I was just letting my Wisconsin-bred, serials-acqusitions heart be warmed by the debut of a regional literary journal (Lakeland College’s Stoneboat). Then I discovered the news of the temporary closure of the Virginia Quarterly Review due to possible workplace harassment.
The New York Times reports that an audit of the workplace culture is now out.
[edited to fix link]
“A futurist (in Marinetti’s original sense) wants to burn down libraries. A bookfuturist wants to put video games in them. ”
Another take relevant to the “Libraries 2.0” idea: Tim Carmody outlines “A Bookfuturist Manifesto” in the Atlantic. Carmody describes a philosophical compromise between the print-devoted book lovers and the cutting edge technophiles.
Are we finally on the cusp of an understanding between the two, or is this a new-fangled name for an already established shift?
The latest place for those pixelated bar codes to show up: tombstones. According to the article, about 5,000 “Memory Medallions” have already been sold.
Next step? Coming up with a suitably tech-savvy memorial quip.
via NY Magazine
David Pogue has an interesting opinion piece in the New York Times regarding amateur scanning and archiving of sheet music on the internet…which, naturally, brings up copyright issues. It also touches on whether or not the past generations of information professionals have done as good a job as they should have in preserving non-book materials.
For those who work in many public libraries, homeless patrons are as familiar as barcodes. The San Francisco Chronicle reports today that the San Francisco Main Library hired a social worker, Leah Esguerra, to assist homeless patrons; she has been there about a year. The library has also recently hired a “health and safety associate,” Melvin Morris, to help control problems in the public restrooms. Staff and patrons alike seem pleased with the results…but is this something that would be widely feasible? Would the benefits off-set the costs?
H/T to Change.org
Break out the comfy clothes and stacks of books: A UW-Madison SLIS student is initiating the first annual Do Nothing But Read Day, set for Sunday, December 20th. There’s even a sign-up option with prizes…a sort of grown-up version of Book-It.
It worked for Led Zeppelin and Tolkien….
The Metal Shakespeare Company of Portland, Oregon, have merged the works of the Bard with seemingly incompatible heavy metal and created a “marriage of true minds.” While it may not be everyone’s taste in music, Shakespeare’s subjects and launguage mesh perfectly with the stylings of metal.
For your amusement, The Metal Shakespeare Company’s reinterpretation of Hamlet, “2 Bleed or Not 2 Bleed.”
More information about the band and a peek into their unique merchandise delivery methods can be found on their MySpace page.
Thanks to the Stranger.
The annual Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest (for the best opening line to a fictitious novel) was won by this gem of a sentence:
“Folks say that if you listen real close at the height of the full moon, when the wind is blowin’ off Nantucket Sound from the nor’ east and the dogs are howlin’ for no earthly reason, you can hear the awful screams of the crew of the ‘Ellie May,’ a sturdy whaler Captained by John McTavish; for it was on just such a night when the rum was flowin’ and, Davey Jones be damned, big John brought his men on deck for the first of several screaming contests.”
Runners-up and dishonerable mentions galore can be found at the contest website.
We’re pretty used to celebrities championing literacy, so it’s shocking to hear Kanye West declare that he doesn’t like books or reading. He did manage to overcome his dislike for books long enough to write one.
A direct quote from the article:
“I am a proud non-reader of books. I like to get information from doing stuff like actually talking to people and living real life.”
Via the Stranger’s Slog (some NSFW language in the Slog’s title to this story).
The Houston Public Library has announced its new program, WeCAN Works, which boasts some significant financial assistance from Microsoft. WeCAN Works is meant to help people become better prepared for jobs by teaching digital literacy and providing technological resources.
Interestingly, this partnership comes just a few years after Microsoft attempted to force the city of Houston into a multi-million dollar licensing agreement. In 2003, Houston adopted SimDesk (for city workers as well as any resident with a library card) in an effort to “bridge the digital divide” at a lower cost than Microsoft products could offer. However, the plug was recently pulled on the controversial SimHouston program, and SimDesk is no longer in business.
CORRECTION: WeCAN Works is a city-wide program with partners including the Houston Public Library (HPL); HPL’s portion of the program is known as Digital Inclusion Initiative.
Recent Comments