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Great Libraries of the World | Digital Library of the Week | Calendar

The e-newsletter of the American Library Association | May 9, 2012

Solutions and Services column

APA PsychNET ad

AL Buyers Guide

American Libraries Online

Capitol Hill Public Schools Parent Organization logoD.C. officials feel the heat over school library cuts
A spring proposal by District of Columbia officials to eliminate more than 50 school librarian jobs for the next academic year has triggered a public relations nightmare for the city council, where the proposal originated. Members of the Capitol Hill Public Schools Parent Organization are determined to fight a spring decision by schools Chancellor Kaya Henderson to defund school librarian posts at schools with less than 300 students and let principals of larger schools decide whether to reallocate their librarians’ salaries. “If this situation were to remain unchanged, 58 schools would have no librarian,” grassroots activist Peter MacPherson said....
American Libraries news, May 4

Final drawing for Where the Wild Things Are. Pen and ink, watercolor. © Maurice Sendak, 1963, 1991, all rights reserved. Courtesy, Rosenbach Museum and LibraryRemembering Maurice Sendak at the Rosenbach
Laurie Borman writes: “Maurice Sendak, illustrator and author of nearly 100 books and winner of ALA’s 1964 Caldecott Medal for Where The Wild Things Are, died May 8. He was 83. Creator of amazing nightmares, as the New York Times called them, Sendak’s works live on at the Rosenbach Museum and Library in Philadelphia, where he contributed more than 10,000 of his illustrations and manuscripts since 1966, and was a trustee. He gained the title of honorary president in 2003.” Watch Sendak deliver the 2003 May Hill Arbuthnot Honor Lecture at Cambridge (Mass.) Public Library (1:29:53)....
AL: Inside Scoop, May 8; New York Times, May 8; videolectures.net

Get One, Buy One: Flipping the sale in a freemium modelGiving away music increases sales—just like for books
Christopher Harris writes: “Publicly funded libraries provide no-cost access to reading materials, and yet this country spent $14.348 billion on books in 2011. Furthermore, we are still spending quite a bit on music, even though it is available at no cost via advertising-supported services like the radio, Pandora, and Spotify. In fact, new data suggests that giving away music on Spotify actually increases sales of the music on iTunes.”...
AL: E-Content, May 9; Foner Books; TechCrunch, May 6

James L. Hilton (left), vice president and chief information officer at the University of Virginia, talks with James L. Mullins, dean of libraries at Purdue UniversityARL meets in Chicago
George Eberhart writes: “The Association of Research Libraries met in Chicago May 2–4 for its 160th Membership Meeting. It was attended by representatives from 114 of the member organizations, as well as 27 Research Library Leadership Fellows. Attendees were prepared, focused, and engaged, especially University of Virginia Vice President and Chief Information Officer James L. Hilton (on the left), whose enthusiasm for the recently established Digital Preservation Network, a federation of universities intent on securing the long-term preservation of the digital scholarly record, was infectious.”...
AL: Inside Scoop, May 4

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ALA News

Barbara K. StriplingStripling wins 2013–2014 ALA presidency
Barbara K. Stripling (right), assistant professor of practice at Syracuse (N.Y.) University, has been elected 2013–2014 ALA president. She defeated Gina J. Millsap, chief executive officer of the Topeka and Shawnee County (Kans.) Public Library by a vote count of 6,272 to 4,486. Stripling will become president-elect in June 2012 and will assume the ALA presidency in June 2013, following the ALA Annual Conference in Chicago....
Office of ALA Governance, May 4

ALA Councilors elected
Thirty-three members have been elected as councilors-at-large on ALA Council for three-year terms. The terms begin at the conclusion of the 2012 ALA Annual Conference in Anaheim, California, and extend through the end of the 2015 ALA Annual Conference in San Francisco....
Office of ALA Governance, May 4

Anaheim Convention CenterProgramming Librarian’s Guide to Annual Conference
Programming Librarian, a resource website of the Public Programs Office, has created an online guide to recommended programs and events to be held at the ALA Annual Conference in Anaheim. The Programming Librarian’s Guide to the ALA Annual Conference was created specifically for public, academic, special, and school librarians who plan and present cultural and community programs....
Public Programs Office, May 8

Event of the year for reading fanatics
The 2012 ALA Annual Conference is shaping up to offer hundreds of possibilities and opportunities for supporters of reading, books, publishing, and related activities. Highlights include hundreds of authors speaking in programs, at the Book Buzz Theater, and the exhibit hall, where there will be stacks of advance reading copy giveaways....
Conference Services, May 7

Early Bird registration closes May 13
Key issues covered at 2012 ALA Annual Conference include digital content and ebooks, technology in libraries, innovation, books and authors, leadership, library advocacy, civic engagement, and library marketing. Potential attendees will get the best rates when they register by May 13....
Conference Services, May 4

Parade of Bookmobiles at ALA Annual Conference in Chicago, 2009Bookmobile Saturday in Anaheim
Bookmobile Saturday, June 23, at the 2012 ALA Annual Conference, provides attendees with opportunities to learn, network, and gain inspiration. Network with bookmobile and outreach professionals during the Bookmobile Saturday Author Luncheon and be inspired by guest speaker Gerald Chertavian, founder of Year Up. Finally, climb aboard some of the latest vehicles during the Annual Parade of Bookmobiles, held in conjunction with the ALA Diversity and Outreach Fair....
Office for Literacy and Outreach Services, May 4

Online Virtual Membership Meeting, June 6
ALA President Molly Raphael and Executive Director Keith Michael Fiels invite you to the 2012 Virtual Membership Meeting at 3–4:30 p.m. Central time, June 6. Members are invited to hear from ALA leadership and participate in the discussions and resolution process. Because the interactive platform is limited to 1,000 participants, preregistration is required. To learn how to submit a resolution, please go to the ALA Members group on ALA Connect....
ALA Membership Blog, May 8

Screenshot of ACLU Senior Policy Counsel Michael German from the Vanishing Liberties videoDocumentary: Vanishing Liberties
To highlight the 2012 observance of Choose Privacy Week, the ALA Office for Intellectual Freedom is debuting a new documentary (27:05), Vanishing Liberties: The Rise of State Surveillance in the Digital Age, on the Choose Privacy Week website. The film explores the government’s growing use of surveillance tools to watch and monitor immigrant communities, and the proposals to adopt these tools to track the activities of all Americans....
Office for Intellectual Freedom, May 7

New text-message advocacy tool
ALA has launched Mobile Commons, a new advocacy tool that will allow library supporters to receive text-message alerts (2–3 per month) from the ALA Office of Government Relations. Subscribers will have the option to call legislators to discuss particular issues toll-free through Mobile Commons. The text messages will provide subscribers with talking points on issues before automatically transferring the advocates to the offices of their legislators. Sign up online or by texting the word “library” to 877877....
Office of Government Relations, May 8

Sen. Jack Reed (D-R.I.) with the Rhode Island delegation at Library Legislative DayScenes from National Library Legislative Day
More than 350 librarians and library supporters from across the country converged on Washington, D.C., April 23–24, to meet with members of Congress to discuss key library issues during ALA’s 38th annual National Library Legislative Day. The event focused on supporting federal funding for the nation’s libraries....
AL Focus, May 8

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Booklist Online logo

Cover of Kill You TwiceFeatured review: Adult crime fiction
Cain, Chelsea. Kill You Twice. Aug. 2012. 336p. Minotaur, hardcover (978-1-4231-5219-4).
In The Night Season (2011), Cain proved that she could write a superb thriller without the presence of her signature character, the “Beauty Killer,” Gretchen Lowell, who wreaked havoc through the first three novels in the series that costars Portland, Oregon, Police Detective Archie Sheridan. Well, Gretchen is back, and she’s better—and badder—than ever. Archie is healing, slowly, from all the wounds, physical and psychological, that Gretchen has inflicted upon him, and Gretchen is safely ensconced in the Oregon State Mental Hospital (well, safely may be a stretch). Then Archie gets a call from Gretchen’s psychiatrist with a message that the killer Archie is hunting is after Gretchen’s child. A child? Gretchen? This is news, to be sure....

