LibWorm.com provides a librarian RSS filtering service. Over 1500 RSS librarian sources are combined and output via different filters. This feed contains the latest headlines from journals and sites in the Children interest group. http://www.libworm.com/rss/librarianqueries.php Fri, 03 Sep 2010 02:55:41 +0100 FeedCreator 1.7.2 http://hhsmedia.blogspot.com/2008/02/hope-for-haiti.html Photo Source:http://www.flickr.com/photos/ifrc/ / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0During the month of February, the HHS Library Media Center is collecting books for children in Haiti. All books must in in good condition and appropriate for a Haitian child between the age of 5 and 16. You can drop your donations in the boxes labeled "Books for Haiti" near the circulation desk by February 28th. Thanks for your support! (Source: Huntingtown High School Library Media Center) Sat, 19 Feb 2011 05:00:00 +0100 821571 http://hhsmedia.blogspot.com/2009/12/happy-hello.html I am very excited to be joining the faculty of Huntingtown High School as a library media specialist. While I am new to HHS, I feel right at home working in this community. My teaching career started in 1993 at Plum Point Middle School. I taught seventh and eighth grade social studies there for nine years before taking a leave of absence for another rewarding job, motherhood!During my time at Plum Point, I grew to love technology and all the ways it can enhance classroom learning. My students benefited from informational technologies to develop award-winning history fair projects. I loved guiding students through the research process, and decided to obtain a post-Master’s degree in a school library media program while staying at home with my two children.I am looking forward to continuing my professional journey here at Huntingtown High. It would be my pleasure to help you with any research question, large or small. Please stop by to say hello!Proud to be a Hurricane,Rachael Younkers (Source: Huntingtown High School Library Media Center) Wed, 08 Dec 2010 05:00:00 +0100 799137 http://lisnews.org/september_8_international_literacy_day International Literacy Day, traditionally observed annually on September 8, focuses attention on worldwide literacy needs. More than 780 million of the world’s adults (nearly two-thirds of whom are women) do not know how to read or write, and between 94 and 115 million children lack access to education. Celebrate International Literacy Day by joining IRA on either September 7 or September 8 for webinars on Building Support for Effective Reading Instruction featuring IRA President Patricia Edwards, Richard Carson (Rotary Representative to the OAS) and Instructor Judy Backlund (IRA member and Rotary Club President). The webinar will be held twice, so choose the time that works best for you! Tuesday, September 7, 2010 from 6:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m. EST This is a virtual event. Go to this URL to join the Tuesday webinar...or Wednesday, September 8, 2010 from 8:00 a.m. – 9:00 a.m. EST This is a virtual event. Go to this URL to join the Wednesday webinar. Other live events, fact sheets, celebration ideas and award certificates can be found at the IRA Website. (Source: LISNews.org) Thu, 02 Sep 2010 17:24:31 +0100 868649 http://www.lisnews.org/september_8_international_literacy_day International Literacy Day, traditionally observed annually on September 8, focuses attention on worldwide literacy needs. More than 780 million of the world’s adults (nearly two-thirds of whom are women) do not know how to read or write, and between 94 and 115 million children lack access to education. Celebrate International Literacy Day by joining IRA on either September 7 or September 8 for webinars on Building Support for Effective Reading Instruction featuring IRA President Patricia Edwards, Richard Carson (Rotary Representative to the OAS) and Instructor Judy Backlund (IRA member and Rotary Club President). The webinar will be held twice, so choose the time that works best for you! Tuesday, September 7, 2010 from 6:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m. EST This is a virtual event. Go to this URL to join the Tuesday webinar...or Wednesday, September 8, 2010 from 8:00 a.m. – 9:00 a.m. EST This is a virtual event. Go to this URL to join the Wednesday webinar. Other live events, fact sheets, celebration ideas and award certificates can be found at the IRA Website. (Source: LISNews - Librarian And Information Science News) Thu, 02 Sep 2010 17:24:31 +0100 868590 http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/sep/02/theresa-breslin-bringing-past-life In the fourth in our series of interviews with authors longlisted for the Guardian children's fiction prize, Michelle Pauli talks Theresa Breslin about writing historical fiction for a modern audienceHistorical fiction for teens may not be as in vogue as vampires right now, but for Theresa Breslin, the stories the past inspires can seem just as fantastical. The Carnegie-winning Scottish author has written more than 30 children's books, many of them tackling serious contemporary subjects such as bullying – but, recently it has been characters from centuries gone that have caught her imagination.Her latest novel, Prisoner of the Inquisition, which has been longlisted for the Guardian children's fiction prize, is set in 15th-century Spain. It was a time of tumult for the country: the throne was divided between two monarchs, Isabella of Castile and Ferdinand of Aragon; Tomás de Torquemada, the architect of the Spanish Inquisition, was at the height of his powers; and Christopher Columbus was about to set sail across the Atlantic."It was almost too good to be true," says Breslin, laughing down the phone from her home in Scotland. "If you had orchestrated this as a fiction story and gone to an editor saying, I've got a magnificent queen who was intent on reunifying the country, endless religious upheaval and an explorer, they would have said it was a bit much. But, of course, it's all fact."Prisoner of the Inquisition is narrated alternately by two teenagers, Zarita and Saulo, whose lives first connect when privileged, naive Zarita, daughter of a wealthy town magistrate, accuses Saulo's father, a beggar, of touching her in a church. He is killed and Saulo escapes, secretly pledging to take his revenge on Zarita and her family. His side of the story encompasses slavery at sea, an encounter with pirates and a burgeoning friendship with Christopher Columbus. ... Thu, 02 Sep 2010 15:44:02 +0100 868549 http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/filmblog/2010/sep/02/kick-ass-2-long-wait A sequel to the superhero hit has been greenlit, according to the writer of the original comic book. But doubts have been raised over the film's production scheduleKick-Ass was always rather nicely set up for a sequel, what with that open-ended denouement, so it's hardly surprising that Mark Millar, who wrote the original comic book, has been talking up a second film. Speaking to BBC Radio 5 Live, Millar said the film's success on DVD in the US, where it sold 1.4m units in its first week, meant the project was finally greenlit."The estimate is that Kick-Ass will do 100 to 150m on DVD based on the American sales, so it'll end up making a $250m (£160m) on a $28m investment," said Millar. "So it should be OK. The sequel's greenlit, we can go ahead and do the follow-up now. The first made so much compared to what it cost, it would be crazy not to."Millar's announcement, however, has been greeted with a degree of scepticism in the blogosphere, not least because Kick-Ass director Matthew Vaughn and screenwriter Jane Goldman are tied up with preparations for X Men: First Class. In a later interview with MTV, Millar said the film was "probably about nine months away from production starting, at the earliest".He added: "Matthew's got to do X-Men: First Class. He just wants to get X-Men done next year, then hopefully we'll just go straight into Kick-Ass 2. That's the plan."All of which sounds a little less concrete. And there's the small matter of Vaughn's comments immediately following Kick-Ass's release, when he seemed to indicate there would probably not be a sequel.Could Millar, who clearly stands to benefit from a second film, be over-egging the biscuit? Probably. Having interviewed him, he's a refreshingly candid chap, saying that film-makers attempting to bring less well-known superheroes to the big screen were "fucked", following the arrival of Kick-Ass's postmodern take. ... Thu, 02 Sep 2010 13:49:17 +0100 868558 http://meadvillelibrary.org/old-news/build-your-own-sundae-bar.html I scream, you scream, we all scream for ICE CREAM! With the hot weather, help cool down and help support this ice cream sundae social to benefit the Children’s Summer Reading Club. Join us on August 7th, 2010 from 12p.m. till 7p.m. in the side yard @MPL to build your own ice cream sundae. This [...] (Source: Meadville Public Library) Thu, 02 Sep 2010 04:20:02 +0100 868384 http://www.lisnews.org/discarded_books_questioned Here we go again. Library Director Mary Markwalter of the Mason City IA Public Library said Wednesday some library books were tossed into a Dumpster by mistake — but most of the discarded items were part of the normal “weeding out” process. She was talking about the discovery Tuesday of dozens of books that had been thrown into a dumpster at the Madison Early Childhood Center -- the temporary quarters of the library’s archives. The discarded items included city directories and books published fairly recently. “I know it’s hard for the public to understand, but all libraries go through weeding-out periods, and, when you’re moving, that’s a good time to do it,” she said. The library has been in temporary quarters for a year but will re-open in October. The moving process is under way now. “Normally, we find a home for the books or put them in a public place for sale or to give away,” said Markwalter. “We did that when we were moving things out of the old library. But we have no place to do it now.” Full story here. (Source: LISNews - Librarian And Information Science News) Wed, 01 Sep 2010 19:43:22 +0100 868594 http://lisnews.org/discarded_books_questioned Here we go again. Library Director Mary Markwalter of the Mason City IA Public Library said Wednesday some library books were tossed into a Dumpster by mistake — but most of the discarded items were part of the normal “weeding out” process. She was talking about the discovery Tuesday of dozens of books that had been thrown into a dumpster at the Madison Early Childhood Center -- the temporary quarters of the library’s archives. The discarded items included city directories and books published fairly recently. “I know it’s hard for the public to understand, but all libraries go through weeding-out periods, and, when you’re moving, that’s a good time to do it,” she said. The library has been in temporary quarters for a year but will re-open in October. The moving process is under way now. “Normally, we find a home for the books or put them in a public place for sale or to give away,” said Markwalter. “We did that when we were moving things out of the old library. But we have no place to do it now.” Full story here. (Source: LISNews.org) Wed, 01 Sep 2010 19:43:22 +0100 868252 http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/sep/01/terry-pratchett-alzheimers-assisted-suicide Discworld's creator on his new novel, living with Alzheimer's – and why he should be allowed to decide when to end it allWhen, not very long ago, Terry Pratchett's father was given a year to live, Pratchett père took it, on the whole, philosophically. Father and son had plenty of time to "have those conversations that you have with a dying parent", and to reminisce about his father's time in India during the war. At one point, said Pratchett, in last year's Dimbleby lecture, his father suddenly said, "'I can feel the sun of India on my face,' and his face did light up rather magically, brighter and happier than I had seen it at any time in the previous year. If there had been any justice or even narrative sensibility in the universe, he would have died there and then, shading his eyes from the sun of Karachi."If the universe refused to display narrative sensibility, then Pratchett Jr would: that moment returns early in his new novel, I Shall Wear Midnight, in which a gruff, essentially kindly old man is vouchsafed a vision of youth and sunlight (though, instead of Karachi, the sunbeams glint off a leaping hare) and expires as he describes it. Even Pratchett knows this is a tad too neat, however, so, this being Discworld, his fantasy kingdom on a flat planet sailing through space on the backs of four elephants who in turn stand on a giant turtle, Death makes a lugubrious wisecrack about it: "WASN'T THAT APPROPRIATE?"Pratchett, when he arrives at his idyllic local pub in Wiltshire, turns out to be full of this type of humour – deliberate, slightly coercive, very self-aware. ... Wed, 01 Sep 2010 19:30:09 +0100 868194 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/BabyBoomerLibrarian/~3/wm4Aw0ZbXe8/jobs-systems-librarian-university-of-la.html #3041 – Systems Librarian, University of La Verne  -- Wilson Library The University of La Verne invites applicants for a Systems Librarian (Assistant Professor), a non-tenure track 12-month faculty appointment. Reporting directly to the University Librarian, the Systems Librarian will use a high level of technical, instructional, and interpersonal skills. The responsibilities of this position include administering and providing technical support for all aspects of library technology including the Innovative Interfaces Millennium integrated library system, hardware and software installations and maintenance, library wireless, opac, proxy server, online resources and services such as LINK+, ILLIAD, ERM, OCLC, link resolver, research databases, e-journals, e-books, etc.; assisting the University Librarian with technology planning and project implementation; serving as primary liaison with the university’s Office of Information Technology to coordinate all library systems’ installation, upgrade and maintenance; supervise one full-time staff member (Electronic Services Technician); serving as liaison to database and online service providers; providing technology training to library staff; providing research consultation services to library users in a multi-disciplinary environment using multiple formats (in-person, e-mail, phone, and chat); developing, promoting, and delivering effective library research skills/information literacy instructional sessions, seminars and workshops for both on-campus and off-campus programs; developing the library collection by selecting materials for acquisition in all formats; serving as liaison with selected academic departments; maintaining a program of professional development. ... Wed, 01 Sep 2010 17:44:00 +0100 868359 http://www.hsdl.org/hslog/?q=node/5739 Birthright Citizenship in the United States: A Global Comparison "Every year, 300,000 to 400,000 children are born to illegal immigrants in the United States." The Center for Immigration Studies recently issued this report that analyzes issues surrounding American laws that allow children of illegal immigrants to gain automatic citizenship if born within the United States. Findings of the report include: * Only 30 of the world's 194 countries grant automatic citizenship to children born to illegal aliens. * Of advanced economies, Canada and the United States are the only countries that grant automatic citizenship to children born to illegal aliens. * No European country grants automatic citizenship to children of illegal aliens. * The global trend is moving away from automatic birthright citizenship as many countries that once had such policies have ended them in recent decades. * 14th Amendment history seems to indicate that the Citizenship Clause was never intended to benefit illegal aliens nor legal foreign visitors temporarily present in the United States. * The U.S. Supreme Court has held that the U.S.-born children of permanent resident aliens are covered by the Citizenship Clause, but the Court has never decided whether the same rule applies to the children of aliens whose presence in the United States is temporary or illegal. * Eminent scholars and jurists, including Professor Peter Schuck of Yale Law School and U.S. Court of Appeals Judge Richard Posner, have concluded that it is within the power of Congress to define the scope of the Citizenship Clause through legislation, and that birthright citizenship for the children of temporary visitors and illegal aliens could likely be abolished by statute without amending the Constitution. read more (Source: HSDL Weblog - On the HomeFront) Wed, 01 Sep 2010 17:07:56 +0100 868190 http://web.docuticker.com/go/docubase/35389 Born Poor? Half of These Babies Will Spend Most of Their Childhoods in Poverty; Significantly More Likely to Be Poor 30 Years Later Source: Urban Institute Already off to a tough start in life, 49 percent of American babies born into poor families will be poor for at least half their childhoods, a new Urban Institute [...] (Source: Docuticker) Wed, 01 Sep 2010 14:20:51 +0100 868270 http://web.docuticker.com/go/docubase/35427 Television and Video Viewing Time Among Children Aged 2 Years --- Oregon, 2006--2007 Source: Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (CDC) Excessive exposure of children to television and videos (viewing time) is associated with impaired childhood development (1) and childhood obesity (2). In 2001, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recommended that children watch no more than [...] (Source: Docuticker) Wed, 01 Sep 2010 13:04:39 +0100 868271 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/teleread/ezFR/~3/Zpi8AFlrtqE/ From her article in the Sacramento Book Review: As I read through the month, I snuck looks at the various eBook blogs and industry news pages that I frequent, adding comments where incited to and re-tweeting when especially impressed. A particular piece by J. A. Konrath caught my eye on Monday, titled The Changing Face of Publishing; in it, Konrath voices fears that the paper book industry may be spiraling downward. “I’m sensing a shift.” he writes, “And this shift will likely prove fatal for many of the parties involved. If, as I suspect, publishers are going to print fewer books, that will result in a death spiral. Fewer books printed means fewer sold in bookstores, which will no longer be able to stay open. Without bookstore orders, publishers will print even fewer books. And so on.” After reading the above, I glanced over at the sizable stack of advance copies on my backyard table and realized that if Konrath’s prediction played out, my lengthy season of receiving free paper books to review might also be waning. Advancing technology takes its toll – remember metal typewriters with hand-turned rollers? I saw one the other day on display in an antique store window; it was selling for $300. As long as paper books are around I’ll read, review and display them on my shelves, encouraging my children to take down a volume when bored, or curl up with them by the fire on a windy winter night, reading from tangible pages in the flickering firelight, yet I will also continue to write eBooks and self-publish online, for that’s where the money is. No one buys the paper versions of our books anymore – they are simply too expensive. The air surrounding my stack of books has a melancholy feel to it all of the sudden, as if an end to an era looms, while under it another gathers strength. Digg us. Slashdot us. Facebook us. Twitter us. Share the news. (Source: TeleRead: Bring the E-Books Home) Wed, 01 Sep 2010 11:50:36 +0100 868293 http://www.teleread.com/2010/09/01/author-meredith-greene-talks-about-ebooks/ From her article in the Sacramento Book Review: As I read through the month, I snuck looks at the various eBook blogs and industry news pages that I frequent, adding comments where incited to and re-tweeting when especially impressed. A particular piece by J. A. Konrath caught my eye on Monday, titled The Changing Face of Publishing; in it, Konrath voices fears that the paper book industry may be spiraling downward. “I’m sensing a shift.” he writes, “And this shift will likely prove fatal for many of the parties involved. If, as I suspect, publishers are going to print fewer books, that will result in a death spiral. Fewer books printed means fewer sold in bookstores, which will no longer be able to stay open. Without bookstore orders, publishers will print even fewer books. And so on.” After reading the above, I glanced over at the sizable stack of advance copies on my backyard table and realized that if Konrath’s prediction played out, my lengthy season of receiving free paper books to review might also be waning. Advancing technology takes its toll – remember metal typewriters with hand-turned rollers? I saw one the other day on display in an antique store window; it was selling for $300. As long as paper books are around I’ll read, review and display them on my shelves, encouraging my children to take down a volume when bored, or curl up with them by the fire on a windy winter night, reading from tangible pages in the flickering firelight, yet I will also continue to write eBooks and self-publish online, for that’s where the money is. No one buys the paper versions of our books anymore – they are simply too expensive. The air surrounding my stack of books has a melancholy feel to it all of the sudden, as if an end to an era looms, while under it another gathers strength. Digg us. Slashdot us. Facebook us. Twitter us. Share the news. (Source: TeleRead: Bring the E-Books Home) Wed, 01 Sep 2010 11:50:36 +0100 868292 http://engagedpatrons.org/Blogs.cfm?SiteID=4725&BlogID=61&BlogPostID=7516  This year, third grader Marsha Cassano, has vowed to have a neat desk at all times, and will never get in trouble. She has even signed a contract with her parents to show that she was very serious about  these resolutions. Marsha has also stated that she is going to be nicer to her nemesis, Roger Friday, and not argue with him at all. Unfortunately, on the first day of school, there is Roger, back to teasing her, and Marsha responds by accidentally slamming her desk on Roger's fingers. This is NOT the way she intended the first day to go, especially with the new student teacher, Miss Murtland, being in class.   