A very worthy pursuit, and an entertaining read.

I found this quite an interesting book - as a librarian, I felt it was a great insight into what other librarians and library staff do. I wasn't overly concerned about the appearance of the people featured (as some seemed to be) - I was really just interested in their stories. :-)

Libraries. Librarians. All sorts, all shapes and sizes – here brought together in a coffee-table book lavishly illustrated and with some short essays from well-known writers - about libraries. Very much the sort of book that no doubt many a librarian or ex-librarian will one day receive as a gift. Enjoyable and well-intentioned but ultimately somewhat ephemeral. Once you’ve been through it once you’re unlikely to read it again. But it’s an attractive book and a worthy cause, a hymn of praise to librarians everywhere. So that means to me too….. how could I object?

My library has purchased this title - eBook and Hardback. I've nominated this title for the LibraryReads list.

Since many of the Moms I know are also librarians, it seemed appropriate to add a review of a related new book and a plea for action. THIS IS WHAT A LIBRARIAN LOOKS LIKE by Kyle Cassidy is based in part on his photo essay which appeared at Slate a few years ago and has been extremely popular. In this new book, Cassidy photographs close to 220 librarians who then share personal thoughts and opinions on what being a librarian means. That is fascinating and uplifting reading in itself, but he also includes essays on the importance of libraries and librarians from several writers, including Neil Gaiman, Cory Doctorow, Nancy Pearl and others. THIS IS WHAT A LIBRARIAN LOOKS LIKE is truly inspiring and a wonderful tribute to the profession.

Please consider taking a minute from your celebrations today and asking family members to call both of their Senators and remind them to support federal library funding! Ask that Senators "sign the FY 2018 Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) and Innovative Approaches to Literacy (IAL) Dear Appropriator letters." These programs amount to more than $210 million in federal funding for libraries and the American Library Association believes that protecting them has never been more necessary. If interested, you'll find all the background information and links you need to quickly reach Senators by email, phone or Twitter at the ALA's Fight for Libraries! web portal . The ALA's grassroots campaign for FY 2018 LSTA and IAL funding is aiming to increase that base of support to 51 Senators by May 19, so timing is critical. Thank you! Last week these eight leading national companies (with collective revenue measured in billions of dollars), made the request: Baker & Taylor, Follett School Solutions, Gale/Cengage, OverDrive, Peachtree Publishers, Penguin Random House, ProQuest and Rosen Publishing to the offices of all Senators who have not already signed both the Senate LSTA and IAL letters and urged them to do so.

I took way longer than necessary to finish this book. What attracted me to this book was the fact that it celebrated Libraries and Librarians and I’d never seen a book like this before so I wanted to find out what these Librarians said about the profession I want to go into one day.

Kyle Cassidy put together pictures, quotes, conversations with authors (I only recognised two- Neil Gaiman and G.R.R. Martin) and stories from different people about how the library shaped or changed their life. Many of these stories spoke about the library being this fantastical place that you walk past everyday but you don’t notice it unless 1. you’re looking for it or 2. you’re lost and just happened to find yourself at the doors.

I feel like Cassidy did this book justice. He worked years on it to make it what it is and I’m honestly very impressed with it. I’m not sure if I’d ever read this book again but I want to own a hardcopy of it so it can be on display in my personal library. If people ask me what’s so great about libraries, why be a librarian? I’d like to give them this book as an answer and explanation all in one.

Susan K. McClelland says: “Librarians are warrior princes and princesses wielding book love like swords! We are ever vigilant, curious, intelligent, and kind. Libraries are the banners that we carry proudly into the fray! Forward, ever forward!”

I like that. I love that she says librarians are warriors. I want to be a warrior princess one day too. Imagine if my kids went to school and on career day they ask them what their mom is and they reply: a warrior princess.

As I read each page of this book I found out so much I didn’t know. I learnt with each new story and I felt this huge surge of pride rush through me because this! This is what I aspire to become one day. I want to pass on the fact that knowledge is power, knowledge can be found in books and libraries hold more than just those books. The amount of things that libraries and librarians do for us is so widely spread that you won’t know what you have until it’s not there anymore.

