June 2013

Source: State Journal Register
Dateline: Urbana IL — Some Urbana residents are upset and calling for the library director’s resignation after thousands of books were mistakenly removed from the shelves.
(See two previous articles below)

Director Debra Lissak says the removal at the Urbana Free Library was a “misstep” and some of the titles are being returned.

The (Champaign) News-Gazette says workers removed art, gardening, computer science, medicine and cooking books from the stacks when they were culling the collection to remove volumes that were more than a decade old.

About half the library’s 66,000 adult non-fiction books meet that threshold, but not every older book was removed because the process was halted.

Do you ever feel sentimental about weeded books? Then this one’s for you. (The NYT recommends that you view it full screen).

While books may not necessarily make for a better reading experience (ed. but it’s ok to have a preference one way or the other), they are superior as subject matter for a photo project. (I defy you, dear reader, to find a loving portrait of a Nook.)

To wit, witness Kerry Mansfield’s “Expired,” a twenty-page photo series whose substance is the physicality of discarded and withdrawn library books. She brings the lens in close, showing worn edges and torn covers and photographing the ephemera of the library experience: the check-out cards and the paper pockets they went into

From the Daily Herald:

Author Ray Bradbury moved to Los Angeles in 1934 and spent the rest of his life on the West Coast, but his fondness for Waukegan IL never dissipated.

After his death, in June of last year, library officials learned Bradbury had bequeathed his personal book collection to the County Street facility. It’s no small gift.

“Every room had a bookshelf overflowing,” said Rena Morrow, the library’s marketing, programming, and exhibits manager. The collection contains some books that could be valuable, such as first editions of noted works or autographed books, Morrow said.

The library also stands to receive copies of books Bradbury wrote, including some in foreign languages. The collection’s value is being appraised.

The library may receive some of Bradbury’s personal belongings, too.
“We’d like to get one of his typewriters,” library Executive Director Richard Lee said. “He had four.”

for your Monday entertainment… Britain’s Cascade Dance Company at the Tunbridge Wells Library in “Big Dance Library Project”, recorded in the summer of 2012.

Public libraries across the U.S. are getting into the online book-selling business, providing convenience for patrons but also raising concerns that the sales threaten to commercialize taxpayer-supported institutions founded to provide information free-of-charge.

The practice is poised for a boost, as three of the largest library systems in the U.S.—all serving New York City—prepare to start selling print books through their online catalogs by July.

At least 75 of the 8,951 public-library systems in the U.S. are offering online patrons the option to buy new print copies of titles in their catalogs, and an additional three dozen are preparing to do so, according to book distributors, library officials and library-software developers.

Those selling print books online include libraries in Orlando, Fla.; Jacksonville, Fla., Burley, Idaho; Mount Laurel, N.J.; and Douglas County, Colo. The Boston Public Library is among those considering adding the service.

Full article in the WSJ

At Cincinnati.com there is a post — Letter: A library fable

Not quite sure how best to describe it. Read it and make your determination.

NPR piece about privacy past and present. Story contains picture where a protestor is holding a sign that says, “Hand off my meta-data”

Interesting to be a librarian in a time where people are on the streets holding signs about meta-data.

When a gunman entered the campus library, the aides moved into a closet and blocked the doors, drawing his attention away from dozens of students cramming for finals.

Full article

The popular story going around about the state of America’s broadband networks is almost entirely false.

Opinion piece in the NYT

Kotaku.com shows us books stacked up in a variety of different formations.

Traditionally, books in Japanese bookstores are stacked in small piles or placed on shelves—like anywhere else. The book tower trend isn’t exactly new and puts a flourish on retail presentation, whether it’s the straight up “tower pile” or the “spiral pile” variation.

Back in 2009 to mark the launch day of Haruki Murakami’s new book 1Q84, Tokyo book retailer Sanseido changed its shop sign to “Books Murakami Haruki” and unveiled a book tower that was then copied by other stores. Now, it seems there are even manga towers and spirals—but don’t think every bookstore does this.