by: Jeannine Stein
The nose knows when it comes to detecting the condition of old books. A new study finds that the familiar musty smell old books give off may be a better way to tell their condition than traditional ways that typically destroy part of the document.
Researchers from the UK and Slovenia developed a new technique called "material degradomics," which examines the gasses old books and paper documents produce as they degrade. For the study they examined 72 19th and 20th century historic papers that included paper made with wood fiber, gelatin and rosin-sized papers and coated and uncoated papers, and identified 15 volatile organic compounds that act as degradation markers used to detect decaying paper. In the study the authors described the smell of old books as "A combination of grassy notes with a tang of acids and a hint of vanilla over an underlying mustiness," which sounds like some wines we've had.
Among the compounds on the list were furfural (an industrial chemical compound stemming from agricultural byproducts), acetic acid (an organic acid), and products derived from lipid peroxidation, a process of cell damage caused when free radicals take electrons from cell membrane lipids.
Books are usually assessed for stability by removing samples of paper and then analyzing them with lab tools. But this process is less invasive, and may be used to help protect other antique artifacts.
The study appeared in a recent issue of the journal Analytical Chemistry.
from: LA Times
Monday, December 7, 2009
Sunday, December 6, 2009
Forgotten Bookmarks
The blog of someone who works in a used and rare bookstore and posts the interesting (described on the blog as "personal, funny, heartbreaking and weird") things left behind in books by the people who sell their books to the store. Check it out here.
Saturday, December 5, 2009
Backcheck: a Hockey Retrospective/Regard Sur le Hockey
"This digital project's primary focus is on the early days of hockey" in Canada. Contains information and materials on the French-Canadian tradition; women's hockey; and "kids' teams, junior teams, company teams, town teams, [and] prisoners' teams." Includes a children's version. In English and French.
From Library and Archives Canada
From Library and Archives Canada
Friday, December 4, 2009
These aren't your geek's graphic novels
by: Harriet Reisen
For me, there's no page turner quite like a graphic novel. A good one takes me back to the forbidden story-form joys of my childhood — comic books, movies and True Confessions magazines.
The trouble is, I'm not crazy about tales involving superpowers, fantasy worlds, horror, sci-fi or armed combat, which leaves out about nine-tenths of the genre. My heart belongs to women's stories about their own flawed selves and their tribulations in the big bad world.
'Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic'
Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic, by Alison Bechdel, paperback, 232 pages, Mariner Books, list price: $13.95
Fun Home: a Family Tragicomic, is Alison Bechdel's coming-of-age tale about growing up in a household where the truth is as dressed up and silenced as the people in the caskets in the family funeral business — what the kids call the "Fun Home."
In their real home, the roost is ruled by dad's obsession with decorative perfection. He restores the gingerbread to their denuded Victorian, and surrounds it with the perfume of flowers. Inside, floral wallpapers cover the truth — that where dad really lives is in the darkness of the closet homosexual, furtively seducing young boys.
Alison is also gay, but she has no idea what that is until she reads a book in college and recognizes herself.
The pictures in Fun Home, in black and blue on white, are as matter-of-fact as the evidence the heroine sifts to get to the bottom of the mystery of how she became herself.
'La Perdida'
La Perdida, by Jessica Abel, paperback, 288 pages, Pantheon, list price: $14.95
The first-person heroine of La Perdida, ("the lost one") by Jessica Abel, looks for her identity in Mexico, birthplace of her absent father. She carelessly crashes at an old casual boyfriend's apartment in Mexico City, pitching in sex in lieu of rent. With Frida Kahlo, the flamboyant painter and Stalinist as spiritual guide, she soon mistakes a nasty drug dealer for a fiery revolutionary. With her judgment in complete suspension, she winds up as an accomplice in criminal violence; she's lucky to escape with everything but her innocence. Abel tells her tale in English and in Spanish, with pictures that have the specificity and shadows of film noir.
'Cancer Vixen: A True Story'
Cancer Vixen: A True Story, by Marisa Acocella Marchetto, paperback, 224 pages, Pantheon, list price: $16.95
The drawings in Marisa Acocella Marchetto's Cancer Vixen are colorful, cartoonish, supremely stylish and totally delightful. They tell the story of a kid from the Jersey shore in love with New York's fashionable life, whose days are spent spoofing it for glossy magazines and queuing up on Tuesdays at the famous New Yorker market for cartoons — pardon me, drawings. Her life deepens in meaning after Sept. 11, when she turns the raw pain on the New York streets into her best work, and when, at 43, she finds the love of her life. On the verge of their wedding, she is diagnosed with cancer. Cancer Vixen is the story of what happened after that.
