KM Today


Public Libraries: People Places

Some great quotes from urban planner, Andrea Gabor, of Urban Strategies Inc., a Toronto based planning and urban design firm with public and private clients in North America and Europe. She said, “Libraries are* people magnets* put eyes on the street* generate traffic* a community destinationAnd public libraries have a big role in place making in any city or community — not only for cultural growth and learning but also for economic development. There are certainly some great examples in the Toronto Public Library branch system.

Library Automation Update

Marshall Breeding, publisher of Library Technologhy Guides, spoke to the Education Institute today about the business and library sides of technology companies in the library OPAC space. He talked about consolidation both on the business side, with companies like SirsiDynix being created from many mergers, and the library side with many consortia building collaborative systems. Marshall is an expert on this topic and produces a library automoation update for Library Journal in their April 1 issue. Here’s the 2005 LJ report. Marshall often talks on this topic at Information Today conference, Computers in Libraries and Internet Librarian, and writes the Systems Librarian colum for Computers in Libraries magazine.