G.R.R. Martin on why certain characters (in his books) appear to be around libraries more than others: “Well, Tyrion in particular says that books are a weapon. As a sword needs a whetstone to keep it sharp, a mind needs books, and his mind is his weapon. He has no physical prowess in a world that values and esteems physical prowess above all, so he has to fight the knights and the lords with his mind. And books are a way to keep the mind sharp, keep the mind flexible, test yourself against other voices, other ideas, and learn things. Because you ever know what you’re going to need to know in some future time.”

This book made me want to visit my childhood library and hug all the librarians and thank them for existing. I hope that one day I can be even a small fraction of what they are. Thank you librarians!

I love that this book shows that, unlike the stereotype, librarians are a diverse community in so many ways, and that they have such a variety of answers to the question of what librarianship means to them. A wonderful book (and not just because I'm in it! ;) ).

As a professional librarian myself who was lucky enough to access this book through NetGalley, I don't believe my (very admittedly biased) adoration for this books knows any bounds. Through the proud words of numerous librarians, information and literacy professionals, writers, and many other, this book does the grand service of showing how libraries are still quite important at both micro and macro level. Many of the women and men interviewed for this book reveal how they and their institutions strive in all matter of ways to specifically adapt to provide for the individual needs of their unique communities. Many others meanwhile help provide the crucial insight that all these libraries who are as diverse as the people and places that they serve continue to offer an array of critical and near-universal benefits, ranging from serving as bastions of equal access in an increasingly unequal society, to their steadfast positions as place of refuges and safe spaces to those who enter their doors.

To put that all in a much more succinct matter - this book is an effective and beautiful reminder from librarians and their allies that despite what many may say, libraries still very much matter in today's world, and in far more ways than one (myself included) may expect.

I received a digital ARC of this book from the publisher and NetGalley. The idea behind this book is great, but the format of it as an e-book has a lot to be desired. This would be much better as a physical coffee table book. It was awful in regards to formatting on my actual Kindle e-reader, but somewhat better on my phone app and I'm guessing even better on a Kindle Fire. The author spoke with hundreds of librarians and Library Science students, as well as some authors and printed excerpts, quotes and essays. The print fluctuated from crisp and clear print to very light, hard-to-read fonts on a semi-dark background. Some of the essays were interesting, especially when authors or librarians talked about childhood memories of the library and how it shaped their lives. Also, most of the quotes, excepts, and essays were accompanied by photos, but it was often difficult to sometimes determine who was being matched up with whom. At times, the only way, it was decipherable were in the cases where you could determine which name and photo went together based on their gender or ethnicity. Overall, I did like the book, but reading it in a physical format would have worked better and hopefully in the final published version, photographs will be clearly labeled.

An updated, incredible collection of the people who are beyond valuable in our lives, (other than parents, and teachers, etc.). LIBRARIANS! The keepers of the castle of books, story time, dollhouses, train displays. Remember card catalogs?! Then we progressed to computers, e-books, research databases. They were there to help us. Wonderful pictures, quotes from libraries and the people in them around the country. Highly recommend.

I love libraries. I try to support my own local library as much as possible in return for the many ways in which it has supported me over the years. Books are expensive, and libraries help me to fulfill my passion for books in an affordable way. Because of this, I was thrilled to see a book meant to form as a tribute to librarians from everywhere.

I found this to be a wonderful book. I loved the diverse array of librarian portrayed and never tired of learning more more about each one. I also enjoyed the beginning discussion on what libraries are and some historical information about them. If you love libraries and librarians, then definitely pick this one up!

I’m not a Librarian, but I spent much of my childhood in our town Library. There aren’t too many buildings from that town that I can still picture clearly, but the Library is at the top of that list. I grew up in a family of readers, and my parents always had our house filled with books – most of which were acquired through the Library, or courtesy of the annual Church Book Sale. I still have the “My Little Book House” book set that my mother bought for me at one of those book sales, too young to walk on my own yet, let alone read on my own.

I read this on my Nook and the photographs of all the librarians included from libraries from all over are wonderful, and different kinds of libraries, not just public libraries, school libraries – the ones we’re likely most familiar with.

What these librarians have shared of their calling varies from person to person, and what their function is at their library.

