An open letter to America’s publishers
The following open letter was released September 24 by ALA President Maureen Sullivan regarding the refusal of Simon & Schuster, Macmillan, and Penguin to provide access to their ebooks in US libraries: “If our libraries’ digital bookshelves mirrored the New York Times fiction bestseller list, we would be missing half of our collection any given week due to these publishers’ policies. The popular Bared to You and The Glass Castle are not available in libraries because libraries cannot purchase them at any price.” The Association of American Publishers issued a response to the letter on September 25. David Rothman offers some insight at TeleRead....
AL: E-Content, Sept. 24; Association of American Publishers, Sept. 25; TeleRead, Sept. 25

Diversity, advocacy, stress, and technology addressed at JCLC
Sanhita SinhaRoy writes: “Diversity, leadership, and community engagement were the three main themes at the plenary all-conference session at the Joint Conference of Librarians of Color, September 19–23, in Kansas City, Missouri. While each leader of the five ethnic caucuses discussed how these three topics play a role within their associations, a few other common themes surfaced: branding, membership, and advocacy.” Other sessions covered the topics of welcoming new immigrants into your library, combating workplace stress, and all things digital. NPR’s Tell Me More program interviewed Loida Garcia-Febo about service to Spanish-speakers and mentioned the JCLC conference....
AL: Inside Scoop, Sept. 20–22; NPR, Sept. 26

Currents
Jay Lucker (right), 82, former director of Massachusetts Institute of Technology Libraries in Cambridge, died September 2. While at MIT, he oversaw the renovation and expansion of the Rotch Library of Architecture and Planning. He served as a nationally renowned library building and planning consultant to numerous libraries, universities, and museums. On November 1, Lisa Von Drasek will become curator of the Children’s Literature Research Collections at the University of Minnesota Libraries in Minneapolis. Effective December 31, David Tate will retire as director of Van Buren District Library in Decatur, Michigan....
American Libraries column

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Bill Moyers calls out book censors
Award-winning broadcast journalist Bill Moyers (right) discusses book banning and the harms of censorship in a new video essay (3:12) to commemorate the 30th anniversary of Banned Books Week, September 30–October 6. In the video, titled “The Bane of Banned Books,” Moyers talks about how libraries provided his first opportunity to indulge his love of reading and learning, and shares his dismay over efforts to remove books from schools and libraries in modern times....
Office for Intellectual Freedom, Sept. 26

50-State Salute to Banned Books Week
The 30th anniversary of Banned Books Week, held September 30–October 6, is just a few days away. As ALA gears up for this exciting week, celebrated with local read-out events and online videos from people around the world that proclaim their freedom to read, we are excited to feature the first video that is part of the 50-State Salute to Banned Books Week. Titled “The Arrest” (2:09), it was produced by the Alabama Library Association and the Gadsden (Ala.) Public Library. Organizations can still submit a video by September 28....
OIF Blog, Sept. 25; YouTube, Sept. 25

Life on the Banned Books list
Year after year, Robie H. Harris’s book It’s Perfectly Normal can be found on the ALA frequently challenged books list. The book explores changing bodies and growing sexual awareness, and so, year after year, parents and schools try to restrict who can read her books. Jessa Crispin spoke with Harris about whether a writer ever gets used to having her books taken off of library shelves and labeled obscene, and if she’s expecting a fight over her latest children’s book, Who’s In My Family?, which tells the story of changing family structures, from biracial to gay households....
Kirkus Book Blog, Sept. 25

Banned Books Week: Books on trial
The Mentor (Ohio) Public Library put together a dramatic video (1:08) showing a stern judge finding certain books guilty of being bad and are sentenced to banishment. Stand up for your right to read them and look out for Banned Books Week 2012, September 30–October 6....
YouTube, Sept. 12

