August 2002

Bookless Library Branch:Glorified Computer Lab?

Marisa Ramirez writes \”One of the newest library branches in Tucson, Arizona has a unique feature: a library sans books. The Santa Rosa Learning Center, funded from a federal grant by the Housing and Urban Development Department\’s (HUD) Hope VI Project, is reminiscent of a computer lab, providing entirely web-based resources.

The idea of the project is to bridge the digital divide in the historically impoverished neighborhood of Barrio Santa Rosa.

Is anyone aware of another public library branch that consists entirely of computers? How can a bookless library like Santa Rosa claim to be any more than a glorified computer lab?

Santa Rosa Website

Arizona Daily Star article featuring Santa Rosa Library Branch\”

Audacious raid on Dickens museum

The BBC Says Thieves have escaped with three first editions of Charles Dickens\’ A Christmas Carol, worth up to £30,000 each, in a daylight raid on a London museum. They were taken from a locked cabinet using glasscutters as visitors looked around the Dickens House Museum during opening hours on Thursday, 15 August.

August 25, 2002 by Blake Uncategorized

‘King of Porn’ Empties Out His Castle

Luis Acosta writes \”The Washington Post has this amusing and informative feature about a Library of Congress curator\’s private archive of erotic literature being donated to the Museum of Sex, a new museum soon to open in New York. Between the jokes about the collector\’s eccentric enthusiasm, the article recognizes how his contribution will help further the new museum\’s worthy mission, \”to bring the best of contemporary scholarship on sex and sexuality to a larger audience.\” \”

August 25, 2002 by Blake Libraries

Sell the Public Libraries

This One from Lew Rockwell is, no doubt, worth a read.

Llewellyn says many public libraries have been a disgrace for decades, and, like most public institutions, they are architectural monstrosities. \”They have terrible hours, which they blame on underfunding. Their selection is often severely limited, vacillating between being out of date and carrying only the latest, tackiest bestsellers. Others have gradually purged all books that offer ideas the ruling regime rejects.\”

August 25, 2002 by Blake Libraries

UM draws fire for requiring reading of play on gay man

Michael Nellis writes \”Another bunch of self-righteous slobs have a bee up their butts over a university course in tolerance. Similar to the attacks against the University of North Carolina, this one was launched by the ultra-ultra-right wing American Family Association of Tupelo, Miss. They are suing the University of Maryland for daring to assign The Laramie Project; a play about the murder of Mathew Shepard, in Laramie, Wyo, who was killed just because he was gay. They\’re using the usual specious argument; that it is an effort to indoctrinate the righteous into believing that homosexuality is not morally disordered and instrinsically evil.

Here\’s the link

\”

August 25, 2002 by Blake Uncategorized

Library for the blind goes digital

From Globe & Mail:

With a massive database of digital books, the Canadian National Institute for the Blind (CNIB) is trying to narrow the information gap that now leaves blind people with access to only 3 per cent of the world\’s printed texts.

\”It will open up a window on the world to blind and visually impaired people,\” says law student Aaron Marsaw, a CNIB client and board member.

Jim Sanders, president and chief executive officer of the Toronto-based CNIB says a $33-million program to digitize the organization\’s library, book production and distribution processes likely will be copied by other libraries for the blind around the world.

Complete article.

August 24, 2002 by Ryan Legal Issues Librarians Libraries

A fanfare for librarians, in verse

From Managing Information:

Glasgow\’s Poet Laureate Edwin Morgan wrote a poem to mark the opening of the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions conference in Glasgow on Monday 19th August . . .

Discussing the poem Edwin Morgan said, \”Libraries are still a vital source of knowledge and information, even in the age of the Internet. With this poem I wanted to reflect on the changes taking place in the way we get and access information as we move into a digital age, whilst still asserting the relevance, power and endurance of books and the printed word.\”

Complete article (and the poem).

August 24, 2002 by Ryan Internet Librarians Libraries

Dictionary speaks volumes for Scots

The BBC Is Reporting The final volume of a unique dictionary of the Scots language has been published.
The Dictionary of the Older Scottish Tongue (DOST) was originally proposed in 1919 by Sir William Craigie, a Scottish member of the team which produced the Oxford English Dictionary (OED).

The work, which has been supported by Scottish universities and charitable foundations and is published by Oxford University Press, aims to define and preserve Lowland Scots, which many people speak.

August 24, 2002 by Blake Uncategorized

Banned Books – weak

Mary Minow writes \”
As we gear up for banned books week this year, take note of this challenge to libraries and bookstores — display books that are truly controversial.

Read The Challenge!\”

They say In this age of litigation, a lawsuit will more likely take a book out of print than a governmental edict.

August 24, 2002 by Blake Books Legal Issues Libraries

Georgia School Board Requires Balance of Evolution and Bible

Jen Young was kind enough to point out This NYTimes Story that says Georgia\’s second-largest school district adopted a policy last night that requires teachers to give a \”balanced education\” about the origin of life, giving equal weight to evolution and biblical interpretations.

The district, Cobb County, had already come under attack this summer for attaching disclaimers to all science textbooks, saying that evolution \”is a theory, not a fact,\” and should be \”approached with an open mind, studied carefully and critically considered.\”