Assistant Librarian (LIBRARYTHING.com) KJ Gormley speaks to the absolute necessity of libraries in communities, the unseen services they provide: ”If the library shut down tomorrow in my tiny Maine town of two thousand people, people would actually freeze. The GED program wouldn’t have a home, kids would be left to wander on Main Street until 5 p.m., shut-ins would lack a weekly visit with books, and any programs relating to the literacy, at any level, would cease. A good one-quarter of the town would have no access to the Internet. So, not nice things.”

New Jersey Chapter Councillor, JP Porcaro (American Library Association Council) shares: “The best quote I found about libraries is actually by Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones. He says, ‘When you’re growing up there are two institutional places that effect you most powerfully: the church which belongs to God and the public library which belongs to you.”

That quote spoke to me since I consider both places sacred. Sacrosanct. Hallowed ground. Divine in purpose.

All of the various insights into why these librarians chose their profession, what it still means to them, along with insights about libraries and librarians from such celebrated authors as Neil Gaiman and George R. R. Martin, and more.

At the end of the day, the librarians of our lives, especially those from our childhood, or those that saw a special need we didn’t even know we had and handed us just the right book at just the right time, or maybe our local librarian today - they may be everyday heroes, but they are heroes nonetheless.

”This isn’t a book about America’s most significant libraries; it’s a book about everyday libraries doing everyday work. They’re just drops of rain in a thunderstorm, but together they work to make the ground fertile.

Perhaps I wouldn’t have seen this book if I hadn’t happened upon my goodreads friend Angela’s marvelous review. I am so thankful to books like these, and Angela in particular for sharing her lovely review for such a wonderful, uplifting book. Thank you again, Angela!
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Recommended!


Pub Date: 16 May 2017

Many thanks for the ARC provided by Hachette Books / Black Dog & Leventhal

5★
Mel Gooch of San Francisco Public Library claims: “Librarians are the ultimate search ninjas.”

What a treat! A beautifully presented production that should be required reading for all public officials, civic leaders, and politicians. Teachers, parents and the general public already know how indispensable librarians are.

I remember seeing Ben Lexcen interviewed after his famous ‘winged keel’ took the “Australia II” to victory in the 1983 America’s Cup yacht race. (First loss by America in 132 years!) The interviewer asked how he knew how to design it because he had left school at 14.

Ben replied that he had learned how to read . . . and he knew where the library was. He didn’t mention the librarians who helped him, but I’m sure they did.

I loved this, from the introduction by the author, about the recession and budgets:

“In 2009, in my own city of Philadelphia, Mayor Michael Nutter announced his “doomsday budget,” which caused the Philadelphia Free Library System to announce that it was going to close every single branch. Director Siobhan Reardon posted a memo at each library, listing the services that would no longer be available when the doors closed: programs for children and teens, after-school programs, computer classes, programs to support small businesses and job seekers, visits from day care, community, and senior centers, community meetings, GED, ABE, and English as a Second Language programs as well as borrowing books. Turns out that the one thing people thought libraries did, loaning books, was just a part of a vast array of services being provided for the two million people in the Greater Philadelphia area. People in the city freaked out, in the grabbing-their-hair-and-spinning-around-in-circles sort of way. People who hadn’t been to a library in twenty years as well as well-known writers such as novelist Cory Doctorow bombarded representatives with pleas to save the libraries. With less than two weeks to go before the libraries were to begin shutting down, the state senate voted 32–17 to provide funding.”

Another library connects kids with parents who are in jail making DVDs of the parents reading stories and giving the DVDs to their kids. More recently, a library is arranging video-conferencing so parents and kids could read together I real time. Just great!

There are articles by authors (Cory Doctorow and Neil Gaiman, among others) who grew up knowing the library as the place they felt at home and inspired. There are pictures of every kind, shape, age and colour of librarian and all are passionate about their calling.

ALEA PEREZ, Head of Youth Services at Westmont Public Library says: “Impassioned librarians are a force to be reckoned with. We have the curiosity of a scientist, the work ethic of a teacher, the creativity of an artist, and the ferocity of a prize fighter. We are so much more than Google."

They have what Google doesn’t . . . a way of figuring out what you want even when you aren’t sure yourself. I’ve always said the internet is like a giant library with all the books and papers strewn around the floor. Google might shuffle some of them into some sort of piles, but really, if you don’t know what you want, how will you know when you find it?