Chelsea Cain dressed as a devilHostile Questions: Chelsea Cain
Daniel Kraus writes: “Booklist wrote of Chelsea Cain, author of Heartsick, Sweetheart, and more: ‘Popular entertainment just doesn’t get much better than this.’ Aw, wuddn’t that nice of us? We’re not always in such a giving mood. Take, hmm, let’s see, today for example: I’m dying to lock horns with Cain—her oeuvre of bestselling, critically acclaimed serial killer thrillers be damned! Will I end her reign of terror? Or will I be her latest victim?”...

Likely Stories, May 7

The Year's Best Crime NovelsThe Best Crime Novels of 2012
Bill Ott writes: “Let’s start with a little complaining. It gets harder and harder to pick the year’s best crime fiction. There is so much outstanding work in this ever-expanding genre that it’s confounding even to know where to start. It would be easy enough to look to our best ongoing series, most of which add a new entry every year, and keep honoring Michael Connelly, Louise Penny, James Lee Burke, and a handful of others. That would be easy and certainly not unfair, as the giants of the genre continue to do outstanding work. On the other hand, you could ignore the standard-bearers and look only to the new bloods, and you would still find excellence at every turn. So what to do? What we’ve always done: muddle along with no system and no rules, trying to select the books our reviewers liked best over the last 12 months and letting the categories and the trends fall where they may.”...

Submitting materials to Booklist for review
If you wish to submit materials for review consideration in Booklist or Booklist Online, specific guidelines for various formats and types of materials are provided here. Any publisher of a book reviewed in Booklist will receive a tearsheet of the review. Due to the volume of submissions (more than 60,000 per year), we are unable to notify publishers whose books have not been selected for review....

@ Visit Booklist Online for other reviews and much more....

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ALA Annual Conference banner

Anaheim Update

Shadowed oak woodlands at Oak Canyon Nature CenterOak Canyon Nature Center
The Oak Canyon Nature Center is a 58-acre natural park nestled in the Anaheim Hills. A year-round stream meanders through the park. Consisting of three adjoining canyons, four miles of hiking trails traverse one of the few remaining areas of oak woodland and coastal sage scrub in the region. It features a bird and nature walk on Saturdays. Located on site is the John J. Collier Interpretive Center, a small museum with live animal and regional natural history exhibits....
City of Anaheim

iFlyPro appAirport apps
Bob Tedeschi writes: “In addition to helping find food vendors and shops that may not rip you off, airport apps can help you avoid overpaying for ground transportation once you reach your destination. The top three on my list are iFly Pro ($7 on Apple and Android, but with free versions available), Airport Transit Guide ($5 on Apple, with a limited free version) and GateGuru (free on Android and Apple). It’s also worth downloading MyTSA, which is published by the Transportation Security Administration (free on Apple).”...
New York Times, May 2

Tingo logoHow to get a refund if the price drops
You thought you scored a great deal when you found that $200 rate for your $300-a-night hotel. But then you compared notes with other guests and learned that some paid even less. It happens to even the best bargain hunters—whether it is a hotel deal or airfare—and it’s not a good feeling. Now a growing number of travel sites are offering to track the price after you reserve and to refund you the difference....
New York Times, May 2

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Division News

Catherine R. FriedmanCatherine Friedman elected LLAMA president
Catherine R. Friedman (right), associate university librarian for user services at the University of California, San Diego, has been elected LLAMA president for 2013–2014. She will begin her term as president-elect in June 2012 and become LLAMA president in June 2013....
LLAMA, May 4

Shannon PetersonShannon Peterson elected YALSA president
Shannon Peterson (right), youth services librarian at the Kitsap Regional Library in Port Orchard, Washington, has been elected YALSA president for 2013–2014. She currently sits on YALSA’s Board of Directors and previously chaired the Division and Membership Promotion Committee....
YALSA, May 7

Starr LaTronicaStarr LaTronica elected ALSC president
Starr LaTronica (right), youth services and outreach manager at Four County Library System in Vestal, New York, has been elected ALSC president for 2013–2014. She will begin her term as vice president and president-elect in June 2012 and become ALSC president in June 2013....
ALSC, May 8

Gail DickinsonGail Dickinson elected AASL president
Gail Dickinson (right), associate professor at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia, has been elected 2013–2014 AASL president. Dickinson will serve as president-elect during 2012–2013 under AASL President Susan Ballard....
AASL, May 8

Rod WagnerRod Wagner elected ALTAFF president
Rod Wagner (right), director of the Nebraska Library Commission, has been elected ALTAFF president for 2013–2014. He will begin his term as vice president and president-elect in June 2012 following the ALA Annual Conference in Anaheim, and become ALTAFF president in June 2013....
ALTAFF, May 8

Trevor A. DawesTrevor Dawes elected ACRL president
Trevor A. Dawes (right), circulation services librarian at Princeton University Libraries, has been elected ACRL president for 2013–2014. He will become president-elect following the 2012 ALA Annual Conference in Anaheim and assume the presidency in June 2013 for a one-year term....
ACRL, May 8

Carolyn AnthonyCarolyn Anthony elected PLA president
Carolyn Anthony (right), director of the Skokie (Ill.) Public Library, has been elected the PLA president for 2013–2014. Anthony will become PLA president-elect at the conclusion of the 2012 ALA Annual Conference in Anaheim and will assume the PLA presidency in June 2013 for one year, presiding over the PLA 2014 Conference....
PLA, May 8

eCOLLAB logoAASL offers eCOLLAB benefit
AASL has introduced a new feature of AASL membership, eCOLLAB, Your eLearning Laboratory: Content Collaboration Community. This repository of AASL professional development provides members and subscribers with a central location to find and manage their e-learning as well as to connect with others in the learning community. eCOLLAB contains webcasts, podcasts and resources from various AASL professional development events, as well as the latest issue of Knowledge Quest in an interactive PDF format....
AASL, May 1

