This Book Is Overdue!: How Librarians and Cybrarians Can Save Us All by Marilyn Johnson

Jul 05, 2011 Kimberly rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: non-fiction, library_science

Not my favorite style of book--lots of interesting, but somewhat random stories. Some of the stories were pretty cool, but I also came away from the book feeling like I'll be a failure in life if I'm not some over-the-top amazing librarian who changes the world!!! Those stories and people are cool, but to some extent, they're the exception, not the norm. We can't all take on the Supreme Court by disregarding an FBI letter and challenging the Patriot Act. If we get the opportunity, great, but man...more

4 likes · like · see review

Apr 18, 2010 Pam rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: non-fiction

Who knew there were librarian fan boys! As one myself, I guess I shouldn't be surprised but this woman wrote an entire book about the changing nature of librarians and the information world. You really have to be into finding out stuff or keeping stuff in a codified way in order to love this book. However it gives an excellent, comprehensive view of the librarian world today, from community-use librarians and their struggles with circulation systems to research librarians and the role of the web...more

2 likes · like · see review

May 01, 2012 Jim rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: audiobooks-read

My initial plan was to rate this four star and sneak out the back door without a review.

Since Richard called me out, here we go.....

I stumbled across this at the to be shelved audio book section of my library. If John McPhee were to write a book about library and librarians; it would be like this. A series of character sketches of passionate characters whose efforts and comments speak to the topics:
What is the library/librarian role in the digital age?
What is the library/librarian role in finan...more

1 like · like · see review

May 25, 2010 Julia rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: non-fiction, best-books-i-read-in-2010

I'm a book lover, a library-holic (no 12- step programs for this!) and when I visit my or any library I love talking with the librarians. So when I saw this on the shelf I had to borrow it!

This non-fiction is about the superhuman job librarians and archivists perform to preserve, protect and make accessible our culture, our knowledge, our values.
David Smith was a reference librarian at NYPL whose mission it was to help writers find the data they needed in the enormous reference library there. H...more

2 likes · like · see review

Oct 26, 2012 Angie rated it 4 of 5 stars

If you have worked in libraries or IT, or especially both, you will find much to relate to here. If you have not, read this book - you will learn a lot, laugh a lot and be amazed — a lot. Marilyn Johnson's descriptions of what's happening in libraries and where the profession is going is entertaining, thought-provoking, funny and real. Perhaps the writing is a bit too cute sometimes, and some of it already outdated, but the book still speaks to the continuing importance of libraries and the peop...more

1 like · like · see review

Jan 02, 2012 Brian Bess rated it 2 of 5 stars

As a recent MLIS graduate and new library professional, I approached this book with the anticipation that I would read a book that would serve as a standard bearer for my profession and bring all the vital functions that libraries provide to the attention of a wider audience. Here was our champion sounding the clarion call for a profession that has historically been unappreciated and certainly underfunded. Perhaps this book would explain to the world at least what we really do.
Perhaps my expecta...more As a recent MLIS graduate and new library professional, I approached this book with the anticipation that I would read a book that would serve as a standard bearer for my profession and bring all the vital functions that libraries provide to the attention of a wider audience. Here was our champion sounding the clarion call for a profession that has historically been unappreciated and certainly underfunded. Perhaps this book would explain to the world at least what we really do.
Perhaps my expectations were set too high. Marilyn Johnson possesses undeniable enthusiasm and interest in libraries and I appreciate the admiration. We need more people like her singing our praises. However, the book itself rambles and wastes precious space recounting how she finds these professionals toiling quietly behind the scenes. The book begins with promise. Her accounts of the origin of OCLC and the advantages of using a trained librarian rather than Google are engaging. Likewise, her account of the legal battle that librarians successfully waged against the U.S. government defending themselves against the Patriot Act.
However, she goes to extreme lengths to describe tattooed librarians, ring-nosed librarians, multicolored-haired librarians, lesbian librarians, all-of-the-above librarians that run inflammatory blogs. She spends an entire chapter discussing Second Life and the avatars and alter egos of librarians living colorful virtual fantasy lives. While this may be fun for participants, it seems like a frivolous waste of space when there is so much about real world librarians that can be told.
After Second Life, the book loses the momentum it was building up to that point. Her account of the New York Public Library system reads like publicity literature for the NYPL, fawning over these heroes who not only provide valuable services and amazing collections to the public but also sponsor events for giving authors respect and attention that they themselves do not get, until someone like Marilyn Johnson puts them in a book.
I realize that I speak as a library professional rather than a patron who appreciates libraries but I feel that more space devoted to the days in the lives of librarians and descriptions of what they actually do would have been far more interesting than chapters on Second Life or tattooed bloggers. Perhaps more readers respond more strongly to tales of eccentrics or fantasy lives than they would to straightforward accounts of the work of librarians. I speak from the perspective of one who works in a public library although I acknowledge that those who work in academic libraries as well as special libraries are also given short shrift. I appreciate the intention and I hate to sound ungrateful but I think she failed to use the opportunity to its fullest advantage.