Things then go from bad to worse when Marsha is assigned to Roger as a book buddy. At first, things are okay, but then something happens where Roger is suspended from school, and it isn't really even his fault. Will Marsha confess? Will Roger come back to school? Read this story to find out! This is a good story that deals with some tough life lessons, lying and atoning for those lies. It is also about giving someone a chance. Recommended for grades 3-5. (Source: Children's Books from Wright Memorial Public Library) Wed, 01 Sep 2010 11:20:01 +0100 868113 http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/jonathanjonesblog/2010/sep/01/frank-skinner-free-libraries The comedian's anti-intellectual values will not help the fight against those who think that free libraries are dispensableDo you believe in a well-funded, free library service? The comedian Frank Skinner doesn't. Writing in the Times last week, he sneered at old black and white images of cloth-capped workers educating themselves for free. He's a working-class lad himself, he reminded readers, and libraries never did anything for him. These dreary hangouts are just a big joke.I came across his column just after my daughter completed a superb summer reading programme run by Camden Libraries, which was singled out yesterday by the Reading Agency. There is a huge gulf between the reality of libraries using imaginative ideas to get kids reading and the stereotype Skinner's Times column sought to create. Apparently, he is happy to see a world of diminished literacy, full of people whose idea of mental stimulation is to watch him banter on the telly.Skinner rose to fame in an age when ostensibly adult, university-educated males affected to like nothing better than a game of fantasy football and to thumb through Loaded magazine, while artists were recording anthems for the lads. He is an icon to a certain kind of obsessive anti-snobbish and anti-intellectual stream of thought in British modern culture that has passed, in recent decades, for the wave of the democratic future. It's interesting to see him so clearly express the views of the philistine self-made man down the ages, because, as the coalition shows its true Tory soul in cuts no progressive can defend, we should be looking again at our lazy cultural values.The attitude that all cultural forms are equal, where watching a quiz show is as cool as reading a book and the Fourth Plinth is more fun than the National Gallery, will not help the fight against arts cuts. After all, from one point of view, Skinner is right. ... Wed, 01 Sep 2010 09:55:10 +0100 868203 http://www.guardian.co.uk/law/2010/sep/01/dahlia-lithwick-legal-hero-atticus-finch The Alabama single father's principles have inspired thousands – and somehow become a point of national controversy in the USIt's almost a cliche to say that Atticus Finch is one's legal hero, like saying you like good chocolate or high thread count sheets. Still, I am one of many thousands of people who probably would not have gone to law school were it not for the fictional hero of Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird, a book that turned 50 in July. I'm not alone on this. Civil rights lawyer Morris Dees of the Southern Poverty Law Center says Atticus Finch is the reason he became a lawyer, and the name Atticus has soared up the rankings for popular baby names in the past few years, no doubt because of the straitlaced attorney's status among law graduates.While a handful of grumpy critics have recently taken against Finch for his failure to be more like Thurgood Marshall in the face of his famous defeat at trial, most of us still believe him to be everything a truly great attorney should be: a defender of the voiceless and downtrodden, a protester against mob rule, and the patron saint of hopeless legal causes. The Alabama single father who famously defended a black man, Tom Robinson, who was falsely accused of raping a white woman in the Jim Crow American south, has stood the test of time despite the fact that Atticus is almost too eloquent, ethical, honest and forbearing.As a high-school student encountering Finch for the first time, I was shattered by his quiet moral certainty, his commitment to non-violence, and his electrifying gift for cross-examination. He represented the rule of sanity over hysteria, principle over passion, and tolerance over fear. Oddly enough, as I've grown older, I've also come to admire his skills as a parent, a professional, a member of his community, and even – anachronistic as it may sound – his dedication to work-life balance as the single parent of two children. ... Wed, 01 Sep 2010 06:59:08 +0100 868028 http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/sep/01/headteachers-literature-children-education-training Roald Dahl's Miss Trunchbull or Gillian Cross's Demon Headmaster demonstrate the exercise of power, study findsThey may be sadistic figures who hate children, but a study suggests that the savage portrayal of headteachers in children's literature possesses a grain of truth and may even be helpful when it comes to training teachers who aspire to lead schools.Characters like Miss Agatha Trunchbull, from Roald Dahl's Matilda, or the Demon Headmaster, from the sequence by Gillian Cross, can teach children to think about power and how it can be used for malign purposes, Professor Pat Thomson, director of the centre for research in schools and communities at Nottingham University school of education, has found.The study of 19 fictional headteachers found that nine are portrayed as evil or authoritarian, a further six are remote figures of power, and just one - JK Rowling's Professor Albus Dumbledore - is a positive role model.The study traces the origins of school stories to 19th century British fiction which – in stories aimed at boys – focused on the muscular discipline and militarism required for empire building.The books in the study were published between 1975 and 2009, and included Robert Cormier's The Chocolate War and Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events as well as Matilda and Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone.Many of the books show power can be used corruptly, according to Prof Thomson.Sometimes this can have a contemporary, political twist: in The Inflatable School by Peter Wynne-Willson, the "evil, messianic" Mr Stemple plans to turn his school into an academy sponsored by a business with whom his family has a profitable relationship.Miss Trunchbull is one of only two female heads in the books studied and is described, as "formidable and repulsive". ... Wed, 01 Sep 2010 06:00:10 +0100 868029 http://blogaboutmurphy.blogspot.com/2010/09/open-source-textbooks.html Are you interested in new alternatives to traditional textbooks? Take a look at some of these services. Connexions“Connexions is an environment for collaboratively developing, freely sharing, and rapidly publishing scholarly content on the Web. Our Content Commons contains educational materials for everyone — from children to college students to professionals — organized in small modules that are easily connected into larger collections or courses. All content is free to use and reuse under the Creative Commons "attribution" license.”Community College Consortium for Open Educational Resources“The primary goal of the Community College Consortium for Open Educational Resources is to identify, create and/or re-purpose existing OER as Open Textbooks and make them available for use by community college students and faculty."  The Community College Open Textbook Collaborative"The Community College Open Textbook Collaborative*, funded by The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, is a collection of colleges, governmental agencies, educational nonprofits, and other education-related organizations.The collaborative provides training for instructors adopting open resources, peer reviews of open textbooks, an online professional network, support for authors opening their resources, and other services." (Source: BlogAbout Murphy Library) Wed, 01 Sep 2010 04:00:00 +0100 868518 http://collectingmythoughts.blogspot.com/2010/09/3-hostages-safe-gunman-shot-killed-at.html Now here's a REAL environmentalist wacko--he thought children were parasites on the planet, and that Discovery Channel was making money on "green" programs. He was Al Gore to the 10th power. Most environmentalists deep down think humans are marginal in the global scheme of things, at least compared to something on the endangered species list, but fortunately, few are as whacked out as James J. Lee. He was probably insane. But if he'd been on the other side--a right winger--the media would be having a field day smearing tea party participants, Sarah Palin, Glenn Beck and you and me. In fact, since it happened a few days after Beck's Restoring Honor in a DC suburb, they'd probably blame him rather than Lee. 3 hostages safe, gunman shot, killed at Discovery - wtop.com (Source: Collecting my Thoughts) Wed, 01 Sep 2010 04:00:00 +0100 868467 http://ricklibrarian.blogspot.com/2010/09/50th-anniversary-of-first-grade-and.html Today is the fiftieth anniversary of my starting first grade at the Reagan County Elementary School in Big Lake, Texas. Having been to kindergarten (it was not required at the time), I knew my alphabet but I was not really reading yet. I was soon. So I am going to declare this as the 50th anniversary of my learning to read, a skill and pleasure that I appreciate more and more as I age.I remember the excitement of that first day. One of the first formalities was getting desk assignments. For first graders, our school had two student desks with shelves dividing the space under the desk. If my memory is true, I shared a desk first with Caron Johnson. We were given jumbo size crayons, big pencils, and paper with lines to help us learn to write our letters. I remember also that my cousin Hub was added to the class later in the day. Pete, Mike, and I probably walked home together after school, as we would many days. It was only four short blocks (two east and two south) and hard to get lost in Big Lake.I wish there were some pictures of that first day. Of course, there were no digital cameras then and my immediate family did not even owned a Brownie Instamatic at the time. I bet many families had no cameras back then, which made school pictures truly valuable. I wish that I knew where my first grade class picture was. My sister found my 3rd grade class picture* among some of her things a few years back. Many of these same students were in both classes. So imagine them two years younger.I remember we were soon assigned into reading groups and started reading the famous Dick and Jane books. "See Dick. See Jane. See Spot. See Spot run." I liked the books a lot. They were really easy to read. Actually, everything was easy. We wrote our letters, started addition and subtraction, and drew many pictures. The only thing hard for me was staying still during nap time. ... Wed, 01 Sep 2010 04:00:00 +0100 868421 http://librarychronicles.blogspot.com/2010_09_01_archive.html#2451238228104719539 Apparently these UNO students affected by the Governor's budget cuts agree A student demonstration at the University of New Orleans turned rowdy today when protesters scuffled with campus police, who arrested two of them and led them away in handcuffs in a police cruiser. One of the students was sprayed by police with mace. At least no one was tazed. Longtime readers will note that I am no fan of attention-whoring protest events. But, in this case, I will at least give the students credit for storming offices and injuring ankles and stuff. They could have just painted themselves blue, recited some poetry and called it a day. This, I think, at least shows some commitment. Plus UNO Chancellor Tim Ryan is kind of a tool anyway. I hope they broke some of his shit.In all seriousness, though, these kids should head of to Baton Rouge where they could perhaps find their way into the Governor's office. After all, it's Jindal's budget cuts that are bringing all this trauma about in the first place.UNO students and personnel are irate because about $14.5 million in state money already has been sliced from the school's budget since January 2009 and because more cuts may combine academic departments and eliminate majors in fields such as management, marketing, English, science, mathematics and social studies. There would be a sharp reduction in the number of part-time teachers, faculty teaching loads would increase, and class sizes would be larger.Participants in the Rising Tide 5 Politics Panel pulled no punches with Jindal. Jacques Morial and Clancy Dubos repeatedly referred to the Governor as a "hypocrite". Even Jeff Crouere confessed himself "disappointed" and said he suspects the Governor's ambitions and priorities lie outside of the state. ... Wed, 01 Sep 2010 04:00:00 +0100 868409 http://rabid-librarian.blogspot.com/2010/09/reflecting.html I agree wholeheartedly with Rachel Maddow (via Joe.My.God.): This, for those who have not read back that far, is the post I put up on March 19, 2003--the day the United States invaded Iraq: I watched the news tonight with a sick feeling in my stomach. I do not agree with this war that our president and his supporters seem so hell-bent on. But I also realise that it is inevitable. I thought so from the moment Bush was declared the winner in the election-long before the attacks of September 11th. I only hope that it may be accomplished without the loss of innocent lives. I rather think that is a faint hope--so the people of the Middle East and our soldiers and those of our allies are very much in my thoughts and prayers tonight. As much as I am against this war (for I do not believe it is a just one, or one that must be fought to avert an imminent threat to my country), I don't agree with those who would protest by disrupting daily life. After all, that seems to be more a tactic that terrorists would approve. I guess I'm more of the candlelight vigil-type peacenik than the sign-waving type. Or maybe the pick-up-the-pieces-do-what-you-can-in-the-aftermath sort. And as a child of the Vietnam Era, I can't support verbal or other attacks on our soldiers, even though we have an all-volunteer military these days. After all, many of them joined up to see if they could get money for school or otherwise better life for themselves and their families. Most gung-ho idiots I've ever known who really wanted to go to war were singularly unsuited for military life and were drummed out or never accepted in the first place. I did not agree with the Gulf War, but at least in that case Iraq had invaded a neighbouring country; and I was frustrated that to have started everything in motion they didn't "finish" it by removing Hussein. I felt that we (and by we, I mean the UN, rather than the US alone) should have intervened in Bosnia long before we did). ... Wed, 01 Sep 2010 04:00:00 +0100 868365 http://rabid-librarian.blogspot.com/2010/09/this-man-was-terribly-mad-in-both.html and it's a shame his mental illness drove him to violence and eventually led to his death during a standoff. Suspect had long protested Discovery programming: Website talked of his wanting networks to expose civilization 'for the filth it is' James J. Lee, the suspected gunman who held three hostages for hours at the Discovery Communications building in Maryland on Wednesday, apparently had a long history of contempt for the company, which includes the Discovery Channel, TLC, Animal Planet, Science Channel and Planet Green networks. His website, SaveThePlanetProtest.com, was essentially a screed against Discovery, urging the company to expose civilization "for the filth it is" and to puts its focus on "how people can live WITHOUT giving birth to more filthy human children since those new additions continue pollution and are pollution." Then, almost as a business-like afterthought, it said: "A game show format contest would be in order."It's an interesting but very sad look into the actions of someone who was obviously insane. Fortunately the hostages are safe, the situation is resolved, and everyone except the gunman could go home at the end of the day. But I wish he could have gotten help before it went this far. I glanced at one of the televisions in the hospital lobby this afternoon, which was how I found out about the story. But it demonstrates the usefulness of Twitter, as the tweets spread the news and pictures long before the media got involved. We truly live in a world where information spreads like wildfire. Of course, the quality of the information is anybody's guess. (Source: The Rabid Librarian's Ravings in the Wind) Wed, 01 Sep 2010 04:00:00 +0100 868364 http://kidslit.menashalibrary.org/2010/09/01/soup-day/ Soup Day by Melissa Iwai Today is soup day, so a little girl and her mother head to the store through the snowy streets.  