The findings of this report consist of two distinct areas: 1) an analysis of library book acquisitions within the specified sample for fiscal year 2017 at 124 US academic institutions, and 2) a trend line analysis of print and e-books acquired within the specified sample, the university press presence in these libraries, and the leading vendors of books at 51 US academic institutions for fiscal years 2014 through 2017. While these samples are not representative, they afford a broader overview of the acquisitions patterns and practices of US academic libraries than we believe has ever been conducted to date.
Blake
Pack Your Bags And Your Books For A Literary Journey With Librarian Nancy Pearl
Seattle librarian Nancy Pearl shares her under-the-radar reading recommendations with Morning Edition’s Steve Inskeep. Her picks will take you on journeys around the world — and back in time. (These recommendations have been edited for clarity and length.)
From Pack Your Bags And Your Books For A Literary Journey With Librarian Nancy Pearl : NPR
Millennials rely on the Free Library for more than books
Philadelphia’s millennials hold 222,225 library cards — the most when compared with baby boomers and Gen Xers — but they borrow fewer items, data from the Free Library show, suggesting the group engages with branches in ways that go beyond simply renting materials.
From Millennials rely on the Free Library for more than books
Minneapolis Central Library opens vinyl listening room to share collection
On Saturday, Hennepin County Library hosted the first event in its new “Vinyl Revival” series, which aims to bring attention to the thriving audio format. Through June, artists will present vinyl-themed programming and curate records from the library’s stacks, many of which are the works of local musicians.
The library also converted a small meeting room on the third floor into a listening room equipped with a turntable and headphones, which people can reserve to listen to the artist-selected picks.
From Minneapolis Central Library opens vinyl listening room to share collection – StarTribune.com
For John Ashbery’s Personal Library, a Spot on the Shelves at Harvard – The New York Times
The university’s Houghton Library, which began acquiring the poet’s manuscripts and other papers in 1986, has announced the acquisition of the John Ashbery Reading Library, which includes more than 5,000 books of poetry, art criticism, architectural history, philosophy, religious history and cookbooks collected over the poet’s lifetime.
The collection, which was donated by Mr. Ashbery’s husband, David Kermani, convey the traces of the poet’s thought, and also of his hand. There are annotated editions of books by Boris Pasternak, Franz Kafka, Friedrich Nietzsche and others, as well as the copy of the “Oxford Book of American Verse” he used as an undergraduate, with pressed flowers used as bookmarks.
From For John Ashbery’s Personal Library, a Spot on the Shelves at Harvard – The New York Times
The tiny library bringing books to remote villages
“Without a book, so often the child is alone,” says Antonio La Cava.
The retired schoolteacher converted his three-wheeled van into a mobile library, the Bibliomotocarro. Driving the hills and mountains of Basilicata, Italy, La Cava is able to reach children in remote villages like San Paolo Albanese, which only has two children of primary school age.
From BBC – Culture – The tiny library bringing books to remote villages
The Beats’ Holy Grail: The Letter That Inspired On the Road
This is not the portrait of a family man, no matter his desire or intention, but of someone coming apart at the seams. “I wake to more horrors than Celine,” he writes in the Joan Anderson Letter, “not a vain statement for now I’ve passed thru just repetitious shudderings and nightmare twitches.” Seventeen years later, at his death, not so much had changed.
Yes, the letter helped to reshape Kerouac’s ideas on writing; without it, “On the Road” would have been a very different book. But it also framed Cassady as larger than life, which was both a blessing and a curse. “Legacy?” wonders Ferlinghetti. “His legacy is what Kerouac made of him. What else would his legacy be?”
From The Beats’ Holy Grail: The Letter That Inspired On the Road | Literary Hub
The Milwaukee Public Library Hijacked Brand Logos Like YouTube, Netflix and Spotify to Promote Itself – Adweek
At least, that’s the point the Milwaukee Public Library tried to make earlier this fall when it hijacked those brands’ logos. In an effort to get locals to reconsider the library and what it could do for them, the Milwaukee Public Library and creative shop BVK revamped brand logos. Then it created print work with copy touting the library’s similar offerings to the brand in question and posted the work at local restaurants and bars. The result? It worked.
The Secrets of Lyndon Johnson’s Archives
I get a sick feeling in my stomach even now as I remember how long it took to answer that question. I started by looking through the library’s “Finding Aids,” a version of a catalogue, in black looseleaf notebooks, which listed the titles of the file folders in each box. Just for Johnson’s “House of Representatives Papers,” the general files from his eleven years in that body, the time before he became a senator and then President, there were three hundred and forty-nine boxes. And those weren’t the only boxes that contained letters, memoranda, reports, speech drafts, etc., that dealt with this period. There were, for example, the LBJA files, which included documents that Johnson’s staff had, at various times, shifted from the general “House Papers” and put into other groupings—the library calls them “collections”—such as the “Selected Names” files, which contained correspondence and other material with “close associates.” At least it wouldn’t be me alone turning the pages. Working in the Reading Room with me would be Ina, whose thoroughness and perceptivity in doing research I had learned to trust.
From The Secrets of Lyndon Johnson’s Archives, by Robert A. Caro | The New Yorker
Once Centers Of Soviet Propaganda, Moscow’s Libraries Are Having A ‘Loud’ Revival
Until recently, that culture seemed doomed to become a relic of the analog past. After Russia’s rocky transition from Communism and the rise of the Internet, there seemed little use for the more than 400 city libraries as public spaces fell into neglect and Russians found new sources of information. Unexpectedly, Moscow’s libraries are now experiencing a transformation from musty houses of Soviet propaganda into bustling work spaces for 21st century city-dwellers.
From Once Centers Of Soviet Propaganda, Moscow’s Libraries Are Having A ‘Loud’ Revival : NPR
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