Blogging Librarian

- File under other
A very insightful article on how libraries in the US are cataloguing and shelving ephemera and other self-published zines.
(via LISNews)

- Book Worms Lurk
Guess libraries in Singapore are not the only ones facing the problem of children being left unattended by parents in libraries as can be seen from this article in the New York Post.
(via LISNews)

- Vienna’s public library raising cash through erotica hotline
Unbelievable!! Can’t imagine a library doing such a thing. Guess they must be quite desperate for funds.
(via LISNews)

Technorati Tags: libraries, public libraries

- Laura Molly vs. Harry Potter 3
An Atlanta mother has appealed to the Gwinnett Superior Court against the Georgia Board of Education’s decision that Harry Potter is safe for juvenile consumption. She is aiming to ban Harry Potter books from all school libraries. Do look out for more news when it goes to court on 29th May.
(via LISNews)

- Former Spice Girl Launches A Series of Children’s Books
Following in the footsteps of Madonna and Kylie Minogue, Geri Halliwell has gone into writing a series of six children’s books featuring a feisty nine-year-old. The six books will published from May next year at one book a month. And there’s even more celebrity stardust in the book as one of the characters, a princess no less, featured in the book is based on fellow former Spice Girl, Victoria, who is married to soccer star David Beckham.
(vis LISNews)

- Wot!? Noise!? In libraries!?
Organized by the Lancanster Music Library, “Get It Loud in Libraries” initiative is to bring music gigs to libraries all over in the UK. This is to promote musical activities for teens. It’s also a way for the libraries to re-invent themselves. Well, in Singapore, we have had bands playing in libraries when library@orchard opened in 1999. Currently, there are regular performances at library@esplanade and V.A.T. at Jurong Regional Library. I might add that they are rather well-received by the public.
(via LISNews)

- Free audio of the story “Inclination”
The Hugo/Nebula-nominated story “Inclination” has been made available by its author, Bill Shunn, as a free, Creative Commons licensed audiobook, which you can download to your favorite MP3 player. The book is read by the author himself. By the way, MPOW has recently introduced audiobooks at selected libraries. Do look out for them when you visit Central Lending Library, Woodlands Regional Library, Tampines Regional Library and Jurong Regional Library.
(via BoingBoing.net)

Technorati Tags: audiobooks, books, harry potter, libraries, public libraries

A few quick links for today.

First up are links about doing publicity for libraries:
- Fabulous ideas for publicity for libraries: Just a thought. Maybe we should do an exchange of advertisements with some of our advertisers like put up library adverts at M1 or Courts outlets. (via LibrarianInBlack.net)
- Seven Strategies for Marketing in a Web 2.0 World: As more and more people go online, particularly teenagers, we will need to learn about and understand what Web 2.0 is all about. Only then can we market our services correctly to the group of users that are predominately Web-based. (via LibrarianInBlack.net)

Links to interesting library sites
- Teen Web at LAPL: Interesting design for a library’s web presence. Guess it’s because it’s meant predominately for teens who are already very adapt using social networking sites such as MySpace and Facebook. There’s also a mini-site that teens can play a library game. (via Tame The Web)
- Love Libraries: A campaign launched in July 2006 in the UK to promote the use of libraries. The campaign was started by nine British publishers together with The Reading Agency, a charity that promotes reading in the UK. There are also other government and private organizations that are involved in the project. They are also featuring 3 libraries that underwent a transformation, courtesy of the campaign. There’s also a group of young librarians that have been nominated as ‘Young Librarians of the Future‘. (via 025.04 - a site by one of the ‘Young Librarians of the Future)

And other interesting links
- Fun Facts about the OCLC Top 1000: These are interesting tidbits extracted by OCLC staffers after they had compiled a list of top 1,000 titles that are owned by their member libraries. Some surprising factoids: None of Stephen King’s novels made the top 1000; John Grisham came in 3rd in the ranking for most works with 13 works (Shakespeare came in first with 37); and Garfield was the highest ranking cartoon at 15. Go read for other interesting facts.
- Your Room is Booked: I would love to stay in the Library Hotel in Manhattan, which is also within walking distance of the New York Public Library. With guest floors and rooms classified via the Dewey Decimal Classification, I don’t think I’ll be that lost when looking for my room. But what’s interesting is that the room you get will also determine what kind of books that are available in your room. According to hotel staff, the most requested room is 800.001 which is the classification for ‘Erotic Literature’, and amongst the books in that room is the famous (or infamous) Kama Sutra. Personally, I would request for the New Media room. (via LISNews)
- Hot Books for Summer: Publishers Weekly has just published an article on the top 25 upcoming books to read during the summer months. (via kottke.org)
- Pre-orders spell record sales for Harry Potter: From what I gathered from the article, pre-orders on online bookstores, such as Barnes & Noble and Amazon.com, have exceeded 2 million copies to date for the last book in JK Rowling’s Harry Potter series, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. Very impressive, but I’ll not be one of those making a pre-order.

