This Book Is Overdue! by Marilyn Johnson

This Book Is Overdue! by Marilyn Johnson

Buried in info? Cross-eyed over technology? From the bottom of a pile of paper, disks, books, e-books, and scattered thumb drives comes a cry of hope: Make way for the librarians--they can help!

Those who predicted the death of libraries forgot to consider that, in the automated maze of contemporary life, none of us--expert and hopelessly baffled alike--can get along without human help. And not just any help: we need librarians, the only ones who can save us from being buried by the digital age. This Book Is Overdue! is a romp through the ranks of information professionals--from the blunt and obscenely funny bloggers to the quiet, law-abiding librarians gagged by the FBI. These are the pragmatic idealists who fuse the tools of the digital age with their love for the written word and the enduring values of free speech, open access, and scout-badge-quality assistance to anyone in need.

Marilynn S. is a writer who lives in Los Angeles. Johnson (Ph.D., New York University) is a history professor at Boston College and the chair of the history department. Dr. Johnson's study focuses on urban history, immigration, and western history. Her most recent work, Street Justice: A History of Police Violence in New York City (Beacon Press, 2003), focused on the history of police brutality in New York City from the mid-nineteenth to the late-twentieth centuries. Her previous work, The Second Gold Rush: Oakland and the East Bay in World War II (University of California Press, 1993), was honored by the Western Association of Women's Historians with the Sierra Award. She is currently working on a history of Boston's new immigrants from 1965 to the present.