London’s Heywood Hill curates impressive collections for discerning customers in 60 different countries — and specializes in the obscure. READ MORE: The Tiny London Shop Behind Some of the Very Best Libraries | The New York Times
Tag Archives: libraries
The #Future Of #Libraries Is Collaborative, Robotic, And Participatory | FastCompany #learning #community #collaboration #technology
To look at the state of many libraries after the recession, facing cuts and closures and fundamental questions about “relevance,” you could be forgiven for being gloomy about their future. But gloomy is not the predominant tone of a terrific new report from Arup, the well-regarded design consultancy. It shows that some libraries, at least, are undergoing a “renaissance,” and that the future could be good for others. Arup organized workshops in four cities, bringing together a range of people interested in libraries. The report collects ideas from existing projects, as well as ideas for future spaces. There are four main themes…READ MORE: The Future Of Libraries Is Collaborative, Robotic, And Participatory | FastCompany
Smithsonian #Libraries Receives #Nano #Bible | Smithsonian Libraries #digital #collections #tech
Smithsonian Secretary David J. Skorton recently accepted a Nano Bible from the American Technion Society at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History on Oct. 30. The Nano Bible will be part of the Smithsonian Libraries collection, housed in the Dibner Library of the History of Science and Technology at the National Museum of American History.
The Nano Bible is the world’s smallest version of the Hebrew Bible, produced by researchers at the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology in Haifa, Israel. Engraved on a gold-plated silicon chip the size of a sugar grain, the bible’s text consists of more than 1.2 million letters carved with a focused beam of gallium ions. The text engraved on the chip must be magnified 10,000 times to be readable. READ MORE: Smithsonian Libraries Receives Nano Bible | Smithsonian Libraries Unbound
5 Lessons #Library #Websites Can Learn from @Buzzfeed | Weave #digital #content #marketing #webdesign #socialmedia #user #engagement #UX
Since its 2006 launch, Buzzfeed has become an Internet institution by recognizing and capitalizing on the insatiable life-cycle of viral media. The idea behind the website is relatively simple: bring together trending content (e.g., news, celebrity gossip, entertainment, quizzes) from around the web and organize it into a format that is short and eye-catching…
…Buzzfeed’s business model relies on shareability, something it has in common with today’s library, which is why library website designers have the opportunity to learn from Buzzfeed’s overwhelming success. Here are the top lessons library website designers can learn from Buzzfeed… READ MORE: 5 Lessons Library Websites Can Learn from Buzzfeed | Weave
#Library Builder’s Monument of #Books | BBC News #libraries #literacy #education #reading #nonprofit
At some point this year, a child somewhere in the developing world became the ten millionth beneficiary of Room to Read, a non-profit organisation created 15 years ago after a high-flying Microsoft executive quit his job to help children in Nepal. The charity, which works to eradicate child illiteracy and gender inequality in education, builds libraries and stocks them with books. It’s no surprise that its founder, John Wood, invokes the spirit of the 19th Century library-building steel magnate, Andrew Carnegie. In a sense, Room to Read has outstripped its spiritual mentor, building 17,500 libraries to Carnegie’s 2,500. READ MORE: Library builder’s monument of books | BBC News
Officials threaten to destroy a #LittleFreeLibrary in Texas | LA Times #LFL #libraries #free #books #community
More LFL in trouble…
Who would want to hurt a Little Free Library? Officials from the Department of Code Compliance in Dallas, that’s who. READ MORE: Officials threaten to destroy a Little Free Library in Texas | LA Times
Related
- Indianapolis’s own ‘Big Free Libraries’ | TeleRead #LFL #littlefreelibraries #libraries #free #art #community
- U.S. #DHS and Local #Governments Cracking Down on #Libraries | #email #privacy #intellectualfreedom #community #LittleFreeLibrary #WTF
- ‘Most Amazing, Stupendously Clever’ Little Free Library of the Day | Shelf Awareness
These Public #Libraries Are for Snowshoes and Ukuleles | NYT #makerspaces #services #innovation
Libraries aren’t just for books, or even e-books, anymore. They are for checking out cake pans (North Haven, Conn.), snowshoes (Biddeford, Me.), telescopes and microscopes (Ann Arbor, Mich.), American Girl dolls (Lewiston, Me.), fishing rods (Grand Rapids, Minn.), Frisbees and Wiffle balls (Mesa, Ariz.) and mobile hot spot devices (New York and Chicago). Here in Sacramento, where people can check out sewing machines, ukuleles, GoPro cameras and board games, the new service is called the Library of Things. READ MORE: These Public Libraries Are for Snowshoes and Ukuleles | The New York Times
My Grandfather Built a House of 20,000 #Books From the Ashes of War | The New Republic #collections #libraries #history
Snip: I do not think anyone ever counted the number of books in Chimen’s house, although he made partial efforts over the years to catalog his collection, and various book experts, some flown in from New York and others from London, spent weeks studying it after he died. Looking at the shelves, I estimated that there were probably close to 20,000 volumes in the house at the time of Chimen’s death. My father believed it was more like 15,000. Whatever the exact number of books at Hillway, it was staggering. And what made it more staggering was their quality. Chimen did not simply aim for numbers; he collected books and editions that were extraordinarily hard to find and, by extension, were worth their weight in gold. More important, they were the stuff of rebirth, ways to bring vanished pasts to life. READ MORE: My Grandfather Built a House of 20,000 Books From the Ashes of War | The New Republic
Library’s Tor relay—Which Had Been Pulled After Feds Noticed—Now Restored | Ars Technica #libraries #government #intellectualfreedom
Homeland Security “does not make policy determinations for local communities.” READ MORE: Library’s Tor relay—which had been pulled after feds noticed—now restored | Ars Technica
No Library For You: French Authorities Threatening To Close An #App That Lets People Share Physical #Books | Techdirt #libraries
[O]ver in France, they really are taking the idea of attacking new forms of libraries to incredible new heights. There’s a French startup called Booxup that is taking the above personal lending library concept and making it digital. You get an account, scan your books, upload a list of those you’re willing to lend to others, and the service connects willing lenders with willing borrowers, putting books that would otherwise be collecting dust on shelves to good use actually being read and educating and entertaining the public. Neat. Except… not so neat, according to French authorities who are claiming the whole thing could be illegal: READ MORE: No Library For You: French Authorities Threatening To Close An App That Lets People Share Physical Books | Techdirt
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