

  • "On the Internet," a weekly feature for the River Bend Library System Newsletter, Current Comment since July of 1996.


    COLUMNS

  • The Finder's Keepers, a regular column in The CyberSkeptic's Guide to Internet Research.

  • Observing US. No longer available online. My weekly column for Fox News Online which focused on oddities of American culture and politics, ran from April, 1998 to November, 2000.

  • My Word's Worth http://marylaine.com/myword/index.html, born in July, 1995 as a weekly column when I served as the American correspondent for the London Mall Magazine; It's now an occasional column, on my own website. It's where I talk about books, language, rock music, libraries, censorship, the internet, American politics, history and culture, and whatever else I'm mulling over. A complete archive is available on site.

  • Ex Libris http://marylaine.com/exlibris/index.html
    A weekly e-zine for librarians and information junkies, on which I offer searching tips, and questions and thoughts on research, the net, and the future of libraries. A complete archive is available on site.

  • Neat New Stuff I Found This Week http://marylaine.com/neatnew.html
    In which I select and briefly review ten great informational sites each week. A six month archive is available on site.


    BOOK PROPOSAL

  • Land of Why Not: an Appreciation of America. A proposal for a collection of my writings about America.


    BOOK REVIEWS AND MISCELLANEOUS WRITING

  • Review: The Visible Librarian: Asserting Your Value with Marketing and Advocacy. Marketing Library Services, 17 #5, September/October, 2003.

  • Review: Super Searchers Make It on Their Own. Free Pint Newsletter, #118, August 8, 2002, http://www.freepint.com/issues/080802.htm

  • Review of Online Communities: Designing Usability, Supporting Sociability." Free Pint #88, May 23, 2001 (http://www.freepint.com/

  • Review of The Tipping Point, Free Pint #109, April 4, 2002, http://www.freepint.com/issues/040402.htm

  • Wow! Great Lines from Rock Music. An unpublished quote book of rock music lyrics my son and I edited. Unfortunately, the publishers who liked the idea didn't want to deal with getting all the permissions.

  • Between 1980 and 2002, I contributed about a dozen book reviews a year to Library Journal, specializing in sports novels.

  • An Explanation of the Popularity of Robert G. Ingersoll. My M.A. thesis, University of Iowa, 1968.


    ABOUT ME

  • "Net Effects and the Librarians' Crisis: an Interview with Marylaine Block." The Information Advisor, December, 2003, 3-4.

  • Streitfeld, David. "The In Crowd." Wired, February, 2002, http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/10.02/lists.html, discusses five providers of prime mailing lists including me.

  • "Magazines, Men, and Music Lyrics: A Conversation with Marylaine Block." Tim Wocjik interviews me at the Librarians and Library Science page of About.com, April 29, 2001.

  • "Webmastery." Gary Price interviews me in the June, 2000 issue of Searcher Magazine http://www.infotoday.com/searcher/jun00/price.htm

  • "Six Questions," published on WebSearch at About.com on March 17, 2000, http://websearch.about.com/internet/websearch/library/insider/blsix_marylaine.htm

  • "Seven Questions." Thomas Mangan interviews me at SevenQuestions.com, September 15, 1998. http://www.sevenquestions.com/old7q/7q36.htm.


    • Last updated March 26, 2008