En Garde! How to Defend Yourself With a Book
“Hungry man, reach for the book: it is a weapon.” – Bertolt Brecht 1. Popular parlance is filled with catchy phrases about the ways in which books can be harnessed … Continue reading
How to Keep What You Are Reading Secret
Is there anything more annoying than being interrupted with the question “hey, what are you reading?” while you are engrossed in a book? Is there anything more frustrating than feeling … Continue reading
My Favorite Books From 2015
Best of the year lists are as much of a testament to what was missed as to what was actually experienced. For every [insert media format of your choice] that … Continue reading
The Ground Beneath the Screens – A Review of Jussi Parikka’s A Geology of Media and The Anthrobscene
Despite the aura of ethereality that clings to the Internet, today’s technologies have not shed their material aspects. Digging into the materiality of such devices does much to trouble the … Continue reading
How to Avoid Being Bothered While Working in a Library
There are instances wherein an individual seeks to flee from convivial communication, instead craving that variety of isolation fruitful for concentration and introspection. At such times a person may find … Continue reading
The Social Construction of Acceleration – A review of Judy Wajcman’s book Pressed for Time
Patience seems anachronistic in an age of high speed downloads, same day deliveries, and on-demand assistants who can be summoned by tapping a button. Though some waiting may still occur … Continue reading
Treat Your Personal Library…Like a Library
Have you ever found yourself at a gathering at which a speaker says something along the lines of “it’s important to read”? Or perhaps you’ve found yourself at a gathering … Continue reading
How to Organize Your Library
“The acquisition of books is by no means a matter of money or expert knowledge alone. Not even both factors together suffice for the establishment of a real library, which … Continue reading
Now Hear This! – A review of Thus Spoke the Spectacle
We know that the images flashing at us from the multitude of screens that surround us are trying to tell us something. To a certain extent the meanings are quite … Continue reading
“Walking Makes the Road” and the Library
It can be easy for librarians to take space for granted. After all, there are many issues with which libraries must contend, but generally the physical building itself can be … Continue reading
Where Are They Now? The People’s Library Today
For many librarians the experience of reminding patrons to “please, return the books when you’re finished with them” is fairly common. After all, the idea of a person returning a … Continue reading
Reference Desk: 50 Sh…ut up, that book is terrible.
By now we all know that 50 shades of grey, its sequels, and its movie adaptation are all the worst, and have no redeeming value, literary, moral, or otherwise, beside … Continue reading
Cultivating Reform and Revolution – A Review of The Fragility of Things
Mountains and rivers, skyscrapers and dams – the world is filled with objects and structures that appear sturdy. Glancing upwards at a skyscraper, or mountain, a person may know that … Continue reading
How to Read a Large Book on Crowded Public Transit
At some point in your life you may find yourself waiting for some mode of public transit to arrive. When the aforementioned public conveyance finally comes you may feel a … Continue reading
Looking for the Best Deals on Black Friday? (try the library!)
Regardless of what the barrage of advertisements tells you to the contrary – you will not find the best deal in any store or on any website this Black Friday. … Continue reading
How to Avoid Ruining a Book
“The club had a lending library. I was delighted by a poster that described in detailed words and in pretty colored pictures how many ways there were to avoid ruining … Continue reading
Between the Scythe & the Reaper Drone – A review of Nicholas Carr’s “The Glass Cage”
Here is a thought experiment: reflect back on the last forty-eight hours of your life, how often did you find yourself relying on computerized technology for performing a function that … Continue reading
The Good Life or “the Goods Life” – The Thought of Lewis Mumford
Possessing tremendous foresight is not always an uplifting attribute. Likewise, a keen sense of hindsight may provide as much of an education in ruins as in woebegone romance. Yet it … Continue reading
Program and Be Programmed – A Review of Wendy Hui Kyong Chun’s Programmed Visions
Type a letter on a keyboard and the letter appears on the screen, double-click on a program’s icon and it opens, use the mouse in an art program to draw … Continue reading
All Hitherto Existing Social Media – a review of Christian Fuchs’s “Social Medial: a Critical Introduction””
Legion are the books and articles describing the social media that has come before. Yet the tracts focusing on Friendster, LiveJournal, or MySpace now appear as throwbacks, nostalgically immortalizing the … Continue reading
Read Banned Books – Support Your Library
Displays of challenged, or banned, books generally provoke rather predictable responses: one group contentedly observes that somebody is speaking up against such filth, another group stares in bemused shock that … Continue reading
Books Through Bars Fundraiser
Hey, real quick, pirates. Here in NYC Books Through Bars, “a non-profit community group and collective which sends free donated books to people in prison,” is having their annual bingo fundraiser … Continue reading
“The attempt to keep conscience alive” – Reflections on the book Burning Conscience
The threatening shape hanging above the horizon these days does not resemble a mushroom cloud. This is not to suggest that the potential threat of nuclear weapons has completely receded; … Continue reading
To Do List
I’m told Holler If Ya Hear Me, the Broadway musical based on Tupac Shakur’s music, is very good, but it is closing Sunday after poor box office returns. If you’ll be … Continue reading
If You Want to See the Sharing Economy…Go to the Library
The value of sharing is one instilled in us from a young age: from the parental injunction to share with our siblings to the early socialization received in kindergarten. Sharing … Continue reading
To-Do List
On Thursday, June 5, is the Phase I opening of the Chachalu Tribal Museum & Cultural Center in Grand Ronde, Oregon. The opening ceremonies start at 4pm, with a tour … Continue reading
Or is it? – a review of Astra Taylor’s “The People’s Platform”
Imagine not using the Internet for twenty-four hours. Really: no Internet from dawn to dawn. Take a moment to think through the wide range of devices you would have to … Continue reading
NYPL’s “Central Library” Plan goes Not as Planned
Construction work tends to be loud. This holds equally true when it comes to construction in libraries. Yet, sometimes the voices of opposition to planned construction can reach such a … Continue reading
Disrupt Everything! (as long as it’s profitable)
The blaring of the foghorn interrupted the executive’s line of thought. From his seat on the stage the executive’s words turned into mutterings as he looked out on the alternately … Continue reading
Guest Post: The Strange Life of the Collected Works of Marx & Engels
Pirates, today we have a guest post from friend of the LibrarianShipwreck Ryan Moore. Ryan is assistant professor of sociology at CUNY-Queensborough Community College. He is the author of Sells … Continue reading
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