Robert Darnton recently wrote in the New York Review of Books (12 June issue) about “The Library in the New Age”. It is definitely a very intriguing read. In the first chapter, he asked the question of “what will become of research libraries in the face of the technological marvels such as Google?”
Talking about libraries, for those who have yet to watch the Sex & The City - The Movie, the New York Public Library was featured quite prominently in the movie as Carrie Bradshaw borrowed a romantic poetry book as well as the wedding venue of Carrie and Mr Big. Unfortunately, the marriage didn’t happen because Mr Big got cold feet on the morning of the wedding. I’m sure it raised the profile of the New York Public Library a little. Hmmm … I didn’t remember seeing any librarians though.
And on the topic of librarians, an American writer and professor, Junot Diaz, wrote an opinion piece in the Syndey Morning Herald on 25 May about how a librarian may have played a part in keeping him on the straight and narrow by introducing books for him to read. I think I heard something similar at the recent Library Association of Singapore Conference at the keynote by Mr. Kishore Mahbubani. Junot Diaz won a Pulitzer Prize for fiction for his first novel, The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao (Call No.: English DIA).
Books … the latest hip, new book is about James Bond, Devil May Care. Written by Sebastian Faulk as Ian Fleming, it is to commemorate the 100th birthday of Ian Fleming, who was born on 28 May 1908. Anyway, the book is not available at MPOW yet. If you are interested in getting the book, MPOW is currently running a “Devil May Care” promotion where you can win yourself a copy of the book. All you have to do is borrow 4 books at any of our public libraries, get a contest form from the counters, answer a very simple question and drop it into the contest box. The contest runs till the end of June. We’ll be awarding one book to a lucky winner at every one of our public libraries.
- Teachers ‘Not Reading Children’s Books’ Research by the Centre for Literacy and Primary Education (CLPE) in the States has found that many teachers do not regularly read children’s literature. In addition, they tend to choose books from a narrow band of authors. I wonder if it’s true for teachers in Singapore as well. (via LISNews)
- Report: Women Increasingly Choosing Dead-End Careers Over Dead-End Relationships Although on the surface the report seems to have nothing to do with the library, there is a part in the report and I quote “… an overall increase in those settling for absolutely futureless secretarial or librarian positions …”. Hmmm … I wonder how many of my colleagues will agree with that. However, there is a need to take this article with a big pinch of salt as The Onion is a satirical news website. (via LISNews)
- This is not your parents’ library, or yours either The Toronto Public Library has opened the first of several planned KidsStops - an indoor interactive literacy playground - to promote literacy development in children up to age 5. Hmmm … wondering if any colleagues will be going to Toronto after the IFLA Annual Conference in Quebec. (via LISNews)
A very interesting video that gives a behind-the-scenes look of the happenings in the backroom of a library. Maybe my colleagues in our Library Supply Centre might be interested in doing something similar. A lot more fun than your normal corporate video. I particularly like the ending in the video.
Unfortunately, most of the books are pretty alien to me even though I’m a librarian. I tend to read more nerdy stuff like techie books on HTML, CSS, and web design as well as business and current affairs magazines.
Although the book is not on the list, my personal favorite book of all time is Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart (Call No.:English ACH). Read this book for my literature class when I was 14 and the story remains quite deeply in my mind.
So, what do you think about the listing? If you are a guy, would you have read the books listed? Maybe someone should come up with a list for women.
Yesterday, I had a post more towards to children books. So, for today, I found two resources (via LibrarianInBlack) for teens.
The first one that you should check out is Turning The Paige. It’s a teens’ book review blog and is run by Paige Turner, who reads and reviews the books. You can search for books by genre, age level, series or grade through the categories in the sidebar. Turner has a rating system for the books reviewed which would not be foreign to students … A+ to F-. As the site was started only at the beginning of the year, there are not many reviews at the moment. But you might be interested in the “Top 10 Lists” category to find interesting reads.
