10.31.07
Posted in News at 10:22 am by Paloma Cruz
Authors to converge at book festival
– Houston Chronicle2
Novelist Tom Perrotta, first daughter Jenna Bush and historian Joseph
J. Ellis are among headliners at this weekend’s Texas Book Festival in
Austin. More than 200 writers — some Texas-rooted, others with a
national profile — will be on hand at the annual event on the grounds
of the Capitol.
[snip]
This is the 12th year for the book fest, which Laura Bush started to
raise money for Texas libraries. More than 45,000 people attended last
year. For a complete schedule, visit www.texasbookfestival.org.
Footnotes
2 = article may expire in a few weeks
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10.23.07
Posted in News at 9:26 am by Paloma Cruz
Am I the only person who actually doesn’t care about what J.K. Rowling recent revelation about her belief that Albus Dumbledore is gay? Dumbledore is one of the central characters in her very popular series of Harry Potter books.
Personally, I just think it’s a publicity ploy.
Others, however, do care.
Outing gives new meaning to passages about wizard Dumbledore in Harry Potter books
– Houston Chronicle2
With author J.K. Rowling’s revelation that master wizard Albus Dumbledore is gay, some passages about the Hogwarts headmaster and rival wizard Gellert Grindelwald have taken on a new and clearer meaning.
The British author stunned her fans at Carnegie Hall on Friday night when she answered one young reader’s question about Dumbledore by saying that he was gay and had been in love with Grindelwald, whom he had defeated years ago in a bitter fight.
[snip]
Footnotes
2 = article may expire in a few weeks
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10.22.07
Posted in News at 9:08 am by Paloma Cruz
Libraries Shun Deals to Place Books on Web
– New York Times
Several major research libraries have rebuffed offers from Google and Microsoft to scan their books into computer databases, saying they are put off by restrictions these companies want to place on the new digital collections.
The research libraries, including a large consortium in the Boston area, are instead signing on with the Open Content Alliance, a nonprofit effort aimed at making their materials broadly available.
Libraries that agree to work with Google must agree to a set of terms, which include making the material unavailable to other commercial search services. Microsoft places a similar restriction on the books it converts to electronic form. The Open Content Alliance, by contrast, is making the material available to any search service.
It costs the Open Content Alliance as much as $30 to scan each book, a
cost shared by the group’s members and benefactors, so there are
obvious financial benefits to libraries of Google’s wide-ranging offer,
started in 2004.
[snip]
I can see why libraries would decline to participate. What do you think?
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10.21.07
Posted in General at 1:00 pm by Paloma Cruz
Houston social media innovator Ed Schipul responds to Shel Israel’s request for feedback on the following question: “What should I tell the librarians?” Shel is presenting at the California Association of Librarians conference about how social media can help libraries.
Ed has a very good response that goes way beyond social media.
What do you think Shel should tell librarians?
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10.20.07
Posted in Resources at 5:10 pm by Paloma Cruz
Found this on Lifehacker:
Use WorldCat to Search Libraries
The next time you need to find something at your local library, try searching through WorldCat, a ginormous network of libraries, library content, and library services. You can use WorldCat to search for everything you would search for at your local library, find free content (downloadable audiobooks, for example), articles and citations, historical documents, and many more kinds of information from libraries all over the world. You can also use WorldCat to check out items directly from libraries you have an active membership with (this can vary by library).
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