Banned Websites Awareness Day
AASL has designated October 3 as the second annual Banned Websites Awareness Day. To raise awareness of the overly restrictive blocking of legitimate, educational websites and academically useful social networking tools in schools and school libraries, AASL designates one day during Banned Books Week as Banned Websites Awareness Day. AASL asks school librarians and other educators to promote an awareness of how overly restrictive filtering affects student learning. The Freedom to Read Foundation and the ACLU are also supporters....
AASL, Sept. 25; FTRF Blog, Sept. 25

ALA partners in Library 2.012 virtual conference
ALA has joined the Library 2.012 Worldwide Virtual Conference, October 3–5, as a partner. During this unique global conversation on the current and future state of libraries and celebration of innovation, ALA staff and members will share expertise and content in several sessions of the program, covering ebook models for public libraries, what libraries can learn from e-reading data, restoring contemplation, and models for collaboration. Five sessions appear as “ALA Presents.”...
ALA Marketing, Sept. 26

Free webinar series on makerspaces
ALA TechSource and Library Boing Boing are making available an exciting new series of free webinars, “Makerspaces: A New Wave of Library Service.” In this series of four 60-minute webinars held October through January, registrants will have the opportunity to learn about a fast-growing library phenomenon from librarians who have been ahead of the pack. Registration for these free events is available online....
ALA TechSource, Sept. 25

Ideas for International Games Day
Did you know that ALA is posting one programming idea a day for International Games Day, November 3, on its Facebook page? Here’s number 20: Humans vs. Zombies! Can you imagine how much fun a library version of Humans vs. Zombies would be? For the uninitiated, Humans vs. Zombies is “a game of moderated tag played at schools, camps, neighborhoods, military bases, and conventions across the world. Human players must remain vigilant and defend themselves with socks and dart blasters to avoid being tagged by a growing zombie horde.”...
International Games Day @ your library

Creative aging in our communities
Mary Davis Fournier writes: “The field of creative aging focuses on the beneficial and powerful role of the arts in enhancing the quality of life for older adults, and is increasingly recognized as an important contributor to positive aging efforts. Libraries are experiencing a growing need for valuable programming to address patron needs and interests. As an investment in building this area of library service, ALA is partnering with Lifetime Arts, a nonprofit that promotes the ‘creation, expansion, and sustainability of professionally conducted arts programs for older adults.’”...
Programming Librarian, Sept. 20

The best nonfiction picture books for children
An ideal tool for enriching library collections with outstanding books that children really want to read, Picturing the World: Informational Picture Books for Children, published by ALA Editions, is an invaluable aid to librarians and educators. This annotated resource by veteran children’s book reviewer Kathleen T. Isaacs surveys the best nonfiction and informational titles for ages 3 through 10, helping readers make informed collection development and purchasing decisions....
ALA Editions, Sept. 19

A toolkit for new professionals
Newcomers to the library and information field face an exciting future but also the challenge of distinguishing themselves professionally while keeping up with an ever-changing landscape. The New Professional’s Toolkit, available through Neal-Schuman Publishers, is a practical guide to help new professionals in their career development as well as prepare current LIS students for the road ahead. Editor Bethan Ruddock draws together case studies from several different countries....
ALA Neal-Schuman, Sept. 20

Essential law for information professionals
As the world of information law grows in complexity, it becomes increasingly difficult for librarians and information professionals to understand how courtroom decisions should guide day-to-day choices. The third edition of Essential Law for Information Professionals, written by Paul Pedley and available through Neal-Schuman Publishers, offers up-to-date and easy-to-follow practical advice, cutting through the legalese to provide answers in an easily digestible format....
ALA Neal-Schuman, Sept. 20

Collection development in the digital age
Chronicling the recent rapid changes in library collection development and management, Collection Development in the Digital Age, edited by Audrey Marshall and Maggie Fieldhouse, is available through Neal-Schuman Publishers. This topical collection is international in scope, drawing together the perspectives of practitioners and academics at the forefront of contemporary collection development in all types of settings....
ALA Neal-Schuman, Sept. 25

Sustainable research data management
There is increasing pressure to provide plans for the sustainable management of data, and Graham Pryor’s Managing Research Data, available through Neal-Schuman Publishers, brings together leading figures in the field from the UK and around the world, providing an introduction to all the key data issues facing the higher education and information management communities....
ALA Neal-Schuman, Sept. 25