(less)

8 likes · like · see review

Jan 16, 2013 Sharlene rated it 3 of 5 stars

Aside from librarians, librarians in training, and those with a librarian fetish, many people would probably never think to check out a title that focuses solely on librarianship. In my experience (and Johnson's as well), most individuals are content with the librarian stereotype- old fashioned (or just plain old), meek, and unsociable with tidy buns and an aversion to technology. "You need a Masters to be a librarian?!" is the typical response when stating that you went to grad school to get yo...more Aside from librarians, librarians in training, and those with a librarian fetish, many people would probably never think to check out a title that focuses solely on librarianship. In my experience (and Johnson's as well), most individuals are content with the librarian stereotype- old fashioned (or just plain old), meek, and unsociable with tidy buns and an aversion to technology. "You need a Masters to be a librarian?!" is the typical response when stating that you went to grad school to get your MLIS. We are a mysterious and, according to some, endangered breed. Lucky for us, Johnson enthusiastically explores the reality of librarianship and the larger than life characters at the front lines of this constantly evolving field.While many (librarian) reviewers were dissatisfied with the level of comprehensiveness of the book (it is not comprehensive at all- it takes delicious bites out of an ever-expanding field of work), others praised Johnson's anecdotal style. Some complain that we never do learn HOW librarians and cybrarians can save us all. We might not, but we do learn about the challenges and victories experienced by librarians that indirectly and directly affect our lives (and maybe even democracy as we know it). For example, Johnson tells the story of the Connecticut librarians who (with support from the American Civil Liberties Union) stood up against the federal government to defend their patrons' privacy against the Patriot Act. They likened seizing patrons' library records to spying on people in voting booths. They won....though the Patriot Act remains. I did enjoy this book (not just as a librarian but as a lover of miscellaneous information), and I learned about new, innovative uses for technology in my field of work (like digital libraries popping up all over Second Life). On the flip side, Johnson is prone to generalizations (we're not all cat lovers), and the content of the book is disorganized. It's difficult to keep track of the overarching theme besides perhaps this idea that librarians really ARE awesome and have something to offer you besides musty old books and constant shushing. And Johnson proves that they do. (less)

like · see review

Jul 22, 2012 Nathaniel rated it 2 of 5 stars

As a male, non-hipster library school student with skill in actual library technology (not just social media and empty buzzwords such as "Library 2.0"), I found this book to be incredibly depressing and superficial. I'm sure there are plenty in the library community at large who can appreciate it, but I really thought it did a poor job of showing the true diversity of the library community - not just reference librarians in public libraries, but academic, school, and special librarians as well,...more

3 likes · like · see review

Apr 11, 2012 Anthony rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: non-fiction

The stereotypical library worker is a female wearing a long skirt and a blouse with black rimmed glasses. She has an aversion to technology, loves the Dewey Decimal system, and is constantly shushing people.

