Hoping to collect 1,000 or more signatures, opponents hope to block a proposal that would outsource Bedford Public Library services to Library Systems and Services.
More from the Star-Telegram.
August 2007
Singapore National Library Wins Award for Energy Efficiency
New libraries have the benefit of creating an energy-efficient environment from the start, and here’s one that’s won a prize for just that in Singapore. Through various initiatives – including escalators and water taps with motion-sensors, use of natural lighting, and gardens – the National Library Board (NLB) has been taking environmental-friendliness seriously.
Grace Paley, Short Story Writer, Dead at 84
AJC reports on the death of author Grace Paley who wrote short pieces about “the history of everyday life”, according to a NYT interview a few years ago.
Paley’s output was modest, about four dozen stories in three volumes: “The Little Disturbances of Man” (Doubleday, 1959); “Enormous Changes at the Last Minute” (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 1974); and “Later the Same Day” (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 1985). But she attracted a devoted following and was widely praised by critics for her pitch-perfect dialogue, which managed at once to be surgically spare and almost unimaginably rich.
Her “Collected Stories,” published by Farrar, Straus in 1994, was a finalist for both the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award. (The collection was reissued by Farrar, Straus this year.) From 1986 to 1988, Paley was New York’s first official state author; she was also a past poet laureate of Vermont.
Paley (born Grace Gutseit in the Bronx, daughter of immigrants) was among the earliest American writers to explore the lives of women; mostly Jewish, mostly New Yorkers in all their dailiness. She often focused on single mothers, whose days were a mix of sexual yearning and pulverizing fatigue. In a sense, her work was about what happened to the women that Roth and Bellow and Malamud’s men had loved and left behind.
Web Based School and Library Administration Site
Margot Reiss writes “Brand new Web Based School and Library Administration site now up. Has been successfully beta-tested by private elementary school and professional librarian. Do complete school admin. (track students, books read, catalogue inventory, schedule classes, rosters, grades) and more!”
Questia Invites Us All To Share 5,000 Books for Free
Questia Media Inc. has made its online library of more than 5,000 classic books free to the public.
Here’s the company line…”We have a treasure trove of material we wanted to share with the world,” said Tim Harris, chief executive of Questia. “These are some of the greatest and most influential books ever written. We felt that only giving our paid subscribers access to these books is a disservice to the Internet community as a whole. Now everyone can read them.”
BizJournals reports.
A Quick Guide to Gaming in Libraries
Anonymous Patron writes “here’s a
Quick Guide to Gaming in Libraries…a hot topic this year”
Manga Illustrator Arrested for Obscenity
Japan has weird laws when it comes to adult oriented materials. In manga, the artistic depiction of the sexual violation of a young woman by a demonic, sentient, plant bearing multiple phalluses is quite okay and all is well, just so long as you don’t show her vulva or pubic hair. You can show her breasts, that’s fine. Just censor that which lies between the upper thighs and the waist.
That said, you know that something weird was up when a manga illustrator was actually arrested for obscenity.
Philosophical Library Applies It’s Philosophy in Sewing Bee
In an effort to cut down on environmentally wasteful plastic shopping bags, the Philosophical Library in Escondido CA is having a sewing bee where patrons can come and sew their own “eco-bags” from an old pair of jeans or other recycled fabrics. Cool idea…
Homer Simpson debuts in Oxford Dictionary of Modern Quotations
The Register has this piece on some favorite quotes.
Homer Simpson has agreeably made his debut in the new edition of the Oxford Dictionary of Modern Quotations.
Homer is honoured for several classics, including this now-legendary piece of wisdom: “Kids, you tried your best and you failed miserably. The lesson is never try.”
Comic Acknowledging Technology Use in Pub Library
On a Claire Day, a comic about a young woman trying to figure out life, has her interviewing for a public library job. The cartoonist shows nicely how it’s moving beyond Dewey! See the 8/23 strip. (links added)
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