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January 6, 2009

News

Philly Libraries Open, but Hurting
Philadelphia libraries are open for now, after a judge reversed the mayor's unpopular plan to close 11 branches. Still, an uncertain future awaits the system, and personnel cuts made in anticipation of the closures means staff shortages and emergency closings this week. » » »

More Libraries/Publishers Embracing NISO’s SERU Agreement
NISO has attracted 45 libraries and publishers to sign on for its Shared E-Resource Understanding best practices document, which greatly simplifies license negotiation. » » »


Laura Bush Snags Scribner Book Deal
Scribner is paying Laura Bush an undisclosed sum (but you can bet it’s plenty) for her yet untitled memoir scheduled for a 2010 release. » » »

Blatant Berry: The Lessons from Germany
Attending the 8th Frankfurt Scientific Symposium, Berry learned much, including that a library’s physical construction and design has a huge impact on collaborative learning, “browsability” and enrichment of the user’s experience, and that thanks to technology, it really is a small world. » » »

Blogs


E-Views by Cheryl LaGuardia
New Version of World Book Advanced: Try It Here For Free!
World Book is launching a new version of World Book Advanced with several enhancements... Read On »


In the Bookroom by Wilda Williams
Long Tail Book Bestsellers of 2008
Forget the best new books of 2008! What were last year's top ten most sought... Read On »


Tennant: Digital Libraries by Roy Tennant
Twitterpated Yet Again
A good while ago in Internet time I started to dabble with Twitter, the microblogging... Read On »


E-Views by Cheryl LaGuardia
Plug and Project: What I REALLY Want in 2009
I’m bypassing the resolutions this year and going right to asking for exactly... Read On »

Wyatt's World

Reading to Remember—Donald E. Westlake

  • Le Couperet (DVD)
  • The Cutie (re: The Mercenaries) (Hard Case Crime)
  • The Hot Rock (Mysterious Press)
  • The Hunter (writing as Richard Stark) (Univ. of Chicago) (and look for the graphic novel illustrated by Darwyn Cooke due out this summer)
  • Kinds of Love, Kinds of Death (writing as Tucker Coe) (Five Star)

    For more on Collection Development, click here

    Review

    The Rape of Europa.

    color & b/w. 117 min. Richard Berge, Nicole Newnham, & Bonni Cohen, Menemsha Films, 310-452-1775, neilf@menemshafilms.com or heidio@menemshafilms.com. 2008. DVD UPC 7-18122-35541-9. $29.95. art HISTORY

    Framed by the story and controversies surrounding Gustav Klimt’s famed 1907 portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer, stolen from the Viennese Jewish family in 1938 and sold in 2006 as the most expensive painting ever to come onto the market ($135 million), this riveting documentary reveals the ­Nazis’ systematic looting of Europe’s art treasures during World War II. The decision to plunder and destroy Europe’s cultural masterpieces, it is implied, has its source at the very top—Adolf Hitler’s failures as a painter. Narrated by Joan Allen, the film is based on author Lynn Nicholas’s fascinating and scholarly account of the exhaustive and sometimes Herculean efforts of experts and laypeople to find and recover lost art objects. Shortlisted for the 2007 Academy Award® for Best Documentary, this film is very highly recommended, especially for art historians and students of European cultural history.» » »

    —Herbert E. Shapiro, Empire State Coll., SUNY at Rochester

    Highlights

    The Transparent Library: Six More Signposts
    The Michaels offer the next six surefire signposts of their transparency theories. » » »

    Reference BackTalk: My 48 Hours in Oxford
    LJ Reference goddess Mirela Roncevic was among an elite cadre recruited by Oxford University Press to celebrate the Oxford English Dictionary’s 80th anniversary. For us little people not invited, she provides a blow-by-blow of the event as charming as the English city itself (and visit LJ’s flickr gallery of Mirela’s pix). » » »

    Charles Darwin at 200
    A roundup of seven titles (both by and about Darwin) honoring the father of evolution’s bicentennial. » » »

    Metal: Headbang for Your Buck
    Matthew Moyer, reference librarian (and Music for the Masses blogger), offers a timeline for this most tabooed music and counts down the 14 must-have discs plus a list of web resources. » » »

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    Best Sellers

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    1. Sail James Patterson & Howard Roughan
    2. Fearless Fourteen: A Stephanie Plum Novel Janet Evanovich
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    Nonfiction
    1. Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Mission To Promote Peace...One School at a Time Greg Mortenson & David Oliver Relin.
    2. When You Are Engulfed in Flames David Sedaris
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    Job of the Week

    Regional Library System Director
    This position could be yours if you have a passion for library services, a vision for the future, an essential commitment to lobbying the state and national legislature, demonstrated leadership skills, strong interpersonal skills, strength in business and financial management, good listening and speaking skills, and the ability to work with a small staff committed to providing excellent service to all types of libraries in the region. View More
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