MetaFilter posts tagged with Library

All Tomorrow's Parties

Joe Beese — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 09:38:08 -0800

Rock band reunions normally involve, at minimum, a little live music. But as The Velvet Underground are not your typical rock band, maybe none of us should have been surprised that the reunion of The Velvets at LIVE from the NYPL on Tuesday December 8th had none.

Marin County Oral History

ocherdraco — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 23:06:30 -0800

Marin County Oral History "From 1974 to 1984, Carla Ehat, with partner Anne Kent, and later Genevieve Martinelli, traveled from one end of Marin County [California] to the other, interviewing a broad spectrum of Marin's long-time residents, ranging from ranchers to politicians and including descendents of early pioneer families." Each link on the list includes a photo, bio, full text of the interview, and, the best part, short audio excerpts from the interviews. Many of the folks interviewed were born in the 1880s or 1890s.

Pornsec Doubleplusungood!

Halloween Jack — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 07:32:22 -0800

When the Jessamine* County Public Library acquired a copy of Alan Moore and Kevin O'Neill's The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: Black Dossier, two library workers conspired to keep it out of the patrons' hands, checking it out for an entire year. After an eleven-year-old girl put a hold on the book, they removed the hold; upon discovering this, the library director fired them. Sharon Cook, one of the fired workers, said, "People prayed over me while I was reading it because I did not want those images in my head." Here's a Flickr set of some of the images in question, NSFW unsurprisingly, that show scenes from an imagined meeting of Fanny Hill and Lemuel Gulliver, a Tijuana Bible created by the Pornsec division of the Ministry of Truth from Nineteen Eighty-Four, and other naughty bits. *Yes, MeFi mod/librarian eponysteria. (Via)

Book of the Month

Kattullus — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 09:28:17 -0800

Book of the Month is a feature that the University of Glasgow Library has been running for over a decade now. The format is simple, a single book is selected from their collections, written up and accompanied by pictures, maps and photographs scanned from the books. With over a 100 books to select from, it's hard to know where to start, but anywhere is good because they're all lovely. Still, here are a few, Charles Darwin's The Expression of the emotions in man and animals, a beautiful 15th century illuminated copy of Livy's Roman history, Treatises on Engines and Weapons, Valentines and Dabbities, The Birds of Australia, Facts and Observations on the Sanitary State of Glasgow, Ibn Jazla's The arrangement of bodies for treatment and finally, The Curious Case of Mary Toft, MetaFilter superstar.

"Biblioburro is a guy who comes on a donkey, he brings books."

Kattullus — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 22:04:27 -0800

Biblioburro is a library that schoolteacher Luis Soriano Bohorquez of La Gloria, a small town in northern Colombia, carries around on his donkeys Alfa and Beto. Another video of Biblioburro by Al Jazeera English. Here's some further footage in Spanish. [Biblioburro previously]

In this time of Blackwater and Glenn Beck, a more classic kind of villain still persists.

ignignokt — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 12:57:06 -0800

"I wanted that kid to lose sleep that night," a grinning Xinos says Wednesday, as he invites me for a nearly two-hour interview in his Mercedes-Benz in the gated Oak Brook community where he lives. "This is the real world and the lesson, you folks who brought your kids here, is if you want something, pay for it." Related (but fictional).

Gay Liberation

Kattullus — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 12:13:57 -0800

1969: The Year of Gay Liberation is an online exhibit of the New York Public Library focusing on the radical gay rights movements of the late sixties and early seventies, focusing on the organizations The Mattachine Society of New York, Daughters of Bilitis, Gay News, Gay Liberation Front, Radicalesbians, Street Transvestites Action Revolutionaries and the Gay Activists Alliance, and the events of the Stonewall Riot and Christopher Street Liberation Day. This is but one part of the NYPL's fine LGBT collection, which includes, among other things, resources for teens, AIDS/HIV collections, and digital collections on ACT UP, Barbara Gittings and Kay Tobin Lahusen, Bessie Bonehill, Gertrude Stein, Gran Fury, Julian Eltinge, Richard Wandel and Walt Whitman.

The fascinating world of conservation

tellurian — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 16:31:52 -0800

Biohistorical research • Wax engraving • The Thinker after the bomb • Alfred Stieglitz's palladium photographs • Tibetan bronzes with interior contents • The examination and treatment of a pair of boots from the Aleutian Islands — A small sample of the articles available from the Journal of the American Institute for Conservation (JAIC).

