Facebook and Social-networking

Libraries and librarians

Steampunk

Funny/cute

WikiLeaks

Art and design

RFID/Technology

Books

And finally, from one of our newest followers we have How to Borrow a Person from the Library. Thanks, Laura!

Sources… BB, @DavidFarrier, GRP, RS, LISNews, RWW, Google Blog, TTW.

Edited to fix up all the broken links… cough cough

You can purchase Dutton’s book here and here, or you can borrow it from Christchurch City Libraries. Also worth a look are Dutton’s personal website, and of course, Arts & Letters Daily.

Happy holidays, to those of you who are still enjoying them, and I’ll see the rest of you back in the library tomorrow.

We don’t want no holly or mistletoe
We don’t want no Christmas tree with artificial snow
We don’t want no snowman made of cotton wool
We’re not a bunch of fools

Christmas on the beach
Christmas on the beach
Pack your picnic hamper up
We’re gonna have a feast
Underneath the huge Pohutukawa tree
Christmas on the beach
Christmas on the beach!


Meri Kirihimete everyone, from the Trolleyed girls!

This from the OCLC website:

Melville Louis Kossuth Dewey was born on December 10, 1851 to a poor family who lived in a small town in upper New York state. Keenly interested in simplified spelling, he shortened his first name to Melvil as a young adult, dropped his middle names and, for a short time, even spelled his last name as Dui.

He was just 21 when he developed the Dewey Decimal Classification system we still use to this day.  Thanks Melvil!  Our libraries wouldn’t look the same without you.

Thanks to LISNews for the heads up and links.

Books & authors

• A couple of great posts on Scott Westerfeld’s blog recently.  The first one, Genre Cooties, addresses some of the negative press that steampunk had been attracting.  However it was this quote that really resounded with me:

THIS is why I don’t write for adults. Their heads are all full of genre cooties and “Taj Mahal? Nah, don’t like tombs.” Whereas a kid will come home from the library with a mystery, an sf novel, an autobiography, and three books about sharks. That’s how kids read, and when something’s cool and fun and awesome (or weird and gnarly and thought-provoking)

That got me thinking….why do we lose that open minded attitude to books?  We do tend to get set in our ways, and in the types of books we read.  So, how do we change it?  How do we challenge ourselves to be less adult (and boring) and more child-like in our selection of books?

• Scott’s second post French Steampunkery is about his visit to Machines of the Isle in Nantes, France.  This photos in this post had me squeeing with delight.  The steampunk creations are just magnificent.  The elephant is awesometastic.

• Kirkus Reviews Best of children’s and teens’ books 2010 – lots of lists and recommendations here.

Art

• Beautiful book carving at Hokey Stokes! (via Out of Print)

Libraries

• This may have already been included in a previous Roundup, but if so, it deserves to be included again…The Usable Library (via Librarian in Black)

• While UK library use falls, Wales reverses the decline – Wales News – News – WalesOnline (via @jransom)

• YALSA (The Young Adult Library Services Association) now has an official research journal.  The journal is open access and is peer-reviewed.  It is sure to be a useful resource for those working and studying in the CYA area.

Techy/interwebby stuff

• Google’s 20 Things I Learned About Browsers and the Web – this is full of useful answers to all sorts of computer stuff (y’know – all that stuff that you were too afraid to ask anyone in case it made you look stupid).  I love the presentation too – very nice.

• Connect Safely |A Parents’ Guide to Facebook | Safety Advice Articles – a good article about Facebook and privacy for teens. Well worth reading. Also worth reading for your own info to make sure you have the privacy settings the way you want them.

• Our Future World: An analysis of global trends, shocks and scenarios (Publication – General) – this report was written for Australia, but it has relevance to New Zealand too.  It makes for interesting reading. (via @heyjudeonline)

Fun

• This is just so heart warming.  Go on, click on it…it’s worth it.  You’ll smile, trust me.

• Cats Lap With Just Tip of the Tongue, Engineers Find – NYTimes.com (via Boing Boing)

• And last, but definitely not least….a very handy chart for you to print out and stick on your fridge.  A list of the collective nouns for supernatural beings (and my apologies, I can’t remember the source for this chart).  My personal favourites are a lawn of gnomes, and that The Borg is just that – The Borg.  Not so sure about a fondle of unicorns  though.

Click to make biggerer

Sources:

Boing Boing

Librarian in Black

@jransom

@buffyjhamilton

@heyjudeonline

Books

• A syllabus and booklist for novice students of science fiction literature. This is very nicely put together. Sourced via BB.
• How to open a new book. This one did the rounds a while back, so sorry if you’re seeing it again. Via LISNews.
• Cory Doctorow writing about Scott Westerfeld’s Behemoth. Yay! Yay!

Libraries/Librarians

• It’s time for young librarians to claim the future. Via RS.
• The Masters Degree Misperception. Some interesting comments here, too. Via LISNews
• The humble library: a valuable resource. Humble? Maybe they haven’t met me… Via RS.
• Lighthouse travelling library. Delightful!
• Neat café takes inspiration from library.
• Managing personal change in the move towards digitisation. Via TTW.
• Library as community The role of public libraries in a digital world. Via RS.
• 3 Punk Rock Lessons for surviving 21st Century Library Hell. Awesome. Title. Via TTW.
• Zombies in the library. Because zombies are the new vampires, duh. Via TTW.

Techy/RFID

• The American Civil Liberties Union on RFID tagging school kids. Via BB

Just Plain Cool!

• Map Envelope. I’d love to receive one of these! How cool! Via BB.
• 35 Really Unusual and Desirable Bookshelf Designs.
• Caboodle Ranch. A Village for Cats. Honestly, it’s like looking into my future.
• The Illustrated Guide to a PhD. Sums things up neatly.

And finally…
…because that’s what it’s all about.

Sources:
BB
LISNews
RS
TTW

And remember that comments are love…..show the love people!

Libraries

Here are a couple of innovative ideas for bringing the library to the people.  What are your thoughts?  Reckon it’d work at the local Countdown?

• New Library Technologies Dispense With Librarians – WSJ.com (Source: Library Link of the Day)
• Pick Up a Book or DVD With Those Groceries (Source: LISNews)

• Social networking and the library - In case you missed this in the CCL Bibliofile blog – there are some links to some excellent articles on social media and libraries.  Well worth reading.

Books & language

• Stephen Fry Kinetic Typography – Language - This is quite entrancing to watch – and Stephen Fry has such a wonderful voice. I may not agree with the sentiment – but I love the presentation.

• The Word Made Flesh – book trailer – OK – so what quote would you have on your tattoo? (Sourced from The Bookshelves of Doom)

• Out of Print Clothing - if you don’t want to go as far as the tattoo (see above) – you could just buy the t-shirt.  My personal fave is the Pride & Prejudice t-shirt.

Fun & cool stuff

• The True Size of Africa (Source: The Centered Librarian)

• 101 Ways to Use Tagxedo - Tagxedo is a little bit like Wordle, but you can arrange the words into shapes.  Take a look – lots of cool ideas here.
• 10 common misconceptions dispelled (Source: The Centered Librarian)

• Librarian enters Guinness World Records for collecting the most ‘belly button fluff’ | Mail Online - this is just ewwwwww.  Why oh why did he have to be a librarian?

• I love this literal movie trailer for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – be careful Harry!

Source: A Fuse #8 Production

Use it in a sentence: What do you get when you cross Grover with Old Spice Guy? An awesome video…

The article is aimed at school libraries and librarians, but the points raised apply to all libraries, and should be required reading for all of us.  Your thoughts?  Comments?  How well do we measure up?

Thanks to the Bright Ideas blog for this link.