AASL summer e-Academy
AASL’s e-Academy offers four-week self-paced courses throughout the summer. The upcoming course schedule includes “Design for Understanding Meets the 21st Century School Librarian,” “From 0 to 60: Implement eBooks in Your Library Program in 4 Weeks,” and “Making a Place, Making a Case for Read-Alouds: A Powerful Teaching Tool for Literacy.” Register online....
AASL, May 8

AASL Fall Forum logoMake your case to attend the AASL Fall Forum
AASL has created a justification toolkit to help school librarians demonstrate to their supervisors the value of attending the 2012 Fall Forum October 12–13 in Greenville, South Carolina, or four satellite locations. The justification toolkit contains general information, tips, worksheets, and approval letter templates that school librarians can utilize when making their presentations....
AASL, May 8

RUSA seeks webinar proposals
Do you have an idea for a webinar you’d like to present as a part of RUSA’s online learning offerings in upcoming months? RUSA is currently seeking proposals. Webinars take place throughout the year and cover topics relevant to a broad range of librarians. Proposals should be submitted before the ALA Annual Conference in June so that the professional development committee can review them in Anaheim. (Don’t forget about attending RUSA preconferences in Anaheim.)...
RUSA Blog, May 7

Genealogy 101 registration closes May 10
The next offering of RUSA’s online five-week course Genealogy 101 will begin on May 14. Registration for this session will end May 10....
RUSA Blog, May 8

YALSA seeks Midwinter paper proposals
YALSA is seeking proposals for its Trends Impacting Young Adult Services Paper Presentation, to be held at the 2013 Midwinter Meeting. The presenter will receive up to $1,500 to defray travel and registration costs. The paper will be published in YALSA’s peer-reviewed Journal of Research on Libraries and Young Adults after the meeting. Proposals are due by June 1....
YALSA, May 8

ASCLA program proposals
The deadline for proposals for ASCLA institutes at the ALA 2013 Midwinter Meeting in Seattle and programs and preconferences at the ALA 2013 Annual Conference in Chicago has been extended to June 1. (Don’t forget about attending ASCLA preconferences in Anaheim.)...
ASCLA Blog, May 8

Maggie Stiefvater. Photo by Robert SeveriMaggie Stiefvater at Annual
Author Maggie Stiefvater (right) will be among the authors speaking at ALTAFF’s “Books without Boundaries: Crossover Fiction for YAs and Adults” program June 25 at the ALA Annual Conference in Anaheim. The program will feature authors who have written books that appeal to both young adults and adults, including Shana Abé, Matt Dembicki, Laura Harrington, Kate Locke, and Katie McGarry. An author signing will follow, with some books given away and others sold at a generous discount....
ALTAFF, May 8

Trustee Academy logoKentucky offers special Trustee Academy pricing
Kentucky recently joined Missouri, Nebraska, Kansas, and Utah in making ALTAFF’s Trustee Academy available for its libraries through a multiple-use purchase. The Trustee Academy is a series of online courses to help trustees become exceptionally proficient in their roles on behalf of their libraries....
ALTAFF, May 8

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Awards & Grants

The award for Outstanding Historical Renovation Project went to Centerbrook Architects and Planners for the renovation of the Carnegie Library in Cold Spring Harbor, New York2012 Library Interior Design Competition
The LLAMA Buildings and Equipment Section and the International Interior Design Association have announced the winners of the 2012 Library Interior Design Competition. The biennial awards honor excellence in library interior design, incorporating aesthetics, design creativity, function, and satisfaction of the client’s objectives. Seven winners and three honorable mentions were selected out of 117 projects submitted from throughout North America....
Leads from LLAMA, May 9

RUSA Reference Service Press Award
Two articles published in Reference and User Services Quarterly are being honored with the RUSA 2012 Reference Service Press Award: “Promoting Consumer Health Literacy: Creation of a Health Information Librarian Fellowship,” by Nancy D. Zionts, Jan Apter, Julianna Kuchta, and Pamela K. Greenhouse; and “Are We Getting Warmer? Query Clarification in Live Chat Virtual Reference,” by Marie L. Radford, Lynn Silipigni Connaway, Patrick A. Confer, Susanna Sabolcsi-Boros, and Hannah Kwon....
RUSA, May 8

2012 Innovative International Library Projects
Every year, libraries across the world introduce and sustain projects that make a difference to their citizens and connect the international community in genuine and new ways. The 2012 recipients of the ALA Presidential Citation for Innovative International Library Projects are The World is Just a Book Away (Projects in Indonesia); Chinese Medicine Digital Projects: Hong Kong Baptist University; Riecken Community Libraries (Projects in Guatemala and Honduras); and The Urban Office: Helsinki City Library. Loriene Roy, ALA president in 2007–2008, created the citation to promote the most innovative of these projects....
International Relations Office, May 9

PR Xchange “Best of Show” winners
The LLAMA Public Relations and Marketing Section PR Xchange Committee has announced the winners of this year’s “Best of Show” competition for library publicity materials. Winning entries will be on display at the PR Xchange Program June 24 in the exhibits hall at the ALA Annual Conference in Anaheim....
LLAMA, May 8

Steven BoothConable Conference Scholarship
The Freedom to Read Foundation has named Steven Booth (right), an archivist with the Presidential Materials Division at the National Archives and Records Administration, the fifth recipient of the Gordon M. Conable Conference Scholarship. The scholarship will provide for Booth’s expenses to attend the 2012 ALA Annual Conference in Anaheim....
Freedom to Read Foundation, May 8

Karen ParrilliALTAFF/Gale Outstanding Trustee Conference Grant
ALTAFF has awarded the 2012 ALTAFF/Gale Outstanding Trustee Conference Grant to Karen Parrilli (right), a member of the Board of Trustees at Skokie (Ill.) Public Library. Parrilli will receive $850 plus full conference registration to attend the 2012 ALA Annual Conference in Anaheim, where a formal presentation will be made....
ALTAFF, May 8

Rosemary FurtakARLIS/NA Distinguished Service Award
(PDF file)
Rosemary Furtak (right), librarian at the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, was presented with the Art Libraries Society of North America’s 2011 Distinguished Service Award on March 31. The society’s highest honor, the award is presented to an individual of any country whose exemplary service in art librarianship, visual resources curatorship, or a related field, has made an outstanding national or international contribution to art information....
Art Libraries Society of North America, Apr. 30

Kathleen DonohoueSchool librarian named Cincinnati Educator of the Year
Longtime Sayler Park (Ohio) Elementary School Librarian and Technology Coordinator Kathleen Donohoue (right) was named the 2012 Cincinnati Public Schools Educator of the Year on May 3. The award, created in 2007 by Western and Southern Financial Group, carries a $10,000 cash prize. She has been with the district 34 years, the last 22 at Sayler Park....
Cincinnati Enquirer, May 3

Tucson librarian wins education award
Mary Ellen Clements, librarian and reading teacher at Lyons Elementary school in Tucson, Arizona, was surprised with flowers and a check as she received the 2012 Evelyn Jay Excellence in Education Award on May 3. The award recognizes outstanding Tucson Unified School District pre-K through 3rd grade educators who inspire a lifelong love of reading and books....
Tucson Arizona Daily Star, May 3

