Libraries

NPR reports that New York Public Library has calculated its most circulated books of all time (so far). Only one non-fiction book made the top ten.

As we limp headfirst into a new decade, it's beginning to feel like many of these stories have become perennial entries.

2019 saw yet more drag queen story hour protests, vendor buyouts, the persistence of fake news, scandals, and lawsuits aplenty, along with the usual spate of book burning and banning.

Below are some of the other notable headlines from the past year's library-related news.

10. Naomi Cries Wolf

Feminist author Naomi Wolf found her book Outrages: Sex, Censorship, and the Criminalization of Love cancelled by the publisher after a public revelation that its research was based on the flawed assumption of equating "death recorded" with the death penalty.

9. Circulating More than Books

For years, libraries have been experimenting with checking out tools, humans, and other non-book items—a practice which continues to make headlines.

8. Clueless Architects

eBook Embargo on Libraries is Only the Tip of the Iceberg

As of November 1st, 2019 McMillan Publishing, one of the largest print publishers in the world, placed an 8-week embargo on libraries purchasing more than one copy of new release eBooks limiting an entire branch to loan out one eBook at a time to library patrons. This coupled with the publishing community beginning to limit perpetual access to eBooks and audiobooks, in general, should serve as a warning for what is about to come with the continued siloing and commoditization of information. A new reality favoring publishers and aggregators over creators and consumers closing in not only on the expressions of authors but the reportage of journalists, songs of artists, and the visions of filmmakers.

https://emergentweb.org/2019/11/12/ebook-embargo-on-libraries-is-only-the-tip-of-the-iceberg/

An Arkansas State University alumnus says he was surprised to spot a few curious critters running around the campus library.

Codie Clark, a math tutor, says he spotted at least two raccoons Sunday on the third floor of the university's Dean B. Ellis Library while waiting for a student to arrive for a tutoring session. Clark says other students then cornered one raccoon.

https://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2019/oct/29/multiple-raccoons-take-over-library-arkansas...

Driving the news: The American Library Association said libraries are struggling to acquire ebooks because of an "abuse of market power by dominant firms," as part of a report for the House Judiciary Committee's digital markets investigation that was made public Thursday.

https://www.axios.com/amazon-library-ala-antitrust-ebooks-679e8e4d-97bc-4b91-98dc-353d607e6c...

In a 1972 book - Man and the Computer - there is a chapter on "The Library of the Future." The chapter ends with a word of caution. You can see the caution here.

Americans who live in communities with a rich array of neighborhood amenities are twice as likely to talk daily with their neighbors as those whose neighborhoods have few amenities. More important, given widespread interest in the topic of loneliness in America, people living in amenity-rich communities are much less likely to feel isolated from others, regardless of whether they live in large cities, suburbs, or small towns. Fifty-five percent of Americans living in low-amenity suburbs report a high degree of social isolation, while fewer than one-third of suburbanites in amenity-dense neighborhoods report feeling so isolated.

From America Needs More Community Spaces - The Atlantic

At Merriam-Webster we know that words have the power to shape worlds both real and imagined. And we know that writing is hard work. To distill a story, its characters, and all the associated emotions into a single word is no small feat. That’s why we’ve partnered with eleven of our favorite authors who have shared the story and significance behind their one-word-title books.

From 11 Authors on Their One-Word Book Titles | Merriam-Webster

It took nearly five years into the internet’s life before anyone made a concerted effort to archive it. Much of our earliest online activity has disappeared.

From BBC - Future - Why there’s so little left of the early internet

...from the New York Review of Books, an opinion piece by Sue Halpern..

