The bad news ... even 25 years after its invention, not everything is available on the Internet; The good news ... 33 reasons why libraries with physical books still matter

What people do at libraries and library websites : 

(Pew Internet’s survey explored in depth what people do at libraries)

• 33 reasons why books, libraries and librarians are still extremely important, by Will Sherman (quoted at Cites & Insights):

1. Not everything is available on the internet

2. Digital libraries are not the internet

3. The internet isn’t free

4. The internet complements libraries, but it doesn’t replace them

5. School libraries and librarians improve student test scores

6. Digitization doesn’t mean destruction

7. In fact, digitization means survival

8. Digitization is going to take a while. A long while.

9. Libraries aren’t just books

10. Mobile devices aren’t the end of books, or libraries

11. The hype might really just be hype

12. Library attendance isn’t falling—it’s just more virtual now

13. Like businesses, digital libraries still need human staffing

14. We just can’t count on physical libraries disappearing

15. Google Book Search “don’t work”

16. Physical libraries can adapt to cultural change

17. Physical libraries are adapting to cultural change

18. Eliminating libraries would cut short an important process of cultural evolution

19. The internet isn’t DIY

20. Wisdom of crowds is untrustworthy, because of the tipping point

21. Librarians are the irreplaceable counterparts to web moderators

22. Unlike moderators, librarians must straddle the line between libraries and the internet

23. The internet is a mess

24. The internet is subject to manipulation

25. Libraries’ collections employ a well-formulated system of citation

26. It can be hard to isolate concise information on the internet

27. Libraries can preserve the book experience

28. Libraries are stable while the web is transient

29. Libraries can be surprisingly helpful for news collections and archives

30. Not everyone has access to the internet

31. Not everyone can afford books

32. Libraries are a stopgap to anti-intellectualism

33. Old books are valuable

Conclusion

Society is not ready to abandon the library, and it probably won’t ever be. Libraries can adapt to social and technological changes, but they can’t be replaced. While libraries are distinct from the internet, librarians are the most suited professionals to guide scholars and citizens toward a better understanding of how to find valuable information online. Indeed, a lot of information is online. But a lot is still on paper. Instead of regarding libraries as obsolete, state and federal governments should increase funding for improved staffing and technology. Rather than lope blindly through the digital age, guided only by the corporate interests of web economics, society should foster a culture of guides and guideposts. Today, more than ever, libraries and librarians are extremely important for the preservation and improvement of our culture."

See also:

• HOW TO KEEP A LIBRARY OF (PHYSICAL) BOOKS, Meditations on strategy and life, Ryan Holiday 

Extract:

Below are some tips on keeping and maintaining your own library. I hope they help:

-First, you have to read a lot.  

-Buy, buy buy. I took some heat for criticizing checking books out from the library a while back.   

-In other words, RESIST THE KINDLE.  

-Organize, organize, organize. 

-Become a resource for others.  

-Refer back to them!  

-The point of owning the books is to use them.  

-Books are no substitute for human contact, but it is still beneficial, I think, to be in the physical company of the greats.  

-Don’t be afraid to quit books that suck.  

-On that note, don’t collect for the sake of collecting.  

-Don’t loan.  

-It’s all about the IKEA shelves.  

-Collect the unusual.  

-Go through other people’s libraries. 

-Having a library keeps the information fresh in your head. continue reading

• Did you know that not everything is available online? Library and Archives Canada Blog
• Things You Should Know @ Guide To Using the Internet for Academic Research : Not everything is available on the Internet; Research on the Internet will take time; Information on the Internet is not stable; Not everything on the Internet is accurate, true, current, or reliable.
• On Why Libraries Still Matter by Reid Goldsborough infotoday.com 
• Why Everything Isn't Available Online and Free 
• Top 10 Reasons Why Libraries are still Important? 