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New AASL dues category for unemployed school librarians
The AASL board of directors has approved the addition of a nonsalaried or unemployed dues category to its membership rates. The new category, which includes librarians earning less than $25,000 per year or not currently employed, allows those eligible to pay a discounted rate of $25 for division membership....
AASL, Sept. 25

Strater Hotel designated a Literary Landmark
United for Libraries dedicated Room 222 of the Strater Hotel in Durango, Colorado, as a Literary Landmark August 25 in honor of Western author Louis L’Amour (1908–1988). For more than 10 years L’Amour, and often his family, spent the month of August staying in that room, which was directly above the Diamond Belle Saloon. He said the sounds emanating from the saloon inspired him to write....
United for Libraries, Sept. 24

Linda W. Braun appointed editor of YALS
YALSA has named Linda W. Braun (right) as the member editor of Young Adult Library Services (YALS). Braun replaces Megan Honig, who stepped down from the editor position earlier this year. Among Braun’s accomplishments are her recently published book, Being a Teen Library Services Advocate, her past service to YALSA as president in 2009–2010, and winning the WISE Excellence in Online Teaching Award....
YALSA, Sept. 25

PLA hosts makerspace webinar
On October 17, PLA will host a live, hour-long webinar, “Make Way for Makerspaces at the Library” with Lauren Britton (right), transliteracy development director at the Fayetteville (N.Y.) Free Library and creator of the first public library makerspace, the Fayetteville Fab Lab. Britton will share project and programming ideas and examples of current library makerspaces....
PLA, Sept. 25; Forbes, Nov. 15, 2011

October webinars from ALCTS
Now is the time to register for the October webinars from ALCTS. Priced at $39 for ALCTS members and $49 for others, these webinars cover demand-driven acquisitions, digital content, RDA, and classification....
ALCTS, Sept. 25

AASL Fall Forum advanced registration extended
The deadline for advanced registration pricing for the AASL 2012 Fall Forum has been extended to September 28. “Transliteracy and the School Library Program” will be held October 12–13 in Greenville, South Carolina....
AASL, Sept. 24

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YALSA receives IMLS grant
YALSA was awarded grant funding from the Institute of Museum and Library Services in the amount of $99,937. The funds will be used to host a yearlong National Forum on Teens and Libraries, which will include face-to-face and online meetings and conversations about the status of library services for and with teens. The result will be a white paper that YALSA envisions will provide a plan on how libraries can best design and implement teen services in the years to come....
YALSA, Sept. 20

ACRL awarded second IMLS grant
ACRL has been awarded a National Leadership Demonstration Grant by the Institute of Museum and Library Services for the project “Assessment in Action: Academic Libraries and Student Success.” The grant funding of $249,330 will support ACRL, in partnership with the Association for Institutional Research and the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities, and build on their IMLS 2011 Collaborative Planning Grant, which convened two invitational summits....
ACRL, Sept. 24; ACRL Value of Academic Libraries

Grants to provide advocacy training
United for Libraries has secured $75,000 from the Neal-Schuman Foundation to support library advocacy at the local level for libraries with troubled budgets. The Citizens-Save-Libraries grants will send expert advocates to 20 locations over the course of two years to help Friends groups, library directors, and trustees develop individual blueprints for advocacy campaigns to restore, increase, or save threatened library budgets. Applications will begin in January....
United for Libraries, Sept. 23

ACRL offers e-Learning scholarships
ACRL has announced e-Learning scholarships to help librarians, library staff, and library school students stretch their professional development dollars. Twelve e-Learning scholarships will be awarded: seven covering the registration cost of a webcast, and five covering the cost of an online course. Complete details are available on the ACRL e-Learning website. The application deadline is October 12....
ACRL, Sept. 25

