November Confesses to All Kinds of Terrible Things

My second least favorite month is nearly upon us. (February's the hands-down worst, no contest!) If you're equally disenchanted by the end of Daylight Savings and November's general gloom, distract yourself with this, that, or the other:

• Nov. 4: Get schooled on RDA by everyone's favorite cataloging instructor and winner of Library Journal's 2008 Teaching Award, Rick Block, at the New York Technical Services Librarians fall program.
• Nov. 6-7: Wondering how to get patrons of all ages interested in poetry? Attend the Poetry in the Branches National Institute at New York's beautiful, spacious, and new-as-can-be Poets House.
• Nov. 19: SLA's New York Chapter upgrades your brain at the New York Information and Intelligence Forum.
• Nov. 21: Eat brunch with America's most famous library-lady, Nancy Pearl. Okay, Laura Bush might be more (in)famous. Proceeds benefit her daughter's upcoming dramatic confessional, Terrible Things. Mmm...marshmallows...
  

The McNally Jackson Halloween Embarrassment

From the lovely ladies of the Desk Set:

The Desk Set is delighted to be helping out our friends at McNally Jackson for their Halloween happy hour costume party The McNally Jackson Halloween Embarrassment.

Here’s your chance to bust out, dust off and iron up your old Lizzy Bennet gown, stick a red felt A on your chest, or throw on some round specs and a striped scarf. Enjoy some tunes, some drinks, and some bookstore ambiance as you show off your clever costume. What’s that? You’ve already made plans for Halloween? Well, make McNally Jackson your first stop: festivities start at 7:00, costume contest is at 8:00, and you’ll be on your way to whatever debauchery awaits by 9:00.

Two more terrific things about this party: Esther K. Smith will teach you how to make some badly needed cootie catchers, and you can purchase paperbacks from the Books Through Bars wishlist to donate while you party.

Here are the details as supplied by McNally Jackson:

The McNally Jackson Halloween Embarrassment

You’re a nerd. And not just a little nerd either, no, you’re a nerd of magnificent proportions. You love books so much that you’re not satisfied just reading books shamefully in the privacy of your home, no, you have to read them on trains, buses, in restaurants. It’s embarrassing.
Not only that, but you think about books all day, you talk about them. When you walk down the street, when you kiss your children goodnight, you are a book nerd even then, in your heart.
You should be ashamed but you’re not. No, you celebrate your nerd-dom, you revel in it. Then, on Halloween, otherwise known as Nerdmas, you take to the streets. You wear your nerd heart on your nerd sleeve and dance (poorly) and sing (poorly). You let the nerd all hang out.
And somehow society just lets this happen? People don’t flee; indeed, some join in with you! You form roving nerd troupes, carnivals of embarrassment and glee!

You, dear reader, are invited.

This Halloween we hope book nerds of all sorts will join us to act like damned costumed fools amid our stacks. With a little help from the nerdy librarians of the Desk Set, we’re hosting our annual Halloween party, and that means it’s time to dust off your spats and clichés, grab those fangs and poorly executed allegories. We’re inviting all attendees to draw on their bookish lore to dress up as a favorite character. Or theme. Or setting? Even a title will do. Anyhow, we expect you to impress us with your book-themed costume. Uncostumed book nerds are welcome, too, they just won’t have a shot to win fabulous prizes.

We’ll begin with a horror reading at 7:00, followed by music and drinks. At 8:00 we’ll host our costume contest, with a panel of judges rating your getup for execution, originality and enthusiasm.

We’ll have plenty of other ways for you to embarrass yourselves, too, including:
*a scary voice contest
*papercrafts with our neighborhood paper wizard Esther Smith
*charity book donations (kindness is embarrassing, isn’t it?)
*and plenty of opportunities to indulge your embarrassing love for sweets

The party is open to the public: no fee or reservation required. All we want is your nerdy nerdy self.
Note however, that this party is for fully-grown nerds. Younger party-goers are welcome to our kid’s Halloween celebration from noon to 2.

