Trustees Report, Boston Public Library, 1852 — This report, actually a statement of goals of the new city library, was very influential in the new public library movement in the U.S. It is considered by many to be the best statement of the ideal conception of public library service.
Current Affairs
National Study of Use of Computers in Libraries — The first large-scale study of who uses public computers and Internet access in public libraries, the ways library patrons use this free technology service, why they use it, and how it affects their lives. Nearly one-third of Americans age 14 or older used a public library computer or wireless network to access the Internet in 2009. (March 2010)
Viewpoint: A Book Grab by Google — Will settlement of a lawsuit give Google exclusive rights to digital copies of a majority of books? (May 24, 2009)
Library Friends and Foundations: Time for a Merged Model? — In today's world of declining public funding of libraries, should Friends groups be reorganized as foundations whose main purpose is major fundraising? (Public Library Association National Conference 2008)
Library Thing — An online service to help people catalog their books easily. Because everyone catalogs together, Library Thing also connects people with the same books, comes up with suggestions for what to read next, and so forth.
The Big Read — An initiative of the National Endowment for the Arts to restore reading to the center of American culture.
The Library War on Paper — A review of Nicholson Baker's "Double Fold: Libraries and the Assault on Paper." (2001)