What's a city without a public library?

ocherdraco — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 22:37:31 -0800

As part of what Mayor Michael Nutter has dubbed the "Plan C" budget, the Free Library of Philadelphia (the Pennsylvania city's public library system), chartered in 1891, will close all its branches and cease all services October 2, 2009, unless measures to raise sales tax and delay some pension payments are approved by the State Legislature in Harrisburg. The closing could be a huge blow for a city whose most famous citizen, Benjamin Franklin, founded The Library Company of Philadelphia, the United States' first successful lending library, there in 1731. A list, from the city government's website, of all the cuts necessitated by the "Doomsday" budget:

Streets Budget Reduction: $14.4 million Positions Eliminated: 300 Impact: * Trash pickup reduced to twice monthly * Stop mechanical cleaning and special event cleaning * City-owned litter baskets removed * Switch 1,000 traffic signals to flash * Remove bulbs from 4,000 street lights for arterial roadways * Stop alley light repairs * Reduce maintenance of street lights By Early September: * Identify light bulbs to be removed and inform neighborhoods impacted * Notify citizens of reduced trash collection schedule * Identify traffic signals to be switched to flash Libraries Budget Reduction: $29.6 million Positions Eliminated: 490 Impact: * All 53 branch and Central Libraries cease operations including the following: * LEAP after school program for 80,000 children and teens * 150 Books Aloud! programs * Partnerships with schools including librarian visits, Reading Olympics, Philadelphia scholarship program * 15 Teen Author Series programs * 27 Adult education programs presented by literacy organizations * Summer Reading for 55,000 children, teens and adults * Free computer classes * 40 teen programs * 10 Small business programs * Sundays on Stage * 135 Author Events * One Book, One Philadelphia * Free Library Festival Grant Programs including: * IMLS Growing Our Own Student Librarians * GlaxoSmithKline Science in the summer – 47 sessions, 1,400 youth participating * Claneil Books Aloud with PHA Sites * PNC Books Aloud with Head Starts and libraries * Merck science programs with LEAP * LSTA College and Career Prep with LEAP and at 5 branches across city * IMLS Media Mash Up national project By Early September: * Stop 3 week book renewals * Cancel special collection loans and retrieve outside loans * Cancel Fall Author Series and all special programming for Fall * Begin to notify program providers, volunteers (including court-ordered volunteers) outside organizations using meeting spaces, special event and series’ sponsors, interns, work-study participants, parents, schools and others that all library functions cease October 2 Recreation Budget Reduction: $30.8 million Positions Eliminated: 520 Impact: * All 160 Recreation facilities and programs cease operation including: * 96 After School programs serving 3000 children * 13 Teen Centers serving 1100 teens * 34 Tot –Recreation programs serving 1200 young children * 6 Older Centers serving 180,000 meals for seniors and programs/activities * Maintenance to 73 Parks * Sports for 500 community groups using facilities * 30 Sports programs serving 45,000 people * 66 programs with public schools * 110 programs with Catholic Youth Organization * 262 baseball fields, 224 basket ball courts, 161 tennis courts, 142 sports fields, 120 school gyms, 56 other gyms By Early September: * Prepare notification for parents with children in pre-school program suggesting they consider finding alternative day care services for their children * Prepare notification for parents with children in after school programs suggesting they consider finding alternative after school care Fairmount Park Budget Reduction: $11 million Positions Eliminated: 140 Impact: * Operations cease throughout the system of 63 neighborhood parks, 115 athletic fields, 469 buildings and 13 fountains * No grass-cutting * No maintenance of restroom facilities * No maintenance of ball fields or trails * No trash removal * Limited tree removal * Horticulture Center and Lloyd Hall close to public * Permit holders for events may use permitted area but no services (electricity, cleanup, plumbing, security) provided By Early September * Notify organizations with permits for special events from October until the end of the year (such as Dragon Boat Festival, Columbus Day Parade, AIDS Walk) that necessary services may not be available * Notify all organizations with meetings, events in Horticulture Center and Lloyd Hall of possible cancellations * Notify 136 athletic and youth organizations with field permits of potential disruption including Wissahickon AA and St. Joseph’s Prep Police Budget Reduction: $43.9 million Positions Eliminated: 972 Impact: * Lack of police presence will be felt all across the City. Support for various Specialized Districts and further erosion of the remaining specialized Response Units (Strike Force, Traffic Unit, and the Neighborhood Services Unit) will severely hamper crime fighting. * Cuts to Anti-violence and anti-drug units, schools resource officers and community relations officers – combined to the massive cuts to services across the city – will only further damage the ability to provide public safety. Fire Budget Reduction: $16.7 million Positions Eliminated: 36 officer, 120 firefighter and 40 paramedic positions Impact: * Deactivation of up to Six Engine Companies, Three Ladder Companies, Five Advanced Life Support Medic Units, affecting neighborhoods across the City. * This is just the tip of the devastation the failure of HB 1828 would have in Public Safety. Health Budget Reduction: $4.7 million Positions Eliminated: 112 Impact: * Two of the City’s Eight Health Centers will cease operations at a time when visits to the centers has increased by 5% in the last year * Wait times will increase by 25% at all 6 remaining health centers * Delay treatments for neonatal care, family planning, dental care, immunizations, diabetes, and vaccinations for H1N1 City Planning, Commerce and Historical Commission Budget Reduction: $5.7 million Positions Eliminated: 59 Impact: * The City will no longer be able to issue permits needed for the majority of construction or renovation projects in Philadelphia. * The City will eliminate all tax credits for job creation and business expansion.

