eBooks for eReaders

February 10th, 2012 by Randy Souther No comments »

ebraryebrary, the library’s biggest ebook resource, now gives you the option to read their ebooks on a number of e-readers and mobile devices.

  1. Sign up for a personal ebrary account on the ebrary web site.
  2. Either download the app for iPad, iPhone, and iPod Touch; or follow the instructions for downloading chapters in pdf format to almost any device, or for downloading complete ebooks in Adobe Digital Editions format for most devices (not supported by Kindle, unfortunately).

Enjoy your ebooks!


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Posted in Feeds, Technology

Wiegand’s Main Street Public Library

February 8th, 2012 by Larry T. Nix No comments »
Forty-nine years ago I took a job as a page/clerk at the Public Library of Nashville and Davidson County. I've been involved one way or the other in working for, working with, or observing public libraries for most of the years since. It is with that background that I recently read Wayne A. Wiegand's new book Main Street Public Library (Univ. of Iowa Press, 2011) which has the subtitle "Community Places and Reading Spaces in the Rural Heartland, 1876-1956". If you are at all interested in the history and/or the role of the American public library, I recommend that you read this book. If for nothing else, the book is well worth reading for the excellent histories of the four Midwestern public libraries on which the book is based. They are the public libraries in Sauk Centre, MN; Osage, IA; Lexington, MI; and Rhinelander, WI. Wiegand uses the experiences of these libraries to challenge some of the basic rhetoric about the value and purpose of public libraries. The final paragraph in the book sums up his findings: "The purpose and mission of the Main Street public libraries studied here were not primarily to supplement formal education, to pursue a policy of 'not censorship, but selection,' or to provide information considered essential for the marketplace or the politics of democracy. Those were secondary goals, and because the library was an institution that local citizens did not have to patronize, these goals were regularly and necessarily compromised, despite, professional rhetoric. Their actual primary purpose and mission - as crafted over the generations by local leaders and users - was to foster the kinds of social harmony that community spaces and stories, experienced shared, provide."  Obviously, the experience of four small Midwestern public libraries is not sufficient to make broad generalizations about the entirety of public libraries in America. However, it is not a revelation to me that the rhetoric of the value and role of the public libraries by the library profession is often mismatched with the reality of actual public library service this country. I'm not willing to acquiesce to the entirety of Wiegand's arguments though. I believe that public libraries can and do change lives in a positive way through reading (and reading alternatives) yes, but also by being an educational institution and a source of reliable information.  In my opinion public libraries have moved too far in the direction of being popular materials centers. I advocate a more balanced approach. Public libraries have an opportunity to play a major role in early childhood education. Is it more important to provide the latest popular movies on DVD? A blog post is not an adequate venue for a debate on the role of the public library, however. Thanks Wayne for creating the basis for such a debate. An article by Wiegand in American Libraries about Main Street Public Library. Another review of Main Street Public Library.

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Happy Birthday Charles Dickens

February 7th, 2012 by Shawn P. Calhoun No comments »

Today (February 7, 2012) is the 200th anniversary of Dickens’ birth. To show a little love for Dickens, I went up to the Rare Book Room and took photos of 2 items from the Gleeson Library Rare Book Room collection. The first two photos are illustrations from Bleak House and the third is a photo of the first edition of Bleak House in original unbound parts. Both of these items and others by Dickens are available to view in the Rare Book Room - please stop by and take a look!

Image from Dickens' Bleak House

 


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125th Anniversary of the Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, NY

February 7th, 2012 by Larry T. Nix No comments »

The Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, NY is celebrating its 125th anniversary this year. The Institute is a prestigious private college with an emphasis on the arts. It was founded by philanthropist Charles Pratt who made his fortune in the oil industry. The Institute has two unusual aspects that relate to library history. The first was its operation of a free library that was open to both students and the residents of Brooklyn for more than five decades. The free library even operated branch libraries. It's library building (shown above) was the first library building which was designed to include a separate children's room (see my post on early children's rooms in public libraries). The Brooklyn Public Library eventually took over the public library aspects of the Pratt Institute. Another item of interest to the library history buff regarding the Pratt Institute is its operation of a library school. The school was initially established as a training school for the employees of the free library but became a formal library school  (the second to be established in the nation). The library school, now the School of Information and Library Science, continues to exist. Two major pioneers in American librarianship were associated with the Pratt Institute free library and library school. They were Mary W. Plummer (1856-1916) and Josephine Adams Rathbone (1864-1941). Plummer served as the second woman President of the American Library Association in 1915-1916 and  Rathbone served as President of ALA in 1931-32. The Pratt Institute Libraries  are headquartered in the former free library building which has been renovated.

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Lloyd P. Smith and the Library Co. of Philadelphia

February 6th, 2012 by Larry T. Nix No comments »

Founded in 1731 by Benjamin Franklin and friends, the Library Company of Philadelphia is the oldest continuing library not affiliated with an academic institution in the United States. Today is the 190th anniversary of the birth of Lloyd Pearsall Smith (1822-1886), one of its longtime librarians. Smith followed his father, John Jay Smith, as Librarian of the Library Company in 1851 and served in that capacity until his death in 1886. Smith attended the first national meeting of librarians in the United States in 1853 and was on the planning committee for the conference of librarians that met in Philadelphia in 1876 which esulted in the formation of the American Library Association. Although the Library Company of Philadelphia is rightly considered to be a forerunner of the free public library, it's librarians including Lloyd P. Smith often had a conservative approach to library service. Sandra Roscoe the author of Smith's entry in the Dictionary of American Library Biography (Libraries Unlimited, 1978) notes that, "Smith did not believe in open shelves; he advocated locked cases for all books with the exception of recent fiction and commonly used reference books." Edward G. Holley in Raking The Historic Coals (Beta Phi Mu, 1967) recounts a visit by Melvil Dewey with Smith at the Library Company's Ridgeway Branch in Philadelphia in preparation for the 1876 conference. Dewey expected to see two or three hundred library users, but instead there were only three or four. When asked if this was an average attendance, Smith responded, "Dewey, there is scarcely a day that somebody doesn't come into this library." In spite of his conservative approach to librarianship Smith was thought highly of by the library community. He attended every conference of the American Library Association except one from its founding until his death in 1886. In addition to his role as Librarian, Smith served as the Treasurer and as a Trustee of the Library Company. The annual statement of dues from Smith as Treasurer dated April, 1864 which is shown above is from my collection. I have a page on my Library History Buff website devoted to the Library Company of Philadelphia.

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