Library Bazaar » Past

A spaceship, a time machine, a teacher, a friend…

Fiacre — Sun, 08 May 2011 22:09:54 +0000

An amazing collection of letters on the Letters of Note website, extolling the virtues of libraries.

Early-1971, in an effort to attract as many youngsters to the premises as possible, Marguerite Hart — children’s librarian at the newly-opened public library in Troy, Michigan — wrote to a number of notable people with a request: to reply with a congratulatory letter, addressed to the children of Troy, in which the benefits of visiting such a library were explained in some form. It’s heartening to know that an impressive 97 people did exactly that, and below are just four of those replies, all from authors: Isaac Asimov; Hardie Gramatky; Theodore Geisel; and E. B. White.

(Although sadly a common situation these days, it’s worth noting that Troy Public Library is currently dodging closure. How long it remains open is a mystery.)

The Troy Public Library has uploaded all 97 letters to their website.

(via Adafruit Industries)

The “Vagabond” Bookmobile

Fiacre — Fri, 04 Mar 2011 14:18:31 +0000

Tin-lined, weather-proofed shelves have been built in the sides of the specially constructed truck body. The hinged panels open. One rises to provide shelter from sun and rain, while the other two drop to form a counter from which to serve customers. The shelves on each side hold 250 volumes and the racks in the rear take care of 500 books.

I plan to move into one of these when I retire or to travel the country looking for contract positions after I’m downsized, whichever comes first.

(via Modern Mechanix)

Augmented reality, one year later

Fiacre — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 14:27:27 +0000

Layar was launched in June 2009 and this interview with Maarten Lens-FitzGerald, one of the founders and current general manager, looks at the last year and their future goals. Of particular note is Lens-FitzGerald’s mention of Bruce Sterling’s keynote, “At the Dawn of the Augmented Reality Industry“, from the Launch Event in August last year.

Video: Bruce Sterling’s Keynote – At the Dawn of the Augmented Reality Industry from Maarten Lens-FitzGerald on Vimeo.

Hypatia, old school librarian

Fiacre — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 00:44:06 +0000

Agora is a movie directed by Alejandro Amenábar about Hypatia, (who may or may not have been) a librarian in the Great Library of Alexandria. Judging by the final few seconds of the trailer, and what we know about her life, I’m guessing this film does not have a happy ending…

Looking to the past…

Fiacre — Sat, 03 Jan 2009 23:34:18 +0000

The new year is here and it is time to look to the past to see where we have been. Ars technica gives us an interesting post on the open source victories of 2008.

And what will the future bring? According to some, librarian will be one of the best careers for 2009. Apparently librarians will…

…go on shopping sprees, deciding which books and online resources to buy. They may even get to put on performances, like children’s puppet shows, and run other programs, like book discussion groups for elders.

It was also one of the best careers for 2008, but if you take a look the median salary appears to have dropped by $4000. Maybe we need to put on better puppet shows…