2012 Los Angeles Public Library Literary Award
British-Indian novelist Salman Rushdie (on the left) and Los Angeles City Librarian John F. Szabo hold the Tiffany-designed multifaceted crystal that Rushdie just accepted as the winner of LAPL’s 2012 Literary Award. The Library Foundation of Los Angeles’s September 23 gala in honor of the acclaimed author raised $1 million for the library. Rushdie told celebrants that “libraries have been at the center of my life.”...
AL Focus, Sept. 25

Lubuto Library Project wins an USAID grant (PDF file)
The Lubuto Library Project announced September 20 that it was one of 32 winners of a grant supported by the US Agency for International Development for LubutoLiteracy, an innovative program that supports child literacy. LLP President Jane Meyers said the grant will allow the project to improve and extend throughout Zambia, providing an effective model for other countries....
Lubuto Library Project, Sept. 20

2012 Harper Lee Prize for Legal Fiction
On September 20, Kenneth Randall, dean of the University of Alabama School of Law, presented author Michael Connelly with the second annual Harper Lee Prize for Legal Fiction for The Fifth Witness, a legal thriller that features Connelly’s recurring character, lawyer Mickey Haller. Haller represents a woman accused of killing a banker after her home was threatened with foreclosure. The prize is given to a book-length fictional work that “best exemplifies the role of lawyers in society, and their power to effect change.”...
In Custodia Legis, Sept. 25

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Librarians press Georgia to keep its archives open
Jennifer Howard writes: “October has been proclaimed Georgia Archives Month by the state’s governor, Nathan Deal. It could also be the last month that researchers have reliable access to the Georgia Archives. At a September 19 public ceremony to mark Archives Month, Gov. Deal said he would find a way to keep the archives open. But neither the governor nor Secretary of State Brian P. Kemp has provided details so far about how that might happen. Seven of the archives’ 10 staffers have already been told that they’ll lose their jobs come November.”...
Chronicle of Higher Education, Sept. 21

NYPL shifts its library plans
Responding to objections raised by scholars, writers, artists, and others, the New York Public Library has revised its plan to remove most of the books from its flagship Fifth Avenue research center to make room for a circulating library. Library officials said that an $8 million donation by trustee and attorney Abby S. Milstein and her banker husband Howard Milstein would help pay for enough new storage space to keep even more (3.3 million) of its 4.5 volumes at the Stephen A. Schwarzman Building at 42nd Street. The change, approved by the library board on September 19, marks a significant shift in its Central Library Plan....
New York Times, Sept. 19; New York Public Library, Sept. 19

Pittsburghers rally to replenish a school library’s shelves
If it weren’t for a sign on the door, it would be hard to tell that the library at Pittsburgh Manchester PreK–8 is in fact a library. But when a picture of the feeble fiction section went viral—seen by thousands and shared by hundreds—on social media networks in mid-September, the library’s restoration received a dramatic boost. Nearly 400 books have been purchased off the library’s Amazon wish list by community members and complete strangers....
Pittsburgh (Pa.) Post-Gazette, Sept. 24; Yinzercation, Sept. 23

San Antonio library honors a girl who loved books
Ana Lucia Macias died of bone cancer in 2011 at age 16. Ana’s Nook, a new space in the Parman branch of the San Antonio (Tex.) Public Library, memorializes the teen, who loved books and the power of reading. Library officials dedicated the children’s area at the branch in her honor on September 20. The Macias family and friends raised $15,000, matched by the library foundation, to enhance the space....
San Antonio (Tex.) Express-News, Sept. 21

Bronx Library Center emphasizes Hispanic heritage
A tiny room tucked away on the Bronx Library Center’s fourth floor transports visitors to a different, simpler time and place. The room is home to the New York Public Library’s Latino/Puerto Rican Heritage Center. Over the last several months, librarian Linda Caycedo has transformed this small room from a collection of books into something more—a space flush with literature, artifacts, and works of art that celebrate Hispanic and Puerto Rican culture....
DNAinfo (New York), Sept. 25

