Jodi Lee and Christopher Korenowsky of the Columbus Metropolitan Library, Ohio, confused an audience of librarians at the Public Library Association today. It was not that their proposal was misunderstood. It was very clear that they are eliminating their reference desks and having their librarians roam, float, wander, hover, whatever. What was confusing was their presentation. At moments they seemed to be saying that the action is a very radical idea, but at other moments they reassured the audience that they are not really changing that much.
Korenowsky also lost many of us with his "three-tiered research phase" portion of the talk. He did not tell us any of the research findings. What did "knowledge vs data" refer to? How are Starbucks, Blockbuster, and Nordstroms relevant? I know I've had lackluster service at each of these stores, and they still have big service desks.
I think the duo make a mistake in organizing their program around dispelling myths. We now know a lot about what they are not doing and not really that much about what they are.
I am sounding very cranky, but I am actually very sympathetic to the idea. Our library has a huge desk that separates the librarians from the clients. I want our reference librarians up and about helping people when there are people to help. I wish they would have given me more solid arguments for redesigning service areas and changing working procedures. They could have talked more about the smaller desk designs and the working of the headsets. I think they missed an opportunity to be really helpful.
Also, the mantra "stop doing things that don't need to be done" to address the work that librarians do at service desks when not assisting clients is not realistic in small libraries where there are not centralized services to do all the non-client assistance work. Lee and Korenowsky are limiting their ideas to larger libraries unnecessarily with this approach. I hope they revisit and revise what can be a liberating idea.
Friday, March 28, 2008
Minneapolis Skyway Hike Slide Show
For those unable to visualize the PLA 2008 experience, here is a slide show of my walk from the Radisson Hotel to the Minneapolis Convention Center. There are a few tricky turns.
My best time was twelve minutes.
Down the escalator at the end of the Skywalk was a really nice convention center, where we had a really good conference.
My best time was twelve minutes.
Down the escalator at the end of the Skywalk was a really nice convention center, where we had a really good conference.
Girl Scout Cookies on Sale in Late March!
I knew there was a reason to come to Minnesota in late March besides the beautiful weather. On Wednesday, March 26, there were three tables along the Skyway, selling lots of cookies to conference visitors and office workers of Minneapolis. There seemed to more parents than actual Girl Scouts, who must have been in school. Several of my friends at the conference were thrilled to hear that there were cookies for sale. I gave directions.
No Snow in Minneapolis
The forecasts were for rain and snow in Minneapolis yesterday, but we got a beautiful day instead. It was a good day filled with meetings, three of which I reported on PLABlog:
Readers' Advisory Toolkit III, with ideas about how to get books off the shelves and into the hands of others and how to have the books when the readers want them
Technozoo with Leonard Souza, which featured news about Web 2.o Internet sites and gadgets that will may work their way into libraries
21st Century Library Design, with many out of the box ideas
I also recommend Cat William's report on John Wood's opening session speech. She gets in a lot of quotes I liked.
I expect more to report today.
Readers' Advisory Toolkit III, with ideas about how to get books off the shelves and into the hands of others and how to have the books when the readers want them
Technozoo with Leonard Souza, which featured news about Web 2.o Internet sites and gadgets that will may work their way into libraries
21st Century Library Design, with many out of the box ideas
I also recommend Cat William's report on John Wood's opening session speech. She gets in a lot of quotes I liked.
I expect more to report today.
Thursday, March 27, 2008
What Does It Take to Be Good at Reference in the Age of Google?: A PLA Presentation by Joseph Janes
Joseph Janes, Associate Professor of the Information School at the University of Washington, Seattle, spoke today about "What Does It Take to Be Good at Reference in the Age of Google?" It is a natural topic for Janes, one he has discussed well many times before. The topic keeps changing and he keeps up. He was particularly entertaining and thought-provoking this morning. (It was the fifth time I have heard him speak. Does that make me a groupie?)
Janes began with an old quote, as he usually does. This time he quoted librarian Margaret Hutchins from 1944 to emphasize that good reference does three things for the client:
According to Janes, what Google and other search engines do is provide ready reference. The services is "free, quick, easy, good enough." He says that reference librarians lose on free and often lose on quick and easy, if the information need is really ready reference. Where the librarians win is at good enough. We do much better than good enough and we need to market that.