While most library workers are still female, Marilyn Johnson shatters the other stereotypes. She introduces us to a world of librarians who have rainbow colored hair and tattoos, who love computers and the internet (when they work right), and who perform synchronized dance routines with book...more

like · see review

Jan 07, 2012 Susanne E rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: nonfiction

My 3-star rating is somewhat misleading - some chapters were 5-star worthy, such as the one about the Connecticut 4 who challenged the Patriot Act and an account of a collaboration between reference librarians and artists. The book also includes some of the best and most eloquent defenses I've heard of the value of libraries in the 21st century and some good thoughts on technology and libraries. But at other points Johnson veered off into a weird obsession with Second Life, got sidetracked by a...more

3 likes · like · see review

Nov 22, 2011 Agatha rated it 3 of 5 stars

An ode to libraries and librarians. A fun and interesting read for any library-lover. I learned a lot. I would have changed two things, however: 1) the organization of the book: it was a bit too episodic and vignette-ish for my personal tastes; my brain kept trying to impose some other sort of logical order upon it, and failing. (However, this format does lend itself to reading chapters in any particular order, however you feel like it, whenever you feel like it, so, if you are ever in the mood...more

like · see review

Oct 08, 2011 Richard rated it 3 of 5 stars

One full star off for snarky reference to avoiding dog ownership and absence of similar judgment on cat-ownership's insanity.

I thoroughly enjoyed (most of) this book. It's true that I'm a recent re-convert to library usage, after many years of avoiding them because of one old prune-faced, pursey-lipped hag's humiliation of me: She wouldn't let twelve-year-old me check out Stranger in a Strange Land "because it has S-E-X in it" until my mother approved. Mama's rejoinder to that was, "Honey, so do...more One full star off for snarky reference to avoiding dog ownership and absence of similar judgment on cat-ownership's insanity.

I thoroughly enjoyed (most of) this book. It's true that I'm a recent re-convert to library usage, after many years of avoiding them because of one old prune-faced, pursey-lipped hag's humiliation of me: She wouldn't let twelve-year-old me check out Stranger in a Strange Land "because it has S-E-X in it" until my mother approved. Mama's rejoinder to that was, "Honey, so does life. If you're lucky." (Actually, she was middle-aged, plump, and wore a HUGE cross around her neck...when she was done with her mischief, I made my mother laugh by saying, "too bad it wasn't the crown of thorns.")

But the many and various challenges that libraries face are completely transparent to the public that uses them. We just expect that they'll keep on being there, checking books out to us, providing online resources for our kids and grandkids, being waystations for us when our own Internet connections go down or whatever. We're not fond of paying for the libraries, either, as demonstrated by the readiness of governments of all sizes to cut their acquisition, staffing, maintenance budgets to the bone and beyond, to the point of amputation.

Fortunately, The Librarian is a resolute and resilient subspecies of Homo "sapiens", and has cleverly disguised itself in some very odd places...Google "Second Life" sometime and go for a walk on the Weird Side! Lots of librarians talked to author Johnson, and told her tales of woe; but she heard paeans of praise and odes to joy, too, and reports each and all of these classes of utterance with clarity and asperity.

Libraries and librarians have moved onto the World Wide Web with verve and enthusiasm...but back in RL, things aren't so rosy. The New York Public Library's iconic building at Forty-second and Fifth will, for the first time in forty years, house a circulating library. It comes at the cost of the Asian and Russian collections, but what the hell...the money from redeveloping the Mid-Manhattan Branch's site into yet another hotel will do some good, too, right? But...and this is where I get madder than hell...can any amount of material gain make up for the loss to the culture of the world that two collections of rare, irreplaceable material objects (the papers of the Tsarist government! the contents of a monastery's library!) properly curated and indexed represent? I presume the fact that I bother to phrase the question tells you what MY answer is.

I said in another review that "{h}istory is the beautiful, brightly lit foam on top of the annihilating tsunami of the unrecorded past. History books are the spectrographic analysis of the light glinting off that foam." Yes, but I left out a key component: Without a library to house, organize, cross-reference, FIND that book, what good does the damned thing do?

