New Canaan Library’s Post

“What do we do? In short, we need to show up, and speak up. Show up to school and public library board meetings, to legislative committee hearings, to city and county council meetings. Speak up for your own love of ideas, and books. Speak to your own feelings and beliefs around the inherent dignity of all people. Speak to the impact specific books — maybe books dealing with difficult topics — have had in your life, and the lives of your friends and families. Let decision-makers know that your kids are not snowflakes who need to be protected from books. You can also speak up by writing letters to the editor, Op Ed pieces, and posting in social media.” - Well done Peter Bromberg!

Many, many gems in this article: "A public library is, depending on your choice of metaphor, either an act of faith or a bet. The proposition: If we can make information and ideas—in short, human knowledge—easily accessible to average people, then they’re not only likely to lead richer and more productive lives, but they are also more likely to contribute to making the overall community richer and more productive." "Human knowledge is a building that’s continually under construction, each generation adding a layer of bricks on top of what was already there. And, of course, it’s inside libraries..."

Very excited that our article "Social infrastructuring in public libraries: librarians' continuous care in everyday library practice" is out now with the Journal of Documentation - we push the notion of social infrastructure, and propose three modes of social infrastructuring via care in public libraries: (1) maintaining (2) building connections (3) drawing boundaries Practices of care are prominent in each of these infrastructuring modes: librarians infrastructure the library with and via their care practices. Whilst care practices are difficult to quantify and verbalise, they are valuable for library patrons. By using the concept of tinkering, the article conceptualises librarians’ infrastructuring enactments as crucial community-building aspects of libraries. Check it out here: https://lnkd.in/eHWUGijB with Jamea Kofi Rianne van Melik Lisa Engström Alexa Färber Marion Hamm Johanna Rivano Eckerdal FYI Melike Peterson

I had the honour of talking to a group of passionate librarians over the weekend at the LIANZA Te Whakakitenga aa Kaimai Weekend School in Matamata about the role of libraries in supporting digital equity. This article neatly summarises why embracing our role in this space is a critical to the future role of libraries and strongly aligned to the core values of Librarianship. Building our resilience and adaptability by supporting staff capabilities, preserving free access to safe, legitimate information, developing strategic cross sector partnerships and demonstrating our relevence during rapid technological change to open up funding are just some of the key areas the sector needs to focus on. https://lnkd.in/gFh7A92f

Why We Need Public Libraries Now More than Ever "A public library is, depending on your choice of metaphor, either an act of faith or a bet. The proposition: If we can make information and ideas—in short, human knowledge—easily accessible to average people, then they’re not only likely to lead richer and more productive lives, but they are also more likely to contribute to making the overall community richer and more productive." https://lnkd.in/dgutJn8i

The Resilience of Libraries: A Testament to Human Dignity In a thought-provoking editorial, The Guardian discusses the enduring value of libraries in the face of modern challenges. Despite the rise of digital media and recent cyber-attacks on institutions like the British Library, the significance of physical books and the role of librarians remain irreplaceable. Libraries have long been bastions of knowledge and community pride. They are not only about borrowing books but also about accessing the internet, socializing, and finding a warm space. The recent cyber-attack highlights the vulnerability of digital archives and reinforces the importance of maintaining physical collections. As we look to the future, it’s clear that libraries must adapt, but their core mission of serving the community and preserving human dignity through access to knowledge will always be relevant. https://lnkd.in/d7t5mYmi #Libraries #Community #KnowledgeIsPower

This has been an issue of ever increasing importance in the library world. Even issues such as the language used for metadata collection can be crucial to increasing the viability measurements of diversity in collections.

Preservation, conservation, and conversion of digital and electronic content needs to occur in all libraries. We are losing our history - not just library history, but larger societal history. I have worked with libraries who do not have the devices to use the early electronic media and digital content they have. Being cultural stewards goes far beyond digitization of older print/analog resources. We also need to be looking at all of the early electronic, media, and digital content. We are at the place in technological history where we may still be able to find digital conversion tools, equipment, or software that may be able to open and read some obsolete formats, etc. The electronic content housed in physical carriers for which no (or few) devices exist to access is quickly being lost. Content created in proprietary formats by software that no longer exists is locked away if no conversion tools can be found. I think of how many early web (and not early!) projects I worked are that are just gone. Websites, graphics, searching guides, educational resources, articles, and even an entire 8 unit metadata and cataloging module -- gone not because they aren't archived by me but because they are unreadable. Yet, how many libraries, organizations, universities have dedicated plans for not only archiving digital content created by them or about them (and beyond to their communities) BUT to make it accessible? To not only preserve and conserve the content, but to convert it to multiple formats, to try to build long term access? We often encounter digital content (the snapchat effect) where we assume that it just disappears - fleeting in nature, and obsolete as soon as it is viewed. How will we archive these? If I use an app to create content for a university and the posts disappear after a certain time, how are those archived? How do those fit into any records retention policy? How does that content fit into my university's IP policy? While I do know there are institutions who do archive their social media, it seems that there are few doing so... and can they actually capture all social media or provide it in an alternate format? If we continue to view electronic and digital content as less worthy - focusing primarily on digitizing print / analog resources, we will be losing decades of history. We need to have concentrated efforts to archive early electronic and digital content while building plans to archive our current digital content. I understand - libraries are understaffed and underfunded. Libraries have had to shore up so many social and educational services. We need to be at the forefront of AI and information literacy. We are needed more than everI However, we can't let our role as cultural stewards slowly slip away, either. #libraries #academiclibraries #digitization #preservation #metadata #cataloging #conservation #obsolence #digitalrot #digitalconversion #archives #specialcollections

Back to 2017 with this interview for IFLA Public Libraries Section Blog

In today’s rapidly evolving world, libraries are transforming from traditional repositories of books to dynamic community hubs. R. David Lankes, a renowned library and information science expert, once said, “Bad libraries build collections, good libraries build services, great libraries build communities.” This quote encapsulates the changing role of libraries in the 21st century.