As for the second resource, the name of the site is Ergo and is created and run by the State Library of Victoria, Australia. Information literacy for students and teachers at the high school / secondary school level is the focus of the site. It has great resources on research skills, essay writing skills and study skills. It has also many great resources for teachers as well. Although the site is quite Victoria- and Australia-centric in terms of the content, there are still many useful tips that anyone can use.
The shortlist of Best of the Bookers award has been announced and it pits six past winners of the Booker Prize to determine which novel is the best winning one since the prize began in 1969. It is a one-off celebratory award to mark the 40th anniversary of the Booker Prize.
The books in the shortlist were chosen by a team that comprises biographer Victoria Glendinning, broadcaster Mariella Frostrup, and John Mullan, professor of English at the University of London. However, the best book will be decided by a public vote that started yesterday on The Man Booker Prize website with the winner to be announced on 10 July 2008.
The shortlist of books are as follows:
Pat Barker’s The Ghost Road (1995) (Call No.: English BAR)
Peter Carey’s Oscar and Lucinda (1988) (Call No.: English CAR)
JM Coetzee’s Disgrace (1999) (Call No.: English COE)
JG Farrell’s The Siege of Krishnapur (1973) (Call No.: English FAR or here)
Nadine Gordimer’s The Conservationist (1974) (Call No.: English GOR)
Salman Rushdie’s Midnight Children (1981) (Call No.: English RUS or here)
Remember to go read the books and vote at the website!
- “Libraries Aren’t Just Buildings Where Books Are Kept” (via The Shifted Librarian)
- Just One More Book Just One More Book is a podcast about children’s books. It is run by a husband and wife team and the podcasts are recorded in their favorite coffee shop somewhere in Ottawa, Canada. The podcasts are posted about 3 times per week and they range from 5 and 25 minutes in length. The topics for the podcasts cover favorite books and interviews with authors as well as literacy issues. To date, there are more than 300 podcasts that have been archived. Do go check it! (via LibrarianInBlack)
- Lexicographical Longing The Oxford English Dictionary (O.E.D.) seems to be going the way of the dodo bird. The publishers, Oxford University Press, has decided not to publish a new print edition. So, the last printed edition of O.E.D. was done in 1989 and was in 20 volumes. At the moment, the editors at O.E.D. are slowly transferring all the content onto the Web. You can register for an account at OED.com though it costs money (US$300 a year or US$30 a month).
- Ginger Spice renounces singing to become author Geri Halliwell, or better known as Ginger Spice of the Spice Girls, seems to have given up her singing career to concentrate fully on her writing career as a children’s author. Her first of six books is officially published today by Macmillian. The series of books revolve around a small, vivacious, ginger-haired girl called Ugenia Lavender. Do check it out when it arrives in either your local public library or bookstore.
- Anti-terror threat to librarian role Apparently, police in the UK and US have requested for librarians to release information of persons under surveillance of their borrowing records as well as records of internet sites visited. Do you face such issues in your libraries? (via LISNews)
- 21st Century Library Design: A Thought Provoking Program A summary of the presentations done at the recent panel discussion at the Public Library Association 2008 conference in Minneapolis. Useful for those who are planning new libraries. (via LISNews)
- Book-Beer Pairings:Part I and Part II Authors share what beers would go best with their books. I’ve heard of wine pairings with food, but definitely the first time I’m hearing beer pairings with books. Unfortunately, most of the beers mentioned are not easily available in Singapore. And I’m sure I know a couple of my colleagues who would be really interested in these pairings! Guess it’s time for a beer now. (via LISNews)
- WebTools4u2use A wiki was created by 2 school library media specialists from the University of Central Florida to provide information on some of the Web 2.0 tools and how they can be used by librarians, students and teachers. What’s really interesting is that anyone with a Wikispaces account, or register for one, can add to the wiki to expand the resource. Interesting use of social networking tools! (via LibrarianInBlack)
- Libraries Unleashed The Guardian, in association with the Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC), has published a special supplement that features 18 articles on libraries and technology. Do have a look to find out what libraries in the UK are doing with new technologies. (via iLibrarian)
- Quotations Book An online resource on quotations. Currently, there are more than 40,000 quotations available on the site.
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