2016
29
Jun
/
3 Comments
Inclusivity, Gestalt Principles, and Plain Language in Document Design
In Brief: Good design makes documents easier to use, helps documents stand out from other pieces of information, and lends credibility to document creators. Librarians across library types and departments provide instruction and training materials to co-workers and library users. For these materials to be readable and accessible, they must follow guidelines for usable document design.... Read More
2016
18
May
Beta Spaces as a Model for Recontextualizing Reference Services in Libraries
In Brief: Reference services are at a cross-roads. While many academic libraries continue to offer reference services from behind a desk, others are moving to roving and embedded reference models. Meanwhile, libraries are also engaged in the development of collaborative learning spaces—often rich with technology, such as makerspaces and learning labs—but these spaces are often... Read More
2016
4
May
Considering Outreach Assessment: Strategies, Sample Scenarios, and a Call to Action
In Brief: How do we measure the impact of our outreach programming? While there is a lot of information about successful outreach activities in the library literature, there is far less documentation of assessment strategies. There may be numerous barriers to conducting assessment, including a lack of time, money, staff, knowledge, and administrative support. Further,... Read More
2016
24
Feb
Change In Publication Schedule
by Editorial Board Hello friends and readers! We’re writing to let you know about a change in our publication strategy, effective immediately. Moving forward, we will be publishing articles on a rolling basis, instead of on every other Wednesday. At the moment, fewer submissions are coming in, but we still think In The Library With... Read More
2016
11
Feb
And we’re back!
by Editorial Board The In the Library with the Lead Pipe board has been investigating the hacked/malware warnings related to the site and are pleased to report we’re in the clear! Many thanks to @librarieshacked, who was able to pinpoint obfuscated code on the site. We’ve removed that and have passed the subsequent Google review.... Read More
by Jennifer Vinopal The work of diversity in libraries begins at the crossroad where superiority, inaction, and denial become intolerable. – Sandra Ríos Balderrama, “This Trend Called Diversity” In Brief: Despite our ongoing quest for diversity and a growing number of initiatives to increase it, the demographics of the professional librarian population haven’t changed in... Read More
2015
30
Dec
Editorial: Introductions All Around
In Brief: Over the past year, the Editorial Board has experienced some changes (yay, growing pains!). In this group post, current board members introduce themselves and talk about the types of articles they’d love to see submitted in 2016. We also thank all of our emeritus board members for their hard work shaping In The... Read More
2015
16
Dec
Say what? Exploring “The most interesting place in the city” – the comments section of online news articles
In Brief Online commenting culture can be intriguing. Do people comment on news articles about libraries? What do they say? These are the questions that led us to study public comments in response to news articles about libraries in major U.S. newspapers. Newspaper articles were selected for analysis based on their relevance to libraries and... Read More
In brief The context for this article is Australian libraries and my experience there with cross-cultural provision. However, this article is not about providing library services for any specific group; it’s about cultural competence and whiteness. I begin with my background, so as to make clear how I participate, as a white librarian, in discussions... Read More
2015
18
Nov
Renovation as a Catalyst for Change
Throwback Thursday for November 18, 2015: Take a look at Renovation as a Catalyst for Change by Erin Dorney and Eric Frierson. We may be coming to the end of 2015, but it’s never too late to think about switching things up at your library! By Erin Dorney and Eric Frierson Introduction This Lead Pipe post is about... Read More