Category Archives: Books

Award Winners

Posted on 18 January 2010 by Rick Mason

The American Library Association has announced the winners for their many youth categories: Literary Award Winners There are more categ0ries than I remember… scanning through the lists reveals many interesting titles.

Posted in Books, Libraries, News | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on Award Winners

Anatomy of a Catalog Record

Posted on 1 January 2010 by Rick Mason

The American Antiquary Society has a great visual reference on the Anatomy of a Catalog Record: found via Catalogablog

Posted in Books, Cataloging, Libraries, Training | Tagged , , , , | Comments Off on Anatomy of a Catalog Record

How to make a book by folding and cutting

Posted on 1 January 2010 by Rick Mason

Eric Leese Morgan demonstrates how to quickly make a 12-page book by making a few cuts in the pages and fitting them together:  About ten years ago I created about 20 handmade books of about 25 pages each.  I … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, Training, Video | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

Baker & Taylor E-Book Technology

Posted on 9 December 2009 by Rick Mason

Baker & Taylor has the next big thing in ebooks. Really! As with all of  the “next big things” we see in digital technology, we get to “wait and see”. However, reading the post makes me marvel at the possibilities … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, Cataloging, Libraries, Online Services, Software | Tagged , , , , | Comments Off on Baker & Taylor E-Book Technology

SSNs @ Your Library?

Posted on 18 November 2009 by Rick Mason

My former place of work (FPOW) used to have Social Security numbers as college ID numbers, which were written on book checkout cards.  About ten years ago, we switched to an ILS and began generating in-house ID numbers for students. … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, Ethics, ILS, Libraries, News | Tagged , , , , , | Comments Off on SSNs @ Your Library?

APA Offers to Replace 6th Edition of Style Manual

Posted on 28 October 2009 by Rick Mason

For the background on this issue, see Quis custodiet isos custodes. According to the Chronicle of Higher Education, the American Psychological Association has decided to offer copies of the second printing of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, Education, Language, Libraries, News, Publishing | Tagged , , , , , , | Comments Off on APA Offers to Replace 6th Edition of Style Manual

Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?

Posted on 14 October 2009 by Rick Mason

The title is latin for “Who watches the watchers?” The American Psychological Association’s current style book, Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, 6th ed., contains dozens of errors, several of them in examples and sample papers.  Needless to say, … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, Education, Language, Libraries, Publishing | Tagged , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Inspirational Library-related StoryCorps

Posted on 2 October 2009 by Rick Mason

This morning I heard one of the most inspirational library-related stories I have encountered.  It was a StoryCorps segment on NPR’s Morning Edition radio program, and I feel that everyone who works in libraries should listen to it, if only … Continue reading →

Posted in Audio, Books, Ethics, History, Libraries | Tagged , , , , , , | Comments Off on Inspirational Library-related StoryCorps

Google Library?

Posted on 27 August 2009 by Rick Mason

As the Google Books settlement works its way to becoming reality, it is becoming apparent that Google Books will be transformed into something very much resembling a library. Think of how this might change our roles in society. found via … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, Google, Libraries, Library 2.0, Search, WebSearch | Tagged , , , , | Comments Off on Google Library?

Sponsor a Magazine

Posted on 23 August 2009 by Rick Mason

The Lepper Library in Lisbon, Ohio has initiated a new program to deal with severe budget cuts:  they are asking their users to help out by sponsoring magazine subscriptions. This is a creative and interesting way to help maintain and … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, Libraries, News, Periodicals, Promotions | Tagged , , , , , | Comments Off on Sponsor a Magazine

BookChaser

Posted on 23 August 2009 by Rick Mason

I wrote a post about the BookChaser Editions service last year, but encountered a reference to another service they offer, and this led me to others: BookChaser Covers : compares cover images available from Amazon, Google Books, LibraryThing, and Open … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, Libraries, Library 2.0, OCLC, Online Services, Search | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Books : A Plan To Scan

Posted on 13 August 2009 by Rick Mason

A very straightforward and readable overview of the issues surrounding Google’s book scanning project appeared in yesterdays Financial Times :  Books : A plan to scan. A prime focus of the analysis is the Orphan Works issue, books that fall … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, Copyright, Ethics, Fair Use, Google, Libraries, Library 2.0, Licensing | Tagged , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Books : A Plan To Scan

Virtual Bookplates

Posted on 9 August 2009 by Rick Mason

With our increasing reliance on electronic record keeping, especially online records, it makes a lot of sense to consider the use of virtual bookplates for those items which would normally have a printed label affixed within the book: An item … Continue reading →

Posted in Acquisitions, Books, ILS, Libraries, Library 2.0, OPAC, Promotions, Software, Web Design | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

OHP + SPO = OA

Posted on 7 August 2009 by Rick Mason

The Open Humanities Press (OHP) has joined forces with the University of Michigan Library’s Scholarly Publications Office (SPO) to start up a series of open access monographs: New Metaphysics Critical Climate Change Global Conversations Unidentified Theoretical Objects and my favorite… … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, Licensing, Open Access, Publishing | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on OHP + SPO = OA

Copyfraud – Poisoning the Public Domain

Posted on 16 July 2009 by Rick Mason

Copyfraud : Poisoning the Public Domain is an introduction to some of the ways that content providers (websites, publishers, etc.) abuse copyright protections when they use public domain materials.  A couple of minor points, however: The act of assigning a … Continue reading →

Posted in Archival, Books, Copyright, Ethics, Google, History, Licensing, Online Services, Publishing | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Awful Library Books

Posted on 6 July 2009 by Rick Mason

You know it, even if you don’t admit it… your library has books that should have been weeded years ago, but have hung around until they become anachronistically funny.  To give you an anonymous outlet for this outlandish situation, there … Continue reading →

Posted in Blogs, Books, Humor, Libraries | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on Awful Library Books

World eBook Fair

Posted on 1 July 2009 by Rick Mason

The World eBook Fair begins this Saturday, July 4th, coinciding with Project Gutenberg‘s 39th anniversary. To celebrate, the World eBook Fair members are providing free access to over two million books between July 4th and August 4th. found via ResourceShelf

Posted in Books, Event, History, Libraries, News, Publishing | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on World eBook Fair

OCLC Withdraws Records Policy

Posted on 29 June 2009 by Rick Mason

The Review Board on Principles of Shared Data Creation and Stewardship has released their final report on OCLC’s proposed policy for use of records (pdf), and after reviewing the report, OCLC has formally withdrawn the policy. This conclusion to the … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, Cataloging, Copyright, Ethics, Fair Use, Groups, Libraries, Library 2.0, Licensing, News, OCLC | Tagged , , , , , | Comments Off on OCLC Withdraws Records Policy

ISBN-UPC-EAN Lookups

Posted on 17 June 2009 by Rick Mason

If you are involved with the selection or ordering process, then you are very likely to be familiar with searching for items by the International Standard Book Number, or ISBN.  The newer, 13-digit ISBN is actually based on the European … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, Libraries, Library 2.0, OCLC, Online Services, Publishing, Search, XML | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

I love the smell of books in the morning… smells like… library!

Posted on 12 June 2009 by Rick Mason

Love that New Book Smell?  Or do you prefer Classic Musty Smell?  Perhaps your preference leans towards Crunchy Bacon or Cats? Smell Of Books has got your scent (and Sensibility!). found via LISNews

Posted in Books, Humor, Libraries | Tagged , , | Comments Off on I love the smell of books in the morning… smells like… library!