Electronically Preserving Obituaries

When Lisa Carlson’s uncle died a few years ago, she opted to forego traditional memorial services in favor of just an obituary as her uncle had no current religious affiliation and few were likely to attend a formal event. “We planned a low-cost cremation and no services but spent a bundle (more than $1,000) on his obit as we knew that he’d made a lot of casual friends around the state. It seemed the best way to reach the many people who knew him, and it ran in three papers with a picture,” Carlson said.¹

Book Talk

Book Talk provides authors’ perspectives on libraries, books,technology, and information. If you have any suggestions of authors you would like to see featured in Book Talk, or if you are interested in volunteering to be an author-interviewer, contact Kathleen Hughes,Editor of Public Libraries, at the Public Library Association, 50 E. Huron St., Chicago, IL 60611; khughes@ala.org.

Something Bigger Than the Sum of Their Parts: A Conversation with Tony DiTerlizzi

Public Libraries: You just finished the second WondLa book, A Hero for WondLa. Can you talk about the challenges of writing a sequel?

Article

If Books Are Our Brand. . .

According to a 2010 Perceptions of Libraries study from OCLC, books remain the brand of the public library.1 Simply put, when people surveyed for the study think of the public library, they think book. The number is actually increasing. In 2010, 75 percent of Americans associated libraries with books, up from 69 percent in 2005.2 The study also points out that e-books are books.

Article

E-Books and Libraries - What's Available for Free

Introduction A recent survey done by Unisphere Research, a division of Information Today, Inc., found that of 1,201 libraries polled in North America, an average of 41% of libraries report an increase in patron requests for e-books over the past year. Individual libraries see this in increased demand for OverDrive downloadable books service and NetLibrary digital titles.