1. Not Everything is Available on the Internet
2. Digital Libraries are not the Internet
3. The Internet isn’t Free
4. The Internet Compliments Libraries, but Doesn’t Replace Them
5. School Libraries and Librarians Improve Student Test Scores
6. Libraries Aren’t Just Books
7. Mobile Devices are not the End of Books or Libraries
8. Library Attendance isn’t Falling It’s Just More Virtual
9. Physical Libraries are Adapting to Cultural Change
10. Eliminating Libraries would Cut Short an Important Process of Cultural Evolution

Packing, labeling and moving library books -- Tips

Moving a collection from point A to point B, has many issues / problems.
Packing in boxes that are strong enough is equally important. Need labeling each box with the sequence that matches with the shelf list order. The following are useful bits, just in case one is lost and needs some basic starter:

In Stanton, Iowa, human chain of 400+ passes books from old library to new

Books - FAQs - About Us (Preservation, Library of Congress)

What You Can Do ZAMBEZI SCHOOLBOOK PROJECT

Packing books: the best way, by M.E. Williams @ DIY Life
-- describes in detail: Materials; Process; etc.
-- has a an expert comment: "pack books with their spine on the bottom of the box, as long as you put some padding on top of the books to protect their fore edges."

How to Pack Books for Moving --The Moving Blog; a commercial site, just listed for your help. No clue about their services.

ABC Moving Services Projects -- a commercial site, just listed for your help. No clue about their services.

Library renovations – Tips on moving the stock -- Packing up the library; Unpacking in the new library.

Who's Who in Library Relocation

Planning a successful library or archive move 
PS. Ask more info, if you need, by leaving a comment or by email.

On the same shelf:
Worth reading: Moving your library : getting the collection from here to there / Steven Carl Fortriede. Published/Created: Chicago : American Library Association, 2010.

Contents: Overview of a move -- Planning the process -- Selecting a method -- Measuring the collection and designing the shelving layout -- Interfiling and dividing collections -- Recruiting and training move workers -- Assembling tools and supplies -- Preparing the workspaces -- The other move -- Preparing to move -- Moving with carts -- Moving with boxes -- Balancing the move -- Moving microforms -- Special situations -- Finishing up.

Myths About Librarians and Library: Are Libraries & Librarians Totally Obsolete?

Fiction:

• Google, googling, googlish and googlization saves: Google replaces the information industry, not just librarians and libraries, not just archives and archivists, not just content and content managers, not just information and information managers who are out-side-the-box
• Libraries are just books: Books and much more is at Amazon and Barnes @ 24 X 7 -- no strike, no holidays and no nightmares
• Digital libraries are the Internet @ Free to download for all
• Everything is available on the Internet
• The Internet is free--No fines, no late fees, no membership charges, no fine print
• This is the Age of Internet: Brick and Mortar Libraries are over
• Wiki is the knowledge base, edit, modify, delete, copy, share and click send

Facts:

• Libraries are for use: not just show pieces, nor a touch-me-not type archive or museum. : Libraries are the only place to find Living Experience of the past, exposure to the present and a lead to the future.
• Every book its reader: Libraries and Librarians in educational institutions (school, college, university) directly help in improving Student Test Scores, inculcate thinking outside-the-box, and promote research for the public good.
• Every reader his/her book: Library collections are based on collection development's annual plan and works-well in measuring or finding a Return on Investment (ROI)
• Save the time of the reader. Medium is not the message: Mobile devices are not the end of books or libraries. Libraries bring together medium, message, messenger and the messagees.
• Library is a growing organism: Number of users in any Library is not declining; it's Just more virtual (much more than the physical attendance within the library building). Physical Libraries are continuously adapting to all types of changes, including multiculturalism, multifaith, multilingual, multiracial, multi-location, multidimensional, multimedia and multipurpose.
• Google is good (only, if you love their business). WHEREAS, Libraries are the best (no impulsive shopping here, you can pick a book that you want and that you love)
• Libraries are not based on algorithms! Rather, libraries have thinking, feeling and compassionate brains. 
• The Internet is a mess and much more (they have named it as deep web, surface web, hidden web, black or dark web, etc.). WHEREAS, Libraries are organized, categorized according to your taste-bud
• Live-Wire: Libraries compliment and supplement in society's need for education, inspiration, motivation, entertainment and much more information just-in-time and just-in-case for tragic, comic and what have you scenarios
• Economics: Reducing or closing libraries would directly cut short all types of cultural, social and material development
• Knowledge is power: Information in WIKI is not a substitute. As they say: The wisdom of crowds is untrustworthy. Because WIKI has only the tip of the iceberg, we are not even sure if it is even the tip
• Added Value: Librarians are the irreplaceable counterparts to the Internet / Intranet and any other type of Net

