Step Away from the Grill...

and chill with some interesting new titles from the food world, from The New York Times Sunday Book Review:
The Nasty Bits by Anthony Bourdain
Insatiable: Tales from a Life of Delicious Excess by Gael Greene
Heat by Bill Buford
My Life in France by Julia Child with Paul Prud'homme

Also: Top chefs were surveyed about their favorite out-of-print cookbooks.

It's Quiz Time...

Just in case it rains all weekend, here is a little indoor sport in the literary vein...

What classic female literary character are you?

I am Beth March, from Little Women... and I always thought she was insipid.

Change and Libraries...

• On browsing... Browsing library collections, from the shelf to the online catalog, Robert Kieft, Educause Review
• On the future of digital libraries... Scan this book, Kevin Kelly, New York Times Magazine
• John Updike responds... Explosive Words, Bob Thompson, Washington Post

Does anyone besides me think it is funny/ironic that you can't read the article on scanning all of the world's literature to create a ginormous, free-wheeling information utopia without paying for New York Times Select?

Some Sad News from the Library....

William W. Garton, retired director of Bailey Library, died earlier this week at age 70. Mr. Garton, who made his home in Slippery Rock, served at SRU from 1978 until retiring in 1995. He was instrumental in the implementation of the automated library system and greatly expanded campuswide integration of library operations with classroom activities. At SRU, he had served as grand marshal at commencements and convocations, prior to his retirement. Mr. Garton earned his bachelor of arts degree at Simpson College, his master of arts and his master of science in library science at the University of Illinois where he had served as director of public services and associate professor of library administration prior to joining SRU. Among others, he leaves his wife, Mary Sue, and three sons. Mr. Garton was a great favorite of those who worked with him.

Calling hours for Mr. Garton will be at the East Main Street Presbyterian Church Friday evening from 7 pm to 8:30 pm and Saturday 10 am to 11 am. The funeral will be at 11 am Saturday at East Main Church in Grove City, PA.

Memorial Day...

from the Department of Veterans Affairs...
from the History Channel...
from Wikipedia...

At left, the poppies of Flanders Field...

Breaking News...

Our library is going to look a little less... uh.... not sure how to describe it... but tomorrow they are taking the satellite dishes off the roof and the parking lot will be closed. Word up... think sun deck!

Author Webcasts...

The Library of Congress offers over 300 author/poet webcasts here... well worth exploring. Some notables include Neil Gaiman, pictured at left, E. L. Doctorow, Sue Monk Kidd, John Irving, Tom Wolfe, David McCullough, Thomas Friedman, Joyce Carol Oates, Nikki Grimes, and a large number of children's authors. The webcasts seem to average around 30 minutes in length and are available on other topics as well, including religion, science, technology, government, education, culture, performing arts, biography, and history.

From the All Things Google Dept.

Google recruits librarians for movie...
Google Trends lets you compare searches over a period of time....
Google Notebook lets you clip, annotate, save, and share text and images....
Get a Google Jockey in your classroom... one student surfs for all...

Special Weekend Bonus Information Having Nothing to Do With Google: How to Play the Spoons

The Holy Family Tree...

Some more information about the DaVinci Code... although personally I am thoroughly sick of it, but it is my duty to inform you...

The DaVinci Code, the Catholic Church, and Opus Dei
Leonardo's Last Supper
The Real DaVinci Code

Apparently Tom Hanks is related to Jesus or something and there are no other worthy news stories at the present time.

Summer Hours...

During the summer school sessions, the library will be open as follows:
Monday - Thursday: 8:00 am - 9 pm
Friday: 8:00 am - 4:30 pm
Saturday: 9:00 am - 1 pm
Sunday: 1:00 pm - 9 pm

Between sessions, the library is closed. When summer school is not in session, the library is usually open from 8:00 am - 4:00 pm.

The library will be closed the weekend of May 20-21 for a campus information technology project.

Are you confused yet? Call the library anytime at 724-738-2058 to hear a recording of the current hours.

"Richer Than I You Can Never Be....

