Public Library Services Threatened by Budget Cuts

At the Huffington Post, Christian Zabriskie in Confronting The Biggest Threat To The Public Library writes inter alia that:

"The biggest threat to the public library in American culture is limited hours. In the new budget reality if libraries are forced to dramatically decrease their hours then they will be drastically reduced in their ability to serve their public."

Read the whole piece here.

Syracuse University Library and the Marcel Breuer Digital Archive: Architecture and Furniture Design 20th Century : Digitization

Marcel Breuer Digital Archive

"The Marcel Breuer Digital Archive represents a collaborative effort headed by Syracuse University Library to digitize over 30,000 drawings, photographs, letters and other materials related to the career of Marcel Breuer, one of the most influential architects and furniture designers of the twentieth century."

NYPL Periodicals Librarian Raymond Pun Sees Library as a Powerful Symbol of Democracy and Civilization

At Crain's New York Business, Miriam Kreinin Souccar presents the New York Public Libary (NYPL) periodicals librarian Raymond Pun as someone who sees libraries as powerful symbols of democracy and civilization.

See
Gotham Gigs: Periodicals librarian is the answer man

New York Public Library $300 Million Proposed Anthony Marx Renovation

Read it at the New York Times in

A Library for the Future

Ancient Signs The Alphabet and the Origins of Writing: epubli Publisher Pages Now Available in English Language

The Berlin publisher -- epubli -- of my recently published book,
Ancient Signs The Alphabet and the Origins of Writing,
now has its pages up in English
for those of you who have been considering
getting a print or ebook copy of Ancient Signs.

The English-language pages are now at epubli.com
while the German-language pages are at epubli.de.

Happy reading viz. happy lending!

Libraries Struggling with Stagnant Budgets and Steady Serials Price Increases in 2012

The Library Journal has the story by Stephen Bosch and Kittie Henderson at Coping with the Terrible Twins | Periodicals Price Survey 2012

"Stuck between the rock (stagnant budgets) and the hard place (steady serials price increases) ... libraries are nearing the end of their ability to leverage shrinking buying power."

Read the entire posting.

Crossposted at LawPundit.

A Piece of Blue Sky: The Dynamics of Faith by Darrel E. Berg, Zondervan Publishing House, Grand Rapids, Michigan

I am currently reading the Reverend Darrel E. Berg, A Piece of Blue Sky: The Dynamics of Faith, Zondervan Publishing House, Grand Rapids, Michigan, 1965.

In the chapter "Not for Sale", Darrel E. Berg refers to Nobel Prize winner Albert Schweitzer as a role model for his ministry as man morally "not for sale", who turned his back on riches to be a medical missionary in Africa:
"A man who 'has it made' ministers to those who have no claim on him."
-- Darrel E. Berg, A Piece of Blue Sky: The Dynamics of Faith

What does it mean to be "not for sale" morally? Darrel addresses not only his own congregation, but the congregations of all churches:

"[W]e need to remember that the greatest testing may come to us after we have gotten what we wanted....Then it is that the King of Sodom comes making his approach, appealing to our selfishness, "Keep the spoil for yourself, keep your money for yourself, keep your prestige for yourself; don't risk it for those who don't deserve it. Keep your schools to yourselves, and your churches, your clubs and your neighborhoods." That is the way the King of Sodom talks, and if we listen to him we sometimes sell all that we are to him.

The great battles are not the military, political or business battles, but the moral battles. Abraham won a surprising victory over the forces of the ancient King Chedorloamer, but it was not more important than his victory over the King of Sodom on the way home. In the conquest, he showed that all that he stood for was unique and sacred and not for sale.

It was important for us to win over the Nazi, but it would be a shame for us to have won that struggle and then fail to win the moral struggle with racial injustice, crime and corruption in which we are now involved. It is important for us to win the battle to make a living, but it is even more important for us to win the battle to be what we are called to be. It was important for Samson to defeat the Philistines, but it was a shame that on the way home he had to fall prey to Delilah. It is important for us to win the argument with the Communists, but it would be sad if we lost our souls to Sodom before we could carry home the trophy."

