Linkdump! Books, libraries, online community...

[owlmoose]

These were all gleaned on Thursday but only now am I getting around to posting them.

• Article on the GWB presidential library. Southern Methodist University is the likely site; the faculty are resisting. Interesting commentary, also on the Hoover Institute and the Nixon Library.


• 10 Ways to Save Money on Books. The library is heavily featured as a solution. For a librarian I am shamefully bad about not using the public library. I don't even haunt used bookstores anymore -- I buy almost everything new these days. It's a habit I bet my bank account would like me to break.


• British bookstore chain to set up Harry Potter helpline. Something that might be considered a very mild spoiler is contained in that news story; spoilerphobic as I am, I thought it was okay, but I wanted to warn anyway.


• Love in the Bookstore: entries from a contest to tell a story of love found or lost in a bookstore. Some are romances but others are about the love of books, reading, even fictional characters. Several charmers here.


• Debatepedia: wiki that presents issues of debate in the US from multiple points of view. Not meant to be a critical analysis of the arguments, just a way to see what different people say about an issue. Links and summarized arguments are presented side-by-side, which makes it easy and interesting to compare viewpoints.


• Against Well-designed Reputation Systems: a post from Many-to-Many, a blog about topics relating to social software. Talks about the policing and control systems used by eBay, Slashdot, and other interactive communities to maintain order without heavy moderation. Implications for fandom, maybe? I need to think about it more. (And, um, finish reading. Beware, it's long.)

Comments

I

[kunstarniki.livejournal.com]

Have you seen the story about this year's Caldecott (sp) winner? It seems that the book has the word 'scrotum' at the very beginning and some librarians and many eager censors are going totally bonkers about the harm a perfectly legitimate word will assuredly do to young readers. Oh dear. :/

BTW: as I understand it, the word is used by the young hero of the book who is depicted as one who is very careful about using the right words and not resorting to childish or inaccurate talk.

Re: I

[owlmoose.livejournal.com]

I hadn't heard that about the Newbery -- the book medal controversy I'd been hearing was grumbles from members of the Caldecott committee that they wouldn't be able to blog about books during the selection period! Problems of the modern age.

I always want to think that the various library censorship kerfuffles have to do with noble librarians standing firm against the unwashed masses, but it's a good, if sad, reminder that it's not always true. Not all librarians will man this particular barricade with me, unfortunately.

Re: I

[oswulf.livejournal.com]

Far too often the problem arises from the
altogether-too-washed masses.

I

[kunstarniki.livejournal.com]

I should have waited until I was awake this morning before making a comment. The book to which I referred above is The Higher Power of Luck and it won the Newbery Medal. The story is on the front page of today's NYT at this place. (http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/18/books/18newb.html?ex=1329454800&en=0abee84c6d8ad9f4&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss)

Sorry about all my stupidity this morning. :/

Re: I

[oswulf.livejournal.com]

Okay, thanks. I was (w?)racking my brain for any lines at all appearing in Flotsam.

I

[kunstarniki.livejournal.com]

Damn! Damn! Damn! The book's title is The Higher Power of Lucky and it has a heroine, not a hero. I vow this is my final correction on this matter. Any other errors will just have to be overlooked. Damn! Damn! Damn! I am obviously not yet fit for human consumption today.