About the project
Frank Simon-Ritz returned to Weimar last week. Following his two-and-a-half weeks of eventful reporting from New York’s library scene, the normal course of library work resumes.
For those who cannot visit the New York Public Library in person: a wonderful video on the Library – and a wonderful ad for the Library:
Though it’s not quite up-to-the-minute, as Paul LeClerc, president of the New York Public Library, announced on November 18, that he will step down in summer of 2011.
Monday, 30. November 2009
Back to the daily library routine
Posted by Brigitte Doellgast
in Bibliotheken in den USA / US Libraries , New York
at
14:25
| Comments (0)
Wednesday, 25. November 2009
Library Tourism
The Library of Congress (LoC), the world’s largest library, can be described from various perspectives. One such perspective is the touristic.
In preparation for my trip to Washington, DC, I bought The Unofficial Guide to Washington, D.C. (Frommers, 2009, 10th ed.) The Library of Congress is awarded four stars (out of a possible five) here, with the note: “Impressive and informative.”
After a two-hour meeting on Monday morning with John Van Oudenaren and David Morris on the World Digital Library project and the European Division, David took me to the entrance hall of the Jefferson Building, where there’s a lot going on! Tourists of all ages are streaming into the hall and to the remarkable exhibits the Library organizes here.
Truly splendid are the two current exhibitions, “Creating the United States“ and “Exploring the Early Americas“. The latter includes the famous Waldseemüller Map from 1507, the first map of the world on which the word “America” appears. (The LoC acquired the map in 2001, reportedly for $10,000,000.)
It is clear in this case that the Library was taking part in “nation building” in the cultural sense, and with this it confirms its status as a national institution. That, too, is lobby work.
In preparation for my trip to Washington, DC, I bought The Unofficial Guide to Washington, D.C. (Frommers, 2009, 10th ed.) The Library of Congress is awarded four stars (out of a possible five) here, with the note: “Impressive and informative.”
After a two-hour meeting on Monday morning with John Van Oudenaren and David Morris on the World Digital Library project and the European Division, David took me to the entrance hall of the Jefferson Building, where there’s a lot going on! Tourists of all ages are streaming into the hall and to the remarkable exhibits the Library organizes here.
Truly splendid are the two current exhibitions, “Creating the United States“ and “Exploring the Early Americas“. The latter includes the famous Waldseemüller Map from 1507, the first map of the world on which the word “America” appears. (The LoC acquired the map in 2001, reportedly for $10,000,000.)
It is clear in this case that the Library was taking part in “nation building” in the cultural sense, and with this it confirms its status as a national institution. That, too, is lobby work.
Facebook, Twitter & Co.
My predecessor Jan-Pieter Barbian also provided a good deal of information on the American Library Association and its Washington office.
The focus of my conversation there with Kristin Murphy and Jeff Kratz was how the ALA goes about motivating its members to engage in political lobby work for libraries. This is carried out in various ways. One significant channel of communication recently developed is that of the social media, that is, the new, collaborative use of the Web (read: Web 2.0).
The ALA has long had a presence on Facebook, of course. And Facebook, naturally, is a platform for publishing information. But perhaps more important is that the ALA’s 1,986 fans (as of November 24, 2009) are only a mouse click away.
It’s a similar situation with Twitter, where the ALA also has a presence. Kristin has a nice story to tell about this: Right after a talk with a member of Congress, a tweet was sent advising librarians in the Congressman’s district to call his office directly in support of important issues raised during the talk. The results of this action, according to the Congressman’s staff, were impressive…
And then there’s the fascinating system called Capwiz, which was set up especially for Congressional lobbyists and which the ALA is also part of. This, too, is essentially a system for mobilizing an organization’s own membership or, respectively, “sympathizers”. Lobbying 2.0, as it were.
The focus of my conversation there with Kristin Murphy and Jeff Kratz was how the ALA goes about motivating its members to engage in political lobby work for libraries. This is carried out in various ways. One significant channel of communication recently developed is that of the social media, that is, the new, collaborative use of the Web (read: Web 2.0).
The ALA has long had a presence on Facebook, of course. And Facebook, naturally, is a platform for publishing information. But perhaps more important is that the ALA’s 1,986 fans (as of November 24, 2009) are only a mouse click away.
It’s a similar situation with Twitter, where the ALA also has a presence. Kristin has a nice story to tell about this: Right after a talk with a member of Congress, a tweet was sent advising librarians in the Congressman’s district to call his office directly in support of important issues raised during the talk. The results of this action, according to the Congressman’s staff, were impressive…
And then there’s the fascinating system called Capwiz, which was set up especially for Congressional lobbyists and which the ALA is also part of. This, too, is essentially a system for mobilizing an organization’s own membership or, respectively, “sympathizers”. Lobbying 2.0, as it were.
(Page 1 of 6, totaling 16 entries)
Kommentare / Comments