News

Hurricane Ike Devastates Louisiana PL, Others
In Texas and Louisiana they don’t like Ike: the hurricane ripped through the states, hitting libraries hard, too, with LA's Cameron Parish Library lost and the Galveston PL, TX, also feared destroyed. Here's a rundown of some affected libraries. » » »

IMLS Earmarks $18.2 Million for Libraries
Salinas, CA, Orange County, FL, University of Michigan, and others received grants from the Institute of Museum and Library Science. See who’s getting money, and why. » » »

EBSCO Rolls Out SUSHI Server
Tired of generating usage stats reports? EBSCO has released a server supporting the Standard Usage Statistics Harvesting Initiative (SUSHI), which “facilitates automated retrieval of data from EBSCOhost.” » » »

OCLC and Recorded Books Partner Up
With old disputes settled, OCLC and Recorded Books are renewing a partnership to make eAudiobooks available through NetLibrary. OCLC also has plans for a big October release. » » »

Publisher Ponders Potter Appeal
Sore losers: RDR Books expects its attorneys to appeal ruling in Harry Potter Lexicon suit. » » »

Blogs

LJ Talks To

Vicki Myron
When Dewey Readmore Books, an orange tabby who had charmed librarians and patrons for 19 years at the Spencer Public Library in Spencer, Iowa, died in 2006, his obituary ran in over 250 newspapers, including The New York Times. A year later Dewey made headlines again when Grand Central Publishing paid $1.2 million to then-Spencer Library director Vicki Myron and co-author Bret Witter for the rights to the cat’s life story.  » » »

Wyatt's World

Reading Around Women, Action, and Afghanistan

• Start with Beyond Belief, a film by Beth Murphy and Principle Pictures

  Then watch:

  • Enemies of Happiness, a film by Eva Mulvad and Bastard Film

  Then read:

  • How to Change the World: Social Entrepreneurs and the Power of New Ideas by David Bornstein (Oxford)
  • The Punishment of Virtue: Inside Afghanistan After the Taliban by Sarah Chayes (Penguin)
  • The Sewing Circles of Herat: A Personal Voyage Through Afghanistan by Christina Lamb (HarperCollins)
  • Be the Change! Change the World. Change Yourself edited by Michelle Nunn (Hundreds of Heads)

For more on Collection Development, click here

Review

Pearl Diver.

color. 97 min. Sidney King, Proud Cut Films, dist. by Monterey Media, 800-424-2593; www.montereymedia.com. 2008. DVD ISBN 978-1-56994-422-6. $24.95. Closed-captioned. Rated: PG-13. F

Sisters Hannah and Marian grew up on a Mennonite family farm near Goshen, IN. Their relationship was shattered when their mother was murdered 20 years earlier when their home was invaded. Marian stayed in the community, married, and continues to live on a farm with her husband and young daughter. Hannah left Mennonite life and became a successful author in Chicago. When Marian’s six-year old daughter is badly injured in an accident, Hannah returns. Through flashbacks, viewers learn what drove the sisters apart and witness a new struggle as a book threatens to dredge up the family’s history. » » »

—Tom Budlong, Atlanta

Highlights

Politician of the Year
In Katrina’s wake Louisiana libraries needed a champion: they have the best in Lt. Governor Mitch Landrieu, whose efforts on their behalf earned him our Politician of the Year award. » » »

Tapping Into Media
Denver PLs Michelle Jeske tells why you need to add audio and video features to your web site—and gives you the skinny on how to do it. » » »

Blatant Berry: Escape from Reading
Berry confesses to never having been a bibliophile, often preferring electronic means to receive entertainment and information, and claims that offering these multimedia options to users should be part of every library’s mission. » » »

Reference BackTalk: The Way We Were
New York Public’s Best of Reference committee member Lauren Lampasone looks back on the changes in the reference resource world since the pre-Google days of 1996. Anyone remember AltaVista? » » »

The Maddening Crowds: SDCC
LJ graphic novels editor Ann Kim braves the crushing crowd of geeks, freaks, and Hollywood celebs at the annual pop culture mad house that is San Diego Comic-Con International. How did librarians fare? » » »