What's missing for me when I read good graphic novels is the pleasure of passing them on and getting leads to more. I don't know anybody else with my literary taste who cares about them. Months and months go by between good reads. If you've got a recommendation, I sure would like to know about it.
From: NPR
For me, there's no page turner quite like a graphic novel. A good one takes me back to the forbidden story-form joys of my childhood — comic books, movies and True Confessions magazines.
The trouble is, I'm not crazy about tales involving superpowers, fantasy worlds, horror, sci-fi or armed combat, which leaves out about nine-tenths of the genre. My heart belongs to women's stories about their own flawed selves and their tribulations in the big bad world.
'Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic'
Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic, by Alison Bechdel, paperback, 232 pages, Mariner Books, list price: $13.95
Fun Home: a Family Tragicomic, is Alison Bechdel's coming-of-age tale about growing up in a household where the truth is as dressed up and silenced as the people in the caskets in the family funeral business — what the kids call the "Fun Home."
In their real home, the roost is ruled by dad's obsession with decorative perfection. He restores the gingerbread to their denuded Victorian, and surrounds it with the perfume of flowers. Inside, floral wallpapers cover the truth — that where dad really lives is in the darkness of the closet homosexual, furtively seducing young boys.
Alison is also gay, but she has no idea what that is until she reads a book in college and recognizes herself.
The pictures in Fun Home, in black and blue on white, are as matter-of-fact as the evidence the heroine sifts to get to the bottom of the mystery of how she became herself.
'La Perdida'
La Perdida, by Jessica Abel, paperback, 288 pages, Pantheon, list price: $14.95
The first-person heroine of La Perdida, ("the lost one") by Jessica Abel, looks for her identity in Mexico, birthplace of her absent father. She carelessly crashes at an old casual boyfriend's apartment in Mexico City, pitching in sex in lieu of rent. With Frida Kahlo, the flamboyant painter and Stalinist as spiritual guide, she soon mistakes a nasty drug dealer for a fiery revolutionary. With her judgment in complete suspension, she winds up as an accomplice in criminal violence; she's lucky to escape with everything but her innocence. Abel tells her tale in English and in Spanish, with pictures that have the specificity and shadows of film noir.
'Cancer Vixen: A True Story'
Cancer Vixen: A True Story, by Marisa Acocella Marchetto, paperback, 224 pages, Pantheon, list price: $16.95
The drawings in Marisa Acocella Marchetto's Cancer Vixen are colorful, cartoonish, supremely stylish and totally delightful. They tell the story of a kid from the Jersey shore in love with New York's fashionable life, whose days are spent spoofing it for glossy magazines and queuing up on Tuesdays at the famous New Yorker market for cartoons — pardon me, drawings. Her life deepens in meaning after Sept. 11, when she turns the raw pain on the New York streets into her best work, and when, at 43, she finds the love of her life. On the verge of their wedding, she is diagnosed with cancer. Cancer Vixen is the story of what happened after that.
What's missing for me when I read good graphic novels is the pleasure of passing them on and getting leads to more. I don't know anybody else with my literary taste who cares about them. Months and months go by between good reads. If you've got a recommendation, I sure would like to know about it.
From: NPR
Thursday, December 3, 2009
Twitter new, helpful tool for county libraries
by: Kevin Spradlin
CUMBERLAND — Interested in meeting the Allegany County Bookmobile at Hannah Plaza in Cresaptown but running late?
Now you can simply log on to Twitter and see if the Bookmobile is on schedule.
The Allegany County Library System is using Twitter and other social networking sites as yet another way to bring the library experience closer to patrons — wherever they may be.
“I was familiar with Twitter but didn’t see the applications for it for us until reading some articles about how other libraries are using Twitter,” said Lisa McKenney, public services coordinator for the Allegany County Library System. “With these ideas, I started an account” using her e-mail “handle,” aclslisam.
McKenney “began posting messages about library events, new features on our Web site and catalog, new materials just received at the library ... and announcements. I include some personal reviews of books I’ve personally enjoyed reading or music that I would recommend to others to try.
”From that single account, two more have been established to help further the library system’s goal of serving as many patrons as possible in any way imaginable. John Taube, system director, created alleganylibrary, and Regina Spiker, who teaches the library system’s public computer classes, created one for teens with the handle spibrarian.
