The literary wealth of more than 5,000 years is preserved at this museum-row library that is anything but ordinary.
via Philly’s Free Library worth the trip for rare-book collection | readingeagle.com.
Tag Archives: books
Arlington library system starts ‘1,000 Books Before Kindergarten’ to urge a love of reading | The Washington Post
Books are one of Chloe Leitmann-Morales’s favorite things. She sorts through the full shelf in her family’s Arlington County living room, pulling out her choices one after another, then settles comfortably on almost any nearby lap. She’s ready to listen and follow along as her father, mother or grandmother reads about Dora the Explorer, different kinds of bellies or the dog Blue, in both English and Spanish.
Chloe has “read” more than 1,000 books. She is 2 years old.
She is a poster child for the Arlington County Public Library system’s “1,000 Books Before Kindergarten” program, a months-old effort encouraging preschoolers to strengthen language skills, build their vocabularies and begin love affairs with stories and the printed word.
Read the full story: Arlington library system starts ‘1,000 Books Before Kindergarten’ to urge a love of reading | The Washington Post.
Virginia county library system destroyed 250,000 of its own books | Yahoo! News Canada
The Fairfax County Public Library system in Virginia reportedly destroyed 250,000 books as part of an effort to revamp its system and cut costs.
The Washington Post reports that the books were discarded as part of a plan to reduce costs and bring the county’s library system into the digital age.
But in the past, discarded books were donated to a group called Friends of the Library, which would then donate them or sell them to raise money for the libraries, which have faced steep budget cuts in recent years. This time, seven months went by with no books going to the group — and no explanation why.
See the full story: Virginia county library system destroyed 250,000 of its own books | The Sideshow | Yahoo! News Canada.
Google Submits New Patent for Triggered Sounds in eBooks | GoodEReader
Google…filed for a new patent that would make eBooks come alive with sounds. The sounds would be triggered by events within the book, such as lapping waves, an ominous crescendo, or maybe an outdoor market. The new application would have the sounds stored on a server and would be pushed out to the eBook users are reading at the time.
The full story: Google Submits New Patent for Triggered Sounds in eBooks | GoodEReader.
Ron McCallum: How technology allowed me to read | TED.com
Months after he was born, in 1948, Ron McCallum became blind. In this charming, moving talk, he shows how he is able to read — and celebrates the progression of clever tools and adaptive computer technologies that make it possible. With their help, and that of generous volunteers, he’s become a lawyer, an academic, and, most of all, a voracious reader. Welcome to the blind reading revolution.
via Ron McCallum: How technology allowed me to read | Video on TED.com.
Oyster: The Netflix Of Books | HuffPost Books
Oyster, an app launched [September 5, 2013] by a trio of self-proclaimed bookworms, is already being called the “Netflix for books.” That’s a lofty moniker, but the app may just live up to the hype – it offers access to over 100,000 books for $9.95 a month!
Right now, the only Big 5 publisher it’s partnered with is HarperCollins, but they’ve still got some really big books: “Life of Pi,” “Water for Elephants,” and “The God Delusion” all came up when we were browsing.
According to its website, they are constantly adding new titles, so who knows? Other bigger publishers may be signing on as well.
Right now, Oyster is invitation-only, and it’s only available as an iPhone app (although they’ll be adding on a iPad app later this fall). The app is free to download. You can request an invite here.
Tumblr Opens Reblog Book Club | GalleyCat
Tumblr has launched the Reblog Book Club, its first official book club. The series opens with Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell, “a coming-of-age story about fanfiction, family, and first love.”
If you want to join the book club conversation, you can post to your Tumblr with the #reblogbookclub tag or you can follow this link to post on the official Tumblr page.
Do books have the power to heal? | Macleans.ca
Most of Ella Berthoud’s patients are young professionals: cosmopolitan careerists in their 30s or 40s. Some are burdened with anxiety. Some feel adrift in their mid-lives. Many are approaching rites of passage: a first child, retirement, a gap year in India, the death of a spouse. But others have more singular afflictions. One patient was hooked on chick lit, and “terrified of reading anything more demanding.” A young couple was eager to rekindle a fizzling romance. Berthoud—a London-based “bibliotherapist”—has heard it all. In each case, the prescription is the same: Read a book.
via Do books have the power to heal? | Macleans.ca.
The post also includes a transcript of today’s (September 10, 2013) live chat with Ella Berthoud.
Run-n-Read keeps e-book text steady while you’re on the treadmill | Engadget
Weartrons may help those athletic readers maintain their focus with its upcoming Run-n-Read peripheral. The clip-on device detects its wearer’s movements and compensates for them on a host Android or iOS device, keeping e-book text steady in the midst of a treadmill run. Owners can also tap the Run-n-Read to turn pages, and the gadget doubles as a pedometer in between reading sessions.
via Run-n-Read keeps e-book text steady while you’re on the treadmill | Engadget
See the Weartrons Run-n-Read crowdfunding campaign.
Start-Ups Take Library Jobs | Reinventing Libraries | Library Journal
Three years ago, I wrote here that “libraries are so valuable that they attract voracious new competition with every technological advance” (see “Libraries, Ebooks, and Competition,” LJ 8/10, p. 22–23). At the time, I was thinking about Google, Apple, Amazon, and Wikipedia as the gluttonous innovators aiming to be hired for the jobs that libraries had been doing. I imagined Facebook and Twitter to be the sort of competitors most likely to be attracted by the flame of library value. But it’s the new guys that surprise you. To review the last three years of change in the library world, I’d like to focus on some of the start-ups that have newly occupied digital niches in the reading ecosystem. It’s these competitors that libraries will need to understand and integrate with to remain relevant.
The full story: Start-Ups Take Library Jobs | Reinventing Libraries | Library Journal.
The article reviews competitors GoodReads, Wattpad, Readmill, SIPX and Zola Books.
infophile 