Posts tagged with libraries
On the scale of dumb...
Truly, nothing could be as dumb as claiming the children's book Arthur's Birthday "damages [children's] souls", but this comes close: apparently, some library in Indiana has decided to move Indianapolis author John Green's best-selling novel The Fault in Our Stars from...
Spooky on a budget #2: Hit up your local library
Idea #2: Hit up your local library
Forget classic horror and the lists of spooky new releases, those books are going to be checked out until December. Instead, wade through the comments here. There are...
C'mon, guys...
Well, we started off the week praising Macmillan Publishing, but that's officially over: there's an disturbing editorial in the Seattle Times about the effect Macmillan's upcoming e-book embargo will have on public libraries throughout the country...
Take heed, friends
Just a reminder: July is the American Library Association's first "Graphic Novels in Libraries Month", so you should definitely check out your local library to see what, if anything, they're doing to celebrate. This event has some A+ sponsors...
Unlooked-for treasures
There's a fascinating article on NPR about a lost book: the Libro de los Epítomes, a catalog of the massive library of Hernando Colón, Christopher Columbus's illegitimate son. It's a massive book—2000 pages—designed to help a user find books in Colon's collection...
Faaaancy
I'm fascinated by this The New York Times article about the Grolier Club, the 100-year-old Manhattan-based society of bibliophiles. The pictures make it look like a movie set, but I'm hoping there is a small corner somewhere that's at least a little like a club in a P.G. Wodehouse novel...
Problem solving
This is great: according to CBS News, the East Los Angeles Library allows their young patrons to pay their overdue fees by reading. If you're 21 or younger, you can "read away" your late fees at at rate of $5 an hour...
Crafty!
Mental Floss recently posted a list of 11 Facts about Little Free Libraries that I perused with interest. (I love Little Free Libraries—particularly the ones with lurid paint schemes and/or architecture, because I'm pretty unobservant and those are the easiest ones to spot.) Did you know...
Libraries to the rescue, too!
Okay, I love this: The New York Public Library has launched a program at the Riverside Library on Manhattan’s Upper West Side that allows library card holders to borrow ties, briefcases, and handbags for three-week periods...
Personally, I'd go with a different slogan.
In light of the many literary adaptations currently appearing on HBO, the network has teamed up with the New York Public Library on a national campaign to celebrate summer reading. The campaign (which uses the undeniably dorky #ReadingIsLit hashtag, presumably in reference to HBO's Farenheit 451...
At least they didn't record the names
Smith Journal recently posted an article about a box of library queries from the 1940s that was found at the New York Public Library, and it's a pretty great read—as well as a good reminder that we should all be so grateful for...
Hug a librarian
The Guardian recently posted an article about an open letter to the UK's Education Secretary, written by a bunch of literary bigwigs (Neil Gaiman, Antonia Fraser, and Philip Pullman, among others). The letter was written to protest the decline in support for school libraries...
SO. AMAZING.
Adding to my ever-growing list of things I wish I could fly to England to see, the British Library's insanely awesome-sounding Harry Potter: A History of Magic exhibit is about to open. (The exhibit will run from the 20th of this month until the 28th of February, 2018...
Ouch.
Whoa: an elementary school librarian named Liz Phipps Soeiro just published an open letter to Melania Trump, responding to Trump's gift of ten Dr. Seuss books. The tone of the letter is civil, and many (though not all) of the author's criticisms are valid, but... but... I just can't get behind responding to a gift with a condescending explanation of where the gift-giver went wrong...
I hope their outerwear was top-notch
There's a great post on Atlas Obscura about the women who ran the The Pack Horse Library, one of the initiatives created as part of President Franklin Roosevelt’s Works Progress Administration. The Pack Horse Library was an organization of (overwhelmingly female) traveling librarians who rode their own horses or mules all over Appalachia, delivering books to remote households...
I want to visit!
There's a cool article in the Denver Post about the Rocky Mountain Land Library. The Land Library is described as "a collection of over 35,000 books and the shared dream of two bookstore employees: to rehabilitate a historic cattle ranch high in Colorado’s Front Range as a live-in library celebrating the West". The co-founders, Jeff Lee and Ann Marie Martin...
I think I currently owe $1.15.
There's an interesting article on Slate about why some public libraries are choosing to eliminate late-return fees. Apparently, the money isn't worth the hassle, the fees tend to disproportionately affect the people who need libraries most, and many librarians feel that charging fees undercuts...
Spectacular
A few months ago, Wired compiled a list of 10 of the Most Beautiful Libraries on Earth. Beauty is subjective, and I suspect people who prefer their libraries to resemble, say, Hogwarts aren't going to find much to admire in this list. But...
Allegedly not haunted
Atlas Obscura recently posted a fascinating article about the 13 abandoned apartments that remain in New York City's branch libraries. The apartments were originally designed to house the library caretakers and their families, but after the buildings were modernized most of the apartments were re-absorbed into the larger library spaces...
Efficient!
There's an article on Mental Floss about the new "tiny train" book-delivery service that has been installed in the New York Public Library located in the Stephen A. Schwarzman Building. Sadly, the library refrained...
Books on demand
There's a cool article in The Orange County Register about a book-dispensing vending machine located inside the Anaheim Regional Transportation Intermodal Center and run by the Anaheim Public Library System...
Asking Google is less embarrassing, though
A recent Jezebel article pointed me in the direction of the New York Public Library's Reference and Research Services' Instagram feed. The library has been featuring the contents...
I WANT.
DesignSponge recently featured a straight-up amazing tutorial on how to build your own neighborhood library stand out of salvaged materials. I am totally jealous of this, mostly because...
The Seattle Library is... different.
Boston Magazine recently posted an article about the newly redesigned Boston Public Library-Central Library’s Johnson Building. The remodel focused on youth-oriented spaces, and it looks incredibly cool...
I choose to take this as a celebration of me.
Beginning on January 21st (my birthday!), the DC Public Library is launching a 10-day-long series of events called "Orwellian America? Government Transparency and Personal Privacy in the Digital Age". The program will kick off with a live-streamed marathon reading of George Orwell's novel 1984, and...
A disappearing breed
NPR recently posted a depressing article about the loss of librarians in Chicago's more than 600 public schools. As the districts are facing tough financial choices, more and more librarians are being reassigned from libraries to classrooms. Illinois does not require library instruction, so schools won't face any political or financial repercussions...
Apart from my overdue fees, this applies to me.
This is a bit difficult for me to swallow, but according to a study commissioned by the U.K.'s Department for Culture, Media & Sport, visiting a library gives people the same pleasure getting a raise does (a £1,359 raise, specifically). The study looked at ways "cultural engagement" affects overall health and happiness...
This will terrify small children.
Northlake Public Library near Chicago is hoping to spruce up its interior with this charming (and nine feet tall) objet d'art: a massive Incredible Hulk statue. They're using crowd-sourcing to fund the project, as well as raising money for additional graphic novels and a "creation station"...
Unusual library services
The New York Times posted a lovely article this week about an American Girl doll that's available for checkout from the Ottendorfer branch of the New York Public Library in the East Village, where many of the library's clients are unwilling or financially unable to buy American Girl dolls (which retail for a jaw-dropping $110 apiece) of their own...
Hopefully there aren't many power outages.
MySanAntonio.com has an article up about Bexar County's attempt to create the nation's first book-free countywide library system. The goal is to have a library designed for the digital age (rather than adapted to it), which apparently means A) an interior resembling an Apple Store, B) an exterior resembling a minimum-security prison...