On the same shelf:

• 5 Reasons Librarians are Better than Search Engines
  
• 33 reasons librarians rule; Super Bowl media; Homeless YouTube; Google ‘does no evil’ on pre-roll
  
• 16 Reasons Why Libraries and Librarians are Still Extremely Important
  
• Top Ten Reasons Libraries Are Still Important
  
• 5 Reasons Librarians Are the Future of Ed Tech
  
• Top Ten Reasons Libraries Fail! Foresight is not enough
  
• Banned Library: 5 Reasons Libraries Should Not Use Ebooks
  
• 5 Reasons Libraries ROCK
  
• 9 Reasons Publishers Should Stop Acting Like Libraries
  
• Some Reasons Libraries Wouldn't be Founded « Annoyed Librarian
  
• Libraries on the Web – Should They Strive to Become New Search Engines?  InTechWeb Blog
  
• Libraries Play a Key Role in Setting Up and Managing Open Repositories 
  InTechWeb Blog
  
• To Know the Library Is To Love the Library -- But Who Knows the Library? huffingtonpost.com
  
• We still need libraries in the digital age, Ian Clark, guardian.co.uk,
  
• The Most Amazing Libraries of the world (Picture Gallery, in 2 parts)  huffingtonpost.com
• Building community — one vibrant library at a time, By Glen Pearson, Special to QMI Agency -- London, Ontario
  
• 61 Non-Librarian Jobs for LIS Grads
• To a Librarian Who Wants to Write - Outside the Box
• Shifting Careers - Outside The Box Interactions

Books & Libraries @ Facebook

• Asian Classics Input Project:

"The Asian Classics Input Project was founded in 1988 to preserve and freely distribute ancient Asian classical literature, and to support refugees in doing this work. Millions of texts were destroyed during and after the 1959 invasion of Tibet, and many others are buried in libraries throughout Asia. During the past 20 years, the Asian Classics Input Project has saved thousands of these endangered masterpieces by combing monasteries, libraries and archives throughout Asia. After finding these..." (read more)

• Books for a better Future Program 2009:
  

"The Books for a Better Future Program is a student initiative which seeks to collect old and unwanted academic textbooks, specifically from, but not limited to, tertiary students, academic staffers and libraries, for distribution to a number of tertiary partners in India, Sri Lanka and Vietnam.

We would especially like to collect books in the fields of commerce, law, history, nursing, women’s studies and engineering. VCE textbooks and language resources used to teach English would also be..." (read more)

Blogging a book ~~ Publish or Perish

Punchline: "Any popular blogger's book would sell, that's the way it works."

'Metrolife finds out that even though more and more bloggers are getting published, not all the books are selling' More from Nina C George @ Deccan Herald » Metro Life - Fri

Global ebook survey reveals encouraging results

"New findings from a study on e-book usage landed in my inbox earlier this week. Conducted by e-content providers, ebrary the study has been attempting to measure the changing perceptions and patterns of e-book usage among students. It is now in its third run through.
Working with 150 Higher Education librarians throughout the world to design the survey, nearly 6,500 students took part. Such a cross section of academic respondents is certainly respectable. While there is an obvious North American slant to the findings, generally half of the participants were based elsewhere in the world. Around 400 academic institutions took part say ebrary and admittedly the patterns between the US and elsewhere show similar results. So even if there is little in the way of UK eBook habits, the results are revealing all the same." Continue reading the summary by Daniel Griffin @ IWR Blog: June 2008

From the same shelf:

• What are the advantages of e-books over print books
• Reading Habits in Different Communities, PEW Forum

Now, Tata to help American poor

Tata Group North America has joined First Book, Washington, February 28: Expressindia.com

