Matt

The Onion has this handy infographic on why Oprah dropped The Corrections. LISNews has more on the real Oprah/Franzen story.

The Davis Enterprise reports that a \”mobile health/literacy resource van\” and a \”Bread and Books/Pan y Libros\” bus are taking to the streets to deliver food and information. The programs were sponsored by a $297,165 grant from the Yolo County Proposition 10 commission. Full story

The Nando Times among others has this story on the dispute between the City of Little Rock and the owner of the land slated to be leased for the Clinton Library. The landowner\’s lawyer charges that the current plans for the library, including a private residence, are outside the bounds of the stated plan for a public park. If the Supreme Court of Arkansas decides in favor of the landowner, the library could be \”delayed indefinitely.\” The Clinton Foundations\’ plans for the land include an amphitheater and \”urban fishing grounds.\”

Scotland\’s National Library, unlike the Library of Congress, collects all the books and magazines published in the UK. So, it\’s no surprise that it is already outgrowing the extension built in 1984. Among the unusual items preserved at the library are an ancient Buddhist text and some of Robert Burns\’ manuscripts. The Edinburgh Evening News Online has the full story.

Penny-Arcade, the gamer\’s gamer\’s comic strip, has their own take on the enduring value of the book.

The UCLA Hammer Museum has an exhibition of objects from LA libraries. Check out the web site for more information and pictures from the exhibition \”\’The World From Here\’ is a love letter to all libraries,\” says Robin Rauzi in the LA Times. Her article is pretty glowing as well. The exhibition began as the idea of Bruce Whiteman, the head librarian at UCLA\’s William Andrews Clark Memorial Library, who was trying to get an idea of the special collections in area libraries.

The Evening Telegraph reports that the historic Sandeman Library is slated to become a Theme Pub. Councillors apparently decided not to contest this, having lost a former bid to stop the old education department building from becoming a nightclub.

All of these are from Ananova(she\’ll read you the news)

Not just for book reports anymore, the Harry Potter books were the subject of a thesis at Cheltenham and Gloucester College of Higher Education by Michele Fry. Ms. Fry\’s paper has been accepted for publication in the New Review of Children\’s Literature and Librarianship Her conclusion? That the books should be called the Hermione Granger books- she\’s the real heroine.

It\’s True! Harry Potter is about real wizardry Students in Austria attend a six term Hexenschule to learn \”ancestral wizardry.\”

At 2 hours and 23 minutes, Harry\’s new movie too short

Jacksonville Civil Service Board approves pay hike for librarians and other staff. Pay raises range from an additional 25 cents and hour to $2.12 more an hour. Library pay rate hikes were apparently approved when other area library pay rates were lower and Jacksonville didn\’t provide cost-of-living increases for other city employees for 2002. The Mayor however approved saying that, \”the library is long overdue.\” (An unintentional pun?) From the Anniston Star

While pornography is a hotly debated topic in libraries, most of the debate concerns filtering the Internet to keep porn out. Library officials in Budapest apparently took a different approach- they gave permission for the taking of \”sensual photographs\” in 1995.

It all comes back to the Internet however, as the case didn\’t receive attention until the video was posted on a Hungarian web site. From Ananova