50 Shades of Red: Losing our Shirts to Ebooks | American Libraries Magazine

James LaRue, Director of the Douglas County Libraries

50 Shades of Red: Losing our Shirts to Ebooks | American Libraries Magazine

Submitted by Christopher Harris on Mon, 07/30/2012 - 06:48

James LaRue

This post was written by James LaRue, Director of the Douglas County Libraries in Colorado, and member of the ALA Digital Content Working Group. More of LaRue's writing can be found on his site. 

For decades, public libraries have seen steady gains in use. We check out more books, get more visits both physical and virtual, and have more kids at storytime. At my own library, we've seen double digit growth almost every year for over 20 years running.

Until last year. The drop wasn't big — about .7 percent. But from such little shifts come major seismic realignments. [Read more...]

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Reading As Rebellion | Save NYC Libraries

Reading As Rebellion | Save NYC Libraries

 Come out and read out for public libraries in New York City. Once again the three library systems are facing historic cuts and once again library supporters are pushing back. The third 24 Hour Read In will take place on June 9-10 from 4PM to 4PM and once again we will be on the steps of the Brooklyn Public Library in Grand Army Plaza. It will be another days worth of literary library activism.
This is going to be our biggest year ever. The base of the protest remains the same, over a hundred voices read around the clock. A full 24 hour day is broken into 15 minute intervals and volunteers read pretty much whatever they like for their quarter of an hour. The rules are simple, no speeches only reading. Family storytime is from 8AM to noon on Sunday so select your materials accordingly. The dark hours from 2AM-4AM are for the steamy stuff and heckling is to be expected.  Read more.

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"Ask Not What You Can Do For Your Library..." - Albany Lobby Day 2010

Yesterday, on Tuesday, March 2nd, 2009 I participated in a state-wide effort to lobby on behalf of the libraries throughout New York in Albany, NY. This was my first visit to the state capital. From the city, it takes a little less than four hours to get there. I went with a large contingent of fellow library staff members from the New York Public Library. The library’s union, Local 1930, sponsored the trip by paying for the bus. We left in the early hours of Tuesday morning, just after 8:00 AM. People from all departments and levels of the library were encouraged and did participate, from librarians to clerical staff to even staff members from our Development Office. Since the issue of funding affects us all, it was nice to see that over fifty staff members were willing to pack in and tightly squeeze on a bus to fight the good fight and restore our library budget for the next fiscal year.