The professor said that as librarians we will continue to do ready reference, but it is not what we should emphasize in marketing. When we put out publicity saying we can find the capital of Nepal or the number of seats in a stadium, people interpret that as the limit of our abilities and think "I can do that with Google." Instead we should be saying what Margaret Hutchins said:
We save you time and money and find information that you can not find on your own.
Janes said that we are seriously challenged by the search engines for the attention of the public, but we do have many strengths. Librarians beat them at the following:
What is most essential for librarians is that they do good reference interviews, whether they be face-to-face, telephone, virtual, IM, email, or whatever. Search engines will never do this as well, though they are trying to establish question services. The fact that they keep trying indicates they know that are still lacking.
Janes says that we must be the best users of the search engines, knowing all the Google tricks, such as inurl: and filetype: and view:timeline. We need to learn to use the slidebars in Live Academic and Yahoo.
The public library is at a great advantage, as it is the only point in many communities for the citizens to connect to the Internet. We should leverage this to our political advantage. Let people know how happy we are that they come for our computers. Never put up unnecessary blocks.
We should also remember that many of the people who ask questions only do so because they have failed to find an answer themselves. They are as a last resort asking a stranger in public. Other professions have private offices for giving out information.
Janes said again that print collections are our strength and we should market them. This advantage will fade in it time, but we still have it.
Librarians need to be tool makers. He still likes creating virtual pathfinders. It is one of the ways we add value to our collections. He also said that we need to take over Wikipedia instead of crabbing about it.
Near the end he said that as good as we are in person we have to be even better online. Our websites have to be compelling, effective, and high quality. Our virtual reference and IM need to be great. If not, we will be quickly cut off.
He finished by saying that librarians are first among the professions. If we include archivists in our midst, we keep the culture civilized. The human record is in our care. We are essential.
Janes began with an old quote, as he usually does. This time he quoted librarian Margaret Hutchins from 1944 to emphasize that good reference does three things for the client:
- saves money
- saves time
- ensures possession of facts which by themselves they could not obtain
According to Janes, what Google and other search engines do is provide ready reference. The services is "free, quick, easy, good enough." He says that reference librarians lose on free and often lose on quick and easy, if the information need is really ready reference. Where the librarians win is at good enough. We do much better than good enough and we need to market that.
The professor said that as librarians we will continue to do ready reference, but it is not what we should emphasize in marketing. When we put out publicity saying we can find the capital of Nepal or the number of seats in a stadium, people interpret that as the limit of our abilities and think "I can do that with Google." Instead we should be saying what Margaret Hutchins said:
We save you time and money and find information that you can not find on your own.
Janes said that we are seriously challenged by the search engines for the attention of the public, but we do have many strengths. Librarians beat them at the following:
- gathering
- selecting
- evaluating
- deciding
- understanding
- helping
- depth
- accuracy
What is most essential for librarians is that they do good reference interviews, whether they be face-to-face, telephone, virtual, IM, email, or whatever. Search engines will never do this as well, though they are trying to establish question services. The fact that they keep trying indicates they know that are still lacking.
Janes says that we must be the best users of the search engines, knowing all the Google tricks, such as inurl: and filetype: and view:timeline. We need to learn to use the slidebars in Live Academic and Yahoo.
The public library is at a great advantage, as it is the only point in many communities for the citizens to connect to the Internet. We should leverage this to our political advantage. Let people know how happy we are that they come for our computers. Never put up unnecessary blocks.
We should also remember that many of the people who ask questions only do so because they have failed to find an answer themselves. They are as a last resort asking a stranger in public. Other professions have private offices for giving out information.
Janes said again that print collections are our strength and we should market them. This advantage will fade in it time, but we still have it.
Librarians need to be tool makers. He still likes creating virtual pathfinders. It is one of the ways we add value to our collections. He also said that we need to take over Wikipedia instead of crabbing about it.
Near the end he said that as good as we are in person we have to be even better online. Our websites have to be compelling, effective, and high quality. Our virtual reference and IM need to be great. If not, we will be quickly cut off.
He finished by saying that librarians are first among the professions. If we include archivists in our midst, we keep the culture civilized. The human record is in our care. We are essential.
Travel's in the White Man's Grave by Donald MacIntosh
Working as a forester in western and southern Africa from the 1950s to the 1980s, Scotsman Donald MacIntosh saw more than trees. He witnessed two changes in the African landscape: African nations gained independence and lumber companies destroyed many of the ancient rain forests. He tells about his happy and sad experiences during this time in his book Travels in the White Man's Grave.