Troy (Mich.) Public Library pro-referendum campaignTroy Public Library campaign wins Clio Award
The winners of the 2012 Clio Awards, an awards competition honoring excellence in advertising, design, and communications, were announced May 4 by Prometheus Global Media. The Facebook Integrated Media Award, presented in partnership with Facebook to recognize innovative campaigns that incorporate the social networking site with traditional media, will be presented May 15 to Leo Burnett Detroit for their work with the Troy (Mich.) Public Library, which ran a campaign to counter the local Tea Party’s opposition to a five-year operating millage. Watch the Leo Burnett Detroit video (2:53)....
CLIO Awards, May 5; The Inspiration Room, May 5; American Libraries news, Aug. 3, 2011

The Mangrove Tree: Planting Trees to Feed Families, by Susan L. Roth and Cindy Trumbore, illustrated by Susan L. Roth, was the winner in the Books for Younger Children Category2012 Jane Addams Children’s Book Awards
The 2012 winners of the Jane Addams Children’s Book Award were announced April 28 by the Jane Addams Peace Association. The six titles were chosen because they effectively promote the cause of peace, social justice, world community, and the equality of the sexes and all races, as well as meeting conventional standards for excellence. The awards have been presented annually since 1953....
Jane Addams Peace Association, Apr. 28

Cover of Okay for Now2012 Children’s Choice Book Awards
The Children’s Book Council, in association with Every Child a Reader, announced the winners of the fifth annual Children’s Choice Book Awards at a May 7 charity gala in New York City as part of Children’s Book Week, May 7–13. Children across the country voted in record numbers for their favorite books, author, and illustrator at bookstores, school libraries, and online, casting more than 900,000 votes. The winner in the Grade 5–6 category was Gary D. Schmidt’s Okay for Now (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt)....
Children’s Book Council, May 7

Boxed set of the six-volume Modernist Cuisine2012 James Beard Cookbook Award
Nora Rawlinson writes: “The big winner of this year’s James Beard Cookbook Awards is a big book; Modernist Cuisine was named the Cookbook of the Year, as well as winner in the Cooking from a Professional Point of View category. Just before the announcement, several publications, including the blog, covered the news that, despite its size (five volumes plus a kitchen manual, 47 pounds) and cost ($450), it has sold over 45,000 copies (a check of WorldCat reveals that few of those sales were to public libraries)....
Early Word, May 7; Wall Street Journal: SpeakEasy, May 1

Cover of The Paris Wife2012 Society of Midland Authors Awards
Keir Graff writes: “On May 8, I attended the annual awards banquet of the venerable Society of Midland Authors. It was a modest crowd but a truly enjoyable evening—being in the company of people who value books and authors so highly has a way of raising my spirits.” The winner in adult fiction was Paula McLain’s The Paris Wife (Random House), and the adult nonfiction winner was B. J. Hollars’s Thirteen Loops: Race, Violence, and the Last Lynching in America (University of Alabama)....
Booklist Online: Likely Stories, May 9

Cover of Stone Upon Stone2012 Best Translated Book Awards
Wiesław Mysliwski’s Stone Upon Stone (translated by Bill Johnston) has won the Best Translated Book Award for fiction. The poetry prize went to Kiwao Nomura’s Spectacle & Pigsty translated by Kyoko Yoshida and Forrest Gander). The annual award is offered by Three Percent at the University of Rochester, honoring “the best original works of international literature and poetry published in the US over the previous year.”...
GalleyCat, May 8

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Libraries in the News

Cover of The Dirty CowboyPetition seeks return of Dirty Cowboy
More than 230 people have signed an online petition that seeks to have the children’s book The Dirty Cowboy by Amy Timberlake returned to the shelves of the Annville-Cleona (Pa.) School District. The school board voted unanimously in April to remove the book based on the objection of one student’s parents. Illustrator Adam Rex uses various items, such as birds, a boot, and a cloud of dust, to cover the cowboy’s private parts while he is bathing and then while he is attempting to put his clothes back on....
Lebanon (Pa.) Daily News, May 7

Ex-director pleads guilty to theft
The former dual director of the Pontiac and Odell public libraries in Illinois pleaded guilty to four felony counts of theft May 3 in Livingston County Circuit Court. Eric Colclasure was scheduled to begin a two-day bench trial before Ford County Judge Stephen Pacey when he pleaded guilty to all the Class 1 felony charges he faced. Colclasure was charged with two counts of theft in excess of $10,000 involving the Pontiac Public Library and two additional counts of theft in excess of $10,000 involving the Odell Public Library....
Pontiac (Ill.) Daily Leader, May 4

Ex-NARA official sentenced for stealing Archives rarities
Leslie Waffen, former director of the Motion Picture, Sound, and Video branch of the National Archives, was a guardian of national treasures for 40 years. But for the final 10 years of his career, he secretly peddled some of those rare pieces of history on eBay. On May 3, Waffen was sentenced to 18 months in prison and two years of supervised release for embezzling US property. He admitted stealing 955 items from the Archives, including original recordings of the 1948 World Series and a rare recording of the 1937 Hindenburg disaster. Radio-history buff J. David Goldin helped authorities crack the case....
Washington Post, May 3; Associated Press, May 4

The Free Library of Philadelphia, Library for the Blind and Physically HandicappedBlind patrons sue Philadelphia library over Nooks
With the assistance of the National Federation of the Blind, four blind patrons of the Free Library of Philadelphia have filed suit against the library because they cannot access one of the library’s programs for which they are eligible. The library has expanded a program in which free Nook Simple Touch e-readers are loaned to patrons over the age of 50. Unlike some other portable e-readers that use text-to-speech technology or Braille, the Nook devices are completely inaccessible to patrons who are blind. The FLP Library for the Blind and Physically Handicapped and its staff are concurrently undergoing a drastic reduction and merger....
National Federation of the Blind, May 2; Philadelphia Inquirer, May 7

Paul Revere signatureA Paul Revere rarity
A few weeks ago, Brown University Conservation Technician Marie Malchodi opened a leather-bound book, one of more than 300,000 rare volumes in the hold of the John Hay Library. With surgical precision, she turned the pages of The Modern Practice of Physic, by Robert Thomas, published in 1811 and once owned by Solomon Drowne, Class of 1773. And there, in the back, she found a piece of paper depicting the baptism of Jesus. It was signed, “P. Revere Sculp.”...
New York Times, May 3; Brown University Library News, Mar. 27

Charleston library inventory turns up gems
A rare book almost 270 years old has been found in the vault of the Charleston (S.C.) Library Society. The 1743 tome, A Dissertation upon Parties by Henry St. John, Viscount Bolingbroke, was one of 800 volumes that planter and diplomat John Mackenzie donated to the College of Charleston in the 1700s. His books were housed at the society, founded in 1748, until a proper library could be built at the fledgling college. But a devastating 1778 fire destroyed most of the collection....
Associated Press, May 7

Interior of Algur H. Meadows Library in El PasoPublic visual-arts library opens in El Paso
On May 6, the El Paso (Tex.) Museum of Art and its partner, the El Paso Public Library system, officially dedicated what city officials are calling the first public library in the country devoted to the visual arts. The Algur H. Meadows Library—named after the late Dallas art collector and entrepreneur—houses more than 4,000 art books. Another 2,000–3,000 exhibition catalogs from the last 50 years are still to be cataloged....
El Paso (Tex.) Times, May 7

