Category Archives: Uncategorized

I’m pleased to share the news that the American Library Association (ALA) has honoured me with the John Ames Humphry/OCLC/Forest Press Award for 2020. The award was presented virtually during the ALA’s Annual Conference in June – which unfortunately I … Continue reading →

Covid-19 again When my previous column was written the news was dominated by Covid-19.[1] It was still mostly called an epidemic; the word ‘pandemic’ was only just coming into use. In South Africa a lock-down loomed. I reported on some … Continue reading →

In the course of a long career in librarianship, I have held the belief that libraries and information services contribute to peace and justice through the global exchange and sharing of information and knowledge. This site is intended as a … Continue reading →

(Version corrected on 2019-01-05, in light of comments from Riccardo Ridi, which I gratefully acknowledge.)  Italian perspectives In the English-speaking world, we are not sufficiently aware of the huge amount of professional literature published in other languages. My eyes were opened … Continue reading →

The latest instalment of my Library ABC, which I started in 2008, has been distributed. It is for the letters D, E and F and features pictures taken in three libraries. D:  DOK, Delft, the Netherlands; E: Elsie van Rensburg … Continue reading →

 This is a slightly expanded version of my column of news, views and snippets from the international literature of books, libraries, and information, which appears in LIASA-in-Touch, the newsletter of the Library and Information Association of South Africa Maps and … Continue reading →

We tend to take the World Wide Web for granted. We use it to look up professional, scholarly, educational and day-to-day information, communicate with friends and colleagues, do shopping, book travel, plan vacations, download videos and music, play games, and … Continue reading →