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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.
August 19, 2010 - library teams up with elections office
A few years ago now, the Douglas County Libraries consolidated most of our phone lines into a central Contact Center. This did two things for us. First, it let us get rid of a lot of annoying sounds and service interruptions in the public areas. Our staff can concentrate on the people who show up in our buildings.
The second thing was that it let us really monitor the number and type of calls we receive, bringing in a lot of eye-opening data. That data has helped us manage a host of operations more efficiently.
June 10, 2010 - would Google do evil?
Almost everybody uses Google, even librarians.
And it gets easier all the time. It used to be, if you wanted to find the location of the nearest chain restaurant, you would type in the restaurant name, then look for locations.
That still works. But now, on that golden first page of hits, you'll also find a map of the Denver or Douglas County area.
How does that happen?
March 11, 2010 - it was 20 years ago today
"It was 20 years ago today
Sergeant Pepper taught the band to play."
I have now held my position as director of Douglas County's libraries for 20 years. It was a different world back then.
The population of Douglas County in 1990 was about 65,000. We checked out 368,492 items a year. Today, we have close to 300,000 people, and check out nearly 8 million items annually.
February 25, 2010 - a new deal for schools and libraries
After the 2008 election losses, followed by a recession, the Douglas County School District and the Douglas County Libraries had some cuts to make.
The school district chose to eliminate all of its subscription databases -- information resources offered over the Internet. At the same time, the library was looking at trimming its own subscriptions.
February 11, 2010 - the only windows in my office
As an undergraduate, I spent a lot of time at the student billiard center. Occasionally, smooth, well-dressed pool sharks would come through on tour. They had great names, like blues singers or gangsters: Las Vegas Jimmy, Spats McDonough, Gentleman Joe, and so on.
January 28, 2010 - the mind changes the brain
For a long time, scientists believed two things about the brain.
The first was the idea that you're born with a set number of neurons -- "brain cells." Then, you lose them all your life.
January 21, 2010 - reading is both science and magic
I'm a pretty fast reader. Because of that, I usually only read one book at a time. (That also helps me keep the characters and plots straight.)
But last weekend, I broke the pattern, in part because the formats of the books were so different.
January 7, 2010 - build your business at the library
Byline: The BizInfo Librarians at the Douglas County Libraries
August 27, 2009 - defend your opinions!
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.
