Colleen Theisen, a librarian at University of Iowa’s Special Collections and University Archives, recently found these awesome fore-edge paintings on a series of books from the 19th century.
The books are a four volume series by Robert Mudie, one volume for each season of the year, and the paintings reflect each of those seasons. The artist of these mini paintings is unknown.
The full story: Stunning, Tiny Paintings Found On Vintage Books | HuffPost Books.
Random House Children’s Books, the publisher of multi-award winning and best-selling children’s author Dr. Seuss’ entire catalog of children’s content, announced today that it would begin releasing most of the author’s forty-four books as ebooks for young readers, starting with fifteen titles near the end of this month. The ebooks will keep the original layout and beloved illustrations, but will also incorporate a read-aloud narration.
See the full story: Dr. Seuss Available as eBooks for First Time | GoodReader.
Amazon has unveiled a new Kindle Paperwhite, building Goodreads interaction straight into the $119 eReader. Goodreads members can now rate books and share passages from inside the Kindle.
via New Kindle Paperwhite Has Goodreads Built into Device | GalleyCat.
In the future, e-books will act just like social networks. We’ll use them on our phones, share and comment right inside e-reader apps, and publishers will use our data to help them make better marketing decisions. If you think digital reading is exploding now, just wait.
The article examines a new reading app called Readmill, which makes “each and every book its own self-contained social network.” See the full story: E-Books Could Be The Future Of Social Media ⚙ Co.Labs ⚙ code + community.
Image Attribution: Readmill
Prior to World War II, GLBTI literature was hidden, with knowledge of its existence largely known only to members of the community, who shared texts among themselves. Occasionally a work of fiction would find its way into general circulation, but the books typically resorted to coded inferences of desire or served as warnings against the danger and immorality of homosexuality. This pattern continued until the 1969 Stonewall riot, which is largely accepted as the beginning of the GLBTI rights movement. The last three decades of the 20th century saw the establishment of GLBTI presses, bookstores, awards, and reading and book clubs, as well as literary festivals, writers’ conferences, and professional organizations. The closet was open, and the GLBTI community had found its voice.
Collection development and readers’ advisory (RA) staff can take advantage of a unique opportunity for professional growth by acquainting themselves with the widely dispersed sources of information about GLBTI literature. The task of identifying worthy contemporary purchases is best accomplished by consulting awards and recommended reading lists.
See the full article (which includes a longish list of recommended GLBTI fiction): via GLBTI Fiction: Opening the Fiction Closet | Library Journal.
An Alabama legislator who does not support efforts to repeal the sweeping U.S. education initiative known as the Common Core Standards says he believes the reading list issued in conjunction with the standards needs to be revised.
State Senator Bill Holtzclaw (R-Madison) told Alabama Media Group this week that he believes The Bluest Eye, by Toni Morrison, should be banned from high school libraries, despite the fact that this book is on the Common Core Standard’s recommended reading list for 11th-graders.
See the full story: Alabama Legislator Bill Holtzclaw Calls On Schools To Ban Toni Morrison Book | Huffington Post.
Shanghai’s Metro Line 2 is turning a new page with a library taking literally an online approach.
Passengers will be able to select a book at one station, and return it to any of the other stations with customized bookshelves.
Readers do not have to pay a deposit or any rent for the books and magazines they take. Instead, they are encouraged to donate 1 yuan (16 US cents) to charity at the bookshelf.
“Now you can read a real book, rather than staring at the cellphone through the metro ride,” said Zou
Shuxian, a spokeswoman for the Aizhi bookstore, which initiated the project jointly with Hujiang.com and Shanghai Metro Line 2.
“This will encourage more people to read on the Metro and improve the atmosphere of the whole city,” said Chen Kuang, a spokesman with Shanghai No 2 Metro Co Ltd.
The Chinese Academy of Press and Publication released a survey recently that said the general public between the ages of 18 to 70 read 4.39 books in 2012, much fewer than in Western countries.
The program announced its official kickoff on Aug 18, after a trial operation over a period of months.
It has been a resounding success with office workers. Waiting lines have developed during rush hour.
“Most people returned the books after reading, and many left a coin for our charity initiative,” said a staff member for Aizhi at the Nanjing Road West Station.
“Even if some books are not returned, we believe the overall benefit is worthwhile,” another staff member surnamed Li said.
All the books have green tape on the cover to inform people about the program. “Also to remind people it is borrowed and should be returned,” Li said.
Hujiang.com, an online education provider, and Aizhi, a bookstore chain, joined hands to launch the project last year. It called on people to donate their used books to the 20 Aizhi bookstores at the metro stations.
The program allows Hujiang to publicize its educational program.
The public offered more than 100,000 books in eight months. Many were given to schools in less well-off areas. The rest, and magazines, were used for the program.
The trial operation began near office buildings in Zhangjiang, a high-tech park in Shanghai, and then expanded to the Metro.
“We also have a few shops along Metro Lines 3 and 4, and we hope to expand the service,” she said.
“It is a great idea to have books used rather than leaving them to gather dust,” said Yue Tingting, a PR official with Hujiang.
“You can’t force people to read by regulations, but it is sensible to encourage people to read,” said Huang Yuning, head of the literature department at Shanghai Translation Publishing House.
The digital age has seen book sales decline, but this shows there may be a twist in the tale, said Feng Tao, an editor and colleague of Huang.
In order to encourage more people to read, the General Administration of Press and Publication of China plans to issue a guideline promoting reading.
via Shanghai Metro offers passengers books to borrow | Society | chinadaily.com.cn.
Do you want to show off your bookshelf online without typing up a list of your books on Goodreads? Well, you strange exhibitionist, you can do that now with Bookshelfies, a Tumblr featuring pictures of people standing in front of — well, you know.
Story about a woman challenging adult materials in a library’s collection. This incident would make a great case study for a course assignment in LIS school.
INDIANAPOLIS, Ind.– The library is a great place for children to explore new books and learn to love reading. However, what if your child came home from the library with an erotic romance novel?
Snips
Deeren said she followed library protocol in an attempt to get books like this removed. “This is what I did. I went through three different people, filled out paper and then they sent this back,” Deeren said, referring to a letter that was sent back to her.
The letter indicated that Night Games has been nominated for several awards and that it’s the guardian’s responsibility to monitor a child’s book selection, which is indicated in the library application for people 18 and younger.
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“There is a place for these books and that’s an adult book store. If they want to keep it at a library, I want them to keep it behind a door,” Deeren said.
She is not giving up.
“I want to get this (Night Games) out of there. I want to just keep talking to people about getting these kinds of books out or putting them behind closed doors. One or the other,” Deeren said.
There is much more content to this story. See the full article: Woman wants changes at library after grandson checks out erotic novel | Fox 59 News – fox59.com.
Just like our lives can often be divided into chapters, there are also different books that can define each decade.
via Summer Reads: Best Books For Your 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s And 60s | HuffPost Books.
infophile 