December 2013

Two Canadian cities, Vancouver and Montreal, have the world’s best public library systems, according to a new survey by German researchers.

Library mavens at the Heinrich Heine University in Dusseldorf studied libraries in 31 major world cities, from London and Los Angeles, and from Shanghai to Sao Paulo, Brazil. Los Angeles finished in the middle of the pack in the ranking (16th), which took into account the wide array of services that libraries provide to their readers, including availability of printed books and digital information.

Two U.S. library systems finished third and fourth: Chicago and San Francisco. And the very bottom of the rankings were London (30th) and Dubai (31st).

http://www.latimes.com/books/jacketcopy/la-et-jc-two-canadian-cities-have-worlds-best-public-libraries-survey-finds-20131220,0,1665035.story

Synchronicity bookshelf – a fun way to explore books using your local library. Read the details here.

A tough nut to crack to be sure, but Randall Munroe has taken a stab at it on his wonderfully quirky What If? site.

“The average person can read at 200-300 words per minute. If the average living writer, over their entire lifetime, falls somewhere between Isaac Asimov and Harper Lee, they might produce 0.05 words per minute over their entire lifetime. If you were to read for 16 hours a day at 300 words per minute,[4] you could keep up with a world containing an average population of 100,000 living Harper Lees or 400 living Isaac Asimovs.”

According to the Atlantic Magazine:

A new Pew study finds that not only do Americans adore libraries, but a majority of us think they’re adjusting to new technology just fine.

Some 94 percent of Americans say that having a public library improves a community and that the local library is a “welcoming, friendly place.” 91 percent said they had never had “a negative experience using a public library, either in person or online.”

These sound like incredible approval ratings for any U.S. public institution. So I wondered: Just how incredible are they? How do other icons of Americana compare?

Yesterday here in New York City, the Library Lovers League protested changes at the New York Public Library, specifically speaking out against a proposal that would move many items in the New York Public Library collection to a storage unit in New Jersey.

Bibliophiles who took part in this “street theater flash mob” wore sandwich signs featuring book covers in front of the iconic Stephen A. Schwarzman Building.

Follow this link to view a news clip from Pix 11 .

Letter received via Facebook message to Save Libraries and reprinted its entirety:

Dear Sir/Madam:

In our effort to continue meeting the research needs of our students of EASTERN SAMAR STATE UNIVERSITY GUIUAN CAMPUS, we knock at your kind heart to assist us financially, provide or donate us with books or others reading materials to restart what has been ruined by super typhoon “Yolanda”, in our campus!

Our Campus Library accommodates an average of 3,000 students (undergraduate and graduate) distributed to the different programs of the campus: education, engineering, technology, hotel/restaurant and entrepreneurial management programs.

At present, the Campus Library was vastly devastated by the wrath of super typhoon on November 8, 2013, damaging around P15M of our library building, equipment, and collection. Hence, this appeal for your benevolent assistance so we can help restore our library, attend to the research needs of our clientele and start resume our library services the soonest possible time.

You may visit our Facebook account ESSU GUIUAN UNIVERSITY LIBRARY for the complete photos to see the extent of damage typhoon Yolanda has ruined our Library.

Your assistance for this purpose will be highly and gratefully appreciated. If our prayer finds favor in you, please visit our campus or you may contact us at this cell number 09158717354/09199738753.

Thank you. May God return the blessings to you a thousand fold.

Respectfully yours,

EVA H. ABLETES (Sgd)
College Librarian

2013 I Love My Librarian Award Winners

Congratulations to the 10 winners of the 2013 Carnegie Corporation of New York/New York Times I Love My Librarian Award! Thank you to all the library supporters who sent in nominations.

2013 recipients were selected for their dedicated public service and the valuable role they play in our nation’s communities in transforming lives through education.

More than 1,100 library patrons submitted detailed stories regarding how their librarian had an impact on their communities and lives.

Read on to learn more about this year’s winners.

http://www.ilovelibraries.org/2013/13winners

The question of who guides Mr. Obama’s next chapter may seem distant to the public. But, as aides to former President Bill Clinton have demonstrated, proximity to an ex-president translates into life at the intersection of wealthy donors, powerful networks and conference circuit perks. And with presidents departing the White House as relatively young men, there are many years to bask in the Oval Office afterglow.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/17/us/politics/obamas-library-advisers-dream.html

OpenHatch brings open source to campus
Our solution? Open Source Comes to Campus In a Box. We’re carefully documenting every part of our events, from the materials we present to the way we build our publicity websites, from food and space checklists to templates of all the emails we send. Our hope is that local organizers will be able to use our materials to run their own events, as has happened with our Python Workshops.
http://opensource.com/education/13/12/openhatch-brings-open-source-campus