As devoted book lovers and defenders of libraries, there are few things that upset us more than people who steal books. We read about a recent case of book theft in China this week, detailed after the jump, which compelled us to explore a brief history of shocking book thievery. Greed, desperation, and delusion have compelled ordinary citizens and literary insiders to snatch rare books and manuscripts for dubious purposes. Most of these stories about stolen titles read like a gripping thriller, but the following tales of book theft are sadly all too real.
Tag Archives: libraries
Preparing For The Future: Helping Libraries Respond to Changing Tech… | Brian Kelly
ALA joins Apple, Microsoft in demanding surveillance transparency | District Dispatch | ALA Washington
Today, the American Library Association (ALA) joined an unprecedented coalition of Internet companies and advocates to deliver a letter to the U.S. government demanding greater transparency around national security-related surveillance of Internet and telephone communications.
Quill & Quire | Guest opinion: why libraries should get into the book-selling business
In the June 2013 issue of Q&Q, Vancouver librarians Shirley Lew and Baharak Yousefi argue that libraries should get into the business of selling books.
See the full article: Quill & Quire | Guest opinion: why libraries should get into the book-selling business.
Quotable: “The loss of independent bookstores is accompanied by the loss of diversity, possibility, and sense of place. Publishers, writers, and the readers they serve all lose in a market that rewards blockbusters but ignores alternative voices and ideas. Instead of being bystanders to this devastation, libraries have compelling reasons to seize the opportunity it presents. We have a mandate to help preserve our literary and cultural landscape; we have the space, often in rent-controlled buildings; we know how to buy and promote books; and we are not constrained by the need to turn a profit. We are uniquely equipped to sell books and support writers, publishers, and reading in Canada.”
Related: Storify: should libraries sell books? [some Twitter reactions] | Quill & Quire
LinkedIn and the MLIS Job Search | Information Space
MLIS students, and librarians in general, are possessed of singular skills that are valuable in a variety of positions, but they’re not always sure what those positions might be.
While searching LinkedIn recently, I stumbled upon some really interesting Library and Information Science Professionals in job titles and with career paths that some might consider unusual or even out of reach. The thing about LinkedIn is that this is what it should be used for. LinkedIn is not just a place to put up a profile and wait to see what happens. It is an amazing job search/research tool that Library and Information Science professionals should be easily able to navigate and come up with very valuable information.
See the full article: LinkedIn and the MLIS Job Search | Information Space
Not discussed in depth in the article are the LIS groups MLIS students may want to consider joining. These include:
- Canadian Library Association
- Special Libraries Association
- American Library Association
- CILIP: Library, Information and Knowledge Professionals
- Information Science and LIS
- code4lib
- New Academic Librarians: Networking to success
- LIS Career Options
- Library Technician Students in Canada
- INALJ- The I need a Library job Group
- Your University Alumni Group
Burma’s Lucky Bibliophile | The Irrawaddy Magazine
When the Ministry of Information’s director general visited Ye Htet Oo’s library in 2010, it could have been disastrous. Ye Htet Oo, then a recent college graduate, was running his new library in downtown Rangoon on the sly, without approval from the former military regime, and was told he could face three months in jail for every book he lent without permission from the censorship board. Unable to get a library license from the government, which saw libraries as a way to spread subversive ideas, he fronted his operation as a bookshop but kept a collection of unapproved library books hidden in a back room. Then one day, unknown to the young bibliophile, the ministry’s director general—who has since become the deputy minister of information and President Thein Sein’s spokesman—entered the “bookshop” and walked straight into the secret room.
For the full article and Q&A with Ye Htet Oo see: Burma’s Lucky Bibliophile | The Irrawaddy Magazine.
LibraryReads Book Discovery Program Launches Fall 2013
Every day library staff share books they love with their users. Now, you can reach beyond the library walls to tell the rest of the country about the books you can’t wait to share.
LibraryReads – a new program, launching this fall [in the U.S.], harnesses the value of “library staff picks” into a single nation-wide discovery tool, a monthly list of ten newly released must-reads. via LibraryReads.
LibraryReads has launched a website, with areas for library staff, publishers, sample recommendation list and a comprehensive FAQ. Also sign up to join the program and receive the newsletter.
See the press release.
See also: LibraryReads Book Discovery Program To Launch | ALA Annual 2013 | Library Journal
Podcasts for Libraries (Video) – Stephen’s Lighthouse
Oldest known complete Torah scroll discovered miscatalogued in Italy | Holy Post | National Post
An Italian expert in Hebrew manuscripts said he discovered the oldest known complete Torah scroll, a sheepskin document dating from 1155-1225. It was right under his nose, in the University of Bologna library, where it had been mistakenly catalogued a century ago as dating from the 17th century.
The find isn’t the oldest Torah text in the world: the Leningrad and the Aleppo bibles — both of them Hebrew codexes, or books — pre-date the Bologna scroll by more than 200 years. But this is the oldest Torah scroll of the Pentateuch, the five books of Moses, according to Mauro Perani, a professor of Hebrew in the University of Bologna’s cultural heritage department.
via Oldest known complete Torah scroll discovered miscatalogued in Italy | Holy Post | National Post – May 30, 2013.
If you are interested in religious texts and/or illuminated manuscripts I recommend the Sacred Traditions permanent exhibition at the Chester Beatty Library in Dublin, Ireland. This exhibition is much more rewarding than trying to view the Book of Kells among the masses at Trinity College. The Old Library is worthwhile but tourists are restricted to a very small area.
ALA Launches Online Hub to Support Tech Literacy | The Digital Shift
The American Library Association (ALA) this week launched a preview version of Digital Learn, a free online resource for librarians working with digital literacy learners. The new hub, which will be fully available June 30, follows recommendations released this month from ALA’s Digital Literacy Task Force.
via ALA Launches Online Hub to Support Tech Literacy | The Digital Shift.
See also: ALA Task Force releases digital literacy recommendations | ALA
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