Reading, Writing, Research

Libraries are going green. Considering how many other organizations are going green these days that is not exactly startling news. But libraries are not like other organizations. They have a unique role in informing and inspiring their patrons. Sustainability becomes part of their mission in two ways. Administratively, they choose how to go green with their building and practices. They also put up displays, host workshops, and otherwise educate their patrons to think more about...

Mismatched pear of shoes? A group of boys loved to play ball on a vacant lot. The owner didn’t like it, so he put up a sign. The next time he went past his lot, he was appalled to see the boy all over his property and yelled at them, “Can’t you read the sign?” One of the boys answered, “Yes sir. We’re playing as quietly as we can.” The sign said, “No ball playing aloud.” Did he have trouble spelling? Or did he just not know what homonym to use? “Aloud” (adverb) means with the voice, and...

Dedication of the Doris Dillon Children's Library at the Almaden Branch Library, San Jose If you have ever dropped your kids at the library for story time, you know one way that libraries support families. If that’s all you know, you have hardly scratched the surface of what the library has to offer. The Children’s Reading Foundation has determined that pre-schoolers need hundreds of hours of being read to in order to be adequately prepared for kindergarten. Even parents with minimal or no...

Pike's Peak. Don't just peek. Enjoy it as long as you like! Peak. Peek. Pique. All of them can be used as a noun or verb. All of them mean something different. Good writers must know which word is which. Otherwise, they’ll come up with blunders like these: He left in a fit of peek. I peaked out the window. That really peaked my interest. Peak is usually used as a noun. It refers to some kind of tapering or projecting point. The peak of a mountain, therefore, is the summit. You see the...

Recent decades have seen growing power of crowdsourcing. Wikipedia, which has been around for ten years now, is based in part on this notion: the combined research efforts of many people of varying backgrounds and opinions can provide better information than a single expert can find. That has proved problematical in practice. Libraries have become part of the solution to at least one problem, as Wikipedia has recently sponsored dozens of editing marathons (editathons) in libraries nationwide...

A majority of libraries have gotten into social media, some in a big way. I don’t mean simply that many librarians have their own blogs, Facebook, Twitter, or Google+ pages. Many libraries –even small ones– also have blogs and pages. An overwhelming majority of library administrators see social media as important tools for marketing the library and its services. Many in the current generation of young adults consider email antiquated. Libraries or any other institutions that want to stay i…

Your first draft needs improvement. After all, it’s unreasonably difficult to decide what you want to say and find the clearest way to express it at the same time. Granted, sometimes it doesn’t matter. On the other hand, if you write to publish anywhere, turn it in for a school assignment, circulate it to colleagues at work, or otherwise send it to anyone who has a right to judge it, set aside your first draft for a day or two. Proofread it and revise it at least once. Professional publishers i