The DNL Report

William Pannapacker, an associate professor of English at Hope College, in Holland, Mich writing under his pen name Thomas H. Benton, writes what might be called an "ode to librarians" in the May 20, 2010 edition of the Chronicle of Higher Education. While waxing unabashedly about librarians, he also briefly discusses Robert Darnton's book The Case for Books: Past, Present, and Future, which is a collection of essays from the last decade in which Darnton offers an "unashamed apology for the printed word" while assessing the "place of books in the digital environment." This book is available in our own library - call #Z116 .A2 D37 2009. "Through the many twists and turns of Darnton's book, one major point emerges: "Libraries were never warehouses of books. They have been and always will be centers of learning. Their central position in the world of learning makes them ideally suited to mediate between the printed and the digital modes of communication."" Click here to read article.

Library material can be used in unusual ways. Meet Phil Levin, a biologist at Northwest Fisheries Science Center in Seattle, who scoured libraries in the Pacific Northwest for local cookbooks to determine the changes in rockfish availability over the past century. This is a great example of research using preserved material available in libraries. Want to know more? Listen to the National Public Radio podcast:

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