September 2010

It’s 1:16 p.m. and Nancy Fisch sits at her desk, making mysterious, hieroglyph-like squiggles on a copy of music.

With a freshly sharpened pencil in her left hand — her left-handedness is a sign of her brilliance, she jokes — she’s transferring the squiggles from one copy of a score to another.

“Let’s see how long it takes me,” she says, savoring the challenge.

Fisch is the Joan Rivers of symphony librarians, a wise-cracking, Brooklyn-born, former French horn player with a talent for organization, a salty sense of humor and a tireless devotion to the orchestra. She works as the librarian of the San Diego Symphony.

The music in front of her: the viola part of Mozart’s Flute Concerto No. 2 in D major. It’s one of the works that flutist Sir James Galway — the most famous flutist on the planet — will perform next month in the concerts that open the San Diego Symphony’s centennial season.

On her right is the music prepared by the symphony’s principal violist, Che-Yen Chen. On her left is the copy that needs work.

It’s 1:16 p.m. and Nancy Fisch sits at her desk, making mysterious, hieroglyph-like squiggles on a copy of music.

With a freshly sharpened pencil in her left hand — her left-handedness is a sign of her brilliance, she jokes — she’s transferring the squiggles from one copy of a score to another.

“Let’s see how long it takes me,” she says, savoring the challenge.

Fisch is the Joan Rivers of symphony librarians, a wise-cracking, Brooklyn-born, former French horn player with a talent for organization, a salty sense of humor and a tireless devotion to the orchestra. She works as the librarian of the San Diego Symphony.

The music in front of her: the viola part of Mozart’s Flute Concerto No. 2 in D major. It’s one of the works that flutist Sir James Galway — the most famous flutist on the planet — will perform next month in the concerts that open the San Diego Symphony’s centennial season.

On her right is the music prepared by the symphony’s principal violist, Che-Yen Chen. On her left is the copy that needs work.

Chen, the head violist, has made markings between the lines of notes that are to be copied to the other violists’ music. A “v” signifies an up-bow (that’s when the bow moves across the strings starting at the tip). A marking that looks like an unused staple is a down-bow (during which the bow moves from handle to tip). The markings help coordinate the way the musicians play so that bowings will be done in unison, contributing to the cohesiveness of a performance.

Story from Voice of San Diego.

Harry Potter and Huck Finn never met in their adventures, but they’ll share a shelf at libraries across America during Banned Books Week, Sept. 25 to Oct. 2. The weeklong celebration of our freedom to read began in 1982 in response to an increase in the number of books being challenged in the nation’s libraries and schools.

From DePauw University, Greencastle, IN: Banned Books Week has continued annually, and its need has not diminished. According to the American Library Association’s (ALA) Office for Intellectual Freedom, there were 460 recorded attempts to remove materials from libraries last year and many thousands more since the organization began counting in 1990.

Three books by Lauren Myracle — ttyl, ttfn, and l8r, g8r — topped the ALA’s Top Ten List of the Most Frequently Challenged Books of 2009 (see article below). Written entirely in texting shorthand, Myracle’s books were challenged for sexual content and drug references. Stephenie Meyer’s popular Twilight series was challenged on religious grounds, evoking opposition to J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter novels for promoting witchcraft. And it’s not just new books that are being challenged. Classics such as Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird and J.D. Salinger’s Catcher in the Rye are perennial contenders for the distinction of being the most challenged book.

Harry Potter and Huck Finn never met in their adventures, but they’ll share a shelf at libraries across America during Banned Books Week, Sept. 25 to Oct. 2. The weeklong celebration of our freedom to read began in 1982 in response to an increase in the number of books being challenged in the nation’s libraries and schools.

From DePauw University, Greencastle, IN: Banned Books Week has continued annually, and its need has not diminished. According to the American Library Association’s (ALA) Office for Intellectual Freedom, there were 460 recorded attempts to remove materials from libraries last year and many thousands more since the organization began counting in 1990.

