Rutgers Drops Library Studies, Gains Stripes

Starting July 1, Rutgers' School of Communication, Information and Library Studies (SCILS) will be know as the School of Communication and Information (SCI). Library Journal gives complete coverage to the name-change controversy, which ended this week with the Board of Governors approving the switch.

But the University's major media coup had nothing to do with academic nomenclature. Just witness the glory that is 1,052 Waldos:

Photo by Classic Media, Inc./Gianni Cipriano

In addition to shattering the Guinness World Record for the most Where's Waldo? namesakes in one locale, participants donated over 3,000 books to New Brunswick public schools.

NYC Libraries in the News, Breast-Baring Edition

This week's local library news ran the gamut, from the sensationalist to the superfluous.

A patron of Brooklyn Public's Flatlands branch was upbraided by a security guard for breastfeeding in the children's area. After she complained to the New York Civil Liberties Union, BPL issued an apology and transferred the guard to a different branch. Suffice it to say, the media were all over this one, quickly followed by the requisite array of ignorant-to-informed reader comments. But really, is this newsworthy? Breastfeeding in public is legal. Period. And why do so many (male) commenters compare breastfeeding to urination? As though secretion of bodily fluids were the most significant characteristic of the two activities! Even the.effing.librarian likened the two, however obliquely.

Library Journal published a point-counterpoint on the Rutgers SCILS proposed name change controversy.

And in the NY Times, yet another article focused on increased use of city libraries and their role in assisting patrons with job searches. Not that I begrudge the positive coverage, it's just that as the deadlines for the NY state and city budget votes near, I prefer the-sky-is-falling type articles that match my own growing hysteria.

Taking the L out of LIS, the Book out of Reading, and More

From Library Journal: "Rutgers Faculty Agrees to Drop 'Library' from SCILS Name"; Rutgers' Library and Information Science Student Association will hold a meeting this Friday, the 13th, to discuss this "recent controversy".

From Publishers Weekly: Kindle2 was unveiled at the Morgan Library on Tuesday. Roger Sperberg of the blog TeleRead had a rather 1.0 reaction: "No matter how strenuously Amazon labors to associate the Morgan’s grandeur with the Kindle, there will be no similar physical artifacts for future generations to venerate with the electronic books that will be read on this latest and stately issue of the e-book state of the art."

NYPL and Design*Sponge debuted the final episode of Design by the Book at the Celeste Bartos Forum last Thursday. The featured artists were on hand to discuss their creations, which were properly displayed in glass cases for all to admire. (Pics and more info about the event here.)