September 2007

The author of Librarian.net has put together a lis of ways people and websites are using to promote Banned book week, such as Hatcher Graduate Library in Ann Arbor Michigan using Flickr to promote banned book week. What other ways does your library use to promote banned book week?

Don’t have enough time to read a book? Take a look at this site The Lazy Library brought to you by Lifehacker. The Lazy Library helps you find books that fit into your time schedule based upon page count information from Amazon.com. Make sure to check out Lifehacker for great productivity posts.

Are you interested in the history of pop-up books? Then check out this site on the history of pop-ups brought to you by the Improbable Research Blog. Improbable Research is always a fun blog to check out. Particularly for their IgNoble awards and Luxuriant Flowing Hair Club for Scientists.

Article about the young adult classic and it’s author forty years after publication. From The Associated Press.

Eli sent over a link to A Jewish Exponent Story on the Philadelphia-based Lena L. Orlow Chapter of Jewish Women International resolved to cease operations in 2006. However, when the members realized that cash still remained in the group’s treasury, they decided that it should benefit others locally in some appropriate manner, rather than being diverted into a national fund, according to Dr. Matti K. Gershenfeld, the chapter’s founding president.

That said, about $1,000 was donated to the Tuttleman Free Public Library of Gratz College to found the Lena L. Orlow Chapter, Jewish Women International Jewish Women’s Collection. The 15 scholarly books, many published by university presses, deal with Jewish women in history, literature and world culture.

Sue Wortman writes “The University of Michigan has created a Flickr set celebrating Banned Book Week which starts September 29. The Flickr exhibit features pictures of a wide variety of library staff, each reading their favorite banned book. Books shown in the photographs are linked to the appropriate University of Michigan library catalog record.

To see the exhibit go to Flickr.com“

JET writes “Museum Day is a nationwide event taking place on Saturday, September 29, 2007 where participating museums and cultural institutions across the country offer free admission to Smithsonian readers and Smithsonian.com visitors, allowing for one day only, the free-admission policy of Smithsonian’s Washington, D.C.-based facilities to be emulated across the country.

This year you must present an admission card to the museums. Information on how to get this card can be found at this link
http://www.smithsonianmagazine.com/museumday/“

There is new life for old books in the British Library according to this BBC story,

“More than 100,000 old books previously unavailable to the public will go online thanks to a mass digitisation programme at the British Library.

The programme focuses on 19th Century books, many of which are unknown as few were reprinted after first editions.”

Howard Curtis, 57, former West Tisbury (MA) library director who abruptly resigned in April after less than a year on the job (June 2006 to March 2007) has been charged with two counts of sexually abusing a child while he worked as the director of the Haverhill public library more than 20 years ago.

He was indicted by a grand jury in Salem superior court in June and pleaded not guilty to two charges of sexually assaulting a child, the plaintiff, now age 34, once as a Boy Scout and once as a library employee. Martha’s Vineyard Gazette reports on the charges.

You might also want to check out another article from a Vineyard newspaper, from the time of Curtis’ appointment in June 2006.

Book auction from the late AMS (Advanced Marketing Services)…if you’re in the Indianapolis, IN area, you might want to check out the announcement here. Auction is in Indianapolis on Tuesday, October 9. A brochure may be downloaded from the auctioneer’s website.