There they buy the ingredients for their soup, careful to choose the vegetables with the brightest colors.  They pick out green celery, yellow onions, orange carrots, white mushrooms and more.  Back at home, they wash the vegetables and cut them into little pieces.  The little girl gets to help with a plastic knife and the softer veggies.  After sautéing the vegetables, broth is added and the soup cooks.  The mother and child play together as the smell of soup fills the house.  Finally spices and pasta are added and then they sit down to dinner with Daddy.  Iwai has captured cooking from a child’s point of view.  The selection of vegetables mentioning their colors is done with a gentle tone, and most children will not notice that colors are being reviewed in that part of the story.  The focus on what the little girl is able to do is charming and affirming for children.  Seeing her pride and involvement is a large part of the story.  Iwai’s illustrations are done with acrylics and collage and Photoshop.  They mix the textures of textiles with the crispness of photos and the brushstrokes of painting.  The result is a rich blend that makes for engaging illustrations.  The book is printed on nice heavy pages, making it welcoming for toddler hands. This book is as warm and welcoming as a big bowl of homemade soup.  Add it to your recipe for a great story time or a unit on soup or food.  It would be ideal paired with a version of Stone Soup.  Appropriate for ages 2-4. Reviewed from copy received from Macmillan. (Source: Kids Lit) Wed, 01 Sep 2010 04:00:00 +0100 868348 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/LansingLibraryYouthNewsBlog/~3/uQCUu-eTTO4/september-book-of-month-blue-bay.html The Blue Bay Mystery is part of the Boxcar Children Mysteries series by Gertrude Chandler Warner. The Boxcar children, Henry, Jessie, Violet and Benny no longer live in a boxcar but they still go on adventures! In this book, they travel to an empty tropical South Sea island with their grandfather. Everything is wonderful until they discover that they may not be alone! Who could it be? The Aldens get to the bottom of it in this mystery for children. (Source: Lansing Library Youth News) Wed, 01 Sep 2010 04:00:00 +0100 868336 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/LansingLibraryTeenNewsBlog/~3/lL0i-FS-78U/september-book-of-month.html Fat Kid Rules the WorldBy K.L. GoingTroy Billings isn’t just a fat kid. Troy is the fat kid. He is the fat kid that huffs and puffs when he breathes. He’s the fat kid that trips over everything. He’s the fat kid that jiggles when he runs. Worst of all, Troy is the fat kids that will always make people laugh, especially when it’s at his expense and would not be funny if a skinny person was involved. One day, Troy was standing on the edge of a subway platform, carefully considering how humorous it would be if he propelled his almost 300 pounds into the subway tunnel and splattered against a speeding train. Apparently, Troy found the scenario very amusing and started laughing. Troy’s fit of giggles was interrupted by a voice crammed in a tiny corner belonging to the dirtiest, skinniest boy Troy had ever seen. This was the day Troy met the infamous high school legend, Curt MacCrae.At first, Troy is in awe that the Curt MacCrae, the most amazing guitar player ever, is sitting in front of him. The astonishment continues as Curt demands Troy buy him dinner. He did, after all, save Troy’s life. It’s from there that Curt reveals his twisted brainchild; Curt and Troy are going to be a band. The biggest problem, other than his weight issue, is that Troy doesn’t know how to play the drums. But Curt has decreed it and now it is so. Troy takes Curt home with him where there is a run-in with Troy’s ex-military father and jock brother. Curt wiggles his way into their home and becomes a staple in the Billings home in the hopes that Troy and his family can help him get clean, while Troy is introduced firsthand to the world of underground punk rock and wonders if he could ultimately rule the world.While the plot of Fat Kid Rules the World may be a bit slow or non-existent at times, Going thrusts the story forward purely by relationships and self-actualization. ... Wed, 01 Sep 2010 04:00:00 +0100 868332 http://cmrlslibrarynews.blogspot.com/2010/09/libraries-to-close-sept-6.html ALL Central Mississippi Regional Library System Libraries will be CLOSED Monday, September 6, in recognition of Labor Day. Your Library has resources to help you plan a great family Labor Day weekend. Look for a new potato salad or barbeque recipe, check out music, DVDs, videos, and video games to keep the kids (young and old) entertained, and look for outdoor games to play with the family or the whole neighborhood!CMRLS wishes you a happy and safe Labor Day. Branches will open with normal hours Tuesday, September 7. (Source: CMRLS News) Wed, 01 Sep 2010 04:00:00 +0100 868257 http://collectingmythoughts.blogspot.com/2010/09/psas-paid-for-by-us-encourage-illegal.html Dolores Huerta is a hard core socialist who is preaching to school children, on our dollar, that Venezuela is great, they've got free healthcare, they're building factories where everybody has a right to a job. [She doesn't point out our free healthcare at every ER and SCHIP, Medicaid, food stamps, rent subsidies, etc. because they probably already know that.] "But she goes further than just saying how great Venezuela is. In our high schools this is her talking about America." An audio of her was played on the Glenn Beck show today. She also told the school children (again on our dollar) that Republicans hate Hispanics. You know folks, it's illegal to hire illegals.Here's a Department of Labor public service announcement (PSA) on our tax dollar.U.S. Labor Sec. Hilda Solis’ 30-second script: I’m U.S. Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis, and it is a serious problem when workers [legal or not] in this country are not being paid every cent they earned. Remember every worker in America has the right to be paid fairly whether documented or not.Why encourage illegals to come here if capitalism will go under and they have a government they fled? (Source: Collecting my Thoughts) Wed, 01 Sep 2010 04:00:00 +0100 868228 http://santafelibrary.blogspot.com/2010/09/september-library-exhibits.html Main Library Vantage Point: Painted LandscapesPastels - Acrylicsby Janice St. Marie La Farge Library Nature Photographyby Keith SpangleSouthside LibraryPaintingsby Elizabeth LambsonFor more information, check our Art page.For upcoming events, check our Calendar and Children's pages. (Source: ICARUS... the Santa Fe Public Library Blog) Wed, 01 Sep 2010 04:00:00 +0100 868112 http://keptup.typepad.com/academic/2010/09/students-think-electronic-attendance-system-treats-them-like-children.html When classes begin on Monday, some students at Northern Arizona University will have a little extra incentive to roll out of bed for that 8 a.m. calculus class.The school is installing electronic scanners outside some large lecture halls to track attendance. NAU may be the first American educational institution to try the technology. About 3 in every 10 students drop out after the first year. And if something as simple as going to class could help turn that around, Pugliesi thinks it's appropriate to make it a priority. Read more at: (Source: The Kept-Up Academic Librarian) Wed, 01 Sep 2010 04:00:00 +0100 868096 http://engagedpatrons.org/Blogs.cfm?SiteID=4004&BlogID=39&BlogPostID=7494 Children this summer had the opportunity to meet many exotic creatures from Rainforest Encounters. One of our many summer events. A special thank-you to the O'neill family! (Source: Richards Free Library News from Richards Free Library) Wed, 01 Sep 2010 03:20:01 +0100 867957 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/BPLDNews/~3/Yamim-wyfZE/show-us-your-library-card-buena-park.html September is National Library Card Sign-up Month, and the Buena Park Library District wants to make sure that you and your child carry the most valuable card of all – a library card.In honor of National Library Card Sign-Up Month, some local businesses are offering discounts and other perks if you show your library card during the month of September. “This is a great way to promote library card sign-up month and give local businesses an opportunity to partner with us to show their support for reading,” said Library Director, Patti Hanley. Visit the Buena Park Library or the Library website for a list of the discounts or special offers you will receive from the following businesses:Auntie Anne's PretzelsAvonBags & BlingBenny the DJBella Dia Salon & Day SpaBuena Park Library Volunteer Guild BookstoreGolden Spoon Frozen YogurtGranny's FlowersQuiznosTutti Frutti Frozen YogurtThere’s a lot happening at the Buena Park Library for everyone in our community, and the best part is that in these tough economic times, it’s all free with a library card. The Buena Park Library has books, magazines, DVDs, CDs, Audiobooks, computers, and a variety of helpful, informative databases that can be accessed using your Buena Park Library card. The Library also offers several free programs for all ages to stimulate the joy of reading. Librarians are available to help recommend material suitable for various ages and interests.Getting a library card is easy. For information on how you can sign up for your library card, visit the Buena Park Library at 7150 La Palma Avenue, call 714-826-4100 or see the library’s Web site at www.buenaparklibrary.org. Library hours are Tuesday through Thursday, 10:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. and Friday and Saturday, 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Sign-up for your free Buena Park Library Card today and then Show us Your Library Card, Buena Park! (Source: Buena Park Library District News) Tue, 31 Aug 2010 23:04:00 +0100 867959 http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2010/aug/31/tony-blair-a-journey-northern-ireland-god Preview of the contents of Tony Blair's memoir A Journey, in which he describes meetings with Ian Paisley'I was sure God would want peace'Tony Blair advised Ian Paisley to "let God guide him" in the final stages of the Northern Ireland peace negotiations which led to the historic power-sharing agreement between the Democratic Unionists and Sinn Féin in 2007.As prime minister, Blair was wary of talking about his Christian faith on the advice of Alastair Campbell, who famously said: "We don't do God."But in his chapter on Northern Ireland Blair writes that he held long discussions about faith with Paisley, who co-founded the DUP and led it until 2008.Blair writes that his meetings with Paisley in his Downing Street "den" always and their meetings dealt with Northern Ireland "at a spiritual rather than a temporal level". At one point Paisley gave him a prayer book for his youngest child, Leo.Of one such meeting, he writes: "Once, near the end, he asked me whether I thought God wanted him to make the deal that would seal the peace process. I wanted to say yes, but I hesitated; though I was sure God would want peace, God is not a negotiator. I felt it would be wrong, manipulative, to say yes, and so I couldn't answer that question, that only he could and I hoped he would let God guide him."Blair also writes of strong relationships with Sinn Féin leaders Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness, even admitting he developed a soft spot for them. "They were an extraordinary couple," he said of the two men, who have been at the highest levels of republican movement since the early 1970s. "Over time I came to like both greatly, probably more than I should have, if truth be told … They were supreme masters of the distinction between tactics and strategy. They knew the destination and they were determined to bring their followers with them, or at least the vast bulk of them. ... Tue, 31 Aug 2010 21:46:00 +0100 868032 http://library.blog.wku.edu/2010/08/31/children%e2%80%99s-literature-comprehensive-database-trial/ Starting 9/1/10 and ending 10/2/10, WKU Libraries will have a trial subscription to Children’s Literature Comprehensive Database: CLCD is an ever growing online database with over 400,000 reviews, MARC records and related information about children’s literature. CLCD contains reviews supplied by over 38 quality review media including: The ALAN Review BookList KIRKUS National Science Teachers Association VOYA You can access CLCD at their homepage or through their search engine. (Source: Western Kentucky University Libraries Blog) Tue, 31 Aug 2010 21:12:26 +0100 867942 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/BPLDNews/~3/aUj-gbvts28/gardening-family-affair-at-buena-park.html Sherry, and her grandson, in the gardenDid you know that Fall is the best time to plant a garden in Southern California? Two of our local gardeners, Sherry Jones & Rosalyn Strickler, are going to show you the many fun ways to create a garden in any space. Rosalyn said that some of the best gardens she has seen have been planted in children's wading pools. They will talk about how to create butterfly, pizza, salsa and stir fry gardens. Or if you like the idea of having fresh tomatoes for the holidays -- they will show you how to make it happen. There will be many more great ideas, information, and fun!!!Join us on Saturday, September 11, 2010 at 2:30 pm in the Downstairs Auditorium of the Buena Park Library District at 7150 La Palma Avenue. This program is for ALL gardeners or want-to-be gardeners (young and old). Everyone will go home with a starter kit to plant their very own vegetable or flower in their garden. There will also be a drawing for a door prize. So, come one, come all, to find out fun ways to create your very own garden. (Source: Buena Park Library District News) Tue, 31 Aug 2010 20:17:55 +0100 867960 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/FreakonomicsBlog/~3/mhYk6ryETks/ hildren in Nigeria will soon have a new TV option. Sesame Square, a local version of Sesame Street voiced and produced by Nigerians (and funded by a grant from USAID), will "focus on the same challenges faced by children in a country where many have to work instead of going to school: AIDS, malaria nets, gender equality - and yams, a staple of Nigerian meals." (Source: Freakonomics Blog) Tue, 31 Aug 2010 17:00:25 +0100 867861 http://www.lisnews.org/secret_life_toronto_librarian In March of 1969, Joseph Pannell repeatedly shot a (correction) Chicago beat cop, Terrence Knox; three bullets hit Knox resulting in permanent damage to his arm. Knox is now asking that authorities not let Pannell back into Canada where his family resides. Pannell was arrested and faced charges but skipped bail in 1973 and spent the next 31 years hiding out under an assumed name in Canada. Going by the name Douglas Gary Freeman, Pannell married a Canadian woman, raised four children and worked as a librarian for many years in Toronto. A check of a fingerprint database led Chicago police to Pannell’s Canadian home in 2004. Pannell fought extradition for several years before agreeing to a plea bargain that saw him spend 30 days in prison, pay a $250,00 fine to a Chicago charity and spend two years on probation. With his probation now up, Pannell asked to return to Canada. But the union representing the workers at the Toronto Public Library where Pannell was employed asked that their former colleague be allowed back into Canada. Mr. Pannell is a former member of the Black Panthers. "Mr. Freeman poses no threat to anyone in Canada, and the United States government has posed no objection to his returning to Canada,” wrote union local president Brendan Haley. “We are requesting that you exercise your discretion in this matter, on humanitarian and compassionate grounds, to grant Gary Freeman a temporary resident permit that will allow him to be reunited with his Canadian wife and children." Toronto Sun reports. (Source: LISNews - Librarian And Information Science News) Tue, 31 Aug 2010 16:42:34 +0100 868601 http://lisnews.org/secret_life_toronto_librarian In March of 1969, Joseph Pannell repeatedly shot a Canadian beat cop, Terrence Knox; three bullets hit Knox resulting in permanent damage to his arm. He is now asking that authorities not let Pannell back into the country. Pannell was arrested and faced charges but skipped bail in 1973 and spent the next 31 years hiding out under an assumed name in Canada. Going by the name Douglas Gary Freeman, Pannell married a Canadian woman, raised four children and worked as a librarian for many years in Toronto. A check of a fingerprint database led Chicago police to Pannell’s Canadian home in 2004. Pannell fought extradition for several years before agreeing to a plea bargain that saw him spend 30 days in prison, pay a $250,00 fine to a Chicago charity and spend two years on probation. With his probation now up, Pannell asked to return to Canada. But the union representing the workers at the Toronto Public Library where Pannell was employed asked that their former colleague be allowed back into Canada. "Mr. Freeman poses no threat to anyone in Canada, and the United States government has posed no objection to his returning to Canada,” wrote union local president Brendan Haley. “We are requesting that you exercise your discretion in this matter, on humanitarian and compassionate grounds, to grant Gary Freeman a temporary resident permit that will allow him to be reunited with his Canadian wife and children." Toronto Sun reports. (Source: LISNews.org) Tue, 31 Aug 2010 16:42:34 +0100 867820 http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/aug/31/heart-of-darkness-graphic-novel Artist Catherine Anyango tells how her richly-detailed drawings reflect the dense style of Joseph Conrad's savage colonial storyIn the 108 years since it was published, Joseph Conrad's colonial fable Heart of Darkness has infected TS Eliot, been excoriated for racism by Nigerian writer Chinua Achebe and transplanted to Vietnam by Francis Ford Coppola.Now the book has been reinterpreted as a graphic novel in whose monochrome pages Conrad's exploration of power, greed and madness plays out as disturbingly as ever.Catherine Anyango, whose drawings are peppered with David Zane Mairowitz's adaptation of the text, had her doubts about tackling the Polish-born novelist's most famous work.Those reservations had more to do with the original medium than the enduring controversy over Conrad's views or the familiarity of Heart of Darkness."I wasn't sure initially if it was a good subject for a graphic novel as the writing is so dense and the style of it is partly what attracts me to the book," she said."As I knew we couldn't keep most of the text in, I tried to make the drawings very rich in detail and texture so that immersive feeling you get, especially when he describes the river and the jungle, was carried across."Anyango was determined not to allow the horror of the book's subject matter to overwhelm her drawings. "I wanted to draw the reader in with seductive imagery, and then show them that even in the most beautiful of settings, terrible things can happen."There was also Coppola's 1979 epic to contend with."I was too terrified to watch Apocalypse Now," the Kenyan-Swedish artist said. "Partly because I didn't want to end up with any similar visuals and also I had been warned that something nasty happens to a cow … [but] Apocalypse Now is huge and well, apocalyptic, but Heart of Darkness is a much quieter story. ... Tue, 31 Aug 2010 14:54:57 +0100 867829 http://www2.cincinnatilibrary.org/blog/entries/my-wifes-affair It’s so interesting, watching writers do what they do, and a novel where the writer is in effect saying "watch this" can be even more interesting. My Wife’s Affair, by Nancy Woodruff is one like that, a short novel as delicately and deliberately constructed as a house of cards.You know from the title page what’s going to happen here. Peter Martin, our narrator, explains just how events unfolded. A Midwestern journalist who married a New York actress, he was happy to be able to offer his wife a second chance at the professional life she gave up for their three boys. He was transferred to London, and there Georgie was given the script of her dreams, a one-woman play about Mrs. Jordan, the eighteenth-century actress who bore ten children to the Duke of Clarence (later George IV) but died alone and impoverished in France after he set her aside.   (Source: Turning the Page...[Combined Feed]) Tue, 31 Aug 2010 14:41:24 +0100 867904 http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/aug/31/edinburgh-book-festival-dip-sales Organisers blame recession for 3% decrease at the first event to be run by new director, Nick BarleyThe first Edinburgh international book festival run by its new director Nick Barley saw a small dip in ticket sales, bucking a trend of increasing audiences in previous years.This year's festival, which closed last night with a tribute to the Scots Makar Edwin Morgan, who died last week, sold 3% fewer tickets than last year's record-breaking event.Despite unusually sunny weather and another record year for the fringe, which sold nearly 2m tickets, the book festival's organisers believe the recession led its audience to buy fewer tickets.Frances Sutton, the festival's press manager, said that 200,000 people came to the event, the same as last year, but they appeared to spend less. By the close of the festival's public events yesterday, 76% of tickets were sold, compared to the "exceptional" 79% sold last year.The event is the first directed by Barley, a relative novice in the literature and publishing world who previously ran the troubled Lighthouse architecture centre in Glasgow, until it closed after a financial crisis.Barley has faced criticism for his lack of experience, with some critics picking out the decision by more than 20 prominent authors, including Don McCullin, Hilary Mantel, Andrew Sachs and Joan Lingard, to cancel their appearances.The historical novelist Philippa Gregory, who pulled out after the festival refused to allow her to change her programmed event at a late stage, implied there were problems with the event's organisation.She told the Sunday Herald: "I have worked with many major festivals and have always been able to use the material I wanted to use and I had prepared. It seems a lot of events have been affected by cancellations and you have to wonder why. ... Tue, 31 Aug 2010 13:04:16 +0100 867836 http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2010/aug/31/reading-libraries-literacy-challenge As government cuts threaten libraries, the Reading Agency comes to their defence with a success story – the Summer Reading ChallengeWith the government looking in every direction to wield its cost-cutting axe, the Reading Agency last week put out a plea that libraries should "not be a soft target for cuts". The declaration came in response to statistics released by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport last week showing that nearly two-thirds of Britons didn't visit a library last year. That triggered fears that the figures were a prelude to mass library closures.The Reading Agency hit back, saying "where libraries offer a more dynamic, interactive reading service, the public respond with alacrity". One of its textbook examples was the Summer Reading Challenge (SRC), its literary initiative that encourages thousands of children to become avid readers every year.Since its creation 12 years ago, the SRC has become an annual part of the long holidays for more than 750,000 children aged four to 11. Every year there's a theme: this year it's outer space, so children are encountering foil aliens, Plasticine planets and more. The libraries then display relevant books, distribute reading rewards such as stickers, certificates, folders and charts, and encourage children to read six or more books during the holidays.On a warm summer afternoon in Wherwell, a small village in Hampshire, a bus covered in pictures of fairies and monsters has pulled up outside the local primary school. It's attracting scores of children, who chat excitedly as they await their turn. But this is no ice-cream van drawing the crowds: it's a library bus, and one of almost 4,000 libraries around the UK running projects encouraging children to read over the holidays as part of the reading challenge.Among those standing in line at Hampshire's library bus this year are the Collis family – Deborah and her children Natasha, seven, and Isabella, five. ... Tue, 31 Aug 2010 06:45:04 +0100 867830 http://yourlibrarycsu.blogspot.com/2010/08/new-ebooks_31.html Below is a list of new eBooks added to the collection this week:Digital libraries - Presents all aspects of the effects of digitization of today's and tomorrow's libraries.Check AvailabilityEthics and research with children : a case-based approach - Presents and discusses challenging cases in the field of pediatric research ethics. Check AvailabilityFrom teams to knots : studies of collaboration and learning at work - Different case studies of teams at work, professionally and extra-professionally. Check AvailabilityHandbook of psychobiography - Brings together for the first time the world's leading psychobiographers, writing lucidly on many of the major figures of our age - from Osama Bin Laden to Elvis Presley. Check AvailabilityIntroduction to food engineering - Presents the engineering concepts and unit operations used in food processing in a classroom-proven and unique blend of principles with applications. Check AvailabilityLiving land living culture : Aboriginal heritage & salinity - Based on a two-year research project to investigate the impact of salinity on Aboriginal culture and heritage in NSW. Check AvailabilityReading comprehension boosters : 100 lessons for building higher-level literacy, grades 3-5 - This book is designed to help students gain fundamental comprehension skills so they can succeed in reading complex and varied types of texts. Check AvailabilityResearch methods for sports studies - Provides a complete grounding in both qualitative and quantitative research methods for the sports studies student. Check AvailabilityClick on Check Availability to access these titles.The full list of new eBooks can be accessessed here and more information on eBooks is here. (Source: Your Library@CSU) Tue, 31 Aug 2010 04:00:00 +0100 868699 http://librarychronicles.blogspot.com/2010_08_01_archive.html#2874479332929077945 I'm working on a re-cap of the K+5, RT5 weekend. And that, not surpisingly, is a lot of stuff to digest, puke into a big post, and then spend the rest of the week culling and rearranging the puke a bit. It's very much like one of those Saints game posts that never make it up until three weeks after the next week's game. (Just in time for football season, right?) Anyway try not to sleep on me in the meantime.Rising Tide 5: Capture the MagicIf you attended the conference and have some impressions or ideas you'd like to share, one thing you can do is visit the RT blog and leave a comment here. But be polite. Some of those kids are kind of sensitive. (Source: Library Chronicles) Tue, 31 Aug 2010 04:00:00 +0100 868411 http://permalink.gmane.org/gmane.education.web4lib/16775 Where do I generalize about vendors? There are no generalizations in my posts at all. And I find your responses no more than childish attempts to stir the pot rather than have legitimate conversations about the topic. They provide the tools we use to complete our tasks. Yes. They sell the tools we provide to our patrons. Yes. They provide data we give to patrons and contain a lot of information on our patrons. Yes. Do librarians decide to not do business with a company because they disagree with that companies belief, commitment, or lack of commitment to ethics. Yes. Brian Gray mindspiral-Re5JQEeQqe8AvxtiuMwx3w< at >public.gmane.org bcg8-oNH6vCZdlc4< at >public.gmane.org On Tue, Aug 31, 2010 at 6:49 AM, Robert Balliot <rballiot-Re5JQEeQqe8AvxtiuMwx3w< at >public.gmane.org> wrote: (Source: gmane.education.web4lib) Tue, 31 Aug 2010 04:00:00 +0100 867788 http://kairosnews.org/generation-quotborn-into-web-20quot-char I'd thought I'd throw out some characteristics of my son's generation rather than wait for ten years or so to see how they represent themselves in a Pew and American Life study. He's almost eleven years old. His is the generation that was born into Web 2.0 and other advanced digital technology. I know this isn't true for all kids his age (and it may be more true for boys--I don't know), but it's fun to imagine: Many of them would rather take videos than still pictures. They either have themselves, or have a friend close in age, who has put up a video on YouTube. They either have themselves, or have a friend close in age, who has been in a YouTube video. They have their own computer, or at least one that is shared with siblings and not the adults in the family. They share websites and videos they find on the Internet. They have email accounts and send and receive email on occassion. They have played an MMORPG designed for kids along with other kids in their school. My son and friends at school, boys and girls alike, play Wizard 101. They have mobile phones and have sent and/or received text messages. Some are used to watching television and/or movies without commerical interruptions, and they will prefer the use of a DVD, Blueray, DVR, Tivo, or Netflix on demand to avoid commercials. They have more than one game system, at least a DS and a console unit. Cable television is not their sole, primary form of digital entertainment. Video games and the Internet have a strong, competing role for their attrention. Mp3 players are the primary music listening device that they own. Radio is something they listen to in the car when there are no CDs, the DS is not with them, and they forgot the mp3 player. It's the electronic media of last resort. ... Mon, 30 Aug 2010 23:15:31 +0100 867774 http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/aug/31/libraries-coalition-volunteers People who know how borrowing books helped to transform their own lives now need to hold their councils to accountNaturally, those who most loved libraries as children are now their most articulate supporters. Some were dismayed by Margaret Hodge's report on public libraries earlier this year, which praised the network as "a triumph of infrastructure and branding". In the coalition era, they may be equally crestfallen at the Future Libraries Programme's promise of "customer service improvement opportunities" in Greater Manchester.Do not be deceived by the familiar jargon. The government's current vision is very different from Lady Hodge's. The 10 projects are testbeds for many of the ideas that the coalition would like to apply to other public services. Two London boroughs are considering a merger of their library provision. Suffolk wants community groups to manage them. Most controversially, some of Bradford's books could be moved into shops. Lady Hodge's excellent suggestion that a library card be issued automatically to every baby has been ignored. More understandably, her enthusiasm for ebook lending – which sounds pleasingly modern, but is fraught with copyright and technical obstacles – has also gone. National guarantees are out; cheaper offerings, aimed specifically at the communities they serve, are in.Recruiting more volunteers to help run libraries is a laudable idea (though it may well come at the expense of professional librarians' jobs). Only 15,000 people currently volunteer.The internet has made some of libraries' traditional functions almost redundant, as well as driving down the cost of books for those who can afford them. Yet given the pressures they face, libraries have held up rather well: 83m children's books were issued last year, which represents around 90% of the number lent out a decade earlier. The same period has seen broadband installed in every library and a boom in reading groups. ... Mon, 30 Aug 2010 23:05:11 +0100 867635 http://gnomicutterance.livejournal.com/50138.html A friend to whom I will refer as Jules Léotard recently pointed me towards this lengthy video which is the product of Focus on the Family's "True Tolerance" program.Direct URL / Video in accessible playerThe video points parents towards the stealthy methods those "sneaky" homosexual activists are using to get into the schools, such as devious, wicked anti-bullying campaigns. (The fact that 23.2% of students who have been bullied at school because someone perceived them to be queer attempt suicide is apparently irrelevant to these people, who provide a [PDF] "model anti-bullying policy" which is not intended to prohibit expression of religious, philosophical, or political views. Presumably including "you're going to hell for being gay.")Anyway, their list of [PDF] devious homosexual agenda books you might find in your school makes me sad, because the only thing in there that counts as fantasy or science fiction is Uncle Bobby's Wedding. Is that really the state of homosexual agenda children's and YA books in F&SF? Hero, Cycler, and some albeit adorable queer guinea pigs? (I'm exaggerating. Somewhat.)It doesn't work that way in my mind, where I forget that Tally Youngblood never hooked up with Shay; that it was just subtext in King of Shadows; that none of those gay best friends in paranormal romances are the main characters. This is a good time of year to remind myself that for all I am used to seeing the intense social conservativism in fantasy, I mustn't discount the strong strain of it in science fiction.Also a good time of year to make the time to read Ash. *goes to request from interlibrary loan*(This is mirrored from an original post at Dreamwidth where there are comments. You can leave a comment here or over there. (Source: Ramblings on Librarianship, Technology, and Academia) Mon, 30 Aug 2010 22:03:19 +0100 867710 http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/aug/30/digested-read-spoilt-rotten-dalrymple Gibson, £14.99If there is a country in the entire world in which childhood is a more wretched experience then I do not know it. Though I seldom travel by public carriage, I see this at bus stops everywhere, with youths swearing and chewing gum. This poison all stems from a romantic, socialist view of education (which doesn't really exist other than as a stereotype in rightwing newspapers), where teachers are told to mark wrong answers as correct in order not to discourage the educationally subnormal.We see this indulgent attitude everywhere, especially in the use of language, with so-called experts such as Steven Pinker – or Steven Pinko as I wittily chose to call him in my lacerating review of his book – believing that there is no such thing as the Queen's English and that immigrants should be encouraged to talk in any patois. It's this kind of sentimental relativism that is destroying the fabric of our society, turning our nation's children into semi-literate morons who leave school equipped to do nothing but stab or impregnate each other and unable to write in long, syntactically tortured sentences, interspersed with irrelevant references to Plato and Locke and the occasional fragmentia of italicised Latin, suppresio veri, suggestio falsi, to make me look clever.After writing a drearily familiar chapter on the Family Impact Statement – a subject that has been done to death by dozens of columnists before and to which I have nothing new to contribute – I walked into a branch of WH Smith in a deprived area of the home counties and was outraged to find the only books on sale to the unfortunates of this cultural blackspot were volumes on My Battle with Cancer and My Parents Abused Me. ... Mon, 30 Aug 2010 21:29:02 +0100 867637 http://www.docuticker.com/?p=38539 Underinsurance among Children in the United States Source: New England Journal of Medicine We estimated that in 2007, 11 million children were without health insurance for all or part of the year, and 22.7% of children with continuous insurance coverage — 14.1 million children — were underinsured. Older children, Hispanic children, children in fair or poor health, and children with special health care needs were more likely to be underinsured. As compared with children who were continuously and adequately insured, uninsured and underinsured children were more likely to have problems with health care access and quality. (Source: Docuticker) Mon, 30 Aug 2010 20:50:13 +0100 867687 http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2010/aug/30/raymond-hawkey-obituary Top graphic designer who revolutionised the look of newspapers and book coversRaymond Hawkey, who has died aged 80, was one of the most innovative, influential and imitated graphic designers of the second half of the 20th century. As design director at the Daily Express in its prime in the late 1950s and early 60s, and later at the Observer until the mid-70s, with his introduction of banner headlines, using a simple photographic line technique and sans serif fonts, he not only revolutionised the look of newspapers but also changed the course of the visual culture in Britain.In 1962, while at the Daily Express, Hawkey was asked by the writer Len Deighton, an old friend from Royal College of Art days, to design the cover for The Ipcress File, his first thriller about Harry Palmer, working-class antihero – who was still unnamed. The book's publishers, Hodder & Stoughton, were appalled when they saw Hawkey's Ipcress design – a photograph of a Smith & Wesson revolver, bullets, a cracked War Office canteen teacup and a stubbed-out cigarette. They refused to pay him more than 15 of his 50-guinea fee for his "disgusting" illustration. Deighton made up the rest. Shot with a technique known as "high-key", the cover would later be regarded as one of the key moments in design history.The book became a huge success, and Hawkey went on to create some of Deighton's most memorable covers, including Horse Under Water (1963), Funeral in Berlin (1964) and Close-Up (1972, about a fading Hollywood star). Hawkey spotted Deighton's scribbled recipes in his kitchen, "tidied them up, advised me about the graphics and took them to the Observer," Deighton recalled. They became a popular "cookstrip" feature for many years; and for Hawkey's cover of Deighton's The Action Cookbook (1964), the Ipcress revolver reappeared with a sprig of parsley in the barrel. He later designed covers for Kingsley Amis, Frederick Forsyth and others. ... Mon, 30 Aug 2010 17:25:11 +0100 867642 http://www.docuticker.com/?p=38484 ´Just Living Together´– Implications of cohabitation for fathers’ participation in child care in Western Europe Source: Demographic Research This article tests the assumption that cohabitation makes a difference in the allocation of child care responsibilities within couples. It has often been presumed that cohabiting individuals are less likely to adhere to traditional gender ideology than married persons, because they tend to have a lower tolerance for poorly functioning relationships, assign more value to individual freedom and base their relationship on egalitarian