McNally Jackson, 52 Prince St.
(b/t Lafayette & Mulberry)
New York, NY 10012
212.274.1160

October 31, 2009

7:00 pm - 9:00 pm

ILS Developments at Queens and Brooklyn & 2CUL for Two Schools

For tech services librarians, nothing beats getting screwed over by your ILS vendor. Queens Library's recent trouble with SirsiDynix was the subject of a Library Journal article a couple weeks ago. According to QL, they chose to migrate to Dynix's Horizon system based on promises of aggressive product development. Once Dynix merged with Sirsi, however, those promises were rescinded. Queens is now suing their erstwhile vendor, charging breach of contract, breach of guaranty, and fraud. They've since migrated to VTLS' Virtua system.

Further catalog news: Brooklyn Public Library announced improvements to their public interface, touting hold freezes, online fine payments, and a book-rating system amongst their catalog's new features.

Finally, Columbia and Cornell announced their intention to pool resources in their collection development, acquisitions, and processing operations. The project -- dubbed 2CUL -- is buoyed by a $385,000 Mellon grant. From the press release:

The two universities will form a separate service entity to facilitate the collaboration. Ithaka, a not-for-profit organization that assists research libraries and the academic community to leverage advancing information technologies, will provide project management and assist in the planning. Initial work will focus on several global collecting areas, as well as collaborative funding and support of technical infrastructure in various areas.

Yes, 2CUL is pronounced "too cool." No, the powers that be don't realize this is a laughable, supremely uncool name. Best of luck though.

Take the Field: Trips, Week of Oct. 5, 2009

I'm not sure how anyone can concentrate on librarianship with the sweet promise of postseason baseball just days away. If your priorities don't include pennants and pinch runners, you have my pity...and freedom to attend these bookish events:

• Oct. 6: Sneak a peek at Jewish Theological Seminary's incredible library; then make your way downtown to help plan next year's Anarchist Book Fair.
• Oct. 7: Go deep inside The Strand with METRO. You'll "learn how books are processed, how rare books are selected and hear how librarians can purchase books for their libraries and themselves."
• Oct. 9-11: Rutgers delivers the Mobile Communication and Social Policy Conference, a weekend-long affair of potential interest to the media-savvy, globally-minded librarian.
• Oct. 10: Do you like to read stuff and then talk about it...at a bar? No heavy tomes to struggle through for this reading group's Saturday meeting at Flannery's.

Remember to check the right-hand calendar for additional excursions.

Weekend Field Trips: Banned Books Week Ends, October Begins

Have you checked out the Shelved @ NYC calendar for October? The number of conferences, classes, library tours, and other events is borderline scary, but in that pre-Halloween, embrace-the-foreboding kinda way. Here are some things happening THIS WEEKEND that won't harm your psyche or pilfer your wallet (badly):

• The Contemporary Artists Book Conference is in residence at P.S.1. The sessions started today, but there are three more for you to catch tomorrow (on print-on-demand, zines, and a stellar keynote conversation).
• Here's the buzz: Pratt SILSSA is taking Banned Books Week seriously. Bee a part of the Librarian Swarm at Union Square this Saturday afternoon.
• Flickr Commons fans should head to the Brooklyn Museum on Saturday night for Common Ground, "a beautiful nighttime parade of images gathered and transmitted from the global Commons network, meet staff from Brooklyn and NYPL, get your hands on some cool Flickr schwag and enjoy the surrounding First Saturday festivities."

Poetry's New Cathedral on the Hudson

Congratulations Poets House! As reported by Library Journal, the 24 year-old poetry library and education center has successfully moved from its cramped Soho digs to "a stunning new location in Battery Park City in lower Manhattan, in a LEED Gold-certified building, with huge windows overlooking the Hudson River." (For a more detailed description of the space, check out this NY Times article.) Their grand opening celebration took place over the weekend, while regular library and reading room hours recommenced today.

"Throughout its transformations, the heart of Poets House has remained its poetry collection," their website states. "With over 50,000 volumes of poetry—including books, journals, chapbooks, audio and video tapes, and digital media—our collection is among the most comprehensive, open-access collections of poetry in the United States and is the foundation for all our programs and services."