Windsor school librarians get layoff notices
Faced with declining enrollment and a $11-million cut in provincial grants for the 2012–2013 school year, the Windsor-Essex District (Ontario) Catholic School Board has handed layoff notices to its remaining school librarians. An attempt in 2011 to eliminate its libraries and 40 school librarians resulted in a public uproar. The board eventually backed off from its decision and retained 19 librarians. The layoff notices are required by the budget process; the board said that librarian layoffs are only one possible scenario....
Windsor (Ont.) Star, May 2

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Issues

edX logoHarvard, MIT offer free online courses
Rebecca J. Rosen writes: “MIT and Harvard are each pouring $30 million into the nonprofit partnership edX, which they hope will make the top-notch faculties and courses of their schools available for free to anyone with an internet connection. Though the online platform will have a second-fiddle status compared with the on-campus experience (online students will be able to attain certificates of mastery but not traditional degrees), the effort reveals a public-minded spirit that animates both schools.”...
The Atlantic, May 2

Moby Dick coverCreativity and copyright
Marilynn Byerly writes: “One of the common reasons copyright foes give for the evils of long copyright or any form of copyright is that it stifles creativity. Is this true? My own feeling is that it doesn’t, particularly in fiction. Many don’t understand what copyright covers. They think the ideas within a story are copyrighted. They aren’t.”...
TeleRead, May 1

Authors Guild logoJudge to decide fate of Authors Guild suit
Andrew Albanese writes: “From the questions he asked from the bench, it certainly seems like Judge Denny Chin wants to see the Authors Guild lawsuit against Google and its library book-scanning program proceed as a class action. But after a morning of oral arguments in Manhattan on May 3, it is unclear if that will happen. In court to argue three motions, including Google’s motion to dismiss the Authors Guild as an associational plaintiff, lawyers for both sides offered a tantalizing preview of the arguments that would be made at trial, including a preview of Google’s fair-use defense.” James Grimmelmann has even more details....
Publishers Weekly, May 4; The Laboratorium, May 4

Privacy iconsNew privacy icons
Cory Doctorow writes: “‘Privacy policies are complicated, and we believe that you should know what’s happening with your data when you use a service. In order to help, we’ve created a set of icons which cover the core components of any policy.’ This attempt by a group of Yale students uses icons to express privacy policies, the same way that Creative Commons licenses express copyright restrictions and permissions.”...
Boing Boing, May 8; Privacy Simplified

MLA logoMLA urges evaluators to give full regard to digital work
Jennifer Howard writes: “The Modern Language Association wants evaluators to get with the digital program. In a revised set of Guidelines for Evaluating Work in Digital Humanities and Digital Media, MLA urges departments and committees that evaluate academic work in digital media and digital humanities to give it the weight it deserves and to make sure they know how to assess it in the first place.”...
The Chronicle of Higher Education: Wired Campus, Apr. 27

UK to make publicly financed research freely available
Jennifer Howard writes: “Throwing its weight behind open access, the British government has declared it wants to make all research paid for with public money freely available online. If it succeeds, the move is likely to have significant consequences for publishers, and will boost the international momentum of the open-access movement. But the government won’t share details about how it will make the plan a reality.”...
The Chronicle of Higher Education: Wired Campus, May 2

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Tech Talk

Average price of US notebooks, March 2010-March 2012How to get the best price on a new laptop
Melanie Pinola writes: “A laptop is a big purchase, so it definitely pays to shop smart. No one wants to plunk down hundreds of dollars on a laptop only to find a better deal on it right after you paid. To avoid that common buyer’s remorse, let’s walk through how to figure out which laptop to buy, where to buy it from, and when. You’re itching for a new machine, so let’s explore.”...
Lifehacker, May 3

Canon PowerShot S100The 10 best digital cameras
Wendy Sheehan Donnell writes: “The problem with buying a digital camera is not only that there are hundreds of models for sale at any given point in time, but you also need to figure out which type of camera is right for you. The good news is that we review lots of cameras, and these 10 are among the best we've tested in five different categories: point-and-shoots, digital SLRs, cameras with interchangeable lenses, superzooms, and rugged/waterproof cameras.”...
PC Magazine, May 7

Bing vs. Google: Which has better image results?
Chris Hoffman writes: “Bing’s image search once challenged Google, offering more features and a better design. With infinite scrolling and the ability to search for similar images, Bing was legitimately better than Google at image search just a few years ago. But since then, Google has closed the ground and made a lot of progress. Where do they stand now, and which should be your image-search engine of choice?”...
MakeUseOf, May 2

Flickr share optionsUse Pinterest to share Flickr photos with attribution
Bakari Chavanu writes: “Flickr has just added a photo share button to their site that enables members to post and share their photos on Pinterest. Photos pinned from Flickr will be properly attributed, regardless of where they are pinned from, just as they are on other sites including Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, and WordPress.”...
MakeUseOf, May 2

Demystifying semantic search
Ed Oswald writes: “The latest attempt to make search results more relevant is by peering into the meaning of your search query itself. This is called semantic search. Semantics allows a search engine to return results to a query based on what it believes the searcher is intending to find. For example, take a search for ‘Philadelphia.’ While the standard search may return the city’s official website, its tourist bureau, and other information, a semantic search goes further.”...
ExtremeTech, May 9

Facebook’s Open Graph Protocol
Margaret Heller writes: “Whether or not you think you have any idea what linked data is, any time you click a Like button on a website or sign up for a social sharing app in Facebook, you are participating in the semantic web. But every time that data link goes behind a Facebook wall, it fails in being open linked data. Just as librarians have always worked to keep the world’s knowledge available to all, we must continue to ensure that potentially important linked data is kept open as well—and with no commercial motive.”...
ACRL Tech Connect, May 9

The MiniDisc of the 1990sWhich data storage method will be the next to die?
Keith Veronese writes: “The world is full of weird and obsolete old data storage forms, and they’re a huge problem for archivists and libraries. The changing types of data storage are a particularly large thorn in the side of libraries catering to the preservation of the written word in the early decades of the digital age, like the University of Texas’s Harry Ransom Center. Which forms in use now will be obsolete by 2020?”...
io9, May
7

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E-Content

Ebook on the Kindle FireWhy I hate reading on the Kindle Fire
Christopher Harris writes: “Dear Amazon: I hate reading on the Kindle Fire, and that has bothered me enough to lead to this plea. As someone who is regularly asked to recommend e-readers, it distressed me that I felt such animosity towards the Fire without an obvious reason for it. Why do I hate reading on the Fire so much? In short, because it doesn’t feel like a book. The reader app wants to feel like a book, but at least in the horizontal format, it isn’t a book.”...
AL: E-Content, May 3

