writes “This Story Says
Lord Of The Rings and the Harry Potter series were tipped for the top in the run-up to the national survey of the top 100 books of all time, which will be whittled down to a top 20 in the autumn.
After a six-week wait while votes flooded in, book-lovers finally got their first glance at the BBC Big Read’s Top 100 books on Saturday and we asked our readers what they would have in their top ten.
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May 2003
WHO Puts Toronto Back on SARS Alert List
From the Associated Press via Yahoo News…
“Precautions at Toronto hospitals since last month’s SARS outbreak failed to prevent dozens of possible new cases, health officials conceded Monday as the World Health Organization put Canada’s largest city back on its list of SARS-affected places.” Read More.
Librarians shed clothes and image
Gary Deane writes “Canada.com Reports on Scantily clad women who grace the glossy colour pages — wearing lingerie between the bed sheets, sprawled atop a Harley motorcycle, belly dancing or looking positively vixen-like in an intimate bubble bath.
16 men and women working in libraries across Alberta are featured in the association’s 2004, 16-month calendar, called Hot Picks@your library. In addition to raising funds, the group hopes to quash their bookish, nerdy image and get people to visit local libraries.
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Taxpayers Billed $340,000 For Library Office Chairs
A Cincinnati media anchor questions why “Hamilton County Public Library (OH), amid stiff budget cuts, is cutting hours, raising fees, and holding back pay raises for some workers,” but purchased 621 office chairs @ $555 each for staff. “Right now, the system is facing a $4 million deficit. Tonight, Target 5 wants to know why the library system bought hundreds of expensive designer chairs for their employees.” Read More.
Libraries go online to fill up shelves
Bob Cox writes “cantonrep.com Article on how facing possible layoffs, shortened hours and cuts that would slash their $1.2 million book budget by a third, the staff at the Oakland Public Library in California tried a new twist on philanthropy.
They posted a list of books they would buy if they could on Amazon.com, the online bookseller. The response was overwhelming.
“The UPS man gets out and he has Amazon.com book mailers piled so high you can’t see his head,” said Leslie Rodd, Oakland’s administrative librarian. “It’s really a thrill.”
More than 300 libraries nationwide have now sought out donors online the way the Oakland library did. Burlingame, about 25 miles south of Oakland, made an online list after losing 2,500 titles earlier this year when its library flooded.
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Central Asia libraries in a bind
CrowGirl writes “An excellent story on the problems faced by libraries in the former soviet republics in central asia. They say many of the libraries that the now independent states of Central Asia inherited after the collapse of the Soviet Union have — over the past 12 years — fallen victim to neglect, theft, and inadequate funding.
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Read it and weep
writes “Next week, the BBC reveals the results of a poll to find the nation’s top 100 novels. But one man’s masterpiece can be another’s claptrap. Here, leading figures choose their literary bugbears, with an introduction by John Walsh
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Book With Poop As Character Could Be Removed
Someon writes “This One Says Super Diaper Baby is facing expulsion from the Riverside California Unified School District.
School officials agreed to send “The Adventures of Super Diaper Baby” to a committee for review after receiving a complaint that the book is full of disgusting toilet humor and bad grammar.
Riverside grandmother Pam Santi complained about the book, which is written in comic-book style and depicts an infant super hero who battles a villain named Deputy Doo Doo. Santi saw the book when her 7-year-old grandson checked it out from the John F. Kennedy Elementary School library.
“My grandson checked it out because he thinks it’s funny,” Santi said. “I do not think it’s funny. It has poor grammar, poor spelling, poor content, and it’s an extremely poor example of what I would want my student to learn,” Cloud said. “I think Dr. Seuss would be rolling over in his grave.”
Clinton signs library’s last beam into place
Bill writes “It has taken two weeks, 402 fine-tip markers and a college student with a bad case of writer’s cramp to sign the names of more than 5,000 donors onto the white beam.
Armed with a new Sharpie and surrounded by workers building the multimillion-dollar presidential library that the beam is a part of, Bill Clinton made the marker count 403.
More than 3,000 people cheered Friday as the former president signed his name to the beam that completes the skeleton of his presidential library in Little Rock.
Full Story. “
State librarian to retire
Oh-Wah-Hu writes “If you were one of the people following the troubles with Hawai’i State Librarian Virginia Lowell, then you’ll want to know she will retire June 30 when her contract expires, closing the chapter on one of the Hawai’i State Library System’s most trying times and bringing to an end a career that spanned nearly 40 years.
She asked the Board of Education this week to not renew her contract because she plans to move to Washington state to care for her ailing mother. Lowell has been on family leave since April 21.
Article is at honoluluadvertiser.com
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