Support your local library in a PRACTICAL way. And go hug a librarian. (less)

4 likes · like · see review

Sep 27, 2011 Dusty Roether rated it 5 of 5 stars

With the question of the future of libraries on the line in the minds of some, Johnson’s book is a timely work that sheds light on the wildly diverse world of librarianship. Some argue that the library is an antiquated institution that is not necessary in the world of the iPad, ebooks, and Google Books. However, Johnson illustrates the diverse ways that librarians and other information professionals serve the research needs of their users–often in the most unexpected ways. From a unique program...more With the question of the future of libraries on the line in the minds of some, Johnson’s book is a timely work that sheds light on the wildly diverse world of librarianship. Some argue that the library is an antiquated institution that is not necessary in the world of the iPad, ebooks, and Google Books. However, Johnson illustrates the diverse ways that librarians and other information professionals serve the research needs of their users–often in the most unexpected ways. From a unique program at St. John’s University in which librarians teach students from around the world how to use technology to bring about social justice, to information professionals who serve users in the Internet world of Second Life, Johnson’s well-researched vignettes prove that the field of librarianship is not a dying one.

The book also provides an introduction to other parts of the field of library science, including archives and digital libraries, showing how these institutions too are morphing consistently to suit the needs of society. Perhaps this book should be sent to the politicians and corporate leaders who seek to close public libraries. At the same time, her research reveals new, innovative ways in which information users can be served by information professionals. Society is always changing, in one way or another, and information professionals must adapt to the needs of society. This is why information professionals exist, and without progress, information institutions will not achieve their ultimate goals. Every librarian and information professional should read this inspiring book so that we can learn, from the stories which Johnson so effectively illustrates, how to fulfill our users’ informational needs, whatever they may be, in the most efficient way possible.

“I was under the librarians’ protection. Civil servants and servants of civility, they had my back. They would be whatever they needed to be that day: information professionals, teachers, police, community organizers, computer technicians, historians, confidantes, clerks, social workers, storytellers, or, in this case, guardians of my peace.” (252)(less)

2 likes · like · see review

Sep 06, 2011 Heather rated it 3 of 5 stars

I wanted to like this book a lot more than I did. I felt like a lot of the writing was either not very interesting or not to the point - for instance, the author spends a lot of time describing her personal experiences (walking around the streets, meeting someone in a bar) or the interiors of buildings she visits. If you've ever seen an office or a library in your life, those parts get pretty tedious, and the experiential parts could have been written in a way that it was more like a travelogue...more

like · see review

Jul 23, 2011 Elizabeth rated it 3 of 5 stars

"Are librarians obsolete in the age of Google? Librarians are more important than ever" (Johnson). It is a great book that reminds us of the wonderful things librarians can do for you. It is helpful professionally and personally. From universal literacy to "information scientists" to blogs & wikis to organization and navigation to special collections to the virtual library, librarians are "invaluable and indispensable: they want to help." "They want to help us." Librarians are "incorporating...more

like · see review

May 01, 2011 Stefanie rated it 2 of 5 stars

I wanted to like this book. I enjoyed the author's previous book, The Dead Beat, on obituaries, and I really, truly love libraries and librarians (hi, Mom and Nina!). I spend way too much of my time looking stuff up--I feel like an aspiring reference librarian sometimes. That being said, ugh. There were times when interesting information was imparted, and I think the discovery on these pages of a blog named The Lipstick Librarian might almost be worth the price of admission. However, the author...more

like · see review

Apr 16, 2011 Dan Russell rated it 2 of 5 stars

Marilyn’s a librarian wannabe and wrote a book about how wonderful, magnificent and interesting librarians are. How cool, how hip, how with-it, how important they are in the new information age. I believe it, and I’m deeply on her side, but it felt a bit like she was working very hard to convince the reader of their intrinsic wonderfulness. Problem is, they’re not that exciting. Reading her swoon to book cart drill team performances isn’t all that convincing. (It's cute, agreed, but really?)

The...more

like · see review

Feb 28, 2011 Karin rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: nonfiction, librarians, libraries, borrowed-from-the-library