Why publishers don’t like apps
Jason Pontin writes: “Today, most owners of mobile devices read news and features on publishers’ websites, which have often been coded to detect and adapt themselves to smaller screens. If they do use apps, the apps are glorified RSS readers such as Amazon Kindle, Google Reader, Flipboard, and the apps of newspapers like The Guardian, which grab editorial from the publishers’ sites. A recent Nielsen study reported that while 33% of tablet and smartphone users had downloaded news apps in the previous 30 days, just 19% of users had paid for any. The paid, expensively developed publishers’ app, with its extravagantly produced digital replica, is dead.” But read the comments....
Technology Review, May 7; Poynter, Jan. 9

Douglas County model gains five new ebook publishers
The Douglas County (Colo.) Libraries model for purchasing ebooks directly from publishers is gaining interest from more and larger publishers. DCL has recently added five more publishers to its list of direct ebook suppliers, making thousands more ebooks available to library patrons: Gareth Stevens, Crabtree Publishing, Infobase Learning, Book View Café, and Poisoned Pen Press....
No Shelf Required, May 7

Elsevier experiments with text mining
Jennifer Howard writes: “High-profile scholarly boycotts aren’t the only way to get a big publisher’s attention. Sometimes all it takes is a tweet. Not long ago, Heather A. Piwowar, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of British Columbia, found herself on the phone with six high-level employees of the science-publishing giant Elsevier. The chat led to an agreement between Piwowar’s university and the publisher that will allow UBC researchers to dig into Elsevier content for research purposes.”...
Chronicle of Higher Education, May 6

Study: Student ebook usage stronger in the UK
(PDF file)
Students in the United Kingdom who recently participated in ebrary’s Global Student E-book Survey reported a greater preference for digital over printed books and higher usage than their global counterparts in a similar survey conducted in 2011. When asked how often they would choose ebooks over printed books, 58% of UK students stated they would “very often” to “often” choose the digital version if it were available, compared to 48% of global respondents. Over 85% of UK students indicated they use ebooks up to 10 hours per week....
ebrary, May 8

An infographic by graphic artist Nora of the ideas that flowed at DPLA West’s “Digital Lending and eBooks” panel, which featured (from left) San Francisco City Librarian Luis Herrera; Sari Feldman, cochair of ALA’s Digital Content and Libraries Working Group; Califa Group Executive Director Linda Crowe; and Internet Archive founder Brewster Kahle. Photo by iamtimmo, reproduced under Creative Commons license BY-NC-SA 2.0 ALA at DPLA West
Congratulations to the Digital Public Library of America on hosting DPLA West April 27 in San Francisco, its second major public event. Sari Feldman, cochair of ALA’s Digital Content and Libraries Working Group, ably represented the ALA community. One important component of the current DPLA effort is to clarify the scope of the initiative. Toward that effort, one of the panels at the public event focused on ebooks and digital lending. Ars Technica has a full report on the conference....
District Dispatch, May 3; Ars Technica, May 7

Screenshot of Casablanca e-scriptWarner Bros. to sell classic film scripts as ebooks
Michelle Kung writes: “Warner Bros. Digital Distribution announced it would start making the screenplays to four of the studio’s iconic movies available for sale as ebooks. As part of the studio’s ‘Inside the Script’ digital publishing initiative, fans can now buy ebook versions of Casablanca, Ben-Hur, An American in Paris‚ and North by Northwest for their iPads, Kindles‚ and Nooks.”...
The Wall Street Journal: Speakeasy, Apr. 30

E-readers go to school
Michael Kozlowski writes: “Barnes and Noble is teaming up with Houghton Mifflin Harcourt to bring e–readers into the K–12 school system. B&N will be providing the Nook Simple Touch Reader and the Nook Color loaded with custom ebooks. These books will include Island of the Blue Dolphins, Gathering Blue, and The Willoughbys.”...
Good E-Reader, May 3

Nik OsborneHow Nik Osborne plans to disrupt class
Dian Schaffhauser writes: “Nik Osborne (right), leader of the Indiana University eTexts initiative and chief of staff for the Office of the Vice President for IT, could be considered an ‘old-timer’ when it comes to the implementation of digital textbook programs. After all, his institution’s implementation of e-texts has been going on since 2009. Now five other universities will also be running pilots based on the model developed by IU through a program set up by Internet2’s NET+ service.”...
Campus Technology, May 3

Udini logoNew ProQuest resource for independent scholars
Electronic publisher ProQuest has launched a service that provides unaffiliated researchers with access to such premium content as peer-reviewed and trade journal articles, dissertations, international newswires, newspapers, and magazines within a comprehensive cloud-based tool. Udini curates and licenses high-quality content from Springer, Nature Publishing Group, The Economist, the New York Times, the Washington Post, and other publishers....
ProQuest, May 7

CyberCafe at the Los Angeles Public LibraryA gateway to learning
With nearly 20,000 programs a year, a collection of more than 6 million books in many languages, electronic databases, and downloadable books, music, and films, the Los Angeles Public Library decided to expand its reach even more through a virtual library. Gale Gateways, a collection of thematic online resources and databases, assisted LAPL in meeting its goal of building a virtual library, as well as its goal of helping students succeed....
AL: Solutions and Services, May 4

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ALA 2012 Annual Conference in Anaheim logo

Innovation, thought leaders, and technology are key elements of transformation, and the ALA Annual Conference in Anaheim delivers on all those fronts. Use the Conference Scheduler, website, and Cognotes preview to find what interests you.


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Get on board with Elephant, Piggie, and Pigeon with this Read Poster featuring original art from Mo Willems—New York Times bestselling author, three-time winner of the Caldecott Honor, and two-time recipient of the Theodor Seuss Geisel Medal. Willems’s lovable characters are pure fun, and their witty asides and expressions appeal to adults as much as children. NEW! From ALA Graphics.


Great Libraries of the World

Jan Theodor de Bry, Florilegium, novum, 1612

Rijksmuseum Research Library, Amsterdam, Netherlands. The Rijksmuseum has the largest art history library in the country. It has acquired auction and exhibition catalogs, trade and collection catalogs, and books and periodicals relating to the museum collections without interruption since 1885.

St. Walburgiskerk Library, Zutphen, Netherlands

St. Walburgskerk Library, Zutphen, Netherlands. The reading room, or Librije, of this 11th-century church features some 300 books that are chained to the reading desks. It was established in 1561–1564 by church elders Conrad Slindewater and Herman Berner as an intellectual stronghold against the popularity of Reformation ideas. The books were chained because the room was open to the public; anyone could obtain a key and study for as long as the church was open. In recent years, all the books have been restored with the help of the Koninklijke Bibliotheek.

This AL Direct feature showcases 250 libraries around the world that are notable for their exquisite architecture, historic collections, and innovative services. If you find yourself on vacation near one of them, be sure to stop by for a visit. The entire list will be available in The Whole Library Handbook 5, edited by George M. Eberhart, which is scheduled for publication in 2013 by ALA Editions. There is also a Great Libraries of the World Pinterest board.

