The Responsive Public Library : how to develop and market a winning collection by Sharon L. Baker and Karen L. Wallace.

I am wildly enthusiastic about half of this book, which is much better than being half enthusiastic about the entire work. When the authors are talking about: how to apply research result to make the library better; how to perceive the library from the user’s viewpoint; how to minimize barriers and maximize incentives to use; creating access; and the characteristics of hard-core and marginal users – they are on target. This is some of the best library writing I have ever seen.

I am less enthusiastic about some of their process. I am not a fan of the Public Library Association planning process, which they promote. I don’t think that you can construct a mission from it that is as good as that that could be cribbed from the Report of the Boston Trustees. To fully explore all my reservations would involve either a long article or a book, so I will hold most of them for that forum.

But do not think that I am damning this book with faint praise, since I recommend it highly and am ordering a copy for my library. I am sure I will refer to it, especially for the many studies it refers to.

The Art of the Long View : planning for the future in an uncertain world by Peter Schwartz

Despite being 15 years old, this is by far the best book I have ever read on planning. It blows away all library-related long range planning books and processes. Peter Schwartz is a true guru, not because he is always right about the future, but because he is an expert at the process. Too bad he has never co-authored a book with Paco Underhill (the marketing genius).

Best takeaway: The importance of re-perceiving – being able to look at a situation with fresh eyes and without the dead weight of the past. This is vital for any business, but harder to do that it appears. It differs from re-inventing in that re-invention often changes the entire mission or ethos of an enterprise, while re-perceiving often involves re-interpreting that mission in up-to-date terms. In my profession, it means looking for fresh ways to accomplish the traditional mission of the library, not re-inventing the library in a way that does violence to the mission

A History of the End of the World: how the most controversial book in the Bible changed the course of Western Civilization by Jonathan Kirsch.

A History of the End of the World: how the most controversial book in the Bible changed the course of Western Civilization by Jonathan Kirsch.

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Kirsch looks at Revelation and explores how it has acted historically. He has no doubt that it has had as major impact and that it is a text that is often used in very unproductive and even destructive ways.

 

Kirsch makes only minor attempts at divining the meaning of the Book of Revelation, though he does look at other apocalyptic works, such as Daniel and Enoch. He notes that the author (John) states that what is being shown is a dream, a prophecy and even the angels appearing in it explain the symbols involved, meaning that it not a literal roadmap for the end of the world.

Indeed, that is how early Christians understood the work and, even before Augustine, warned against a “carnal” or literal reading of it and advised a “spiritual” reading. Despite this, those of us in the West love to predict the end of the world and want to create a New Jerusalem. These Kirsch identifies as conflicting views. Most end timers can’t wait for Jesus to come and cast their enemies into pits of fire and some even look forward to watching with glee from a “raptured” state while their less holy friends and relatives suffer a fate worse than death. Others have heeded the call to hasten God’s Kingdom by building it here and now, working as a powerful incentive for the Social Gospel.

Kirsch also traces the history of the use and abuse of Revelation, touching on Savonarola, various other sects (both Christian and non) that tried to bring on end times. He does a good job in chronicling the recent innovation of “rapture” and how it has conquered many fundamentalist Protestant denominations and impacted even mainline churches. Some readers will be unaware that the idea of rapture is not ancient or even historical, but a post-Civil War American discovery.

Finally, Kirsch looks at the “Left Behind” phenomenon, both among Christians and other, such as the Hale-Bopp end timers. Many are unable to resist the notion that they alone are worthy of being saved, that their secret (Gnostic) knowledge will save them and that they will have God’s / aliens’ / Nature’s vengeance performed on those who doubt them.