LISNews: Librarian News

Scholars have argued for nearly 70 years over a 44-page codex, known as the Archaic Mark, that contains the complete 16-chapter text of the Gospel of Mark in minuscule handwritten text. The manuscript, which also includes 16 colorful illustrations, has long been believed to be either an important witness to the early text of the gospel or a modern forgery. An exhaustive, multi-disciplinary examination has determined that it is . . . .

"A first edition of Charles Darwin's groundbreaking Origin Of Species, which languished for years in a toilet, will go under the hammer this week, on the 150th anniversary of the book's publication." Read more from the The Independent,

Harvard College Library and the National Library of China have agreed to digitize one of the largest collections of rare Chinese books outside of China, according to The Associated Press. The aim is to increase access while reducing the amount of physical contact with the Harvard-Yenching Library’s 51,500 volumes, some more than 1,000 years old and covering subjects like history, philosophy and drama.

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Longer, more detailed story at the Boston Globe

Rare Book Lover Banned From Library

DENVER -- Who knew bed bugs could be book worms?

The Denver Public Library had to quarantine and fumigate four areas at the main branch in just the past three weeks because of bed bugs, KMGH-TV in Denver reported.

The tiny insect is being spread by a customer trying to preserve rare books, but ironically it's because of his actions that the books now have to be destroyed.

"Some of the bed bugs fell out of those materials that had been returned," said Denver Public Library spokeswoman Celeste Jackson.

The infected books came from 69-year-old Denver resident Roger Goffeney. He checks out historic books, some 200 years old, and helps archive them online in an effort called the Gutenberg Project.

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