Samantha

More bad news from the Gulf Coast–as archivists and historians return to the area, they discover that more damage has been done to historical documents than originally thought. Read more at CNN.com.

Anonymous Patron writes “Independent Online Edition Reports A lending library has opened deep inside Madrid’s metro system, the first of its kind in Europe. Judging from commuters’ incredulous enthusiasm, this subterranean oasis is a winner. “People react as if we are giving them money. They are surprised and thrilled that they can stop off between stations and borrow a book for their journey,” says the young librarian, Raquel Gomez.”

Anonymous Patron writes “The Pantagraph covers Illinois State University Archivist Jo Rayfield. They say the archival world of Jo Rayfield isn’t as boring as most would think. From the article:

“Think of her as being in charge of the attic for an entire university. After all, those patrons are also part of the “cloud of witnesses,” another generation of curious minds going through ISU’s attic.”

tqft writes “JOCK Murphy was delighted. “You wouldn’t do this job if you weren’t excited by this sort of thing,” the State Library manuscripts librarian said after viewing a 13-metre-long document discovered on a rubbish tip.”

Read the rest of the story here.

Sad to think of what else was lost let alone how much will never be preserved.

Without a time machine how do you decide what future archeologists, historians and socioligsts will want to know.

Once upon a time it was the lives of rulers that consumed academia, now a great focus is on daily life.”

From BoingBoing comes word of one man’s goal to assemble a collection of Unfortunate Children’s Books, based on books he comes across in the public school library where he works. I think by ‘unfortunate’ he means hilarious. There are some real gems here!

In the August 15 issue of Forbes magazine, Stephen Manes lets readers know that they have an alternative to Googling–using databases made available through your local public library. If you have a subscription you can read the article here, or read a summary from the NetGold listserv.

My old hometown paper, the Iowa City Press-Citizen, has this less than groundbreaking report on how many people use the public library as their sole internet connection. Lots of interesting stats and anecdotes, though!

The Greensboro Public Library is giving away an Apple iPod Shuffle music player to one lucky patron who checks out the ‘secret book.’ Read more here.

gsandler writes “This story from
ZDNet covers Yahoo‘s
announcement of personalized search features that they will be adding to their
services. “People with a Yahoo login will be able to bookmark and cache copies of their favorite Web sites, label them in certain categories and attach comments in a structured way. Users will then be able to search among their contacts’ knowledge base with what Yahoo is calling its MyRank search technology”

In an editorial from the Christian Science Monitor, librarians are praised for their professional support of patron privacy rights. From the article:

Renewal of the Patriot Act is a catalyst for an epic debate on what it means to be a democracy in an age of terror. In joining this debate, librarians provide a service every bit as important as dispensing books.