On NPR’s All Things Considered last night, W. Ralph Eubanks talked about how the bookmobile shaped his life [Listen to the Story],

…it is my identity as reader that shaped the type of writer that I am. And I owe that to an old Ford bookmobile, a summertime pleasure that changed the way I see the world. Rather than feeling alone and isolated in turmoil-ridden Mississippi, a cool, air-conditioned library on wheels connected me to a world beyond the limits of where I grew up. In my life, that has made all the difference.

Eubanks, the Director of Publishing at The Library of Congress, wrote the memoir Ever is a Long Time, called one of the best books of 2003 by the Washington Post’s Jonathan Yardley and The House at the End of the Road.

Ever Is a Long Time: A Journey Into Mississippi’s Dark Past A Memoir W. Ralph Eubanks Retail Price: $15.95 Paperback: 264 pages Publisher: Basic Books – (2005-01-03) ISBN / EAN: 0465021050 / 9780465021055

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The House at the End of the Road: The Story of Three Generations of an Interracial Family in the American South W. Ralph Eubanks Retail Price: $26.99 Hardcover: 224 pages Publisher: Smithsonian – (2009-06-01) ISBN / EAN: 006137573X / 9780061375736

We’re not sure how much this will do for libraries, but thanks for the effort (and the great abs) Old Spice Guy.

The nonprofit digital library, Internet Archive has created the “Digital Lending Library” (Openlibrary.org), a project that scans public domain books and makes them available for borrowing through libraries. The project is covered in the Wall Street Journal.

The scanned books are available through OverDrive’s Digital Library Reserve.

The story is also covered in a WSJ video:

Fox News Chicago asked “do we still need public libraries?” (via GalleyCat). Despite the oh-my-god-look-how-much-libraries-cost (all of 2.5% of annual property taxes in Chicago) tone, most of the interviewees and email responses are pro libraries

The Boston Globe reveals a shocking secret about Boston.

They have never had a One Book program.

When questioned about the lapse, the mayor’s office replied, “There are so many different interests here that we encouraged local groups to do their own reading. The mayor doesn’t want to impose a book on people.”

It seems the mayor is not alone in his view. Says the article, “Critics argue the idea is one more example of officials intruding on people’s lives by telling them what to read, or that it’s simply trying to fill a void that doesn’t need filling.”

Boston’s not the only major city without an ongoing program; New York ran a program in 2002, but hasn’t held one since.

However, Boston will put a toe in the water during the Boston Book Festival this Fall, with a One City, One Story event. 30,000 copies of a short story by a local author (as yet unnamed) will be distributed around the city and made available online.

Stanford University’s Physics and Engineering Libraries are undergoing some very heavy weeding. The two libraries are being turned into a smaller electronic library, according to the San Jose Mercury News. The new facility “saves its space for people, not things. It features soft seating, ‘brainstorm islands,’ a digital bulletin board and group event space,” as well as access to online databases and scientific journals.

Manga is extremely popular in the ethnically diverse neighborhood of Bayside, Queens, where young adults crowd the library to read and discuss their favorite series, reports the NYT, also noting “the genre has colonized young-adult rooms in libraries around the country.”

Beware what this can lead; “One young woman discovered a love of languages and now studies Russian in college,” says the Christian Zabriskie, Assistant Coordinator for Youth Services.

The article also notes the harsh reality that the collection is threatened by budget cuts.

A Bucks County, PA, resident was outraged to find that a book that hadn’t been checked out in five years was removed from the shelves of the Doylestown branch of the county library system.

He took his case to the local newspaper. Happily, the newspaper quoted Director Martina Kominiarek at length about the reasons for weeding library collections. It’s a model response.

The article closes by pointing out that the book the man was seeking is available online for $.01. Put that up against the cost of housing and storing a book for five years with no usage.

(via Library Link of the Day)

Just posted on the NPR site, a review of Marilyn Johnson’s This Book is Overdue (warning: some librarian stereotypes, but used to illustrate how outdated they are).

We’re also expecting a review in the upcoming 3/7 NYT Book Review.

The book hit #130 last week, its highest point to date on Amazon sales rankings. Clearly, the general public is more interested in us than we imagined.

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This Book Is Overdue!: How Librarians and Cybrarians Can Save Us All Marilyn Johnson Retail Price: $24.99 Hardcover: 288 pages Publisher: Harper – (2010-02-01) ISBN / EAN: 0061431605 / 9780061431609

Audio: Tantor; 2/22/10
Trade: 9781400116348; 7 CD’s; $34.99
Library: 9781400146345; 7 CD’s; $69.99
MP3: 9781400166343; 1 MP3-CD; $24.99

It’s a book that couldn’t have come at a better time. Marilyn Johnson’s This Book is Overdue is giving the media an opportunity to take a new look at libraries.

Thursday’s USA Today publishes a photo of a Carroll County (MD) librarian setting up for a Rock Band 2 video game session as part of a story about the book. Johnson explains that libraries are crucial to everyone in the current climate, “The middle class is squeezed and needs libraries more, information is multiplying at an alarming rate so we need librarians more, and the jobless are streaming to libraries in droves.”

Carroll County library director Lynn Wheeler adds, “The demand for technology access and the teaching role for librarians will only continue to grow.”

