Update on Helping Damaged Libraries

As promised here, I looked into helping libaries that have been damaged by recent storms.  The ALA has organized a web page with contact information: Helping United States Libraries.  There is information for many states struggling to rebuild their libraries after various disasters.

For public libraries, it is especially difficult to rebuild after a disaster without the help of private sector donations.  Our budgets are very tight as it is, and public funds rightfully go to the primary services first.  However, the library is a huge sorce of comfort after a disater.  It gives people a safe place to go, it provides access to vital information, Internet access, and lesiure materials, all for free. So, any donation you can make to a library in need is money well spent to help the people of the affected community.

For those of you who were interested in helping Vermont libraries in particular, here is the specific information from the page:

Vermont

posted September 2011

We have received many calls and emails from people all across the country who want to help our libraries. We are grateful to all of you and want to let you know how you can best help our libraries at this time. For now, please do not send books. Instead, we are accepting cash donations.

For those who want to make donations to assist Vermont public libraries who suffered damage or flooding as a result of Tropical Storm Irene, please send checks to the Vermont Public Library Foundation, c/o State Librarian, Vermont Department of Libraries, 109 State Street, Montpelier, VT 05609
Checks payable to: Vermont Public Library Foundation, Inc.

These donations are tax deductible and will be distributed to libraries that have sustained damage from flooding. Funds will be used for repairs, mold abatement, clean-up and replacement of books, furniture and computers. Any funds left over will be kept in a separate account to assist public libraries in future disaster-related events.

For more information, visit the Vermont Department of Libraries at http://libraries.vermont.gov/

Also, here is an article about an especially hard hit Vermont library from American Libraries Magazine

Inventor of the eBook Has Died

Couretsey of Shelf Awareness: 

Obituary Note: Michael Stern Hart

Michael Stern Hart, founder and head of Project Gutenberg and considered by many to have invented the e-book, died on Tuesday. He was 64.

According to Dr. Gregory B. Newby, Hart told this story of how he had the idea for e-books. "He had been granted access to significant computing power at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. On July 4, 1971, after being inspired by a free printed copy of the U.S. Declaration of Independence, he decided to type the text into a computer, and to transmit it to other users on the computer network." E voila!

Newby added: "Hart was an ardent technologist and futurist. A lifetime tinkerer, he acquired hands-on expertise with the technologies of the day: radio, hi-fi stereo, video equipment, and of course computers. He constantly looked into the future, to anticipate technological advances. One of his favorite speculations was that someday, everyone would be able to have their own copy of the Project Gutenberg collection or whatever subset desired. This vision came true, thanks to the advent of large inexpensive computer disk drives, and to the ubiquity of portable mobile devices, such as cell phones."

What I'm Reading: Centuries of June

I first encountered Keith Donohue when I read the wonderfully original and thought provoking The Stolen Child.  It was a book that stayed with me for a long time after I closed it.  I have since found ways to incorporate it into displays and even got my book club to read it.  Click through to see Donohue himself comment on our discussion.

I was hotly anticipating his new book late this spring, as I wrote about here.  I had heard that Centuries of June was a departure from his other work, but I was not daunted by this because I trusted Donohue's interesting imagination and technical skill as a writer.

Having finish Centuries of June (CoJ), I agree it is a bit of a departure on the surface, but when you really think about it, CoJ hits at the same themes-- what makes a life, who are we, why are here, what is love-- that The Stolen Child looked at, just from a different point of view.

This is an unconventional book in terms of how the story is told which makes it fun to booktalk.  You see the plot as it involves our protagonist, Jack is very simple.  Jack wakes up at 4:52 am, goes to the bathroom, is smacked on the head, and dies.  The end. Literally, that is it.  I am not holding back on you here.  But then why is it 352 pages? Ahh, it is in figuring out that "why" where one finds the appeal of this book.

If you read for plot, do not pick this book up.  But if you like an entertaining, slowly meandering story that will smack you in the head  and make you contemplate what it means to live a life to its fullest, this is the book for you.