Marilyn Johnson (library lover) tells the story of one of our valuable community institutions – the library – and the people who staff it. She describes the traditional library and its evolution into this century, where much of library work is carried on outside of the physical library building (stretching into the ether to meet patrons online and help meet their information needs). Libraries have changed a lot over the years, but librarians remain an important resource in connecting people with...more

like · see review

Feb 11, 2011 RandomAnthony rated it 2 of 5 stars

This Book is Overdue is a quick read with an identity crisis. Should the book be a serious analysis of the manner in which libraries and librarians are changing, for better or for worse, with the rise of technology? Should it be a memoir-ish narrative of the author's experience visiting libraries (both in real and Second Life) and librarians? What about a huggy chapter on teaching potential librarians from developing cultures how to use technology to improve the lives of their patrons? These par...more This Book is Overdue is a quick read with an identity crisis. Should the book be a serious analysis of the manner in which libraries and librarians are changing, for better or for worse, with the rise of technology? Should it be a memoir-ish narrative of the author's experience visiting libraries (both in real and Second Life) and librarians? What about a huggy chapter on teaching potential librarians from developing cultures how to use technology to improve the lives of their patrons? These parts coalesce less into a coherent whole and more into what seems like what could have been a long magazine article stretched thin into an undersized book with large font.

The text includes positives, sure. The chapter that compassionately contrasts the desire of an aging New York librarian, who wants to preserve a unique but rarely used collection, with the push of young, hipper librarians who focus on customer service and the needs of the broader public, is well done. And the chapter on “Second Life” librarians made me, um, feel a lot better about the time I spend on Goodreads. And I love that the author acknowledges that some librarians are evil enough to bounce to the front of material waiting lists. Johnson falls flat when she goes into cheerleader mode. Yes, yes, I know, you respect librarians. You said that about 4,000 times, and guess what, your readership probably respects librarians, too. Yay. Near the end I felt like I was reading that part of a sixth grader's essay when she really, really needs to pad a couple pages to reach the required length. And Johnson's distaste of stack-weeding confused me. Ok, I get it, you worry that some valuable books might get lost in the weeding process. But where the hell are you supposed to put these books that no one reads? What about the books that are falling apart? Yes, it's a shame. Is that all you got?

Maybe because I'm already converted to the message Johnson is preaching I didn't get much from This Book Is Overdue. It's ok. If I needed more than a few hours with the book I doubt I would have continued. Johnson failed, I think, to acknowledge that readers are probably going to see through what I perceived as a well-intentioned attempt to sell books on a slam dunk topic (readers love to read about reading, right?) that covers its lack of substance with a chatty narrative. Ok. Not great. Look for This Book Is Overdue within a month of two in the discount sections of bookstores everywhere.(less)

20 likes · like · see review

Oct 19, 2010 Sarah Macneill rated it 2 of 5 stars

I thought the author had some interesting insite on the role of liberians, but really did not cover the depth of my profession that I would have liked. She seemed to focus more upon the literary freedom, privacy, and academic posistion of liberarians, which is all good. But the only thing she touched on with public librarians was cleaning up poop in the bathrooms, the travesty that was inflicted on the special collections of the New York Public Library, and the fight against privacy rights. All...more

like · see review

Sep 24, 2010 Tim rated it 3 of 5 stars

As a devout library lover in my youth, though finding very little reason to visit in my older years (and actually feeling sad about this) due to largely to lack of reading time... this was a fun book to read. It does its job of making libraries seem exciting, and full of awesomeness. The writer expresses the loves that are close to all library-lover's hearts: books, collecting books, organizing books, reading book, knowing about books and the stuff we found in books -- oh and all that other medi...more As a devout library lover in my youth, though finding very little reason to visit in my older years (and actually feeling sad about this) due to largely to lack of reading time... this was a fun book to read. It does its job of making libraries seem exciting, and full of awesomeness. The writer expresses the loves that are close to all library-lover's hearts: books, collecting books, organizing books, reading book, knowing about books and the stuff we found in books -- oh and all that other media and stuff as well. She expresses this while describing the struggles, experiments, and changes made in libraries in these internet times.

As a fairly adept computer/database programmer and all-around "IT" guy, and developer of a web site that currently gets about 500,000 unique visits per month, I felt that she could have used the thing she stresses many times in the book that libraries need now: competent computer/IT consulting/staff. Pretty much every library computer/web interface I've seen (in Canada) has sucked extremely badly. Excusing this by saying these companies who supply these systems (and horrifically expensive prices) were the only ones capable of handling such large collections at the time is just ridiculous to those of us who have some knowledge of these things. Excusing great mystery of the missing holds as finally (after how long?!) as being not the fault of the software, but of the librarians, equally misdiagnoses the problem. Were there no simple audit trails? Do the developers have no respect for data integrity?!!! Excusing this on having to interface with or work on top of legacy systems and structures, while certainly a consideration and a constraint, does not seem credible to me.

