IMPAC Dublin Award Finalists

3 Irish Authors short listed for the 2011 International IMPAC DUBLIN Literary Award. The short list will be confirmed by the Lord Mayor of Dublin, Gerry Breen at 11.00am on 12th April 2011 in the Mansion House, Dublin 10 novels have been shortlisted for the International IMPAC DUBLIN Literary Award, from a total of 162 [...]

Happy Drop Everything and Read Day (D.E.A.R.) !

National Drop Everything and Read Day What is National D.E.A.R. Day? D.E.A.R. stands for Drop Everything and Read. National D.E.A.R. Day is a special reading celebration to remind and encourage families to make reading together on a daily basis a family priority. Can I celebrate D.E.A.R. Day on another date? Yes, of course. Every day [...]

Could Online Book Sharing Spell End for Libraries?

From Guardian.co.uk: Could an online booksharing scheme spell the end for the traditional library? A scheme where residents post their own books online to swap, then meet to complete the transaction has worried some library campaigners Testing out Sutton council’s new online bookshare scheme. Photograph: Sarah Lee for the Guardian With more people using the [...]

Librarian Movers and Shakers: Interview Series

For the past decade Library Journal has been honoring librarians who’ve gone above and beyond the call of duty, singling them out via the “Movers and Shakers Award” for their innovation, service and ways they’ve otherwise raised the profile of quality library service. This post is the first in a series of interviews I conducted with the 2011 [...]

Borders. And so it begins.

Chances are there’s a Borders store near you that’s either closing or will close within the next year. Fortunately, the store in my town will remain open – for now - though another location 15 minutes north of here isn’t quite so lucky. I’ve visited the unfortunate Borders store three times since they put up the [...]

Of library catalogs and such

We’ve just switched our library catalog over to Bibliocommons, a much more interactive, 21st century social networking-friendly system than our previous catalog – iBistro. It was rolled out to the public around March 1, but we had time to play with it before the inevitable questions started. And dear reader, I am in love! I’m the [...]

How HarperCollins plans to squeeze libraries

Please keep this in mind when purchasing books. HarperCollins publishers plans to put the screws to libraries regarding use of the publisher’s eBooks. They propose to allow each title only 26 circulations, then charge the library all over again for use of this title. Granted, the second charge will be less, allowing for the paperback issue [...]

“Brick and Mortar” bookstores, and why they’re failing

Of course I want you to say the library is your primary source for books. I sort of have a vested interest in that. While we’re at it, let’s include music CDs, DVDs and books on CD, all things you can get for FREE at your public library. But sometimes, I know, one would like [...]

Further to my last post…

Leave it to the Fates to slap me one in the face when I’m running around yelling the sky is falling. I joined a group that’s a sort of review copy consortium today. Basically, a whole gaggle of publishers have gotten together and formed a website offering electronic copies of books to review. If you’re [...]

A nervous breakdown moment – librarian style

Forgive me for this librarian nervous breakdown moment, but I’m getting a little annoyed by the debate of book vs. ebook. Does that issue bug me? Heck, yeah! But all that’s idle chatter next to the really big problem: information storage and retrieval. Most of the arguments against electronic books center on the loss of [...]