The Bookmobile can be reached on Twitter by searching for the handle alleganybkm.The Bookmobile’s account is the newest and has just four followers. Alleganylibrary has eight followers, while spibrarian has 30 followers. McKenney’s aclslisam has 50 followers and has posted more than 200 “tweets,” or comments, online.
“I’m a small librarian in a small library in a small town,” Spiker announced on a Web page devoted to industry news.
But that doesn’t mean small towns can’t go high-tech in a big way.
“Twitter provides a quick, current and immediate way to get the word out to everyone about what’s new at the library,” McKenney said. “So far, our followers continue to grow and we welcome the community to set up Twitter accounts and follow our postings. We continually explore new technologies that can help us bring the library programs, materials and services to our patrons and community.”
The potential is apparent. The Enoch Pratt Free Library System in Baltimore has more than 1,100 followers and has posted 3,341 tweets — from holiday greetings and schedules to announcing award-winning staff members’ accomplishments.
It’s a relatively simple process. With an e-mail account and Internet access — both of which can be created and found, respectively, at your local library — a computer user executes an easy search by the name of a person or business or by using an e-mail address.
With a single click of the mouse, the user can follow another Twitter user and be kept up to date on the goings-on of the library.
From: Cumberland Times-News
CUMBERLAND — Interested in meeting the Allegany County Bookmobile at Hannah Plaza in Cresaptown but running late?
Now you can simply log on to Twitter and see if the Bookmobile is on schedule.
The Allegany County Library System is using Twitter and other social networking sites as yet another way to bring the library experience closer to patrons — wherever they may be.
“I was familiar with Twitter but didn’t see the applications for it for us until reading some articles about how other libraries are using Twitter,” said Lisa McKenney, public services coordinator for the Allegany County Library System. “With these ideas, I started an account” using her e-mail “handle,” aclslisam.
McKenney “began posting messages about library events, new features on our Web site and catalog, new materials just received at the library ... and announcements. I include some personal reviews of books I’ve personally enjoyed reading or music that I would recommend to others to try.
”From that single account, two more have been established to help further the library system’s goal of serving as many patrons as possible in any way imaginable. John Taube, system director, created alleganylibrary, and Regina Spiker, who teaches the library system’s public computer classes, created one for teens with the handle spibrarian.
The Bookmobile can be reached on Twitter by searching for the handle alleganybkm.The Bookmobile’s account is the newest and has just four followers. Alleganylibrary has eight followers, while spibrarian has 30 followers. McKenney’s aclslisam has 50 followers and has posted more than 200 “tweets,” or comments, online.
“I’m a small librarian in a small library in a small town,” Spiker announced on a Web page devoted to industry news.
But that doesn’t mean small towns can’t go high-tech in a big way.
“Twitter provides a quick, current and immediate way to get the word out to everyone about what’s new at the library,” McKenney said. “So far, our followers continue to grow and we welcome the community to set up Twitter accounts and follow our postings. We continually explore new technologies that can help us bring the library programs, materials and services to our patrons and community.”
The potential is apparent. The Enoch Pratt Free Library System in Baltimore has more than 1,100 followers and has posted 3,341 tweets — from holiday greetings and schedules to announcing award-winning staff members’ accomplishments.
It’s a relatively simple process. With an e-mail account and Internet access — both of which can be created and found, respectively, at your local library — a computer user executes an easy search by the name of a person or business or by using an e-mail address.
With a single click of the mouse, the user can follow another Twitter user and be kept up to date on the goings-on of the library.
From: Cumberland Times-News
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
Hayward libraries to borrow Netflix model
by: Eric Kurhi
HAYWARD — City libraries soon will offer a new borrowing system that borrows from Netflix, the mail-based, no-late-fee movie rental service.
For a monthly fee, library users will be able to check out a limited number of materials for an unlimited amount of time. The optional system will eliminate due dates and overdue fees, asking for money upfront in return for no worries later. Pricing would begin at $2.99 a month for up to three items out at a time.
"About 20 percent of our library users are blocked from further checkouts because of the fines they have accrued," said acting library director Sean Reinhart, whose idea was approved by the City Council last week.
"These days, a lot of people want to do things on their own time frame. They're busy. Returning materials can be kind of low on their priority list and they end up with fines, and stop coming."
While other libraries around the nation have adopted the other part of the Netflix model — sending materials through the mail — Reinhart said Hayward won't be doing that for now.
"That's a whole other level of logistical problems," he said. "Books are different sizes and weights, and a whole lot heavier than DVDs. Some libraries have tried the mail system and some of them have worked, but a lot have failed."