It's truly broken my heart to see the crap my beloved libraries have installed, and tied themselves to. And continue to. The IT consultants they seem to end up with these days seem more to be sales people --- selling them a bill of goods. A short term we-want-to-be-hip-and-up-to-date solution tied to specific devices, or pathetic DRM schemes.

And the length of time the author spends in Second Life is, to me, also rather startling. She does mention the lag and glitches. But she doesn't mention the relatively steep learning curve and hardware requirements just for entry. She describes the scenes she participates in that world with beautiful imagination: the (virtual) reality is vastly (if not infinitely) more clunky. Yeah, it's interesting and fun that a group of librarians have gravitated there and done interesting things... but Second Life is rather rather old technology by this point, which never really took off as expected: it's a niche of which you can say at least it did better than all of the other "revolutionary" virtual reality environments that were supposed to change the way we interacted with computers. Admittedly it's been years since I looked at it, and frankly I felt like I had entered a time machine and gone back about five years to hear such glowing reviews of it in this book. Five years!

I was more interested in the social activism side of librarians; and some of the history of library initiatives was quite interesting.

Lately, though I have no "information systems" training, I have found myself helping a local non-profit organization (for free) get their old, approximately 2000 volume, card catalog into a computer. I set up Koha for them (an excellent, free, open-source, library software -- even if it feels a bit hodge-podge) and wrote up documentation on the cataloging process, and circulation. Actually I've ended up doing the input for 1500 of the volumes myself in my spare time over the last year. I've become very familiar with MARC (in it's various flavours), Z39.50, worldcat, and related things.

I've also become rather intimate with the blessed cards, and all their peculiarities. Notes written on them by librarians 20 years ago which are now indecipherable. At several points the cart catalog was gone through and a system of small lines, dots or checkmarks were added to the corners of cards indicate some sort of status. No one really remembers what the marks meant -- and what they do remember no one knows if the information is still valid. There are professinionally printed cards with LCC numbers. But most of the cards are manually typed: I am amazed by the skill of the old typewriter formatting! So much time and love went into these cards. Little details. They were lucky to have had a real librarian labouring with love on these. Some cards are hand written...
the physical cards themselves are a treasure which in some ways I hate to supplant.

Perhaps we will image them, and add the card catalog as an item to the online database as a curiosity. (Most are already photographed as part of our digitizing process.) Some amateur librarian in the future who cares about this little library may like to just randomly flip through some of the card images -- for some nostalgic fun, and inspiration.

Anyhow, it was interesting to read the author's own, non-techie, struggle with the simple (yet so complex) business of saving web pages for herself. And it was nice she gave a vigorous and insightful nod to the importance of open source software in cataloging and storing information for the long term (even if it what she meant was "open formats").

I just wish i had more time.(less)

1 like · like · see review

Sep 04, 2010 Mike (the Paladin) rated it 3 of 5 stars

Fairly interesting book...I skimmed mostly (forgive me librarians of the world!). It wasn't exactly what I'd expected, still fairly interesting take on what librarians have done for the world (all of us) and are still doing. You might find it what you're looking for, I appreciate what librarians have to put up with (including the bureaucracies). My daughter worked for the Nashville system "back when" and after a few years had done and was doing every job there was to do...but, she topped out at...more Fairly interesting book...I skimmed mostly (forgive me librarians of the world!). It wasn't exactly what I'd expected, still fairly interesting take on what librarians have done for the world (all of us) and are still doing. You might find it what you're looking for, I appreciate what librarians have to put up with (including the bureaucracies). My daughter worked for the Nashville system "back when" and after a few years had done and was doing every job there was to do...but, she topped out at a salary it would be hard to survive on if you were still living at home with no bills. You see, she didn't have a degree in "library science", so even if she could do and did do the work, she couldn't be paid above a certain amount. She of course left for other office work (and has done well). The other librarians didn't want to lose competent help...but could do nothing about it.

