Book Review: This Book is Overdue!
How Librarians and Cybrarians Can Save Us All
by Marilyn Johnson
"Show me a computer expert who gives a damn, and I'll show you a librarian."
~Patricia Wilson Berger, former president, ALA
This is the opening salvo for Marilyn Johnson's second book in which she delves into the world of public libraries, research, the virtual arena and, of course, librarians. Librarians, and the places in which they work, form a cornerstone for civilization. With their guidance, we are provided with the tools to learn, create, and manage anything our imaginations can devise.
Johnson manages to cover the wide ranging area governed by librarians with style, humor, and just a touch of awe. Over the course of 12 chapters, the author illustrates the ever changing world of librarianship and the effect technology has on it. In her chapter titled, "How to Change the World," Johnson discusses how the use of online programs can help bring the necessary virtual skills to students of poor nations. "Gotham City" is about the changes happening to the New York Public Library system and how its focus is changing. "What's Worth Saving" focuses on archiving. "To The Ramparts" shows the impact librarians can have on activism and introduces the reader to Radical Reference, an online reference site dedicated to answering questions by activists and independent journalists. "Wizards of Odd" explores the boom in virtual libraries and reference activities in Second Life. "Follow That Tattooed Librarian" shows that librarians are not the buttoned down, staid creatures the stereotype describes. I would really love to see the bookcart challenge some day. "The Blog People" introduces the variety of librarians online and the breadth of their sites. "Big Brother and the Holdout Company" reveals to the world the intrusions of the Patriot Act upon libraries and group of librarians who fought to protect their patrons. The final chapter, "The Best Day," gives hope in the creation (and continuation) of libraries.
Johnson closes by writing,
"I was under the librarians' protection. Civil servants and servants of civility, they had my back. They would be whatever they needed to be that day: information professionals, teachers, police, community organizers, computer technicians, historians, confidantes, clerks, social workers, storytellers, or, in this case, guardians of my peace.
They were the authors of this opportunity - diversion form the economy, and distraction from the snow, protectors of the bubble of concentration I'd found in the maddening world. And I knew they wouldn't disturb me until closing time."
2020 note: It’s a decade after this review was written. I now work at an academic library and am a member of the ALA. I’ve learned a lot and now realize something that isn’t seen from the outside. People talk about all that librarians do (and they do a lot) but never recognize all the staff members who don’t have the title “librarian” but keep everything running smoothly. They’re underappreciated and under-recognized even within the ALA and their own institutions. They are the ones checking in/out books, making sure the books are shelved correctly, processing your fines, organizing your events, and sometimes even answering your reference questions. Be kind to them. They see more than you would think and then shrug it off. Like maybe sitting at the reference desk and seeing someone stroll past quietly strumming a ukelele and just shrugging because it’s not a quiet floor and they’re not disturbing anyone at the moment. I still haven’t convinced anyone to help choreograph a book truck dance for our socials though.
BIS Rating: 4 Nightlights
Bookshop.org: This Book Is Overdue! How Librarians and Cybrarians Can Save Us All by Marilyn Johnson
BIS Rating system:
1 nightlight = put it down and didn't care to pick it back up
2 nightlights = finished the book
3 nightlights = enjoyed the book but probably wouldn't re-read it
4 nightlights = had a hard time putting the book down
5 nightlights = stayed up way too late to finish instead of going to bed
(originally posted 26 April 2010)