The Building Process for the new Central Library downtown started

The City Council has endorsed the 'schoolibrary" concept with two floors dedicated to a charter school. We are finally getting a more accessible central library Downtown!

Find out how you can help support this project by clicking on this site

https://www.supportmylibrary.org/centrallibrary/aboutproject

More interesting library news:


Rhode Island librarian testifies before Congress

http://www.resourceshelf.com/2010/04/22/rhode-island-school-librarian-testifys-before-congress-prepared-testimony-available/

House of Reps pass resolution for National Library Week

http://www.ala.org/ala/newspresscenter/news/pressreleases2010/april2010/nlwresolution_wo.cfm

Singapore reading rate sky high
http://www.asiaone.com/News/Education/Story/A1Story20100427-212682.html

Compare that to Tunisia ...
http://www.magharebia.com/cocoon/awi/xhtml1/en_GB/features/awi/features/2010/04/27/feature-02

School Librarians Know

According to eschoolnews.com, school librarians are working at improving the standards for learning this fall. The American Association of School Librarians (AASL) has released a set of “Standards for the 21^st Century Learner.” These new standards seek to take account of the changes in the present student's learning environment.

In light of the challenges presented by budget cuts, the “Standards for the 21^st Century Learner” focus on the learning process itself. These standards, while applicable to every century, deal with tendencies that are particularly associated with the technologies of the present era.

To overcome the passive or plagiaristic tendencies of television and the Internet, the AASL is seeking to implement an inquiry-based process for learning, emphasizing creativity and encouraging critical thinking at an earlier age.

These skills are necessary for any generation, but in our Information Age, there is a real temptation to let the technology do the thinking for us. School librarians recognize the help and the harm technology presents and are seeking to educate students accordingly. 

Intelligent rants about e-books

Print is dying. Digital is surging. Everyone is confused.

Good Riddance.

As the publishing industry wobbles and Kindle sales jump, book romanticists cry themselves to sleep. But really, what are we shedding tears over?

We’re losing the throwaway paperback.
The airport paperback.
The beachside paperback.

We’re losing the dregs of the publishing world: disposable books. The book printed without consideration of form or sustainability or longevity. The book produced to be consumed once and then tossed. The book you bin when you’re moving and you need to clean out the closet.

These are the first books to go. And I say it again, good riddance.

Once we dump this weight we can prune our increasingly obsolete network of distribution. As physicality disappears, so too does the need to fly dead trees around the world.

You already know the potential gains: edgier, riskier books in digital form, born from a lower barrier-to-entry to publish. New modes of storytelling. Less environmental impact. A rise in importance of editors. And, yes — paradoxically — a marked increase in the quality of things that do get printed.

From 2003-2009 I spent six years trying to make beautiful printed books. Six years. Focused on printed books. In the 00s.

And I loved it. I loved the process. The finality of the end product. I loved the sexy-as-hell tactility of those little ink and paper bricks. But I can tell you this: the excitement I feel about the iPad as a content creator, designer and publisher — and the potential it brings — must be acknowledged. Acknowledged bluntly and with perspective.

With the iPad we finally have a platform for consuming rich-content in digital form. What does that mean? To understand just why the iPad is so exciting we need to think about how we got here.

I want to look at where printed books stand in respect to digital publishing, why we historically haven't read long-form text on screens and how the iPad is wedging itself in the middle of everything. In doing so I think we can find the line in the sand to define when content should be printed or digitized.

This is a conversation for books-makers, web-heads, content-creators, authors and designers. For people who love beautifully made things. And for the storytellers who are willing to take risks and want to consider the most appropriate shape and media for their yarns.

For the rest see: http://craigmod.com/journal/ipad_and_books/

iPads and Libraries

An iPad is a tablet computer designed and marketed by Apple. Its meant for internet browsing, media consumption, gaming, and light content creation. The stylus is your finger. It has a multi-touch screen that is LCD. It runs specific iPad applications as well as those written for the iPhone and iPod touch, including e-book readers. Some people thinkif the app wall Apple has is used with iPads instead it would be the perfect installation for libraries. The iPads could dispaly hundreds of different e-books. Because the size and weight of the iPad it could have alot of innovative uses like teaching aids in school and interactive wallpaper in clubs. This device can really open up a whole new world for libraries. There a many uses for the iPad that a library can do. Libraries can upload their website or library realted websites on a few iPads and leave these out on their displays for patrons to use inside the library. The iPad really can really be a beneficial adition to libraries all over the world. Even artists are sketching on iPads. The iPad can be useful to anyone. This device will pave the way for new technologies.

