LISNews: Librarian News

The Houston Chronicle Reports on Charles Arbore who binds books at the Houston Public Library's Julia Ideson Building. For 10 years, he has volunteered to revive and rehabilitate the precious and rare old books in the library's Texas Collection. M.B. Synge's Book of Discovery: The History of the World's Explorations, from the Earliest Times to the Finding of the South Pole was one of the latest to undergo Arbore's reconstructive surgery.

"I had a bit of a revelation," Arbore said. "I couldn't afford the $75 a book Williams was going to charge for fixing my books, but I could afford to pay to learn to bind books myself. I ended up spending a heck of a lot more than $75, but I got a skill that is a hobby I'm passionate about."

Among the personal property that convicted Unabomber Theodore Kaczynski is seeking in court to have returned are a whole bunch of books. In addition to volumes about which plants are safe/unsafe to eat, the list includes history, ancient classics, Shakespeare, Dickens, Steinbeck ... Oh, and Psychology of Women.

"A quote from Jeffrey Archer's new memoir about his life in prison:

"I'm greeted by a lady in civilian clothes who wears the inevitable badge--in her case, Librarian. 'Good afternoon,' I say as I rise from my place and smile. She looks surprised."

"'If a prisoner asks you to sign a book, could you in future say no,' she says without bothering to introduce herself. I look puzzled; after all, I've been asked to sign books for the last twenty-five years. 'It's just that they are all library books,' she continues, 'and they're being stolen. They've now become like tobacco and phonecards, a trading item for drugs, and are worth double with your signature.'" (from The Chicago Sun Times)