rteeter writes “Bookfinder lists the top out of print books of 2003 at journal.bookfinder.com.”
Top 5:
Sex by Madonna
World Crisis by Winston Churchill
Flicker by Theodore Roszak
Curse of Lono by Hunter S. Thompson
General Printing by Glen Cleeton
The city of Alexandria played host on 1 November to the renowned Italian novelist and scholar Umberto Eco, who gave a lecture in English, on varieties of literary and geographic memory, at the newly opened Bibliotheca Alexandrina. Al-Ahram Weekly publishes the complete text of the lecture.
“Good news: books will remain indispensable, not only for literature but for any circumstances in which one needs to read carefully, not only in order to receive information but also to speculate and to reflect about it. To read a computer screen is not the same as to read a book. “
This Slashdot Thread, points the way to A Washington Post Article on archinving the web. In research described in the journal Science last month, the team looked at footnotes from scientific articles in three major journals — the New England Journal of Medicine, Science and Nature — at three months, 15 months and 27 months after publication. The prevalence of inactive Internet references grew during those intervals from 3.8 percent to 10 percent to 13 percent.
“I think of it like the library burning in Alexandria,” Dellavalle said, referring to the 48 B.C. sacking of the ancient world’s greatest repository of knowledge. “We’ve had all these hundreds of years of stuff available by interlibrary loan, but now things just a few years old are disappearing right under our noses really quickly.”
Good Comments from Slashdot, including what could be the best argument for keeping a library on campus:
“Hey, guys. See that big building with those obsolete books? Lots of chicks hang out there. 🙂“
Interesting Column by that says The formula for creating a great book is simple. All it takes is imagination, hard work and high standards. Following the formula can be the key to fame, fortune and wealth. No venture capital required. No patents. No secret strategies. Just ask the woman who wrote Harry Potter. She knows all about the secret formula for great books.
Here’s the secret. Authors just have to cover the “4 MAGIC E’s.”
Great headline, sad story from KY:
Library bill could leave libraries’ bills. Librarians throughout the state are raising alarms over legislative proposals that they say could result in drastic cuts, including closing some libraries.
Evansville-Vanderburgh Pub- lic Library director Marcia Au said, “I don’t know what we would be able to keep open if the bill is approved. It depends whether they are looking at just operating budgets or cumulative budgets.”
Backed by Linux cheerleader Brazilian President Lula, the Brazilian government is urging its agencies and offices to dump software with expensive licensing agreements in favor of Linux. Another of Lula’s goals is to extend Internet access to low- and middle-income Brazilians, which might be made more feasible with open source software. More here from this Yahoo/Reuters story.
This One takes a look at problems at Tampa, Florida public.
Stern notices have been posted around the building to ward off loiterers. Just inside the automatic entrance door, a metal bin restricts anyone from bringing in anything larger than a small carry-on bag. Next to the bin are leaflets listing rules of conduct, such as a ban on bathing, shaving or washing clothes in the restrooms. And two Hillsborough County sheriff’s deputies are keeping an eye on visitors.
“What’s happening at the library is indicative of what’s going on downtown,” said Kristin Taylor, head of T.H.O.R.N. ministries (Thankfully Helping Others’ Real Needs), which feeds the homeless. “It’s disheartening to me.”
Charles Davis writes “Story from
ZDNet on The British Library. They are to beef up its online activities by selling millions of rare books from its collections in a collaboration with e-commerce
site Amazon.co.uk, the library said on Monday.
The library, part of the British Museum, will make 2.5 million rare and antique titles available to the public via Amazon’s Web site, including
first-edition novels and centuries-old sheet music. The library already sells rare books and manuscripts through traditional channels.”
This One has been in my inbox for a little too long.
A March 2002 audit of the Air Force museum’s active inventory discovered about 2,300 artifacts were unaccounted for, the Dayton Daily News reported Aug. 24. The museum now says all but 354 of those artifacts have been found or accounted for.
Bob Cox was first in with Good News out of Florida, where the race is on to find staff for a new Main Library twice the size of the one it will replace, plus finding employees for six new and 12 renovated libraries in Jacksonville.
The human resources manager for the Jacksonville Public Library has to find 135 new employees to help staff libraries where construction is set to finish in the next year. Library records show 52 of those positions are for professional librarians, which means at least a master’s degree is required.
There isn’t a local program to educate librarians, however, so the majority of Moser’s searching happens outside the city.
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