This Book Is Overdue!: How Librarians and Cybrarians Can Save Us All in 100+ Books in 2025

Apr 20, 2010 Dolly rated it really liked it

Shelves: new-england, australia, 2010, library, other-usa, humor, washington-dc, education-school, science, nonfiction

I have decided that when I grow up I would like to become a librarian. So some time in the remaining 5 years of my military career I plan to pursue a Masters degree in Library and Information Science. In the meantime, I saw this book in the New books section at my local library and thought I would see what I plan to get myself into.

The book is a real eye-opener. The world of the librarian is so much more technical and global now, more so than I even thought it would be. This book demonstrates t I have decided that when I grow up I would like to become a librarian. So some time in the remaining 5 years of my military career I plan to pursue a Masters degree in Library and Information Science. In the meantime, I saw this book in the New books section at my local library and thought I would see what I plan to get myself into.

The book is a real eye-opener. The world of the librarian is so much more technical and global now, more so than I even thought it would be. This book demonstrates these changes in a rambling sort of way and shows how virtual a lot of it is becoming. The author touches on myraid ways librarians are not only changing the face of the typical library, but also how they are changing the world. She spends a lot of time talking about librarians in cyberspace, as Second Life characters, bloggers, virtual archivists, and World-wide cataloguers. She touches on the evolution of the brick and mortar libraries, too, the demographics they are trying to appeal to and the ways they are changing their physical layouts, catalogues, and reading/computing spaces. She waxes poetic about the New York Public Library and the disappointing choices the trustees have made. And she talks about the mystery of archiving. What to save, who should do it, what's the best way to save online material, etc. Overall it was a very good read; the author definitely poured a lot of blood, sweat and tears into it. And although I see some challenges up ahead for me, I am excited to embark on this next career. I just hope I can get a job!

new words: palimpsest, aertheric

of note - I liked the reference to Librarian's values: truth, free speech and universal literacy. (p. 8)

I also was a bit dumbfounded at the coincidence to the reference to Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury. (p. 141) I just (within the last week) reread that book and I wasn't sure why I picked it out. And a week later I find a reference to it here in this book (one of the surprising few fictional books she refers to in the book.) This seems to happen to me all of the time. Odd... ...more

3 likes · Like · see review

May 24, 2010 Julia rated it it was amazing

Shelves: non-fiction, best-books-i-read-in-2010

I'm a book lover, a library-holic (no 12- step programs for this!) and when I visit my or any library I love talking with the librarians. So when I saw this on the shelf I had to borrow it!

This non-fiction is about the superhuman job librarians and archivists perform to preserve, protect and make accessible our culture, our knowledge, our values.
David Smith was a reference librarian at NYPL whose mission it was to help writers find the data they needed in the enormous reference library there. H ...more

3 likes · Like · see review

Apr 13, 2012 Jim rated it really liked it

Shelves: audiobooks-read, books-about-books

My initial plan was to rate this four star and sneak out the back door without a review.

Since Richard called me out, here we go.....

I stumbled across this at the to be shelved audio book section of my library. If John McPhee were to write a book about library and librarians; it would be like this. A series of character sketches of passionate characters whose efforts and comments speak to the topics:
What is the library/librarian role in the digital age?
What is the library/librarian role in finan ...more

2 likes · Like · see review

Mar 25, 2010 Kate rated it liked it

This book didn't do anything to sway me from the dream of one day becoming a librarian, but it didn't do much to enhance it either. I had hoped it would be better. And while Johnson tells some interesting stories and clearly has a passion for the subject, some of the things she writes about were just plain dull. If you are interested in libraries and what is happening to them, it is worth a look. But if you are not, I would avoid this at all costs. ...more

Like · see review

Nov 29, 2010 Nina Chachu rated it liked it

I had seen the good reviews of this book about librarians, and it had been on my wish list for a while. I found it easy to read, and dip into. Plus of course it was very positive about fellow librarians, though I did feel it was rather North American and Western oriented.

Like · see review

Jun 20, 2010 Roseann rated it really liked it

A book every librarian, or book lover should at least take a look at as it covers all modes of librarians (from demure to cyber to sexy) and what their jobs actually entail.

Like · see review