After Jack gets hit in the head, all of the clocks in the house stop and he meets his guide, an elderly man who appears familiar to him.  And then, over the course of the night, Jack is visited by 8 women, who one by one come into the bathroom, try to kill him, and then tell their stories.

The title "Centuries of June" comes from the fact that each of these women has a story from the past.  Their lives span over centuries, from a pre-European Native America, to a woman from the Salem Witch Trial Era, to the Gold Rush, and up into the present.  The point of the book is these stories.  We sit back with Jack in his disoriented state and become entranced the by these women and the tales of their lives.  While each is telling her tale, there are breaks where fo one reason or another, the reader and Jack are snapped back into the "present" and the old man, Jack, and the gathered sisterhood comment on what was said.

These women all have a tale to tell of how a man let them down.  Some live long lives, other short one, but they all are able to tell us of their death too.  They have anger for men and Jack in particular (remember I mentioned they all try to kill him).  This point is key to the book's conclusion.

Speaking of the ending, this is an open ended book.  We do find out what has been going on and why, but the novel is all part of a larger cycle that concludes and begins anew on the final page.  It is a philosophical but satisfying ending.
This is not a "hard" book to read once you get into the flow, but for some readers, the style may be too distracting.  I found it enhanced the story, but for others the unconventional nature of the storytelling will overshadow the story. For still others the lack of a single plot beyond what happens to Jack, will also be frustrating.

But on the other hand, fans of magical realism or historical fiction or even historical women's lives would all find something to enjoy in this book.  It could be enjoyed by a large audience as long as they were warned upfront about the unconvetional style.

Personally, I loved this book.  I was absorbed in the women's stories as much as in the "present" tale of Jack.  I inhaled this book while I was reading it, and then pondered the larger issues it brought up after stepping away.  This is a book that you are meant to sit back, relax, and just experience.  It is beautiful storytelling.  And the ending alone is thought provoking enough to justify reading the book.  Without giving anything away, I will say again as I said above, this is a book that asks what it means to live your life.  When does it begin and when does it end?
Readalikes:  Keith Donohue is a hard author to find a readalike for in that his work does not fit a specific genre; in fact, he writes across many different genres.  With CoJ you could easily classify it as literary fiction, historical fiction, women's lives, or fantasy and have a valid argument for all.

Two authors I have linked to Donohue in the past are Kevin Brockmeier and Steven Millhauser.  Click here to see a full reason why these authors are great readalikes for each other, but also here is an excerpt:

They all have a level of fantasy in their work. It is a bit more speculative than magical realism, but not really straight fantasy. They also all use their speculative elements to raise thought provoking questions about our world and the choices we make. If you laid out the plot summaries of they work side-by-side, however, you would not be able to see any similarity between their books. Their similarity lies in the tone, mood, characterizations, and style of their work. Things that are harder to assess.

Another author who fits this above description on a regular basis is Neil Gaiman.

As I mentioned above, my book group read Donohue's Stolen Child before and I have a huge list of readalike options there too.

Two books I read recently which would also be great suggestion options here are Swamplandia! by Karen Russell and The Monsters of Templeton by Lauren Groff.  Use the links to see my full reports on those books which also have readalike options listed.  Read and decide if any of the books listed would work for you.

Finally, some readers may have enjoyed the novel in stories style of this book so much that they want to read more books with this format.  For these readers I suggest Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout, and Away by Amy Bloom both of which also deal with "women's lives.  Or Hearts of Atlantis by Stephen King, A Visit From the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan, or The Madonnas of Echo Park by Brando Skyhorse for solid "novel in stories" offerings sure to be owned by most libraries.

USA Today's Fall Preview

I am swamped at the desk today and there is still class to teach tonight, so for now, I am simply passing on this link from Early Word to the USA Today's Fall Book Preview.

Fall is the most popular publishing season, so there is a lot to cover.  Click through for more details.

And I hope to get my act together and get a bunch of "What I'm Reading" posts up soon.

Karin Slaughter at the BPL Video Now Playing

Back in June, Karin Slaughter came to the BPL to talk about her new book and her work for the Save the Libraries Foundation.

