my passion for public libraries

Will libraries become obsolete if they do not ride the latest wave of innovation?

Yes, libraries will become obsolete if they cannot adapt to the daily changes in our world, especially technology based changes. Libraries need to be vibrant, innovative places or they will fade from popularity, lose patrons and users forever until… well…. there will cease to be physical places for old print books. We can see this with public libraries hurting due to lack of traditional patrons and users walking in the physical doors of libraries. You can see this on the positive end with technological innovations in public libraries like e-books and audio book availability for download from public library resources anywhere with wi-fi or 3G. We see this as Roxburg’s article points out that we care more for content than format. If libraries adapt as many have and all eventually must, find new strategies, and innovate their resources, then there is little need the fear the total annihilation of any public libraries. What is missing in electronic mediums for books is the human element. All the brains, apps, e-books, e-book readers in the universe especially at Apple and Amazon cannot replace simple face to face human interaction. This can only be done in a safe, comfortable, physical real life space.  So if public libraries are to sustainably survive in the long run they must do two things. For one they must continue as public spaces with events, book clubs, and camaraderie, and be the last physical sanctuary for real full democracy and equality of resources and treatment for all people. Accessibility is provided in a public library in ways and with more effectiveness than could never be accomplished on the internet alone.

Public libraries must also, of course, and just as crucially, provide more and more online services, resources, e-books and audio books, if they fail in the later they will lose significance in the future, if they lose the first requirement, they aren’t really “public” libraries.    

four Printz books reviewed by me (Drew Durham)

Book: 

Book 1: Where things come back John Corey Whaley (Atheneum Books for Young Readers July 24, 2012)

William C. Morris YA Debut Award (2012), Printz Award (2012)

Plot

Cullen Witter lives in Lily, Arkansas which becomes host to a woodpecker sighting, but is it a hoax?  A birdwatcher named John Barling believes he spots a species of woodpecker thought to be extinct since the 1940s near the town. During the subsequent bird induced chaos around town, Cullen’s fifteen year old younger brother Gabriel somehow mysteriously disappears. Thus Cullen must do what he can to keep himself, his family and his friendships together. While alternating chapters between third person narration between Cullen and a 18 year old missionary named Benton Sage. The story ends in an culminating and unexpectedly thrilling way. Whaley’s style of mixing humor with sadness and drama, a writing style which finds ways to discover beauty and hope in everyday situations makes this book into a wonderful novel filled with the juxtapositions and complexities of real life. Even if the situations are different then our realities, the descriptions, dialogue, and character development make everything seem very realistic.  This story would go well on display with other multi layered and sophisticated books which directly involve and create a dialogue around the theme of the meaning of life like Looking For Alaska and Sophie’s World of all which are surreal or realistic fiction.

Book 2: Chares and Emma: The Darwin’s leap of faith By Deborah Heiligman 2009 Square fish publishers (Printz honor 2010)

This Heiligman book almost won three awards, the National Book Award Finalist, Printz award Honor book and it won the Excellence in Young Adult Nonfiction Award. This book is thorough and beautifully written biographical expose about Charles and Emma Darwin focuses on their married life exploring everything about their marriage and life together. All aspect of their lives from the kids, to the big theological (Emma’s agnosticism) versus Charles’s scientific understandings is investigated. Emma’s and Charles love is displayed in all of its complexity and beauty. This tome is a great book that speaks so eloquently about one of the most important families in the history of science. The troubles and joys before their marriage are also carefully detailed, as is Charles Darwin’s troubled and demanding writing life. The death in their families including two of their children, and troubles with their health are well documented in this book. The dialogue, like all other details of the book, is period appropriate, and accurate and factually based. This book would go well alongside all Darwin related materials.

Book 3: Looking for Alaska: John Green

Miles Halter (a skinny 17 year old who is known for most of the book ironically as Pudge) is fascinated by all the famous last words he can possibly learn–and tired of his safe life at home and his comfortable High School in Florida. He escapes for boarding school in Alabama to seek what the poet Francois Rabelais called the “Great Perhaps.” The perhaps that awaits Miles at Culver Creek, includes drinking, smoking, pranks, tricks, religion class, and Alaska Young. Alaska is daring, hilarious, seriously troubled, and gorgeous. After a terrible tragedy Pudge blames himself for not preventing happens, Alaska’s presence never fully disappears from the book, and lessons abound in this Pritnz Award winner from 2006. The “great perhaps” the existential conundrum that this book focuses on, is a great philosophical idea repeated through out the book echoing a theme of existential angst that countless people must resolve for themselves. This book would do well alongside Where things come back and Sophies World due to its philosophical imperatives and lessons.  

 four Printz books reviewed by Drew Durham 

Book: 

Book 1: Where things come back John Corey Whaley (Atheneum Books for Young Readers July 24, 2012)

William C. Morris YA Debut Award (2012), Printz Award (2012)

Plot

Cullen Witter lives in Lily, Arkansas which becomes host to a woodpecker sighting, but is it a hoax?  A birdwatcher named John Barling believes he spots a species of woodpecker thought to be extinct since the 1940s near the town. During the subsequent bird induced chaos around town, Cullen’s fifteen year old younger brother Gabriel somehow mysteriously disappears. Thus Cullen must do what he can to keep himself, his family and his friendships together. While alternating chapters between third person narration between Cullen and a 18 year old missionary named Benton Sage. The story ends in an culminating and unexpectedly thrilling way. Whaley’s style of mixing humor with sadness and drama, a writing style which finds ways to discover beauty and hope in everyday situations makes this book into a wonderful novel filled with the juxtapositions and complexities of real life. Even if the situations are different then our realities, the descriptions, dialogue, and character development make everything seem very realistic.  This story would go well on display with other multi layered and sophisticated books which directly involve and create a dialogue around the theme of the meaning of life like Looking For Alaska and Sophie’s World of all which are surreal or realistic fiction.

