Our Singular Strengths: Meditations for Librarians
Gorman, one of the leading voices of late-twentieth-century library science, presents 144 meditations, rooted in experience, to provide insight into libraries and librarianship today. Each consists of a quotation, a brief essay (some only one paragraph long), and a statement or resolution of the situation considered. They cover such topics as the demise of Library of Congress printed cards; S. R. Ranganathan and his five laws, together with a set of five new laws; the problem patron; e-mail in libraries; descriptive cataloging; ALA conferences; and the image of the librarian. Perhaps librarians should have two copies of this book, one to keep at their desks for the times when they need help just to get through the day and one to keep by their bedsides to dip into time and again to validate their lives and careers and make them all right with the world.Edward Swanson