April 2007

A Comic About Truth, Justice and the Islamic Way

Banned in Saudi Arabia as religious censors there allege that it attempts to give a face to God (something Islam prohibits), the Kuwaiti based comic-book “The 99” is nevertheless growing in popularity in a large part of the Islamic world. Clerics from Kuwait to Malaysia have given “The 99” their blessing and in fact their financial support. Financing comes from the Islamic Unicorn Investment Bank in Bahrain and if you are curious as to what “Islamic banking” exactly is, here’s a website with an explanation of their principles.

The Christian Science Monitor reports on the comic published by Teshkeelcomics.com and the well-muscled heroes (Jabbar and Darr) and adorable heroines (Mumita and Noora) who fill the pages with their adventures.

April 25, 2007 by Uncategorized

Former librarian charged with grand larceny

This One from Syracuse,NY is short on details, but they say a former librarian in Fulton is charged with grand larceny. Police she allegedly made unauthorized purchases using the Fulton Public Library’s credit card, totaling more than $13,000.

According to police, she purchased liquor, food, hotel rooms and made a down payment on a car between May of 2005 and March of 2007. It is also alleged that the former librarian directed the payment of credit card bills by means of the library’s operating funds.

April 24, 2007 by Librarians Libraries

Indonesian Kid’s libraries strive for recognition

The Jakarta Post – Jakarta,Indonesia – Reports Jakarta has seen significant growth recently in community libraries, most of which have been initiated by non-government organizations and concerned individuals.

They are usually volunteer-based with sizes varying from solid establishments with vast book and educational toy collections, to small scale libraries with tiny collections in volunteers’ garages.

“We’re holding this event to give exposure to community libraries. They are vital for children’s access to quality reading,” said Mochamad Ariyo Faridh Zidni, a 1001BUKU volunteer, who was in charge in organizing the Olympics.

April 24, 2007 by Libraries

‘The New York Times’ Adjusts Free-Content Offer to Appease Academic Librarians

The story in the Chronicle of Higher Education starts:

In mid-March, “The New York Times” announced that it would make its premium online content available free to college students. The content, called TimesSelect, includes columnists and archives going back to the 1800s.

The offer was part of a continuing effort to attract young readers to the newspaper.

It seems that there has been a slight adjustment in the deal, however, after college librarians complained that they already pay tens of thousands of dollars for access to premium New York Times content through database companies like ProQuest and LexisNexis.

Subscribers to the Chronicle can read the story here.

April 24, 2007 by Internet Librarians Libraries

Digital Reference: Will there still be a desk?

Digital Reference: Will there still be a desk?: A good collection of links from Stephen Francoeur on the future of “the desk.” Librarians have been busy this year debating the future of reference. The blog posts all offer a rich set of comments that gave him quite a few ideas, not so much prognostications about the future but instead a vision of how he would like to see our college library’s reference desk changed. In his next post, he’ll tackle that.

April 24, 2007 by Libraries

UK County bid to shelve term librarian

County bid to shelve term librarian: the librarian, the traditional name for a keeper of book collections, is to be dropped by Hampshire library service.

Richard Ward, head of the library service, told staff of the name-change in a series of briefings on plans to restructure the service.

The county council plans to cut 40 per cent of the 60 qualified librarian posts and downgrade a further 30 per cent, paying them less. Professional librarians who don’t volunteer for redundancy can apply for posts re-named “service development officers.”

There are also new manager and library officer posts, but according to The Gazette, nobody in Hampshire library service will officially be called a librarian.

April 24, 2007 by Librarians Libraries

The A-list book-lister, Nancy Pearl

Nancy Pearl makes another apperance in The Seattle Times: “Nancy has written a book that works for any book lover: a book that is like your own personal bookseller or librarian,” said René Kirkpatrick, buyer for Seattle’s All for Kids Books & Music. “I have had ‘Book Crush’ next to the bed for a couple of weeks now, and I find that I pick it up every night, just to browse and see what I might have missed reading all those years ago.”

April 24, 2007 by Books Libraries Music

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