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Lesson Number Three: Writing as book is like painting a large target on your chest to help your opponents sight in better.
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'27sep02
Hi. It's the merciful end to Banned Books Week. I'll have guests til Monday so no weekend updates. If you're in the Central Vermont area, feel free to come visit.
Do you believe that Harvard undergrads, when they work in the Harvard libraries, have the job title "librarian"? No? Neither do I. Way to go New Jersey Library Association in uncovering Doug Forrester's campaign lies. [and ALA stepped in there too]. [ thanks all ]
Why book donation might not be the best thing for a library in a developing country.
Book donation also takes business away from indigenous booksellers and publishers.... Africa is information rich, but book poor. Without more African publishing, huge areas of knowledge will be lost. Entire languages may disappear. Every dollar spent on buying books in Africa helps to ensure that African authors will be able to publish their work in their own countries.
The Librarian's Book Club is still recruiting new readers.
Long live the library! and, their snappy new web portal. Nice job, Library of Michigan maybe the state will let you have your own home page one of these days..... [ thanks kevin ]
Christian Science library opens this week in Boston. How's this for a name: The Mary Baker Eddy Library for the Betterment of Humanity. And now it has an admission fee. [ thanks sarah ]
Bush photo with upside-down book declared a fake. As I suspected, but it makes me laugh anyhow. [ thanks dave & rich]
'26sep02
Hi. Happy Banned Books Week. According to the AP: "As the American Library Association marks its 21st annual Banned Books Week, the organization is running low on actual bans to report." Just for the record, here's Focus on the Family's take on Banned Books Week. Also for the record, I am against censorship which is one of the reasons I think we need to take real censorship more seriously and not use a few parents' Harry Potter objections as an excuse to fuel a book and poster-buying holiday.
The Librarians for Peace website has a letter you can sign if you disagree with the US government's saber rattling towards Iraq: We Need 'Weapons of Mass Instruction' -- Books Not Bombs --
No War Against Iraq! [ thanks rory ]
Dear headline writers: every single dopey library pun you could possibly think of has already been used for news articles about librarians. Please stop trying to be clever and just tell us what the story is about. Thank you. And, without further ado, I give you: Libraries Booking Library Furniture [actually an interesting article about a company that makes stylish library furniture]. [ thanks thomas ]
RIP Justin Arundale, former librarian of The Independent and creator of the world's first electronic newespaper library.
[ thanks bill ]
You know, I sometimes think that most of the questions on Google Answers are just there by people who are planning to write news articles about it. Apparently GA really tops the list as far as pay-for-question-answering services go. [ thanks bill ]
'24sep02
Hi. It's still Banned Books Week. The way I see it, it's a tough issue. On the one hand, we claim that books about bad subjects don't cause people to do bad things, and that people should be able to read whatever they damn well please. On the other hand, we are constantly extolling the virtues of reading, claiming that reading changes lives, etc. How do these two opposing viewpoints get resolved?
A nice little synopsis of the war being waged on the copyright front from our friends at explodedlibrary. What war, you say?
Spooky Librarians. One of them is the librarian at the Cincinnati College of Mortuary Science, no joke.
Those folks are real librarians, I am not so sure this gal is, despite her photo captions [barely work safe]. [ thanks heidi ]
Fashion that shows "a soft spot for the libidinous librarian." [ thanks diann ]
I do not know the context of this image, but sheesh, this guy's wife is a librarian! [ thanks juanita ]
Drew Carey donates $600K from game show winnings to Ohio libraries. [ thanks bill ]
'22sep02
Hi. Happy Banned Book week. If your library is doing anything more interesting than "read a banned book at the library" I salute you. This library banned the ACLU Banned Book Week poster. Banned Book Week is one of those great feel good events where everyone can pal around and feel righteous about the fact that they are coming out against banning books, as if almost anyone would come out and say they are for banning, or burning books.
If you'll notice, most of the most popular book challenges last year were for books being "unsuitable to an age group" meaning that they were challenged by parents in schools and school libraries. In fact, nearly 3/4 of these so-called "banned books" have been in schools and school libraries. Please note, these were not books that were even removed, just ones that had written complaints filed against them. As most free-speech advocates would agree, complaint is our prerogative as citizens of a democracy. And yet, these objections -- while usually overruled -- have spawned this yearly library holiday where we get to say "well, we're against book banning... still!" and cite first amendment cases from the sixties. Don't forget to remind your patrons that in the first four months post-PATRIOT Act, 85 libraries reported getting subpoenaed to release patron records to the FBI and/or the government. Comparing that to less than 500 book challenges in 2001, and it seems that the government and rabid parents may be running neck and neck in terms of their threat to our freedom to freely read.