A few years ago we had a mayor who believed in putting money into the library system...we (myself included) got used to finding almost any new book we looked for in the collection, there were new facilities built, buildings refurbished, even a brand new HUGE main library building built in downtown Nashville. Then we changed mayors...the beautiful new building sits half empty and trying to find a new release now is almost a joke. Book funds for the year are spent within the first couple of months... apparently the new mayor (same political party) thinks money for the library is only a waste. the librarians however have to put up with patrons (like me) who got used to finding almost anything we looked for... I try to be nice, I know it's not their fault, and mostly they handle the frustrated patrons.

As I said, not a bad book. We could all probably stand to appreciate librarians more. Okay, they're not all great, there are some painfully poor librarians, but those aren't the norm. Personally if we ever move to automated librarians... I shall be very sad. Librarians are a national/international treasure. That's what I like about the book, it's not the most readable and it may itself contribute a bit to information overload at times (a theme in the book), but it's not bad. 3 stars. (less)

1 like · like · see review

Jul 25, 2010 Harry Roger Williams III rated it 3 of 5 stars

I was alerted to this book by my daughter Heather, one of GoodReads finest reviewers (in my neither-humble-nor-objective opinion. ) Over the years librarians have written books that “give ‘lay people’ the inside scoop.” Some have fascinating incidents and startling revelations, but rarely are they compelling page-turners. Because Marilyn Johnson is a journalist, not a librarian, I thought this might prove better, but I found the book frustrating for several reasons. She describes the radical act...more

1 like · like · see review

Jun 20, 2010 Jostalady rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: library-land, the-real-world

The author accurately captures the state of libraries from within. I have worked in libraries for 20 years. I am a paraprofessional in what I believed was growing to be a growing trend to staff libraries with a totally imbalanced mix of actual librarians (I only know 3). I have discouraged people from pursuing an MLS because many of the people I know who have them just shelve books. Librarian jobs are rare.
I recognize some of what she covers, but this book took me out of my library and into m...more

1 like · like · see review

May 31, 2010 Rebecca rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: nonfiction

This book wasn't quite what I had expected, which was anecdotes about librarians and libraries. It was much more of a professional book, which means I can't recommend it to non-librarians because a lot of it would be either incomprehensible to them or boring. Professional books also always make me feel completely inadequate and that I'm not doing all the wonderful things I should be doing to be a good librarian, so I can't really say I enjoy them--does anyone enjoy reading something that makes y...more

like · see review

May 23, 2010 Grace rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: cultural-studies, literacy, non-fiction, current-events, education, read-in-2010, writing

"In tough times, a librarian is a terrible thing to waste." And so starts this charming and inside glimpse into the life and times of being a librarian in ever evolving libraries in the 21st century. Author Marilyn Johnson takes her readers on a journey through a database migration in Westchester County, New York, to changing the largest research library in the New York City Public Library system into a circulation library, to librarians setting up virtual libraries and reference desks in Second...more

4 likes · like · see review

May 15, 2010 Yune rated it 3 of 5 stars

Johnson's last book was on obituaries, and the coolest ones, she kept finding, were those of librarians. Thus this book.

I liked this because of the subject material -- I worked full-time in a library for a bit, and am a devoted patron of my local public one. At one point I was offered a job as the technology specialist for an academic branch; I know now much technology is shaping the role of librarians. I probably spent as much time troubleshooting wireless connections as I did subjugating the m...more

like · see review

May 01, 2010 Becky rated it 4 of 5 stars

This book was definitely a great advertisement for the profession, especially as it was written by someone outside the profession. Its evocation of the tattooed knitting zinester librarian cliche (certainly better than the shushing bun cliche) could have become a wee bit silly, but I think it mostly managed not to.

