This Book Is Overdue!: How Librarians and Cybrarians Can Save Us All
Where to buy This Book Is Overdue!: How Librarians and Cybrarians Can Save Us All books online?
- ISBN13: 9780061431609
- Condition: NEW
- Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
Product Description
Buried in info? Cross-eyed over equipment? From the bottom of a pile of paper and discs, books, e-books, and scattered thumb drives comes a weep of hope: Make way for the librarians! They want to help. They’re not selling a thing. And librarians know best how to beat a path through the googolplex sources of information available to us, writes Marilyn Johnson, whose previous book, The Dead Beat, breathed merry life into the obituary-writing profession.
This Book Is Overdue! is a romp through the ranks of information professionals and a revelation for readers burned out on the clichÉs and stereotyping of librarians. Blunt and obscenely amusing bloggers spill their tales in these pages, as do a tattooed, hard-partying children’s librarian; a fresh-scrubbed Catholic couple who teach missionaries to use computers; a blue-haired radical who uses her smartphone to help guide street protestors; a plethora of voluptuous avatars and cybrarians; the silent, law-abiding librarians gagged by the FBI; and a boxing archivist. These are just a few of the visionaries Johnson captures here, pragmatic idealists who fuse the tools of the digital age with their like for the written word and the enduring values of free speech, open access, and scout-badge-quality help to anyone in need.
Persons who predicted the death of libraries forgot to consider that in the automated maze of contemporary life, none of us—neither the experts nor the hopelessly baffled—can get along lacking human help. And not just any help—we need librarians, who won’t charge us by the question or roll their eyes, no matter what we question. Who are they? What do they know? And how quickly can they save us from being buried by the digital age?
Buy Cheap This Book Is Overdue!: How Librarians and Cybrarians Can Save Us All Online
Related posts:
“This Book is Overdue!” is a paean, sprinkled with doses of humor, that doesn’t do much to either educate or entertain. The hideous truth is that librarians have largely become consumable by computers, especially the Internet. Researching a topic or finding a book is much, much simpler today than when tomes such as the ‘Pointer of Periodicals’ were like gold. Patrons can also easily set aside books and check availability lacking leaving home. Librarians today mainly occupy their time responding to people too bone idle to look things up themselves on the copious terminals available in any library; worse, as a replacement for of reinforcing the ease of doing it themselves, the librarians reinforce their terrible habits and still do the research for them.
As for cataloging, that’s contracted out. I regularly receive new books for review and have offered them to my local library before the even had a copy – they refused, adage they already had a contract to buy and catalog all their books and my donations didn’t fit in! As for book checkout – it’s ‘do it yourself’ now; late-return fine warnings and fees are handled by additional computers. All persons ‘information-hungry’ patrons on library terminals – they’re mostly doing email, romance searches, or playing Internet games, and don’t need any help. So, let’s break up the gaggles of gossiping gazetteer etc. guardians, lower the number of librarians across the nation, and use the savings to buy more books and pay their outside contractor to catalog free donations.
Reader’s Rating: 2 / 5
I gave this book to a coworker of mine that is completing his degree to be a librarian. He really loved getting it, and was excited about the content. I didn’t read it myself so I can’t really review it on anything additional than it being a fun gift.
Reader’s Rating: 5 / 5
I reflect Marilyn Johnson is an brilliant writer. I like libraries also and have wonderful history with librarians from the time I first went to the library when I was about 4 years ancient.
Most readers for whom the library is a source of pleasure and companionship will want to read this one.
Reader’s Rating: 4 / 5
MIX IT UP: SKIP A NOVEL AND READ THIS INSTEAD. I DID. AND I SPEND ZERO TIME IN LIBRARIES OR WITH LIBRARIANS AND I COULD NOT GET ENOUGH.THAT’S BECAUSE MARILYN JOHNSON IS SUCH A GOOD WRITER AND FANTASTIC REPORTER. SHE EMBEDS WITH LIBRARIANS. THE STORIES ARE GREAT…THE SUBCULTURE SO IMPORTANT. LOTS TO TALK ABOUT.
PS: THOUGHT I DIDN’T WANT TO SPEND ANY TIME HEARING ABOUT OBIT WRITERS EITHER — THAT WAS BEFORE I READ MARILYN JOHNSON’S BOOK, THE DEAD BEAT.
Reader’s Rating: 5 / 5
I’m not sure if this book will have an audience beyond librarians and English majors, but I thought it was cute enough. Throughout the book’s twelve chapters is discussed the modern librarian- a protector of the past and lead the way of the future. Librarians are here to save the day through their vast knowledge that we can’t even hope to grasp. You get the thought. Some of the chapters are Information Sickness (sifting through overwhelming amount of information we have today), the Blog People, How to Change the World (educating our youth especially), Follow that Tattooed Librarian (the sexy librarian obsession discussed), and Gotham City (NY library).
A fun read, although it’s a bit librarian ad nauseam.
Reader’s Rating: 4 / 5