“Final edition: Twilight of the American newspaper,” By Richard Rodriguez, in the November issue of Harper’s Magazine. This article is a beautiful explanation of the role that newspapers have had in defining and uniting cities. In this case it’s mostly about San Francisco, but it’s also about newspapers in general, their fate, and what it … Read more Rodriguez on the Twilight of the Newspaper
Byron Anderson’s Bibliographic and Web Tools for Alternative Media has just been updated. This is a good collection development resource for librarians and others who want tools for going beyond the usual lists and collection development resources, especially for finding books on the political fringes or otherwise outside of the usual academic or corporate channels.
For fun on a Friday, a couple of recent New Yorker “Shouts and Murmurs” columns related to our world: Live Your Life and Subject: Our Marketing Plan
Just released: SRRT Newsletter – Issue 169, December 2009. This issue has messages from the editor and the SRRT AC Coordinator; articles about Banned Books Week and Operation Teen Book Drop; speeches from the 40th Anniversary Celebration; Task Force News, a proposed change to the Bylaws, and book reviews.
I have posted the first chapter of Juris Dilevko’s The Politics of Professionalism: A Retro-Progressive Proposal for Librarianship to the Library Juice Press website: Chapter One: Fateful Choices. It is the introductory chapter and provides a good feel for the book as a whole.
Adorno and Horkheimer might have something to say about this, too. I thought I had noticed this beginning to happen and was actually planning to post something about it soon, but Danny Sullivan at Search Engine Land has the full story: “Google’s Personalized Results: The “New Normal” That Deserves Extraordinary Attention.” Read through this and … Read more Google splits apart the search
Something is happening in Minnesota that is worth noting if you’re interested in the public sphere. There is a mining project in the Iron Range that is awaiting state approval. It would be the first mining project in the Iron Range that would mine copper and precious metals instead of the usual iron that has … Read more Theodor Adorno and Max Horkheimer will not be in attendance
ITHACA, NY — Nominations for the 2009 Izzy Award are officially open. The annual award for special achievement in independent media — named after legendary muckraker I. F. “Izzy” Stone — is a project of the Park Center for Independent Media (PCIM) at Ithaca College. Last year’s inaugural award was shared by blogger Glenn Greenwald … Read more Nominations for the 2009 Izzy Award are officially open
LIS Critique is an international (primarily Latin American), independent open access journal founded in 2008. The full title is Library & Information Science Critique: Journal of the Sciences of Information Recorded in Documents. The second issue has just been released. Most of the articles are in Spanish, but they have translated the issue’s editorial into … Read more New issue of LIS Critique
Humanism and Libraries: An Essay on the Philosophy of Librarianship Author: André Cossette Translator and Editor: Rory Litwin Price: $15.00 Published: December 2009 ISBN: 978-1-936117-17-8 Printed on acid-free paper André Cossette’s Humanism and Libraries is a concise but rigorous investigation into the foundations of librarianship—its definition and its aims. Philosophical and logical in its approach, … Read more New book: Humanism and libraries: An essay on the philosophy of librarianship
Press Release Baker & Taylor Acquires Blackwell North America and James Bennett – Blackwell U.K. Acquires B&T’s Lindsay and Croft in the U.K. As Part of Deal. Customers to Benefit from More than 300 Years of Bookselling Excellence – CHARLOTTE, N.C. – December 7, 2009 – Baker & Taylor Inc. today announced it has acquired … Read more Baker & Taylor Acquires Blackwell North America
ALA has announced that they have chosen Barbara M. Jones to be the new head of the Office for Intellectual Freedom, replacing the long-serving Judith Krug, who passed away in April. The ALA Press Release quotes Jones describing the present day context of intellectual freedom in her letter of application: Twenty-first century IF issues are … Read more New OIF Director Announced
Rebel Literacy: Cuba’s National Literacy Campaign and Critical Global Citizenship Author: Mark Abendroth Price: $25.00 Published: December 2009 ISBN: 978-1-936117-06-2 Printed on acid-free paper Rebel Literacy is a look at Cuba’s National Literacy Campaign of 1961 in historical and global contexts. The Cuban Revolution cannot be understood without a careful study of Cuba’s prior struggles … Read more New Book: Rebel Literacy: Cuba’s National Literacy Campaign and Critical Global Citizenship