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Visiting Metadata Librarian for Web-Scale Discovery, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. This position is available starting July 1, 2012. This is a 100%-time, 12-month, visiting appointment, with an initial appointment for two years. The library is implementing the Primo Central web-scale discovery system (WDS) and is seeking a dynamic individual to spearhead the planning, implementation, and management of metadata creation and provision for this project. The incumbent will participate in and help to lead the work of the WDS Implementation Team; design, test, and develop metadata creation, remediation and transformation workflows, search services, authority control and access technologies; and apply the appropriate metadata schemas to support the WDS....

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Digital Library of the Week

A children’s menu in the shape of a squirrel from the St. Louis-San Francisco (“Frisco”) Railway Company, probably for use in their dining cars. c. 1940s

The Digital Collections at Missouri State University in Springfield offer a glimpse into the history of the Ozark region and of Missouri State University through thousands of images, documents, and film clips. These unique collections include the Birdle Mannon Collection, with artwork by a self-trained artist from the rural Ozarks; the Katherine Lederer Ozarks African American History Collection; the Lipman Family Collection, with materials from an early Jewish family in Springfield; St. Louis–San Francisco (“Frisco”) Railway Company materials (see squirrel above); the Shannon County Film Collection, with footage and interviews from the 1970s; and the university’s yearbook and student newspaper, covering 1909 to the present. Among the digital items is a collection of medieval manuscript pages ranging from the 14th to the 17th centuries.

Do you know of a digital library collection that we can mention in this AL Direct feature? Tell us about it. Browse previous Digital Libraries of the Week at the I Love Libraries site, Check out our Featured Digital Libraries Pinterest board.


Noted and Quoted

I came to the library because I wanted to learn something and do something for myself. The library is the most important tool I have. My parents were poor people. They didn’t put me in school. The library has helped me a lot. It helps me understand how to live in this country.”

—Sierra Leone refugee Tommy Foday, a former government driver who had both arms cut off in 1999 during a brutal civil war that ravaged his country, on how the New York Public Library has helped him, “The Library Is His Toolbox,” NYPL Blogs, May 6.

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Calendar

May 15–16:
Manitoba Libraries Conference,
Delta Hotel Winnipeg, Manitoba.

May 15–18:
European Library Automation Group,
Annual Meeting, University of the Balearic Islands, Palma de Mallorca, Spain. “Libraries Everywhere.”

May 18–21:
Council of Science Editors,
Annual Meeting, Seattle Sheraton Hotel. “Our Authors, Ourselves: Science Editing and Publishing in a Global Market.”

May 18–23:
Medical Library Association,
Annual Meeting and Exhibition, Washington State Convention Center, Seattle. “Growing Opportunities: Changing our Game.”

May 22–25:
Qualitative and Quantitative Methods in Libraries,
Annual Conference, Absolute Hotel, Limerick, Ireland. “New Trends in Library Science.”

May 30–
June 1:

Society for Scholarly Publishing,
Annual Meeting, Marriott Crystal Gateway, Arlington, Virginia. “Social, Mobile, Agile, Global: Are You Ready?”

June 1:
ExLibris Bluegrass Users Group,
Annual Conference, Somerset (Ky.) Community College.

June 7–10:
North American Serials Interest Group,
Annual Conference, Sheraton Music City Hotel, Nashville, Tennessee.

June 10–14:
Association for Computing Machinery / Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers,
Joint Conference on Digital Libraries 2012, George Washington University, D.C. “#preserving #linking #using #sharing.”

June 21–26:
American Library Association,
Annual Conference, Anaheim (Calif.) Convention Center. “Transforming Our Libraries, Ourselves.”

July 10–13:
Australian Library and Information Association,
Biennial Conference, Hilton Sydney, New South Wales.

July 15–18:
Special Libraries Association,
Annual Conference and Info-Expo, McCormick Place, Chicago.

Aug. 6–11:
Society of American Archivists,
Annual Conference, San Diego Hilton Bayfront, “Beyond Borders.”

Aug. 11–17:
International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions,
World Library and Information Congress, Helsinki Exhibition and Convention Centre, Finland.

Aug. 12–16:
Special Interest Group on Information Retrieval,
Annual Meeting, Portland Marriott Downtown Waterfront, Oregon.

Nov. 9–10:
Science, Technology, and Engineering Library Leaders in Action,
2nd Unconference, Brooklyn College.

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Books & Reading

The year before Wild Things, Sendak released a Nutshell Library of slim books (Alligators All Around, Chicken Soup With Rice, One Was Johnny, Pierre) that serve as a mini-school for young kids10 ways Maurice Sendak defined your childhood
Josh Wolk writes: “The brilliant and hauntingly mischievous works of Maurice Sendak, who died May 8 at 83, are as universal a staple of early childhood as a pacifier or a tantrum. One of our great intergenerational commonalities is the sense memory of sitting either on a parent’s lap or paging through the illustrations on a bedroom floor, both mesmerized and giddily unnerved by Sendak’s naughty protagonists. Herewith, our tribute to a man who never patronized children with worlds with sanded-off corners or reductively callow lessons.”...
Vulture, May 8

Thor might consider reading Finnikin of the Rock, by Melina MarchettaThe Avengers reading list
Maria Kramer writes: “Comic book fans have something to be excited about this month: Marvel’s Avengers movie has finally come out, after teasers that began way back in Iron Man. Sure, the Avengers have been smashing box office records, but here’s the big question: What would members of this superteam read in their free time? Wonder no more! For example, Thor will be able to relate to Finnikin and his struggle. The passionate characters and epic plot will surely catch the heart of the son of Odin.”...
YALSA The Hub, May 8

Can the internet save book reviews?
Sarah Fay writes: “If George Orwell was displeased by the number of mediocre books reviewed in print in 1946, then the customer reviews and ratings on Amazon and other bookseller websites would have made him dyspeptic. The idea, of course, is that every book is reviewed, regardless of quality, and that ‘the people’ get to have their say. In theory, customer reviews are quick, easy, egalitarian, and make the consumer (as opposed to the reader) feel in control of his or her reading choices. But there’s a difference between a recommendation and a review.”...
The Atlantic, May 7

Fifty Shades of Grey coversFifty shades of unsurprised
Andy Woodworth writes: “I was waiting for it to happen ever since it entered the pop culture mainstream and so it has finally come to pass: Libraries around the country are saying ‘no’ to the New York Times bestseller Fifty Shades of Grey. Some libraries won’t order it, some will find the book being challenged (both successfully and unsuccessfully), some libraries circulate it and then realize what they’ve done and pull it (opening themselves up to another kind of controversy), and the rest of the libraries will just treat it like any other material.”...
Agnostic, Maybe, May 6

Image by Harry Clarke, inspired by Edgar Allen Poe's The Fall of the House of UsherDarkly elegant illustrations of Poe’s famous works
Alison Nastasi writes: “Trained in the art of stained glass, early 20th century Irish artist Harry Clarke eventually found himself illustrating books. One of his most accomplished commissions was a 1908 publication called Tales of Mystery and Imagination, a collection of Edgar Allan Poe’s macabre, gothic tales. Clarke’s stunning works for the book made it a popular reprinted title, and lit fiend haunt 50 Watts was kind enough to share one such copy online from a 1923 printing. The website contains dozens of richly detailed, black-and-white plates.”...
Flavorwire, May 7

