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Library World Records is back online

The website for Library World Records, the Guinness Book of World Records for libraries and books is now back online.

Library World Records is fascinating book first published in 2004 after research work began on the book in 2002. The book was further extensively updated in a second edition in December 2009. Library World Records provides hundreds of intriguing and comprehensive facts about ancient and modern books, manuscripts and libraries around the world.

A much bigger brand new 3rd edition of the book is being researched at the moment and further details of this brand new edition will be revealed on this website around winter 2012.

Link:
http://www.lwrw.org.uk/Page1.htm

Godfrey
BSc, MSc.
London, Britain.

Panic Buttons @ Your Library?

Cook Memorial Public Library District (IL) officials may purchase panic buttons for employees reports the Daily Herald. Library Director Stephen Kershner said he began thinking about upgrading security after the Cook Park Library in Libertyville was expanded and the Aspen Drive Library in Vernon Hills Library was built. Those projects were completed last year. Libraries are open places where hundreds of people come and go every day, Kershner said, and some visitors can be dangerous. “At my first library job, we had encounters that turned violent,” Kershner recalled. “There are safety considerations because we’re open buildings.” The buttons likely would be wireless and could be placed at high-profile spots such as the reference or circulation desks, Kershner said. They often look like garage-door openers. If a librarian were to activate one, an alarm would be sent to the district’s security company and to police, Kershner said.

I am a Pole and Ulysses, Side by Side

from NPR:

Talk show host Stephen Colbert's foray into children's books has landed him alongside some exalted literary company.

A playful new exhibit at Philadelphia's Rosenbach Museum & Library pairs priceless material by James Joyce and Maurice Sendak with, um, perhaps less valuable items used by Colbert to write "I Am A Pole (And So Can You!)."

Colbert's pens, beer bottles and lunch remnants are certainly not the usual fare for the Rosenbach, the Philadelphia institution that houses the only complete manuscript of Joyce's "Ulysses."

But museum officials say the display reinforces their mission to engage and inspire visitors with collections that include papers from Lewis Carroll, Bram Stoker and Miguel de Cervantes.

"If I can do that by having Stephen Colbert make a joke about 'Ulysses,' why not?" said Rosenbach director Derick Dreher.

Check out the Library Card Table

From Brian Herzog, Swiss Army Librarian:

Earlier this summer, my coworker Tommy got the idea for a library art project: mail a letter to 200+ libraries across the country, asking them to send him one of their library cards.

He enclosed a return envelope, and most of them responded! For the next few weeks, Tommy's envelopes, with new library cards enclosed, poured into the library from all over the country. It was fun to see the variety and creativity of library cards.

Tommy's project was dependent on how many library cards he received. In the end, the number he got fit more or less perfectly on one of the coffee tables in the library, so he got permission to arrange them on a table and cover them with a protective epoxy. It looks great in the library, and the plan is to leave it in the library permanently. Tom also put up a sign on the table explaining what he did - the table is very eye-catching, and has already proved popular with staff and patrons.

Califa Lands $325,000 in Funding for Ebook Ownership Project; Deal Close With Smashwords

The San Mateo-based Califa Group, which is the largest library network in California, has made major strides in its project to create an ebook ownership model along the same lines as the Douglas County Libraries in Colorado.

Full article

Sifting through quantities of information

A recent article at the tech news blog, Gigaom, provides food for thought for libraries. In the piece, the author describes the value of simplicity and delivering what users want in terms of content, using the example of a news service called Evening Edition. One of the quotes from this post that stands out is "Of course, sifting through vast quantities of information in order to show people the important stuff is what newspapers are supposed to do..." Substitute the word 'newspapers' for 'librarians' and we are talking the same language.

Batman Kids Event Goes On at Birmingham Area Library

BIRMINGHAM, Alabama: Jeff Bogart wouldn't let a Colorado gunman who shot 70 people, 12 fatally, during a showing of "The Dark Knight Rises" in a movie theater spoil his 4-year-old son's chance for his favorite comic book character, Batman.

The father and son were among about 300 people who attended a Batman event at the Hoover Public Library celebrating this weekend's release of the latest Batman movie. The 10:30 a.m. event included library personnel dressed up as Batman, Batgirl, The Riddler and other characters from the popular comic book series.

"You still need to live life to the fullest and not let people like that crazy gunman stop you," Bogart said. "Our prayers are with those families who went through that unimaginable horror there."

Hoover Public Library director Linda Andrews said she and other library officials toyed with canceling their event, which had been planned weeks before the tragic shooting shortly after midnight Friday at a movie theater in Aurora, Colo. But in the end they felt there was no need stopping the kids from having their fun. -- Read More

Guess What - Libraries Are Still Here Despite Predictions of Obsolescence

As content is increasingly digitized, one might ask whether the library is even a viable building type for the future. “My guess is that most libraries will cease to exist,” says David Bell, a professor at Princeton’s Department of History who writes on the subject. For all their supposed obsolescence, libraries remain vital places, and many of them are more crowded than ever. Printed material, however, is not always the primary draw. The pressure to accommodate “other needs” is especially strong at public libraries, which are increasingly taking on civic functions that far exceed the historical mission of serving books to readers. “Libraries are the new cathedrals of our society. They’re very important sanctuaries,” says the architect Bing Thom. Read this Metropolis Magazine article on why libraries not only still matter, but are more important than ever.
http://www.metropolismag.com/story/20120720/still-here

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