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Quick Links - Reference Books and Other Stories - 25 September 2008

Isaak Kwok — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 04:54:33 +0000

- Reference Books
This Wall Street Journal article suggests some reference books that are essential for a home library. Do you think they are essential for your library as well? And in our increasingly online-oriented world, do you think printed references are still essential when anyone with Internet access can just search for it through Google or Wikipedia?
(via LISNews)

- Is the use of book covers legal?
A wonderful blog post, written by lawyer and librarian Mary Minow, on the legality of the use of book covers by libraries on their Web sites and blogs. Do read the comments in the post for more discussion. What are your views?
(via LibrarianInBlack)

- The Back Nine Stacks
Ever thought of converting part of your stack into a mini golf course! Well, there’s now a non-profit organisation, the Library Mini Golf non-profit group, in the United States doing just that. The mini golf course is meant to be a one-off event for fundraising purposes as well as a way to get people to have a fun day at the library. The founder, Rick Bolton, estimates that a library can raise about US$10,000 in just one day. Maybe we can just do something similar at V.A.T. at Jurong Regional Library for the teens. I think they’ll enjoy it.

Quick Links - Why Public Libraries Close and Other Stories - 23 September 2008

Isaak Kwok — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 04:32:42 +0000

- Why Public Libraries Close?
A report on a nationwide study done in the United States on the impact of public library closures. What was interesting in the study was the use of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to map out the impacts on library users. We don’t see GIS used much in Singapore in analysing any kind of information.
(via LISNews)

- China national library is the world’s third most spacious library
With the opening a new building, China’s national library is now the third biggest national library in terms of floor space in the world, behind France and the United States. With this new building, the total floor space has reached 250,000 square metres. As a comparison, the National Library building at Victoria Street is about 58,783 square metres.
(via LISNews)

- Discounts with Your Library Card (pdf)
A cluster of public libraries in Northern Kentucky in the United States have collaborated with businesses in its community to bring discounts for members of the library. The discounts cover a good range of products and services.
(via LISNews)

Thank Your Teachers in Six Words

Isaak Kwok — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 03:50:39 +0000

MOE has just launched a dedication website for everyone to pen their thanks to their teachers at Teachersday.sg.

The only catch is that you have to only use six words in your dedication So, start cracking your literary brain and come up with the best six words of thanks to your teachers!

Quick Links - Teachers Not Reading and Other Stories - 07 June 2008

Harry Potter News

Isaak Kwok — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 05:31:54 +0000

For the Harry Potter fans, the trailer (of higher video quality) for the upcoming movie Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince was released a couple of days back. I haven’t watched any of the movies except for the first one. And my wife is not a big fan of the movie interpretation of the Harry Potter series although she has finished reading all the seven books.

And in other Harry Potter news, JK Rowling has decided to publish a collection of fairytales to help raise money for a UK children’s charity, the Children’s High Level Group (CHLG).

The Tales of Beedle the Bard was mentioned in the final book of the Harry Potter series, The Deathly Hallows. Rowling had no intentions to publish the book initially and had personally written and illustrated only seven copies of the book. Six of those were given to friends and one was sold to Amazon at an auction last year for £1.95m.

There will be three editions of the book. Two are by regular publishers, Scholastic and Bloomsbury. And the third edition will be produced by Amazon, which aims to replicate the look and feel of the original tales. There will only be 100,000 copies of the Collector’s Edition.

Creative Commons Singapore is Coming!

Isaak Kwok — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 03:53:06 +0000

Just saw the announcement of CC Singapore on my feedreader from Creative Commons blog. Currently, the draft of CC BY-NC-SA is put for public discussion. So, do go over to CC Singapore to join in the discussion. CC Singapore is hosted by the Centre for Asia Pacific Technology Law & Policy (CAPTEL) and is lead by Anil Samtani and Giorgos Cheliotis.

The launch event is planned for 27 July 2008 with the completed licensing suite.

Encyclopaedia Britannica Goes … Wiki

Isaak Kwok — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 10:00:30 +0000

Just read on the Encyclopaedia Britannica blog that they have decided to move their entire works into a wiki platform.

Very interesting news indeed! I think Encyclopaedia Britannica is getting a little worried about the increasing influence of Wikipedia although many academic institutions still disallow its use for citation purposes in the students’ papers.

For me, I actually use Wikipedia quite a bit when I’m providing advisory service. I use it as my preliminary search, but then branch off to look for relevant information through our books, e-resources and the Web.

Well, will definitely keep an eye open for the Encyclopaedia Britannica wiki.

Best of the Bookers

Isaak Kwok — Tue, 13 May 2008 12:02:29 +0000

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!

(via BBC News | Entertainment and The Guardian)

Quick Links - Pokemon Teaches Kids About Libraries And Other Stories - 13 May 2008

Isaak Kwok — Tue, 13 May 2008 09:08:58 +0000

- “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).

Shortlist for UK’s Oldest Book Award

Isaak Kwok — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 15:04:37 +0000

The shortlists for James Tait Black Memorial prizes for non-fiction and biography have been announced yesterday.

The James Tait Black Memorial prizes were founded in 1919 by the widow of Edinburgh publisher James Tait Black. The book award is also quite unique as it is the only one that is judged by scholars and graduate students of literature. The literature graduate students assist in compiling the shortlists by writing reports on the books submitted. The prize advisory committees will then decide on the awards. The awards are hosted by the literature department of the Edinburgh University.

The shortlists are as follows:

Fiction shortlist
Our Horses in Egypt by Rosalind Belben
The Devil’s Footprints by John Burnside
The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Mohsin Hamid
A Far Country by Daniel Mason
Salvage by Gee Williams

Biography shortlist
Hand Me My Travelin’ Shoes: In Search of Blind Willie McTell by Michael Gray
God’s Architect: Pugin and the Building of Romantic Britain by Rosemary Hill
Edith Wharton by Hermione Lee
Young Stalin by Simon Sebag Montefiore
John Stuart Mill: Victorian Firebrand by Richard Reeves

The prizes will be awarded in August at a ceremony at the Edinburgh International Book Festival.

Last year’s winners were Cormac McCarthy for The Road and Byron Rogers for The Man Who Went into the West: The Life of RS Thomas. Some other past winners include DH Lawrence, LM Forster, Graham Greene, Salman Rushdie, Ian McEwan, and Zadie Smith.

Living Library in London

Isaak Kwok — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 07:07:20 +0000

So, what is a “Living Library”?

From this Times Online article, a “Living Library” is one that loans out a real person rather than a book for 30 minutes.

Depending on availability, the line-up of the human “books” are different. This seems like quite an interesting way to acquire knowledge. But I guess this might be a more effective method for some people rather than just reading a book.

“Living Library” first started as an experiment by Ronni Abergel at the Danish Music Festival in 2000 and it has toured most parts of Scandinavia.

It seems like Australia caught on to the concept of the “Living Library” quite a bit and about 4 libraries have set up such a service. The most active is the Richmond-Tweed Regional Library’s Lismore’s Living Library, which holds one session per month and they have about 15-20 “books” per session. They even have more than a copy of the more popular topics. Other libraries include the Gosford City Council’s Living Library and Swinburne’s Prahran Library. There is also a Living Library in Sydney that runs only once a year in October as part of the Mental Health Week there.

In other parts of the world, Canada’s Douglas College has also started a Living Library where students can “borrow”. And now there’s one in London.

Some notes on the “Living Library”:
- Living Library Seminar by Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals (CILIP)