It wasn’t fancy. The Putnam Press was produced on a state-of-the-art Smith Corona, four pages long with a staple in the corner. The latest news of four kids and two parents filled three columns, family-style features with sides of poetry and book reviews. I was ten, and the lead reporter.
As a kid, when I wasn’t covering hyperlocal news I was haunting my local library, reading everything I could get my hands on. To me, libraries and the media were natural companions, standing on common ground. They still are.
This MediaShift series will begin to explore that common ground. We’ll look at some places where journalists and librarians cross paths, and we’ll highlight some examples of library-media collaboration. “We are all in the information business,” as media-leader-turned-library-leader Kate Torney says in our opening piece. “Journalists and librarians exist to share information and knowledge. Our goals are very similar.”
Series Posts
> What Libraries Can Learn from the Media, and Vice Versa, by Alison Peters
> How Libraries Curate Current Events, by Laurie Putnam
> How J-School Professors, Librarians Teamed Up to Teach Data Skills at Kansas, by Tara George
> Local Newspaper and Library Team Up To Aid Tweens In Self-Expression, by Sarah Beth Kaye
> As Libraries and Archives Digitize, Implications for Maintaining Individual Privacy, by Ellen LeClere
> MediaShift Podcast: Library Innovation Special; Funding Good & Bad; SXSW for Librarians, produced by Jefferson Yen
Other Coverage
BBC Digital Expert Tony Ageh Poached by New York Public Library, by Jemima Kiss
How Libraries Can Guide People Through the Maze of Information Available in the Digital Age, by Erin Berman
The Most Important Obama Nominee No One’s Talking About, by Robert Gebelhoff
Flint Public Library to Archive Stories of Residents Living Through the Water Crisis, by Will Greenberg
How Can We Support Library Innovation? by Laurie Putnam
Five Brand New Jobs for Today’s Librarians, by Lisa Peet
At National Library Week, a Look at How Libraries Transform in the Digital Age, by Porter Anderson
Laurie Putnam is a communications consultant and a lecturer at the San Jose State University School of Information. By day she coaches students on communications and helps high-tech clients tell their stories; by night she continues her work as founder of the Library and Information Science Publications Wiki. You’ll find her online @NextLibraries.
The Libraries + Media series is sponsored by the School of Information at San José State University. Your source for master’s degrees and professional certificates to propel your career in the information professions.
