July 2010
June 2010
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The Hub: business model of the future for books... →
And how about the library? Is that in jeopardy in this growing digital age? Maybe, if you see is as is merely a repository for books, and if the librarian’s job is simply to put books back where they belong. But how about if you view the library as the ‘hub for all things information’? (via LISNews)
This isn’t a wholly new idea so much as a tidy new way of thinking about what most...
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Seacoast Activists Insert 5,000 Bookmarks in... →
Thousands of bookmarks promoting two organizations’ points of view recently created a headache for public libraries on the Seacoast.
… It’s not a new phenomenon at libraries, but Portsmouth Public Library Director Mary Ann List said several in the area were hit recently with a scourge of bookmarks promoting an unspecified political cause between the pages of books. The messages tend to...
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Sometimes the Internet is just not big enough for... →
“Mobile applications for end-users was the first target for the Innovation Lab and remains a high priority ongoing. Mobile data and Web services are relatively new and fairly mixed up for everyone, not just libraries: lots of platforms, devices and service strategies. While testing mobile strategies, we are repeatedly reminded that for the younger audiences, mobile is primarily a social...
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It’s Not You, It’s Me: Breaking Up With Books →
One of my favorite Millions Quizzes was “The Glaring Gap,” a post in which regular contributors confessed which Great Books / Great Authors they’ve never read. One contributor shared that she consciously chose not to read a certain category of male writers, and the comments came a-flying: oh, but you “should” read those! Should should should. Even the word “confess” implies sheepishness,...
“We read to know that we are not alone.”
– C.S. Lewis (via loveyourchaos) (via notshybutsly)
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Neil Gaiman says closing libraries would be 'a... →
Gaiman, 49, is the first person ever to have been awarded both Britain’s Carnegie Medal and the US Newbery Medal – considered the two most important children’s literary awards – for the same book.
The Carnegie Medal is awarded by the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals (CILIP).
Accepting the award in London yesterday, Gaiman said: “Libraries are our...
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Apple Easing Up On Book App Censorship? →
“It would seem that Apple’s loosening up on matters of literary censorship, where there’s sort of a huge historical precedent to, you know, NOT do it (as opposed to banning shake-your-iPhone-and-watch-these-boobs-jiggle apps, for which there is unfortunately little historical precedent.) Recently, too, Apple was quick to reverse their decision to censor graphic editions...
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Brooklyn Read-In Marathon Protests Library Cuts -... →
Not typically ones to raise their voices, librarians staged an overnight read-in on the steps of the Brooklyn Public Library on Grand Army Plaza to criticize the city’s plan to close 40 branches by month’s end, and to reduce hours and employees at those that remain.
The event’s slogan: “We Will Not Be Shushed.”
“In the Great Depression, the New York public libraries were kept open seven days a...
projectgutenberg:
The dim, dusty room, with the busts staring down from the tall bookcases, the cozy chairs, the globes, and best of all, the wilderness of books in which she could wander where she liked, made the library a region of bliss to her.
- Louisa May Alcott, Little Women (1868) [full text]
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Library first in state to launch 'free music'... →
“The Santa Clara County Library has a long history of letting people borrow items, but now the library is actually giving patrons something to keep. At the start of this month, the library system became the first in California to offer residents free music downloads. The county library system, which includes the Cupertino Library, has a new digital music service that lets library card...
I am a frustrated eBook (non) user →
I participated last week in an online chat via Twitter about eBooks put on by Follow the Reader. Something I wrote then, and thought bore repeating is as follows, succinctly summarized in one Tweet:
I think w/o new ebook DRM, licensing, & copyright, library ebooks will continue to exist only in our communities’ margins.
I strongly feel that eBooks & eAudioBooks are only used on the...
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Walt at Random » Over-sharing? →
The June San Francisco Chronicle Magazine … leads off with an editor’s column with the same title as this post.
It’s not all that long (465 words–shorter than this 558-word post); you can read the whole thing yourself, and look at the amusing picture. The theme: Meredith May (the writer) has been
getting into polite arguments with friends who have been posting pictures of me on Facebook...
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Twitter responses on libraries and ebooks →
Libraries—from the library of Alexandria to the “social libraries” that preceded public libraries—came about because of the value of aggregation. And contemporary libraries are in large part valuable for the same reasons. They are:
1. Bringing physical items together makes access easier than having books spread all around. 2. A library can allow many people to use an...
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Save on summer reading with free e-books →
I’m glad to see that the that the very first suggestion is to check your local library’s website for an ebook service. They also link to a couple websites that offer free ebooks, but for more variety I suggest checking out this article: Top 12 Websites to Download Free E-Books.
