Public Libraries Books

Dewey: The Small-Town Library Cat Who Touched the World

Vicki Myron

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Subjects -> Biographies & Memoirs -> General
Subjects -> Biographies & Memoirs -> General AAS
Subjects -> Home & Garden -> Animal Care & Pets -> Cats -> General

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 136 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

DEWEY is the heartwarming story of Dewey Readmore Books, the beloved library cat of Spencer, Iowa, as told by his owner and companion of nineteen years, Vicki Myron, the librarian who found him on a frigid January morning when he was abandoned as a kitten in the book drop slot. It is also the story of a remarkable small town, which burned down at the beginning of the Depression, only to rebuild itself, and which was almost shuttered during the farm crisis of the 1980s, before regrouping and rededicating itself to small town American values. Dewey's local charm and worldwide fame became a symbol of hope for this recovering town. Through Dewey's antics, we come to know and love many of the colorful and inspiring people of Spencer. But perhaps the most inspiring person in Spencer is Vicki Myron herself, a single mother who survived the bankruptcy of her family farm and working in a box factory to put two of her brothers through college to become one of the leaders of the Iowa library system. Dewey is one lovable, roguish cat who managed to transform an entire town and inspire people across the globe.

Book Lust: Recommended Reading for Every Mood, Moment, and Reason (LUST)

Nancy Pearl

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Subjects -> Literature & Fiction -> Books & Reading -> Literacy
Subjects -> Literature & Fiction -> Books & Reading -> Reference
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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 36 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

The Sweetest Plum 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

I love BOOK LUST and MORE BOOK LUST. Let's just get that out of the way.

Pearl gathered together a fantastic reference book filled with over 1000 titles by specific categories for every mood: Arctic adventure, Armchair Travel, Fantasy by the truckload, Gay/Lesbian Literature, For the Cat Lover and so on.

Books on almost every country (and every state in her follow up "More Book Lust"). Fiction and nonfiction abound. My bounty grew and Pearl lead me to some great treasures, including a list of other bibliographies, which fed my lust for even more books.

She includes a brief description of most books and throws a few other titles in each category that are simply "too good to miss". Both of her books include featured authors.

Naturally, these are her personal picks, but I liked the idea of setting books to moods rather than publishing dates or random genres. Now, I have a reference if I'm in the mood for a Japanese Murder Mystery or if I crave a little Academic Humor. Heed this advise: plunder her pages. You won't regret it!

Editorial Review:

What to read next is every book lover's greatest dilemma. Nancy Pearl comes to the rescue with this wide-ranging and fun guide to the best reading new and old. Pearl, who inspired legions of litterateurs with “What If All (name the city) Read the Same Book,” has devised 170 thematic reading lists that cater to every mood, occasion, and personality. These annotated lists cover such topics as mother-daughter relationships, science for nonscientists, mysteries of all stripes, African-American fiction from a female point of view, must-reads for kids, books on bicycling, “chick-lit,” and many more. Pearl's enthusiasm and taste shine throughout in this lively and informative illustrated guide.

More Book Lust: Recommended Reading for Every Mood, Moment, and Reason

Nancy Pearl

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 13 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

The response to Nancy Pearl's surprise bestseller Book Lust was astounding: the Seattle librarian and winner of the 2004 Women's National Book Award even became the model for the now-famous Librarian Action Figure. Readers everywhere welcomed Pearl's encyclopedic but discerning filter on books worth reading, and her Rule of 50 (give a book 50 pages before deciding whether to continue; but readers over 50 must read the same number of pages as their age) became a standard MO.

Once again organized by topic, this sprightly follow-up includes an array of titles in nearly 150 eclectic categories, including Plots for Plotzing (highly unusual storylines), Animal Love (in which humans fall in love with animals), The Autobiographical Gesture (memoirs about complex lives), Child Prodigies (child characters who are called on to perform great and sometimes heroic acts), Nagging Mothers, Crying Children (true tales from the frontlines of parenting), and Libraries and Librarians. Both a valuable reference and a vastly enjoyable read, More Book Lust offers a wealth of enthusiastic, quirky reading recommendations.

Book Lust Journal (LUST)

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Subjects -> Literature & Fiction -> History & Criticism -> Criticism & Theory -> General

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 3 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

What a great idea! 4 out of 5 stars.
10 of 10 people found this review helpful.

I read so many books as a kid I can't even begin to try to remember them all. This is a great way for anyone to keep track of their readings. I've recently started reading for pleasure again and find much comfort that I have my feelings and memories about the book at my finger tips. No more wondering 'why was it i liked that book so much, I can't possibly remember, it's been so long since I've read it...'

The only thing that could make it better would be some kind of divider to help you find the separate sections faster. Otherwise, a great purchase!