I had a mother that read to me... "
(RICHER THAN GOLD , a poem by Strickland Gillilan (1869-1954)

Which is just my tricky way to combine the usual Friday bibliotrivia with Sunday's Mother's Day.....

• Julia Ward Howe, The Woman Behind Mother's Day (actually a plea for peace from the author of The Battle Hymn of the Republic) from the Librarians' Internet Index
• Honoring Mothers Around the World (and buying them all a card) from Hallmark
• The Big Read: The Largest Book Club Ever is announced (so we will all read something worthy) from ResourceShelf
  The entire city of Salisbury, England is reading the same children's book (or at least looking at the pictures) from Jen Robinson's Book Page

Best Performance in a Vendor Demo...

We see a lot of vendor demonstrations in the library world, but today's session from Jade Green (got to love that name!) from Bowker was outstanding... energetic, fun, and very, very informative.

Ms. Green gave us some lively updates on Global Books in Print, which is packed with good features....
Scholars can check the "Forthcoming" feature to keep current;
Children's book lovers can search by age and lexile rating, look for series, bring up lists of award winners, and access the subject directory A-Zoo in the Children's Room;
Those with a special interest (be it chemical peptide synthesis or Cockapoo puppies) can set up a Global Books in Print alert and receive notice when something new is published;

A quick tour of Fiction Connection and Patrons Books in Print....
You can search bestsellers by year way back;
You can get recommendations for what to read next;
You can find author biographies;
You can search by TV and radio shows to find that elusive but interesting book from an NPR show or the Imus Show, for example.

An exciting peek at Syndetic Solutions...
This is a program that interlaces with the online catalog to provide cover art, reviews from many sources, recommended similar titles, tables of contents, and other fab features. This is a very attractive product that could really enhance our online catalog....


and then we talked about RCL...
Resources for College Libraries, a collection analysis tool that will let us compare our holdings to recommended core titles.


And this all happened in an hour! We learned a lot and we actually enjoyed ourselves. And she somehow converted me into a blogging advertisement for Bowker! Global Books in Print is available on our Journal Articles/Databases page... Fiction Connection and Patrons Books in Print will be listed there this summer.

Margaret Truman is Killing Me (Slowly) ...

OK, not really, but her audiobook, The President's House, is one L-O-N-G piece of work and gives new meaning to the word exhaustive. Every aspect of White House history is covered, including the usual suspects.... pets, kids, weddings... and there is a disappointing amount of insider or new information. It is not nearly as interesting as one might hope. Constant Reader will know that my commute is brief at best, therefore it seems that I have been trapped in my car with Margaret Truman for months. And there is something pedantic, faintly scolding in her voice... if only I wasn't so OCD, I could have quit her back on CD 3...

The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants by Ann Brashares. A little late to the party, but I enjoyed this entertaining account of four friends and a pair of magical jeans that give them courage in various situations. Not too keen to read the sequels, really, and that was before I learned the Traveling Pants were a "packaged" franchise. The situations faced by the protagonists, by the way, are not all that light-hearted... one faces the death of a young friend from leukemia, one struggles with the impending remarriage of a father who is definitely missing a sensitivity chip, one goes too far (to borrow a phrase from my youth,) and one causes a senior citizen fistfight through cultural misunderstanding/an unintentional but implied accusation of sexual assault. Have fun, kiddies!


Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson. This was a moving book about a young girl who is raped but cannot bring herself to speak to anyone about it. It chronicles a year of bad grades, being a social outcast, hiding in closets at school, losing her best friend, losing her socially ambitious new friend, being ignored by her busy parents, running in fear from the popular boy who assaulted her. Somehow, through her own grit and determination to survive, a good biology class and an even better art teacher, she manages to speak out at last to warn others, has another violent encounter with her rapist, and begins healing her life. It really makes you ponder how an individual is overpowered in more ways than one when victimized in this manner. Good book.

Oh, yeah, I forgot to say this is what I have been reading lately...

Study Break....

The Library is sponsoring a study break on Sunday evening, from 8:00 to 10:00 pm. FREE pizza...beverages...cookies! Come to the second floor lobby and give your weary mind a rest (and your hungry stomach a treat.)

