Newsletter 2671 Issue 26712009526135143

News

Californians Torpedoing Ballot Proposals Means Library Cuts
California voters May 19 nixed ballot propositions that would have eased the state’s deficit. Governator Arnold will counter by borrowing $2 billion and cutting services including libraries. » » »

Going It Alone, Providence Central Trimming Staff/Hours
With its branches being taken over by the new Providence Community Library, Providence Public’s now-independent Central Library is reducing staff and operating hours. » » »

Deal or No Deal: What If the Google Settlement Fails?
Publishers Weekly provides an excellent blow-by-blow of the Google Book Search settlement, which once seemed a done deal but now is in peril of perishing. » » »

Josephine County Branches Reviving
Oregon’s Josephine Community Libraries, a nonprofit established to manage the financially strapped local libraries, successfully reopened the main facility. Now, a handful of branches closed in 2007 are being revived. » » »

BookSmack! BEA Special
Whether or not you go to BEA, check out the latest edition of LJ’s BookSmack! for the inside line on the six must-get galley giveaways (and many more) to get the beat on fall titles, as well as tips on where to eat, plus Prepub Exploded, the Word on Street Lit, and much more. » » »

Blogs

Wyatt's World

Reading to Remember—David Herbert Donald

• Charles Sumner and the Coming of the Civil War (Sourcebooks)
• Lincoln (S&S)
• Lincoln's Herndon (Da Capo)
• Look Homeward: A Life of Thomas Wolfe (Harvard)
• We Are Lincoln Men: Abraham Lincoln and His Friends, (S&S)

For more on Collection Development, click here

Review

Gopnik, Alison. The Philosophical Baby: What Children’s Minds Tell Us About Truth, Love, and the Meaning of Life.

Farrar. Aug. 2009. c.288p. ISBN 978-0-374-23196-5. $25. PSYCH

Gopnik (psychology, Univ. of California, Berkeley), coauthor of The Scientist in the Crib, now goes solo with a kind of Scientist in the Crib, Part Two. Once again, her goal isn’t to offer child-rearing advice but to let the general reader know about the most recent findings in developmental psychology. This time around, the subjects include the growth of imagination attachment and morality (i.e., the “truth, love, and meaning of life” promised in the subtitle). And as with the prior book, the writing is engaging and accessible. The concept of the book—that, historically, philosophers haven’t had much to say about infancy, but the work of contemporary developmental psychologists has changed all that—is debatable. The works of Plato and John Locke, for example, are a great deal about human development, although not couched in concrete terms. (Those venerable gentlemen probably didn’t have much child-care experience.) However, that is a fairly minor quibble. Verdict Not a parenting how-to book, this is a good choice for general nonfiction readers and may appeal to those who like Stephen Pinker’s books. » » »

—Mary Ann Hughes, formerly with Neill P.L., Pullman, WA

Highlights

Back to the Scriptorium: Database Marketplace 2009
Large library digitization projects and audio/video/interactive enhancements in numerous vendor offerings are the modern monks replicating manuscripts, but can current budget woes trigger a new dark age? LJ’s annual Database Marketplace tackles these questions plus offers web exclusive profiles of nearly 100 companies. » » »

SLA at 100: Conference Preview
The Special Libraries Association is celebrating its centennial with an annual conference in Washington, D.C. Here’s our pick of lucky 13 sessions that look hot. » » »

The Transparent Library: Reason for Optimism
Although we live in trying times, the Michaels find there still is great hope and offer advice to new graduates. » » »

The Reader’s Shelf—A Year in the Life: A Booming Memoir Subgenre
Neal Wyatt gathers eight memoirs in which the authors chronicle an event lasting roughly a year rather than looking back at their whole lives. For some it meant undertaking a social experiment, a journey of self-improvement, or simply a test of will. » » »

Short Takes: Financial Guides for Hard Times
Money—mostly the lack of it—seems foremost on everyone’s minds these days. These seven titles offer advice for surviving the tough economy. » » »