Karl

Ellen Hopkins, popular YA author of problem novels in verse including Crank and Tricks, reports on her LiveJournal that a visit she was supposed to make to a middle school in Norman, OK was cancelled at the last minute due to parent complaints.

…the school superintendent not only pulled the books for review, he CANCELED my author visit. Wouldn’t even allow me to move to the high school. Seriously? What did that parent and he expect me to do? Go in with a live demonstration? Use the f-word? Talk about sex? I mean, you’ve got to be kidding. I’ve done hundreds of school visits. Pretty positive I’ve never corrupted a student. In fact, my talks inspire them. Arm them. Inform them.

Sadie Mattox, librarian/blogger for the Oklahoman newspaper gives us her take on the incident as well.

Award-winning Kansas City Star sports columnist Joe Posnanski recently spoke at the Olathe Public Library for Banned Books Week. He has just posted the text of his remarks on his blog. An excerpt:

I still remember how I felt when I was officially old enough to walk to the library by myself. I was 8 or 9 years old, I guess. It seemed like my first moment of freedom. I would go to the library, I don’t know, once a week or so. Maybe not quite that often. Maybe two or three times a month. I loved going to the library. I still love libraries … I wrote much of my first book in a library and most of what I’ve written in my second book* I wrote in the library. I just like the vibe in libraries, the musty smell, the out-of-date books, the ultra-helpful librarians, the way people will generally respect the “quiet in the library” theme, the charming fact that they are still clinging to the Dewey Decimal System. I find that inspiring, really.

On public radio’s Marketplace program yesterday, I heard this story about ChaCha, a mobile research service that we’ve seen discussed here before: [1] [2] [3].

How can librarians compete with this service? Since many users seem to treat it as a joke, do we even need to? Discuss.

In a brief piece in last Sunday’s Lexington (Kentucky) Herald-Leader, journalist Cheryl Truman interviewed Anita Silvey, author of 500 Great Books for Teens, and university professor Mary Landrum about the Golden Compass brouhaha:

[Silvey] views the fracas over The Golden Compass as a cautionary tale about why writers in the children’s and young adult book industry shy away from references to religion and spirituality: Individual perceptions of what it’s appropriate to write about religion vary as widely as readers’ perceptions of what God is.

“If a person’s vision of God isn’t your version of God, it begins to get books pulled from libraries,” Silvey says.

In an effort to promote a new series called NovelTalk (“Smart Conversations for Serious Readers”), the Tulsa City-County Library has created its first Facebook page. Visit it at http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=6004917799 and become a fan!

As the website LivresHebdo.fr has it, “Une bibliothèque incendiée à Villiers-le-Bel” (http://www.livreshebdo.fr/actualites/DetailsActuRub.aspx?id=1168&rubrique=3) Roughly translated by Google (see http://translate.google.com/translate?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.livreshebdo.fr%2Factualites%2FDetailsActuRub.aspx%3Fid%3D1168%26rubrique%3D3&langpair=fr%7Cen&hl=en&ie=UTF-8) we read the following:

The library Louis Jouvet, who was standing near 30000 loan documents a year, was one of three facilities near the town. “It was actually the most popular library in the old Villiers-le-Bel,” says Isabelle responsible Walet. “She welcomed children and adults every day.” The building of 280 m2 is completely destroyed. “With my team, we are bewildered and sad,” said Isabelle Walet, “we invest a lot in the relationship with the people and, in one night, this public service has entirely disappeared.”

See additional coverage at http://news.google.com/news?hl=en&q=Villiers+library+fire&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wn.

The website FreeRice (http://www.freerice.com) has two purposes. First, they want to help people improve their English vocabulary. The site gives you a word and four possible synonyms. Get it right, and you advance to a higher level with tougher words.

At the same time, advertisers who appear at the bottom of the screen donate 10 grains of rice per correct word to the World Food Programme, which in turn sends it to countries in need around the world.

As of now, FreeRice has paid for just under 4 billion grains of rice, hovering at around 200 million grains per day. Not bad considering it launched on October 7 with 830 grains!

This weekend I caught a special on the Food Network, Food Network Unwrapped 2. In amongst the backstage secrets of Iron Chef America, Paula Deen, and Tyler Florence was a brief segment on Jonathan Milder.