Three books by Lauren Myracle — ttyl, ttfn, and l8r, g8r — topped the ALA’s Top Ten List of the Most Frequently Challenged Books of 2009 (see article below). Written entirely in texting shorthand, Myracle’s books were challenged for sexual content and drug references. Stephenie Meyer’s popular Twilight series was challenged on religious grounds, evoking opposition to J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter novels for promoting witchcraft. And it’s not just new books that are being challenged. Classics such as Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird and J.D. Salinger’s Catcher in the Rye are perennial contenders for the distinction of being the most challenged book.

“Not every book is right for each reader, but we should have the right to think for ourselves and allow others to do the same,” said ALA President Roberta Stevens in a press release on the organization’s website.

Lauren Myracle, author of ttyl and Luv Ya Bunches, two frequently challenged books, writes about the phenomenon of Banned Books. She says that parents anger springs from fear. Grown-ups who care about what kids read aren’t the enemy.

From Shelf Awareness: As 2009’s number one most frequently challenged author in the country (Mom, cover your ears), I often catch flack for writing about topics that certain parents, teachers and librarians would prefer I didn’t. Like what? Like a teenager kissing her female best friend, or high school kids drinking too much and doing really stupid things, or a discussion of the pros and cons of thongs.

I’ve also come under fire for writing (lovingly) about a fifth-grader who has two moms, as well as a boy who won’t join the Boy Scouts because of the Boy Scouts’ discriminatory policies. Biology gets me in trouble, too. For example, parents get all kinds of upset about a scene in one of my novels in which a 12-year-old girl sits down with a box of tampons and attempts to make heads and tails of the dense instruction pamphlet.

In grappling with issues surrounding censorship, I’ve come to the conclusion that the enemy–at least in part–is the inevitable us/them dichotomy that arises in discussions of intellectual freedom.

SANTA CLARITA, Calif. — A private company, Library Systems & Services, in Maryland, has taken over public libraries in ailing cities in California, Oregon, Tennessee and Texas, growing into the country’s fifth-largest library system.

The basic pitch that the company L.S.S.I. makes to cities is that it fixes broken libraries — often by cleaning house.

Now the company, has been hired for the first time to run a system in a relatively healthy city, setting off an intense and often acrimonious debate about the role of outsourcing in a ravaged economy.

A $4 million deal to run the three libraries here is a chance for the company to demonstrate that a dose of private management can be good for communities, whatever their financial situation. But in an era when outsourcing is most often an act of budget desperation — with janitors, police forces and even entire city halls farmed out in one town or another — the contract in Santa Clarita has touched a deep nerve and begun a round of second-guessing.

Can a municipal service like a library hold so central a place that it should be entrusted to a profit-driven contractor only as a last resort — and maybe not even then?

The company is majority owned by Islington Capital Partners, a private equity firm in Boston, and has about $35 million in annual revenue and 800 employees. Officials would not discuss the company’s profitability.

SANTA CLARITA, Calif. — A private company, Library Systems & Services, in Maryland, has taken over public libraries in ailing cities in California, Oregon, Tennessee and Texas, growing into the country’s fifth-largest library system.

The basic pitch that the company L.S.S.I. makes to cities is that it fixes broken libraries — often by cleaning house.

Now the company, has been hired for the first time to run a system in a relatively healthy city, setting off an intense and often acrimonious debate about the role of outsourcing in a ravaged economy.

A $4 million deal to run the three libraries here is a chance for the company to demonstrate that a dose of private management can be good for communities, whatever their financial situation. But in an era when outsourcing is most often an act of budget desperation — with janitors, police forces and even entire city halls farmed out in one town or another — the contract in Santa Clarita has touched a deep nerve and begun a round of second-guessing.

Can a municipal service like a library hold so central a place that it should be entrusted to a profit-driven contractor only as a last resort — and maybe not even then?

The company is majority owned by Islington Capital Partners, a private equity firm in Boston, and has about $35 million in annual revenue and 800 employees. Officials would not discuss the company’s profitability.