Cory Doctorow said: “The major life-skill of the information age is information literacy, and no one’s better at that than librarians. It’s what they train for. It’s what they live for.”

Neil Gaiman wrote a lengthy piece in which he said

“The entirety of human history is characterized by the hunt for information, as if we’re searching for a flower in the desert. In today’s world of information overload and 24/7 news, we are still looking for that flower, but now we’re looking for the flower in a jungle. The jungle may be writhing with poisonous snakes, or something that looks like the flower you’re looking for may not be a flower at all, but actually something quite dangerous or fake. It’s a whole weird world. I, for one, am grateful for librarians who can lead out ahead of us into the jungle in our search for our flowers of information.”

There is a well-argued case by Amy Dickinson for abolishing late fees for children’s books.

“Late fees are the enemy of early literacy because instead of promoting responsible behavior, they suppress library visits for some of the people who need the institution the most. And of course these fees don’t promote children being more responsible, but only reveal to children how irresponsible, ignorant, or unaware their own parents are.
. . .
Families should not be assessed late fees for children’s books—instead the library should adopt the technique successfully used by Netflix for DVD rental: When children turn books in, they can take new books back out.”

Wonderful book. Wonderful photos! Thanks to NetGalley and Hachette Books for a copy for review.

Photographer Kyle Cassidy offers an important and unfortunately timely look at the real librarians and what libraries actually do today (hint: we’re way more than just books). His portraits show us in all shades and styles, tattoos, and hair colors. And the interspersing essays about various collections and from authors and entertainers including Neil Gaiman, Jeff Vandermeer, Amanda Palmer, and George R. R. Martin, John Scalzi, Cory Doctorow, Jude Deveraux, Peter Sagal, (and more)—offer a compelling argument for the necessity of libraries and all they offer to their communities.
Note: I was a donor to the original Kickstarter Campaign and I am a totally biased public librarian.

This Is What a Librarian Looks Like A Celebration of Libraries, Communities, and Access to Information by Kyle Cassidy will be published by Hachette Books on May 16th.

This book is plenty of faces and words of librarians from the East to the West Coast of the USA. A real big thanks and a tribute to all the Librarians and their special work in the USA and what it means to them to be librarians.

The project by Kyle Cassidy at first was a series of pictures put together of various librarians from Massachusetts to California, for remarking their immense and important work.

Later the idea of writing a book about this topic.

I would have been lost without the library of my city, Gubbio. I am italian.
I still remember the first time I visited that.
It was a tiny, tiny little library at that time.
Situated in a very central street I asked for some information about Marie Antoinette and French Revolution.
To me that library meant the complete discovery of culture.

Every book I bought in my life has meant sacrifice because books were not considered so much important in our house, and money necessary for a living.
I have always felt a great attraction for them but so: what to do?
When I started high school I sorted out all my problems and that library and my librarians Ottavio, Ivana, Gioia, Massimo Nicoletta my best allies.

I read and researched, being avidly curious of all the possible knowledge of this world.

Libraries are places of discoveries I learned with the time.
I still remember when with my schoolmates we rushed at the library for trying to discover the italian translation of the latest chapter read at school of The Dubliners written by James Joyce...We were 14, personally at my first year of english and well yes our english teacher introduced to us all the book of The Dubliners. Yes edited for school but trust me, for people with a very good english not for beginners! A language is like to climb a mountain and it is a never-ending work.
I will always have some existential problems I'm afraid with James Joyce and it's not his direct fault. Sorry mate...

Later, once discovered the translation the following desperation: "Bloody hell, this is funny: how can we put all of it in english now?" discovering sadly that well, we didn't sort out anything. Frustration.

But libraries could also become plenty of teenagers in the afternoon when some of our teachers told us certain books weren't yet for us because too dirty or prohibit.

Be sure that in the afternoon librarians surrounded by teenagers plenty of acne in search for that so-called prohibited book all curious to discover which parts of that certain book dirty or why it was a book prohibited for us. You go for transgression there is nothing to do in particular in the teenage age.
I remember the astronomic phase. I I studied per hours stars and planets, for a school research and for personal pleasure.
I have always cultivated the secret ambition to going to the Moon soon or late :-) When I was little I didn't want to become an attorney, or a dancer but an astronaut. Sagittarius. It's just this...
Since there I lost the count of books I read thanks to this library during the years. Psychology with Milton Erikson, Jung and Freud philosophy and history, italian literature, policy, sociology, self-help, romances, historical fiction and non fiction. All Ian Fleming with his 007.