Splish Splash....

The Early Childhood club, with advisor Dr. Mary Vetere, gathered in the IMC this morning to host a "Splash into Spring" party, with crafts, activities, treats, and stories for community children.

The Early Childhood club has been sponsoring these parties once a semester for the past couple of years, in the spring and fall. Bring your children/grandchildren/friends/neighbors... it's a lot of fun for everyone!

Burning Questions....

Sure you appreciate the specials on the margaritas, but do you know the Facts about Cinco de Mayo? The Census Bureau wants to educate you.
Do you know where Ben Franklin's library is? Scholars are attempting to reconstruct it.
Have you sent Rembrandt a card? He turns 400 this year.
Did you think the school libraries devastated by Katrina were forgotten? Laura Bush announces some help.
Have you heard of the Peoples Archive? Library Director Phil Tramdack points out this unique resource.
Did you know it is Free Comic Book Day?

Frankenauthors....

I didn't coin the term, but think it is a perfect description of some publishing practices that have recently been in the news. There has been a stir over the apparent plagiarism in How Opal Mehta Got Kissed, Got Wild, and Got a Life by Kaavya Viswanathan, a Harvard University sophomore. The book has been pulled from the market. Additional details revealed that Viswanathan was the recipient of a nearly $500,00 two-book contract deal from Little, Brown and had been "assisted" with her writing by book packaging company, Alloy Entertainment.
The plot thickens. It seems that book packaging companies like Alloy, which specializes in teenage-girl novels, research current trends, create the ideas for the books, hire authors, market the books to publishers, and create the cover art, according to a recent Associated Press article. Alloy is the company behind the Sweet Valley High series, the more recent Gossip Girls, and the successful Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants franchise (which I just read, more on that later.) Although this is a shocking practice to some, those of us well-versed in the Carolyn Keene, Franklin Dixon world of yore are familiar with the concept and emerged from childhood relatively unscathed by exposure to fake authors.
But isn't it sad to imagine the earnest author slaving in her/his garret without the benefit of corporate encouragement? Isn't it discouraging that a Harvard sophomore gets a $500,000 contract and plagiarizes, for Pete's sake? It's like the Milli Vanilli of teen lit.... Question: Did the grownups know? Or was Carolyn Keene on a par with the Tooth Fairy and Santa Claus?

Trials (No Tribulations) ....

Librarian Lynn Hoffmann announces four new trial databases:

Environmental Sciences and Pollution Management (4/20/06 - 5/6/06)
This index provides unparalleled and comprehensive coverage of the environmental sciences. Abstracts and citations are drawn from over 6,000 serials including scientific journals, conference proceedings, reports, monographs, books and government publications.

Environmental Issues and Policy Index (4/28/06 - 5/26/06)
Available only on campus.

Tales On-Line (5/3/06 - 5/17/06)
Currently contains about 2,000 folktales, fairytales, myths, legends, sagas, and fables. At the login type: tales1383. At the password type: tales1383.

Accounting Research Manager 5/3/06
To login, the username is sru and the password is bailey.

All can be accessed on the Journal Articles/Databases page under Databases by Trial Subscription.

From the Magic Forest....

The Warren (Pennsylvania) Public Library has launched a new digital collection, the Allegheny Chronicles, linked on their library web site. These emerging collections are such a boon for historians, genealogists, and the curious. It is wonderful to see so many precious items accessible to so many. From their description, "The Allegheny Chronicles brings together unique, fragile materials in a format that allows world wide access to text, maps, instructions, stories and over 350 photographs that enable users to relive the journey down the Allegheny River from Warren to Pittsburgh as the earliest pioneers and raftsmen experienced it."

Related to public libraries, here's a happy note from a conference I attended at Clarion in April: There are more public libraries than McDonald's in Pennsylvania. Hooray! One time I was in the Sheffield Hotel (near Warren) and noticed a shelf of paperbacks behind the bar... an impromptu lending library. Big props to the public libraries and all of the hard work they do to serve their communities, often with very limited resources.