A public library is predicated on an ethos of sharing and egalitarianism. It is nonjudgmental. It stands in stark opposition to the materialism and individualism that otherwise define our culture. It is defiantly, proudly, communal. Even our little book-lined room, with its mismatched furniture and worn carpet, was, as the sociologist Eric Klinenberg reminds us libraries were once called, a palace for the people. Read it here: https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2019/04/18/in-praise-of-public-libraries/

What’s that thing they always say about if you do something you love you’ll never work a day in your life? I mean that’s true and all—when you love something, it can feel less like work and more like passion—but I’m also here to tell you that tenderness gets a little strained when you try to use it to pay your overdue power bill. That’s right, I’m talking about a library paycheck! That tiny little figure that gets added to your bank account after you work a 40-hour plus work week. It’s not fun to talk about money (it’s truly a nightmare), but it’s something we all understand. We need to make a salary so we can afford to live. We need to get paid.

From It's Time We Talk About Librarians and Money | Literary Hub

Joining the library saved me money and space, yes. It also permanently changed the way I read. Where I used to heavily research books before committing to them, I now borrow indiscriminately. There’s no fear! If I hate the book, it doesn’t matter; it’s going back into circulation when I’m done. This means I can pick up volumes that previously intimidated me. I tear through books I may have overlooked in the past for lack of desire to spend money on them. Not every book I take out of the library becomes a new favorite, but the experience of reading them is enriching nonetheless.

From My Library Card Made Me Less of a Picky Reader | Book Riot

“Collecting fines is the single greatest point of friction between library staff and patrons,” he told the San Francisco Public Library Commission last month. The commission voted that night to make San Francisco the latest library system to go fine-free. The San Francisco Board of Supervisors needs to vote on the library’s recommendations, but Mayor London Breed has already voiced her support.

From Why California Libraries Are Ditching Fines on Overdue Materials - GV Wire

Research data from 160,000 adults in 31 countries concludes that a sizeable home library gave teen school leavers skills equivalent to university graduates who didn’t read

From Growing up in a house full of books is major boost to literacy and numeracy, study finds | Books | The Guardian

The New York Public Library has one of the largest public collections in the world. But, unlike Amazon, it does not have seemingly infinite storage. Every book must earn its place on crowded shelves. Nothing gets there by accident. With millions of books to choose from, the library often gets asked how a book gets on the shelves.

From How the N.Y. Public Library Fills Its Shelves (and Why Some Books Don’t Make the Cut) - The New York Times

The Cleveland Public Library is ending fines for overdue materials. That announcement was made during a "State of the Library" address by executive director Felton Thomas Jr. at the City Club of Cleveland on Wednesday, Feb. 27. Thomas also laid out plans for a year-long sesquicentennial celebration that, he said, "focuses on places, programs and people."

From Cleveland Public Library going fine-free after 150 years

As a leader in the global movement toward open access to publicly funded research, the University of California is taking a firm stand by deciding not to renew its subscriptions with Elsevier. Despite months of contract negotiations, Elsevier was unwilling to meet UC’s key goal: securing universal open access to UC research while containing the rapidly escalating costs associated with for-profit journals.

From UC terminates subscriptions with world’s largest scientific publisher in push for open access to publicly funded research | University of California

Many of these institutions have begun to embrace this marriage of ideas. Hip-hop curricula, archives, conferences, and fellowships now have homes in even the nation’s most venerable academic institutions, including Cornell University, Harvard University, Duke University, and many more. Libraries across the country, from small towns to the New York Public Library, have welcomed hip-hop programming, as have storied institutions such as Carnegie Hall and The Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.

From Legacy Institutions Must Welcome Hip-Hop Into Their Halls

Lincoln library officials say librarians have been inspecting each item checked back into the eight branches, committed to keeping out any bedbugs. The library system discovered bedbugs in some books in 2014, amid a national rash of bedbug reports from a variety of places, including theaters and thrift stores, college dorms and apartment buildings, hotel rooms and surgical centers.

From Librarians pore over books to keep out the bedbugs | KHGI

Smreker is a French teacher at Harding Charter Prep and in her free time she loves to collect used books. But, she says sometimes it's not just the tale they are intended to tell that make them interesting.

From Oklahoma teacher, book collector makes hobby of reuniting families with meaningful bookmarks | KFOR.com