Library News: Here's A Bunch of Links

If you thought I was lazy about posting before... whoo, buddy hold on.  Here's a list of stuff that I could not think of anything funny to say about for more than a sentence.  Most less than that.

Boston Public Library has job fair kinda thing.

Carnegie-Stout Public Library limiting access to patron purchasing power.  When "suggestions" become demands it is time to cut the cord.

Manchester County opposes library addition.  Well, times are tough.

Allen County librarians get a raise!  Finally, a good story!  Yay!

The Linebaugh Library System gets $10K for youth tech grant.  More good news.  Hope this all does not end in heartbreak.

Alachua County unveils remodeled library with quiet room.  This is like Christmas!

WorldCat adds Italian public library records.  International Christmas!

Spokane Public Library hosts Technology exhibit.  Online Christmas!

Yakima Valley Regional Library blocks porn.  Well, at least it is a little understandable.

Washington County Library branches might reopen on Mondays!  Good!  We are back!

Stanford Libraries have Medieval Exhibit!  I am ambivalent, but go history!

Hinsdale Library adds artwork, because ART!

Birmingham Library Friends preserves Jim Crow map.  Well, if you can't look back, you can't move forward.

Argentine Library in Kansas City get a new library.  This is the best best news day ever!  But why does Argentina keep their library in Kansas City?  Hell of a commute.

Manchester Library gets a bucket of money to make archives a transformer.  Or transform archives.  Whatever.

Alamogordo Public Library Story Book Wall turns 50.  Heh, "Alamogordo."  Heh, heh.

Frankfort Public Library building permit fees will not be waved.  Take that one, new stuff for the public!

University of South Carolina get rare Hemingway materials.  Rare, indeed.

This library guard is a wrestler.  I just liked this one.

Museum of the Cats does not want to share space with Friends bookstore.  Spoiler Alert: They made up.  Still going.

Clifford turned 50.  This should have been in book news.

Here are the mystery news links of the week.  Will they be interesting?  Will they be boring?  Am I just doing this because I have somewhere to be and need to finish this post in the next five minutes?  Find out by clicking the links:

Mystery Link 1
Mystery Link 2
Mystery Link 3
Mystery Link 4
Mystery Link 5

Book Stuff: Publishing All the Rest From This Week

This week in book news, all the news that's fit about print that I was too lazy to write about.

50 Shades of Grey author will not tell who's in the movie.  How about Amanda Bynes?  What happened to her?  What's she been up to?  googlegooglegoogle... Holy crap?! What the hell happened to her?

Neil Patrick Harris to write memoir.  Yep.  Lots of Doogie and Barney and dancing/singing stuff.

Lois Lowry ends Giver book series.  Hint:  I think he dies.

Huh... Was there other news out there flooding the publishing world that I didn't cover here?

eBook Stuff: Getting, Giving and Loaning For This Week

Hey, so I can't be everywhere at once, especially with the digital news coming out, I gathered all the links of the big stories in ebooks that came out this week.  Enjoy.

Hernando Libraries are to loan out Kindles.  Because that sounds like it will be cheap and have no problems.

Prologue Books to release around 400 pulp fiction ebooks by the end of the year.  Sounds like Tarintino is back on cocaine, allegedly.

Great British Chefs and Kikkoman putting out recipe books.  I really wanted a good political thriller from these guys.

Law Library: Masturbating, Fired, and Jailed

Here's all the crime that happened in and around libraries,  library environments, or tech that probably will or have involved the courts in some way:

Librarians in Conway Public Library file grievance against restructuring that could get them sacked.  Let's hope more paperwork will fix the situation.

St. Elmo ex-librarian steals $50,000 worth of materials and gets little jail time.  Because, hey, it's only a library.

65-year-old former library employee arrested for stealing $800,000 worth of books.  She took one page a day for her entire life.

Some guy called a library asking about '50 Shades of Grey" and made it his own sex line.  This is why I do not read books to people over the phone.

New York woman tracks down stalker through Google, sues him.  This is why I do not read books to people over the phone, too.

Platform 9 3/8ths: Rowling and The Book

I am going to go out on a limb and bet most anybody alive in the last week has heard that J. K. Rowling, author of You Know What, released a new book.  I got tired of typing her name after one article, so I started collecting everything I read and decided to make a little story about it.  Here you go:

Once upon a time, in the land of Eng Land, there was a billionaire author, J. K. "Joking" Rowling, who decided to write a new book that had nothing to do with the books for which she was known.  Feeling the burden of progress, Joking decided to write some sexy, drug stuff and would not apologize for it.

When The Book came out, the first viewers looked once, then looked twice and were turned into the dreaded "Reviewers," friend or foe a billionaire can never tell.  The First Reviewer cast down the mighty Joking.  Despite this, The Book was set to make history in the form of money.  Conservative Reviewers called The Book "leftist screed."  Then, The New Yorking Timers Reviewers gave their word, and it was displeased.  Finally, the Huddled Masses Reviewers said it was cool by them.

The Library began to set up shop to dispense the book to the public, expecting long waiting lists.  Moms were especially excited, tired of all that kid wizard shit*.

During the furor, Joking claims that the books that every loved may becoming back, probably to get away from the fact that The eBook was expensive.

Then, disaster struck.  eCopies of The eBook, given away to first buyers of The Paper Copy Book, The eBook was broken.  One assumes people were on that.

One also assumes the billionaire Joking went about her life.

*Kid Wizard Shit is my hip hop name.

Article Seems Proud That 'Only' Thirteen Books Were Banned in Texas This Year

I am not sure about the tone of the article linked below.  A blog post from the Houston Chronicle, the article makes note of Banned Books Week while also saying that this is the lowest number Texas communities have banned in a decade.  Is this pride of some kind of slight progression or a surprise that this is still going on.  As a blog post, the tone is ambiguous, at least on the first quick read through.  Here's some stats they quote:

"Most books land on the banned list because of sex, profanity, nudity, violence, religion, race and/or politics. Asking parents to sit down and read the titles that concern them before making official complaints in writing has helped streamline complaints and bring the numbers of banned books down, Burke says.

Some titles on this year’s list were banned by elementary schools because the content was deemed too mature for young students. In some cases, administrators recommended the books be taught in upper grades in the same district."

I applaud bringing awareness to the cause, whatever the intention.  I also applaud the Texas education system for educating parents as well as children.  Hopefully next year the number will be zero.

Books banned in Texas public schools, 2011-2012 - Houston Chronicle (blog)

Kentucky Encourages Reading with Licence Plates

Kentucky introduced a new "Kentucky Reads" licence plate to support public libraries in the state.  The campaign celebrates the continued usage of public libraries in Kentucky.  To get a hold of the plate, all you have to do is move to Kentucky and pay $25. 

What to do with this story?  As a Mississippian, a state known for our illiteracy rates as much as our writing, I can not go for the obvious reading joke.  Horse and bourbon jokes also seem uncouth, because, well... those things are awesome.  Part of me just wants to find a picture of Mr. Ed with a book, but I am lazy and writing this from a tablet and that would be a pain in the ass.  Ooo!

I hope this does not encourage reading while riding on your drunken horse.

Aaaand, Thank you.

New license plate encourages drivers to 'Support Kentucky's Libraries' - The Lane Report