Library Journal sent a professional video crew.  Thanks to a heads up from my friend and super librarian Annabelle at the Skokie Public Library, I can now pass it on.  Notice the super shot of the front of the BPL in the opening.  And that table of Slaughter's books is courtesy of the fabulous people at The Book Table in Oak Park.

Click here for the full article with video or just watch the embedded video now.

Rx for Series Readers: Hurricane Reading from eSequels

As part of a panel moderated by Janet Husband, the force behind eSequels, I will be appearing at the Public Library Association Conference in Philadelphia.  From the eSequels blog, here are the details:

AND this year Janet will be moderating a panel of experts talking about Trends in Genre Series.  Panelists will be:  John Charles on Romance, Joyce Saricks on Gentle Reads, Becky Spratford on Horror and Keir Graff on Mysteries.  It’s sure to be fun.  Don’t miss it.  Day and time to be announced.  

Part of the work Husband does on the eSequels database is to compile special lists of books on a certain topic.  But unlike general book lists, all of the books on the eSequels lists are part of a larger series.

This is an important distinction since there are many readers who stipulate that they only want to read series. These readers come in and beg for books with characters they can follow. They want to know there are 10-15 more books to come.  These are readers who cannot bear to close a book and leave a protagonist behind.  They want to return to them again and again, like an old friend, and invite them back into their lives for another story.

For these patrons, and there are tons of them (why else would our shelves be overflowing with series?), an eSequels boook list is just what the doctor ordered.

Here is an example.  Recently, Husband passed the attached list of Hurricane novels on to me with permission to share it with you.  Enjoy.
 
Hurricane Novels: Great Reading Before, Between, or After storms (or during if the lights stay on)

--compiled by Janet Husband for www.eSequels.com, 9/1/2011

Mystery

Bonansinga, Jay   Twisted  (Pinnacle, 2006)

Former FBI profiler Ulysses Grove comes to post-Katrina New Orleans for the funeral of a friend.  As he uncovers disturbing traces of past ritual murder, another hurricane approaches. 

Casey, Kathryn   The Killing Storm   (Minotaur, 2010)

Lt. Sarah Armstrong, a criminal profiler for the Texas Rangers, searches for a kid 4-year-old as Juanita, a category 4 hurricane, heads for Galveston.

Clark, Mary Jane   Nobody Knows (St. Martin's, 2002)

 T V reporter Cassie Sheridan, now a reporter for a local Sarasota (FL) television station, is following  the course of a hurricane as a hunt for a stolen ring follows its own course. 

Connor, Beverly    Skeleton Crew   (Cumberland, 1999)

A hurricane interferes with  forensic archeologist  Lindsay Chamberlain investigation of a 500-year-old galleon sunk off the Georgia shore. 

Conwell, Kent    Skeletons of the Atchafalaya (Avalon, 2003)
During a family renion at a plantation house in Whiskey Bend, LA, private eye Tony Boudreaux is trapped with everyone else when hurricane Bella blows through—followed by three murders.

Cussler, Clive  Trojan Odyssey  (Putnam, 2003)

A hurricane threatens the Ocean Wanderer, a luxury floating hotel in the Caribbean owned by a mysterious billionaire.

Haddam, Jane    Baptism in Blood (Bantam, 1996)
Bellerton, North Carolina, is the scene of a hurricane and the murder of an infant whose body is found on the grounds of a controversial women's retreat.

Parrish, P. J.   Island of Bones (Pinnacle, 2005)

 After a hurricane whips into Florida, Private Investigator Louis Kincaid finds a baby's skull on the                debris-filled beach on the Gulf. 

Wingate,  Anne    The Eye of Anna (Walker, 1990)

 Japanese-American police chief of Bayport, Texas Mark  Shigata fights Hurricane Anna as he searches for a serial killer.

Katrina

Abel, Kenneth    Down in the Flood  (Minotaur, 2009)
Set in New Orleans shortly before and during Hurricane Katrina. Danny desperately tries to save Louis Sams, who has been kidnapped to prevent him from testifying against his crooked concrete manufacturer boss.