Dover opens a new main library
Hundreds of eager readers waited outside the Dover (Del.) Public Library on September 20 to get a look at the new 46,000-square-foot facility. Delaware First Lady Carla Markell cochaired the library’s fundraising campaign, and she says the new library will be an anchor for downtown Dover. Library Director Margie Cyr said the new library has more meeting space to accommodate group activities, a teen loft aimed at keeping kids off the streets, and an expanded job search and training center....
Wilmington (Del.) News Journal, Sept. 20; WBOC-TV, Salisbury, Md., Sept. 20

California residents rally against Arizona book ban
Anne Ewell was one of the members of the Conejo Valley Unitarian Universalist Fellowship who gathered at the entrance of the Newbury Park branch of the Thousand Oaks (Calif.) Library on September 21, touting the value of the books confiscated by school officials in Arizona after the Tucson Unified School District dismantled a Mexican-American studies program. The group wanted to raise awareness of the situation in Tucson and collected books they considered were banned by school officials....
Ventura County (Calif.) Star, Sept. 21

Gettysburg library to get a Lincoln statue
After more than three years of uncertainties, it appears that a long-anticipated Abraham Lincoln statue finally has a home. The seven-foot, bronze statue of the United States’ 16th president will likely stand on the marble steps of the Adams County (Pa.) Library System in Gettysburg. Director Rob Lesher said he hopes it will make it before the 150th anniversary of the Gettysburg Address in 2013. Built by Salt Lake City–based sculptor Stanley J. Watts, the statue will be donated by an anonymous New York City businessman....
Gettysburg (Pa.) Times, Sept. 21

Birmingham Friends help preserve Jim Crow–era zoning map
A 1926 zoning map of Birmingham, Alabama, that specifies where whites and blacks could live is being cleaned, restored, and digitized for the Birmingham Public Library. Its Friends group donated $1,500 for the restoration of the map, which is one of only two copies extant. Charles E. Connerly, author of The Most Segregated City in America: City Planning and Civil Rights in Birmingham, 1920–1980, said the map is an important artifact of the city’s Civil Rights history....
Birmingham (Ala.) News, Sept. 24

Los Angeles librarian is all over the maps
Tall and affable, he has helped preserve a street-by-street history of Los Angeles. “I love to answer map questions,” said Glen Creason, who has worked at the Los Angeles Central Library for 32 years and became map librarian in 1989. The maps inspired several exhibits and eventually led to his book, Los Angeles in Maps, which includes Edward Ord’s 1849 survey, a photographic map of a model of the city as it was in 1881, and Jo Mora’s elaborate, whimsical 1942 map of the city and its history, which is one of Creason’s favorites....
Los Angeles Times, Sept. 20; KPCC-FM: Patt Morrison, June 1

Seneca branch to close
The board of the Neosho–Newton County (Mo.) Library System voted 4–2 on September 18 to close its Seneca branch (right) in early November because of flat revenue and increasing operational costs. The decision came as a shock to many library users and prompted the Seneca Chamber of Commerce to circulate a petition to present to the library board. Earlier this year, Newton County voters overwhelmingly rejected a proposed 15-cent levy increase that would have raised nearly $7 million annually for the library system....
KODE-TV, Joplin, Mo., Sept. 21; Joplin (Mo.) Globe, Sept. 21

Former St. Elmo director sentenced for theft
The support of the library she stole from and ill effects of medication led to a milder sentence for a former director of the St. Elmo (Ill.) Library District on September 21. Terri Gillespie received a 30-day jail sentence despite recommendations from both state and defense attorneys and medical professionals she not be incarcerated. Gillespie was sentenced after she pled guilty to a Class 1 felony theft charge for stealing $50,548 between 2009 and 2011....
Effingham (Ill.) Daily News, Sept. 24

