SomeOne writes \”With all the news on library budget cuts (including many in Colorado), it\’s nice to read about a growing library system with a visionary director. From the Denver (C0) Post,
Full Story \”
The story paints a mighty nice picture of Jamie LaRue, director of the Douglas Public Library District.
\”What better antidote can there be for the ills of suburbia than bringing the best of Shakespeare to Douglas County?\”
Jen Young points us to This Chronicle.com story on a report on a study conducted at Ball State University.
They say E-book technology needs some improvement before students will be willing to use e-books instead of textbooks. They found that students had various complaints about the performance of the e-book devices. But students who used e-books did just as well on quizzes as those who used printed texts.
Navigating through digital texts was one of the e-book users\’ biggest complaints. They found moving from page to page \”tedious.\” They also found it difficult to find specific chapters in texts and to find particular words.
The LATimes is Reporting Barbara Raheb, who produced 530 miniature titles in 27 years, is suffering from macular degeneration, the leading cause of blindness for people older than 60. Those with the malady find that the central portion of their field of vision is covered by a gray blob.
They say she is the nation\’s biggest little-book publisher. Her leather-bound volumes have thumbnail-size pages with lines of printed type so small that they can be covered by a shirt thread.
Jen Young sent over The Entertainment Weekly Story that says textbook publisher Scholastic announced plans for a new series of rapper-penned books for 4- to 10-year-olds, the New York Times reports. Called \’\’Hip Kid Hop,\’\’ the series\’ kicks off with two titles, by LL Cool J and Doug E. Fresh. Of course, the books come with CDs so kids can rhyme along with the authors and their backing tracks.
Steve Fesenmaier writes \”Ken Avidor has created a website for the comic strips about \”radical librarians saving the world.\” It is called \”Gondwonaland.\” Despite Ken\’s protests, it should be known that the two men are Sandy Berman and Chris Dodge. He told me a friend of his has recently faced civil action because of a series he produced. I don\’t think either Berman or Dodge will sue…13 strips are posted. All \”intelligent design\” people – Berman is trying to get LC to create a new subject heading for the exploding field – should enjoy this strip since it postulates that dinosaurs secretly rule the world. Some ID people believe dinosaurs still exist… \”
Godfrey Oswald writes \”
To coincide with the forthcoming release of \”The Library Factfinder\” (a
\”Guinness Book of World Records\” that is only about libraries, books and
databases) opinions are being sought for an annual survey on the \”Info
Connect LIS Directory\”
The results of the survey will enable me to carry out major changes to the
\”Info connect LIS Directory 2002\” in time for the 2003 edition.
Please could you spare 2 minutes to fill in an
online questionnaire.
When you get to this link, just click on the \”Feedback\” box\”
Bob Young, over at The Seattle Times says Seattle Public Library spends so much on salaries and so little on books that City Librarian Deborah Jacobs was left with little choice when forced to trim library spending by 4 percent. Seattle\’s 23 public libraries will close after tomorrow for a week, and again on Dec. 17 for another week, shaving library spending through unpaid wages for those two weeks.
Seattle Public Library pays beginning librarians $46,500 — about one-third more than Denver and Boston. In five years, beginning librarians in Seattle will see their salaries climb to $56,472 under their union contract. In addition, they\’ll get annual cost-of-living increases.
Karl G. Siewert writes \”This segment (requires RealAudio)
from NPR\’s Morning Edition features two Emilys, Whitfield of the ACLU and Shekitoff (sp?) of the ALA, discussing the realities of USA-PATRIOT as they relate to the now well-known \”Freedom\” series of television Public Service Announcements. \”
I heard it on the way into work this morning, it\’s worth a listen.
Aaron Tunn writes \”A collection with a difference…. from
The Age\”.
The National Library of Australia may soon start collecting pornographic websites.
The library\’s latest newsletter said it was looking to add websites to its extensive collection of erotica.
Electronic librarian Edgar Crook said in the newsletter the adult websites would be added to the National Collection of Electronic Publications \”thus giving a representative picture of Australian erotica on the Internet\”.
Mr Crook said the library already had such \”weighty volumes\” as Big \’n\’ Bouncy and Bra Busters, among other magazines.
Gary D. Price sent along the full-text of the article from the NLA
newsletter.
This AP Story says Martin Schoyen, has amassed one of the world\’s largest collections of ancient manuscripts, with an estimated value of up to 840 million kroner (dlrs 105 million).
The collection of more than 12,500 pieces spans five millennia. It includes parts of the Dead Sea Scrolls, ancient Buddhist writing rescued from the Taliban, ancient symbols used by Australia\’s Aborigines and even a signet ring used by Egyptian King Tutankhamen.
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