Burke, James Lee   Tin Roof Blowdown   (S&S, 2007)  

In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, detective Dave  Robicheaux is assigned to investigate the shooting of two looters who were foolish enough to ransack the home of New Orleans's most powerful mobster.

Downs, Tim   First the Dead   (Nelson, 2008)

In New Orleans in the wake of Hurricane Katrina,  Dr. Nick Polchak, the “Bug Man”, discovers several floating corpses who were dead before the hurricane hit.

Dunbar, Tony   Tubby Meets Katrina (NewSouth Books, 2006)
Tubby winds up in New Orleans' Convention Center as Hurricane Katrina hits and his daughter finds herself the target of an escaped psychopath who envisions himself as the human embodiment of the storm.

Historical

McDonald, Craig    Toros and Torsos   (Bleak House, 2008)  

The  Labor Day Hurricane of 1935 hits Key West  in a mystery about a killer who rearranges his  victims to resemble surrealistic art.  Ernest  Hemingway and Orson Welles play cameo roles.

Funny

Hiaasen, Carl   Stormy Weather  (Knopf, 1995) 
New York ad executive Max Lamb decides to add excitement to his Orlando honeymoon by taking his bride and his camcorder into the teeth of Hurricane Andrew.

Barry, Dave   Tricky Business  (Berkley, 2003)

The usual Dave Barry crooks and fall guys are aboard an offshore gambling boat when a hurricane hits. 

Dorsey, Tim   Hurricane Punch (Morrow, 2007)

Lovable homicidal maniac Serge A. Storm roars across Florida in a stolen Hummer with his usually drunk or stoned friend, Coleman, following one hurricane after another, evading his nemesis, Agent Mahoney.

Spooky

Koontz, Dean   Dead and Alive (Bantam, 2009)

As a devastating hurricane approaches New Orleans, the future of mankind depends upon Frankenstein's original creation.

Lehane, Dennis   Shutter Island  (Morrow, 2003)
Two U. S. Marshalls tackle a missing person case at a hospital for the criminally insane.   The gale force winds of an approaching hurricane heighten the suspense.

Light-hearted mysteries (Cozies)

Andrews, Donna   Murder with Puffins (Thomas Dunne, 2000)

Hurricane Gladys hits Maine as Meg  Langslow and her boyfriend travel to Monhegan Island for their vacation.  A very unpopular local artist is murdered soon after they arrive.

Cohen, Nancy    Died Blonde   (Kensington, 2004)
Marla Shore, hairdresser and owner of the Cut'N'Dye beauty Salon in Florida is the star of the Bad Hair Day mysteryseries.  In this episode Marla finds a dead body in her shop as a hurricane hits town.

Hart, Carolyn   Dead Man's Island   (Bantam, 1993)
Henrietta O'Dwyer Collins ( "Henrie O"), a retired investigative reporter, helps an old friend discover who tried to kill him with poisoned candy.  Hurricane Derek complicates things.

Lakin, Rita    Getting Old Is a Disaster  (Dell, 2009)
Fort Lauderdale retiree  Gladdy Gold investigates the long-buried skeleton of a murder victim  is unearthed at the Lanai Gardens apartment complex after a hurricane hits.

Maron, Margaret  Storm Track (Mysterious, 2000)
Judge Deborah Knott investigates the murder of a local woman found strangled in a motel room while hurricane Fran bears down on the small town of Colleton North Carolina. Her large family clan gathers for hot chocolate and a hurricane party. 

Taylor, Phoebe Atwood    Proof of the Pudding (Norton, 1945)

Now here’s an old one:  Cape Cod’s amateur sleuth, Asey Mayo, finds a corpse among the wreckage following a hurricane.

Viets, Elaine     Murder Unleashed    (Signet, 2006)

Helen Hawthorne, now working at  the Pampered Pet Boutique must solve a murder and find a kidnapped Labradoodle puppy before a Category 3 hurricane hits Fort Lauderdale.

