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LibraryLand Bulletins Posted in August 2008 |
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- Make Yer Own READ Poster
Posted August 30, 2008
ALA's website includes a link that allows
you to insert any digital photo of your choosing into a miniature version of an ALA READ Poster - suitable for, say, a
brochure, a booklist, or a blog. Like so:
Found via the Librarian in
Black.
- Dept. of Law-Breaking Library Directors (Canada Division)
Posted August 30, 2008
The former director of this Saskatoon library gets a two-year prision sentence for embezzling a million dollars of the
local taxpayers' money.
Details.
Found via LISNews.
- Dept. of Library Humor
Posted August 30, 2008
Source: Bartoons, via Librarian.net.
- Selector/Booklover Alert: Another Blog for Book Industry-Related News and Gossip
Posted August 28, 2008
There's no information at Nonstop Books about who its author is, but we love the
set of book-related links displayed on this website, and library selectors and book lovers (especially people who routinely
purchase books online) will find many of the blogposts interesting.
Found via LISNews.
Click here to read all previously-posted Booklover Alerts
- Nonfiction Selector Alert: Books about Eating Smarter
Posted August 27, 2008
Karen Schneider, aka The Free Range Librarian, has posted a nifty list of titles
about the let's-eat-more-sensibly movement that you might want to be sure these half-dozen book are on your library's shelves.
And if they're all already there, perhaps you could lasso them (and related titles) for a quick book display.
- What? New Library in Connecticut City Doesn't Guarantee
Good Behavior Among All the Library's Users?
Posted August 27, 2008
Rarely does a newspaper delve at such length into the breaches of library security as the Hartford Courant did
last May.
Security-related problems are typical of every urban library we've heard about over the past 25 years or so, and it seems
the nation's (including Atlanta's) politicos are nowhere nearer any solutions to these security-related problems than they
were 25 years ago.
Which is one reason not everyone gets all excited when there's talk about a New Central Library afoot. Veteran employees are
convinced that sexy new expensive surroundings will not be matched by any additional funding for improvements to patron and employee
security. Library security is apparently not sexy enough, too expensive, and/or is considered optional by library funders...who,
of course, do not work day in and day out in a public library and therefore are not routinely exposed to the security risks
associated with modern urban public libraries.
The link to this story was provided by an alert AFPLWATCH reader.
- Librarians Help Police Arrest Crime Suspect They Noticed Surfing the Internet in a Public Library
Posted August 25, 2008
This tragic story from California brings up a
thorny issue about the alleged privacy rights of library users. Should public libraries be safe havens for everyone, or
should library workers call the cops if they think they've spotted a crime suspect in the library where they're employed?
Read the three dozen readers' comments posted to
LISNews to see if you think this question is an easy one to answer.
- Booklover Alert: Peeking into Writers' Rooms
Posted August 25, 2008
The UK's Guardian has a long-running series of stories (some with photos) about the rooms writers (famous and not-so-famous)
wrote their books in.
If you love literature-related gossip - or at least British literature-related gossip - you'll love
this series.
Found via LISNews.
Click here to read all previously-posted Booklover Alerts
- Wisconsin Library Patron Arrested for Ignoring Court Summons about Unpaid Library Fines
Posted August 23, 2008
Details.
Found via LISNews.
- Favorite Fictional Librarians
Posted August 23, 2008
Although we don't expect hordes of library users rushing anybody's service desk begging for a list of books with librarian
heroes or heroines, there might be a few library workers out there who'd like such a list. We've seen some of these lists
posted to the Internet before, but here's another one,
compiled by an employee at the Seattle Public Library and posted to one of SPL's blogs.
Found via LISNews.
- Selector/Booklover Alert: Another Online Book Reviewing Website
Posted August 22, 2008
Lit Mob debuted earlier this month. Here's what the four authors of the site have to say
about the focus of their promising-looking site:
Open Letter To Readers:
This is a tough letter to write as technically you do not exist. “They” say that no one reads anymore and that you spend
all of your time watching TIVO’d episodes of Dancing With The Stars, playing video games, or stealing music from your
computer. If you don’t exist then neither do we, which seems rather odd as we really did write this letter and you are now
in fact reading it.
We obviously think that great literature and a strong and intelligent reader base are alive and well. That the media has
chosen to ignore readers is insignificant. We believe in great books and created Lit Mob as a way to showcase those books
that are worth your time. We will not be reviewing all books. You will not see the words “John” and “Grisham” placed
together anywhere on our site. The new Harry Potter? Sorry, we won’t be covering that either. Like The New York Times
Book Review? Great, so do we, but we will be traveling on a much different path than the Good Gray Lady.
So what can you expect from Lit Mob? We promise our readers concise reviews of books that we feel are interesting, and
worthy of a strong latte and a warm comforter. We won’t love them all, and we won’t be afraid to voice our opinion. We
are independent, intelligent, and LOVE books - just like you.
Found via Fade Theory.
Click here to read all previously-posted Booklover Alerts
- Confessions of a Readaholic
Posted August 21, 2008
From the [London] Times.
Found via
LISNews.
Click here to read all previously-posted Booklover Alerts
- The Use and Abuse of Library PR (California Division)
Posted August 21, 2008
Details from the Sacramento Bee.
Found via LISNews.
