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Join NOW!Most libraries have limited physical shelf space, so if they want to purchase new books for their collections, often they have to remove some old ones. Two librarians, Mary Kelly and Holly Hibner, know this can be a tough pill for book lovers to swallow, so they’ve been working to bring attention to the issue through […]
...moreLibrary use has been declining, but that decline probably isn’t due to a decreasing interest in reading. Plenty of pundits blame the rise of digital technology, but even libraries that offer digital services like ebook lending have seen declines. The real culprit is the same crisis afflicting all of American infrastructure: a lack of investment. The Institute of […]
...moreRidwan Sururi had a horse. Indonesia’s small mountain towns needed a library. Now, several days a week he loads up his horse with books and travels from town to town, earning him the name “the Don Quixote of literacy.”
...moreAt the Atlantic, Sara Polsky traces the evolution of library cards from the 18th century to today. Even though library cards have nostalgic value for many patrons, Polsky argues that libraries may expand their readership with a system that uses more modern technology.
...moreFor VICE, Amelia Dimoldenberg asks people in London why they visit their local libraries. Since 2010, UK has lost nearly 350 libraries because of cuts in local spending. But the answers Dimoldenberg receives show how necessary libraries still are: “The library is a great part of the community, especially for young people who find it hard to study […]
...moreTo honor the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death, the Folger Shakespeare Library is sending the First Folio around the country. Looks like the book tour really is dead.
...moreFormer librarian Michelle Anne Schingler is tired of people questioning her credentials. At Book Riot, she argues that an MLS isn’t required for the most important parts of a librarian’s job: Library theory isn’t at the fore when you’re helping someone navigate the computer for an online application, or when you’re putting together a display […]
...moreParsons School of Design students collaborated with the New York Public library to design better book carts to serve incarcerated readers. The carts are intended to facilitate easy browsing. The partnership has produced four carts that will be used at places like Rikers Island and the Manhattan Detention complex.
...moreBooks can teach readers quite a lot, but sometimes talking to expert might be easier. That’s why Ronni Abergel created a library of people, where users can borrow humans instead of books. The idea was launched in Denmark back in 2000. Since then, the concept has spread around the world to include more than 70 […]
...moreNot every library can be a grand palace. Consider for a moment the Mid-Manhattan branch of the New York Public Library, a far less glamorous workhorse than the more famous cathedral of books located at Bryant Park. Over at the New Yorker, Ada Calhoun recounts her experiences in some of the smaller library branches around the […]
...moreLondon’s Feminist Library is at risk of being evicted in April due to a rent hike to more than double its former fee. Broadly spoke to some of the women fighting to save their space: “Without the Feminist Library, my work would not exist.”
...morePreserving information and data archives in the digital age presents a new kind of challenge. Physical books may degrade over time, but even a book in poor condition can be taken down off a shelf and read. Digital storage devices, however, require functional systems to access any of the data. VICE spoke with Abby Smith Rumsey, […]
...moreLibraries are major hubs that serve the community, and even more so in times when people are looking for help. Over at the Atlantic, Deborah Fallows details the efforts to preserve the San Bernardino library, which has seen an increased sense of community after the tragic shootings last year: When I asked people what felt […]
...moreIt’s no secret that libraries have had a rocky relationship with publishers since the ebook boom began in the late aughts. Publisher’s Weekly suggests three ways the two could work to heal the rift, but one of the suggestions is surprising: librarians need to stop “book shaming”: What today’s library elite seems to forget is […]
...moreNot all libraries are free and open to the public, and for much of modern history, private subscription libraries with paying patrons were the norm. While most libraries in the United States are now public institutions, a few specialty subscription libraries remain. Quartz takes a look at a few of those left, like the Cincinnati […]
...moreSeoul Innovation Park in South Korea is home to four tiny, mobile libraries, part of a project to bring culture to the public space. Each of the unique libraries offers books and a touch of physical art in the park. See photos of each of the tiny libraries here.
...moreOne of the great challenges of libraries and archives is preserving the collections. Not all materials decay at the same rate and while some items can last thousands of years, other items are much more fragile. Now, scientists studying hundreds of European archival documents have developed a formula to predict the end of library materials. […]
...morePublic libraries should not be run like businesses, argues Linda Holt over at the London Review of Books. They serve as a critical resource for a variety of marginalized populations: …libraries became far more than an intellectual version of the mythical sweet shops of childhood. At school, libraries had occasionally provided refuge from the ruthless popularity […]
...moreThe New York Public Library holds more than 16 million volumes, making it the 4th largest library in the United States. Many of those volumes are stored in the Milstein stacks, two levels of the library directly under Bryant Park. To maximize the storage capacity of these facilities and allow for patrons in the main […]
...moreA unique library project in India is helping people who are blind access books. Printed books are converted in audio formats so blind readers can listen to them, with the target audience students between the ages of fifteen and thirty-five. Volunteers record and edit the books.
...moreOur love of libraries is nothing new, but there are a particular breed of libraries less discussed—the college library. Book Riot has written a love letter to collegiate libraries and all the weirdness that lives there.
...moreThe digital life at sea. The unlikely history of video games. All those YouTubers sound the same. Once again, the Internet is ruining all good things.
...moreFifty years ago, a kid named Haruki Murakami borrowed books from his school library in Kobe, Japan. This week, the Kobe Shimbun, a local paper, published a list of the books he checked out, as compiled on book checkout slips—and Japanese librarians are up in arms, accusing the paper of violating Murakami’s right to privacy.
...moreWhy stuff your body with Thanksgiving leftovers when you could be stuffing your bag with used books? It was another reminder that I will surely die before I read all of my books, that my descendants will one day be forced to shovel through it all, skeptically asking one another, “Did he actually read all these?” (On […]
...moreFor Slate, Jacob Brogan suggests that despite “shrinking book racks,” libraries play an important political and social role. This is particularly true in low-income areas, as libraries provide computer access for job searchers and entrepreneurs: Libraries are powerful precisely because they’re spaces of potentiality. They are, as the Aspen report puts it, “platforms,” foundations on which […]
...moreLibraries find a way. Some libraries are squeezed into a vending machine while others are placed on the backs of animals. The Times of India has a rundown of some of the more unique libraries around the world.
...moreWhy do we need physical libraries in the age of Wikipedia? What does a library look like in the digital age? The New York Review of Books explains how librarians are embracing technology.
...moreJezebel has complied pictures of the questions the staff at the New York Public Library had to answer in the pre-Google days.
...moreFor JSTOR Daily, Allana Mayer writes about what it means to master visual literacy. Mayer specifically addresses the idea that libraries and galleries digitizing their content will instantly make people more literate with visual art. Instead, competency with visual art should be measured by the ability to contextualize and analyze work made available in these […]
...moreThe Oakmont Carnegie Library outside of Pittsburgh hosted Booktoberfest, a celebration of books and Bavarian beer. The event not only merged the two great pastimes of reading and drinking, but also helped raise $9,000 for the library.
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