October 2010

Bookplates and Dirty Rotten Scoundrels

Blog post at “Confessions of a Bookplate Junkie”

I am a novice when it comes to the bookplate, but as a book collector I have come to appreciate the art and provenance that a bookplate can impart. I collect books on literary forgery and this encompasses, for me, fakes, frauds, forgeries and the occasional hoax. In a collection comprised of about 400 volumes, there are a number of books with ex libris. A few of my personal favorites are displayed here.

I acquired several volumes a few years back, including The Two Forgers by John Collins and Introductions . . . to the Catalogue of the Ashley Library containing the bookplate of Frederick Baldwin Adams Jr. Adams was a noted book collector and for many years director of the Pierpont Morgan Library in New York City.

Full blog post

USLHE Traveling Library


Lighthouses were often time located in remote areas and as such had no access to city services such as libraries, opera houses, entertainment, etc. that most people enjoyed who lived in a town or city. As light keeping was a lonely profession in most cases supplies were brought to them by lighthouse tender ships. One of the items the tender supplied was a library box on each visit as pictured to the left. Library boxes were filled with books and switched from station to station to supply different reading materials to the families.

Full piece here

Cataloging Digital Documents

On “All Things Considered”

This week, Maya Angelou turned over a large trove of personal papers to the New York Public Library’s Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture. The collection includes many handwritten notes, drafts and letters. Nowadays, though, so much writing is done on computers rather than on paper; correspondence is done over email rather than through the postal service. To talk about how archivists deal with this shift toward digital documents, Michele Norris talks with Richard Oram, associate director of the Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas at Austin.

Full piece here.

Katie Price is BIG in Certain Parts…of Britain

Katie Price dresses up as a ‘sexy librarian’ at a book launch at Selfridge’s in London (video & pics).

At the launch for her 547th autobiography (really?) the glamour model really toned things down, opting for a sort of sexy librarian look (sorry if we’ve offended any real librarians out there with this comparison) with a demure blouse, pinstripe pencil skirt, large belt and a funny little fascinator thing on her head. She even wore natural looking make up. And the finishing touch to convince us that she’s proper smart and everything, and that she totally wrote the book all by herself…. she donned a pair thick rimmed glasses. How very faux intellectual.

The poor woman is having a hard time having her fourth baby and finds she needs to tell all in her book. Fans gloat adoringly.

Is this the UK version of Angelina Jolie?

The Desk Setup: A Look At Librarian Computers

The Desk Setup

Like many technologists, I may have had some vague notion that librarians had something to contribute to discussions about information and metadata and standards and access, but my concept of what librarians did and what they knew probably had more to do with stereotypes and anecdote than on an understanding of reality. Which is a shame. Although in the last few years I think we’ve done a really good job of making clearer connections between libraries and technology, I don’t think anyone is surprised when librarians are omitted from discussions about and between prominent technologists, such as the one facilitated by the Setup. (Note: by “librarians” I mean anyone who works in, with, or for libraries. Hat tip to Eli Neiburger for saying what I’d been thinking, only less clearly, for some time before he said those words out loud.)

The Social Physical Library: fostering connections and giving patrons a reason to come inside

The Social Physical Library: fostering connections & giving patrons a reason to come inside

What if (in addition to these events) there were neat, social, community-building opportunities for patrons to engage in whenever they happened to step foot in the library? That didn’t require planning on the library’s part, or remembering on the patrons’ part? That were targeted to their own individual interests? That fostered connections between them and their neighbors? That made stopping by the library just to see what’s up in the building worthwhile, as opposed to only using the digital branch? That helped people to learn and to better use our resources and our spaces?

Her idea of a living, updated-in-real-time site is worth checking out!

First-Sale Doctrine Under Fire

First-Sale Doctrine Under Fire
Technically the issue at the heart of the three-judge opinion issued last month is a technical point of copyright law. Practically, though, you could write a headline that screams “Decision threatens eBay, GameStop, and thousands of other used-product businesses.” Bet that would get some attention.

Am I sorry I became a librarian? No, but….

Am I sorry I became a librarian? No, but….

So, am I sorry I became a librarian? No. Am I sorry about some of the bullshit and outright rudeness, disrespect, and other nonsense I get from the higher ups? Yes, but sadly it is not something I can really change so I just take it a day at a time. In the end, some days are better than others. Sensei Girl and I have our successes, and we have our off days. In the end, it is about those we serve. We are happy letting someone else run the library; we just hope they don’t run it to the ground.

Book Bans and Challenges, 2007-2010 Mapped

Book Bans and Challenges, 2007-2010 Mapped
Hundreds of books are challenged in schools and libraries in the United States each year. A challenge is an attempt to remove or restrict materials, while a banning reflects the actual removal of those materials. The American Library Association (ALA) provides confidential support to teachers and librarians and tracks challenges that occur. ALA recorded 460 challenges in 2009 but estimates that this reflects only 20-25% of actual incidents, as most challenges are never reported.

This map is drawn from cases documented by ALA and the Kids’ Right to Read Project, a collaboration of the National Coalition Against Censorship and the American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression. Details are available in ALA’s “Books Banned and Challenged 2007-2008; 2008-2009; and 2009-2010,”and the “Kids’ Right to Read Project Report.”