Editorial Review:

Many readers have wished for a way to record their thoughts after finishing a book, or to remember their impressions of their book club meeting. Nancy Pearl's Book Lust Journal is the perfect place to do these things and more. Based on the famous bestseller, this conveniently sized journal is a great place for readers to expand their reading experience. The template offers plenty of room for internal discussion to recall favorite passages of books, or to think about how the book they're currently reading reflects their own life. The template also functions as an easy-access reference tool to return to previous entries they have written. A detailed introduction explains how to make the most of the journal, while The Pearl 100 offers informed suggestions on great reads. Additional templates enable readers to record books on their "To Read" list, notebook passages to remember, and keep tabs on books lent to friends and family.

Quiet, Please: Dispatches from a Public Librarian

Scott Douglas

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Subjects -> Biographies & Memoirs -> Memoirs
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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 18 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Great book! 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 2 people found this review helpful.

I loved this book! It's funny, unique, informative and is the kind of book you hate to see end. More please, more please!!!

Amusing Memoir 4 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

I love libraries and was really looking forward to this memoir.

In Quiet Please: Dispatches From a Public Librarian by Scott Douglas, the author was a college student who liked books and needed a job, so he became a page (shelving books) at the Anaheim Public Library. Lacking better career plans, he accepted a state grant to get a degree in library science. In this memoir, Douglas reports on the types of individuals that frequent the library. He focuses on teens, homeless people, crazy people and the elderly. His stories about what he has encountered working in the library are so funny. I thought his comments about his coworkers, and about librarians not being readers to be very humorous as well. The chapters were numbered (using the Dewey Decimal System) which I found to be very clever. My only complaint was that some of the writing seemed to be scattered; just as I was enjoying a few passages the subject matter seemed to shift completely. All in all this was as enjoyable memoir.

Editorial Review:

For most of us, librarians are the quiet people behind the desk, who, apart from the occasional “shush,” vanish into the background. But in Quiet, Please, McSweeney’s contributor Scott Douglas puts the quirky caretakers of our literature front and center. With a keen eye for the absurd and a Kesey-esque cast of characters (witness the librarian who is sure Thomas Pynchon is Julia Roberts’s latest flame), Douglas takes us where few readers have gone before. Punctuated by his own highly subjective research into library history-from Andrew Carnegie’s Gilded Age to today’s Afghanistan-Douglas gives us a surprising (and sometimes hilarious) look at the lives which make up the social institution that is his library.

Free For All: Oddballs, Geeks, and Gangstas in the Public Library

Don Borchert

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Subjects -> Biographies & Memoirs -> Arts & Literature -> Authors
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Subjects -> Biographies & Memoirs -> Specific Groups -> General AAS

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 39 Average rating: 3.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

From The Wall Street Journal to National Public Radio, mild-mannered librarian Don Borchert had America laughing with the hardcover edition of his tell-all memoir that revealed the often startling truth about modern-day libraries. Not long ago, the public library was a place for the bookish, the eggheaded, and the studious—often seeking refuge from a loud, irrational, crude, outside world. Today, libraries have become free-for-all entertainment complexes filled with rowdy teens, deviants, drugs, and even sex toys. Lockdowns and chaperones are often necessary.

What happened?

Don Borchert was a short-order cook, door-to-door salesman, telemarketer, and Christmas-tree-chopper before landing a job in a California library. He never could have predicted his encounters with the colorful kooks, touching adolescents, threatening bullies, and tricksters who fill the pages of this hilarious memoir.

In Free for All, Borchert offers readers a ringside seat for the unlikely spectacle of mayhem and
absurdity that is business as usual at the public library. You’ll see cops bust drug dealers who’ve set up shop in the men’s restroom, witness a burka-wearing employee suffer a curse-ridden nervous breakdown, and meet a lonely, neglected kid who grew up in the library and still sends postcards to his surrogate parents—the librarians. In fact, from the first page of this comic debut to the last, you’ll learn everything about the world of the modern-day library that you never expected.

The Thriving Library: Successful Strategies for Challenging Times

Marylaine Block

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Subjects -> Nonfiction -> Social Sciences -> Library & Information Science -> Library Management
Subjects -> Nonfiction -> Social Sciences -> Library & Information Science -> Public Libraries
Subjects -> Nonfiction -> Social Sciences -> Library & Information Science -> General

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 1 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Any collection catering to librarians will want this 5 out of 5 stars.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful.

Public librarians seeking a tried-and-tested guide to strategies used to gain community support and funding will find THE THRIVING LIBRARY: SUCCESSFUL STRATEGIES FOR CHALLENGING TIMES an important pick. Any collection catering to library administrators will find plenty of rich detail here, from strategies for promoting youth services and community partnership projects to marketing approaches, web blogs and sites, and more. Projects are described in the practitioners' own words and use examples from annual reports, programs, and more. Any collection catering to librarians will want this - as will the libraries considering it for both lending and institutional reference.

