Thanks to Brian Soneda for naming this issue theme. Once our authors got past the “what the heck is a dire hole?” stage, they delivered some fine articles. Props to all.
This dire hole lies in our losing sight of the idea of libraries as a public good, in our going too far in adopting the language and style of business, in judging our success the way businesses judge theirs, and thus voluntarily forsaking our own values. I only see libraries spiraling downward when I read such things as “The Fragile Future of Public Libraries,” by New Hampshire library director Michael Sullivan (Public Libraries, September/October 2003). Sullivan believes that circulation is the measure of all success, that people don’t want accurate information, that we can’t afford librarians’ salaries, and that we should mimic the model of big-box bookstores.
Alki Editor: Cameron A. Johnson
Alki Editorial Committee: Nicole Campbell; Cheryl Farabee; Emily Hull; Tami Echavarria Robinson; Brian Soneda; Bonnie Taylor; Mary Wise; Shireen Deboo, Intern; Carla McLean, Chair; Troy Christenson, WLA Coordinator of Communications
Cover by Joan Blacker and Kevin Duncan
Download the full-color PDF issue below.
Published December 2003
by Mary M. Carr, Spokane Community College
by Martha Parsons, WSU Energy Program Library
by Rhona Klein, Washington State Library
by Shireen Deboo, UW Information School
by Elinor Appel, UW Information School
by Regan Robinson, Stevens County Rural Library District
by Catherine Marley Haras, Highline Community College
by Bonnie Taylor, Mid-Columbia Library District, and Mary Wise, Central Washington University Library
by Colleen Brazil, King County Library System, and John Sheller, King County Library System
by John Sheller
by Cameron A. Johnson
by Angelina Benedetti
by Marie Bodre