Libraries

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Will Kindles kill libraries?

In this corner: libraries struggling to bring in patrons. In the other: Kindles looking to expand their market. Will it be a bloodbath, or can they hug it out?
This week, OverDrive itself will host its own conference to help libraries deal with a massive onslaught of patrons clamoring to check out books on their Kindles. Can embattled public institutions handle such a drastic change?
By EUGENIA WILLIAMSON | July 27, 2011

Book Squad 911

When your library's underwater, who you gonna call?
On January 24, around three in the afternoon, a sprinkler pipe broke in the ceiling of the first floor of the Boston Athenaeum.
By EUGENIA WILLIAMSON | March 16, 2011

Slideshow: Photos from the War Lovers

Photos of Teddy Roosevelt, Henry Cabot Lodge, William Randolph Hearst, and more from Evan Thomas' book.
Photos from Evan Thomas' book The War Lovers.
By EVAN THOMAS | May 14, 2010

Outrage overdue

Letters to the Boston editor, May 14, 2010
Where is the outrage over the misuse of city funds?
By BOSTON PHOENIX LETTERS | May 13, 2010

Library woes

Plus, Arizona declares war on immigrants
In an attempt to save four Boston Public Library branches that are slated to close due to budget shortfalls, some state legislators from Boston have threatened to block all state funding the library receives if it shutters any of its 26 branches.
By EDITORIAL | April 28, 2010

Rhode Island’s First Family of Poetry

Words, Words, Words
Husband and wife Keith and Rosmarie Waldrop will be giving a reading at the Providence Central Library, on Washington Street, on Sunday, April 11 at 2 pm. That’s no small matter for poetry lovers.
By BILL RODRIGUEZ | April 08, 2010

Most popular articles of 2009

The year in martyrs, mortuaries, chupacabras, and pot-peddling soccer moms
The stories you couldn't not read this year
By PHOENIX STAFF | December 22, 2009

Time Machines

New pictures from old negatives at the PPL
There is a golden formula in photography: photo plus time equals increasing allure. Old books and poetry, old television and movies can turn stilted, tedious. But photos seem to grow ever more compelling with age, even if the shots were boring when they were first made.
By GREG COOK | June 12, 2009

91. George W. Bush

BRAIN-DEAD PREZ
What, did you think we were done ripping the Neanderthal who set the country back five decades in just eight years, just because he’s out of office? Well, we want to be the first to mock all of those involved in building a library commemorating America’s first illiterate president. We’d also like to recommend the first book for inclusion in the project: The Pet Goat .
By Boston Phoenix Staff | March 25, 2009

Censorship for Me, Penelope

Girl, Interrupted
Lisa Jahn-Clough's young-adult novel Me, Penelope is the subject of a recent dispute at Tavares Middle School in Orlando, Florida.
By ALEX IRVINE | March 04, 2009

Congress bans kids from libraries?

New safety law may prohibit children under 12 from libraries – or make many books illegal
Is it possible that Congress has just inadvertently turned millions of children’s books into contraband?
By LISSA HARRIS | January 09, 2009

Geeky gifts 101

An introduction to buying things you don’t completely understand
“Smelly Yankee Candle for Grandma? Check. Tie for Dad? Got it. Toy dump truck for Tommy? Yup. Man, this holiday shopping stuff is easy. Now, who’s next? . . . Um. . . Hmmm.”
By GEORGIANA COHEN | December 11, 2008

Mixed Media at the Papercut

Cultural staples
Last Saturday's mixed-bill affair at the Papercut Zine Library was a strange hybrid of contemporary salon, multimedia talent show, and impromptu modern-dance class (with instructions to move our bodies "like fire").
By CAITLIN E. CURRAN | November 18, 2008

Ask me anything

A free instant answer to any question is just a text away. But what do ChaCha’s guides have that , say, librarians don’t?
It used to be that, if you had a burning question, you had to a) ask your mom; b) consult a Magic 8 Ball; or c) trek to the top of a mountain to seek out a sagacious, all-knowing guru.
By CAITLIN E. CURRAN | September 03, 2008

Should Americans Send Books to Iraq?

Foreign relations
Sending books to Iraq to promote civic culture in Iraq might help you to sleep more soundly. But do small-scale efforts make more than a symbolic impact?
By A.J. PACITTI | August 20, 2008

AG should probe BPL

Supposedly ‘independent’ trustees receive city funds. Why Birmingham rather than Bulger for the top job?
Political innocents who discount allegations that Boston Mayor Thomas Menino is politicizing the Boston Public Library’s board of trustees so that he can directly control the nation’s oldest free municipal library received a rude awakening recently.
By EDITORIAL | July 23, 2008

The 11th Annual Muzzle Awards

Silencing free speech
Freedom of expression may be guaranteed by the Constitution. But it’s an idea we have to fight for every day.
By DAN KENNEDY | July 05, 2008

That hurts

Letters to the Boston editor: March 14, 2008
Regarding David Thorpe’s recent “The Big Hurt” column: it’s unfortunate and a sad commentary on society that you get paid for this.
By BOSTON PHOENIX LETTERS | March 12, 2008

Read the runes

Letters to the Boston editor, March 7, 2008
As a user of the special collections at the Boston Public Library, I have been appalled at the light coverage of key service desks necessitated by staff cuts over the past several years.
By BOSTON PHOENIX LETTERS | March 05, 2008