a new more graphic version of fahrenheit 451

Bradbury has authorized his novel Fahrenheit 451 to be issued as a graphic novel by Tim Hamilton.  Copies of the graphic novel were received last week and should be appearing on library shelves soon.  NPR has several stories

“It killed my heart and killed my soul,” he says, “and the memory of Hitler burning the books caused me to sit down and write Fahrenheit 451.”  Ray Bradbury

Take a look at Hamilton’s vision of Bradbury’s classic.

posting by jim

CoMa Minute 2009.08.03 Examples of Print items to Mend

Hi, everyone.  I’m sorry that in July there was only one video

Thanks go to Tonya in Materials Processing for helping me to gather samples and to educate me on the anatomy of a book and repair methods.

The purpose of this video is to show you examples of items we would expect to see come in for mending.  Even though mending items are sent to the service center for Circulation Services using a blue slip, collection development librarians review all of those items.  We evalate them for condition and content to decide if the item should be mended or purged from the collection. 

So, make sure the items sent in for mending meet our content criteria and for the most part meet condition requirements.

Do you know the anatomy of a book?  Learn here

Here are 3 general categories of  items in the video. Remember this is just a sample of the mending.

1.  Housekeeping:  not a thing wrong with condition/content  but the barcode is missing/damaged, spine labels are missing/damaged/incorrect or the “new” dot is under the spine label tape

2.  Covers & Jackets:  dust  jacket or dust cover is really worn/soft/torn, the jacket itself is torn, the edges/corners on the book board are torn up.

3.  Bindings:

a.  Mass Markets are repaired if the title is exceptional for some reason.

b.  Trade paperback: solid text block is preferred

c.  Hardback:  hinge is damaged, hinge is completely separated and the text block is intact, or there is a single break in the text block.

Feel free to refer the mending documents on the Intranet or contact one of the collection development librarians.

Betsy, Tacy and Meg

Every three years, the Betsy-Tacy Society, a nonprofit organization founded in 1990 to preserve the legacy of Maud Hart Lovelace’s novels, holds a convention in Mankato, Minnesota.  The conventions are held to celebrate Lovelace and her books, especially the stories featuring Betsy Ray and friends in turn-of-the-century Deep Valley, Minnesota.

The convention was last week in Mankato and the keynote speaker on the closing day was Meg Cabot, author of numerous teen novels (Publishers Weekly: Betsy, Tacy, and Meg meet in Deep Valley).  Cabot says that she has been a huge fan of the Betsy-Tacy books since she read them at the age of 30.

She spoke of her love for the Betsy-Tacy books and compared them to her own books. She said, “The spirit of the books are kind of the same even though the Betsy Tacy books are set 100 years ago. They are still about girls that have problems with boys, problems with friends. So, it’s basically kind of the same spirit.”

SIL owns many of the Betsy-Tacy books and the High School titles (two novels in each volume) will be reissued in the fall by HarperCollins.   Cabot wrote the forward for Betsy was a Junior and Betsy and Joe.

via PW Children’s Bookshelf

posting by Lorraine (I joined the Betsy-Tacy Society in the early 90s but lapsed in my membership, I think that I might need to look into it again)

 

Guess we already knew this

Reading cuts stress levels by 68

marieclaire.co.uk

Monday 30 March 2009

Reading is the best way to relax and even six minutes can be enough to reduce the stress levels by more than two thirds or 68%.

New research by consultancy Mindlab International at the University of Sussex says reading works better and faster than other methods to calm frazzled nerves such as listening to music, going for a walk or settling down with a cup of tea.

For more on this, go to http://www.marieclaire.co.uk/news/314426/reading-cuts-stress-levels-by-68.html

Maybe reading will help us beat the stress of this heatwave.

Posted by Becky

free ebooks, as in free

everywhere regardless of the eReader you use to read them.

Barnes and Noble have recently entered the ebook market and of course they are doing everything they can to entice people to use their new product.  And what better way than to give it away for free?

