October 2016

“I love libraries. But I love them when they’re fulfilling their potential. When they are not, I believe they are bringing the institution down. I believe they are letting local people down. And I’m fed up of seeing them get a free pass, when other community hubs ­and community centres­ are also at the brink of closures, and also faced with the really pointy end of the local council cuts,” said Tinder chief executive Helen Milner.

From Some libraries deserve to close, says ‘digital inclusion’ charity | Books | The Guardian

Book:

Man and the Computer (1972)
John G. Kemeny

Man and the Computer is an expanded version of the widely acclaimed Man and Nature Lectures delivered at the American Museum of Natural History in the fall of 1971.

Chapter 8 of the book is – Library of the Future

In preparation for the reopening of the Rose Main Reading Room, watch 52,000 books being shelved…in just two minutes:

From Time Lapse: Thousands of Books Get Reshelved Before the Rose Main Reading Room Reopens – YouTube

The MIT task force arranged ideas about the MIT Libraries into four “pillars,” which structure the preliminary report. They are “Community and Relationships,” involving the library’s interactions with local and global users; “Discovery and Use,” regarding the provision of information; “Stewardship and Sustainability,” involving the management and protection of MIT’s scholarly resources; and “Research and Development,” addressing the analysis of library practices and needs. The preliminary report contains 10 general recommendations in these areas.

From MIT task force releases preliminary “Future of Libraries” report | MIT News

For in-depth assignments, nothing replaces the chance to introduce students face-to-face to a nonvirtual librarian who can help them navigate the research process. One invaluable lesson of standing next to a real person undertaking real-time information browsing: Students learn that good information takes time to locate. Even the experts have to problem-solve through some deadends and overgeneralized hits before finding a good source. And when something suitable turns up, students can share that eureka moment or the relief of genuine gratitude with another person. All of this takes place in the physical space of the library and its community of books and people.

From It’s Not Too Late to Save the Stacks – The Chronicle of Higher Education

Penguin Galaxy, a hardcover collectible series of six sci-fi/fantasy classics, featuring a series introduction by Neil Gaiman.

The books are:

Stranger in a Strange Land

Dune

2001: A Space Odyssey

Neuromancer

The Left Hand of Darkness

The Once and Future King

The Nobel Prize in Literature 2016
Bob Dylan
The Nobel Prize in Literature for 2016 is awarded to Bob Dylan

“for having created new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition”.

From The Nobel Prize in Literature 2016 – Press Release

After several months researching the marketplace, we’ve compiled a list of the 50 most valuable scientific documents sold at auction. This article is a preview of the research and an overview of the scientific documents and manuscripts marketplaces. Over the next week we’ll reveal our findings in detail, counting down to number one in a series of articles that provide an intriguing insight into both the history of science and the value of its most important writings.

From The world’s most valuable scientific books and manuscripts – an overview of the marketplace

Tsundoku is the stockpiling of books never consumed. Sahoko Ichikawa, a senior lecturer in Japanese at Cornell University, explains that tsunde means “to stack things” and oku is “to leave for a while.” The word originated in Japan’s late 19th century Meiji Era from a play on words. Sometime around the turn of the century, the oku in tsunde oku was replaced with doku, meaning to read. But because tsunde doku rolls awkwardly off the tongue, the mashup version became tsundoku.

From There’s a word in Japanese for the literary affliction of buying books you don’t read — Quartz

Right now, if you walked into my public library and pelted me with questions about open source—like, “What is it?” “How does it work?” “How can I use open source?”—I’d rattle off answers so fast you’d be walking out with a new tool or technology under your belt. Open source is a big world, so of course there are some things I don’t know, but guess what? We have the Internet and books right at our finger tips. Saying that you don’t know the answer is fine, and patrons will respect you for it. The key is helping them find the answer.

From How to help libraries learn about open source | Opensource.com