Tintin will stay in Stockholm cultural center library
Following a storm of media criticism, officials at the Kulturhuset library in Stockholm, Sweden, have reversed their decision to remove Tintin comic books from the shelves, saying the move happened “too fast.” The reversal comes after a report in the September 25 Dagens Nyheter newspaper in which Youth Department Director Behrang Miri said the library planned to remove Tintin comics from its shelves because of their racial stereotyping of Africans, Arabs, and Turks. Tintin was created by Belgian artist Georges Remi and revolves around Tintin, a young investigative journalist who travels the world solving mysteries....
The Local (Sweden), Sept. 25; Dagens Nyheter, Sept. 25; Bleeding Cool, Sept. 25

A one-man library for the public in Manila
Kate McGeown writes: “Hernando Guanlao is a sprightly man in his early 60s, with one abiding passion—books. Guanlao, known by his nickname Nanie, has set up an informal library outside his home in central Manila in the Philippines to encourage his local community to share his joy of reading. In the 12 years he’s been running his library (or, as he calls it, his Reading Club 2000), he’s found that his collection has grown rather than diminished, as more and more people donate to the cause. To help the poorest communities, Guanlao rides to them on his ‘book bike,’ which has a large basket piled high with books.”...
BBC News, Sept. 19

New Korean library for people with disabilities
South Korea opened a national library on September 24 that will better serve the country’s 250,000 people with disabilities. Located within the National Library itself in southern Seoul, the new library will represent 38 smaller libraries for people with disabilities around Korea. The library will also collect, produce, and distribute alternative formats, including audio and Braille books, on behalf of the other libraries....
Yonhap News Agency, Sept. 24

Libraries in Vietnam are struggling
Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam has 24 public library districts and many academic libraries, but a lack of funding and poor management has strained the library system. Most librarians are concerned that, with shortages in new books and periodicals, they can no longer attract young readers. A librarian at Ho Chi Minh City Technical Teachers’ University said “most of our books are out-of-date, with many published in the 1980s or even earlier.” A survey conducted at the three biggest universities specializing in social science training in late 2011 showed that schools do not pay much attention to upgrading libraries simply because they lack the funding....
News VietnamNet, Sept. 21, 23

National Library of Ireland seeks digital help
The National Library of Ireland in Dublin is seeking a partner to digitize its collection of genealogical and other material in a move that may mean the institution will put its digital collections behind an online paywall. The library has sought requests for proposals from potential commercial partners as well as the nonprofit sector. A contract with a commercial entity would almost certainly involve charging for online access to records, particularly genealogical records....
Irish Times, Sept. 24

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Steven Johnson, bestselling author, founder of influential innovation-related websites, and writer for Wired, the New York Times, Time, and Wall Street Journal, will speak at the 2013 Midwinter Meeting in Seattle, January 25–29. More details to come. And don’t forget that cost-effective Bundle Registration for 2013 Midwinter and Annual closes at midnight on September 30. (Midwinter-only registration opens at 9 a.m. Central time on October 1.)

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National Book Festival featured many authors
Thousands of book lovers from around the region flocked to the National Mall September 22–23 for the National Book Festival, organized by the Library of Congress and designed to celebrate all that is wonderful about the printed word. Now in its 12th year, the two-day festival has become a must-attend event for book aficionados. The 125+ award-winning authors included John Green, Junot Díaz, Walter Isaacson, Patricia Cornwell, Christopher Paolini, Tayari Jones (above), and Poet Laureate Philip Levine. One couple even got engaged in the book-signing line for graphic novelist Craig Thompson. LC presents the festival highlights....
Washington Post, Sept. 22; Library of Congress blog, Sept. 24; Library of Congress, Sept. 23

A National Book Festival battle plan
Annie Schutte writes: “The National Book Festival has always been an emotional experience for me. The librarian in me can’t help but get choked up at the sight of thousands of people crowding into overstuffed tents and waiting in hours-long lines to see their favorite authors. But the DC local in me takes one look at the crowds and wants to scream and run away. I decided that this year would be my learning year. Here’s what I came up with.”...
YALSA The Hub, Sept. 24

Book discovery gets more complicated
Reader behavior is in flux, according to data from Bowker presented at the Digital Book World Discoverability and Marketing Conference, September 24–25, in New York City. Food for thought: In 2011, nearly half of consumers changed their book-buying behaviors; 39% of books are sold online, 26% in stores, and the rest in nearly a dozen other ways; and people discover new books in up to 44 different ways....
Digital Book World, Sept. 24

