I was recently asked by a librarian colleague to contribute a cartoon to a time capsule. Held by the Oregon Library Association, the capsule will open in 2040. Although I had the option to pick any old thing I had already done, I really liked the idea of creating a cartoon for an audience 25 years into the future; and using that time frame to speculate on how current issues of librarianship will play out over the next quarter century. Will we still have privacy issues, problems with technology, and questions on the relevance of libraries in the Information Age? Yeah, why not? I have more confidence in that than in the likelihood that this cartoon will make the librarians 25 years from now laugh; or any of them reading this right now. But I’m amused, and that’s all that really matters, right? Right.
Mooretoons
A Few Words on LibrariesA public library provides services to the general public. If the library is part of a countywide library system, citizens with an active library card from around that county can use the library branches associated with the library system. A library can serve only their city, however, if they are not a member of the county public library system. Much of the materials located within a public library are available for borrowing. The library staff decides upon the number of items patrons are allowed to borrow, as well as the details of borrowing time allotted. Typically, libraries issue library cards to community members wishing to borrow books. Sometimes, visitors to a city are able to obtain a public library card.
A library may make use of the Internet in a number of ways, from creating their own library website to making the contents of its catalogues searchable online. Some specialized search engines such as Google Scholar offer a way to facilitate searching for academic resources such as journal articles and research papers. The Online Computer Library Center allows library records to be searched online through its WorldCat database. Websites such as LibraryThing and Amazon provide abstracts, reviews and recommendations of books. Libraries provide computers and Internet access to allow people to search for information online. Online information access is particularly attractive to younger library users. In 2006, for example, 73% percent of library branches reported that they are the only local provider of free public computer and Internet access. A 2008 study found that “100 percent of rural, high poverty outlets provide public Internet access.” Access to computers and the Internet is now nearly as important to library patrons as access to books.
Public library advocacy is support given to a public library for its financial and philosophical goals or needs. Most often this takes the form of monetary or material donations or campaigning to the institutions which oversee the library, sometimes by advocacy groups such as Friends of Libraries and community members. Originally, library advocacy was centered on the library itself, but current trends show libraries positioning themselves to demonstrate they provide “economic value to the community” in means that are not directly related to the checking out of books and other media. |
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Library Art For Sale
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News About Library Art
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$rss = new DOMDocument();
$rss->load(‘http://news.google.com/news?output=rss&q=[library+art]’);
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$item = array (
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$date = date('l F d, Y', strtotime($feed[$x]['date']));
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echo ”.$description.’ ‘;
}
[/insert_php] |
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