Bloodhag [that library band] is finally getting some of the respect it deserves. [ thanks all ]
You all know how I love bookmobiles, right? Well, the Internet Archive is sending out a bookmobile loaded with [free] etexts. They will be touring the US, visiting libraries and showing people how easy it is to download, read and even print out their own public domain book. Keep track of where they are using this handy page They start in San Francisco this Friday. They have also assembled a handy [though image heavy] list of other bookmobiles. [ thanks samuel ]
I've never really gotten the Shy Librarian website, but they keep in good touch with me and are sponsoring their Marian Awards again this year. They also have a story about a bookmobile.
"You are in a library and not an adult entertainment center" and other computer error messages for library OPACs
I never tire of these alternative librarian stories: the drummer librarian.
"It's really weird, you know. I love my drums, but somehow the library works really well because it's quiet," says De Nardo, who has been director of the library for two years, and worked for three years prior at the Wood Library in Canandaigua. "I guess the contrast actually helps, because I do like the quiet."
'20sep02
How the Feds can "legally" get at your library records, a post-PATRIOT assessment. [ Juice ]
Crazy SFO book slasher gets probation and has to pay nearly 10K in restitution, yes remains free to slash again. Oh, and he's supposed to "stay away" from the library.
"It's a loss... My opinion is the $9,600 wouldn't cover the replacement of 600 books."
[ thanks all ]
Don Forrester, who is running for US Senator in New Jersey, claims to have been a librarian in a previous low-income life. However, his bio does not mention any higher education [and his main website page has an egregious 3 MB video that loads when the page loads]. His claims appear to be a fabrication.
Enron librarian is among those who bare it all for Playgirl magazine. Work safe, though this satire is borderline. [ thanks stephen ]
Brantford's librarians strike just in time for the Model Library Network meeting. [ thanks bill ]
Julie from Julie's Tacky Treasures claims that getting her MLS has given her the "respectability she craved." [ thanks jhobbs ]
Happy 400th Birthday, Bodleian Library. [ thanks eoin ]
'17sep02
Hi. I have been in Boston and environs for the past few days, sorry to be out of touch.Sorry if some of these links are a bit oldish.
"Books are more important in the past year"... Laura Bush talks about the Montreal Book festival and her ideas about reading and freedom. Sadly, she's almost as badly spoken as her husband. And NPR lobs her a bunch of dorky softball questions. [ realaudio, thanks jane & mac ]
Britain's first lending library is 150 years old. [ thanks eoin ]
Overdue, the library-themed comic that you probably read on Library Stuff, has a new URL: overduemedia.com
The Newsday article from a few days ago about rights that Americans have lost since 9/11 seems to have vanished. Here is a new link.
Public domain books now available in easier to read page-by-page versions. [ thanks jhobbs ]
What is SLA up to? Apparently this communication was created with no input from members. While I vaguely understand the difference between "not endorsing" and "disagreeing" I think librarians need to be a bit more straightforward that using librarians or other information professionals to spy on US citizens or other residents is not cool. Period.
[H]omeland security will be an enormous task that will not occur overnight. It will require fundamental cooperation, information sharing, innovation and knowledge exchange. However, if it is to succeed, we must aggressively seek new solutions to existing and future problems. It is our obligation - our necessity – our national responsibility
SLA is not endorsing the Homeland Security terminology or the various components of the bill before Congress. Our initiative is related solely to the value that special librarians and information professionals can offer in the functions related to knowledge management, content management, competitive intelligence, etc.
'12sep02
Mandan [ND] gets a building for their library for a scant $350K. Plus, it's in an old freight house. [ thanks bill ]
"...homeless people may stand to benefit even more than the average patron from library resources, which can help them function in a democracy and an economy not always easy to access." [ bibliolatry ]
We often give Laura Bush a hard time for quitting librarianship to help her husband pursue his political career ... It seems that Morrissey's Mom did the same thing.