How they became a school that reads
Ben Wilkinson and Sonja Bredgaard write: “For 20 minutes every afternoon at Kirk Hallam Community Technology and Sports College, a secondary school in Derbyshire, UK, you will find every student quietly reading in class. Not books that they have to read, but books that they have chosen to read for their own enjoyment. We were keen to create a culture within our school that really celebrates reading. We also ensure that in Years 7 and 8, one in four English lessons is held in the library.”...
The Guardian (UK): Teacher Network Blog, May 7

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Tips & Ideas

How to use the internet wisely
Howard Rheingold writes: “Use the following methods and tools to protect yourself from toxic bad info. Use them and then pass them along to others. Promote the notion that more info literacy is a practical answer to the growing info pollution. Be the change you want to see. Think of tools such as search engines and hoax-debunking sites as forensic instruments like Sherlock Holmes’s magnifying glass or the crime scene investigator’s fingerprint kit.”...
The Atlantic, May 9

Finals Fun Fest ad at UW-La CrosseUW–La Crosse librarians organize Finals Fun Fest
University of Wisconsin–La Crosse students and faculty had an official 10 minutes to scream at the campus clock tower on the afternoon of May 7 to relieve the stress of finals week. “Scream out Your Stress” kicked off Murphy Library’s Finals Fun Fest, a series of activities planned throughout finals week by Teaching and Learning Librarian Rachel Slough and other staffers to help reduce stress, such as Xbox Kinect games, movie watching, card and board games, crafts, and therapy dog petting....
University of Wisconsin–La Crosse Campus Connection, Apr. 30

Rochester Hills (Mich.) Public Library's Big Blue BusLibrary dedicates new bookmobile
On April 25, the Rochester Hills (Mich.) Public Library dedicated its second bookmobile, which has been dubbed the “Big Blue Bus.” Made possible by a gift from the Doris and Charles Edie Estate, the library purchased the vehicle from the Willard Public Library in Battle Creek. Its mission is to support children’s development by providing early literacy service to day care centers and preschools in the community....
Rochester Hills (Mich.) Public Library, Apr. 30

1.8 million books fell off the shelves in the closed stacks of the National Diet LibraryJapanese report on the 2011 Tohoku Earthquake and Tsunami (PDF file)
The National Diet Library released a research report in March on The Great East Japan Earthquake and Libraries (in Japanese with a summary and one chapter in English). It contains photos of libraries damaged in the quake, information on their reconstruction, a timeline, statistical reports, and articles by librarians and researchers....
National Diet Library, Apr. 25

Global Accessibility Awareness Day logoGlobal Accessibility Awareness Day
Carrie Russell writes: “May 9 is Global Accessibility Awareness Day, a day librarians should note because we believe in access to information for all people. Join the festivities! You can learn more about web accessibility (and perhaps do something about it); check your e-readers and see if you can turn on the text-to-speech function. (Try it with your eyes closed.) Go to the source and ask a person with a disability if she can use your library. Don’t be shy, step up to the plate and be aware.”...
District Dispatch, May 4

Topeka library to write a community novel
David Lee King writes: “The Topeka and Shawnee County (Kans.) Public Library is heading up a really cool project that I thought I’d tell you about. In short, we thought we’d write a novel. A community-driven novel, that is. Here’s a blurb about the project: ‘A community novel is one that is written collaboratively by members of your community. The library invites writers to each contribute a chapter to advance the group’s story.’”...
David Lee King, May 7

How to write social media guidelines for your school
Steven Anderson writes: “In recent months, many schools and districts around the country have taken steps to create social media policies and guidelines for their students and staff. In my work with several districts to draft these documents, I have seen many approaches that work well, and some that don’t. Here are some steps that will help you determine the best approach for your own community.”...
Edutopia, May 7

Weebly logoWeebly gets an iOS app
Richard Byrne writes: “Weebly for Education has been one of my favorite tools for creating websites for a long time. The app makes it easy for teachers and students to create websites through a drag and drop interface. Now Weebly has launched a free iOS app that you can use to manage and update your website and blog from your iOS device.”...
Free Technology for Teachers, May 8

Seven ways to score more Facebook likes
Julie Andrews writes: “While the importance of likes for brands on Facebook has diminished in favor of engagement, Facebook users are people, and people like to be liked, don’t they? Here are seven tips for boosting the like totals of your updates on the social network.”...
AllFacebook Blog, May 4

Check-out receipt: "Cost of buying these items: $164.98. Cost of using the library: Priceless!"Highlighting the value of library use
Brian Herzog writes: “Here’s a more in-your-face twist on the Library Value Calculator. Another library in my consortium figured out how to display the total cost of a patron’s items on their checkout receipt, and since we never let a good idea go to waste, we adopted it at the Chelmsford (Mass.) Public Library, too. Basically, it’s a little macro that pulls the cost figure from each item’s record, adds them all up, and provides a total.”...
Swiss Army Librarian, May 8

The market for patron-driven acquisitions
Joseph Esposito writes: “Since I began to study patron-driven acquisitions (PDA), one nagging question has been how big it is. How many libraries use it or plan to? What sales volume is flowing through PDA systems? After talking to a number of people in the industry, I am prepared to take a stab at some numbers. There appear to be about 400–600 institutions around the world with PDA services up and running right now.”...
The Scholarly Kitchen, May 8

Navigation sidebar on RDA Update HistoryThings you should know about RDA updates
James Hennelly writes: “In April, the first update to RDA instructions was published to RDA Toolkit. The release of the updated content was accompanied by the unveiling of the RDA Update History section to RDA Toolkit. This new section is a major step forward in the quality of user interaction with the new code. And so it seems that a full explanation of these new and significant additions to RDA Toolkit is in order so that users may fully benefit from them.”...
RDA Toolkit Blog, May 7

Biblioteca Pública Virgilio Barco11 fabulous libraries in South America
Jill Harness writes: “Last week we toured some of Europe’s most beautiful libraries. Now let’s see what South America has to offer.” Included is the Biblioteca Pública Virgilio Barco (right) in Bogotá, Columbia, designed by famed architect Rogelio Salmona and completed in 2001. Featuring red brick walls, blue water pools, and green lawns, this creative design looks like a maze of colors housing a labyrinth of books inside....
Mental Floss, May 6

Fold3 logoSix cool American history sites
Ryan Dube writes: “What really brings history alive is when you can interact with it. However, many of us are tied to a computer three quarters of every day, and it’s hard to break loose to get out there and interact with history very often. There is some hope for you busy history buffs, though. Here are six really cool interactive websites that bring American history alive in ways that never would have been possible on the internet a decade ago.”...
MakeUseOf, May 3

Things overheard at catalogers’ cocktail parties
Will Manley writes: “It’s that time of year when you have to decide if you’re going to shell out a thousand bucks to go to ALA Annual Conference. Here is the conventional wisdom: Are the programs worth it? No. Are the committee meetings worth it? Heck no. Are the social events, vendor feeds, and cocktail parties worth it? Now you’re talking. Here are snippets of conversation I have overhead at previous cataloger’s cocktail parties at Annual Conference.”...
Will Unwound, May 7

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