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Not As Cool As *Real* Librarians, But...

March 2, 2015 - 1:31pm — birdie

Bustle.com references 11 of the coolest pop culture librarians in this piece.

“Richard Tyler, consider this your passport to the wonderful and quite unpredictable world of books.” Have truer words about a library card ever been spoken? The Pagemaster’s librarian Mr. Dewey, whose mystic, alternate form is the Keeper of the Books and Guardian of the Written World, is eccentric to say the least, but he knows just how magical of a place a library can be. Plus, hes nice enough to bend the rules and let you check out as many books as you want… just this once, of course.

Tammy 2, Parks and Recreation

She might be criminally insane, but I’ll be damned if Tammy Swanson, the oversexed Deputy Director of Library Services from Parks and Recreation, isn’t the most hilarious librarian in the history of librarians. A master seductress and queen manipulator, she is certainly the kind of librarian that would liven up your book club.

Topic: 
Friday Time Killers
Libraries
TV

In Praise of Libraries | The Rotarian

March 2, 2015 - 12:32pm — Blake

“The library is especially valuable to people as they grow older,” she says. “You cannot overstate this. Maybe you’re sitting at home, all alone. Maybe you don’t get that many visitors anymore. So you come here. When you go to the library, you see children, families, people of all age groups. It makes you feel that you are part of a community.” She pauses.

“In the library, you get to feel that you are part of something bigger than yourself. It’s life.”

From In Praise of Libraries | The Rotarian

Topic: 
Libraries

Students turn food trucks into mobile libraries

February 28, 2015 - 5:53pm — Blake

Three enterprising Arizona State University students capitalize on the food truck craze by devising a plan to convert old trucks into modern-day bookmobiles for low-income schools and communities lacking basic library resources. They hatched the idea as part of their Changemaking in Education course co-taught by ASU’s Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College and Teach For America.

From Students turn food trucks into mobile libraries | ASU News

Topic: 
Academic Libraries
Libraries

Halifax councillor proposes finding a new name for libraries

February 28, 2015 - 4:41pm — Blake

“It really is a new era for libraries in terms of their significance around economic development, our strategy of supporting immigration and newcomers, supporting small business and entrepreneurs,” said Coun. Jennifer Watts.

Coun. Tim Outhit said the libraries are now so much more than book repositories, it’s possible the term “library” should be retired.

From Check this out: Halifax councillor proposes finding a new name for libraries | Metro

Topic: 
Libraries

“She blinded me with library science”: why the Feminist Library is more vital than ever

February 27, 2015 - 1:26pm — Blake

“She blinded me with library science”: why the Feminist Library is more vital than ever
Despite scant funding and resources, London’s Feminist Library is turning their 40th year into a celebration of storytelling, history – and, hopefully, sofas.

From “She blinded me with library science”: why the Feminist Library is more vital than ever

Topic: 
Libraries

ISIS Commits Libricide in Iraq

February 26, 2015 - 9:42am — birdie

Artnet.com reports on the burning of 8000 rare texts and manuscripts by the self-proclaimed Islamic State.

Topic: 
Books
International
Libraries
Rare Books

The near and far future of libraries

February 25, 2015 - 7:49am — Blake

The Rosetta Disk, for example, is one of its attempts to create a permanent archive: it’s a wafer of nickel containing all the world’s languages in raised microscopic text. “We aren’t creating the Rosetta Disk specifically with an apocalypse in mind, or for a society that's undergoing major upheaval,” Long Now Director Laura Welcher told Hopes&Fears, “but over the span of millennia, I think you have to expect that to happen occasionally.”

Let us now turn to the human experts for answers.

From The near and far future of libraries — Hopes&Fears — flow "Technology"

Topic: 
Libraries

The Secret Life of a Public Library Security Guard | Narratively | Human stories, boldly told.

February 24, 2015 - 6:58pm — Blake

In between the rare maps and historical stacks, fishing out fornicators and nixing narcotics transactions are all in a day’s work for one of Portland’s finest.

From The Secret Life of a Public Library Security Guard | Narratively | Human stories, boldly told.

Topic: 
Libraries

Homeless People Need Libraries and Libraries Need Homeless People Too

February 24, 2015 - 5:36pm — birdie

From the AP:

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) -- Jeffery Bailey spends nearly every day at his public library. It's not just that he loves books. For the 43-year-old who sleeps in a tent outside a local church, the library is pretty much the only place he can go that won't charge him to provide safety, warmth, useful services and entertainment.

Many public libraries discourage homeless people from hanging around all day. "It could be the way you dress, the way your hair is," says Bailey, whose scruffy denim jacket could use a good wash.

But just as Bailey needs his library, the library needs him: In this digital age, many people who used to depend on libraries can find what they need online without leaving home. Menaced by budget cuts, many public libraries are effectively failing to justify their relevance, reducing their hours year after year.

Topic: 
Libraries
People N Patrons
Public Libraries

Is there a library-sized hole in the internet?

February 23, 2015 - 7:40pm — Blake

David Weinberger is senior researcher at Harvard’s Berkman Center for Internet & Society, and has been instrumental in the development of ideas about the impact of the web. Shortly before his recent keynote presentation at OCLC’s EMEA Regional Council Meeting in Florence, he spoke with Sarah Bartlett about the library-sized hole in the Internet and how a ‘library graph’ might help librarians to fill it.

From Is there a library-sized hole in the internet? - Research Information

Topic: 
Internet
Libraries
Technology

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