And speaking of programs and services, Poets House will host its annual Poetry in the Branches (PITB) National Institute the weekend of November 6-7. The PITB program works with NYC's public libraries to increase patron exposure to poetry via workshops, readings, improved collection development, and librarian training.

A Branch Library Grows in Brooklyn

[Re-posted from Lower East Side Librarian]

A new alternative library grows in Brooklyn: the Branch Library in Clinton Hill is a project driven primarily by designers I believe, but they were respectful enough of the library profession to talk to some librarians, including the NYC Radical Reference collective. They'll be open the next 8 Sundays (and they hope beyond) from 1-5 in an unused parking lot on the corner of Myrtle and Clinton.

It may be some librarians' immediate reaction to be defensive, critical, or even angry at these amateur upstarts, but I think we'd be smarter to embrace, encourage, and advise them (when asked). I love their community centric approach. Jerome Chou, one of the group's core members, described how they're letting patrons design the library at our last Rad Ref meeting.

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Click to continue reading Jenna's post!

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And if you'd like to volunteer or donate supplies (and books!), please contact Jerome at librarybranch@gmail.com.

Mid-Manhattan Gets Caffeinated

Check out these pics of Mid-Manhattan Library, taken over by Tim Hortons yesterday. It's corporate sponsorship gone wild! Here's my fave:

[Photo by Don Pollard]

NYPL Announces Longer Hours and Free Timbits (Today!)

To think that just three months ago threats to library funding had New York Public Library officials forecasting severe service cuts, with branches opening a mere 4 days per week. Today, NYPL announced expanded hours at 10 libraries in The Bronx, Manhattan, and Staten Island. Mid-Manhattan can now boast 88 hours of service per week, including stints from 8am-11pm, Monday through Thursday. To celebrate, their Cover-to-Cover Café is offering free Tim Hortons coffee and doughnuts all day TODAY.

Will Queens Library join its sister systems in extending opening times? The 2009 Library of the Year has maintained Sunday service at its Central Library and Kew Gardens Hills branch, and the South Hollis branch re-opened last week after six months of renovations.

BPL Restores Scraps of Sunday Service & So Much More

Um, hello! I've been clinging to the waning summer, ignoring responsibilities left and right. (This blog is on the left, of course. To the right: bills, toilet-cleaning, passport renewal.) So now that the school year has begun and the days of sun and make believe are over, here's a run-down of the library newsie events of the past few weeks.

• Brokelyn reported on a do-it-yourself library project called, simply, Branch. According to their bare-bones website, "Branch is a community design and planning project to create a temporary public space on Sundays that will offer books and computer usage, as well as performances and workshops. Branch will be free and open to the public." They opened last Sunday in the Citibank parking lot on the corner of Myrtle and Clinton, and will reappear each week through the end of November. A fundraiser is scheduled for the 16th (see calendar at left).
• Not to rain on Branch's static, parking lot parade, but Brooklyn Public Library's Sunday service is back! Kind of. The Central and Kings Highway libraries will open year-round starting September 13, while Sunday access to the McKinley Park and Borough Park branches will be limited to the school year. Sixteen additional branches have extended their evening service to twice weekly.
  
• The BPL's Park Slope branch will close for renovations sometime this fall (date TBA). Work to improve the library's handicapped accessibility will take anywhere from one to two years. The infamous mommy brigade can't be pleased, but Fucked in Park Slope is looking on the bright (dark)side.
  
• Sony debuted its Daily Edition touchscreen ebook reader on August 25 at New York Public Library on 42nd Street. It goes on sale in December for $399. NYPL worked with Sony to expand its selection of ebooks, all of which will be downloadable to any brand of ereader or appropriate electronic device.
  
• City Room asked straphangers "What was the last book, magazine and newspaper you read on the subway?" The results seem surprisingly erudite...until you realize that the 8,000 respondents are all NY Times readers, and self-selected ones at that.
• The Brooklyn Book Festival is coming to Borough Hall this Sunday. With over 200 authors expected, you'll need to prioritize! Check out Brooklyn Based's game plan for hitting the best of the best.
  