The Tata Group has extended its philanthropic efforts to the United States, where it is bidding to acquire Ford’s Landrover and Jaguar automobile brands, to distribute 65,000 new books to children in need. Continue reading

"First Book, a non-profit organisation with the mission to give children from low-income families the opportunity to read and own their first new books, has provided more than 50 million new books to children in need in thousands of communities in the US. As the largest India-headquartered multinational in North America, Tata has more than 80 offices in the US and Canada and more than 15,000 employees." Thaindian News

Update: Tata Companies Unite to Support First Book and Distribute 65,000 New Books to Children in Need, http://www.foxbusiness.com/

Library behind bars gets forced into closet

Oct 24, 2007 04:30 AM Joe Fiorito, Toronto Star
Darlene Soares helped a lot of guys escape from jail. Oh, relax. She put no files in cakes. She ran the library at the Toronto Jail. She gave out books.

Not any more.

We met in her apartment building the other day. She took me back to the beginning. "I was a legal secretary for 20 years. After I retired, I started working as a volunteer for the St. Vincent de Paul Society, at Old City Hall. One day we went over to the jail for a visit and I found myself filling out an application as a volunteer."

And then, almost just-like-that, the woman who had been running the library went on vacation and never came back, and Darlene had a library on her hands.
She said, "It was a mess in the beginning. There were empty shelves. There was no budget. I went to the Riverdale Library and asked for any books they were throwing out. I'd bring them home, clean them up, glue them, tape them, and bring them to jail in my bundle buggy." She became an expert at finding good used books for free; and in time – a nice touch, this – she began to get an annual donation of books from the Criminal Lawyers' Association. continue reading

Info courtesy [Found by Bookninja] @ Slow Reading

Excerpts from the "Really Modern Library" blog entry:

"The goal of this project is to shed light on the big questions about future accessibility and usability of analog culture in a digital, networked world."

"Our aim with the Really Modern Library project is not to build a physical or even a virtual library, but to stimulate new thinking about mass digitization and, through the generation of inspiring new designs, interfaces and conceptual models, to spur innovation in publishing, media, libraries, academia and the arts."

The blog entry also mentions "plans for a major international design competition calling for proposals, sketches, and prototypes for a hypothetical 'really modern library.' " The blog entry goes on to describe this competiton as follows:

"The call for entries will go out to as broad a community as possible, including designers, artists, programmers, hackers, librarians, archivists, activists, educators, students and creative amateurs. Our present intent is to raise a large sum of money to administer the competition and to have a pool for prizes that is sufficiently large and meaningful that it can compel significant attention from the sort of minds we want working on these problems."

For more info, go to: the really modern library

Info courtesy: Bernie Sloan.

You a bookworm? Click and get your own library

Watch the video about the exciting free @ Gutenberg.org

South Asian Literary Recordings Project

Launched in April 2000, to record the voices of South Asian authors for the Library of Congress' Archive of Recorded World Literature, the project has captured the readings of prominent South Asian poets, novelists, and playwrights. The authors recorded so far represent more than fifteen of the languages of India, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.

ALA ALCTS Foreign Book Dealers Directory on the web

The ALCTS Acquisition Sections Publications Committee is pleased to
announce that its Foreign Book Dealers Directory is now available as a single, searchable Web publication. Most recently available as three distinct Web sites, the information has been combined into a single file, with access points by vendor name and country (or countries) whose materials each vendor can supply. To replicate the three previous regional versions, there are also lists by region that can be accessed by either the point and click world map on the home page, or by a pull-down menu. The original three regions, Eastern Europe-Soviet Union, Asia-Pacific, and Africa-Middle East, are now six regions: Eastern Europe, Central Eurasia, Asia, The Pacific, Africa, and Middle East.... continue reading
Find suppliers of library materials from many parts of the world with our searchable lists of vendors regularly used by university libraries in the United States.

Launch of BookCross@SG: Books need to be freed!

