A library is not…
Libraries and librarians are not a community ‘bolt on’ service. They are an integral part of a community, they help represent a community and they contribute to the health of a community. That’s why cuts to libraries are so dangerous – not just because they deprive people of access to resources, or jobs, or information or pleasure, but because they say ‘You don’t matter. You are not important.’ That’s not a good thing.
October 2011
Eight Amazing Libraries and One That’s Horrible
There’s a case to be made for libraries having more interesting architecture than any other building type except for religious houses of worship.
Here’s our look at eight architecturally amazing libraries (and one that’s not so much). It is the first in a series of Spot Cool Stuff’s tour of the world’s best looking libraries. To stay updated on all of our posts, including our cool library series, follow us on Twitter, subscribe to our RSS feed or check back with our newly opened Book and Literature Travel category page.
And if you know of a library you’d like us to check out leave us a comment any time. Late fees never apply.
Hard Choices: Do Libraries Really Destroy Books?
This story was prominently featured at NPR.org
It was the top center story on the site.
Hard Choices: Do Libraries Really Destroy Books?
Libraries have limited space and limited funds, but they face a constantly growing supply of books. The careful culling of books is painstaking work. From selling to donating to destroying, we look at the options when every book cannot be kept on the shelves.
Cliff Stoll 15 years later
Here is a talk by Cliff Stoll in 1996. This talk coincided with the release of his book: Silicon Snake Oil: Second Thoughts on the Information Highway
He mentions libraries several times. His talk is about the Internet so it is inherently about information technology. He makes several predictions about computing in 5/10/15 years. You can see how they held up.
6 Reasons We’re In Another ‘Book-Burning’ Period in History
Read more: 6 Reasons We’re In Another ‘Book-Burning’ Period in History
“The next thing I’m going to say is going to make 80 percent of you want to punch me in the face, so let’s get it out of the way: For the past year or so, part of my job has been to walk through library warehouses and destroy tens of thousands of often old and irreplaceable books.”
New York Library Gets a Face-Lift
It was business as usual when I stopped at the Queens Central Library in downtown Jamaica the other morning. Visitors were nosing through racks of dog-eared best sellers, schmoozing near the circulation desk and peering into banks of computers on long tables in the lobby.
Why Google Should Fear A Potential Facebook Web Browser
As Facebook becomes the social platform of the Internet, a custom browser seems like the next logical step. What this means for the online landscape, and why it could help Facebook disrupt Google’s main revenue channel: targeted search advertising.
UK Display of Defaced Dustjackets by Playwright Joe Orton & Kenneth Halliwell
As crimes go it was not the most heinous of offences, but Islington council’s principal law clerk, Sidney Porrett, made it his mission to nab the perpetrators.
“I had to catch these two monkeys,” he said. “They were a couple of darlings, make no mistake.”
The darlings in question were the playwright Joe Orton and his boyfriend – later murderer – Kenneth Halliwell, and the crimes were taking library books and returning them with comedy collages on the dustjackets.
After a fruitless investigation that involved undercover librarians, Porrett eventually caught the pair in an elaborate sting operation and they went to jail for six months each.
From Friday, the story of their crimes will be retold by the council, which is putting on display 40 of the 72 dustjackets that the pair defaced.
Islington’s local history manager, Mark Aston, said it was the first time the jackets – “they’re of international interest I’d say” – had gone on show in this number in the same place, and they shined a light on two fascinating lives and characters. More on Orton’s short but dramatic life here.
Piece from Guardian UK.
The Browser and FiveBooks
The Browser website collects journalism from around the internet which they judge likely to be of lasting value to the general intelligent reader. The site also has a section where they invite experts to recommend the best reading in their given fields of interest. The section is called FiveBooks.
Today’s FiveBooks is by Peg Tyre and is about educating your child.
You can see a complete list of the FiveBook selections here.
Evaluating Research By the Numbers
Evaluating Research By the Numbers
“Last week I taught an information literacy class to a group of senior Chemistry students. We didn’t talk about databases or indexes, we talked about numbers. We talked about impact factors and h-indexes and alternative metrics, and the students loved it. Librarians have used these metrics for years in collection development, and have looked them up to help faculty with tenure and promotion packets. But many librarians don’t know where the numbers come from, or what some of the criticisms are.”
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