May 2012
40 posts
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“What an astonishing thing a book is. It’s a flat object made from a tree with...”
– Carl Sagan, on books (via stateless1972)
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I hate when you let someone borrow one of your...
That’s why everyone who borrows one of my books is outlined The Rules and knows exactly the condition the book is expected to be returned in.
No dog-earing the corners!
No highlighting or writing on the pages!
Be respectful to the spine!
Don’t use them as coasters!
And NEVER take one of my books into the bathtub with you! D:} (I’m sorry, I know a lot of people love doing...
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Why do old books smell? →
Basically, a book is made of organic materials — a variety of different papers and inks, as well as glues and fibers used to bind the book together. These organic components react to heat, light and moisture in the environment and with the chemicals used to make the book itself. Specific odours are the result of the particular blend of volatile compounds released by the sum total of the...
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whore-ganic:
mellarkia:
Do you ever wonder if people could watch your life on tv who they’d ship you with
or what the fanfiction would look like.
…
D:} *Forever traumatized*
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Libraries Debate Stocking ‘Fifty Shades of Grey’... →
“The vast majority of cases that we deal with have to do with removing books to keep kids from seeing them,” [Bertin] said. “That’s what makes this so egregious. There are some possible arguments for trying to keep kids away from certain kinds of content, but in the case of adults, other than the restrictions on obscenity and child pornography, there’s simply no excuse. This is really very much...
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“Human minds yield helplessly to the suction of story. No matter how hard we...”
– How humans became the storytelling animal. (via explore-blog)
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Beauty in Books →
Some interesting infographs created and compiled by author/blogger Tiana Smith, breaking down the physical characteristics of female protagonists from a Goodreads 2012 list of 50 bestselling YA novels. The results? Apparently “pretty” = long, blond hair and blue eyes.
Color me surprised. *Rolls eyes*
Also, here’s some more interesting stats, courtesy of Mitali Perkins, about...
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Library e-book lending hurt by... →
Macmillan, Hachette Book Group, Simon & Schuster and Penguin have refused to sell e-books to libraries. HarperCollins imposed a limit of 26 loans per e-book, and Random House raised e-book prices between 100 percent and 200 percent.
[…]
Publishers have expressed concern about losing profits and royalties for authors. Librarians argue publishers are not losing sales, citing a variety...
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Neil Gaiman: Library opinion, made rebloggable... →
libraryoasis:
I’m a graduate student earning my master’s in library science, and everyone asks me, “Why are you doing that? Libraries are going extinct because of e-readers!” Obviously, I don’t agree, but I’m curious - what’s your opinion on libraries today and in the future, and do you own an e-reader?
if-inconvenient
Let’s see… we’re entering an age of too much information, in which...
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Kids of Color and the New American Whitewashing →
I have been trying for days to write an article about the lack of diversity in middle grade and young adult fiction and found myself confounded at every turn. This has been a very intense subject lately in the literary blogosphere, as readers have bounced from one discussion to another on issues of race, religion and ethnicity. From the meanderings at the School Library Journal Heavy Medal blog...
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How New York Pay Phones Became Guerrilla Libraries →
Just seems to be more and more of these fantastic little street side libraries popping up everywhere~
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“I hold a perhaps uncool and possibly hokey belief that through fiction and poems...”
– Anthony Doerr (via lensandvellum)
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“You know you’ve read a really brilliant and unforgettable story when even after...”
– Miha
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Are Public Libraries "Permanently F***ed?" Maybe... →
Jessa Crispin arrived at the 2012 Public Library Association Conference in Philadelphia in March with high expectations. And by high, we mean abysmal. “Secure in the knowledge that libraries are now permanently fucked,” wrote the editor-in-Chief of the popular “litblog” Bookslut. Surely librarians would crumble before her, the harsh fiscal realities having reduced the...
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Why Fiction is Good For You →
This research consistently shows that fiction does mold us. The more deeply we are cast under a story’s spell, the more potent its influence. In fact, fiction seems to be more effective at changing beliefs than nonfiction, which is designed to persuade through argument and evidence. Studies show that when we read nonfiction, we read with our shields up. We are critical and skeptical. But when we...
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“A truly great library contains something in it to offend everyone.”
– Jo Godwin
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Choose Privacy Week 2012: Why We Should Care About... →
As part of the “Choose Privacy” project conducted by the ALA’s Office for Intellectual Freedom, this article reflects on why privacy is important and should be protected.
Libraries protect library user privacy and defend the confidentiality of library records so that people may seek information for their needs without external pressure or adverse public reactions.
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Some Thoughts on the Pleasures of Being a... →
But at heart, I’m a re-reader. The point of reading outward, widely, has always been to find the books I want to re-read and then to re-read them. In part, that’s an admission of defeat, an acknowledgement that no matter how long and how widely I read, I will only ever make my way through a tiny portion of the world’s literature. (The British Museum was a great place to learn that lesson.) And...
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“Ask many Americans what tax-supported institution yields more social benefits,...”
– “Queens Library: an Endangered Jewel” from The New York Daily News (via queenslibrary) 