*browses other reviews* No, it wasn't a serious-minded document that used dollar signs and political philosophy to change the way government and citizens think about libraries, but it...more

3 likes · like · see review

Apr 10, 2010 Susan rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: library-books, read-in-2010, reading-challenges

With fascinating chapters such as "Information Sickness" and "Follow That Tattooed Librarian," Marilyn Johnson's This Book is Overdue gives the reader a quirky but informative look beyond the librarian stereotype. I am a reader who loves her county library - in fact we're on a first name basis, "The George" and I. I have always had a great appreciation for librarians, but This Book is Overdue has reinforced my belief that public libraries and the librarians who tirelessly work to bring books to...more

1 like · like · see review

Apr 08, 2010 Jonny99 rated it 2 of 5 stars

An unsuccessful defense of the librarians’ relevance in the Google Age. From the subtitle which overstates the central thesis of the book, ”How Librarians…Can Save Us All”, you can infer that the text within will be a somewhat desperate effort to defend librarians’ relevance in an age of digitized text and sophisticated search algorithms by protesting too much. Suffice to say if someone writes a book explaining why your job is still relevant…it’s not. Johnson apparently is a fervent, and potenti...more An unsuccessful defense of the librarians’ relevance in the Google Age. From the subtitle which overstates the central thesis of the book, ”How Librarians…Can Save Us All”, you can infer that the text within will be a somewhat desperate effort to defend librarians’ relevance in an age of digitized text and sophisticated search algorithms by protesting too much. Suffice to say if someone writes a book explaining why your job is still relevant…it’s not. Johnson apparently is a fervent, and potentially solitary, librarian groupie. She reads librarian blogs, which apparently spend a lot of time talking about how patrons leave gum, trash and – disconcertedly – excrement among the stacks, attends librarian conferences, where librarians do group dances with book carts, and tries to get invited to librarian social events (one expect such invitations are not hard to wrangle). She repeatedly mentions a husband and kids so one can only assume her admiration stays platonic and she relates no story of asking the local reference librarian to sign her tatas in black Sharpie. Anyway, the book relates stories of librarians contributing to the future. A long passage talks about librarians creating virtual libraries within simulated on-line worlds and the shock is not that librarians have excess time to pursue such frivolity but rather that there may be someone, somewhere taking time away from virtual sex in such games to poke through virtual stacks. Another extended passage describes an Italian university that recruits globally to give liberal-minded folks Masters degrees in do-goodery. It was mildly interesting but other than the school having librarians not sure what why it defends the continued pertinence of librarians. There is also the account of ”street librarians” which was just sad: apparently during the most recent Republican National Convention lonely, unoccupied librarians risked injury in the streets to provide ”reference services” to demonstrators (”yeah, hi, while the police were spraying us with the water cannon, it made me want to reread Hemingway’s Old Man and the Sea, do you know where the nearest available copy is?). There are also a few sagas about technology gone wrong and surprisingly little on how it has dramatically democratized information to least served of the masses which several hundred years of physical libraries never did. The book’s one highlight is the tale of Connecticut librarians successfully refusing a Patriot Act request for library records on U.S. Constitutional grounds. It was good to hear there is a still someone in the U.S. worth defending the latter against the former. In short, librarianship is a wonderful thing but so were typewriters, unfortunately time marches on.(less)

1 like · like · see review

view all 13 comments

E DB My comment wasn't defending Johnson's thesis, but responding to your statement that "librarianship is a wonderful thing but so were typewriters, unfor...more
May 05, 2011 04:00pm

Jonny99 This website devotes itself to the review of books so personal views of librarians seem beside the point. My original critique was that Johnson fails...more
May 05, 2011 07:07pm

title link	preview: This Book Is Overdue!: How Librarians and Cybrarians Can Save Us All
avg rating	preview: This Book Is Overdue!: How Librarians and Cybrarians Can Save Us All Goodreads rating: 3.45 (2607 ratings)
small image	preview: click here [close]
med image	preview: click here [close]
BBCode	[url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6702303-this-book-is-overdue?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book][img]http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1347585608l/6702303.jpg[/img][/url] [url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6702303-this-book-is-overdue?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book]This Book Is Overdue!: How Librarians and Cybrarians Can Save Us All by Marilyn Johnson[/url]

This Book Is Overdue!: How Librarians and Cybrarians Can Save Us All

Friend Reviews

Lists with This Book

Community Reviews

new topic
Discuss This Book

combine
Other Editions (9)

Genres

Readers also enjoyed similar books

Books by Marilyn Johnson

Share This Book

Share This Book on Your Website

Trivia About This Book Is Over...

Quotes from This Book Is Overdue!:...