MacIntosh refers to the White Man's Grave as that portion of the African continent in which many Europeans met their end due to malaria and other diseases for which they were not prepared. It is often hot, humid, and rainy. Until recently this area had many forests filled with valuable hardwood prized in Europe and America for making furniture and floors. When he arrived in Africa, harvesting of these woods was a slow and selective process. The introduction of chainsaws, monster trucks, and corporate dictates to deliver supplies quickly denuded forests and destroyed the economies of local tribes.
Travels in the White Man's Grave is not just a book about what has gone wrong. MacIntosh tells many humorous and many harrowing stories of the old way of life. He survives floodwaters, snakes, driver ants, and face-to-face meetings with leopards and forest buffalo. His story about a buffalo stamping out his campfire is very funny and reminiscent of the 1980s film The God's Must Be Crazy.
Travels in the White Man's Grave is not an easy to find book, as all the print editions are English or Scottish. Recorded Books has issued an audiobook on compact discs. If you like good African stories, it is worth the effort to interlibrary loan.
MacIntosh, Donald. Travel's in the White Man's Grave. London: Abacus, 2001. ISBN 0349114358.
7 compact discs, Recorded Books, 2002. 1402529228.
MacIntosh refers to the White Man's Grave as that portion of the African continent in which many Europeans met their end due to malaria and other diseases for which they were not prepared. It is often hot, humid, and rainy. Until recently this area had many forests filled with valuable hardwood prized in Europe and America for making furniture and floors. When he arrived in Africa, harvesting of these woods was a slow and selective process. The introduction of chainsaws, monster trucks, and corporate dictates to deliver supplies quickly denuded forests and destroyed the economies of local tribes.
Travels in the White Man's Grave is not just a book about what has gone wrong. MacIntosh tells many humorous and many harrowing stories of the old way of life. He survives floodwaters, snakes, driver ants, and face-to-face meetings with leopards and forest buffalo. His story about a buffalo stamping out his campfire is very funny and reminiscent of the 1980s film The God's Must Be Crazy.
Travels in the White Man's Grave is not an easy to find book, as all the print editions are English or Scottish. Recorded Books has issued an audiobook on compact discs. If you like good African stories, it is worth the effort to interlibrary loan.
MacIntosh, Donald. Travel's in the White Man's Grave. London: Abacus, 2001. ISBN 0349114358.
7 compact discs, Recorded Books, 2002. 1402529228.
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
John Wood, Nancy Pearl, and a Day at PLA
The first day of programs at the Public Library Association National Conference in Minneapolis is over. I have written reports on Book Buzz with Nancy Pearl and the opening address by John Wood, author of Leaving Microsoft to Change the World. You may find these and other conference reports at PLABlog.
After today's session, I decided to see how John Wood's book about building schools and libraries in Asia and Africa is doing in the SWAN catalog of the Metropolitan Library System (outside Chicago). I see that readers are not checking out Wood's book the way they are Greg Mortenson's Three Cups of Tea. Both were tourists who made promises to help rural communities in the Himalayas, and in both cases, the one act led to many more. Wood's organization skills are much stronger than Mortenson's and his Room to Read organization appears to have actually accomplished more to date. Both men have been on Oprah. So, why is Mortenson's book more popular?
I believe the answer is Mortenson is more of a story teller. Rather, his coauthor David Oliver Relin is more of a story teller. Wood's book appears to have more in the way of statistics and rhetoric. Also, Mortenson started trying to help when he was an impoverished nurse and accident prone climber. Wood was already a wealthy man who risked less to quit his job to help the needy. Book groups have taken up Three Cups of Tea because they like stories.
Still, I think librarians as a profession should do all they can to help Wood by promoting his book. We should display, review it, and suggest it to book groups. His goal includes building 20,000 libraries and training 40,000 librarians in third world countries by 2020.
*****
I learned today that you really can get around downtown Minneapolis without ever going outside. I left my coat in the hotel and took the Skyway to the convention center. My best time so far is twelve minutes from room to center.
Nancy Pearl did not actually speak much at the Book Buzz program. She introduced the program and let the spokespeople from several publishers promote their forthcoming books. I was most interested in Milkweed, a small nonprofit press from Minnesota.
Tomorrow the regular presentations start. I have a very full schedule.