individualism rather than on the joint utility maximization of married couples. So far, however, most studies have focused on the determinants and consequences of being in cohabitation and have overlooked its gender implications. Here we explore whether fathers in consensual unions are more prone than fathers in marital unions to share childcare responsibilities with their female partners. We use multilevel regression models for panel data to analyse ECHP in the period between 1996 and 2001. Our sample included around 13,000 couples living in heterosexual partnerships with small children (at least one child below age 13), and yielded around 45,000 observations over this period of time in ten Western European nations. We found weak evidence of the influence of cohabitation on gender equality as compared to married couples, while discovering that the diffusion of cohabitation at the societal level is associated with more equal allotment of child care among partners. + Full Paper (PDF) (Source: Docuticker) Mon, 30 Aug 2010 16:02:57 +0100 867526 http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/michaeltomasky/2010/aug/30/usa-most-challenged-books A conversation this weekend got me thinking about book-banning in America. This list on amazon.com purports to be of the 20 most challenged and banned books in the US. You can Google around. Other lists seem similar.I haven't heard of most of these. They're children's books. Numero uno is called Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark, which is a trilogy by a fellow called Alvin Schwartz. Its Wikipedia page cites the issues as being its "religious viewpoint and violence as well as for being occultist, satanic, or inappropriate."Number two is Daddy's Roommate, with which Sarah Palin had a contentious history of some sort as we learned in 2008. Heather Has Two Mommies is on there too. As I've told you previously, I was a young reporter when those books came out, in 1989, and were first proposed for introduction into New York City schools under the aegis of then-chancellor Joe Fernandez's cloyingly named "Rainbow Curriculum." All right, conservatives: sometimes I can see why liberals bug you. At any rate I still own pristine first-edition copies from those days. Depending on how things go in this country, they may really be worth something someday or they may land me in the hoosegow.The only actual literature: I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings (3); Huck Finn (5); Of Mice and Men (6); Catcher in the Rye (10); The Color Purple (17). I would guess that at least Huck Finn and Mice and Men are the targets of campaigns from the identity politics left, for their respective liberal use of the n-word and the portrayal of Lennie. Did George end up killing Lennie? I don't even remember, but that seems to ring a bell. At any rate I was about 14 or 15, and it certainly didn't make me think that I should go out and crush mice in my pocket or kill people with mental disabilities.What's allegedly offensive about The Color Purple? I never read it. Have you ever encountered such a "challenge" where you live?United StatesMichael Tomaskyguardian.co. ... Mon, 30 Aug 2010 15:42:12 +0100 867425 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/teleread/ezFR/~3/V5glbwdfiLs/ This Saturday, I drove about 30 miles west of Springfield to visit the Gay Parita Sinclair, a restored period filling station in Paris Springs, just west of Halltown, Missouri on old Route 66. Several huge photo blow-ups of the place hang on the wall in the breakroom at TeleTech where I work, in keeping with the building’s “Route 66” decor theme. It was only last week when I googled it that I realized I had actually driven right past it without even noticing it twice while on my way to Carthage. I guess I’d mentally filed it as “just another gas station” without realizing. So as penance, this time I drove out there specifically to see the place. While I was there I happened to notice, amid the shelves of period and Route 66 memorabilia, a couple of old Brownie cameras. “I used to have that camera,” I said, pointing to the one on the right. “You don’t look that old!” the lady who was showing me around (the daughter of the Sinclair’s owner) said. And it’s true, I wasn’t that old. But the camera was. My first childhood camera, when I was very young, was a Kodak that shot on 127 film. I wish I remembered the exact name of the camera so I could google it; I’ve tried to find images of 127 film cameras online but none of them looked familiar. I think it must have been twenty years or so old even then, or ten at the least—it had that kind of late fifties, early sixties design sensibility to it. I didn’t have a flash so I could only take pictures outdoors, and my parents only bought me black and white film because color was more expensive. But I took a number of pictures, and had a number of pictures taken of me. (Yes, that’s a very little me at right. That’s how old I was when I first had that camera.) My second was that Brownie Hawkeye, the same model as in the photo above. I no longer remember where it came from, whether it had belonged to my Dad when he was a kid or if he just found it in a second-hand store. ... Mon, 30 Aug 2010 15:15:00 +0100 867543 http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/jonathanjonesblog/2010/aug/30/glowing-praise-digital-books The newest technology has revived old habits of reading. Just switch the lights off late at night and turn the virtual pages of a spooky gothic tale for an illuminating experienceThe experience of reading books on an iPad is disconcertingly beautiful. It has rapidly become the favourite use of this dazzling gadget in our house. We are entering a new age of the book, and it may turn out to be a bright one. Every book on the iBooks reader becomes, literally, illuminated. In the history of the book, illumination refers to the decoration of hand-copied manuscripts by medieval monks. No angels or devils appear, no gothic letters sprout curls of foliage, when you open an iBook: the illumination rather consists of a backlit white screen on which type looks singularly seductive. You want to turn the page and see more – so you do just that, physically flicking over a virtual sheet of paper with the tactile technology that makes the iPad so easy to use. Fans of the rival digital book reader, Amazon's Kindle, which is controlled with buttons, deny that Apple's touch-sensitive science makes a difference.But for me it makes all the difference in the world. Reading a book in this way feels right.I am naturally suspicious of the coming of the digital book. It sounds like the apocalypse: the final irony, to be a professional writer in the last days of publishing ... but the thrill of reading books – and buying books, which is the critical thing – on this gadget changes the look and feel of the age. The future suddenly seems more literate. It's not just that you can read a book on this machine: it is that you want to. Old, innocent, childish memories of reading are awakened by its glowing screen for it has one very obvious advantage: you can read in the dark. That's what I've been doing, late at night, and the first books I bought for the iPad were therefore spooky Victorian tales. ... Mon, 30 Aug 2010 14:13:12 +0100 867423 http://www.lisnews.org/words_and_drink_help_repair_children039s_section Stonington CT - Shortly after this spring's flooding caused about $50,000 of damage to the Stonington Free Library's children's section, Peter Brown and his wife, Alexandra Stoddard, were talking to Dog Watch Cafe owner David Eck about how they could help. Brown, a trial lawyer, decided that he would donate 1,000 copies of his new book, "Figure it Out," to the effort. On Sunday anyone who donated $25 to the library received a signed copy and a free drink at the Dog Watch. The event was a hit as hundreds made donations to the library during a daylong event at the restaurant, which overlooks Stonington Harbor. "This has just been a phenomenal success," said Stoddard, an author of books including "Living a Beautiful Life: 500 Ways to Add Elegance, Order, Beauty and Joy to Every Day of Your Life." (Source: LISNews - Librarian And Information Science News) Mon, 30 Aug 2010 13:27:47 +0100 868611 http://lisnews.org/words_and_drink_help_repair_children039s_section Stonington CT - Shortly after this spring's flooding caused about $50,000 of damage to the Stonington Free Library's children's section, Peter Brown and his wife, Alexandra Stoddard, were talking to Dog Watch Cafe owner David Eck about how they could help. Brown, a trial lawyer, decided that he would donate 1,000 copies of his new book, "Figure it Out," to the effort. On Sunday anyone who donated $25 to the library received a signed copy and a free drink at the Dog Watch. The event was a hit as hundreds made donations to the library during a daylong event at the restaurant, which overlooks Stonington Harbor. "This has just been a phenomenal success," said Stoddard, an author of books including "Living a Beautiful Life: 500 Ways to Add Elegance, Order, Beauty and Joy to Every Day of Your Life." (Source: LISNews.org) Mon, 30 Aug 2010 13:27:47 +0100 867502 http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/booksblog/2010/aug/30/poetry Filled with vitality and physical exuberance, this week's bank holiday choice is that rare thing: a happy poemThis week's choice, "Pier", by one of today's most interesting younger Irish poets, Vona Groarke, seems to be that comparatively rare thing: a happy poem. It centres on the thrill, in the author's words, of "jumping into the sea from a high fishing pier."It might stir your own nostalgia for childhood and teenage derring-do, but if you're lucky - and wise - you won't have outgrown such experiences, nor save them only for bank holidays. "Pier" isn't designed to deliver a message, but it nevertheless says something about the nature of the good and happy life. Our muscles, extensions of our minds, have "a need for joy". Fascism exploits that fact, as regretted in the Auden sonnet which provides the poem's epigraph. But the "sport" here has a different goal. It's private and it's fun; an act not of conformity but rebellion.Vona Groarke was born in Edgeworthstown in the Irish Midlands, but, as she says in this too-brief interview, she thinks of the west of Ireland as her home. "Pier", from her 2009 collection, Spindrift, is set in Spiddal in County Galway. Initially, what's noticeable is that there's no direct first-person narrative. This emphasis on active verbs turns out to be an excellent device, recreating how it feels to be fully absorbed in physical activity, the mind, that often unwieldy "organ", streamlined into unity with the body. The body of the poem – its rhythms and syntax – is not a container, but a sinewy consciousness.The poem begins with a series of signposts or instructions. The abbreviated style helps focus process and movement. The speaker seems to be doing something she's done before - remembering, as well as reporting, a familiar sequence as she moves steadily to her goal. Each point of the landscape has its associated physical accompaniment. ... Mon, 30 Aug 2010 10:24:00 +0100 867424 http://www.slis.indiana.edu/careers/view_job_specific.php?job_id=7719 State: New York Rye Free Reading Room – 125 years (and counting) of distinguished service to the community! The Board of Trustees of Rye Free Reading Room (founded in 1884) seeks an energetic, enthusiastic and experienced leader to continue its commitment to quality public library service for the Rye community. The Director will work closely with the 18-member Board of Directors, a 45-member Auxiliary Board, staff and local stakeholders to develop and articulate its vision for library service, design and implement strategic initiatives, and administer the service program, facility and space planning, and fundraising and resource development. See http://www.gossagesager.com/Jobdesc2010.doc for the complete job description. As an association library, the Rye Free Reading Room is funded by the City of Rye and private donations, with the Board actively investigating options for sustainable funding. Rye Free Reading Room has a collection of 90,000 items housed in the main library and a small branch and circulates over 225,000 items annually. With a staff of 17 FTE and a budget of $1.5 million, the library provides exceptional customer service and its programs are consistently among the most heavily attended in Westchester County—attendance last year pushed over 36,000 with best-selling authors and a wide-selection of children’s programs. A recent expansion of the landmark building on Rye’s Village Green and ongoing capital projects, including a renovated technology center, help ensure the facilities are well-positioned for continued growth. Rye, a suburban community in Westchester County, is home to 15,000 residents. Located on Long Island Sound, Rye enjoys a strong sense of community, with close proximity to New York City and regional attractions in the Tri-State area. For additional information on the Library, the City and the area see http://www.gossagesager.com/Ryelinks.htm. ... Mon, 30 Aug 2010 09:20:04 +0100 867345 http://www.slis.indiana.edu/careers/view_job_specific.php?job_id=7721 State: Indiana Join the team of our nationally recognized Top Ten HAPLR and Library Journal 5-Star library! The Evansville Vanderburgh Public Library, an essential provider of shared information and a core community service, promotes reading, lifelong learning, and economic vitality through its resources, services, and programs to the residents of Vanderburgh County. The Assistant Branch Manager performs professional librarian duties, which include public service, collection development, program development, training, and direction to patrons, staff, and volunteers; performs related duties as required. The assistant assumes management responsibility in the absence of the Branch Manager. The assistant’s responsibilities include but are not limited to the youth services area of the branch. Duties and Responsibilities: 1. Assists with implementation of Library policies, procedures, rules, and directives. 2. Participates in creative planning, budgeting, coordinating, and implementing all functions of the branch. 3. Establishes and enforces a standard of appropriate customer conduct on Library premises consistent with Library rules and policies. 4. Leads, supervises, and coaches employees through scheduling, coordinating, delegating, selecting, counseling, directing, training, evaluating, disciplining, and discharging. 5. Plans, arranges for and/or prepares for and presents programs and library tours for all ages. 6. Evaluates customer needs and preferences for Library resources; responds to customer requests and complaints. 7. Engages in planning, coordinating, recommending and deselecting of materials in all formats. 8. Provides some reference and reader’s advisory services. 9. Coordinates services, resources, and training based on Every Child Ready to Read @ Your Library. 10. Perform functions in youth services department including creative programming activities for children birth to age 18. 11. ... Mon, 30 Aug 2010 09:20:04 +0100 867344 http://www.slis.indiana.edu/careers/view_job_specific.php?job_id=7752 State: Illinois Full-time position available. The Youth Outreach Coordinator is responsible for recommending, developing, and implementing outreach programs such as family literacy nights, Spanish storytime, and teen parenting events. Bachelor's degree. Experience with children required. Spanish language skills required. Experience working with diverse or underserved populations a plus. Schedule: 37.5 hours per week includes every Thursday evening, one weekend per month, and one Friday night every other month. Additional evening and weekend hours may be required for programs and meetings. Benefits. Annual pay: $29,562 See: www.mppl.org for detailed job description and how to apply Submitted on 2010-08-24 (Source: SLIS Careers Feed) Mon, 30 Aug 2010 09:20:04 +0100 867338 http://scanblog.blogspot.com/2010/08/iag-we-hardly-knew-ye.html Today, we bid adieu to "It's All Good." It has been an exhilarating six year run, but now it's time for us to move our blogging focus elsewhere.Alice Sneary, Alane Wilson, and I started "It's All Good" when we hit the road to talk about the OCLC Environmental Scan back in 2004. We used this blog to share ideas we'd heard, interesting articles we'd seen, or soapboxes on which we wished to climb. Alane says IAG was the first corporate blog in the library world, and I have no reason to disagree with her.Alane left OCLC a few years ago to return to Canada (*sniff*), and Chrystie Hill stepped in as our new writer (yay!). Our colleagues Eric Childress and Matt Goldner also did a few cameos here. But now, we're trying to consolidate places where OCLC-related content might appear, and some of the outliers are being brought into the fold.Chrystie manages BlogJunction, part of her WebJunction work, and she'll continue to blog there.Alice contributes to The OCLC Developer Blog and the WorldCat Blog.I'll be contributing to the The OCLC Cooperative Blog, and given my other work role, to the blog Viral Optimism with my consulting partner Joan Frye Williams.Before we sign off, there are two people who need a big thank you, people without whom there would have been no "IAG."First, Alane Wilson gave Alice and me the gumption to move forward on this idea. Someone who never saw an envelope that didn't need pushing, Alane convinced us that there were enough ideas worth sharing that we would never run out of material. She was so right.And a big thank you to OCLC President and CEO Jay Jordan. Jay reads the blog, sends us comments, and has supported us right from day one. In fact he found the blog before I even let him know we were doing it, and even so, he didn't fire my sorry tail.Check us out in our new digs, and we'll see you down the road! (Source: It's all good) Mon, 30 Aug 2010 04:00:00 +0100 867620 http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/aug/30/in-praise-of-teds The Labour leadership contest is the first to feature an Ed. Is this a desire to sound modern and even abrasive and not at all like a children's toy?The Labour leadership contest is the first to involve two brothers. It is also the first to involve two contenders called Ed. Indeed, it is the first to feature even one Ed, a name which has crept up on politics over the last decade and now seems to have ousted Ted and Teddy. In earlier, starchier days, few politicians' names were short-formed for public consumption. Clement Attlee might often be referred to as Clem, and Churchill sometimes as Winnie, but these were not the names they preferred. One perhaps surprising exception was Douglas-Home, officially Alexander but, in the Scots manner, always Alec. A more informal style of politics and the needs of headline writers made James Callaghan into Jim and Margaret Thatcher Maggie – but never formally. Anthony Blair, however, was Tony from the beginning. Past abbreviated Edwards were usually Teds, occasionally Teddys and Eddies. The name Ted fitted Edward Heath very comfortably: Ed Heath would have sounded disturbingly alien. The Labour deputy leader Edward Short was Ted; the combative Tory backbencher Edward Taylor was Teddy. Neither was even remotely an Ed. Perhaps this new process of Edification as practised by Miliband Jr, Balls, and the coalition ministers Vaizey and Davey, reflects a desire to sound modern and even abrasive and not at all like a children's toy. Those who still find "Ed" odd will