Reading Maps Archive Updated

Happy Labor Day.  The library is closed, so I am taking a week off from the Monday discussion, but there is still news to report.

Joyce updated the summer students' reading maps.  So there are a bunch of new reading maps for you to explore.

All are available on the Reading Maps Page.

Disaster Relief for Vermont Libraries

Most of my immediate family now lives in Vermont where, not surprisingly, my mom is the President of the local Friends of the Library group.  They are all fine and safe with no damage, but their small downtown district was badly damaged.  Thankfully, the library itself sustained only minor flooding.

But there are a few libraries in Vermont that have been badly damaged and even a few that physically cannot be reached yet due to flooding and damaged roads.

This morning I contacted representatives at the Vermont Department of Libraries and the ALA and have hooked the two of them up to work on creating a disaster relief fund for Vermont's libraries.

It is difficult for libraries because during a disaster they have to worry about their own buildings and collections while also serving as the point of disaster relief information for the community. By the time the libraries help their communities and get down to their own clean-up many funds for disaster relief have already been doled out. By being proactive and collecting the money now, my hope is that the foundation arm of the Vermont Department of Libraries can get a fund together to be there when the libraries need it.

I have been told that information about how to help all libraries with Hurricane Irene disaster relief will be coming out in the next ALA Direct email (Wednesday).  But for those of you who are not ALA members, I will pass on the information here.

So if you want to give to any library hurricane relief, I ask that you wait.  Someone at ALA is coordinating the various efforts and the information should be available Wednesday.

Thank you in advance.

Ode to the Old Fashioned Book

With the holiday weekend about to start, I thought I would keep it light today with an ode to the printed book.

Over on Book Group Buzz, Neil Hollands took a break from writing about book clubs to talk about how books and audio books got him through a rough few days cleaning up from Hurricane Irene.  Click here to read the essay which ends with this great line:

So here’s to my old friend the book, which requires only a candle or tiny flashlight on even the darkest of nights.

I support ebooks whole heartedly, but Neil is right, there is no technology that can compete with a book.  The printed book is the perfect delivery device for reading: you don't need a power source and you can take it with you everywhere.


So as you start your holiday weekend and say goodbye to summer, grab a book to take with you.  Don't know what to book to choose.  Good thing you are here at RA for All.  Look around and see what I have been suggesting.  You can start with the tags, reading lists, book discussion books, or what I'm reading or click through to The Browsers' Corner or my Shelfari for suggestions.

RA and Collection Development

With the semester having begun last night, my thoughts have moved from the day-to-day assistance of patrons to the larger RA issues.

There are 2 big concepts that I go out of my way to teach the LIS 763 students that I know they often do not get in any other class: Collection Development and Marketing.  Right now I will focus on the CD (Marketing will come a bit later in the semester).

Collection Development is the professional process by which we librarians decide which books to acquire for our collections and which books we want to delete.  For more on the deletion part, called weeding, click here to see my weeding rant.

But the other component of CD is how we decided what we will purchase for our libraries.  Back in the 1980s there was a huge shift in CD philosophy beginning with Nora Rawlinson's influential 1981 article, "Give 'Em What They Want," which is still read in many library schools today.

Before this article, libraries focused on stocking the books people should be reading.  Rowlinson upset a lot of people by saying no, public libraries are for the people, we should have what they want to read and lots of copies.

RA service was a logical outcome of this mentality.  The idea that we should help leisure readers find what they want without passing judgment on their reading tastes or trying to "graduate" them to something "higher," stems from Rowlinson's article.

Booklist Online has an electronic newsletter which goes out a few times a year (no subscription necessary) called The Corner Shelf.  It is a newsletter that fills the space, "Where Readers' Advisory meets Collection Development."

The most recent issue has this great conversation with three former heads of Collection Development at the Chicago Public Library in which they discuss Rowlinson's legacy and the similarities and differences between RA and CD.  I suggest that anyone who buys books for their library or helps readers take a look at this conversation.  It is full of history, current issues, and a look into the future.  They have a larger discussion on Rowlinson and her legacy too.