Girls’ friendships in YA literature
Jennifer Rummel writes: “The month of September celebrates women’s friendships, which led me to think about friendships within books and some of my favorite books dealing with friendships. Teen literature is full of strong female friendships. The books that stand out the strongest in my mind are the books about true best friends. Some of these books don’t start out with the main characters as best friends. Instead, something throws the girls together.”...
YALSA The Hub, Sept. 25

YA books in large print
Suzanne Neumann writes: “Based on the US Census Bureau’s report Americans With Disabilities: 2002 (PDF file), 189,000 children aged 6–14 have difficulty seeing words and letters in ordinary newsprint, even when wearing glasses or contact lenses. More than 7.8 million Americans over age 15 are similarly afflicted. Many of these people would love to read YA books. This is the audience that Thorndike Press targets with their large print young adult books.”...
YALSA The Hub, Sept. 26

The One and Only
Laurie D. Borman writes: “Vivian Ann Davidson Hewitt’s memoir, The One and Only, gives the reader a firsthand account of an ever-changing world through the eyes of a local librarian. Her life spans many milestones: She was the first African-American librarian in Pittsburgh and the first African-American president of the Special Libraries Association. She even organized a boxing match with Joe Louis at the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh’s Homewood branch.”...
AL Focus, Sept. 24

How a rare books cataloger became an expert on a 19th-century tabloid
Ellen Williams writes: “My task was to create a finding aid for The Days’ Doings, a sensationalist illustrated weekly newspaper from the 1870s. The four issues of The Days’ Doings I was working with are part of the extensive collection of Mark Twain materials our library owns. Like everything else about this finding aid, it had seemed relatively simple. But the paper I had in front of me claimed that it was published in London by a man named W. D. Waller. An article I found about the newspaper said it was published in New York by the infamous newspaperman Frank Leslie.”...
Rare Book Cataloging at Penn, Sept. 25

The art of black mourning pages
Whitney Trettien writes: “Inventive visual design and typography have made Laurence Sterne’s Tristram Shandy a canonical favorite among all sorts of ‘material book’ types, with the black page after Yorick’s death typically cited as one of the book’s enduring innovations. But in fact, Sterne is drawing on a 17th-century tradition of including mourning pages or all-black prints, sometimes with a coat of arms or other insignia etched out, in printed funeral sermons and memorial verse.”...
Diapsalmata, Sept. 17

Black-and-white book covers
Julie Oreskovich writes: “No matter what you call it—monochromatic, void of color, black and white—these covers are anything but stark. The use of black and white has been widely used in a variety of media, and book covers in particular have seen a resurgence of this type of design aesthetic. All the titles shown here are minimalist when it comes to color, but all pack a big punch when it comes to pleasing the eye.”...
AbeBooks, Sept. 25

The first illustrated Japanese book
The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign has added its 13 millionth book, maintaining its status as the largest public university library in America. The volume is the Ise Monogatari of 1608, the first illustrated Japanese printed book. It is also the first printed edition of the oral Tales of Ise. Published by Suminokura Soan (1571–1632), a wealthy entrepreneur, scholar, litterateur, and art connoisseur, it is also one of the earliest Japanese books printed with moveable type....
Non Solus Blog, Sept. 24

Beijing ban on Japanese books could spread
Books by Japanese authors and titles on Japanese topics have been removed from bookshops in Beijing, and authorities are pressuring Chinese publishers not to translate and publish Japanese content as tensions escalate between the two countries over a territorial dispute. On September 14, Japan renewed its claims to the Senkaku Islands, known as the Diaoyu Islands in China, a string of small, uninhabited islands off China’s eastern coast. Some Japanese publishers have reported that the banning of content has spread outside of the Chinese capital....
Christian Science Monitor: Chapter & Verse, Sept. 25; The Bookseller (UK), Sept. 25