LISNews: Librarian News

James M. Goode has assembled one of the finest private collections of American and English bookplates I have ever seen. If you click on the this link you will see a most informative video about his collection.

If you can get to the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, Virginia before July 31st, be sure to visit Three Centuries of the American Bookplate a representative exhibit of the Goode collection . It will be on view at both the Alderman and Harrison -Small Libraries. For summer hours check the following website:
Http://www2.lib.virginia.edu/hours Information about the exhibit is detailed in the bookplate blog posting dated 6/12/2010:

Http://bookplatejunkie.blogspot.com

"Beyond Text and Image: The Book as Art" opens on Thursday, Feb. 25, in Staniar Gallery, Wilson Hall, at Washington and Lee in Lexington, VA. Curated by W&L humanities librarian Yolanda Merrill, the exhibition showcases 30 works by nationally known book artists.

Merrill will give a curator's talk and slideshow on Wednesday, March 3, at 6 p.m. in the Concert Hall facing the Gallery. The lecture will be followed by a reception in Lykes Atrium, adjacent to the Gallery. The exhibit, curator's talk and reception are free and open to the public.

Merrill herself has many years of experience as a bookbinder and bookmaker, and has co-taught a course in the book arts at Washington and Lee. A selection of the student work made in the course is on display in the Lykes Atrium.

The focus of the exhibit is on sculptural books. However, there will also be photographs and other two-dimensional works in the show. Washington & Lee.

A statue of deceased Chinese Chairman Mao Zedong at the Nixon Presidential Library &Museum is the subject of a protest planned for Thursday, on the 60th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China.

The statue has been in the Hall of World Leaders since the Nixon Presidential Library opened. Kai Chen – a Chinese-American organizing the protest – is the first person to launch a complaint about it, said Sandy Quinn, assistant director of the Nixon Library &Birthplace Foundation.

"To even mention Mao with democratic leaders such as Churchill and Golda Meir in the same breath is truly an insult to human intelligence and offensive to all the freedom-loving people in the world," said Chen, who emigrated from China in 1981 and lives in Los Angeles.

"Having several figures in the world leaders' (section) doesn't mean we endorse their policies," assistant library director Sandy Quinn said. OC Register.

Another article from the LA Times points out that the library,
once privately run, is making a transition to government operation..."and that has turned statues of Mao Tse-tung and Chou En-lai into political footballs".

First a filly wins the Preakness, and now, a 301-year male only streak is broken with the appointment of Ruth Padel as the new Oxford professor of poetry, the first woman to hold the post since it was established in 1708. Ms. Padel, the great-great-granddaughter of Charles Darwin, was chosen on Saturday following a controversial contest for the position.

The controversy surrounding the contest was the withdrawal of another candidate, Derek Walcott, after news surfaced about sexual harassment claims made against him by a Harvard student in 1982. A dossier containing the details had been sent anonymously to 200 Oxford academics. Mr. Walcott’s withdrawal left Ms. Padel and the Indian poet and critic Arvind Mehrotra in consideration.

Story from The New York Times.