soon get used to it. "Custom reconciles us to everything", as that great Conservative thinker, Ed Burke, once observed.Ed MilibandPoliticsLabour party leadershipLabourguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds (Source: Guardian Unlimited Books) Sun, 29 Aug 2010 23:02:05 +0100 867261 http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2010/aug/29/brett-dean-bliss The conductor died and the country had a crisis. But Bliss, the opera based on Peter Carey's fleeing-the-rat-race novel, survivedBrett Dean is telling me how he felt watching the premiere of his first opera, Bliss, at the Sydney Opera House earlier this year. "I was scared shitless," says the composer, with trademark Aussie bluntness. "I had my elder daughter sitting one side of me, my wife on the other, and they both said I have never held their hands tighter."This is no surprise. Based on Peter Carey's novel, Bliss is the most important single work in 48-year-old Dean's life; the premiere was one of the most eagerly awaited in Australian music, and the opera took a decade to compose.Did Dean at any point loosen his grip on his family's hands, and start to enjoy the performance? "About halfway through the second scene, after Harry's first big aria, where he talks of having seen heaven and hell, I thought, 'Wow, this is actually going to work.' The way the audience were responding was wonderful – laughing at the funny bits, engaging with the characters. The director, Neil Armfield, said at the last rehearsal, 'We've got a show here.' It's certainly not boring."Audiences in Europe don't have to take Dean's word for it: Opera Australia bring the lavish production to the Edinburgh festival this week, and a new staging opens the Hamburg State Opera's season in a fortnight. That's an amazing international pedigree for such a new opera. But this success doesn't faze Dean, who has an unassuming air: with his languid Aussie accent, ginger stubble and floppy T-shirt, he seems to have just blown in from the beach, rather than than come from the composer's studio.But that relaxed appearance belies the dramatic occurences of Dean's musical life, and the tragic events around the composition of Bliss. ... Sun, 29 Aug 2010 21:00:55 +0100 867262 http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2010/aug/29/teenagers-language-music-world Writing 11 novels for teenagers gives you a special insight on their world, from their use of language to their taste in fashion1Teen rebellions involving clothes dyed black with Dylon, sausages rejected as "meat is murder" or hair backcombed into a landmass don't shock parents now. The most shocking act of rebellion a little caucasian agnostic girl from Penrith could pull is a flash conversion to Islam, before swishing down to Londis wearing full niqab. Inshallah, you are so grounded.2Scores of inner-city kids live their lives on what must feel like a giant Pac-Man grid, being chased by enemies whenever they leave home. As adults we underestimate how stressful this is. I began writing comedy for teens as there's no bigger demographic who need a laugh. A joke about how many Rimmel nail colours one can fit in a thong and still run from Superdrug security guards goes a long way.3The idea that teens today have a looser sense of morals is rubbish. For every 15-year-old smashing up the swings in the park, there's another sat piously at home writing complaints to the BBC about bad language and posting my novel back to the publishers, incensed over the word "fartface" on page 34.4Teens don't want adults speaking their language, but a basic working knowledge goes a million miles when writing for them. Many adults are pompous, lazy sorts who write teen fiction in which the kids speak like mini-Michael Goves and never MSN or BBM as this would involve the author researching it. Words you should know but never use include: Wa'gwan? Tonk. Choong. Brap. Brare. Slippin. Wack. Bruv. Blad. Emosh. Par. Wasteman. Allow it. Buff. Peng. Owned. Merked. Shottin'. Beef. Giving me jokes. Airing. Bedrin. Blates. Totes. Bless. Diss. Boi. Ufff. KMT. Bustin. Chirps. Va-jay-jay. Cotch. Fam. Crunk. Cuzz. Dark. Deep. Endz and, of course, the delightful Clunge. (Need a translation? See below. ... Sun, 29 Aug 2010 19:29:54 +0100 867264 http://familymanlibrarian.com/2010/08/29/we-went-to-norway-little-norway-actually/ Yesterday morning we sat around trying, as usual, to figure out something fun to do that day as a family. Again as usual, we couldn’t agree on what to do — until the idea of going to a place called Little Norway came up. Little Norway is a tourist attraction about 20 miles west and a little south of Madison, WI, near Mount Horeb. We’d never heard of it until I found it while doing an Internet search for things to do in Wisconsin. We all got ready and made the trip there, arriving mid-afternoon. I wasn’t expecting much but was pleasantly surprised at how interesting and nice the place was. Even the little kids enjoyed learning about the history of the place and how people lived there many years ago. I took a lot of photos and surprisingly they turned out pretty well. The highlight of the tour was Norway House, a relic of the World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893. Constructed in Norway during the winter of 1892/93, taken apart and then shipped to Chicago to be reconstructed onsite, this building is pretty incredible to see in person. Inside is like a museum unto itself, with tons of interesting antiques, knick-knacks, Norwegian artifacts, and more. It includes an original sheet music manuscript by Edvard Grieg, the famous Norwegian composer, supposedly the only one held outside of Norway. The drive home was uneventful but enjoyable because the weather had moderated such that we could have the windows open the whole way. The area of Wisconsin where we visited is quite picturesque and interesting. We’re going to go back someday to visit Cave of the Mounds and House on the Rock, which are nearby. (Source: Family Man Librarian) Sun, 29 Aug 2010 17:00:40 +0100 867966 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/familymanlibrarian/dwVA/~3/4uvT57J67Fw/ Yesterday morning we sat around trying, as usual, to figure out something fun to do that day as a family. Again as usual, we couldn’t agree on what to do — until the idea of going to a place called Little Norway came up. Little Norway is a tourist attraction about 20 miles west and a little south of Madison, WI, near Mount Horeb. We’d never heard of it until I found it while doing an Internet search for things to do in Wisconsin. We all got ready and made the trip there, arriving mid-afternoon. I wasn’t expecting much but was pleasantly surprised at how interesting and nice the place was. Even the little kids enjoyed learning about the history of the place and how people lived there many years ago. I took a lot of photos and surprisingly they turned out pretty well. The highlight of the tour was Norway House, a relic of the World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893. Constructed in Norway during the winter of 1892/93, taken apart and then shipped to Chicago to be reconstructed onsite, this building is pretty incredible to see in person. Inside is like a museum unto itself, with tons of interesting antiques, knick-knacks, Norwegian artifacts, and more. It includes an original sheet music manuscript by Edvard Grieg, the famous Norwegian composer, supposedly the only one held outside of Norway. The drive home was uneventful but enjoyable because the weather had moderated such that we could have the windows open the whole way. The area of Wisconsin where we visited is quite picturesque and interesting. We’re going to go back someday to visit Cave of the Mounds and House on the Rock, which are nearby. (Source: Family Man Librarian) Sun, 29 Aug 2010 17:00:40 +0100 867665 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blogspot/iRcS/~3/q14w3nKyHRs/times-cheltenham-literature-festival.html The Times Cheltenham Literature Festival 2010 - "One of the oldest and best loved literature festivals in the world… lectures, poetry readings, children's events, interviews, storytelling, book groups, writing workshops, education projects, live literature…" - 8–17 October 2010 - Cletenham, UK (Source: Peter Scott's Library Blog) Sun, 29 Aug 2010 16:02:18 +0100 867173 http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/aug/29/jane-miller-on-old-age In a perceptive, amusing book about growing old, Jane Miller argues that there's more to ageing than frailty and lonelinessSince everyone now knows that there are more old people around than ever before, it's not surprising that there's been a spate of books about age. Crazy Age by Jane Miller (born in 1932) is the latest and definitely one of the best. It is a highly literate and amusing exploration of the glooms and possibilities of the condition, how it feels, what it offers or really lacks – as opposed to what younger people might think it does.A teacher herself, Jane Miller has written extensively about women and education and the relation between the two, but there's no trace here of a stolid academic style: her writing is so fluid and amusing that you mostly forget that old age is supposed to be such a gloom. Not that she funks the downside of it – there's a long account of a close friend descending, not too miserably, into Alzheimer's disease; but many more accounts of those facing old age with considerable zest.What makes it so readable is not just that she writes tellingly about the experiences of herself and those she knows, but that she draws on characters in books – by Muriel Spark or Edith Wharton, Turgenev or Pushkin (she's a Russian translator, among other things); we're as likely to read about Ivan Illich or Updike's Rabbit as of her own two new knees or her father's death. She has her critique of Simone de Beauvoir, "who has written a book about it 700 pages long saying we shouldn't think about it too much", and cites Philip Roth's distaste for the view that "a healthy old age is somehow morally superior, as if frailty is always your own fault". ... Sun, 29 Aug 2010 11:21:52 +0100 867162 http://www.docuticker.com/?p=38500 The distributional effect of tax and benefit reforms to be introduced between June 2010 and April 2014: a revised assessment Source: Institute for Fiscal Studies (UK) From the Executive Summary: The Chancellor claimed in his Budget speech that the June 2010 Budget was a ‘progressive Budget’. Initial analysis of this claim showed that this was not true if measures announced in the Budget were analysed in isolation, or if their effects were considered over the longer term. Furthermore, HM Treasury analysis (as well as our own, in our post-Budget briefing) of the distributional effect of Budget measures did not include the effects of some benefit changes whose effects were difficult to allocate precisely to households. These measures represent £4.1 billion of the £11 billion of welfare cuts announced in the emergency Budget. In this paper we attempt to allocate the effects of these changes to housing benefit, Disability Living Allowance and tax credits to households. We do this by making assumptions about the impact of changes to Disability Living Allowance and tax credits, and by using analysis published since the Budget by the Government on the impact of the changes to housing benefit. Inevitably, though, these estimates will be less precise than those obtained directly from our tax and benefit microsimulation model. Our analysis shows that the overall effect of the new reforms announced in the June 2010 Budget is regressive, whereas the tax and benefit reforms announced by the previous Government for introduction between June 2010 and April 2014 are progressive. Low-income households of working age lose the most from the June 2010 Budget reforms because of the cuts to welfare spending. Those who lose the least are households of working age without children in the upper half of the income distribution. This is because they do not lose out from cuts in welfare spending and are the biggest beneficiaries from the increase in the income tax personal allowance. ... Sun, 29 Aug 2010 10:50:55 +0100 867192 http://www.ohionet.org/jobs2.php?jid=1680 Clark County Public Library (Source: OHIONET - Job Announcements) Sun, 29 Aug 2010 05:00:02 +0100 866947 http://outofthejungle.blogspot.com/2010/08/developing-technology-how-print-shaped.html The Boston Globe Ideas section today had a wonderful interview with author Andrew Pettegree, about his book The Book in the Renaissance. Written by Tom Scocca, the Q&A style article discusses with Professor Pettegree his research about the birth of publishing, and what it reveals about our misperceptions of the earliest days of printing. When we think of early print, we always think of the Gutenberg Bible. This is the iconic representation of the early movable print product. But it is a huge misperception. Most printers were pouring out disposable little tracts, announcements from the town council, schoolbooks, sermons and, if they were lucky, reams of indulgences. The church at that time sold indulgences, and what they handed over to the layperson was a sheet of paper, printed, that stated what sins were forgiven. The lucky printer who got an order, could print multiple copies of the same single sheet, composed once, and get paid for it multiple times by an official institution. According to Pettegree, the problem that printers faced was that the public was not used to being offered items to buy that they had not ordered. They had never had bookstores or catalogs. Up to that time, if a person wanted a book, they ordered it made. So when books became easier to make, printers struggled over how and what to offer to the public. They consulted with the leading scholars of the day, and offered the suggested classics. And had a resounding dud. They tried offering the leading medical texts. And again, had very little interest. They did better with sermons. These were smaller books, and did not cost so much. The items that were widely produced and that kept the successful printers in business turned out to be ephemeral, small print jobs like the announcements from town councils, school books that children did not want to keep, and indulgences. ... Sun, 29 Aug 2010 04:00:00 +0100 867538 http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2010/aug/29/deborah-feldman-hasidic-once-upon-a-life Brought up in a strict Hasidic community in New York, Deborah Feldman could only dream of lipstick and jeans, cigarettes and playing the piano. So what happened when, in her twenties, she renounced her religion?I grew up in the black-and-white section of Brooklyn, New York. The men in my family wore black hats, black coats and white shirts, they studied black-and-white books and said bright colours were the work of the devil.I read books, too, but they were in English, not Hebrew, and they came from the forbidden public library, and in their black-and-white pages I was introduced to a foreign, exciting world. The spicy redhead in Anne of Green Gables charmed me; the genders in Little Women kept getting mixed up, but I fell in love with the androgynous Jo regardless; and although Dickensian English did not read easy, I muddled through its glorious convolutions nonetheless.Because I read books in English I knew I was a bad girl. In a black-and-white world you can either be bad or good. A Jew or not a Jew. There is no in-between. Maybe I didn't wear red nail polish like a shiksa gentile, but I was peeking into an evil world, living vicariously in it through fictional characters. Break a rule and you're automatically on God's blacklist. My grandfather used to say English was an impure language and to employ it in any way would mean employing Satan himself as commander of my heart. There was no doubt that my heart was already thoroughly blackened by the time I was 10 years old.I doubt it came as a surprise to anyone that I left the Hasidic community. Like my zeidy predicted, I became seduced by the devil. It started with the small things: clear nail polish, subtle eyeliner, a ride on the subway. But then I wanted to see the world, wear jeans, drive a car, learn how to play the piano – all of which were impossible dreams for a woman of my circumstances. Obviously the books worked. ... Sat, 28 Aug 2010 23:09:48 +0100 866786 http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/aug/29/david-grossman-israel-hezbollah-interview The Israeli writer discusses his novel To the End of the Land, a memorial to his son who was killed while serving in the army, and why he remains an opponent of his country's policy towards the PalestiniansIn May 2003, David Grossman, one of Israel's most celebrated novelists, began writing a new book. It was to be about what the Israelis euphemistically call "the Situation", which was a little odd because, for the past decade, he'd carefully avoided writing about politics, in his stories, if not his journalism. It was not just that he'd long felt that almost anything he could say had already been said by one side or the other. There was the danger that such a story, even in his deft hands, would be creaky and polemical. Now, though, he felt suddenly that he couldn't not write about it. Grossman's eldest son, Yonatan, was six months from completing his military service and his younger son, Uri, was 18 months from beginning it. His feelings about this – in Israel, men serve three years – were so acute, it seemed they would push the pen over the paper for him.The story came quickly. It would be about a middle-aged woman, Ora, whose son, Ofer, only just released from army service, has voluntarily returned to the frontline for an offensive against one of Israel's many enemies. Ora, having moved from celebration to renewed fearfulness in a matter of hours, is in danger of losing her mind. She has no idea how she will get through the next weeks or months. Then, in a fit of magical thinking, it comes to her. She will mount a pre-emptive strike of her own. She will simply go away, absent herself from her home and her life. That way, she reasons, she will not be there when the army "notifiers" come to tell her of her son's death. And if she is not there, perhaps he will not die. ... Sat, 28 Aug 2010 23:03:46 +0100 866782 http://www.docuticker.com/?p=38465 Benefit-Cost Findings for Three Programs in the Employment Retention and Advancement (ERA) Project Source: MDRC This report presents an analysis of the financial benefits and costs of three diverse programs designed to increase employment stability and career advancement among current and former welfare recipients. The programs are part of the national Employment Retention and Advancement (ERA) project, which tested 16 models in eight states. Each program was evaluated using a random assignment research design, whereby individuals were assigned, at random, to the ERA program group or to a control group that received services generally available in the sites’ communities. MDRC is conducting the ERA project under contract to the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The analysis focuses on three programs that operated in four sites: Corpus Christi and Fort Worth, Texas. This ERA program targeted welfare applicants and recipients who were seeking work; it used financial incentives and other services to help participants find jobs, stay employed, and increase their earnings. Chicago, Illinois. This ERA program targeted welfare recipients who were working steadily but earning too little to leave the welfare rolls; partly by helping individuals to change jobs, it aimed to increase