bookless library

tamarack — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 15:58:27 -0800

"When I look at books, I see an outdated technology, like scrolls before books," said James Tracy, headmaster of Cushing and chief promoter of the bookless campus. Instead of a library, the academy is spending nearly $500,000 to create a learning center. Where the reference desk was, they are building a $50,000 coffee shop that will include a $12,000 cappuccino machine.

Do I contradict myself? Very well, then I contradict myself, I am large, I contain multitudes.

Toekneesan — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 13:08:37 -0800

"Then there are the classification errors, which taken together can make for a kind of absurdist poetry. H.L. Mencken's The American Language is classified as Family & Relationships. A French edition of Hamlet and a Japanese edition of Madame Bovary are both classified as Antiques and Collectibles (a 1930 English edition of Flaubert's novel is classified under Physicians, which I suppose makes a bit more sense.) An edition of Moby Dick is labeled Computers; The Cat Lover's Book of Fascinating Facts falls under Technology & Engineering. And a catalog of copyright entries from the Library of Congress is listed under Drama (for a moment I wondered if maybe that one was just Google's little joke)." —Linguist Geoffrey Nunberg on Google's little metadata problem.

Library eBooks Have Arrived!

ZakDaddy — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 20:20:18 -0800

Wow. I was going to say something witty and clever, and I got nothin, so: "The new Web-based Sony Library Finder tool can be used to find e-books in the local library that can be checked out, downloaded onto a desktop computer and then loaded onto a Sony Reader device -- all without charge." [Note - Probably USian] Via Google News and this article. Money quote: "...the New York Public Library said it had 29,000 e-books available in its systems. 'Anything that promotes reading is a good thing,' said a spokeswoman for the library." Could this be a tipping point? I've already got my PRS-505 and love it. It's just good enough to do exactly what I want: be an electronic book that effectively simulates paper. All I need now is a NYPL membership card...

Keeping us safe from racist literature

Toekneesan — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 10:04:16 -0800

The Brooklyn Public Library reshelves a children's book—behind locked steel doors

Constipation is murder! and other gems from early advertising of the West

mudpuppie — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 13:14:41 -0800

The University of Washington Library's Early Advertising of the West, 1867-1918. Browse the collection or search by keyword. Some favorites:

It's in Town! Have you seen it? The AEROCAR. The smartest and most graceful looking car yet seen on the streets of Seattle. $2,150.00.
Alfalfa-Nutriment makes thin people plump.
I will send my aluminum eye cup FREE.
Animal Crackers are put up in lithographed cartons that will make a decided hit with the children...After it is emptied, the carton is to be cut into a circus wagon for which full directions are printed.
Prohibition Increases Drunkenness. But, Even moderate drinking hurts health, lessens efficiency
The Reed School for Nervous and Backward Children
Avoid trouble by having your kitchen boiler covered with asbestos
"I'se in Town, Honey!" (Aunt Jemima's Pancake Flour)
Too much sleep will increase the flesh...
A Black Kid for your window
Brown's Worm lozenges
Constipation is murder!
Cook stoves for Alaskan miners
A cure for the rupture
The Devil
Nearly two-thirds of all the chronic diseases spring, directly or indirectly, from some derangement of the sexual system...
Dr. Pierce's Body-Battery (for man and woman!)
1910 shower ad (Warning: Victorian nudity)
Remedy for alcoholism (contains milk sugar, starch, capsicum and ipecac)
Artificial limbs
Budde's water closets
Yet another racist ad, this one for gelatin
Neitro Sanatorium (Not A Bake Oven!)
Ostrich farming
School of Phrenology
Radium insect killer and Radium household cleaner

Summer is winding down and the children have gone feral.

