Speaking of library activism and useful results, I was recently made aware of the Jail Library Group of the University of Wisconsin’s School of Library and Information Science. You can view their slideshow [with its familiar presentation format] to learn more about what they do, from a talk they gave at the WI Library Association conference last month.
Author: jessamyn
skin books in libraries
A book term I somehow missed in library school “anthropodermic bibliopegy” another word for books bound in human skin. Apparently they’re not as rare as you might think.
librarians, technologists and free culture
A great LJ post by Ben Ostrowsky about librarians and technology and another long list of things that we should know more about. Special appearance in the comments by Ben’s Mom!
I can invent a barcode generator that prints PDFs for cheap Avery labels, but it’s the users like you who tell school librarians that it’s a great way to save money (especially if you cover your labels with library tape anyway).
I can write an article on anonymous library cards and share it freely with a Creative Commons license, but it’s up to you to share the ideas with others and implement it yourselves….
At the risk of stealing material from Christ, I encourage you to go and do the same. If you don’t have a blog, get one and get comfortable with it. Join a mailing list and ask questions. If you see a question you can answer, do it. It is so not about me. It’s about you.
1,082 books, the Penguin Classics Library, replaces personal library lost in a forest fire
I always wondered what sorts of people bought the entire Penguin Classics Library Complete Collection [$8K at Amazon, with free shipping]. Well one sort is the librarian who has lost her entire personal library in a forest fire. She has no TV, no children, four cats and one very generous and thoughful husband.
Thousands of scorched tree trunks still range up the hillside across the street from Ms. Gursky’s new home here, but inside the house, her library is well on the way to recovery. In September, Ms. Gursky received a birthday gift from her husband that earned her the envy of her book-loving friends: the complete collection of the Penguin Classics Library, 1,082 books sold only by Amazon.com for nearly $8,000.
[thanks kathleen]
AP: Activist librarians shake quiet, meek stereotype
“Quite a trick, being able to posture as a radical, while at the same time being fawned over by the mainstream media” says the Conservator blog about the recent AP wire story about activist librarians. I thought so too; Jenna Freedman and I are quoted heavily.