Newsletter 2671 Issue 2671200991131920

News

Michigan Governor Reconsiders Yanking Library Support
Bending to pressure from library supporters, Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm modified her July 13 executive order, reinstating support for two statewide library programs and the State Librarian position, though funding remains in jeopardy. » » »

Cash Poor Dallas PL May Merge with Office of Cultural Affairs
Along with a heavy 31% budget cut, the Dallas PL also faces a possible merger with the city’s Office of Cultural Affairs, as the City Council prepares to vote on reducing the number of city departments from 31 to 22. Arts advocates, however, are angered about the move. » » »

Book Donations Programs Escalating To Battle Hard Times
Libraries across the country suffering from anemic budgets are developing clever ways for patrons to donate books to help bolster resources. Here are some examples. » » »

Hawaii Proposes Two-Day Closures To Halt Permanent Branch Losses
To prevent the permanent closure of five branches, the Hawaii State Public Library System has proposed shuttering all of its 51 facilities for two days each month, with staff taking unpaid furloughs. » » »

Blatant Berry: The New Refugees
Newcomers steadily are migrating into librarianship from other careers—some very high end—and changing the profession. Berry says "we must collaborate with them to ensure the new landscape accommodates a fundamental role in society for libraries." » » »

Blogs

LJ Talks To

Carolina De Robertis
Uruguayan American Carolina De Robertis’s powerful debut novel, The Invisible Mountain, takes readers on an epic journey through the lives of three generations of women, exploring an important part of South American history and paying homage to the resilience of the human spirit. The newly celebrated author shares details with former Críticas Children’s Reviews Editor Adriana Domínguez about her inspiration and some of the elements that made it possible for this ambitious project to come to fruition. » » »

Wyatt's World

Reading To Remember—The Kennedys

• Last Lion: The Fall and Rise of Ted Kennedy by Peter S. Canellos (S&S)
• True Compass by Edward M. Kennedy (Twelve: Hachette)
• Sons and Brothers by Richard D. Mahoney (Arcade)
• The Kennedys: America's Emerald Kings by Thomas Maier (Basic Books)
• Kennedy: The Complete Series (MPI Home Video)

For more on Collection Development, click here

Review

 De Robertis, Carolina. The Invisible Mountain.

Knopf. 2009. c.384p. ISBN 978-0-307-27163-1. $24.95. F

Uruguay’s capital, Montevideo (“Monte vide eu,” or “I see a mountain”), conjures up visions of soaring heights for Venetian Ignazio Firielli, approaching his new home by sea in 1911. Instead, he finds a low hill holding a humid, teeming, port city. Several years later, Ignazio meets Pajarita Torres, famous in her rural town for disappearing as a baby only to be found living happily in a tree a year later. Quickly married, the pair settles in Montevideo. Daughter Eva finds escape in poetry and a wealthy physician who whisks her away to Peronist Buenos Aries, while their daughter Salome lands in prison during the Tupamaros uprisings of the 1960s and 1970s. This is a richly textured and nuanced work of women, survival, the families we are born into, and those we choose to inhabit. Translator, short fiction writer, and first-time novelist De Robertis draws on family fact and legend to bring Montevideo and its stories to life with rewarding effect. » » »

—Jenn B. Stidham, Houston Community Coll.-Northeast, Houston

Xpress Reviews

Xpress Reviews—First Look at New Books
Charlie Carillo's Raising Jake, Clarence Clemons & Don Reo's Big Man, Elisa New's Jacob's Cane, and more reviews just in! » » »

Highlights

One Great Idea
Whatever you call it, the One Book, One… mass book reads are great for building communities and connections across cultures and generations. They get the public excited about literature and libraries. Here’s how to get your program together. » » »

Editors Fall Picks
LJ’s Book Review team dish on their favorite autumn titles that you can bank on. » » »

Reference Q&A: John Dove—The Concept of Credo
LJ’s reference editor Mirela Roncevic chats with Credo Reference president John Dove on the company’s origin, librarians and software developers happily coexisting, the state of subject encyclopedias, and more. » » »

Music for the Masses: Hip-Hop Must Haves
Matthew Moyer selects ten titles that are long-term essentials for any hip-hop collection. » » »

BackTalk: Lessons of Good Customer Service
Amy Fry takes some leads from retail and applies them to academic reference, which she believes “doesn’t have to be a passive activity.” Better connecting with users, she says, makes them more likely to come back for more. » » »