Wilbur Smith once said in an interview that he wasn't born rich and he started to appreciate books thanks to libraries where he read a lot of great literature suggesting this modality for everyone.

It's what I would want to suggest to everyone.

A library as also remarked very well in this book is not just a library. There are internet connections and possibility to surf the web thanks to free wi-fi.

Libraries organizes encounters with book authors and it is stimulating.

They're compassionate places and they are places where you can interact with people in love for culture as you are, most of the American librarians I see are also best-selling authors, and they write and publish books. We speak of men and women of great culture and that can give you suggestion, help, advice with great competence.

Did you know that the first library in the USA, Philadelphia, lending books wanted by President Benjamin Franklin?

Also in the USA the biggest problems met by libraries and librarians are money. Cuts are everywhere. Culture one of the main voice cut out by main voices because considered unnecessary, although a country without culture, with ignorant people can't produce anything good at long.

A library will also lent to you various magazines and newsmagazines for personal research or just because you want to read your favorite newsmagazine or magazine, without to speak of DVDS!
A library is human.

Beautiful the portrait of the library of Shutesbury in Massachusetts and the founder Mary Clarke. I read this story in the Boston Globe time ago.
Recently a lot of polemics, the library offers yoga classes, live animal programs, science demonstrations, picnics, book clubs, nature walks lead by botanists.

Memories mixed with the various experiences of the excellent contributors of this book: Neil Gaiman, (the first contributor) George R.R. Martin, Nancy Pearl, Cory Doctorow (you'll love what she will write), Paula Poundstone, Amanda Palmer, Peter Sagal, Jeff VanderMeer, John Scalzi, Sara Farizan, Amy Dickinson and many others.

I appreciated the historical weight given to President Benjamin Franklin and his idea of a library for everyone but you will also discover many other of personal stories of libraries, starting from the remote past and at the same time the American story of Libraries like also of the Presidential ones.

A story I loved particularly the one of Bretagne Byrd and the Lewis&Clark Bookmobile. Bretagne explains that sometimes libraries are shelters, places the people use for being connected to the world. The project of buying a bookmobile and serving the littlest communities where in different cases no one could stop by for offering the opportunity of knowledge immensely important.
With her truck she goes here and there with her books, eBooks, internet connections and all the indispensable for giving dignity to the less lucky in term of distance with big centers.

Brava, Bretagne!



Many thanks NetGalley and Hachette for this book!

A lovely title that will inspire librarians, but I doubt it will find much interest outside the field.

So what does a librarian look like? This book is the result of a project that took photographs of American librarians and recorded their impressions and views about libraries and their importance in today’s communities. The photos are interspersed with essays by authors, including Neil Gaiman, Jude Devereaux and Cory Doctorow, and chapters about some notable American libraries.

It illustrates the importance of libraries in communities showing how libraries are being used now and visions for future directions. It is a great advocacy tool to emphasise why we need good libraries and dedicated library staff. There is a huge diversity in the different people featured in this book but they all have the common values of tolerance, acceptance, and concern for their communities.

I liked the way the text is broken up by groupings of photographs which I found made it easy to read and kept it interesting. The portraits are of a high quality and manage to show the individuality of the subjects. The way the photographs are laid out is also pleasing to the eye, with its mixture of small and full–page portraits.

Although this is about American libraries, the issues and concerns are the same worldwide. Our policy-makers could learn a lot from this, as libraries seek to affirm their value in our societies. And to answer the question - there’s no such thing as a typical librarian!

How could I resist? I'm a retired Librarian and I just knew that I would love this tribute to the profession and and the wonderful contributions that librarians make to society. If you have an advanced digital copy like I was fortunate enough to get, do yourself a favor and read it on an IPad or better yet buy a copy so you can see the beautiful photographs of librarians from public libraries, university libraries, corporate libraries, school libraries.