Sighted @ Rambling Librarian :: Incidental Thoughts of a Singapore Liblogarian

Same shelf and aisle:.
>>Go Hunting Country List > Canada > Ontario > Toronto

Similar shelf:
>>Donate to the "Why Indie Bookstores Matter" Tour!
>> really modern library

See also:

Nigeria's Library System - is It Collapsing Or Transforming?

Bookstores everywhere are going broke

History of the book: Writing on the Stone Slab

Bookstores everywhere are going broke

A state-of-the-art report by Jill Elaine HUGHES--a Chicago-based writer of stageplays, screenplays, journalism, and fiction

It's earnings-reporting season. I know this because I once (long ago) worked in investment banking. Earnings-reporting season is the time when publicly traded companies (i.e., those that have stock) report their quarterly earnings. In the past few weeks, the three big bookstore retail chains (Borders, Barnes & Noble, and Books-A-Million) reported their earnings.
Barnes & Noble and Borders---by far the largest two bookstore companies---both reported BIG losses. Borders is especially hemorrhaging cash via its Waldenbooks stores (the smaller, popular-fiction-based bookstores you usually see in malls), many of which it has shut down. Borders is losing money hand over fist---to read their earnings press release, click here. Barnes & Noble is also faring very poorly. (they reported big losses about a month ago)...

I know I'm part of the "problem", too. Since I moved to the 'burbs, I have greatly deceased the amount of money I spend on books. I have the benefit of living in Arlington Heights, Illinois, which has one of the best public libraries in the Midwest. The Arlington Heights Memorial Library has one of the most robust collections in the region, and it acquires multiple copies of almost every new book published----it's basically eliminated the need for me to go to the bookstore. I can get a copy of almost any book I want to read for free within days of its publication just by dropping by my library. My library also gets all the latest DVDs, which I can also view for free. With that, who needs a bookstore? Living in the expensive Chicago suburbs, with their high property taxes and such, does have benefits when it comes to the library.



continue reading @ Jill Elaine Hughes- The Blog!

Working Locally At Home and Abroad

World Literacy of Canada is a small NGO with big projects on the go. For 50 years now, WLC has been changing people's lives through literacy and community development programs, both at home here in Canada, and in homes throughout the world. Although the world has changed dramatically over the course of the past 50 years, the heart of WLC's programming philosophy has remained the same: global change begins at a local level. Continue reading

World Literacy of Canada
401 Richmond Street West, Studio 236
Toronto, ON M5V 3A8
P: 416 977 0008
F: 416 977 1112
E: info@worldlit.ca
W: www.worldlit.ca

The lost world of libraries

posted by Blake on Sunday May 20, @12:23PM from the dusty-shelves dept.

The Business Standard - India has a look at some ooooollllddd libraries in India. But, however distinguished the provenance of these three, as also that of the Dayal Singh Public Library in Delhi and other public libraries elsewhere in the country, they are all rather sad places today. Only PhD students come here now to trawl the dusty shelves of uncared for books, rummage through the crumbling cards and brave the apathetic sloth of the staff for the early and rare editions of novels and journals. [Source: Librarian and Information Science News]

See also: Map of Libraries in New Delhi

What the Ancient Egyptians Taught me about Blogging

You may think there can be no way in the afterlife that there is a link between one of the oldest civilisations on earth and one of the most modern pastimes, but you would be wrong. The Ancient Egyptians blogged in Stone. Continue reading MATT JONES

See also:

Blogs and visual innovation

Blog As A Teaching Tool

The Harry Potter Marketing Story Revisited

PS. Jill Stover's blog (Library Marketing - Thinking Outside the Book) and, Vancouver Sun (Magical Marketing: Harry Potter seller turns early book release into effective sales tool) covered this theme in 2005. Here is an update:

Amazon.com Seeks ''Harry-est Town'' in America

Indigo starts 107-day countdown to release of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

New Potter book has rules for libraries

Librarians must obey the rules to get Harry

Amazon.ca Seeks "Harry-est Town in Canada"

Publisher Wants To Keep Harry Potter's Secrets

No peeking at 'Deathly Hallows' till July 21

From my related posts:

Market Research Resources via Libraries