“Discovery Tools” were being pushed for libraries as being better than a traditional online catalog because they could incorporate websites and magazine articles into the search. What sounds good turned out to be a mess, and academic libraries in particular saw big declines in library …
How Does Switching to a Discovery Tool Affect Circulation? Read More
A piece that appeared in Library Journal arguing that the often repeated truism “librarians are forbidden from giving tax help to patrons” is untrue, and that proving this help can be a real service to the poor. BackTalk: Tax Help at the Library | Library …
This book was written with Bob Cooper, another librarian. From the days when Excel was still fairly new, it taught librarians how to use Excel and apply the program to studying use patterns of their collection. Unfortunately for the book, but fortunately for Excel users, …
This is a book that for every day of the year gives an incident or two on something that happened on Minnesota that day of the year. It was serialized by the Minneapolis Star Tribune every day of 2002. It was the best-selling book of …
Shortly after President George W Bush launched the second war on Iraq (2003), which was officially done to remove Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein. At almost the same time, an article titled “Why We Didn’t Remove Saddam” written by his father, President George H.W. Bush and …
“Diversity and the MLS” was written for Library Journal in 2008. It argues that one of the major reasons few people of color become librarians is the expense of obtaining the Masters of Library Science degree that almost all professional jobs require. Library Journal told …
“What not to buy” is an academic study that resulted from a short sabbatical. Since many books in academic libraries are never used, I wanted to see if those books shared characteristics that buyers could keep an eye out for and only purchase carefully, saving …
What Not to Buy: How to Identify Books Likely to be Unused Before Purchase Read More
This is an analysis of an experiment I led at Portland Community College library to see if having all required textbooks available on reserves was a workable project. The short version is that, with some adjustments, yes. This was my most successful scholarly article, receiving …
All Textbooks in the Library! An Experiment with Library Reserves Read More
When I first started volunteering with the Refugee Settlement division of Catholic Charities, one of the things I did was get set up as a driver. The fellow who tries to supervise me is a young man from Chile, and he doesn’t have a license, …
Adventures in Volunteering III: Driving Afghan Refugees Read More
After retiring, I wanted an activity that would keep me on the streets. Since the Covid plague coincided with my departure from the workplace, a lot of volunteer activities shut down. Retired people are a big part of the volunteer workforce, and many of them …
Adventures in Volunteering, Part II. Meals on Wheels. Read More
