Library Journal - 06/15/2011

Look at these things that caught my attention and here my thoughts thereupon:

• The Problem is Poverty - Editor John Berry opines that we should treat all patrons like people, and that the problem isn't patrons it's poverty that puts them in untenable situations. If we don't work to correct the problem, then we are fighting against ourselves.
  
  
• Georgia State Law Suit - So a bunch of academic publishers are suing Georgia State University, charging that they are breaking the law by making ANY COPIES AT ALL without publisher permission (and fees). The publishers are Oxford Univeristy Press, Cambridge University Pressm, and SAGE. I like this part from Barbara Fister: "Most of the content published by academic publishers is produced by our own faculty and students--it is past time to commit to new models for distributing this content that don't leave it in the hands of rent-seeking, for-profic businesses with no respect for academic values." While I don't know what that would like like, especially in America where capitalism is king, I think it's an interesting idea to foster intellectual discussions this way.
  
  
• U. of Michigan to Identify Hathitrust's Orphan Works - Just interesting because while copyright is out of hand, the orphan works without verifiable copyright-holder are really aggravating to me. (Although for no real reason...just philosophically I guess.)
  
  
• Library of the Year: King County Library System in Washington State - I just found it interesting that the director removed security cameras from the buildings under the auspices of intellectual freedom. Seems like a hobbyhorse, but not an entirely illogical one.
  
  
• The Problem is Not the Homeless - The larger article which inspired the editorial response above. All sorts of innovative services, from book clubs to bringing in Social Workers as staff, etc. We don't really have this as a huge problem in our system, but I think it's interesting that people are willing to innovate to find solutions to people's problems. Talk about public service.
  
  
• 12 Young Adult Authors with Crossover Appeal - M.T. Anderson, Libba Bray, Cassandra Clare, Eoin Colfer, Melissa De La Cruz, Sarah Dessen, Sonya Hartnett, Margo Lanagan, Melina Marchetta, Megan Whalen Turner, Scott Westerfeld, Markus Zusak.

Reactions

Publishers Weekly - May 16, 2011

• Shout-out to Blue Elephant Book Shop in Decatur, GA, which I've never actually been to despite proximity and my affinity for independent book stores. (They had an employee (owner?) write up something for The Return of Captain John Emmett, a book about returning home after WWI.)
  
  
• This issue has a big focus on audiobooks (June is apparently some sort of marketer-created audiobook month, so I guess it's nice that I'm reading this May issue in June). An interview with a narrator that was interesting (to give the characters voices, or not?) and a big section on The Pale King by David Foster Wallace, which clued me in to the existence of audiobooks for a lot of his previous works. (Though not Infinite Jest, which would have been VERY helpful earlier this year.)

Publishers Weekly - May 9, 2011

• Credit Crunch is pushing publishers to bully indy bookstores for payments. Death of the people's voice, we're all going to stupid hell, etc.
  
  
• Apparently Nancy Pearl is going to write a library-themed column for PW, starting May 30, so...I guess that happened. Be interesting to see what it's like.
  
  
• Should dictionaries be printed or digital? Houghton Mifflin wondered as it prepared to publish 5th edition of American Heritage Dictionary. But only 49% for those 18-30, with percentages rising as the age section rises. For reference books, problems can occur when trying to render graphics, diagrams, etc. But publishers say the internet has not eroded reference sales.

E-mail Review!

OK, I obviously stink at keeping up with things.

So I'm going to try again with the keeping it simple. (Simpler.)

This is going to be the things that caught my eye while reading magazines/e-mails about library stuff. It helps me to actually remember/absorb things if I do more than glance at them. Eidetic my memory is not.

ENJOY!

American Libraries Direct e-mail, 06/15/2011

• Charlotte Mecklenburg libraries get a reprieve - While the article doesn't say everything will be all better forever, it in fact indicates that this will only last a year, but maybe this is part of a bigger trend of people actually evaluating the place they want to live and thinking that a library is important to their idea of that place. (Freedom! Information! USA! USA!) And I can only imagine the relief for the employees (only some of them, unfortunately) that got their dismissal slips rescinded.
  
  
• Social Search - It rubs me the wrong way, a little bit too circular, but at the same time I acknowledge that life works that way even WITHOUT the internet so...that's that.
  
  
• Most Americans are not for book banning - Hooray. I mean, that's a pretty low bar, but I'll take it.
  
  
• ACLU vs. Gwinnnett Co. - Looking at the comments on the story in the local paper will make you cry. Just...really? Anyway, I'm for freedom of information, and even if you have to block stuff deemed inappropriate, it's a pretty bold cultural statement these days to say that a site about homosexuality is inherently inappropriate.
  
  
• DigitalLiteracy.goc - New site to help Americans get basics of digital literacy. Pretty interesting, but I think the first step will still be teaching them how to navigate the site.
  
  
• Is the MLIS worth it? - Interesting chart, which points out that most MLIS holders asked would reccomend people following the path, but the younger/newer the holder the more likely they'd be do dissuade someone from following the path.
  
  
• Blue Bins for Book Donations - This is interesting for me because my library doesn't do a book sale, but sends books to an online service that sells them, and we also let them put book donation bins at the branches for people who come in asking to donate books (which we generally don't accept).
  
  
• Library Blog awards - To find people who DO have the capacity to keep up with something like this.

And there you go.

NEXT TIME: Things I saw in Magazines!

(I'm not kidding...)