That difference may mean that the Hayward model will be the first of its kind in the nation. Reinhart could not find a similar system for comparative purposes, and Sari Feldman, president of the national Public Library Association, said she hadn't heard of it before.
"I am very interested and very curious," said Feldman, director of Cuyahoga County libraries, serving the suburbs of Cleveland. "Sean is looking at what makes sense for his customer base, and offering a new convenience that makes the library increasingly attractive. I will circle back to hear how it works."
Reinhart said if a book is checked out on the "Fines-Free" plan for an extended period, and enough other customers request it, the library will purchase a new copy.
But Cal State East Bay head librarian Linda Dobb expressed concern that the open-ended checkout potentially could take research materials away from the public indefinitely.
"What if somebody really needed a particular item, and Hayward Public is one of the few places that has it?" she said. "If somebody absolutely has to have something and it is unique, there have always been ways for a library to recall an item."
Reinhart said the library's reference section is for in-house use only, and they stock very few out-of-print items in the first place.
"We simply do not have the space in our buildings nor the demand from our community to justify storing older, little-used items for very long," he said.
Reinhart said he's looking forward to seeing the results once the program starts, which will be before Christmas.
He said that if only 2 percent of library users opt into the program, it will more than match $94,000 the library took in from late fees last year. And the other 98 percent of users who don't opt to go fines-free will still be putting in money the old-fashioned way.
"I think the results will be eye-opening for libraries around the nation," Reinhart said.
From: Mercury News
HAYWARD — City libraries soon will offer a new borrowing system that borrows from Netflix, the mail-based, no-late-fee movie rental service.
For a monthly fee, library users will be able to check out a limited number of materials for an unlimited amount of time. The optional system will eliminate due dates and overdue fees, asking for money upfront in return for no worries later. Pricing would begin at $2.99 a month for up to three items out at a time.
"About 20 percent of our library users are blocked from further checkouts because of the fines they have accrued," said acting library director Sean Reinhart, whose idea was approved by the City Council last week.
"These days, a lot of people want to do things on their own time frame. They're busy. Returning materials can be kind of low on their priority list and they end up with fines, and stop coming."
While other libraries around the nation have adopted the other part of the Netflix model — sending materials through the mail — Reinhart said Hayward won't be doing that for now.
"That's a whole other level of logistical problems," he said. "Books are different sizes and weights, and a whole lot heavier than DVDs. Some libraries have tried the mail system and some of them have worked, but a lot have failed."
That difference may mean that the Hayward model will be the first of its kind in the nation. Reinhart could not find a similar system for comparative purposes, and Sari Feldman, president of the national Public Library Association, said she hadn't heard of it before.
"I am very interested and very curious," said Feldman, director of Cuyahoga County libraries, serving the suburbs of Cleveland. "Sean is looking at what makes sense for his customer base, and offering a new convenience that makes the library increasingly attractive. I will circle back to hear how it works."
Reinhart said if a book is checked out on the "Fines-Free" plan for an extended period, and enough other customers request it, the library will purchase a new copy.
But Cal State East Bay head librarian Linda Dobb expressed concern that the open-ended checkout potentially could take research materials away from the public indefinitely.
"What if somebody really needed a particular item, and Hayward Public is one of the few places that has it?" she said. "If somebody absolutely has to have something and it is unique, there have always been ways for a library to recall an item."
Reinhart said the library's reference section is for in-house use only, and they stock very few out-of-print items in the first place.
"We simply do not have the space in our buildings nor the demand from our community to justify storing older, little-used items for very long," he said.
Reinhart said he's looking forward to seeing the results once the program starts, which will be before Christmas.
He said that if only 2 percent of library users opt into the program, it will more than match $94,000 the library took in from late fees last year. And the other 98 percent of users who don't opt to go fines-free will still be putting in money the old-fashioned way.
"I think the results will be eye-opening for libraries around the nation," Reinhart said.
From: Mercury News
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
Ringing the changes: phone box becomes mini-library
Village that was set to lose its traditional red phone box and library service comes up with a plan to save both.
By: Steven Morris
When the mobile library stopped visiting, it was a blow for the villagers of Westbury-sub-Mendip. And when they found out they could lose their beloved red phone box, there was something of an outcry.
Happily a bright spark in the Somerset village (population 800) hatched a clever plan to tackle both difficulties. Why not buy the phone box and use it to set up a mini-library?
