The User Is (Still) Not Broken

Fox, Leslie

Kenny, B. (2014) The User is still not broken, LJ

Summary

Kenny points out in this article that while both are growing, e-book borrowing, is growing beyond print book borrowing. Now that the excitement about e-books has settled down, people have adjusted to using them are not ready to give up print books. Patrons have preferences, some for e-books, some for audiobooks and others for print. It often depends on what they are going to be doing (traveling on a plane, long commute) or what’s going on in their life. Some still recoil at the thought of reading on a tablet rather than in a print book. Kenny states that e-book sales have flattened in the last year [2014] and in the then recent PEW research the number of adults who reported reading an e-book grew only slightly, from 23% to 28%. He goes on to say that the real focus needs to be on service to our patrons, not on the collection.

Evaluation

The main emphasis on the article is focusing on people rather than materials and getting beyond the idea that the OPAQ as an end all and be all search tool. He discusses getting outside of our own catalogs to find what's out there (Amazon, GoodReads). Patrons don't really need our OPAQ as much as we think they do, but what they need from us is human connection. The portion of the article that focuses on e-books is quite small but relevant.

Creating Curriculum Connections with Library Collections

 Creating Curriculum Connections with Library Collections

The article, "Creating Curriculum Connections with Library Collections," author and teen librarian Sarah Gowdy discusses how she was able to collaborate with her local jr. high and high schools in order to create a connection with the educators and students to the library and its relevant resources for the students' curriculum and projects. In forming a partnership with Bentonville's literacy specialists and in doing so, she was able to identify that simply introducing teachers to the libraries resources would allow them in turn to let their students know about these in order to utilize them for their assignments.
The positive outcomes from creating the curriculum newsletter are as follows:

"The process of creating the Curriculum Connections revealed strengths and weaknesses in the library’s collections. I continue to correct weaknesses by weeding outdated non-fiction and purchasing new books that are relevant to today’s students. In sharing the newsletters, library

staff have received positive feedback from school faculty, parents, and students who have used our resources to support classwork (Gowdy, 2014)."

 Reference:
Gowdy, S., & Dudley, H. (2014). Creating Curriculum Connections with Library Collections. Arkansas Libraries, 71(3), 4-5.