- Michigan Librarian Fired for Publishing Fictional "Library Diaries"
Posted August 21, 2008
The person who fired her says she portrayed library patrons in an unflattering manner, and that the small community
where she works (and a photo on the cover of her book of the real library in the small town where she works) made it
too easy for readers to identify the real-life counterparts of her unflatteringly-portrayed characters. News reports here and
here. The original story was reported by
the Ludington Daily News, but you'll need to register with them to read the story; Daily News reader comments are here.
The librarian is appealing her termination.
Found via LISNews.
- Dept. of Outraged Parents Who Object to Porn Displays on Library Computer Screens
Posted August 21, 2008
Here we go again. Nebraska this time.
Found via LISNews.
- Booklover Alert: 100 Places to Connect with Fellow Bibliophiles
Posted August 7, 2008
Quite the comprehensive list, at least as of mid-2008. And it's annotated! Thank you,
Online Education Database's Laura Milligan.
Found via LISNews.
Click here to read all previously-posted Booklover Alerts
- D.C. Mayor Finds $2 Million to Prevent Library Service Cutbacks
Posted August 6, 2008
Details from the
Washington Post.
Found via LISNews.
- Portland, Oregon Public Library to Get an "Eco-Roof"
Posted August 6, 2008
A layer of vegetation is being added atop Portland's 95-year-old Central Library.
Details from Portland's Daily Journal of Commerce.
Found via LISNews.
- Selector/Booklover Alert: Authors' Top 10 Books on Mostly Very Narrow Themes
Posted August 6, 2008
The UK's Guardian has posted a bunch of short
recommended-books lists on various amazingly specific topics: graphic novels, islands, wilderness, "kids books with
kickass heroines," "Asian crime fiction," wine, etc.
Despite (or because of) the scattershot nature of these lists, you're bound to find something useful in this intriguing and
not-so-little grabbag.
Too bad, though, that the opportunity for ordering books for AFPL's collections this year is about to come to a
screeching halt. (Because the library powers that be haven't convinced the county manager that the library needs to purchase
books year-round, AFPL branch library selectors are forbidden to order books after mid-August each year.)
Found via LISNews.
Click here to read all previously-posted Booklover Alerts
- Towards More Environmental-Friendly Library Bags
Posted August 6, 2008
Many public library users expect the library to provide bags for hauling away their library loot, and lots of libraries
oblige them by either selling canvas bags or giving away plastic ones.
Most AFPL branches do the plastic bag handing-out thing, and a few years ago the library foundation paid for a zillion
logo-stamped plastic ones that, while supplies lasted, proved to be popular with customers who usually are handed grocery
bags that staff bring in from their trips to local grocery stores and stash behind their service desks.
A library in England has decided to stop handing out plastic bags and using jute bags instead. Good idea.
Found via LISNews.
Other bag-related ideas: putting on the library web page a bring-your-own-bag reminder; figuring out a way to sell
(logo-stamped) cloth, canvas, or jute bags to people who'd buy one if such totes were readily available and reasonably
priced.
Are you reading this, o ye Friends of the Library? Are you reading this, o AFPL Public Relations Honcho?
- Library PR Alert: Online Sources of Free Photos
Posted August 6, 2008
Digital Image Magazine has posted an
annotated list of 25 sources of free stock photos that library workers (among others) could search for nifty images to
enhance their booklists, brochures, flyers, websites, etc.
Found via the
Librarian in Black via
Phil Bradley's Weblog.
- Author Solzhenitsyn Dies at 89
Posted August 4, 2008
Details
from the New York Times.
Found via LISNews.
- Dept. of Library Love
Posted August 4, 2008
A nice tribute posted at The Daily Kos.
Found via LISNews.
- A Bad Economy: Just Another Marketing Opportunity for Public Libraries?
Posted August 4, 2008
Excerpt from a recent Queens Public Library press release:
"Public library usage is expected to rise dramatically in the coming months. Traditionally, people turn to public libraries
during hard economic times for free entertainment, free after-school child care, to help with employment, for free access
to the public use computers and to help them save money by doing things themselves, such as home and auto repairs."
Found via LISNews.
- Intriguing Library Marketing Opportunity #86
Posted August 1, 2008
Colorado's Fort Collins Public Library created a page on its website
that allows library users to monitor the construction progress of its recently-commissioned newest branch library.
Depending on whether or not Fulton County citizens approve this fall's local library bond referendum, this idea might or
might not be timely for AFPL.
Eventually more libraries will be built in Fulton County. Whenever those construction projects do materialize, we
think AFPL should adopt Fort Collins' marketing idea. Maintaining interest in, and raising consciousness about, libraries
throughout the inevitably long process of building a new branch - instead of waiting until a building is finally finished to
do that - seems to us a perfect way to generate ongoing interest in (and create a unique forum for posting information about)
a library system.
Found via LISNews.
- A Librarian's Homage to the Post-It
Posted August 1, 2008
Although our own choice for "Most Valuable Low-Tech Invention of All Time" would be the 3x5 index card, other low-tech
award contenders abound. Christopher Warren, a blogger who works at a library in nearby Gwinnett County, is routinely
humbled by the infinite uses of the ubiquitous
Post-It Note.
Continue reading previously-posted LibraryLand Bulletins
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