Book 2: Chares and Emma: The Darwin’s leap of faith By Deborah Heiligman 2009 Square fish publishers (Printz honor 2010)

This Heiligman book almost won three awards, the National Book Award Finalist, Printz award Honor book and it won the Excellence in Young Adult Nonfiction Award. This book is thorough and beautifully written biographical expose about Charles and Emma Darwin focuses on their married life exploring everything about their marriage and life together. All aspect of their lives from the kids, to the big theological (Emma’s agnosticism) versus Charles’s scientific understandings is investigated. Emma’s and Charles love is displayed in all of its complexity and beauty. This tome is a great book that speaks so eloquently about one of the most important families in the history of science. The troubles and joys before their marriage are also carefully detailed, as is Charles Darwin’s troubled and demanding writing life. The death in their families including two of their children, and troubles with their health are well documented in this book. The dialogue, like all other details of the book, is period appropriate, and accurate and factually based. This book would go well alongside all Darwin related materials.

Book 3: Looking for Alaska: John Green

Miles Halter (a skinny 17 year old who is known for most of the book ironically as Pudge) is fascinated by all the famous last words he can possibly learn–and tired of his safe life at home and his comfortable High School in Florida. He escapes for boarding school in Alabama to seek what the poet Francois Rabelais called the “Great Perhaps.” The perhaps that awaits Miles at Culver Creek, includes drinking, smoking, pranks, tricks, religion class, and Alaska Young. Alaska is daring, hilarious, seriously troubled, and gorgeous. After a terrible tragedy Pudge blames himself for not preventing happens, Alaska’s presence never fully disappears from the book, and lessons abound in this Pritnz Award winner from 2006. The “great perhaps” the existential conundrum that this book focuses on, is a great philosophical idea repeated through out the book echoing a theme of existential angst that countless people must resolve for themselves. This book would do well alongside Where things come back and Sophies World due to its philosophical imperatives and lessons.  

  

Book 4:  Why we broke up by Daniel Handler

             Min Green is a bitter and hurt mismatched old movie obsessed ex girl friend of Varsity basketball team co-captain and total jock Ed Slaterton. Min (short for Minerva) is intent on showing her pain in her words and her symbolic sending of a box filled with many trinkets and curiosities of their wild high school love affair.  The fun Min and Ed have together as well as their intimate moments and their miss matched personalities and odd sense of humor are all flushed out in detail. Through explorations of their joys, their confusion, while readers join them in their high school love escapades, and half planned adventures. The raw betrayal Min endures because of Slaterton’s ruthless cheating.  The awkwardness of being intimate and steady with someone while having “friends” of the opposite gender, and still knowing your ex-lovers are both investigated in specific detail along with Min’s inner most feelings and pain. I think that this book would go well with other Young Adult break up books. 

The “Why we broke up project” is a follow up by the author Daniel Handler, and it is an impressive resource to share break up stores and a great idea to help people who have recently broken up or need closure and healing from a break up through sharing and reading breakup stories. The project is located at http://whywebrokeupproject.tumblr.com/

articles reviewed

In the Fall 2007 version of the Rotman Magazine, in an article titled  "Becoming an Integrative Thinker" by Roger Martin, the decision making process was broken down quite carefully into four parts. Martin states that the first two parts of decision making are salience (what decision makers pay attention to in the decision) and causality (relationship between parts of the decision). With these first two, we create our model or architecture for decision making.  Then after constructing a strong enough model for making the decision, a resolution is reached. Our models are based on personal stance, individual understandings, and experiences. 

Stance is each individual’s own personal philosophy, or schema combined with the individual understanding of the daily, adaptive yet biased, and subjective ideas which when combined with experience, we use to craft or strengthen our models of thought.  

Integrative thinkers give leverage to different models to come up with the best resolution to decisions and problems. Integrative thinkers include associating constantly new and older but ever-evolving perspectives, tools, models, experiences, stances, and approaches. I agree with most of this article and I think that the best managers are integrative thinkers as well as collaborative leaders. For me it is difficult to see this in action without careful and detailed observation, Unfortunately I have not yet been able to see inside the minds of my current managers or observe enough to know if they really make decisions using these tools and methods.  I can say that they seem to adapt very well to new and difficult circumstances and see arguments with equal leverage for both sides.

I also found similar understandings in the Winter 2008 Rotman Magazine article “Point of View: Decision Making” by Mintzberg and Westley. Mintzberg and Westley wrote about three approaches to decision making, “thinking first”, “seeing first” and “ doing first”.  They argue [that different approaches work best for different kinds of decision making in different situations, and that effective decision makers integrate all three styles or methods , This is when  the verbal, factual “thinking first” works best in situations when the ideological, visual process of “seeing first” does not work as well, which in turn works best at different times from the visceral, experiential “doing first” and that all three should be integrated together into every successful and effective decision manager [This second article was important to me because it reaffirmed that no one model of decision making is inherently better than any other, Both articles talked about the need to adapt if not overhaul out dated and ineffective decision making processes.