participants’ earnings. Riverside County, California. The Riverside Post-Assistance Self-Sufficiency (PASS) ERA program targeted individuals who had left welfare and were working; services were delivered primarily by community-based organizations to promote retention and advancement and, if needed, reemployment. + Executive Summary (PDF) + Full Report (PDF) (Source: Docuticker) Sat, 28 Aug 2010 14:42:31 +0100 866616 http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/blog/2010/aug/28/amanda-knox-pen-mightier-penal Convicted murderer of Meredith Kercher to have musings published by Italian lawmaker who visited her in prisonArriving in US and Italian bookstores soon: Amanda Knox's views on spirituality, and her memories of the September 11 attacks.A book detailing the jailhouse conversations between Fox, the US student convicted of killing her flatmate, Meredith Kercher, and an Italian lawmaker will be released later this year.Rocco Girlanda, who met Knox, 23, around last December, when she was sentenced to 26 years in jail, has kept a diary of their Perugia prison discussions. The material has formed the basis of Take Me With You – Talks with Amanda Knox in Prison.Girlanda wanted to meet Knox and get to know her in order to lessen the diplomatic fallout from the trial, he said.The 240-page book features letters and poetry Knox, whose appeal over the killing will begin on 24 November , sent him.Girlanda says the pair, who have forged a friendship, never discussed the case. Instead, their talks centred around Knox's childhood in Seattle, her memories of 9/11 and her views on religion and spirituality as well as marriage, culture and religion.And Fox herself, the protagonist in a sensational trial that gripped global media, also hopes to follow in the footsteps of infamous authors involved in trials or crimes like OJ Simpson, Charles Bronson, and Hugh Collins of becoming a writer after her release.This ambition, and her "desire to adopt children, her love for Italy despite everything, the significance of friendship", are of course also detailed in the book."Everything grew from a desire to get to know an American girl, the same age as one of my daughters, who has found herself to be living in the most dramatic experience of her life," Girlanda writes ."I think that after so many months, after so many meetings, I succeeded."The work is being published first in Italy at the end of October. ... Sat, 28 Aug 2010 11:55:03 +0100 866576 http://collectingmythoughts.blogspot.com/2010/08/50th-lakeside-antique-show.html The Lakeside Antique show runs for one day in South Auditorium, Wesley Lodge, Wo-Ho-Mis and the surrounding lawns, and it seems I've been seeing the same linens, old photos, silverware, books, tools, and glassware for years, but this year I think I saw more costume jewelry than I'd ever seen. Women and kids love to paw through boxes of $1.00 each. Even the stuff labeled $2 or $3 looked pretty good, like someone dumped out my high school jewelry box. And that's probably what's causing it. Parents are going into smaller retirement homes, and the daughters don't want this stuff.A number of neighbors took advantage of the walk bys so I also stopped at three yard sales. Tempted. I took only cash with me, and didn't spend a dime. Somehow, a credit card or checkbook is dangerous at these places.Tonight is Pantasia at Hoover, but we've seen them a number of times, so we may go down and watch a sunset.Sunset August 25, 2010 (Source: Collecting my Thoughts) Sat, 28 Aug 2010 04:00:00 +0100 868470 http://rabid-librarian.blogspot.com/2010/08/but-first-bit-of-blogging.html I admit it. Until the other day, I could not tell you who Ken Mehlman was. Although I am probably more political (being on the progressive left) than many people, I don't keep up with the Republicans as much as I ought, especially the chairs of their national committee. But the other day I subscribe to Joe. My. God. And then Mehlman came out as gay, after denying it for years and working against gays in so many ways for years. And Joe Jervis has been extremely educational. The good news is that, finally having come to terms with himself, apparently, he has come out as an advocate for gay marriage. The bad news, of course, is that given his past, it will be an uphill road in getting gay activists to forgive, and they're certainly not going to forget--nor should they. Here's a quote that Joe put up by Pam Spaulding, as quoted in the New York Times: "While it’s nice that Ken has finally come out of the closet as an advocate, it’s really hard to forgive him for the damage he did to the community by working actively against it for pay for years. That he can coast on the gains for our community by supporting AFER’s stellar work on Prop 8 on the backs of many during his tenure at the RNC who bore the brunt of homophobia, those who died as a result of hate crimes, the activists who were assailed professionally is unbelievable. Yet here we are in 2010 watching it unfold. As a human being Mehlman owes the community a serious apology for fomenting homophobia for political gain.” I wish we lived in a world where gay people would not feel like they had to keep their orientation--a basic aspect of their lives--secret. I also wish that they would not channel their self-loathing--bred by an intolerant society--into activities into hypocrisy and activities that hurt other gay people. ... Sat, 28 Aug 2010 04:00:00 +0100 868375 http://collectingmythoughts.blogspot.com/2010/08/how-to-promote-social-agenda-with.html If I were to tell you I still have my 1955 waist measurement, I wouldn't exactly be lying, but I would be measuring my thigh and not my waist with a tape measure and my fingers crossed. So it is with "developed countries" medical statistics like this one--"The U.S. spends more money per person on medical care than any other developed country in the world." (JAMA, July 28, 2010 citing OECD 2009 statistics). Notice, that's "per person" and not per citizen as it is in most countries. Someday I'd like to see a breakdown, by developed country, of non-citizens in their health care system, people who arrive with exotic diseases, not knowing the language, and with unfamiliar cultural patterns. Of course, it's a bit difficult to flee to Ireland or Finland from Guatemala or Haiti, isn't it? And since we have so many ethnicities in the USA, I'd like to see a comparison of health and disease of Scandinavian Americans as compared to their 2nd and 3rd cousins once removed in Norway, Sweden and Finland, or 2nd generation middle class Mexican Americans compared with their peasant cousins still living in the home village in Mexico. Or Haitian American doctors and rock stars compared to working family in Port-Au-Prince. Oh, those aren't developed countries are they? No, but those new Americans had American healthcare resources at their disposal.Obamacare trumped up measurements did not just come in since he took office in 2009--his plans have been in many government plans and planning for decades. Here's one of three "medical models" (the others being clinical and public health) currently in place, according to JAMA, July 28 (Commentary, p. 465, R. H. Brook)1. Redistribution of wealth; 2. meaningful guaranteed jobs for all adults to have the income to pursue healthy behavior; 3. helping children feel safe and be healthy and ready to learn; 4. ... Sat, 28 Aug 2010 04:00:00 +0100 866599 http://mblc.state.ma.us/jobs/find_jobs/rss.php?job_id=6361 Part-Time Library Assistant Shady Hill School For close to ten decades, Shady Hill, a school of 515 students (PS-8) and seventy-five full- and part-time teachers, has been a leader in progressive elementary education. The year-long central subject study, which emphasizes strong content, the use of primary sources, acquisition of essential skills, and self-discovery, forms the core of our curriculum. The school’s program allows children to explore their worlds and test their powers; we seek to develop independent, joyful and curious learners who respect their own accomplishments and those of others. We strive to be a community whose values are strong and which is unafraid to engage students in important questions. As a diverse school, we believe that a varied and inclusive community is an educational and moral imperative that empowers us all. Therefore, we especially welcome applications from candidates who will contribute to the diversity of the community. The Shady Hill Library is an essential resource for our students, faculty, and apprentice teachers. Librarians provide weekly instruction, as well as reference, readers’ advisory and curricular support for the entire school community. Our fully automated facilities include a collection of 25,000 books and audio-visual materials, and a lab containing seventeen Mac computers. Specific Responsibilities: • Oversee all circulation desk duties • Manage volunteers • Assist with general collection maintenance and processing of new books • Assist librarian with some Lower School classes Position open September 1, 2010. Please send a cover letter and resume to: Jennifer Polshek, Library Director, Shady Hill School, 178 Coolidge Hill, Cambridge, MA 02138. Fax: 617-520-9387. No phone calls, please. (Source: MBLC Job Listings) Sat, 28 Aug 2010 00:19:59 +0100 866318 http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/2010/aug/28/posy-simmonds-tamara-drewe-interview 'A graphic novel is like a film. There are close-ups and long-shots. You choose the location and the props. You do the make-up and the lighting and you get the characters to act.'A couple of months ago Posy Simmonds found herself ensconced in a French hotel suite for 48 hours being interviewed, almost continuously, by TV and radio stations. She was talking about the film version of her graphic novel Tamara Drewe, which was then about to premiere at Cannes and is now about to open in London. Her French is very good, but she still brushed up on her vocabulary to anticipate a few likely questions. "I thought they'd ask what was my favourite scene and so I prepared two answers: the attempt to get the goats to mate – 'couplement des chèvres' – which in fact didn't make the final cut, and the 'lulling the spouse' scene – 'endormir l'épouse' – which did.""Lulling the spouse" was a tactic devised by the detective novelist and inveterate philanderer Nicholas Hardiman, who, along with his long suffering wife Beth, runs the rural writers' colony at the heart of Tamara Drewe. "Behind it is the idea that to avoid suspicion, you must first arouse it," Simmonds laughs. "So you tell the spouse, rather unconvincingly, that, unexpectedly, you're going to be very late this evening and you'll be at mutual friend X's house. And then you actually are at X's house when the anxious spouse rings up, which rather puts them off checking up on you again for a while."No wonder Simmonds's astute facility in anatomising the foibles of her characters has led Tamara Drewe to be described as The Archers on Viagra. It's a neat line, but in fact her story's literary antecedent is grander than Ambridge. And as her career has progressed her work has become progressively richer and more serious, if no less entertaining, than even the most convincingly sophisticated soap opera. ... Fri, 27 Aug 2010 23:05:36 +0100 866291 http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/2010/aug/28/will-self-bigness-and-littleness As a child, Will Self collected doll's house furniture, trolls and miniature dictionaries. In later life, he has come to have a special admiration for artists whose work addresses size and scale – and transcends the Lilliputian character of the modern ageSome time in the summer of 1992 I sat down in a four-square and fusty house that my then wife and I were renting in the Oxfordshire countryside and typed these words: "Some people lose their sense of proportion, I've lost my sense of scale." Over the succeeding five days I wrote a section a day of a piece called simply "Scale". Its ostensible subject was the mental disintegration of an opiate-addicted scholar living in a bungalow next to the Bekonscot Model Village in Beaconsfield – and this had obvious autobiographical resonances; but the organising principle of the material was the very perceptual conundrum implied by the opening line. Indeed, while like most writers I mistrust any romantic talk of "inspiration", even at the time I felt that "Scale" was coming to me with a peculiarly deductive fluidity, that each successive sentence seemed logically to derive from that initial and perplexing proposition.Eighteen years later I find myself on the brink of publishing a second work owing its genesis to my abiding preoccupation with the very big and the very little. The first part of a trilogy of fictionalised memoirs collectively called Walking to Hollywood, this piece, in fact, has the title "Very Little", and while seemingly a flight of – admittedly miserable – fantasy, detailing my destructive relationship with a monumental sculptor who happens to be a person of restricted height, it is in reality as close to a true piece of autobiography as anything I've written.Why should physical scale so preoccupy me? The most obvious explanation is that I myself am on the large side, as are most of the men from my family. ... Fri, 27 Aug 2010 23:05:35 +0100 866292 http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/aug/28/doris-lessing-rose-tremain-audiobooks The Golden Notebook by Doris Lessing, The Colour by Rose Tremain and Body Surfing by Anita ShreveThe Golden Notebook, by Doris Lessing, read by Juliet Stevenson (30hrs unabridged, Naxos, £65)This feminist classic, which features on every serious Must Read Book list, is the one novel I consistently failed to finish in the days when I could still read print. Maybe calling it a novel didn't help. Lessing is on my personal Top 100 Novelists list because of The Grass Is Singing, The Fifth Child and The Good Terrorist, books with stories that grip you from start to finish. The Golden Notebook, published in 1962 when she was 43, is a thinly disguised version of her life from around 1940 to 1955. Anna Wulf, the narrator, is typing the contents of the four notebooks – black, red, yellow and blue – she has been keeping into one big, all-encompassing golden notebook. The black one describes Rhodesia, where she grew up, the red her Communist party associations, the blue is her personal journal and the yellow is a novel in progress about all of her other lives. It's complex and non-chronological; events overlap; characters you think are dead suddenly reappear; and the novel, written in the third person about the fictitious writer Anna, her first book, her friends, their shared lovers, husbands and children, if you know anything about Lessing's own life is, given the necessary name changes, pretty much all true. So why make it so tricksy? Why not just write it as a narrative starting with the handsome trainee RAF pilots and European refugees she socialised and slept with in Rhodesia during the war, the drinking and dancing, the political meetings in small hotels and then London, where, like all free-thinking, independent women, she had radical views about Stalinism, the nuclear threat, the cold war, sex? Enter the golden Juliet Stevenson, whose cool, intelligent voice can make sense of anything. ... Fri, 27 Aug 2010 23:05:31 +0100 866295 http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/aug/28/candia-mcwilliam-winter-andrew-motion Self-conscious prose hides raw emotion in a memoir of sorrow, pain and love. By Andrew MotionCandia McWilliam began going blind in the spring of 2006 (she was judging the Booker prize at the time, and remains alive to the bleak comedy of the timing). She was soon diagnosed with blepharospasm – a condition that made it first difficult and then impossible for her to open her eyes. The affliction would be terrible for anyone. For McWilliam, whose sense of pleasure, direction, value and reward in life was greatly to do with reading, it was an especially bitter blow. This memoir gives an account of how she coped, laying its narrative of suffering over the story of her life, and leading it eventually towards the present – and a fragile recovery of sight. It is in some parts extremely sad, in some indulgent, in some brilliantly written, in some comically jewelled, in some shrewd, and in some surprisingly naive. Some readers will find it indigestible; others will be persuaded that its less successful elements speak powerfully to its strengths in order to create an unusually revealing self-portrait.McWilliam's prose has always courted – or been the occasion of – controversy. Although her previous three novels and one collection of short stories have described a gradual transition from elaboration to comparative simplicity, her style remains, as it has always been, high. In the early days this meant she was often accused of pretension: Pseuds Corner thought it was Christmas every time she opened her mouth. Here she has taken another stride towards plain speaking, though she still loves to build her sentences on tall arches; she still drops names; she still writes about money as though everyone had buckets of the stuff ("Olly's godfather . . . ... Fri, 27 Aug 2010 23:05:30 +0100 866296 http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/aug/28/fay-weldon-kehua-review The new Fay Weldon is rich in anarchic wisdom, says Stevie DaviesFay Weldon's new novel is a warmly exuberant metafiction. It's a story of grannies and great-grannies. A writer's zany journal of the work-in-progress. A tall tale of Maori spirits, female fugitives, marriage, sex, murder and anything else that comes into the writer's head. A saturnalian yarn of gothic haunted houses. The writer's granddaughter wants to know if those Maori spirits, the kehua, are "that rattling sound I can hear down there?" "No," replies her mum, "that's just your granny typing on the keyboard." Early in her career Weldon published the radical feminist Down Among the Women; forty years later this novel might be subtitled Down Among the Old Women Writers.Over the novel, "the kehua hang unseen . . . like fruit bats". I want to counsel you, reader: in all the confusion, stick with the old women. Granny may know best. At 92, Beverley has elaborated an anarchic wisdom of her own. But beneath the comedy we catch serious resonances: a testament of age in its final house, witnessing ancestral damage and the ravages of time, yearning to gather in what has been dispersed. Along with this goes a warning to younger generations: patch up your wrecked houses before it's too late; don't, for pity's sake, try to have it all.Kehua! is governed by the conceit of a host of friendly but addled Maori spirits liminal between life and death. These lost spirits pursue Weldon's lost characters in a plot as wayward as it is semi-intelligible. Everyone is running. Granny, daughter, granddaughter and great-granddaughter Lola are legging it away from the awfulness of family.Beverley brought the kehua to Europe, when she escaped a New Zealand childhood of murder, suicide and abuse; her granddaughter, Scarlet, is on the point of quitting her husband for her lover. It is Granny's job to intervene if she can. And somehow Scarlet is stuck in Beverley's kitchen. ... Fri, 27 Aug 2010 23:05:22 +0100 866303 http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/aug/28/lights-out-wonderland-dbc-pierre Alan Warner is impressed by DBC Pierre's fast and furious satire on contemporary decadenceIn a perfect inversion of plain truth, the Royal Bank of Scotland recently assured from billboards that it is "Here For You". In