Great segment on the News Hour with Jim Lehrer about public libraries. Julia Keller talks about the impact of public libraries on peoples’ lives. My favorite takeway line was that it doesn’t matter as much what you come in looking for as what you actually take away with you. OK, that’s a paraphrase. Here’s an even more egregious one: It’s not the horse you rode in on, it’s the one you go out with. Bad grammar, I know. Still a terrific sentiment. Reminds me of a sentence from a book by Annie Dillard where she talks about the explosive nature of the books she encountered as a child at the Pittsburgh Public Library. You just never knew, she said, what was between the covers.

There’s only 3 weeks left to submit your request to speak at Internet Librarian International, to be held in London (the one in the UK, that is) on the 16th and 17th of October. We’re looking critically at all things 2.0, including transparency, technology, and the tangible benefits. Plus, any neat new stuff you’ve done with search, web design, portals, and funding would be interesting.

It’s our tenth year and we’re looking for a mix of papers for conference sessions, workshops, and short tutorials. If you’ve got something to share, please take a look at the website, and submit a request to speak.