After today's session, I decided to see how John Wood's book about building schools and libraries in Asia and Africa is doing in the SWAN catalog of the Metropolitan Library System (outside Chicago). I see that readers are not checking out Wood's book the way they are Greg Mortenson's Three Cups of Tea. Both were tourists who made promises to help rural communities in the Himalayas, and in both cases, the one act led to many more. Wood's organization skills are much stronger than Mortenson's and his Room to Read organization appears to have actually accomplished more to date. Both men have been on Oprah. So, why is Mortenson's book more popular?
I believe the answer is Mortenson is more of a story teller. Rather, his coauthor David Oliver Relin is more of a story teller. Wood's book appears to have more in the way of statistics and rhetoric. Also, Mortenson started trying to help when he was an impoverished nurse and accident prone climber. Wood was already a wealthy man who risked less to quit his job to help the needy. Book groups have taken up Three Cups of Tea because they like stories.
Still, I think librarians as a profession should do all they can to help Wood by promoting his book. We should display, review it, and suggest it to book groups. His goal includes building 20,000 libraries and training 40,000 librarians in third world countries by 2020.
*****
I learned today that you really can get around downtown Minneapolis without ever going outside. I left my coat in the hotel and took the Skyway to the convention center. My best time so far is twelve minutes from room to center.
Nancy Pearl did not actually speak much at the Book Buzz program. She introduced the program and let the spokespeople from several publishers promote their forthcoming books. I was most interested in Milkweed, a small nonprofit press from Minnesota.
Tomorrow the regular presentations start. I have a very full schedule.
American Association of University Women
I did not realize that the American Association of University Women owned buildings other than the headquarters in Washington, D.C. I found this lovely building across the park from the Minneapolis Institute of the Arts yesterday. According to the local AAUW website, the group has programs in this center, including an upcoming series on civility. I am impressed.
Nancy Pearl in Minneapolis
Here is a photo from Freemont Librarian which reminds us that Nancy Pearl is speaking at PLA today from 10:00 a.m. to noon. FL took a whole series of these photos around the city, which you can find at his Flickr site.
Go to Flickr and search the tags for PLA2008 and you will be able to see all the latest photos from attendees.
Go to Flickr and search the tags for PLA2008 and you will be able to see all the latest photos from attendees.
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
Minneapolis Institute of Arts
Today I arrived safely in Minneapolis to attend the Public Library Association's National Conference. With an afternoon to myself before obligations, I walked down to the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, which is seven blocks directly south of the Minneapolis Convention Center. I then spent several hours wandering through the classically beautiful museum.I think the strength of the MIA is the Asian collection. I was most impressed with its four traditional Asian rooms, including the 17th century Chinese reception room with its twelve paneled painted screen and a Japanese tea garden. The serenity of the rooms is very appealing. Other highlights of the Asian rooms are many elegant Japanese prints and scrolls, large horse sculptures from the Near East, and sculptures of the Hindu gods and goddesses.
As a full-purpose art museum, the MIA has rooms with Egyptian, Greek, and Roman art and artifacts. There is an entire room of Roman busts in which only one still has a nose. The museum also cover the full history of European art, including one room devoted to the Italian Renaissance. I especially liked the two paintings by Fra Angelico. Bonnie would have liked some of these paintings, particularly the one with colorful angel wings.
I did not see any item in the museum that I already knew from looking at art books (if you do not count the Monet haystack), but there were nice pieces nonetheless. Pastoral Landscape by Claude Gellée (called Le Lorrain), Fanatics of Tangier by Ferdinand-Victor-Eugène Delacroix, and Portrait of Mlle. Hortense Valpinçon by Edgar Degas were my favorites. There were numerous works by Vuillard and Corot.
In the decorative arts area were beautifully done period rooms with antique furniture and wall coverings. I really liked the dark paneling in the Queen Anne's room.
If you are ever in Minneapolis and if you enjoy art, the MIA is a must to see. It is free everyday. There is a #11 bus to the museum, so you do not have to walk as I did. Schedule about three hours, allowing time for a snack in the coffee shop.
Monday, March 24, 2008
Bound for PLA in Minneapolis
Tomorrow I am flying to Minneapolis to attend the Public Library Association's 12th National Conference. While I am there, I will write for PLA Blog as well as posting news, reports, and photos here. So far, I know that I will attend Nancy Pearl's Wednesday morning Book Buzz program and the opening session keynote by John Wood. Then it gets tough deciding what to attend. I will focus on programs about reference, readers' advisory, and technology.