Florida elections may be still considered a mess, but at least a librarian won the primary for commissioner of Agriculture and Consumer Services.
'11sep02
Witness and Response: September 11th Acquisitions at the Library of Congress. For more, see their Today in History page
Stephen Cohen from Library Stuff has a place for readers to share their comments today.
Here is a list of rights Americans have lost since this time last year. It's a short list, please notice that librarians are specifically mentioned on it.
'10sep02
Hi. Since I am going to be back in Seattle this Winter, I will be in town the next time Seattle Public is closed for a week. Accordingly, I am thinking about having a Read-In where me and all my literate friends get together on the library [or courthouse, or someplace] steps and read books since we can't be in the library. It's not my idea [it's Scott's] but I am planning to run with it.
Why is the scannable bar code on new library books placed over the author's name anyhow? [ thanks bill]
Seattle Public has a Read and Reflect bibliography online for September 11th.
The "remaking" of the Carnegie Library in Pittsburgh, for better or worse
For chrissake, it's the library. People know what that is -- you can't make it sexy. [ thanks ron ]
With Banned Books Week breathing down our neck with all its overblown histrionics and marketing tie-ins, how nice to find a really tasteful site that explores the issue without telling you how to feel about it: The Banned Books Project. [ thanks jude ]
'09sep02
Hi. I did not get the public library job. They said it was a "tough choice" but of course they would say that. I see it as a mixed blessing; now I don't have to choose whether to go back to Seattle, I'll just go. Thanks for all your well-wishes.
'07sep02
Hi. I'm still blue without NewBreed Librarian around.
NY Public libraries making even more cuts in hours. I mean more than the last ones they made. Yes, even more.
"It is appalling and a sign of twisted priorities.... The library is one of our greatest public resources which enhances activity for all sorts of people. This is a knowledge-based society, they tell us, and to be denied one of the great tools is a blow to the city, the society and the culture." [ NYT thanks rachel ]
How is the Sarajevo National Library doing? I'm glad you asked. [ thanks walter ]
Laura Bush, in an oddly schmaltzy article is sometimes said to be talking the talk of a 'true librarian"
there are times she talks the talk of a true librarian, fighting for the free flow of information and the choice to read anything and everything
The Informed Librarian is a free online Table of Contents newsletter that is now available as a free email newsletter.
'04sep02
The interview went fine, email me for more info if you want it. I'll know about the job next week.
I guess Banned and Challeged Books was too much of a mouthful, so in a few weeks, we have Banned Books Week coming up. I'm not sure what is "quick and easy" about this guide, but at least I know where to go if I want to start my Banned Books Week shopping early!
Apparently one of the features of this new hard drive, is that it's quiet enough even for your library.
The librarian in you will love [this] hard drive. Indeed, this drive is as quiet as the reference room on the night
before midterms. [ thanks walter ]
Mysterious funding sources reinstate Philadelphia's school librarians. What do you suppose it means to be the 'lead coach for the Philadelphia school librarians'? [ thanks bill ]
'03sep02
Hi. My job interview is tonight. My book deadline is Monday. My birthday is Thursday. I am a bit of a mess this week.
Just saw Black Mask in which Jet Li plays a librarian with a secret alter-identity. Turns out there's a whole list of people who have played librarians in the movies. [ thanks janet ]
The Boston Atheneaum reopens this week after a three year renovation.
...the Athenaeum is privately owned and guards its heritage with vigilance. Under its legislative charter, the number of proprietors has not increased since 1854. Shares are inherited but seldom sold, though they can be; until 1970 they were traded on the Boston Stock Exchange. Sometimes they are bequeathed back to the library.
XML curious? You might like to read How Does XML Help Libraries. [ catalogablog ]
Remember how I discussed social inclusion last month? Seems that we have this problem to a large degree in Santa Ana California, where 10% of the library's books are in Spanish despite the fact that 74% of the residents speak Spanish.
"It's not so much the fact that the library doesn't have the books they should," said Martinez, whose store hosted the overflow crowd for Jorge Ramos. "No one makes you feel at home. You don't feel like it's your library." [ LATimes thanks bruce ]
President of US claims to have been reading a book. [ newpages ]
The Uganda Library Association is working to improve literacy in their country by Organizing reading camps. [ thanks brandon ]
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