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School Library Musings: Making Order Out of Chaos

August 15, 2025

Those of us of a certain age learned, way back in elementary school, how to find a book in the library: by using the venerable Dewey Decimal Classification System, or DDC. A flexible organizing system, the DDC has been in use in school and public libraries around the world ever since librarian Melvil Dewey created it more than 150 years ago. Once housed in wooden cabinets with long, narrow, numerically organized drawers filled with cards—hence its moniker, the card catalog—library catalogs are now fully automated and accessible to anyone with internet access.

Accessibility at an NHS Library: A Personal Insight

August 13, 2025

“You know,” the nurse said, as she helped me into the orthpaedic boot that would be both bane and benefit for the next few weeks, “I hope I get to your age without breaking anything.”

What Is a Medical Data Librarian?

August 11, 2025

Did you know some librarians specialize in scientific data? I’m a medical research data librarian, and every week I work with graduate students and researchers to help them get the data they need for their work.

Little Free Libraries Serving Vulnerable Kids Are Under Attack

August 08, 2025

Recent data undeniably shows the impact and necessity of Little Free Libraries (LFLs), yet some groups are attempting to undermine this valuable resource. While a growing wave of book bans is hitting schools and public libraries, Little Free Libraries have been caught in the crossfire of censorship efforts.

Don’t Pay for Expensive Textbooks, Get Them for Free at the Library!

August 06, 2025

If you are or have ever been a college student, we’re sure you would agree that the cost of textbooks is obscene. This inflated expense has long plagued students, and with the rising cost of living compounding financial pressures, each new semester brings added stress.  Fortunately, your campus library might be able to lend you a hand. Many offer free access to textbooks—potentially saving you hundreds each year.

How Libraries Support Your Right to Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness

August 04, 2025

The Founding Fathers had a clear, succinct vision for this country, and they named it in the Declaration of Independence: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” While this isn’t a legally binding document, many constitutional scholars believe it informed the work of developing the actual US Constitution and the Bill of Rights.

Make These Libraries a Must-Visit on Your Summer Vacation

August 01, 2025

As summer approaches, vacation plans are underway, most likely filled with the usual tourist destinations. But for many bibliophiles, the idea of standing in the middle of a gorgeously designed library filled to the brim with books is a dream come true. If visiting a library sounds like your idea of fun, consider checking out these noteworthy spots across the United States.

The Library Generation: Why Gen Z and Millennials Need America to Fund Libraries Now

July 31, 2025

A growing body of research shows that Gen Z and millennials not only use libraries more than older Americans, but they also depend on them. Young people are utilizing libraries for job hunting, academic support, mental health resources, and simply as a place to feel safe and connected. Libraries have become a lifeline for Gen Z and millennials.

Rallying Behind Libraries: The Ethical Culture Society of Bergen County’s In Support of Libraries Project

July 29, 2025

Libraries have been dealing with a lot in recent years, thanks to the rise in censorship and book bans, as well as the gutting of vital funding. Communities love their libraries, but in this increasingly hostile environment where a small but loud minority is drowning out everyone else, library workers can feel disheartened by current events. However, a recent letter-writing campaign by the Ethical Culture Society of Bergen County has given some libraries a much-needed boost in morale.

One Hundred Years of Fortitude

July 28, 2025

These days, the writer Theodore Dreiser and his magnum opus, An American Tragedy, are little known outside literature seminars. Yet he “dominated the American literary scene” in the first half of the twentieth century. Literary critic Irving Howe said of Dreiser that he was “among the American giants, one of the very few American giants we have had,” while the great journalist H. L. Mencken called Dreiser “a great artist” and wrote that “no other American of his generation left so wide and handsome a mark upon the national letters.”
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