Editorial Review:

Here is a highly readable guide to strategies and projects that have helped over 100 public libraries gain community support and funding during challenging times. Marylaine Block integrates survey responses from innovative library directors with her research, analysis, and extended interviews to showcase hundreds of winning programs and services. The strategies explored include: Youth Services; The Library as Place; Partnerships; Marketing; Stressing the Economic Value; Library 2.0; Outreach; and Helping the Community Achieve Its Aspirations. Projects are described in practitioners own words, with additional examples drawn from libraries long-range plans, annual reports, programs, and Web sites, as well as from news stories and library literature. The result is a rich source of ideas and inspiration for those who want their libraries to thrive, not merely survive. Supported by the author s Web page.

The Evaluation and Measurement of Library Services

Joseph R. Matthews

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Editorial Review:

Evaluations of libraries and the services they perform are seen as important tools for library managers and stakeholders. However, too many library evaluations simply focus on the routine process of gathering inputs and outputs within the context of traditional service measurements. Very few libraries actively pair these internal evaluations along with customer satisfaction outcomes to form a management tool that can drive service improvements across the library as a whole. In this book, Matthews outlines and argues for a broader and more robust adoption of evaluation techniques in order to help library managers combine traditional internal measurements (circulation, reference transactions, etc.) with more customer-centric metrics (how well was I served, how satisfied am I with my branch, etc.) to form a truer picture of the value of the library to its stakeholders and patrons. Matthews sets out to familiarize the reader with the wide array of existing tools that can be used to evaluate any library service, and introduces the reader to newer tools designed to measure customer and patron outcomes. Throughout the book, Matthews focuses on removing the mystery surrounding these processes and tools so that library managers are better able to use these tools to drive patron and stakeholder satisfaction.

Heart of the Community: The Libraries We Love

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Subjects -> Arts & Photography -> Photography -> Architectural
Subjects -> Arts & Photography -> Photography -> Collections, Catalogues & Exhibitions
Subjects -> Nonfiction -> Social Sciences -> Library & Information Science -> Public Libraries

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Total reviews: 1 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

The first book to sing the praises of the libraries we love, Heart of the Community: The Libraries We Love is a gorgeous coffee table book showcasing one of the icons of American life, the public library. Eighty libraries selected from over 300 nominations, hundreds of photographs, and introductory essays by Henry Winkler and Mary Pope Osborne. Includes famous authors favorite libraries and poignant stories of how libraries--great and small--have survived and thrived since colonial times. A wonderful walk through American architecture, culture, and community. From the Atlantic to the Pacific, from Camden Public Library in Maine to Z. J. Loussac Public Library in Alaska, America s libraries are the heart of our communities. This wondrous collection of stories and photographs includes eighty libraries chosen from hundreds of nominations from across the United States and Canada. The entries include large urban libraries like the Boston Public Library, with 6.1 million books, and The City Library of Salt Lake City, located in Library Square, an entire city block occupied by the library, cultural organizations, a coffee shop, and deli. On the other end of the spectrum is the small but mighty Bayliss Library in Glenn, California open just eight hours a week where volunteers and professionals have saved their rural library from closing time and time again. You ll find stories from the oldest libraries in America, like the Sturgis Library in Barnstable, Massachusetts, as well as from some of the newest, such as the Desert Broom Branch of the Phoenix Public Library, built in 2005, and the Village Branch in Lexington, Kentucky, which opened in 2004 in a convenient storefront location. Creative energy abounds throughout the book. The Aztec Library, for example, capitalized on an alleged UFO landing to raise the $2 million needed for an expansion. One library was a train station and another the home of the World War II journalist, Ernie Pyle. Many of the libraries ar

Serving Latino Communities: A How-to-do-it Manual for Librarians, Second Edition (How-to-Do-It Manual for Librarians) (How-to-Do-It Manual for Librarians) (How-to-Do-It Manual for Librarians)

Camila A. Alire, Jacqueline Ayala

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Subjects -> History -> Historical Study -> Social History
Subjects -> Nonfiction -> Social Sciences -> Demography
Subjects -> Nonfiction -> Social Sciences -> Library & Information Science -> Public Libraries

Editorial Review:

Alire and Ayala, both past presidents of REFORMA (the National Association to Promote Library and Information Services to Latinos and the Spanish-Speaking), build the case for increased service to this important and growing community and provide ideas for making outreach a success. Chapter coverage helps library staff understand the needs of their library's Latino community; develop successful programs and services; obtain funding for projects and programs; prepare staff to work more effectively with Latinos; establish partnerships with relevant external agencies and organizations; improve collection development; and perform effective outreach and public relations. This second edition features new strategies for conducting focus groups and bilingual surveys, an emphasis on electronic Web resources to aid in preparing for services, an increased number of programming ideas, and even more examples of bilingual promotional materials. A completely revised and updated resource directory points to the best publications, organizations, and sites for more information on this growing community.