Libraries

Welcome...

mash — Sun, 04 May 2008 10:16:29 -0600

I have been writing a weekly newspaper column since 1987.

For 3 years, it ran in the Greeley Tribune. Since then, it has run in various subsidiaries of the Douglas County News Press. I still have most of my columns in digital format.

For many years, I only gave myself one rule: try to work the word "library" into every piece. My intent was to think in public about just what librarianship means at the end of the 20th century and beginning of the 21st.

November 19, 2009 - the learning library

Jamie LaRue — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 08:14:13 -0700

Douglas County Libraries has learned some things. Beginning with our experiments in Roxborough, then Lone Tree, we discovered that a combination of self-check technologies and displays meant that we could move far more books, movies, and music with the same staff and space. In fact, we have almost 7% fewer staff this year than last.

October 22, 2009 - bark for books

Jamie LaRue — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 10:10:25 -0600

When he was three years old, Caiden started to stutter. A lot of children do around that age, especially the smart ones.

Most of the time, kids grow out of it. It's a synchronization issue. Neurologically speaking, learning to match brain speed to vocal articulation is a surprisingly complex thing.

October 15, 2009 - read America!

Jamie LaRue — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 08:07:32 -0600

It's fall, the time of library conferences. I've been invited to speak at several of these lately, which I do on my own time.

October 8, 2009 - knowledge is nothing to sneeze at

Jamie LaRue — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 09:41:04 -0600

I am understandably reluctant to wade into the health care debate again, but this is just too good to resist.

October 1, 2009 - thank you, Castle Pines friends

Jamie LaRue — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 08:59:12 -0600

October 1, 2009 – thank you Castle Pine friends

Last Saturday, September 19, 2009, we opened a new storefront library in Castle Pines North. (Address: 7437 Village Square Drive - #110, Castle Pines North.) Called "The Castle Pines Library," it's not very big: about 2500 square feet, with some of that taken up by bathrooms, storage space, a checkin area, an office, and a staff break room.

September 24, 2009 - stop doing it!

Jamie LaRue — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 11:50:05 -0600

Recently I interviewed an author (Kate Lawrence, author of "The Practical Peacemaker") who made a beguiling argument: the path to peace begins with a simplified life.

September 3, 2009 - libraries should measure community impact

Jamie LaRue — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 09:41:26 -0600

I've been thinking a lot lately about library development: how the public institution I serve has changed over time.

At the beginning of library development, the focus, the measures of success, are mostly about inputs. Is there enough money to hire staff, buy materials, build buildings, and invest in technology?

Assuming that those basic needs are met, then libraries start focusing on other kinds of measures: outputs. Internally, we use benchmarks. For instance, we divide the number of checkouts (or the number of new materials ordered and processed) by the number of people it took to do that. Then we compare it to last year's number. Objective: get more productive and efficient. (We have!)

August 27, 2009 - defend your opinions!

Jamie LaRue — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 14:06:51 -0600

I subscribe to various Google services. When I log into one of them, I get quotes of the day. They're usually pretty funny.

Take this one: "An opinion should be the result of thought, not a substitute for it." - Jeff Mallett.

August 6, 2009 - 10,000 hours makes mastery

Jamie LaRue — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 14:18:52 -0600

When I was young, and first taking piano lessons, Mozart really bothered me. I don't mean that his music bothered me. The music was charming and irresistible.

I was bothered by the fact of him. He was writing sonatinas practically as an infant. By the time he was a teenager, he could listen to long, complex symphonic performances just once, then go home and write down every note.

It wasn't fair.