November 1999

Charles Simic will be named the 15th poet laureate of the United States by the Librarian of Congress today, succeeding Donald Hall, Publishers Weekly reports.

Simic, who is 69, was born in Yugoslavia and immigrated to the U.S. at 16. After learning English he started writing poetry and to date has published 20 volumes. He won the Pulitzer Prize for poetry in 1990 and was awarded a MacArthur Foundation “genius” grant in 1984. He is a retired professor of American literature and creative writing at the University of New Hampshire. He is currently the poetry editor of The Paris Review and also writes for The New York Review of Books.

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The Sky Is Falling! Going to the library could be dangerous to your health.

The $98-million Grande Bibliotheque – Quebec’s main library and archive – has been falling apart a few pieces at a time. Glass panels have been slipping from the library’s exterior but book lovers and pedestrians will be protected in a novel way – a proposed safety perimeter of gardens, trees and awnings, also the most affordable option.

The library, located in the downtown area near the bus station, opened with great fanfare in spring of 2005.

And you thought Seattle’s new library was bad because you kept getting lost…

Mister Cow Cow writes “From Iowa: Man pleads guilty to watching child porn at university library, A man accused of watching child pornography on a computer at the main library at the University of Iowa last summer has pleaded guilty to a charge of sexual exploitation of a minor.

According to campus police, Pitcher was caught watching child porn at the library in August. He also had a box of computer disks, two of which contained child porn.”

madcow writes “Story, with video, of a student being tasered at UCLA’s Powell Library CLICC computer lab, after not producing a student ID.
Read here.”

Anonymous Patron writes “Lexington Herald-Leader (Kentucky) has a nice report on Jim Nelson commissioner of the Kentucky Department for Libraries and Archives, is Kentucky’s longest-serving state librarian. Governor John Y. Brown appointed him in 1980 to the state post, which provides leadership and support to libraries statewide.

This month, after 26 years of service to the Frankfort-based office, Nelson will retire and begin a career writing mystery novels. A public reception in his honor will be from 2-4 p.m. on Monday, Sept. 25 in the lobby of the KDLA building.”

Anonymous Patron writes “LJWorld.com has one on Martha Cutter Kelley Smith, librarian at at the Coal Creek Library in Kansas, far the past 80 years. just as she has for the past 80 years, the 100-year-old Smith toils away at the state’s oldest library, keeping herself busy and keeping a monument to the small community of Vinland up and running.

It’s good to be back here, she says. For the past two weeks, the summer heat has cooked the small library, forced hot air through the tiny room’s seven narrow windows.”

She lived to be 108! Obituary for Martha Cutter Kelley Smith

After graduation she worked two years at the Lawrence Public Library. After that she returned to help farm on the family farm for the next seventeen years since her father had no sons. While doing this she helped out at the Coal Creek Library in Vinland as a Librarian. She continued to volunteer for the remainder of her life at the Coal Creek Library as long as she was able. In 2002 she was honored at an Awards Banquet as the oldest female worker in the State of Kansas.

The Journal of Web Librarianship The Journal of Web Librarianship is an international, peer-reviewed journal published quarterly by Haworth, Inc. Information about subscriptions may be found on the Haworth web site.
The Journal of Web Librarianship publishes material related to all aspects of librarianship as practiced on the World Wide Web, including both existing and emerging roles and activities of information professionals in the Web environment. The Journal of Web Librarianship strives to find a balance between original, scholarly research, and practical communications about relevant topics in web librarianship.

Via The Distant Librarian

BedBooks is a company that prints sideways books. “The revolutionary way Bed Books are printed will enable you to lie in any comfortable position and hold the book at an angle that works best for you.” You can Print A Page [PDF] to see just how they work. They offer books like Alice in Wonderland, The Call of the Wild and Wuthering Heights.