Milder is the research librarian for the Food Network. The show had him showing off the cookbook stacks (over 4,000 titles!) and making some calls to verify key information (is there a difference between rice vinegar and rice wine vinegar?) for an upcoming Food Network show.

A little digging also found me an interview with Milder at the StarChefsJobFinder website (scroll down a screen to see it). Here’s a snippet:

I can’t imagine there’s any direct route to doing this sort of thing. This position is an odd mix of food writer, journalist, trend-watcher and librarian. The next person to hold this position will have trodden an entirely different path from the one I traveled. This is a position for voracious readers, bookworms, and aspiring polymaths, a position for people who find nearly as much pleasure in reading about food as in eating it. And those people can be found in the most unexpected places.

The show will air again on May 19 and 20, in case you want to catch it.

Nancy Dowd tells us this news:

TRENTON, N.J. — Spiderman might be appearing in theaters, but on May 5 Super Librarian will appear at comic book stores throughout New Jersey. Her mission in the inaugural issue is to snuff out a villain known as The Virus, but Super Librarian (the first comic book ever created, produced and issued by public libraries) has a higher calling: enticing young readers to the library.

May 5 is Free Comic Book Day, and New Jersey libraries are partnering with Diamond Distributors to reach out to comic book fans. Diamond is distributing copies of Super Librarian: The Virus at comic book stores throughout the state. Over 200 libraries across the state will join in the festivities by partnering with their local comic book store to distribute comic books and highlight graphic novel collections and teen services that can be found on their shelves.

Nancy Dowd tells us this news:

TRENTON, N.J. — Spiderman might be appearing in theaters, but on May 5 Super Librarian will appear at comic book stores throughout New Jersey. Her mission in the inaugural issue is to snuff out a villain known as The Virus, but Super Librarian (the first comic book ever created, produced and issued by public libraries) has a higher calling: enticing young readers to the library.

May 5 is Free Comic Book Day, and New Jersey libraries are partnering with Diamond Distributors to reach out to comic book fans. Diamond is distributing copies of Super Librarian: The Virus at comic book stores throughout the state. Over 200 libraries across the state will join in the festivities by partnering with their local comic book store to distribute comic books and highlight graphic novel collections and teen services that can be found on their shelves.New Jersey State Librarian Norma E. Blake said the Super Librarian project is one of the ways New Jersey libraries are enhancing their outreach to teens and taking a fresh look at reaching at-risk readers.

“Creating the Super Librarian comic book as a literacy tool is part of a larger strategy to connect to teens,” said Blake. “Librarians make a difference in the lives of New Jersey’s children every day — from mothers bringing their children to our libraries as babies for story-time, to our always popular summer reading program, to Teen Advisory Boards geared at empowering teens to creating programming that is relevant to them.”

“Super Librarian, anime and other graphic novels reach out to teens by communicating in a medium attractive to them,” Blake said. “The
State Library and INFOLINK are delighted to partner with Diamond Distributors to make the comic book available statewide with other popular titles on Free Comic Book Day.”

The comic book was developed by the New Jersey State Library and INFOLINK, the NJ Eastern Regional Library Cooperative, and is also available in Spanish, another segment of at-risk readers in New Jersey the library community is reaching. A Web version, available at www.njlibraries.org, further expands how the Super Librarian can be used as a teaching tool. The rollout of Super Librarian isn’t limited to the May 5 Free Comic Book Day giveaway.

The comic will remain online and available to download at http://www.njlibraries.org./

Contact Nancy at: [email protected]

Stephen Bell tells us in Inside Higher Ed that academic librarians need to be more critical of each other.

Academic librarians are the nice guys of higher education. We dwell in neutral territory; the library belongs to no one and everyone. So do we. Our reputation is mostly one of being excruciatingly helpful. We give service with a smile. Our academic roost is a peaceful haven, and we welcome all. As an academic librarian who regularly navigates the library blogosphere, I find that the librarian’s penchant for pleasantry extends to our own virtual nest. In the world of library blogging the sky is always sunny, and nary is a dissenting or argumentative thought expressed.