Congratulations to the King County Library System‘s Sammamish Library, which has been selected as one of Library Journal’s “Landmark Libraries” for 2011! Read the full citation here. The rest of the winners and honorable mentions are here.

Anyone who works in libraries in Washington State knows that there is a whole lot of moving and shaking going on. I can’t think of a library staff-person I’ve met in my work who hasn’t been completely dedicated to their jobs and offering 150% to provide their users the best possible service.

So when Library Journal takes the time to honor two of these individuals in the ranks of their 2010 Movers and Shakers, it’s a tribute to the hard work that all of us do every day. Keep up the good work, and remember that it’s never too early to start nominating your library’s superstar staff for the 2011 Movers and Shakers list.

In the meantime, congratulations (and well-deserved!) to Washington’s newest Movers and Shakers!

Georgia Lomax, Deputy Director @ Pierce County Library System

Bernadette Salgado, Children’s Section Supervisor @ King County Library System

There’s been a lot of buzz the past week about a new book that was just published. Marilyn Johnson’s book, This Book is Overdue: How Librarians and Cybrarians Can Save Us All, has been getting a lot of press (and that’s a good thing for all of us). In the book, Johnson argues that librarians remain essential, even in the Google age (especially in the Google age?), but also remain underappreciated.

That’s not news for many of us, I’m sure, but her book abounds with examples of how librarians are helpful, hip, and breaking new ground every day in how they serve their communities. A recent Salon.com article cites that Johnson:

“… delights in refuting our assumptions about librarians, while making a rock-solid case for their indispensability at a time when library systems are losing an average of 50 librarians per year. Who else is going to help us formulate the questions Google doesn’t understand, or show non-English speakers how to apply for jobs online, or sympathize with your need to research the ancient origins of cockfighting? Librarians, Johnson argues, are one of our most underappreciated natural resources.”

Johnson was interviewed for the radio show On the Media, which was released on February 19th. You can listen to the full interview below (6m:09s):

There have also been excellent stories and interviews via the NJ Star-Ledger and Library Journal (which has video clips!).

Marilyn Johnson has her own website at http://marilynjohnson.net, and the book has its own site: http://www.thisbookisoverdue.com/. You may also find the book at your local library via WorldCat.

Those of us in libraries know that librarians are amazing; hopefully this book will help get the word out to the rest of the world.