I love what Susan K. McClelland from Oak Park Public Library says , "Librarians are warrior princes and princesses wielding book love like swords." I was personally touched by Meridian Library Director Gretchen Caserotti's thoughts. "I was always a library kid. What drew me to my calling was the realization that stories can be consumed and created in many ways, and that technology is a powerful tool to do that." I was a library kid too, spending after school time and summer days there , thrilled at my first job at 16 as a "page" at the very same library where I spent countless hours. Although my career path led me to a corporate library, my heart will always be in that neighborhood library where I spent countless hours of bliss. John Jackson, a librarian at Loyola Marymount University says: "As a college librarian at a small institution, I have the opportunity to teach students to think critically, to think beyond their own experience, and put themselves in others' shoes."

You'll find a bit of the history of libraries in the introduction, pictures and quotes from many librarians interspersed with thoughts from writers such as Neil Gaiman. He talks about the influence of public libraries and reminisces about the "magic" of interlibrary loans . Author Jude Deveraux brought me down memory lane remembering a school librarian handing over a copy of "The Borrowers" , a childhood favorite of mine as well. It wouldn't be a tribute unless it included a piece by Nancy Pearl , everyone's Librarian who contributes to NPR and written her notable "Book Lust" books.

I highly recommended this to library lovers, to every reader actually. It will give you a greater appreciation of libraries and librarians and the importance of the profession as well as the institution. Every librarian should read it. It will make you feel even better about what you do.

I received an advanced copy of this from Hackett with Books/Black Dog & Levanthal through NetGalley .

I’ve been dipping in and out of this lovely book for the last month or so. If any librarian on the planet was after quotes or ideas to explain exactly why they do what they do, then this book is just full of them.

What changes a collection of books into something useful is a librarian: a curator, an indexer, a manager, a gardener who knows what to cut back, what to add, what to highlight, and, most of all, what the community around them needs to grow as a society.

You get lots of perspective on libraries over time, how they were originally thought of by the ancients as well as historical figures who have been influential in the library world. From Alexandria to Benjamin Franklin and on through more recent times.

Tyrion in particular says that books are a weapon. As a sword needs a whetstone to keep it sharp, a mind needs books, and his mind is his weapon

There are wonderful essays from the likes of Neil Gaiman, Jeff Vandermeer and George RR Martin just to name a few. All lovely perspectives on their experiences of libraries throughout their lives and their thoughts on the future of libraries. I found some of these essays very moving and really rather lovely. Also, quite revealing, some of our most revered authors have had experiences in libraries which have strongly influenced their work.

But then there are the beautiful photographs of librarians that the book is filled with. Each one has a quote from the subject of libraries, what they do in their libraries, who they work with and the new ways they serve their communities, all kinds of communities from prisons, hospitals, schools, companies and organisations of many kinds. The photos show how diverse the library community is and the comments by the librarians show the ways that needs are met despite challenges and how the role of libraries in communities of all kinds is growing and changing and adapting to technology and modern times.

I found this book to be inspirational, it gave me so much to think about, often I would read the words of a librarian and have to stop and take pause to consider how I could apply their thoughts to my work. I think that the library community will treasure this work, I’m so glad that I read it. I’m sure I’ll go back to it again and again, I fully intend to buy a print copy.

What a nice look at the career and the people who have chosen this line of work! I enjoyed seeing in visual form what I already knew: that librarians are an incredibly diverse bunch of people who happen to share a common love of learning. There ARE a lot of glasses and cardigans being sported here, but readers not very familiar with the profession might be surprised to see the tattoos, brightly-dyed hair, and hipster styling of many of these folks. (I wasn't, but then again I've been doing this for a long time.) We've come a long way from the bunned, shushing old matron of the classic stereotype!

Sprinkled throughout are short essays by famous writers on the role that the library has had in their life, and there are short pieces on the history of libraries, the interesting collections at various locations, etc. The quotes from the featured staff become pretty redundant after awhile, but it's nice to see a unified theme and enthusiasm (the bottom line of which is: libraries are important and awesome). The cynic in me wants to note that this a glowing portrait of the profession rather than a measured look at both the joys and challenges of this line of work, but that should be clear going in. I doubt that anyone is picking up this book to get an objective career overview. What it IS, then, is a lovely little promotional piece for libraries and the good that they do, and I would like to share it with people who are skeptics or perhaps just unaware of the many great things libraries are continuing to do in their communities. Recommended for the bookish set, who will see themselves reflected in these pages.