March has been really busy with work and teaching and some family business, but I have done a bit of writing. Today, the Library Journal Academic Newswire published my first contribution to the newly reorganized Peer to Peer Review column. In addition to Barbara Fister, who has been writing great stuff in that column for a long time, the new column also includes Rick Anderson, Dorothea Salo, Kevin Smith, and me writing weekly in rotation. I was pleased to be asked, but I have to say that when I saw the list of strong contributors I felt uncharacteristically daunted for a moment. Here’s the first column: The Two Cultures.

My book on Libraries and the Enlightenment has now been published! It was just announced today. You can order a copy from the Library Juice Press or from Amazon.

The Library Juice site has a blurb, but here’s a bit more on what to expect. Chapter 1 provides a summary and analysis of the scientific and political principles of the Enlightenment, especially those that relate to the library history discussed in the book. Chapter 2 shows how Enlightenment principles led to the foundation of the first research university, and the way in which the research university model revolutionized higher education and enabled the creation of modern academic libraries. Chapter 3 investigates how the same principles inspired the public library movement in the U.S. Chapter 4 discusses examples of what I call the “universal library,” including the Library at Alexandria, Gabriel Naudé’s 17th-century Advice on Establishing a Library, H.G. Wells’ “World Brain,” Vannevar Bush’s Memex, Google, and the Digital Public Library of America. Finally, it argues that a universal library universally accessible would be the culmination of the Enlightenment in the domain of information, and that such a universal library would be built upon the current network of American libraries. There’s a lot of history and a bit of politics. It’s a good introduction to and survey of the topic for librarians, library school students, or anyone interested in the history of libraries.

So I hope you’ll buy a copy for yourself or your library (or both!).