Technorati Tags: books, harry potter, jk rowling, librarians, libraries, library 2.0, public libraries, social networking, web 2.0

- Town blocks voter approved budget
What the people want is not what the town officials are giving. The people of a town in New York, Philipstown, had voted to increase funding to the town’s library, Julia Butterfield Library. But town officials have come out to say that voters were ‘bamboozled’ into voting for the increase and have decided not to provide the increase. So, the town’s library board is going to sue the town board to release the funds.
(via LISNews)

- Thai Princess calls for more libraries
HRH Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn, whom I met very briefly when she visited the library I worked in previously, has expressed her concern of the lack of access to books for children in the rural areas because there is a lack of libraries.
(via LISNews)

- Libraries grow in digital age
An insight into the Delaware Public Library System and its transformation. It just shows the resilience of public libraries all over the world, not just in Singapore.
(via LISNews)

- BookMooch.com
BookMooch.com is another book-swapping site, similar to BookCrossing.com. You can read a comprehensive review of BookMooch.com here. How it works is that you post a list of books you want to swap and someone can request for it. Everything is free except for the shipping of the book to others. You also earn points by listing down the books you want to swap (one-tenth of a point) and actually sending out the books (one point). If you send the book out of the country, you can get three points. Points are needed to get books from someone else that you would like to read. Alternatively, the points can be ‘donated’ to charities that BookMooch works with, such as children’s hospitals, public library funds, and other charities for children and new mothers.
(via LISNews)

- Students lost over shrinking uni library
The University of New South Wales library has just discarded 100,000 books from their collection and sent it to Melbourne for storage. This was done without consultation with any of their stakeholders such as the students and lecturers. Now, the lecturers have to go to Sydney University’s Fisher Library to look for books they need for research. And a medical student commented about the state of the biomedical library, “There is nothing left in the library”. Quite worrying news!
(via LISNews)

Technorati Tags: academic libraries, book clubs, public libraries, book swapping, reading

A reading initiative, The Advertiser Little Big Book Club, was launched yesterday in South Australia by its Premier Mike Rann to boost literacy.

All children in South Australia between 6-12 months can collect a free reading pack, starting from tomorrow. They expect to distribute about 18,000 reading packs. The reading pack will include “The Only Me, by first-time South Australian author Meredith Harvey and illustrator Amanda Graham, and the It’s Rhyme Time DVD and book”.

At the moment, South Australia also has the Premier’s Reading Challenge and the Big Book Club. These two reading initiatives are targeted at the older children and is ongoing. More than 90,000 children completed the Reading Challenge in 2006.

You can read the news article on The Advertiser.

Well, in Singapore, we have a similar initiatives, the “Born to Read, Read to Bond”, “Reading Cub” and “Reading Bear”. You can read more about these initiatives at the NLB corporate website.

Technorati Tags: books, children’s books, literacy, reading initiatives, reading, schools

Libraries & Schools in Second Life Hosted on Zooomr

Seems like schools and libraries in Charlotte in the United States are making good use of Second Life, a virtual world created by Linden Lab, to reach out to teens. The Public Library of Charlotte & Mecklenburg County has a virtual island in Second Life. By the way, or t

Nearer home, I know a group of Australian librarians (both public and academic) have banded together to create an Australian libraryisland in Second Life.

And in Singapore, just yesterday, there was a meetup of Second Lifers (as those on Second Life are known). You can read more about what happened at the meetup in this post by the Rambling Librarian as well as here on Vanessa Tan’s blog. And I understand from his post, that some colleagues from NLB’s Corporate Communications department turned up as well. Maybe we should get the colleagues from Digital Library involved as well.

Technorati Tags: libraries, schools, second life, singapore, social networking

A new dad’s interesting thoughts about him visiting a public library again, all thanks to his baby daughter, in The Observer Magazine on Sunday.

And he writes:

I haven’t set foot in a library for a long time. I have spent most of my adult life being a private citizen, buying private goods and services with privately earned money. But since I started looking after a baby I have come over all public.

and

The library is in fact thriving. As I wheel the pushchair through heavy glass-panelled doors I catch the tail end of a communal guffaw. It is the librarians, sharing a joke. I am shocked. The last time I was in a library all you could hear was dust particles colliding. My faith in the propriety of public institutions is shaken.

(via LISNews.org)

Technorati Tags: babies, librarians, libraries, parenting, public libraries

Alice (a staff at the the OCLC Computer Library Center and one of the five that maintains this personal group blog) wrote about “13 Ways of looking at a public library“.

I’ve got to agree with her that these 13 factors would determine the sustainability of libraries all over the world. Though the library might not be able to sustain and provide all these services on their own, they can always partner with other organizations to provide the services. For example, at MPOW, we have partnered with The Society of Reading & Literacy - Singapore to provide WISH (Women Learning English) classes to women previously denied the chance to learn the language. We also work with different partners for talks and workshops in the libraries.

So, what are your thoughts on this? Are these the only functions of a library? What about reading and literacy? And in the local context, reading and literacy in the mother tongue?

Link (LISNews.org)

Technorati Tags: libraries, public libraries