With props to Pink Floyd , we want to know . . . is anyone out there? Is anyone out there? We tried a blog a few years ago and quickly discovered that no one was reading it. So we abandoned it. The work on our new website got us thinking more about how to connect with our students, our faculty, and even with librarians at other colleges and universities. And that brought us to “Beyond the Bookshelves.”

Most of us are reading blogs these days. Lots of blogs. Thanks to Google Reader following blogs is easy.  So we decided to go for it and try again. This fall there has been a lot to write about.  The new library website, digital access to The Point News, Kindles, chat reference, and so much more. But is a library blog just for announcements?

I have questions, and ideas, and opinions (lots of opinions) about what is happening to libraries and all of us who love them and use them.  Why does the full-text of journal articles seem to appear and disappear from those databases we all love?  What is the future of printed anything?  The online version of a journal often costs as much (or sometimes more) than the printed version – what’s up with that?  And why isn’t this stuff all free anyway?

These are the questions that keep me up at night – that and whether the NY Mets will ever get their act together.

Is anybody out there? Give us a sign.  Leave a comment, start a conversation, ask questions. If you have an idea for a blog post, let us know. If you have been reading but not commenting, let us know.

I’m not above offering a shameless promotion. The first student to email me, call me (x4267), or come by my office
(LI 236) to tell me you have read this blog post gets the beverage of their choice at the Grind.  This offer expires on Monday, September 24, 2012.

Don’t turn us into another brick in the wall.