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The Plump Irony: Come Bloomsday, Apple admits... →
More than 75 years after the high court ruled that James Joyce’s “Ulysses” was not pornographic or obscene, the corporate judges who preside over Apple’s app store deemed inappropriate some portions of the graphic novel “Ulysses ‘Seen.’ ” But now, just in time for Bloomsday celebrations today, the company has admitted its mistake.
The irony is...
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L.A. libraries are cut to 5 days a week -... →
Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa’s appointees at the Los Angeles Public Library voted Thursday to cut the number of library hours by eight per week as part of the city’s larger plan to trim expenses by reducing public services.
In a 3-0 vote, the Board of Library Commissioners unanimously cut one day of service from each of the city’s 73 libraries, keeping them open five days a week...
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Librarians by the Numbers | LISNews →
“As I was finalizing my conference schedule for the ALA Annual conference this year, there was a blurb for one of the programs that caught my eye. It’s for a program entitled “Passing the Baton: Who Will Take It?” on Sunday morning.
There are 72 million baby boomers, 11,000 Americans turn 50 every day, 4.6 adults turn 65 each minute, and almost 60% of librarians are 45 or older. There...
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Man accused of stealing $1M in rare books says... →
The home-electronics installer accused of pilfering $1 million worth of rare books from a Fifth Avenue mansion owned by the widow of a Vanderbilt heir claimed the precious tomes has been left to rot in the basement.
Timothy Smith, 41, faces a felony grand larceny charge for the alleged theft from the late Carter Burden’s extensive collection of 20th century American literature, including...
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20 of the World's Most Beautiful Libraries. →
bookshelfporn:
500daysofkissingmypillow:
Thanks to souldreamer, now my list of libraries to visit is getting longer.
Old British Reading Room looks like the El Ateneo in Argentina. And the Central Library, I have to say hello to Seattle then. Take a peek, grace your eyes.
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Google serves up knowledge bytes on iPhone,... →
“On Thursday, the search giant opened its ability to surfaceshort answers to definitive search queries to select mobile platforms. Search in English for a well-documented query, like a country capital or president, famous composer, or movie release date, and you should see an answer—and its Web sources—surface near the top of the search results page.”
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Google's New Secure Search Might Force Schools to... →
“Last month, Google launched an encrypted version of its Web search, allowing users to enable a Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) connection to encrypt their information. Like several other Google products that feature SSL encryption, including email and Docs, Google touted this move as a step towards enhancing users’ privacy and security.
But as the encrypted searches mean that data cannot...
projectgutenberg:
The Opera ghost really existed. He was not, as was long believed, a creature of the imagination of the artists, the superstition of the managers, or a product of the absurd and impressionable brains of the young ladies of the ballet, their mothers, the box-keepers, the cloak-room attendants or the concierge.
- Gaston Leroux, The Phantom of the Opera (1910) [full text]
Local bars, public library to show World Cup games →
The Iowa City Public Library will be showing at least five World Cup games on a large screen in meeting room A. More games could be added as teams advance, Public Relations Specialist April Jo Harder said.
“The library will show Saturday’s game from 1:30 to 4 p.m., the Slovenia vs. USA game from 9 to 11 a.m. June 18, the Mexico vs. Uruguay game from 9 to 11 a.m. June 22, the Algeria...
Real names of 23 fictional characters →
52hearts:
You know the characters, but you might not know their full names. Store these away for future trivia nights.
1. Did you know the Comic Book Guy on “The Simpsons” has a name? It’s Jeff Albertson. But that wasn’t the decision of creator Matt Groening. “I was out of the room when [the writers] named him,” he told MTV in 2007. “In my mind, ‘Louis Lane’ was his name, and he was obsessed and...
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Gallery: Digitizing the past and present at the... →
The Library of Congress has nearly 150 million items in its collection, including at least 21 million books, 5 million maps, 12.5 million photos and 100,000 posters. The largest library in the world, it pioneers both preservation of the oldest artifacts and digitization of the most recent—so that all of it remains available to future generations.
I recently took a tour of two LoC...
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Publishers Need to Offer Popular E-Books through... →
Currently only a few publishers and distributors offer popular e-books in a manner that allows libraries to license and “lend” them or check them out to the public. E-books are a very exciting format that should dramatically change the “book” experience with the incorporation of multimedia, links to related sources, and of social networking.
The authors have some suggestions about how libraries...
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Letters With Character →
Looking for something to do with your afternoon? Check out “Letters With Character,” a blog that features user-submitted letters written to fictional characters. The project is promoting a “forthcoming book of stories inspired by letters.” Click here for details, and the email address for sending your own letters. (via LISNews)