The Card Cheat — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 16:10:37 -0800

Miss Information. The desperate life of a tormented library clerk.

Wisconsin book burners

sredefer — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 22:32:59 -0800

"If you told me we would be going through a book challenge of this nature, I'd think, 'Never in a million years.' " A Wisconsin couple's petition to have certain "objectionable" books moved from the young adult to the adult section of their public library has lead to heated debates on both sides of the issue and has culminated in 4 "elderly" men filing a claim against the library in question. They're asking for a book to be removed and burned as it damaged their "mental and emotional well-being". The book is called Baby Be-Bop. The American Library Association's compilation of information on book burnings (200 B.C.E - present).

Land, Eagle, Land

Miko — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 06:48:18 -0800

We Chose the Moon: The JFK Library and Museum has just launched this interactive web experience using archival audio, video, photos, and recorded transmissions to re-create, in real time, the July 16, 1969, Apollo 11 mission to the moon.

The Cully Flaug'd and other suchlike

tellurian — Sun, 12 Jul 2009 16:09:34 -0800

British Printed Images to 1700 is a fully searchable (if somewhat buggy at this early stage of release) online library of over 10,000 printed images from early modern Britain. As a taster, here is the naughty Cully Flaug'd [NSFW] of the title.

Censorship lives!

bad grammar — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 19:13:37 -0800

This site deserves to rank with this site and this one. Given the blatant ideology and the questionable aesthetics, it resembles a parody, but in the post-Palin era, it's become impossible to tell.

DON'T YOU KNOW THE DEWEY DECIMAL SYSTEM?

7segment — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 13:33:37 -0800

The Rangeview Library District in Adams County, Colorado, has become the first library system in the US to drop the Dewey Decimial System in favor an in-house, word-based cataloging system. Termed "WordThink", the replacement is based on BISAC, "a retail-based standard for organizing materials[, s]imilar to what you might see in a bookstore." Library Journal's treatment of the switch.

Steamer Trunks and Gang Planks

netbros — Sat, 06 Jun 2009 16:22:17 -0800

Travel Posters — a Flickr set from the Boston Public Library. "Combining superb illustration and hand-drawn typography, they produced dazzling images in rich vibrant colors rendered through the magic of stone lithography." (via)

Think Different

spock — Sun, 24 May 2009 13:37:33 -0800

A private school student asks "Is it OK to run an illegal library from my locker at school?"

The Sinister End-of-the-World Homerun

Miko — Thu, 21 May 2009 15:50:03 -0800

"The only people for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved" .... and mad enough to play fantasy baseball. In the new book Kerouac at Bat: Fantasy Sports and the King of the Beats, a NY Public Library archivist considers documents revealing the author's detailed obsession with the imaginary exploits of players like Pictorial Review Jackson and teams like the "Pontiacs, Nashes, and cellar-dwelling LaSalles" in his finely grained, fictional Summer League.

Scan, Edit, Copy, Paste, Appropriate and Steal This Book

filthy light thief — Thu, 07 May 2009 07:45:03 -0800

In June of 2004, fifty-eight friends and acquaintances joined in a collaborative labor project that lasted for eight days. They were instrumental in organizing the Prelinger Library in San Francisco, CA. One month from today will be the little library's fifth anniversary celebration. The library project/ public art project/ art installation/ archive/ part information center is an appropriation-friendly collection of books, periodicals, zines, and print ephemera. The library isn't organized by the Dewy Decimal system, but sorted by Megan Prelinger into four constant threads: landscape and geography; media and representation; historical consciousness; and political narratives from beyond the mainstream. The library is the less-known work of Rick Prelinger, and his wife, Megan. Rick is most commonly known for his video collection, which is the primary source of ephemera films on archive.org. (All things Prelinger previously)

Readernaut

chunking express — Wed, 06 May 2009 11:58:12 -0800

Readernaut. Share your reading experience by writing notes, tracking progress, and engaging in meaningful discussions with friends.