reality the exact contrary is true: We Are Here For It. Capitalism without pesky democracy is our future. If any novelist can collate the killing irony of what is happening around us it is DBC Pierre, who has boiled it down to a culinary emulsion of Hunter S Thompson and Ludwig Bemelmans.Gabriel Brockwell is an anti-globalisation activist whose daddy never loved him, a booze- and cocaine-partial sybarite in his 20s. His sanctimonious rehab guru, "Spread, creased, and folded by culture into a clever likeness of a man", insists: "Gabriel . . . I don't know whether to treat you or publish you!"Like Herman Hesse's Harry Haller, from Steppenwolf, Gabriel is liberated from the contradictions raging within by a pledge to commit suicide after one final blowout. Torching his rehab establishment, he flees England with a stash of cocaine and the embezzled funds from an anti-capitalist action group. He heads for Tokyo, where his childhood comrade – Nelson Smuts – works. An implosive neophyte chef – "the epicurian underworld pulled him into its rarest bowel" – Smuts is bound for the blessing of a Michelin star. Smuts's promise has been sponsored by a sinister party organiser and international playboy, Didier Laxalt, "the godfather of high-octane catering".And it is wine lore that sets up this brilliant satire: Marius is a vine so precious it grows with the assistance of virgins' pheromones and transports the imbiber with visions of its Cote d'Azur slope; the grape is "an ovary inseminated with dreams". It is accompanied by highly toxic blowfish, cut "so thin you could watch porn through it". Gabriel enters a night of gangsters, a teenage girl, a vast fish tank and an octopus. ... Fri, 27 Aug 2010 23:05:20 +0100 866305 http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2010/aug/28/alexei-sayle-family-values The comedian and writer talks about his familyMy family always knew we were different. It was something we revelled in, and it was accepted. We were communists, we were part of this bigger thing. Generally, we were happy with that difference. It made us feel good about ourselves.In many ways, we were ordinary, working-class people, but communism was always there – for instance, in the choices we made about what was seen on television, which was anything by the Unity Theatre, or anything from the Soviet Union. I was allowed to buy British comics, but not American ones. But it wasn't like being Amish.Molly, my mother, is 95 this year. We are friends. It's a complicated relationship, but we're very close. She's difficult, particularly with me – she gets too wound up and invests an awful lot in me. But I love her – she's my mother. She's adored by people – the ones that adore her really think she's wonderful.Was she a good mother? In some ways, yes. She was very good about nutrition, putting money aside for me and making sure I got an education. And I was adored, always told I was special. But there was also the shouting and screaming; it could be unsettling. And sometimes, the fact that she wasn't like anyone made you want to swap her for someone else. When I was a teenager, it used to really shock people when they'd see Molly and me in the pub, telling each other to fuck off.Joe, my father, was very genial, and people loved him. He started to get ill when I was young, and in a way, he's a mystery to me. His life before Molly is mysterious because he was quite old when he met her. Later, it was either Alzheimer's disease or a series of strokes, and it was spread over a long time. Seeing him disintegrate was never discussed, but it was very traumatic, and I do very much regret that I didn't know him. I was very confused – from about 14, I was never in the house because it was too painful. He died in 1983. He used to come to see me in shows. ... Fri, 27 Aug 2010 23:05:19 +0100 866306 http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/aug/28/beasts-being-ian-holding-review Diana Evans enjoys the bleak atmospherics of a post-apocalyptic tale in the African bushIn his first novel, Unfeeling, Ian Holding was cagey about where his account of a white farming community being slaughtered by black militants was set, though the imprint of Robert Mugabe was obvious enough. His second novel is also, we presume, set in modern Zimbabwe, but this time the picture is even hazier, the edges blurred and details deliberately withheld, so that the story itself is precarious, despite the vividness of its telling.An unnamed character, while scavenging for food amid a post-apocalyptic wasteland of charred bodies, bombed pit latrines and shelled shacks, is captured by soldiers and taken on a journey, destination unknown. Sold to an old man and strung up, he fears he is about to be eaten, until he is stolen by two young men with other plans. At the back of a deserted shopping centre he meets the rest of his new captors' party: another man and a pregnant woman. He is attached to a wheelbarrow, in which the pregnant woman is deposited, her legs splayed around supplies of maize cobs, water and tins of beans, and the aimless journey continues, across barren roads, sudden glades, valleys of bush and horrifying human remains.Although there is no clear point to their wandering, a sense of urgency and tension is evoked by the menacing desolation that infuses all around them, described in impressively exacting detail, and the ongoing question of whether or not the woman will survive to give birth to her child. These sections of the novel are written in a heightened present-tense narrative that strains to contain its subject, yet has the strange effect, when combined with the anonymity of the characters and the absence of background information on their plight, of keeping pathos just beyond our reach. There is virtually no dialogue. Some scenes cry out for dramatisation but remain trapped behind a gauze of inflated language. ... Fri, 27 Aug 2010 23:05:18 +0100 866307 http://lib.wmrc.uiuc.edu/enb/2010/08/27/epa-denies-petition-calling-for-lead-ammunition-ban/ The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency today denied a petition calling for a ban on the production and distribution of lead hunting ammunition. EPA sent a letter to the petitioners explaining the rejection – that letter can be found here: http://www.epa.gov/oppt/chemtest/pubs/sect21.html Steve Owens, EPA assistant administrator for the Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention, issued the following statement on the agency’s decision: “EPA today denied a petition submitted by several outside groups for the agency to implement a ban on the production and distribution of lead hunting ammunition. EPA reached this decision because the agency does not have the legal authority to regulate this type of product under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) – nor is the agency seeking such authority. This petition, which was submitted to EPA at the beginning of this month, is one of hundreds of petitions submitted to EPA by outside groups each year. This petition was filed under TSCA, which requires the agency to review and respond within 90 days. EPA is taking action on many fronts to address major sources of lead in our society, such as eliminating childhood exposures to lead; however, EPA was not and is not considering taking action on whether the lead content in hunting ammunition poses an undue threat to wildlife.  As there are no similar jurisdictional issues relating to the agency’s authority over fishing sinkers, EPA – as required by law – will continue formally reviewing a second part the petition related to lead fishing sinkers. Those wishing to comment specifically on the fishing tackle issue can do so by visiting http://www.regulations.gov. EPA will consider comments that are submitted by September 15.” (Source: Environmental News Bits) Fri, 27 Aug 2010 21:42:04 +0100 866468 http://www.comarmsblog.com/2010/08/friday-fun-end-of-summer.html Most kids are back in school. Labor Day, the unofficial end of summer, is next weekend. Want to get in that last little bit of summer fun, before the leaves start changing and the warm weather goes away? Here're a few suggestions: 1) Make the trek to Kansas City! Soon the weather will be rainy and sloshy. right now it's cool and the days are still long, which makes it the ideal time to spend the day in the big city. Check out Kansas City events here: http://www.visitkc.com/events/index.aspx 2) Visit the Natural History Museum at the University of Kansas in Lawrence. It's everything you wanted to know about the history of our planet, and more! A great way to get kids fired up about learning, just as school starts. http://naturalhistory.ku.edu/visit 3) Attend the Kansas City Renaissance Festival with your kids, and your pups! Visit the vendors, hear the musicians, play games and interact with a host of historical characters. Better yet--go in costume! (Starts next week) http://www.kcrenfest.com/  4) Want to stick around Leavenworth? Check out First City Museum, the Richard Allen Cultural Center, the Farmers Market at Haymarket Square, the C.W. Parker Carousel Museum, or Fort Leavenworth's Frontier Army Museum (free and open Mon-Sat). 5) Check out all the great state parks nearby! http://bit.ly/bwLCCv 6) Worlds of Fun amusement park's regular season has ended, but they have special hours just for fall. There are haunted attractions for adults and days and times with no-scare attractions for kids. http://www.worldsoffun.com/ (Source: CARL Book Beacon) Fri, 27 Aug 2010 18:53:00 +0100 866262 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/LibraryCloud/~3/rpYgfMQEuAQ/its-book.html In the interest of full disclosure on a Friday afternoon I will preface the remainder of this post with; I love Lane Smith's books. Some of my favorite titles are John, Paul, George, and Ben, Madam President, and Big Plans. That list does not include his work with Jon Scieszka such as The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales, Math Curse, and best of all, The True Story of the Three Little Pigs. So it is not all that unusual It's a Book was recently added to the library's juvenile collection.MacMillan Children's Books has a YouTube channel. Here's It's a Book:It's a Book is a comical and accurate view of the books verses media debate narrated by a mouse, a jackass, and a monkey. A technology focused jackass consistently questions the monkey reading a book about its various "functions." The patient response to every question asked is, "No, it's a book." Illustrations are crisp, clean, and colorful; a double page spread detailing hours passing as jackass becomes fully involved reading monkey's book is classic. Mouse has the final word in this argument, and therein lie the questions this book seems to be gathering.Reviews have been mixed for It's a Book; while School Library Journal listed it as a starred review (Gr. 3-5) in their August 2010 issue, others have disagreed. I've added it to the collection of titles to be used during a Mock Caldecott session after Labor Day. I am deeply curious how a group of pre-service teachers will view the book, illustrations, use of the word jackass (as opposed to donkey), and how or if it would fit into a classroom.Other issues aside, wouldn't the video make a great ice-breaker for a library instruction session? (Source: Library Cloud) Fri, 27 Aug 2010 17:31:00 +0100 866419 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/FreakonomicsBlog/~3/8SlRoVsQiBc/ Slate takes a look at India's half-billion-dollar-a-year reproductive-tourism industry. "The primary appeal of India is that it is cheap, hardly regulated, and relatively safe," writes Amana Fontanella-Khan. "Surrogacy can cost up to $100,000 in the United States, while many Indian clinics charge $22,000 or less. Very few questions are asked. Same-sex couples, single parents and even busy women who just don't have time to give birth are welcomed by doctors." (Source: Freakonomics Blog) Fri, 27 Aug 2010 17:30:21 +0100 866373 http://www.madisonpubliclibrary.org/new/index.php/2010/08/27/getting-ready-for-school/ You’ll find more than 100 short, web-based school videos for adults and kids on the Sesame Street website that cover just about any concern or topic related to getting ready for school.  When you type “school” in the search videos box, you will get a list of 116 school related videos. Elmo’s World:  School is a 17-minute video in which Elmo answers many of the questions and addresses many of the concerns that youngsters have about going to school. Tatiyana Loves Her School follows a little girl through her day at school.  Other videos feature a variety of Sesame Street characters and kids exploring different ways to get to school, what a day at school is like and a sped up version of a school day (a full day in 37 seconds!). You can also find lots of books about getting ready for school at the library, including The First Day of School by Nicola Barber from The Big Day! series of books for children.  This series focuses on normal life adjustments and helps children and their caregivers explore the feelings involved with change and transition. Even though school is starting soon, we’ve still got a couple of weeks of summer left at the Madison Public Library!  If you are participating in the Summer Reading Club, prizes are available until August 31. (Source: What's New) Fri, 27 Aug 2010 16:08:14 +0100 866239 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/teleread/ezFR/~3/j7AVBvvJBDA/ From the Digital Collections Home Page: National Digital Library Polona presents the most precious and valuable documents from the collection of the National Library. From the Points of Interest Blog from Booklist: …treasures including manuscripts such as Ptolmey’s Cosmographia, the Chopin collection which will eventually include digital versions of all of his manuscripts, the history of Warsaw, archives and periodicals covering World War II in Poland, and a Yiddish literature collection. There are also collections of children’s literature, underground publications from World War II, and serials from the 19th and early 20th century. Historians, musicians, and scholars in Slavic and Jewish studies will find a wealth of material here. Access the National Library of Poland Digital Collections Home Page Via Resource Shelf Digg us. Slashdot us. Facebook us. Twitter us. Share the news. (Source: TeleRead: Bring the E-Books Home) Fri, 27 Aug 2010 15:19:02 +0100 866401 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TechsourceBlog/~3/Px_704zx3Kc/asking-why.html Anyone who has spent time with small children knows that "why?" is one of the best and most vexing questions people can ask. "Why?" probes for motivations, explanations, understanding. It demands reflection and clear communication, and I think it's safe to say that most people have a complex relationship with this tiny word. Library techies can leverage "why?" to change how their organizations operate by questioning a ibrary procedure. Discussing workflow with coworkers and asking "why?" a lot, while offering ways to automate procedures, can offer value to your colleagues and your organization (and maybe wreak a little havoc). But "why?" is also a question library techs sometimes dread. "Why did it work before but not this time?" "Why is it broken?" "Why am I getting this error message?" Often the answer is straightforward: a setting has been changed, or a network problem is creating the error. But sometimes, getting to why would require an electrical engineering background and a path of inquiry beyond simply fixing the problem. Nothing is quite so frustrating as resolving a persistent error only to have your techjoy smashed to bits by a coworker disappointed because you're not quite sure why the computer stopped recognizing the printer, you only know that they're now friends again. Before you all send me angry email: yes, most of the time, knowing why something isn't working is the key to fixing it. Computer not connecting to the Internet? Well, that frayed Ethernet cable might be the culprit. This is the third time in a year that's happened? Well, maybe we should move the cable out of the path of the vacuum. Why did your computer's Ethernet port stop working? No idea. It's dead, I installed a network card, now you're online again. If it dies again, that's a different story. ... Fri, 27 Aug 2010 14:47:19 +0100 867912 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/teleread/ezFR/~3/yuzvjESagNU/ The iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad make great educational platforms for youngsters; we’ve run many stories on their potential in that respect. But Danial Donahoo from Wired’s “GeekDad” blog wonders if there may now be too much of a mediocre thing. The iPhone app development model, Donahoo notes, has led to a kind of “gold rush” mentality, in which everyone develops obvious apps as quickly as possible hoping to be the first (or fifth, or twenty-fifth) to market and “strike it rich.” Consequently, there are a lot of apps for kids that are not well thought through, not developmentally appropriate, or simply way too generic! And, in my professional life and personal life having reviewed and played a lot of these games I think it is time to ask developers to start focusing on quality, rather than quantity. He points to a screenshot of “News & Noteworthy” education apps, 19 out of 20 of which teach ABCs. Do we, he asks, really need that many alphabet apps? Donahoo lists some examples of potentially great educational apps that are sorely missing—digital building blocks, for example, or gyroscope/accelerometer-aided physics applications. Where is the application that uses computer programming concepts and ideas I haven’t thought of yet because I am not smart enough, and creates something that becomes essential to all children’s learning and development and can only exist on the iPad? A major basis behind the TeleRead idea is the use of mobile reading devices in education. But iPhones and iPads (and in fact mini-tablets and tablets in general) have a lot more potential for learning than just as reading devices, and Donahoo is right that a lot of this potential is being sadly neglected. Digg us. Slashdot us. Facebook us. Twitter us. Share the news. (Source: TeleRead: Bring the E-Books Home) Fri, 27 Aug 2010 14:15:00 +0100 866405 http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/aug/27/jonathan-franzen-book-club Jonathan Franzen will be in conversation with John Mullan at Kings Place on 5 OctoberDate: Tuesday 5 OctoberTime: 7.00pmVenue: Hall One, Kings Place, 90 York Way, London N1 9AGPrice: £9.50Jonathan Franzen talks to John Mullan about his much celebrated 2001 novel, The Corrections, a multi-generational epic about a midwestern family. Patriarch Alfred Lambert, a retired engineer, is struggling with Parkinson's disease and dementia. His wife, Enid, on anti-depressants and poorly-equipped to cope with his illness, is attempting to gather the family together for "one last Christmas". Their three children, Gary, a suburban banker, Chip, a failed academic and screenwriter, and Denise, a gourmet chef who is having an affair with her married boss, are battling their own frustrations and disappointments. Stretching from the mid-20th century to the new millennium, this big-hearted tragicomedy is an examination of contemporary America through the triumphs and dysfunctions of one ordinary family. Tickets are £9.50 online or £11.50 from the box office: www.kingsplace.co.ukBox Office: 020 7520 1490Jonathan FranzenFictionguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds (Source: Guardian Unlimited Books) Fri, 27 Aug 2010 11:00:00 +0100 865459