LISNews: Librarian News

The New York Times is reporting that the Dead Sea Scrolls are ready for publication. The announcement is supposed to be made today at the New York Public Library. According to the article, they don\'t prove, or negate, the existence of Christ. They do, however, provide insight into Jewish history. More

For The Mercury News, someone writes...
\"Of all the gifts I will buy this holiday season, none will be as rewarding as the gift of reading: a book for an underprivileged child. I\'ll never meet the kid who receives it. I won\'t be there when he turns the first page. And someone else will see him smile. But I know this much: I\'ll be smiling anyway. When you give a book to Gift of Reading, it doesn\'t just go under the Christmas tree with the toys. They go to reading programs at libraries, schools, homeless shelters and other social service agencies. These groups distribute the books to children. They also teach parents, some of whom barely can read themselves, how to read to their children. When you give the gift of reading, you also are helping to end the cycle of illiteracy.\" More

Here\'s another article listing web sites for hard-to-find books. Some of the links are familiar, but there are a couple that I hadn\'t heard of before. More from The International Herald Tribune.

jen writes \"Just how big a deal is \'\'The Lord of the Rings\'\' in New Zealand, where
native-son director Peter Jackson shot the three movies back-to-back? In
September, the government created a cabinet-level position to help the
tiny country piggyback on the films\' presumed success to lure more
tourists and filmmakers. The first \'\'Minister of Lord of the Rings\'\' -- as the
Kiwi press has dubbed him -- is Pete Hodgson, 51, who also serves as
minister of energy and of science, research, and technology.
Full EW Week Story \"