So now your iPod, iPhone, Blackberry, PC and Mac can all use the free Barnes and Noble’s eReader software to read them.  And just to get you started they’ll give you six eBooks.

Only problem is these were free and available to everyone that wanted them before Barnes & Noble’s eReader, so they’re not being quite as generous as it might seem.

For customers who want to try an ebook, check out Project Gutenberg’s thousands of free ebooks.  Why settle for 6 when you can choose from over 100,000?

via Smart Bitches

posting by jim

no love to the library in the post…

though some in the comments.  Lifehacker compiles a list of resources all having to do with books, books, and books.  from how to choose what to read next to building pieces of furniture from discarded books.  look to the post’s comments for library and librarian advocacy.  as always, useful stuff which allows me to forgive them for their oversight .

(photo by Sno-Isle Libraries)

posting by marin

George R. R. Martin’s “A Dance with Dragons”…

is postponed yet again.  we’ve removed the records for both the print and audiobook from the catalogue, as well as notified patrons.  Baker & Taylor lists the “new” publication date for this much delayed title for June 2010, but we’ll believe it when we see it.

for a funny take on waiting for the next in a series by a beloved author, check out Neil Gaiman’s snarky and so true post in response to a fan’s email on this very author.

posting by marin

don’t put words in my mouth

RIAA spokesman Jonathan Ramy was quoted all over the web last week as saying that, “DRM is dead”.  The following day, Mr. Ramy  denied making the statement and the website reporting it has issued a retraction.  It would be easy to ignore this as just more of that ‘DRM stuff’ but, it’s important that libraries follow developments like these for a couple reasons.

One, we offer digital materials, and our customers have to maneuver through all the DRM hoops that are the reality of how libraries  provide digital materials  now.  Our customers depend on us to be able to offer a basic explanation of DRM and, why it is required by publishers who allow libraries to distribute their materials.

Two, people are passionate on both sides of DRM, just look at the comments which follow the TorrentFreak post about how Lars Ulrich of Metallica feels about the band’s role in  the demise of Napster.  Imagine if people got this worked up over the copyright statement near all our copiers.

DRM is complicated, and the issues surrounding it are felt passionately by those involved, in other words the more you learn about DRM the more interesting it becomes.  Next time, you see DRM mentioned in an article headline, take a moment to read it, I think you’ll be glad you did.

posting by jim

drink up

are Harry Potter and company turning to drink too often?

Hermione is tipsy. Neville is serving drinks. Ron is sipping mead and Harry is partying with his professors.

Does Hogwarts have a drinking problem?

As Harry Potter fans crowd movie theaters to catch the latest installment in the blockbuster series, parents may be surprised by the starring role given to alcohol. In scene after scene, the young wizards and their adult professors are seen sipping, gulping and pouring various forms of alcohol to calm their nerves, fortify their courage or comfort their sorrows.

i think a parent interviewed for the article says it best with “The Harry Potter universe is not our own.”  if anything, use it as a point of discussion.

(via Shelf Awareness)

posting by marin

Eisner Awards announced

The Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards were just announced at San Diego Comic-Con 2009.  Here is a partial list:

Best Graphic Album—New: Swallow Me Whole, by Nate Powell (Top Shelf)

Best Graphic Album—Reprint: Hellboy Library Edition, vols. 1 and 2, by Mike Mignola (Dark Horse)

Best Continuing Series: All Star Superman. by Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely (DC)

Best New Series: Invincible Iron Man, by Matt Fraction and Salvador Larocca (Marvel)

Best Publication for Kids: Tiny Titans, by Art Baltazar and Franco (DC)

Best Publication for Teens/Tweens: Coraline, by Neil Gaiman, adapted by P. Craig Russell (HarperCollins Children’s Books)

For more awards, go to http://www.comic-con.org/cci/cci_eisners_main.shtml

Posted by Becky