The public is showing strong interest in the book; it rose to #130 on Amazon this week, putting it ahead of some titles on the NYT best seller lists, such as The Swan Thieves by Elizabeth Kostova and Shadow Tag by Louise Erdrich. Holds are heavy in many libraries; as high as 89 on 7 copies in one large library system.

Publisher HarperCollins has created a “Browse Inside” widget that librarians can add to their sites:

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This Book Is Overdue!: How Librarians and Cybrarians Can Save Us All Marilyn Johnson Retail Price: $24.99 Hardcover: 288 pages Publisher: Harper – (2010-02-01) ISBN / EAN: 0061431605 / 9780061431609

Audio: Tantor; 2/22/10
Trade: 9781400116348; 7 CD’s; $34.99
Library: 9781400146345; 7 CD’s; $69.99
MP3: 9781400166343; 1 MP3-CD; $24.99

When was the last time you heard the Boston Public Library’s “Statement of Purpose” quoted on TV?

For us, it was Monday night on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart (see below; if you want to skip ahead to the specific section, it’s 2:30 minutes into the piece).

Sadly, the Boston Public Library is currently facing budget cuts and may be forced to close ten branches.

Tune in to NPR’s On the Media this weekend as Marilyn Johnson, author of This Book is Overdue, talks about why librarians are the heroes of the digital age (check for local listings here).

And, more publicity is in the works:

NYT BR, 3/7 (plus, a possible review in the daily NYT)
USA Today interview

This Book Is Overdue!: How Librarians and Cybrarians Can Save Us All Marilyn Johnson Retail Price: $24.99 Hardcover: 288 pages Publisher: Harper – (2010-02-01) ISBN / EAN: 0061431605 / 9780061431609

Audio: Tantor; 2/22/10
Trade: 9781400116348; 7 CD’s; $34.99
Library: 9781400146345; 7 CD’s; $69.99
MP3: 9781400166343; 1 MP3-CD; $24.99

No surprise, Library Journal’s annual analysis of library materials budgets shows they are down; “This year, think Edvard Much’s The Scream” the article says.

One third of the libraries surveyed report budget cuts, and another half say their budgets are flat. The overall 5% reduction may not seem that bad, but it’s the largest since the survey began and the story is likely to be worse next year.

The “bright side” is that library circulation is up, with its highest increase ever.

LJ goes on to look at how libraries are dealing with cuts in the face of increased circulation.

ALA’s survey, A Perfect Storm Brewing also attests to the fact that libraries are having to do more with less. On the bright side, newspaper reporters like Bob Hoover at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette are using the study results to point out what local citizens are losing as libraries are forced to cut services (Nation’s libraries get more use, less funding, 2/15).

From the Boston Globe today:

I worry that libraries, even the newest ones, risk becoming fortresses buttressed by books, protecting Gutenberg’s technology for reasons of principle rather than pragmatism. Librarians need to educate themselves, and us, about the possibilities and limitations of digital books.

Columnist Alex Beam goes on to acknowledge that libraries are not totally clueless about the digital revolution. After all, the Boston Public Library, “can hook you up to a website called Overdrive” to download books.

Beam feels that “every large library in the state – heck, in the country – should buy 10 electronic book readers and allow patrons to check them out for two weeks, just like real books.” His not-so- “secret agenda” is to let people test drive them. He thinks they will discover that “to know and use e-books is not necessarily to love them.”

Never mind that lots of libraries are already lending reading devices or that there was a flurry of protest in the Boston Globe itself when the newspaper reported that Cushing Academy in Massachusetts had ditched its entire library for electronic books.

Oddly, after urging libraries to educate themselves about eBooks, Beam concludes, “The revolution may be digitized, but not anytime soon. Support your local library and their dowdy – but essential – collection of dead-tree lit.”

As good as it is to see someone urge library support, it would better if he understood more about what libraries are already doing and the challenges they face (and, we admit, it can be complicated — we’re tempted to quote George Clooney in Up in the Air, “Now this is going to be a little difficult, so stay with me.”)

We invite Mr. Beam to learn more about libraries in the digital world; an excellent beginning is Marilyn Johnson’s This Book is Overdue: How Librarians and Cybrarians Can Save Us All (Virginia Stanley at HarperCollins Library Marketing is sending him a galley, but meanwhile, he can read the first chapter online).

Mr. Beam also has the opportunity hear author Marilyn Johnson speak at ALA MidWinter, held conveniently in his hometown next month:

Mon., Jan. 18, 2–4 p.m.

ALTAFF Gala Author Tea (tickets are $35; buy them when registering for the conference. If you have already registered, you can call (800) 974-3084 to add tickets):

• Marilyn Johnson, This Book Is Overdue! How Libraries and Cybrarians Can Save Us All
• Holly LeCraw, The Swimming Pool
• Janice Y.K. Lee, The Piano Teacher
• Karl Marlantes, Matterhorn
• Teri Woods, Dutch II: Angel’s Revenge

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This Book Is Overdue!: How Librarians and Cybrarians Can Save Us All Marilyn Johnson Retail Price: $24.99 Hardcover: 288 pages Publisher: Harper – (2010-02-01) ISBN / EAN: 0061431605 / 9780061431609

The Washington Post features a special section about the National Book Festival to be held on the Mall in Washington, D.C. this coming Saturday. The schedule of authors is filled with big names, from Jeff Kinney to Simon Schama.

The Festival is organized by the Library of Congress.