To find other PLA reports from bloggers, try searching for PLA2008 in Technorati.
I'd better finish packing. See you in Minnesota.
To find other PLA reports from bloggers, try searching for PLA2008 in Technorati.
I'd better finish packing. See you in Minnesota.
The Good Rat by Jimmy Breslin
Jimmy Breslin keeps bad company in the new crime biography The Good Rat.At age 72, mobster Burton Kaplan became a rat. He had been a stand-up criminal all his life, accepting his punishments without naming names. Knowing that he might become the scapegoat of an ongoing FBI investigation of organized crime and wanting to reduce a sentence that he was already serving, he became an informant in the case against two Mafia cops. It was not anything personal that made him do, as he said from the witness stand.
"About a month later Steve Caracappa came to my house with a box of cookies, and he says, Is it okay if we talk? And I says sure. I like Steve. I liked him then. I like him now. I am not doing him any good by being a rat, but I always liked him."
Caracappa is one of two bad cops that Kaplan often hired to kill mobsters that crossed him. From their squad car, they would pull the victims off the street or road, tell them that they were going to police headquarters, and then go to an auto chop shop to complete their contracts. Caracappa and his partner Lou Eppolito were efficient murderers, but they never earned enough to quit their day jobs. Kaplan was a tough negotiator.
Using sworn testimony and his observations of the court case, Breslin explores the character and methods of Kaplan and his associates, men who killed without regret. The journalist says that their Mafia world is now impoverished, as government run lotteries have taken away most of their business. Most of today's mobsters are losers who don't like to do real work. Being a man who enjoyed work and pinching a penny, Kaplan manipulated the mob well without being a "made member" for years.
True crime readers will enjoy Breslin's entertaining and economic prose.
Breslin, Jimmy. The Good Rat: A True Story. Harper Collins, 2008. 270p. ISBN 9780060856663.
Saturday, March 22, 2008
Pulitzer Prize for Biography Publishers, 1917-2007
I have been working on my biography book again. Actually, I never stop. Right now I am going through all the lists of awards given to biographies. When I cut and paste all the authors and titles from the Pulitzer Prize for Biography list, I am left with just years and publishers names in the original document. It looks pretty cool, all the bold dates among the publisher names. It also pretty interesting to see how frequently some publishers' names appear. The more recent dates are links that will take you to book titles and prize amounts. If you want to analyze this information, feel free.
1917 (Houghton) 1918 (Putnam) 1919 (Houghton) 1920 (Houghton) 1921 (Scribner) 1922 (Macmillan) 1923 (Houghton) 1924 (Scribner) 1925 (Little) 1926 (Oxford Univ. Press) 1927 (Knopf) 1928 (Doubleday) 1929 (Houghton) 1930 (Bobbs) 1931 (Houghton) 1932 (Harcourt) 1933 (Dodd) 1934 (Dodd) 1935 (Scribner) 1936 (Little) 1937 (Dodd) 1938 (Little) 1938 (Bobbs) 1939 (Viking) 1940 (Doubleday) 1941 (Macmillan) 1942 (Lippincott) 1943 (Little) 1944 (Knopf) 1945 (Knopf) 1946 (Knopf) 1947 (Macmillan) 1948 (Little) 1949 (Harper) 1950 (Knopf) 1951 (Houghton) 1952 (Macmillan) 1953 (Harvard Univ. Press) 1954 (Scribner) 1955 (Harper) 1956 (
Friday, March 21, 2008
Profiles in Courage by John F. Kennedy
Readers of Profiles in Courage by John F. Kennedy will realize that there is another rarely mentioned loss due to his assassination in 1963 - he did not write more books. Known as an engaging speaker, he also wrote well and had five books to his credit. As youngest president, he might have had many years of writing after his administration. Of course, that is only speculation, as he also had many serious physical problems. He might have died young anyway. He did not get the chance and we will never know.Profiles in Courage was Kennedy's best known book. In it, he praises the courage of eight U.S. senators, many of whom he would have disagreed with politically. Each of these men risked their political careers to support unpopular positions in which they believed. The first was John Quincy Adams who broke rank with his Federalist colleagues to support President Jefferson's embargo of British goods in retaliation to impressment of American sailors. He also tells stories about Daniel Webster, Thomas Hart Benton, Sam Houston, Edmund G. Ross, Lucius Quintus Cincinnatus Lamar, George Norris, and Robert A. Taft. For all, the struggle was voting according to their conscience or according to the directives of their parties and constituents.
