Reading about Reading: Elevate Your Work from a Job to a Passion
In her 1979 book, Language of the Night, Ursula K. Le Guin observed that many people are anti-fiction: “We tend, as a people, to…
Public Libraries and Inequality
Can public libraries make society more equal? Inequality has become a dominant concern and focus of public policy discourse at international, national, regional and…
Reading Outside Your Comfort Zone
How many times have we heard from a patron that they will only read a specific genre? I myself am guilty of this statement.…
Evaluating Public Library Impact and Outcomes
Searching for meaningful and measurable impact and outcome measures has become something of a Holy Grail for public libraries. The approach to date has…
What Should I Read Next? : Staff Picks
Looking for a way to highlight materials you have enjoyed, increase circulation and start a conversation with customers about library items? Staff picks are…
The Community-Led Public Library
What does a Community-Led Public Library look like? At the core of the Community-Led Library is relationship building, both internally (within an organisation) and…
Readers’ Advisory – There’s an App for That!
Readers' advisory is provided in an ever-widening range of places and spaces. From the in-person reference interview to virtual chat, from websites to electronic…
Building Your RA Knowledge Through Reading Journals
My cataloguing professor often referred to his “card catalogue mind”. I’m not quite sure what he meant by that phrase, but I like to…
Developing a Community-Led Service Culture
My previous postings have explored how strategies, structures and systems must be community-led if public libraries are to meet community needs. But the most…
Judging a Book by Its Cover
The old stern warning not to judge a book by its cover has been superseded by today’s advanced visual marketing techniques – we can rely on…
Do-It-Yourself Readers’ Advisory: Empowering the User
One of the greatest strength of libraries is the ability to provide “personal touch” assistance. Indeed, the capacity to personalize service is what distinguishes…