BPL Publishes, Then Retracts, Tintin Response

Brooklyn Public Library sequestered Tintin and the world continues to be scandalized. From the Bay Ridge blogosphere to the French literary press, everyone's picking up the story. Amidst the hubbub, BPL's No Shush Zone responded to the growing criticism, but their August 22nd post has since been taken down (shushed!). Here it is, saved from the brink of virtual obsolescence by my handy feed reader:

Hi All-

We know there's been a lot of chatter on the web about the NY Times piece about Tintin Au Congo, and we love the good-natured discussion, and the heated debates. But we've also seen some facts we'd like to correct, so please read on.

Our special collections -- such as the Hunt Collection and the Brooklyn Collection -- are areas at Central Library in which we offer and store rare, irreplaceable and delicate materials.

Tintin au Congo was relocated to the Hunt Collection at Central Library about three years ago after it was determined by a committee that reviews book challenges to have content that is questionable for children. Yes, the Hunt Collection is a vaulted room, but not for "offensive" or "banned" books, but a special collection that consists of approximately 7,000 juvenile books, pamphlets, and periodicals dating back to the 1740s and concluding with materials published in the 1950s, including some first editions. Included are classic children’s literary texts, special limited and illustrated editions and books written and/or illustrated by people affiliated with Brooklyn. So the titles kept here are often out of print, rare and of historical significance; this special collection was appraised at over $400,000. Tintin Au Congo fits into the collection perfectly as a rare title of historical significance that needs safekeeping.

So now Tintin au Congo lives in a room in Central Library with other priceless works so we can keep it safe… as well as keep it close at hand in case an interested customer wants to view it. This title -- as well as others in the Hunt Collection -- is listed in our catalog as a title available to the public, and is viewable by appointment.

BPL will also offer tours of the Hunt Collection as part of Open House NYC. More information on those tours will be available in mid-September.

I agree that a "rare title of historical significance" ought to be housed in a special collection. And I'm quite fond of the Hunt Collection -- I cataloged a portion of it during my library school internship at BPL back in 2003. However, Tintin au Congo wasn't removed from circulation due to preservation concerns, but for it's "questionable" content.

As Michael Meyers of the New York Civil Rights Coalition writes in a recent NY Daily News op-ed, "Banishing of books is bad form and bad library science, and if it catches on all that will pass for acceptable and available reading for children and adults alike will amount to pabulum and the homogenized opinions approved by the self-righteous among us who always think - and are so sure they know - what's good and what's bad for the rest of us."

The Brooklyn Public Library Layoff Debacle

Yesterday, the Daily News reported that Brooklyn Public Library laid off 13 non-union employees to alleviate a portion of its $5.5 million budget shortfall. This news comes rather late; the terminations took place back on July 6. There has, however, been some not-so-local media coverage of this story that's been brewing for nearly two weeks.

On August 9, the Washington Post profiled the career-coaching and outplacement firm Five O'Clock Club in a lengthy article entitled "The Art of Letting Employees Go." Turns out, Brooklyn Public Library hired these downsizing specialists to assist with their layoff process and Post reporter Eli Saslow went along for the ride. His article includes some rather specific descriptions of the effected employees, even noting their client numbers with Five O'Clock Club. Big mistake.

Presumably, complaints by the 13 staffers and/or their still-employed colleagues were severe enough to warrant a flurry of apologies, accusations, and denials by BPL execs, Five O'Clock Club, and the Post. Library Journal deftly outlines the situation in this article which, in turn, elicited this response by the Post's ombudsman. Not only did Saslow all but identify the laid off employees by name, he may have added too much "color" to his story:

Contrary to Saslow’s description of Hall gulping two Tylenol, [Club president Kate] Wendleton said: “Kim does not pop Tylenol – ever.” She denied Saslow’s claim that Club employees get bonuses “almost every month.” She even denied his description of their offices being located “across from a laundry room where tenants come and go in their pajamas.”

He said, she said! All finger-pointing aside, I think journalists ought to remember that librarians take privacy issues quite seriously.