Indeed, the Nazis and the Communists have by and large been defeated, but are "we in America" losing the trophy on our way home? by filling our coffers more and more at the expense of our neighbors? by opposing health care for all? by keeping our spoils of the battle to make a living only for ourselves?

Crossposted from LawPundit.

Fiction Pulitzer 2012 NOT Awarded! German Library Users Would Put in a Vote for Nele Neuhaus as an Alternative Prize Winner

[crossposted from BookPundit]

NOooo Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 2012?
No problem.

How about an alternative reward for Nele Neuhaus, Germany's best-selling crime novelist?

As written at Agence Hoffman:

"Nele Neuhaus is the most successful German crime writer. She took the bestseller lists by storm with SCHNEEWITTCHEN MUSS STERBEN/Snow White must die and WER WIND SÄT.*

Nele Neuhaus' gripping novels are set in the Taunus mountains, where the author lives. www.neleneuhaus.de"

* We add here our footnote translation of "Wer Wind Sät" as "If You Sow Wind", based on the German phrase that whoever sows wind, will reap a whirlwind.

So we herewith award The BookPundit Fiction Prize for 2012 to Nele Neuahus, who writes "Taunus, Germany-based" complex crime novels in German dealing with modern topics such as wind energy and environmental politics, for example, which she then weaves into the magically interlaced substance of her marvelous criminal mystery novels. The results are outstanding.

This award, by the way, is not connected with any other benefit other than this simple recognition of her excellent book writing.

We initially became aware of the works of Nele Neuhaus after asking at the local library what novels were currently being borrowed the most and was told "the crime series of books of Nele Neuhaus". Well, so we loaned out a book.

Her books are a series of crime squad investigations led by Inspector Oliver von Bodenstein and his colleague Pia Kirchhoff. The books are well researched and the author works together with real crime investigation professionals to get the crime details right. A truly great, almost natural gift for writing adds the rest.

Our own bookseller regards Tiefe Wunde ("Deep Wounds") as the best book by Nele Neuhaus thus far and it is the third book in the series. Google Translator translates the short description of Tiefe Wunde at Amazon.de as follows:

"The 92-year-old Holocaust survivor David Joshua Goldberg is killed at his home in the Taunus with a neck shot. At autopsy, the doctor makes a strange discovery: Goldberg's arm bears the remains of a blood group tattoo, as it was customary for members of the SS. Then ... two more murders [occur], executions. What mystery linked the victims to each other? The investigations lead ... Chief Inspector Oliver Bodenstein and his colleague Pia Kirchhoff far into the past ...[to] East Prussia in January 1945 ... 

Nearly 200 enthusiastic readers ... on 22 August 2009, [experienced] the book launch of 'Deep Wounds' at the Kempinski Hotel in Königstein [in the Taunus]."

Well, if you read German, you are lucky, because you can enjoy the Neuhaus crime novels. We assume the publisher will bring English-language versions soon, but we can not guarantee it.

Maybe the best thing they could do this year was not to award the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. They would have missed Neuhaus anyway.

The Library Igloo?

The Library Igloo?

See
Miler Lagos
and this photograph

Just Finished Reading Dewey : The Small-Town Library Cat Who Touched the World

Just finished reading

Dewey

The Small-Town Library Cat Who Touched the World

Is the world really all about cats? To cat owners, yes.

Ancient Signs : The Alphabet and the Origins of Writing

Ancient Signs: The Alphabet and the Origins of Writing
by Andis Kaulins is now available in 4 versions
(b/w, color, and both of those also as ebooks)
at
http://www.epubli.com/shop/autor/Andis-Kaulins/3682.

