Libraries

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Will Kindles kill libraries?

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?
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?
By EUGENIA WILLIAMSON | July 29, 2011

Book Squad 911

On January 24, around three in the afternoon, a sprinkler pipe broke in the ceiling of the first floor of the Boston Athenaeum.
When your library's underwater, who you gonna call?
By EUGENIA WILLIAMSON | March 18, 2011

Slideshow: Photos from the War Lovers

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

Outrage overdue

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

Library woes

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.
Plus, Arizona declares war on immigrants
By EDITORIAL | April 30, 2010

Rhode Island’s First Family of Poetry

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.
Words, Words, Words
By BILL RODRIGUEZ | April 09, 2010

Photos: Most popular articles of 2009

The stories you couldn't not read this year
The year in martyrs, mortuaries, chupacabras, and pot-peddling soccer moms
By PHOENIX STAFF | December 18, 2009

Time Machines

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 the
New pictures from old negatives at the PPL
By GREG COOK | June 12, 2009

George W. Bush

Did you think we were done ripping the Neanderthal who set the country back five decades in just eight years? Well, we kind of are, but we also want to be the first to mock Texans who will soon begin discussing plans to build a library commemorating Amer
Did you think we were done ripping the Neanderthal who set the country back five decades in just eight years? Well, we kind of are, but we also want to be the first to mock Texans who will soon begin discussing plans to build a library commemorating America's first illiterate president.
By Boston Phoenix Staff | March 26, 2009

Censorship for Me, Penelope

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

Congress bans kids from libraries?

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

Geeky gifts 101

“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.”
An introduction to buying things you don’t completely understand
By GEORGIANA COHEN | December 08, 2008

Mixed Media at the Papercut

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").
Cultural staples
By CAITLIN E. CURRAN | November 18, 2008

Ask me anything

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.
A free instant answer to any question is just a text away. But what do ChaCha’s guides have that , say, librarians don’t?
By CAITLIN E. CURRAN | September 03, 2008

Should Americans Send Books to Iraq?

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?
Foreign relations
By A.J. PACITTI | August 20, 2008

AG should probe BPL

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.
Supposedly ‘independent’ trustees receive city funds. Why Birmingham rather than Bulger for the top job?
By EDITORIAL | July 23, 2008

The 11th Annual Muzzle Awards

Freedom of expression may be guaranteed by the Constitution. But it’s an idea we have to fight for every day.
Silencing free speech
By DAN KENNEDY | June 25, 2008

That hurts

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

Read the runes

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.
Letters to the Boston editor, March 7, 2008
By BOSTON PHOENIX LETTERS | March 05, 2008

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