October 2011

Occupy Boston is not the only protest site with its own library. In New York, Occupy Wall Street has one, as do encampments in Los Angeles; Portland, Ore.; and elsewhere.

Excerpt:
“I hope, at the very least, it just makes people more inclined to be thoughtful about what they’re doing here,” said Mr. Ford, 30, as he stood in front of a table piled with newly donated books that had yet to be filed.

The librarians have eschewed the Dewey Decimal System, concerned by historical accounts that portray Melvil Dewey, its inventor, as a racist and misogynist.

Full article

On Google today there is a link below the search box. It says – Watch The Perfect Game, a baseball search story.

This video is part of a series by Google called “Search Stories”

Here are the current stories:
Search Stories: An Introduction
Zack Matere: Growing Knowledge
The Tofino Riders: A 1,000 Year-Old-Wave
Caroline Moore: Supernova 2008ha
Dave Strenski: New Energy for Detroit
Erik-Jan Bos: A Letter from an Old Friend

I don’t post this to glorify Google. There are several issues raised in these videos that will be of interest to librarians. A librarian is specifically mentioned in the Erik-Jan Bos video. The “Growing Knowledge” video has several ideas/issues that will be of interest to librarians. Each video is only 1-2 minutes. Consider watching them all and posting your observations and comments here.

Annoyed Librarian comments on libraries lending Kindle ebooks.

Three major publishers said on Wednesday that they would allow their authors to access book sales data directly online, a move that appeared to challenge Amazon and its continued efforts to woo authors.

Full story

Salt Lake City Library employees say the latest chapter on staff turmoil is rich with irony: a clampdown on free speech inside the very institution that celebrates the principle.

A just-launched crackdown on any opinionated email — and on criticism of management expressed via social media — has some veteran librarians fearing for their jobs and a chorus of others crying censorship.

Even Friends of the Library members are openly questioning the library’s direction and its “chronic problems.”

The uproar started last week after the human resources manager unveiled new guidelines for all-staff email. It is only appropriate, Shelly Chapman wrote, to send pertinent, work-related information such as available shifts and job announcements. “It was also determined,” Chapman wrote, “that employees would not use all-staff email to voice opinions or express concerns.”

“Appropriate” all-staff email must be reviewed by two staffers before sending, the edict reads. And “any other” all-staff email must be approved by the employee’s manager.

That prompted veteran librarian Ranae Pierce — via an all-staff email — to point out the irony of the rule, given the library’s free-speech mission. Story from the Salt Lake City Tribune.

MediaBistro reports: The venerable British Library is being criticized this week for a new suggested sales platform that it is currently testing. The online catalog for the British Library now includes an extra link on most book listings. In addition to request reserve, and checkout a title, patrons can now also find the book on Amazon.co.uk. If Amaozn doesn’t have the title then the page lists a “More titles to consider” link instead.

Naturally this has Amazon’s competitors up in arms. Johnny de Falbe, co-owner of London’s Sandoe bookshop, had this to say: “The British Library, a public institution, should not be offering this link to Amazon, which is not (last I heard) a public institution. And if the British Library, of all people, are not supporting British bookshops, and positively steering business away from independents, then why should anyone else have any faith, or interest, in independents?”

And he’s not alone. James Daunt, managing director of Waterstone’s, was not pleased with the development, saying: “It’s disappointing to say the least that a very British institution is driving readers away from local libraries and high street bookshops.”

The British Library is on the record as saying that this was not a deliberate choice; it’s the default option for the platform offered by ExLibris, the company who built the British Library’s website.

Amazon made an exclusive tablet deal with DC, so Barnes & Noble and Books-a-Million removed its graphic novels from their shelves.

Full article in the NYT

Writer Malin Alegria’s first novel, Estrella’s Quinceanera, covers familiar territory for anyone who has ever been a 15-year-old girl battling with her mother — but the fact that the book’s sassy protagonist, Estrella Alvarez, is Mexican-American makes her unique in the world of young adult fiction.

Alegria’s book follows Estrella through that quintessential coming-of-age experience for many Latinos — the traditional party that happens when a girl turns 15. Seduced by her new friends’ luxurious lifestyles, Estrella becomes embarrassed by her home, her family and, most of all, the quinceanera birthday party her aunt and mother insist on throwing her.

Estrella’s Quinceanera came out in 2006, but it has found enduring success in the country’s Latino communities. So much so, that Scholastic has commissioned her to write a four-book series for Latino teens, the first installment of which comes out in May 2012.

NPR:Full story

It turns out there will be only five nominations in the Young People Literature category of the National Book Awards. After receiving a request from the National Book Foundation that she withdraw her book from nomination, Lauren Myracle consented, a move that dropped Shine from the list.

Last week, Chime by Franny Billingsley was added as a sixth nominee to the category, and Harold Augenbraum, NBF executive director, confirmed Monday that NBF staff had originally misheard Shine by Lauren Myracle for Chime when the list of nominees was read by the judges over the phone.

Judges…enunciate! Publishers Weekly has the story.

Through the ages, children’s books have been used to entertain, educate, socialize and indoctrinate. People often disagree (strongly and loudly), however, about whether a given book is educating or indoctrinating. Brooke spoke with Philip Nel, who co-edited a new anthology called Tales for Little Rebels, a review of radical children’s literature from the 20th century.

Story at “On the Media”

Or you can download the MP3