Front Desk

Librarians will be among the judges in a new glossy book awards program announced January 26 by Reed Business Information (RBI), parent of Library Journal and Publishers Weekly (PW), and NBC Universal Television Stations. The Quill Awards will honor "excellence in writing and publishing, recognize the creators of important books and great literature, drive revenue for publishers, and circulation for libraries." The awards will be under the guidance of Gerry Byrne, former publisher of RBI publications Variety and Daily Variety, who also will head the literacy foundation established in conjunction with the prizes.

Awards will be presented in 15 categories, five nominees in each. A 6000-member nominating council, which includes booksellers and some 1000 librarians selected from PW's subscriber base, will make the initial selections over a three-month period, beginning April 15. Public voting online and at retail outlets will take place from August 15 to September 15. The winners will be announced during a lavish televised ceremony in October. For more information, see www.wnbc.com/quills/index.html.

"[I]t was obvious to me then, and has become only more so as the years go by, that libraries are the sexiest places, and librarians the sexiest people, on earth."
—John V. Fleming, Louis W. Fairchild ’24 professor of English, Princeton University, Daily Princetonian, January 17, 2005

"Libraries matter" (www.librariesmatter.com) began as a local library awareness campaign sponsored by Alliance Library System, one of the nine regional systems in Illinois, based in East Peoria. Participating libraries could buy 50 bracelets for $80 and 100 for $150. Soon library blogs were buzzing with interest, and libraries from 16 states had purchased nearly 4000 bracelets by February 7—so many that Alliance's Karen Stott Bersche announced that out-of-state orders would be filled only by April 1, in time for National Library Week. Participating libraries, which sell the bracelets for $3, use the money for purposes ranging from building projects to flood recovery to summer reading programs. The concept came from a BusinessWeek article about eBay founder Pierre Omidyar, a major supporter of DonorsChoose.org, a web-based philanthropy that matches donors and public school projects.

Q: What is the difference between a librarian and a large pizza?
A: A large pizza can feed a family of four.
—posted on LISNews.com February 2, 2005

80,000 The number of page requests the King County Library System, WA, receives in a typical month for ebooks and downloadable audio
135,591 The number of requests received in one week after the Seattle Times published an article about the service
Source: King County Library System