Tag: library history

227: American Library History, with Wayne Wiegand

~ circideas ~ 1 Comment

Steve chats with library historian Wayne Wiegand about how he came to the library profession, how to view historical figures and actions honestly (warts and all), the history of American libraries, the life and times of Melvil Dewey, and the vital places coffee and cats hold in American library history.

Read the transcript!

Wayne A. Wiegand is the F. William Summers Professor of Library and Information Studies Emeritus at Florida State University. He is the author of Irrepressible Reformer: A Biography of Melvil Dewey and Part of Our Lives: A People’s History of the American Public Library.

SPONSOR:

Syndetics Unbound, from ProQuest and LibraryThing.
Today’s show is brought to you by Syndetics Unbound, from ProQuest and LibraryThing. Syndetics Unbound helps public and academic libraries enrich their catalogs and discovery systems with high-interest elements, including reader’s advisory, cover images, summaries, author profiles, similar books, reviews, and more. Syndetics Unbound encourages serendipitous discovery and higher collection usage, and was awarded Platinum distinction in the LibraryWorks 2021 Modern Library Awards

To learn more about Syndetics Unbound, visit Syndetics.com. While there, be sure to visit the Syndetics Unbound Blog for news and analysis, including a break-down of libraries’ top titles and other stories of interest to the library community. Again, that’s Syndetics.com, to learn more about today’s sponsor, Syndetics Unbound.

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201: Forged in War by R. David Lankes

~ circideas ~ 1 Comment

Steve chats with David Lankes, author of Forged in War: How a Century of War Created Today’s Information Society, about his new position at the University of Texas at Austin, whether or not libraries are neutral (spoiler: they’re not), knowledge infrastructure, and how the wars of the 20th century shaped propaganda, how data is collected and used, and the development of our information society, from telegraphs to the internet.

Read the transcript!

R. David Lankes is the director of the University of South Carolina’s School of Information Science, soon-to-be Full Professor and Virginia & Charles Bowden Professor of Librarianship at the School of Information at The University of Texas at Austin, a Visiting Researcher at the French National Library School ENSSIB,  and recipient of the American Library Association’s 2021 Isadore Gilbert Mudge Award for distinguished contribution to reference librarianship and the 2016 Ken Haycock Award for Promoting Librarianship. His book, The Atlas of New Librarianship won the 2012 ABC-CLIO/Greenwood Award for the Best Book in Library Literature. Lankes is a passionate advocate for librarians and their essential role in today’s society.

Today’s show is brought to you by Syndetics Unbound, from ProQuest and LibraryThing. Syndetics Unbound helps public and academic libraries enrich their catalogs and discovery systems with high-interest elements, including cover images, summaries, author profiles, similar books, reviews, and more. Syndetics Unbound encourages serendipitous discovery and higher collection usage, and was recently awarded Platinum distinction in the LibraryWorks 2021 Modern Library Awards. To learn more about Syndetics Unbound, visit Syndetics.com. While there, be sure to visit their “News” tab to check out the Syndetics Unbound Blog for news and analysis, including a break-down of 2020’s most popular titles in public and academic libraries.

SHOW NOTES:

Subscribe (FREE!) to the Circulating Ideas newsletter!
“Lankes to join Texas iSchool as Virginia & Charles Bowden Professor of Librarianship”
“Are Libraries Neutral?” American Libraries
Forged in War: How a Century of War Created Today’s Information Society | audiobook
Information Hunters by Kathy Peiss
Libraries Lead the New Normal podcast