Sometimes, the personal details struck me as very interesting. I know that it is very obvious, but I had never realized before that John Quincy Adams, who was the son of a president and lived to be very old, knew Benjamin Franklin and George Washington and Abraham Lincoln and Stephen A. Douglas.
In his introduction, Kennedy said something very interesting about party politics of his time:
"The two-party system remains not because both are rigid but because both are flexible. The Republican Party when I entered Congress was big enough to hold, for example, both Robert Taft and Wayne Morse - and the Democratic side of the Senate in which I now serve can happily embrace, for example, Harry Byrd and Wayne Morse."
What Kennedy implied was that there was not much real difference in the parties. There was more difference in the people who served within the parties. While that seems to have changed much in the fifty years since the publication of Profiles in Courage, it is still difficult to go against the dictates of one's party.
I had to look up Morse, who turns out to have been a progressive who left the Republican Party in protest over Eisenhower choosing Nixon as his vice president candidate in 1952. He served in the Senate as an independent for several years and then ran against Kennedy for the Democratic nomination for president in 1960.
I first read Profiles in Courage on the couch in my grandmother's house in the late 1960s. It is just as good now.
Kennedy, John F. Profiles in Courage. Harper & Brothers, 1956.
Thursday, March 20, 2008
Andrew Keen: Provocateur and Nothing More: A LibrarianInBlack Report
The LibrarianInBlack attended a symposium at the University of California-Berkeley called "Is the Web a Threat to Our Culture?" The two speakers were Andrew Keen, author of Cult of the Amateur, and Paul Duguid, an adjunct professor at the UCB School of Information. Sarah quickly produced a lengthy and thought-provoking account of the evening, including questions from the audience and her own thoughts. Librarians interested in the impact of technology on their work will find the account helpful. I recommend her report.
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
Chasing Kangaroos: A Continent, A Scientist, and a Search for the World's Most Extraordinary Creature by Tim Flannery
We live in the Age of Kangaroos, a time when roos dominate the plains, deserts, and forests, if you recognize an Australian perspective. (If you do, you probably also like the world maps with the South Pole at the top.) We missed the Age of the Koalas and the Age of Wombats, when large creates browsed and grazed across the island continent. The evidence is in the fossils discovered by Tim Flannery, author of Chasing Kangaroos: A Continent, A Scientist, and a Search for the World's Most Extraordinary Creature.In this part-memoir/part-kangaroo history, Flannery tells us how a natural scientist seeks evidence of species both living and long dead to complete an evolutionary understanding of a continental ecosystem. Though much of the work is out in the field, some of the methods will surprise you. Early in his career, Flannery was taught by British paleontologists that the easiest way to find fossils in Australia is head to the local pub for a pint of strong brew. Look behind the bar and you'll usually find a row of interesting rocks and bones. The bartender will tell you who found them and where to head. Take some bottles to go, for it will be hot where he sends you.
Flannery also has some unique fossil cleaning skills. When fearful that his tools might break a small specimen, he pops it in his mouth and lets his tongue work at removing ancient grit.
Flannery has been successful in his work, having identified and named four Australian species of tree kangaroos. His book is also entertaining and insightful. Look for it in your library.
Flannery, Tim. Chasing Kangaroos: A Continent, A Scientist, and a Search for the World's Most Extraordinary Creature. Grove Press, 2007. ISBN 9780802118523.
Sunday, March 16, 2008
The Times Club in Iowa City
Iowa City is literarily a pretty interesting place. I knew about the Iowa Writer's Workshop, which began in 1936. Scores of famous novelists, poets, playwrights, essayists, and nonfiction authors have attended the workshop. I did not know about the Times Club until I read about it in an exhibit about the Writer's Workshop in the basement of the Old State Capitol. We then found the room in the Prairie Lights Bookstore. It is now a coffee shop and deli, which is somewhat in keeping with the history of the room that was visited by the likes of Robert Frost, Carl Sandburg, Langston Hughes, and e. e. cummings, as well as artists like Thomas Hart Benton and Grant Wood. The room is a historically inspiring place to read.
The Prairie Lights Bookstore has racks full of famous author postcards for sale. I have not seen them anywhere else.
The Prairie Lights Bookstore has racks full of famous author postcards for sale. I have not seen them anywhere else.