In Ancient Signs, the author traces the origins of writing and the alphabet to syllabic writing systems in ancient cultures and shows that these have one common origin.

print b/w version black and white inside
B/W inside
200 pages, 90 gram paper
Price: €35.99 (about US $47 on day of posting)
for the B/W print version of Ancient Signs
Ancient Signs traces the origins of the alphabet to syllabic writing.
Softcover - print b/w, cover in color

 

eBook b/w version black and white version
B/W inside
200 pages
Price: €27.99 (about US $37 on day of posting)
for the B/W eBook version of Ancient Signs
Ancient Signs traces the origins of the alphabet to syllabic writing.
  

color print version color inside
COLOR inside
200 pages, 150 gram glossy paper
Price: €149.00 (about US $196 on day of posting)
for the color print version of Ancient Signs
Ancient Signs traces the origins of the alphabet to syllabic writing.
Hardcover - print and cover in color
 

color eBook version color inside
COLOR inside
200 pages
Price: €39.99 (about US $52 on day of posting)
for the color inside eBook version of Ancient Signs
Ancient Signs traces the origins of the alphabet to syllabic writing.

Enjoy Reading.

eBook News: Digital Galleys Used by Librarians

Dianna Dilworth at eBookNewser writes that 59% Of Librarians Use Digital Galleys To Find Titles.

Law and the Library of Alexandria: Getting a Grip on Gigantic Databases

Nice library reference here to Alexandria in the course of discussing the gigantic database of law.

See the product review of Practice Advisor by Attorney at Work at Less Is More Focused: Lexis Practice Advisor - Attorney at Work where Jared Correia writes inter alia in an introduction we liked because of its mention of ancient library history:

"The thing about gigantic databases, like the great library at Alexandria, is that it can be hard to find exactly what you’re looking for, unless you really know what you’re doing. LexisNexis’s research engine is a modern-day labyrinthine library. But with a new product release, Lexis endeavors to make things easier to find, by providing “on-point” access for transactional attorneys.

In advance of the LegalTech New York show for 2012, Lexis has released its new Practice Advisor product. Practice Advisor is Lexis’s answer to the overwhelming girth of its content search engine."

Read the whole thing here.

Law Library Technology and the Librarian in the Holiday Season

Anne Ellis reports at the ABA Journal

in

What Technology Is Your Law Librarian Thinking About This Season?.

Library Closings in London Lead to Demonstrations and Raise Questions About Society Priorities: Sports vs. Libraries?

You can tell a lot about a society by its choices about where to "save money", especially in the current economic situation, where government cuts are seen as necessary by many governments, also in the United Kingdom.

A High Court decision affirming the right of the Brent Council -- Brent is where Wembley is located in London -- to make library closures in Kensal Rise, Barham Park, Preston Road, Neasden, Cricklewood and Tokyngton has led to a wave of protests and demonstrations -- as reported by Benedict Moore-Bridge and Miranda Bryant in Families form human shields to stop libraries being shut down.

See also the Brent Council page and the DailyMail.

The legal argument raised against the library closures was that they discriminate against minorities, the disabled and the elderly, who have difficulty getting to more distantly located city libraries, such as the one at Wembley, which is to be turned into a "mega-library", in part with the savings made by smaller library closures.

The High Court found to the contrary, however, that the Brent Council had the right to close libraries if it so decided and that its decision did not contradict the Equality Act 2010.

Public Libraries News discusses all of the possible challenges in the UK to library closings, including provisions of the 1964 Public Libraries and Museums Act which requires authorities to run a "comprehensive and efficient" public library service.

Presumably, one reason the libraries in Brent are coming under the axe is because of the Wembley Regeneration that includes the recently constructed 90,000 capacity Wembley National Stadium, which will host the upcoming 2012 Olympic football matches and the 2013 UEFA Champions League Final.

Life is a matter of priorities.

We are great sports fans ourselves, but city councils should not construct, maintain and/or modernize athletic facilities at the cost of libraries. That sends the wrong message to the people of any country, especially the youth.