A new technology to help disabled people

A library in Waynesboro, VA is using a new technology to help disabled people use the computer. This technology is called SmartNav. Its a hands-free mouse alternative that tracks head movements by using an infared camera. You reflect the infared camera's light back to the SmartNav which send instructions to your computer to move the mouse cursor. This allows partrons with limited or no-hand mobility to use the computer. This was donated by Spirit Roller Ministries of Waynesboro county. The device uses a reflective dot placed on directly onto the user's head, hat, hand or glasses. The SmartNav can mount on top of the computer monitor, laptop, or communication device facing you. It can be placed anywhere as long as it can see the reflective accessory the user has chosen to wear. It has a 45 degree field of view and usually sits 2 feet away from your head. This device comes with an onscreen keyboard the user can use to type with. Now people with disabilities can use the computer on their own without help from anyone.

First president owes library $4,577 and two books

(CNN) -- He never told a lie, as the story goes. So maybe if he were alive today, President George Washington could tell a New York City library what he did with two books he checked out 221 years ago.

The two books -- weighty discourses on international relations and parliamentary debates -- were checked out on October 5, 1789.

They were due on November 2, 1789, but weren't brought back.

Since then, they've been steadily collecting a fine of a few cents each day, adding up to more than $4,000 by the New York Society Library's informal estimate.

"I'm sorry, math is not my thing at all," said Jane Goldstein, the assistant head librarian when asked to hazard a guess.

The fine at the time was 2 pence a day. Now, it's 15 cents -- "It's really gone up, hasn't it?" she quipped.

One of the librarians, Matthew Haugen, guessed the fine to be in the region of 3,000 British pounds, or about $4,577.

"He stuck with the pence concept," Goldstein said.

The library first learned of the missing books when it discovered a yellowed ledger in its basement

It listed all the people who had checked out books from the city's oldest library between July 1789 and April 1792.

Next to the works "Law of Nations" and the 12th volume of "Common Debates" was the name of the person who checked them out: "President."

At the time, New York was the capital of the United States, and the library was the only one in town.

Soon after, the capital was relocated to Philadelphia and then Washington D.C.

The New York library, a subscription library that was New York's first library open to the public, has known about the missing books since the 1930s. The matter came up again recently because the library is capturing the ledgers in digital form to preserve the records.

Library officials cross-checked the books mentioned in the ledger with the ones in their collection.

"Volume 12 (of "Common Debates") was still missing," as was the other book, Goldstein said.

The library is not so concerned about the fine as it is about each book.

"We don't know where it is," she said. "We have tried to find it and we can't," she said.

By Saeed Ahmed, CNN

April 19, 2010 9:01 p.m. EDT

Some cool libraries in San Diego

The Athenaeum Music & Arts Library

The Athenaeum Music & Arts Library, located in the heart of La Jolla, has an impressive collection of books, periodicals, reference material in their archives along with thousands of compact discs, cassettes, videotapes, DVDs, and sheet music.

The library holds one of the largest collections of artists' books in Southern California. Their collection contains many beautiful books on the subject of music and art written for young children. They regularly have exhibitions of their art collections and their art galleries are open to the public five days a week. Members of the non-profit can check out materials for a modest annual fee.

Their website:
http://www.ljathenaeum.org/home.html

A list of their recent acquisitions:
http://www.ljathenaeum.org/recentacquisitions.html

Their online catalog:
http://207.67.203.76/A94011Staff/OPAC/index.asp

Current Exhibitions:
http://www.ljathenaeum.org/exhibitions.html#current



Research Library of the San Diego Genealogical Society

The SDGS Library's genealogical research collection consists of more than 9,200 titles. Many are multi-volume sets. The library holds more than 1,000 periodical titles. The extensive collection of the San Diego Genealogical Society Library is one of the major genealogical resources in San Diego. Housed in approximately 2200 square feet, the SDGS Library is located at 7343 Ronson Road in Kearny Mesa.

The library is accessible to members 24 hours a day, 365 days per year, and and open to the public on Thursdays from 10 a.m. until 3 p.m. Computers with high speed internet are available for use to everyone.

Interesting fact: The library uses the Dewey system!

Their website
http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~casdgs/library.shtml

Their online catalog
http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~casdgs/librarycatalog.shtml