Thursday, March 13, 2008
Off with Their Heads! A Cover Art Mystery Stalks the Book World by Nara Schoenberg, Chicago Tribune
I was always told not to cut off feet when taking photos. It is a rule that probably goes back to nineteenth century studio portraits of ladies and gentlemen, politicians, generals, and outlaws. I was told that it was alarming or at least awkward to view people whose legs ended somewhere just above their ankles. According to this thinking, a photo without a head would be shocking. Well, look at the book covers of many recent novels for a shock.According to Nara Schoenberg of the Chicago Tribune in her article "Off with Their Heads! A Cover Art Mystery Stalks the Book World" in the Wednesday, March 12, 2008 issue of the newspaper, the headless woman is a fad in cover art for fiction. Her article includes ten examples for readers to see. The cover of Fourth Comings by Megan McCafferty shows a young woman in high boots slouching on a couch. The paperback of The View from Castle Rock by Alice Munro has a headless woman on a towel on a beach. Prama by Jamie Ponti shows three headless teens in prom dresses. Even the historical novel Jane Boleyn by Julia Fox shows a woman in Tudor dress only up to the neck.
"Why?" Schoenberg asks. Of course, being a journalist she asks people in the book marketing industry, and many reasons are offered. One of the most interesting explanations is that without the face, readers (mostly women) can more easily imagine themselves as the heroine.
Where are the headless men? Schoenberg says that a few they can be found on some of steamy romance paperbacks.
Now I have something else to do at PLA in late March. Instead of asking vendors about database features and the best button makers, I'll be looking for headless book cover art.
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
The World Without Us by Alan Weisman
A drive into Chicago in March will collaborate the message of The World Without Us by Alan Weisman. The expressway is pitted with potholes. The train trestles are rusted. The windows are all broken in abandoned factories. Brush is growing behind the warehouses. Houses need painting. Shingles need replacing. Everything is trying to return to a natural state. Without people maintaining the architecture, the prairies and woodlands would soon return.Weisman has done a lot of thinking about what would happen to the earth if people disappeared, and his conclusion is that the planet would adapt and survive. Many of the plants and animals that depend on humans for their existence (pets, farm animals, rats, hybrid crops, etc.) would also soon disappear, but wild species would recover. In some ways, the planet would benefit greatly, and the sooner the better. The role of humans on the planet is that of virus, and the earth is seeking a cure.
The author's descriptions of the earth without us almost make the reader wish it would happen. That is not his intention. The point is that the forces of nature have these tendencies and we should work with instead of against them.
Weisman includes some warnings:
- When a major earthquake hits Istanbul, the destruction will be worse than when the hurricane hit New Orleans.
- Plastic debris is breaking up into tiny bits that choke microorganisms and are threatening the food chain.
- All of the atomic power plants will become like volcanoes if they are abandoned.
Near the end of the book, the author offers some prescriptions for a sustainable future with humans. The largest point is that the human population needs to be managed and reduced dramatically.
Reading The World Without Us is like seeing the earth from space for the first time and it will change many readers. It would make a great discussion book. It should be in every public library collection.
Weisman, Alan. The World Without Us. Thomas Dunne Books, 2007. ISBN 9780312347291
Monday, March 10, 2008
Volver: a Film by Pedro Almodovar
Do you believe in ghosts? Raimunda (Penelope Cruz) does not. She is a modern women trying to raise a daughter in a culture that persists in its superstitions. Even a move to the city has not helped her escape in the Spanish film Volver by director Pedro Almodovar. Yet, there is a mystery that she can not explain, if only she will notice.Volver is a film about women. The initial scene is a cemetery full of old and young women polishing tombs and headstones. There is not a man to be seen there nor in the next several scenes. I began to wonder if the whole movie would be devoid of men. They seemed very irrelevant to the plot. I eventually I realized that it was the sins of men that created all the problems that the women in this film suffered. The only sympathetically portrayed male is a young man from a film company who hires Raimunda to serve the film crew lunch.
Throughout Volver are touches of Alfred Hitchcock. The way Raimundo mops up the blood from around a body and the way she throws the corpse into a freezer remind me of Psycho. The way the plot slowly reveals itself reminds me of Rear Window. How the director makes something real out of something that could not be suggests Vertigo.
When looking at the cover, disregard the claim that the film is a comedy. It is a very serious film with a few humorous movements. There are some story elements that will disturb sensitive viewers near the ending.
I am pleased to see many libraries in my area already own the DVD. I recommend it highly.
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