Education advocates weren’t dancing in the streets last week after their meeting with DC Public Schools Chancellor Kaya Henderson. But some were smiling — just a little.
“I felt very positive and hopeful for the future of the libraries,” said Suzanne Wells, a founder of the Capitol Hill Public School Parents Organization, or CHPSPO, which has been driving the effort to save librarians and push the city into making a greater investment in school libraries.
I doubt I’ll post anything with a better headline this week… Big ups to Gawker for that one. New York University has enclosed the atrium of the school’s main academic library with randomly perforated aluminum screens, in an effort to curb suicides while completely mindfucking the NYU population, reports The New York Times’ City Room.
A new ebook bestseller list from book publishing website and community Digital Book World aims to provide a clearer picture of the books that are actually driving the most revenue by taking price point, not just unit sales, into account.
The bookish internet exploded last week when, in what one report called “the worst craft idea ever,” Lauren Conrad (star of MTV reality shows and author of teen novels) cut apart a set of Lemony Snicket books and used the spines to decorate an otherwise plain box. The outcries were variations on the theme of, Nooooo, not books! That bitch!
Read: The Motion Picture An animation created by Wake County Public Libraries.
Found on Pub-Lib, an inquiry from a CT librarian:
“What has been worrying me lately with the possible replacement of the ebook over the print is, what happens when they go ‘out of print?’ Are they lost forever?
Being a very modest book collector, what, exactly will there be for me to collect?”
What do you think/imagine/suspect? Please comment below.
The Women’s National Book Association has announced that novelist Ann Patchett has been selected to receive the 2012-2013 Women’s National Book Award. According to the Association’s website, the biennial award is given to “a living American woman who derives part or all of her income from books and allied arts, and who has done meritorious work in the world of books beyond the duties or responsibilities of her profession or occupation.”
Ann Patchett, whose most recent novel is State of Wonder (HarperCollins, 2011), is the bestselling author of numerous works of fiction and nonfiction, including the novel Bel Canto, which won both the PEN/Faulkner and Orange Prize in 2002. Patchett’s work has also garnered such accolades as the New York Times Notable Book of the Year, the Janet Heidinger Kafka Prize, and the BookSense Book of the Year Award; and has been a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award. Her articles and essays have appeared in the New York Times Magazine, Harper’s, the Atlantic, the Washington Post, and Vogue.
In 2011, Patchett and publishing veteran Karen Hayes opened Parnassus Books, an independent bookstore in Nashville, Tennessee, after the last remaining bookstores in the city had closed their doors. Patchett has since become a nationally recognized advocate for independent bookselling, and this year was named one of Time Magazine’s “100 Most Influential People in the World.” Poets & Writers reports.
We’re back! LISTen is off hiatus with this episode. There are two essays of which one is inspired by a modest proposal made once upon a time by author Jonathan Swift. The other deals with infrastructure. A news miscellany is also presented.
By command of the producer, the following link is provided to the groceries wishlist she discusses in-episode:
http://amzn.com/w/35SWMCWPMXDJE
Play this program directly in your browser if you use a modern Firefox or right-click to download: Ogg Vorbis Audio
Related links:
Bibliofuture’s comment on political posts
Press release on author Nicholas Sparks
Announcement of the 2012 Dublin Core conference in Malaysia
Glenn Harlan Reynolds on US electrical infrastructure dangers
Heritage Foundation on US electrical infrastructure preparedness
Commentary at The Washington Examiner on possible national electrical grid issues
The GAO report cited by The Washington Examiner above
Instapundit on news of Saylor Foundation offering free courses
Inside HigherEd on news of Saylor Foundation offering free courses in concert with Excelsior College
Catalogablog on the release of a Digital Curation Resource Guide
Karen Coyle on “The Success Paradox”
France24 on Google re-ranking downward sites with high amounts of take-downnotices
Cyrus Farivar on the Google re-ranking issue
France24 on Mark Thompson taking the helm at the New York Times
The Verge on rumors of a new satellite broadband offering for rural USA
Cyrus Farivar on CleanIT plans in Europe
The Register on the Iranian clean national intranet deployment date slipping again
Glynn Moody on paying for F/LOSS programs
“Mitt the Fraudulent, Murdering, Death-Squad Profiteer — And It’s Only August 10!”
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For most residents of Janesville, Wis., the selection of Paul Ryan as Mitt Romney’s running mate was a story of a life-long local resident making good. For the librarians of Janesville, it meant getting ready for a steady steam of political reporters who came knocking on their door.
[Thanks Courtney]
How should academic libraries communicate their own value? Libraries are not synonymous for a ‘large undergraduate study hall’. Instead, they can provide vital support to research and teaching roles, says Stephen Barr
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