Category: Publications News

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Expect More Now Available in French (Exigeons de meilleures bibliothèques)

Book CoverI am proud to announce the availability of Expect More in French (Exigeons de meilleures bibliothèques). Published under the Creative Commons by Ateliers de [sens public] it is free to download and is also available in print for a small cost. You can access the book here: http://ateliers.sens-public.org/exigeons-de-meilleures-bibliotheques/index.html

The translation under the direction of Jean-Michel Lapointe, librarian at the University of Quebec at Montreal, was the result of an amazing effort of volunteers. As Jean-Michel said

“Without their passionate commiment, this book would not exist. This is volunteer work they did on their free time because they believed in the importance of your ideas to our profession. Add to this that the project was done very quickly : 6 months in total, from its inception to the publication. A million deeply-felt thanks to them. Merci, merci, merci.

Ateliers de [sens public], a brand new subproject of Sens public, is an innovative open access monograph publisher runned by Servanne Monjour and Nicolas Sauret. Exigeons de meilleures bibliothèques is one of the three initial publications of Ateliers de [sens public]. Marcello Vitali-Rosati, holder of the Canada Research Chair in Digital Textualities, initiated the project with Sens Public – a peer-review open access journal of which he is the editor in chief — and was of great help throughout the editorial process. Marcello, through his chair, gave vital financial support to carry out the publication, including the meticulous proof reading work of Margot Mellet. Many grateful thanks to them.”

So very special thanks to those who contributed to the translation:

  • Isabelle Bastien, bibliothécaire à l’Université de Montréal
  • Lilen Colombino, étudiante à l’École de bibliothéconomie et des sciences de l’information de l’Université de Montréal
  • Marie D. Martel, professeure adjointe à l’École de bibliothéconomie et des sciences de l’information de l’Université de Montréal
  • Pascale Félizat-Chartier, directrice générale de la Corporation des bibliothécaires professionnels du Québec (CBPQ)
  • Adèle Flannery, bibliothécaire à l’Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM)
  • Catherine Forget, bibliothécaire à l’École de technologie supérieure (ÉTS) de Montréal
  • Jean-Michel Lapointe, bibliothécaire à l’Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM)
  • Michael David Miller, bibliothécaire à l’Université McGill
  • Réjean Savard, professeur honoraire à l’École de bibliothéconomie et des sciences de l’information de l’Université de Montréal et président de l’Asted
  • Louise Struthers, bibliothécaire à la bibliothèque publique de Saint- Lambert
  • Ekaterina Valkova-Damova, bibliothécaire en chef, Montreal West Children’s Library

And thanks to Marcello Vitali-Rosati and Margot Mellet.

The translation is part of lead up to Congrès des professionnels de l’information in Montréal. And more is planned for the future, so stay tuned.

Expect More is now available in English, Portuguese, German, and now French! It demonstrates the power of open access and librarianship.

Interested in translating Expect More or the Atlas of New Librarianship? Please let me know how I can help.

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The Atlas of New Librarianship is going Open!

I am so excited that working with the great folks at MIT Press, we are making The Atlas of New Librarianship available online for free under a Creative Commons License (Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International). The physical book will still available through MIT Press.

Since the Atlas was first published in 2011 it has won the 2012 ABC-CLIO/Greenwood Award for the Best Book in Library Literature, been adopted as a text book, and generated numerous conversations (and let’s be honest, arguments) around the world.

The Atlas was the first in a loose trilogy of books focused on the role of librarians and libraries in communities and centered on knowledge. Expect More was written for supporters of libraries from board members to provosts to community members. The New Librarianship Field Guide, also published by MIT Press, was written as a text book for library students and people looking for a more linear introduction to New Librarianship.

We hope by making the Atlas free online we can expand the conversation on the value and future of the profession internationally.

Ready to download? Here’s the new page for the book with download option.

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Expect More Second Edition Now Free to Download

There has been a lot of interest and use of my book Expect More globally. In 2015 Expect More was updated into a second edition with the support of some fabulous library partners. Today we’re making this new edition freely available to download. You can still purchase paper copies of the print book.

In addition to the free online text (and links to translated versions) I have put together a series of videos talking about using each chapter in the context of community conversations.

