Category Archives: Librarianship

25 Independent Presses That Prove This Is the Golden Age of Indie Publishing | Flavorwire

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Independent publishing — that is, publishing whatever an individual or small group think is worthy of dumping their time and money into — is nothing new. From Virginia and Leonard Woolf starting up Hogarth Press to the early days of Farrar, Straus and Giroux championing now-iconic authors that other publishers wouldn’t touch, DIY publishing has long been responsible for some of our best literature.

That’s why, no matter what the latest doomsday prognostication about the future of big publishing happens to be, this is an exciting time to be a fan of literature. Among the long list of indie presses that are putting out great stuff, we’re singling out 25 that we love — but we encourage you to do some more digging of your own to discover even more great indies that are publishing great works of fiction, nonfiction, poetry, translated literature, and more.

Read: 25 Independent Presses That Prove This Is the Golden Age of Indie Publishing | Flavorwire.

World’s Oldest Jewish Prayer Book Found? Rare Text Purchased By Hobby Lobby President | HuffPost

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The identification of the very rare prayer book, dated to the ninth century, was announced Sept. 26 by Steve Green, president of the arts and crafts retailer Hobby Lobby. Green facilitates his family’s array of biblical texts and artifacts, the Green Collection. The text was purchased from a collector.

Prayer Book

Read: World’s Oldest Jewish Prayer Book Found? Rare Text Purchased By Hobby Lobby President | HuffPost.

OverDrive announces new APIs for Library Circulation | OverDrive

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Last year we introduced the initial set of OverDrive APIs that enable approved vendors to deeply integrate OverDrive-hosted catalogs and nearly 1 million digital titles with their apps and platforms. These included the ability to access catalog metadata, see availability of a title and search the library’s collection.

Today, we are excited to announce that the all-new Circulation APIs are available on the OverDrive Developer Portal. The Circulation APIs will allow approved partners to request checkouts, downloads, holds, and returns from within their own discovery interface. This means users will now be able to browse and search their library’s digital collection, see what’s available and check out a title or place a hold all without ever leaving the library OPAC.

Read: OverDrive announces new APIs for Library Circulation | OverDrive.

How will our country operate without the LOC? | MobyLives

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The country is bracing for a temporary shutdown of the Library of Congress, beginning today. The twenty-five library system will be closed to the public and researchers, according to an announcement on the site you can’t see, and all public events are canceled. The digital collections, online catalog, and “Ask A Librarian” services are temporarily suspended.

Read: How will our country operate without the LOC? | MobyLives

You may also like: Library Services Impacted by Government Shutdown | District Dispatch | ALA Washington

HarperCollins partners with Scribd for ebook subscription service | Quill & Quire

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HarperCollins has partnered with document-sharing website Scribd on a new ebook subscription service.

Dubbed “Netflix for ebooks,” subscribers pay $8.99 a month for the ability to check out an unlimited number of ebooks – up to 10 titles at time – from the Scribd catalogue, which includes backlists from HarperCollins and several small U.S. presses. The service allows readers to switch between browsers, Android, and Apple devices without losing their place.

HarperCollins CEO Brian Murray told the Associated Press that the partnership will provide the publisher with valuable data about Scribd readers. “This is going to help us make even better publishing and marketing decisions for our authors,” he says.

The international service is now available in Canada, although not all titles are accessible for download.

HarperCollins partners with Scribd for ebook subscription service | Quill & Quire

Gaming and Play in the Library: A Brief History | Information Space

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The international academic journal Library Quarterly recently published my article tracing the history of gaming in libraries back to the 1850s. You can see the entire article in the publications area of my game lab, Because Play Matters. I wanted to offer a few highlights here about how public libraries have used games over the years.

Read the full story: Gaming and Play in the Library: A Brief History | Information Space.

50 Foreign-Language Films Everyone Needs to See, 1963-2013 | Flavorwire

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It’s true that American filmmaking inspired a global appreciation of the cinematic art form, but it’s impossible to deny the international influence on film by important auteurs from countries around the globe. With the inclusion of Federico Fellini, Luis Buñuel, Costa-Gavras, François Truffaut, Akira Kurosawa, Pedro Almodóvar, and countless others, this list of essential films from non-English-speaking countries proves that American filmmaking has taken inspiration from countless artists working in many languages. Spotlighting just one film per year in the last half-century, here’s our list of 50 foreign-language films any true movie buff should see. 

See the list: 50 Foreign-Language Films Everyone Needs to See, 1963-2013 | Flavorwire.

New Roles for New Times: Transforming Liaison Roles in Research Libraries | ARL®

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This report by Janice M. Jaguszewski, University of Minnesota Libraries, and Karen Williams, University of Arizona Libraries presents findings from interviews and other research into current trends in liaison librarianship, surfacing several challenges to the established, overarching liaison structure. This is the third report in the New Roles for New Times series.

NRNT-Liaison-Roles-final.pdf

via New Roles for New Times: Transforming Liaison Roles in Research Libraries | Association of Research Libraries® | ARL®.

GoodReads Tells Reviewers to Play Nice (Or Else!) | IndieReader

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Opinion piece.

In light of both author and reviewer behavior, GoodReads specifically has changed their Wild Wild West style of moderating their site and implemented some new standards. Our question is what does this mean for readers?

Read: GoodReads Tells Reviewers to Play Nice (Or Else!) – IndieReader

Other takes:

As GoodReads grows up, it can’t please everyone. Should it try? | GigaOM

Is GoodReads’ new policy really censorship? | Washington Post

 

10 Wearable Tech Gadgets Librarians (and everyone else!) Will Love | Ellyssa Kroski – OEDB.org

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Wearable technology combines fashion and function in a way hitherto unheard of.  New and emerging devices are placing powerful computing abilities into the wardrobes of consumers.  The most recognizable of these emerging gadgets is Google Glass, (discussed below).  Here are 9 additional examples of wearable technologies that are truly unique:

Discussed:

  1. Replay Social Media Jeans
  2. Novero Bluetooth Necklaces
  3. Ruby Slippers
  4. Sesame Rings
  5. Recon Jet
  6. Sony SmartWatch 2
  7. Oculus Rift VR Goggles
  8. Hero3 Wearable Camera
  9. Tokyo University of Science Robot Suit
  10. Google Glass

Read: 10 Wearable Tech Gadgets Librarians (and everyone else!) Will Love | Ellyssa Kroski – OEDB.org.