Libraries in Literature

Libraries in Literature
Author: Alice Crawford
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 305
Release: 2022-09-01
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 0192668269

Unashamedly a book for the bookish, yet accessible and frequently entertaining, this is the first book devoted to how libraries are depicted in imaginative writing. Covering fiction, poetry, and drama from the late Middle Ages to the present, it runs the gamut of British and American literature, as well as examining a range of fiction in other languages—from Rabelais and Cervantes to modern and contemporary French, Italian, Japanese, and Russian writing. While the tropes of the complex catalogue and the bibliomaniacal reader persist throughout the centuries, libraries also emerge as societal battle-sites where issues of personality, gender, cultural power, and national identity are contested repeatedly and often in surprising ways. As well as examining how libraries were deployed in their work by canonical authors from Cervantes, Shakespeare, and Swift to Jane Austen, George Eliot, and Jorge Luis Borges, the volume also examines in detail the haunted libraries of Margaret Oliphant and M. R. James, and a range of much less familiar historic and contemporary authors. Alert to the depiction of librarians as well as of book-rooms and institutional readers, this book will inform, entertain, and delight. At a time when traditional libraries are under pressure, Libraries in Literature shows the power of their lasting fascination.

Libraries to the People

Libraries to the People
Author: Robert S. Freeman
Publisher: McFarland
Total Pages: 260
Release: 2003-01-27
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 9780786413591

With today’s technology, anyone anywhere can access public library materials without leaving home or office—one simply logs on to the library’s website to be exposed to a wealth of information. But one of the concerns that arises is the lack of access for groups isolated by socioeconomic, geographical, or cultural factors. This problem is not a new one. For almost two centuries, public libraries and other organizations have been trying to bring library services to isolated populations. This book is a collection of fourteen essays examining the contributions of librarians, educators, and organizations in the United States who have endeavored to bring library services to groups that previously did not have access. There are three sections: Benevolent and Commercial Organizations, Government Supported Programs, and Innovative Outreach Services. The essays discuss reading materials for two centuries of rural Louisianians, shipboard libraries for the American Navy and merchant Marine, library outreach to prisoners, the Indiana Township Library Program, tribal libraries in the lower forty-eight states, open-air libraries, electronic outreach, and the use of radio in promoting the Municipal Reference Library of the City of New York, to name just a few of the essay topics.

Libraries and Librarianship

Libraries and Librarianship
Author: George Sylvan Bobinski
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
Total Pages: 218
Release: 2007
Genre: Libraries
ISBN: 0810858991

In George Bobinski's sixty-year career as a library professional (1945 - 2005), libraries underwent massive changes and epochal advancements. In this important work, Bobinski summarizes the major trends and events that have transformed the library world and the profession of librarianship into what it is today. Libraries and Librarianship begins with a historical review of the core of librarianship, focusing on the information formats available in or through libraries; the organization of library information sources; changes in reference service; trends in library management; and the all-embracing impact of technology on libraries. Bobinski also addresses library types and the growth of library cooperation and resource sharing; the spread of collaboration through library systems, consortia, and networks; federal funding, library philanthropy, and the important role of the Council on Library and Information Resources since its establishment in 1956; the growth and activities of professional library associations; the shifting roles of gender and ethnicity; and the changes in library buildings. Furthermore, a list of eminent individuals who had the greatest impact on the field during this period and influenced the dramatic changes that have taken place in library and information science education is included. Concluding with a discussion of the major developments in the field and providing a look into what the future might hold for libraries, this book will be embraced by library students, practitioners, and professors alike.

Young Adult Literature, Libraries, and Conservative Activism

Young Adult Literature, Libraries, and Conservative Activism
Author: Loretta M. Gaffney
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
Total Pages: 163
Release: 2017-02-01
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 1442264098

This incisive study analyzes young adult (YA) literature as a cultural phenomenon, explaining why this explosion of books written for and marketed to teen readers has important consequences for how we understand reading in America. As visible and volatile shorthand for competing views of teen reading, YA literature has become a lightning rod for a variety of aesthetic, pedagogical, and popular literature controversies. Noted scholar Loretta Gaffney not only examines how YA literature is defended and critiqued within the context of rapid cultural and technological changes, but also highlights how struggles about teen reading matter to—and matter in—the future of librarianship and education. The workbridges divides between literary criticism, professional practices, canon building, literature appreciation, genre classifications and recommendations, standard histories, and commentary. It will be useful in YA literature course settings in Library and Information Science, Education, and English departments. It will also be of interest to those who study right wing culture and movements in media studies, cultural studies, American studies, sociology, political science, and history. It is of additional interest to those who study print culture, publishing and the book, histories of teenagers, and research on teen reading. Finally, it will offer those interested in teenagers, literature, libraries, technology, and politics a fresh way to look at book challenges and controversies over YA literature.

Books and Libraries in American Society during World War II

Books and Libraries in American Society during World War II
Author: Patti Clayton Becker
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 302
Release: 2013-09-13
Genre: History
ISBN: 1135467722

World War II presented America's public libraries with the daunting challenge of meeting new demands for war-related library services and materials with Depression-weakened collections, inadequate budgets and demoralized staff, in addition to continuing to serve the library's traditional clientele of women and children seeking recreational reading. This work examines how libraries could respond to their communities need through the use of numerous primary and secondary sources.

Libraries in Open Societies

Libraries in Open Societies
Author: Harold M. Leich
Publisher: Psychology Press
Total Pages: 282
Release: 2002
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 9780789019684

How do librarians and researchers face war, social upheaval, and other challenges after the fall of Communism and the rise of digital technology? Libraries in Open Societies offers fascinating answers to this and many other questions while providing an overview of this rapidly changing arena. An international panel of authors who know the specialized concerns of libraries in Eastern Europe and the former USSR addresses topics that include the difficulty of preserving and acquiring materials, the importance of international cooperation, and the benefits and pitfalls of electronic media. This book also discusses the rise of the Internet in Russia, the movement of international bibliographies onto the Web, and other features of the digital revolution. Libraries in Open Societies, itself an example of the value of international cooperation in the modern world, will be an important addition to your bookshelves!

Intergenerational solidarity in libraries / La solidarité intergénérationnelle dans les bibliothèques

Intergenerational solidarity in libraries / La solidarité intergénérationnelle dans les bibliothèques
Author: Ivanka Stricevic
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter
Total Pages: 360
Release: 2012-08-31
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 3110280981

Rapid and intensive changes in the information landscape cause changes in social relationships and, consequently, in relations between generations. Within their social role libraries should work actively to reduce age segregation and isolation, and build cohesive society through intergenerational services and programmes. The authors speak about the intergenerational dialogue in libraries - theories, research and practice - and about reading as a link between generations, thus offering to libraries strategies for establishing social cohesion.

Adapting Marketing to Libraries in a Changing and World-wide Environment / Le marketing des bibliothèques à l'heure du changement et de la mondialisation

Adapting Marketing to Libraries in a Changing and World-wide Environment / Le marketing des bibliothèques à l'heure du changement et de la mondialisation
Author: Réjean Savard
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter
Total Pages: 96
Release: 2013-02-18
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 3110954109

The International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA) is the leading international body representing the interests of library and information services and their users. It is the global voice of the information profession. The series IFLA Publications deals with many of the means through which libraries, information centres, and information professionals worldwide can formulate their goals, exert their influence as a group, protect their interests, and find solutions to global problems.