A VERY big thank you to the partners who made this possible:

Lead Library Partners

  • Cuyahoga County Public Library (Ohio)
  • The Northeast Kansas Library System
  • RAILS (Reaching Across Illinois Library System)

Library Partners

  • New York State Library
  • ILEAD USA
  • Maine State Library
  • Topeka Public Library (Kansas)
  • Chattanooga Public Library (Tennessee)
  • Fairfield Public Library (Connecticut)
  • Enoch Pratt Free Library (Maryland)
  • F. Franklin Moon Memorial Library, SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry
  • The Califa Library Group
  • Fayetteville Free Library (New York)
  • State Library of Pennsylvania
  • Toronto Public Library
  • California Library Association

Commercial Partners

  • Tech Logic

Education Partner

  • Syracuse University iSchool
  • Dominican University’s School of Information Studies
  • University of South Carolina’s School of Library and Information Science.
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German Edition of Expect More Named 2017 Book of the Year

Germaqn Language Cover of the Expect More Book

PASSWORD-Online, the German online magazine, has chosen the German Edition of David Lankes Expect More as the “book of the year 2017.”

A very special note of thanks to Prof. Dr. Hans-Christoph Hobohm and his team of translators. He and his team went well beyond simply translating words, but did an amazing job translating and promotion the spirit of Expect More and pushing for transformed libraries in Germany.

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Field Guide Related Links by Chapter

As people are starting to get their hands on the New Librarianship Field Guide I have put up a few items to make it more useful. Check out the Field Guide Related Links by Chapter. It gives you a “tweet able” core concept for each chapter and links to videos and presentations related to the topic. My hope is to keep this as a growing resource, and feel free to send me links and additional resource to add.

I’ve also put up a landing page for the book with quick access to new blog posts and materials around the guide.

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Field Guide, Atlas, Expect More? Which When Why?!

[tl;dr version: How does my new book The New Librarianship Field Guide fit into my other books on new librarianship? Librarian or teaching librarians – read the Field Guide. Scholar or librarian looking deeper – The Atlas of new Librarianship is for you. Board member and non-librarians curious about libraries – Expect More.]

While there have been numerous articles and presentations concerning new librarianship, the core of the concept is found in three books:

  • The Atlas of New Librarianship
  • Expect More
  • The New Librarianship Field Guide

The three represent stages of thinking and an evolution of the concepts in librarianship, but each remains relevant and each is targeted toward a specific audience.

The Atlas of New Librarianship

Published in 2011 the Atlas seeks to present a holistic view of librarianship and is focused on answering the question, “what is a librarian?” It dives deep and wide into concepts such as knowledge and facilitation. It seeks to link the what and how of librarianship to a why founded around a mission: to improve society through facilitating knowledge creation in communities.

Expect More

Published in 2012 Expect More is written for non-librarians about the field and how libraries as institutions are moving from collection-centered to community centered.

The New Librarianship Field Guide

Just released in 2016 the Field Guide is written for front-line librarians and library science students. It is intentionally linear (unlike the Atlas) and accessible by a broad audience. It is loosely modeled as a text book with resources for teaching and discussing the field. It incorporates updated concepts of librarianship from the Atlas and libraries as institutions from Expect More without simply being a digest version of both.

To be clear each represents an evolution of thinking from the previous work. These seek to both promote and document the learning of the field through conversation. As always these works seek to be of value, but don’t seek to be definitive. Any active and vital field will continue to evolve as the world evolves. The goal of any of these books is not to have everyone agree, but to provide a foundation for dialog and healthy argument.

I end with a request to the field. I know that there are aspects of my work and views that people disagree with; that is how it should be in scholarly discourse. From the treatment of knowledge, to the focus on communities, to the political implications of the work there is great room for debate and experimentation. These conversations have and should continue to happen on social media and in conferences. I ask that these conversations be constructive.

Let us all use social media and journals and other forums to debate and argue on the ideas. In the pages of these works you will find an evolution of my thinking that has come from engagement. Librarianship (new, old, or other) is ultimately about society making smarter decisions. I get smarter from engagement with those who disagree often more than a discussion with those who agree. Please share your thoughts in journals, books, and practice. And let us never dismiss useful ideas for failures of the messenger.