Today, the small but perfectly formed Westbury book box was doing a brisk trade. Adults were bringing in thrillers, romances and true-crime books, leaving them on the four wooden shelves and choosing another to take home. Young book fans were hunting around in the children's section – a big red box on the floor – for Roald Dahl and Horrid Henry favourites.
Parish councillor Bob Dolby, who cleans and polishes the phone box/library with his wife, Lyn, beamed with pride. "It has really taken off," he said. "Turnover is rapid and there's a good range of books, everything from reference books to biographies and blockbusters."
The scheme was the brainchild of resident Janet Fisher, who lives opposite the phone box. She floated the idea at a village tea party in August and the concept was accepted on the spot.
So the parish council bought the box, a Giles Gilbert Scott K6 design, for £1, and Dolby screwed the four shelves into place. A local business donated a sign and a wag added a "Silence please" notice. Residents donated books to get the project going and it became an instant hit, all for an outlay of just £30.
Fisher popped across the road today to swap an Ian Rankin novel. She was hoping to pick up a Michael Connelly book – "Some of the girls said there was one here" – but it had gone. She rejected the book on the life of Fred West and plumped for another American detective novel.
Fisher's neighbour, Angela Buchanan, strolled over to see what was new. She picked up a Penelope Lively the other day. Nobody has yet been tempted by the audio book she left of Laurence Olivier reading Charles Dickens. "It's such a brilliant idea. Our nearest library is Wells, four miles away, so if you don't want to go into the town but have run out of something to read, it's great you can use this. All sorts of interesting books turn up – manuals, picture books, good literary novels."
And unlike the library in Wells, the phone box library is open 365 days a year, 24 hours a day – and is lit at night. There is a regular check on it to see if some titles are not moving. These are then shipped on to a charity shop to keep the phone box collection fresh.
BT has received 770 applications for communities to "adopt a kiosk". So far 350 boxes have been handed to parish councils. Ideas for their afterlife have included a shower, art installations, even a toilet. Dolby said he was just pleased that a piece of street architecture in Westbury had been put to good use. "It's very pleasing that the phone box has been saved but is also being used to provide a service for the village."
from: the Guardian
By: Steven Morris
When the mobile library stopped visiting, it was a blow for the villagers of Westbury-sub-Mendip. And when they found out they could lose their beloved red phone box, there was something of an outcry.
Happily a bright spark in the Somerset village (population 800) hatched a clever plan to tackle both difficulties. Why not buy the phone box and use it to set up a mini-library?
Today, the small but perfectly formed Westbury book box was doing a brisk trade. Adults were bringing in thrillers, romances and true-crime books, leaving them on the four wooden shelves and choosing another to take home. Young book fans were hunting around in the children's section – a big red box on the floor – for Roald Dahl and Horrid Henry favourites.
Parish councillor Bob Dolby, who cleans and polishes the phone box/library with his wife, Lyn, beamed with pride. "It has really taken off," he said. "Turnover is rapid and there's a good range of books, everything from reference books to biographies and blockbusters."
The scheme was the brainchild of resident Janet Fisher, who lives opposite the phone box. She floated the idea at a village tea party in August and the concept was accepted on the spot.
So the parish council bought the box, a Giles Gilbert Scott K6 design, for £1, and Dolby screwed the four shelves into place. A local business donated a sign and a wag added a "Silence please" notice. Residents donated books to get the project going and it became an instant hit, all for an outlay of just £30.
Fisher popped across the road today to swap an Ian Rankin novel. She was hoping to pick up a Michael Connelly book – "Some of the girls said there was one here" – but it had gone. She rejected the book on the life of Fred West and plumped for another American detective novel.
Fisher's neighbour, Angela Buchanan, strolled over to see what was new. She picked up a Penelope Lively the other day. Nobody has yet been tempted by the audio book she left of Laurence Olivier reading Charles Dickens. "It's such a brilliant idea. Our nearest library is Wells, four miles away, so if you don't want to go into the town but have run out of something to read, it's great you can use this. All sorts of interesting books turn up – manuals, picture books, good literary novels."
And unlike the library in Wells, the phone box library is open 365 days a year, 24 hours a day – and is lit at night. There is a regular check on it to see if some titles are not moving. These are then shipped on to a charity shop to keep the phone box collection fresh.
BT has received 770 applications for communities to "adopt a kiosk". So far 350 boxes have been handed to parish councils. Ideas for their afterlife have included a shower, art installations, even a toilet. Dolby said he was just pleased that a piece of street architecture in Westbury had been put to good use. "It's very pleasing that the phone box has been saved but is also being used to provide a service for the village."
from: the Guardian
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