George Washington: Library Thief?

Ok, so while surfing Online the other day I came across a very short article entitle "George Washington Owes Library $300,000". I was intrigued. How is it that our first president had such a library debt. The article stated: "On 5 October 1789, the first president borrowed two books from what was then the only library in Manhattan - 'Law of Nations,' a dissertation on international relations, and a volume of debate transcripts from Britain’s House of Commons. George Washington did not even bother to sign his name in the borrower’s ledger. An aide simply scrawled 'president' next to the title to show who had taken them out."

And appartently he was not the only founding father to owe our American libraries some money. However, can we compare that debt to the price of America's freedom?

The State of America's Academic Libraries: Things are Looking Up

While reading the ALA Newsletter recently I came across an acrticle about the current state of America's libraries. While I did expect to see a reported increased usage of public libraries due to the current economic and job market states, I was surprised to read that America's academic libraries were also experiencing an increased usage. According to the article,

America’s academic libraries are experiencing increased use, both physical and virtual. The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) reports academic libraries have more than 20.3 million visits per week (1.5 million more than two years earlier), answered more than 1.1 million reference questions, and made more than 498,000 presentations to groups. Almost 95 percent of students use their academic library’s website at least once a week, according to one study of students and technology, and nine out of 10 college students surveyed in another study said they turned to libraries “for online scholarly research databases . . . for conducting course-related research, valuing the resources for credible content, in-depth information, and the ability to meet instructors’ expectations.”

Although I expected to see an increased usage of the libraries online websites, seeing that students are still using the physical building as well is comforting to me. This means that more and more academic libraries are providing more services for students and services that students actually want to take advantage of. This also means that students aren't viewing the library as a negative place. They are beginning to see the library again, and the librarians, as portals to information and reserach. Academic libraries and librarians should be proud of this and should continue to improve their services, both phyiscal and virutal, and continue to entice students to come to the library.

"Recession drives more Americans to libraries in search of employment resources; but funding lags demand" American Libraries Direct 4/14/2010

Academic Libraries and Embracing the Power of Social Networking

In today's fast-paced, technology driven society, social networking is a way to keep in touch with friends and family at lightening speed. Especially when such networks are attached to one's cell phone, it allows communication at a moment's notice. Furthermore, and more importantly, it allows one to communicate with a mass number of people at one time. But when one considers these tools of communication one does not normally connect them with academic libraries, or libraries in general. However, this past Thursday at my internship with Rare Books and Special Collections at Thomas Cooper Library I was asked to help create a Twitter account for the department. I was surprised to learn that they already had a FaceBook page as well. This got me to thinking more about the power of social networking and how it might prove to be an asset for academic libraries. Although it may seem a bit strange to find out that a library is using these programs, the more I thought about it the more it began to make sense. Afterall, this is how most college aged people communicate these days. This generation wants to be in-the-know at all times and communicate with the blink of an eye. By embracing this method of communication they are communicating in the way that their users prefer to communciate and gather information. I furthermore believe that by communicating through social networking sites will let potential users know that the libraries are listening to them and want to communciate with them in the way that they chose. In addition, it allows libraries to keep in touch more easily with their users and inform them about different services or events that may be going on. This advertising may entice more people to come to the library to gather their needed information and may also help users to feel more at ease asking a librarian for help. It doesn't take that long to set up a few social networking accounts and in all honesty it poses no real risk. The only thing really inolved is making sure that they are checked daily for any posts, promptly answering any posed questions, and general up keep of information. This is almost no different than the daily up keep of the websites.
I believe that academic libraries should begin to embrace social networking, instead of ignorning it. We must listen to our users and allow them to communicate with us in a way that feel comfortable if we want them to continue to use (or even know) about our services. I believe that once libraries try it and potential users become aware of its existence that they will use those portals of communication to stay in touch with the library and take advantage of the services that the library offers.