July 2013

When we read the past, we acknowledge that we stand not only, as Isaac Newton put it, on the shoulders of giants, but also on those of scholars of smaller stature who were no less passionate about their subjects and determined in their own way to contribute to the intellectual conversation. The 12th-century philosopher and educator Bernard of Chartres is said to have observed that we are all dwarfs when we attempt to climb atop gargantuan flesh. I am glad to have met more of them online, and to have profited from their vantage point.

In a stunning demonstration of Poe’s law, the American Historical Association has released a policy statement favoring the restriction digital theses (“with access being provided only on that campus”) for fears that open access versions could be read. The basis for this argument is FUD about a tenure system that apparently cannot be changed. See Inside Higher Ed and The Chronicle for more coverage.

The Typewriter
Skipping CDs
The Payphone
The CRT Television
Blowing on a Nintendo Cartridge
The Telephone Slam
The Modem
The Dot Matrix Printer
Tape Hiss
Advancing Film in a Camera
Friction-Shifting a Bike
http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2013/07/tech-sounds/?viewall=true

A really interesting read from Matthew Butterick: The Bomb in the Garden: “Because a lot of you, maybe most of you, are going to spend most of your design career putting things on screen, and on the web. Not on paper. So again, going back to my first point—my major point today is that I hope you feel invested in this struggle, because whatever happens, it’s going to affect you for a long time. As I said at the beginning—designers have always been vital to the web, in terms of exploring its capabilities and sharing those possibilities.”

It’s about design and ads and apps and money, but if you live on the web, it’s worth the read. The quote that caught me:

“” But we’re ready to take off the training wheels. And now that the web has competition, we really have no choice. The costs of delay are getting more severe. Think about those ads popping up for apps—“use this, instead of using the web.””

Hoopla wants to be a free Netflix for library users:
Hoopla, a new streaming service for libraries, lets patrons borrow digital movies, TV shows, audiobooks and music. The selection isn’t comparable to Netflix, but it is free if you have a card at participating library. Hoopla is based in Holland, Ohio, and is owned by library distributor Midwest Tape.
https://www.hoopladigital.com/

Two rare volumes stolen by an employee from Sweden’s Royal Library will be returned today in New York after the antique book seller in Baltimore who purchased them agreed to hand them over to the FBI.

The chief of the Royal Library’s Manuscript Department, Anders Burius, stole at least 56 rare or one-of-a-kind books in his 10 years of employment, the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York said in a statement stamped July 17. The books to be returned “contain early depictions of the United States by explorers,” the attorney’s office said.

http://www.businessweek.com/news/2013-07-24/books-stolen-by-librarian-who-committed-suicide-return-to-sweden

A wall will be built to permanently divide Windsor’s west end library due to the security concerns of its neighbouring elementary school.

The Windsor Public Library board accepted the public school board’s decision on Tuesday.

“This is not the ideal solution, but we understand that safety is a primary concern for parents and the school board,” said Chris Woodrow, the library’s acting CEO.

http://blogs.windsorstar.com/2013/07/23/wall-to-separate-west-windsor-library-from-school-due-to-security-risks/

Library book 41 years overdue is finally returned to the Champaign County Library. The library received $299.30 in cash and a handwritten note that read:

“To Champaign County Library: Sorry I’ve kept this book so long, but I’m a really slow reader! I’ve enclosed my fine of $299.30 (41 years, 2 cents a day). Once again, my apologies.”
http://www.wdtn.com/dpp/news/local/champaign/library-book-returned-41-years-overdue#.Ue_JLaHD-JD

Registration is available for the 2013 LITA National Forum, “Creation, Collaboration, Community,” held Nov. 7-10, 2013 at the Hyatt Regency Louisville, Ky. Visit the LITA Forum Web page to register.

Keynote Sessions anchor the event and include speakers Travis Good, Nate Hill and Emily Gore. On Friday Travis Good, contributing editor for MAKE Magazine, will kick off the Forum with the Opening General Session, “Making Maker Libraries.”Saturday, Nate Hill, assistant director at the Chattanooga (Tenn.) Public Library will present the general session. Emily Gore, director for content at the Digital Public Library of America will close the Forum on Sunday with “The Digital Public Library of America: A Community Effort.”

More than 30 concurrent sessions and a dozen poster sessions will provide a wealth of practical information on a wide range of topics. Two preconference workshops will also be offered.  Starting Thursday afternoon and concluding Friday morning, Rosalyn Metz of Wheaton College will present “Managing Projects: Or, I’m in charge, now what?” The session covers several aspects of project management, including planning, budgeting and implementing. Also spanning Thursday afternoon and Friday morning will be “IT Security for Librarians,” presented by Blake Carver of LISHost. This workshop will give in-depth coverage of ways to stay safe online, how to secure your browser, PC and other devices you and your patrons use every day, in addition to tackling common security myths, passwords and network security, as well as hardware and PC security.

Corporate sponsors of the LITA Forum help to bring programming and networking opportunities to attendees.  LITA welcomes up to twelve corporate sponsors for the National Forum; visit the 2013 LITA Forum Web page for information on sponsorship opportunities.

Registration is limited to 500 in order to preserve the advantages of a small conference. Networking opportunities, one of the small conference advantages, are an important part of the Forum. Take advantage of the Friday evening reception and sponsor showcase, networking dinners, meals and breaks throughout the Forum to get to know LITA leaders, Forum speakers, sponsors, and peers. For more information, visit the LITA Forum Web page.

This post has its roots in a post from /r/booklists which linked to a blog post about the “Top 10 Top 100 Book Lists”. This post linked to 10+ “Top 100” book lists from sources such as TIME magazine, Entertainment Weekly, Modern Library, etc. They were all in such different formats, and such different ways of being presented that I wanted to amalgamate all of these into one master “list” in order to compare them (thirteen lists in total since I also added in the first 100 of the Reddit’s 200 favorite books). I have since thrown this into a pdf file on Scribd if anyone is interested. My next step was to compare each of these and see what books are most recommended in top lists. I omitted two lists (100 most influential books ever written and 100 Major works of creative nonfiction) since there was VERY LITTLE overlap between the other lists which were primarily fiction. I made one giant list that combined 11 “Top 100” Book Lists. The complete table, again available as a PDF on Scribd lists all the books I’m the left hand column and all the lists along the top. An ‘X’ denotes that the book was included in that list regardless of position. The books are sorted vertically by the number of lists in which the book is included.