Some L.S.S.I. customers have ended their contracts, while in other places, opposition has faded with time. In Redding, Calif., Jim Ceragioli, a board member of the Friends of Shasta County Library, said he initially counted himself among the skeptics.

But he has since changed his mind. “I can’t think of anything that’s been lost,” Mr. Ceragioli said.

WSJ.com – Opinion: How to Raise Boys Who Read. The authors hint: Not with gross-out books and video-game bribes.

It might seem old-fashioned, but her sentiment is echoed by what many in the legal community say: Poring over books makes it easier to collect information than Internet search tools, and provides a hands-on connection to the laws of our country.

“That’s not possible on a computer,” Clayton said. “The law could not exist without its books.”

VS.

Nobody uses the books anymore,” Commissioner Shannon Staub said at a recent budget meeting. “It’s on the Internet, and forget the law library.”

Full article here.

Augmented reality atlas
FlowingData: The mockup examples are more cool factor than useful in this augmented reality book by Mark Lukas, but I’m sure an extra dimension could be of use somehow. I’m just not quite sure how yet. Watch the demo below.

Sign up for a day-long virtual conference to be held on Wednesday Sept 29 from 10am – 6pm EDT–eBooks: Libraries at the Tipping Point, a unique online conference that explores the way the digital world is changing books and how these changes are reshaping the way we produce, distribute, and consume them.

This event will offer librarians, technology experts, publishers, and vendors a glimpse into the future of libraries with keynote speeches, special tracks, and an exciting exhibit area. Don’t miss this opportunity to investigate the evolving role of libraries in the twenty-first century!

Librarians and library administrators will learn about current best practices for library eBook collections and explore new and evolving models for eBook content discovery and delivery. Publishers and content creators will learn how to effectively identify and develop the ‘right’ content offerings for each segment of the relatively untapped library eBook market. ebook platform vendors and device manufacturers will learn just what libraries need and want in this rapidly changing environment. It’s a party and everyone’s invited!!

FOUR SPECIAL TRACKS:

Sign up for a day-long virtual conference to be held on Wednesday Sept 29 from 10am – 6pm EDT–eBooks: Libraries at the Tipping Point, a unique online conference that explores the way the digital world is changing books and how these changes are reshaping the way we produce, distribute, and consume them.

This event will offer librarians, technology experts, publishers, and vendors a glimpse into the future of libraries with keynote speeches, special tracks, and an exciting exhibit area. Don’t miss this opportunity to investigate the evolving role of libraries in the twenty-first century!

Librarians and library administrators will learn about current best practices for library eBook collections and explore new and evolving models for eBook content discovery and delivery. Publishers and content creators will learn how to effectively identify and develop the ‘right’ content offerings for each segment of the relatively untapped library eBook market. ebook platform vendors and device manufacturers will learn just what libraries need and want in this rapidly changing environment. It’s a party and everyone’s invited!!

FOUR SPECIAL TRACKS:
Public library | Academic library | School libraries (K-12) | Hot topics, sponsored by Library Journal and Publishers Weekly. Full schedule here.

There is a review of the book “No Shelf Required: E-books in Libraries” at Teleread.com.

Amazon’s Kindle can do a lot more than just buy and read Amazon-sold e-books. This is often a surprise. I usually wind up in conversations where someone says “I’d like to try a Kindle, but it can’t _______.” Usually, it can.

I was actually surprised when I bought my Kindle not just by how much it could do, but by how well it did it. The Kindle suffers from two things: 1) it’s never going to do everything that a full-fledged computer or even a color touchscreen tablet can do; and 2) the Kindle 3 has improved on a whole slew of features that were either poorly implemented in or entirely absent from earlier iterations of the Kindle.

Here I want to gather up knowledge generated from and circulated by many of my favorite e-reader blogs, just to try to give you an inkling of all the things that a new Kindle can do. For organizational purposes, I’m going to do it as a Q&A. Most of these questions I’ve actually been asked (some of them frequently); others are rhetorical. (There are many features you wouldn’t even think to ask about.)

Full article at Wired.com