Call for Papers: Public Libraries and Resilient Cities: Creating Sustainable and Equitable Places edited by Michael Dudley - "Public libraries are at the forefront of a number of significant and pressing urban and environmental sustainability issues, and are evolving a leadership role in addressing these through sustainable urban design practices, contributions to economic regeneration and a commitment to social equity. From the economic renewal potential of library development projects, to the provision of public space in a privatizing world, to services for the homeless and crisis management during urban disasters, public libraries are a keystone public institution for any sustainable community. While there is a long tradition in the library literature arguing for the public library's role in addressing urban social problems, the gravity of our contemporary social, environmental and economic crises constitutes a renewed and urgent imperative for such an engagement. The book Public Libraries and Resilient Cities will explore the vital role that public libraries can play in the promotion of ecologically, economically and socially sustainable communities in challenging times. It will introduce librarians and library administrators to key urban planning concepts as well as current thinking on sustainability issues, and share success stories in urban resilience from library practitioners. Ultimately, the book will outline how public libraries can contribute to 'placemaking,' or the creation and nurturing of vital and unique communities that can provide intergenerational equity for their residents. This project will be an ALA Editions release with expected publication in late 2011 or early 2012"

ALAO 36th Annual Conference: Academic Libraries: Now and Tomorrow - October 29, 2010 - Columbus, Ohio, USA

The latest round up of new UK government publications this week - 5-12 March 2010 from Intute and the LSE Library

"Vodafone users in the UK can today download five bestselling eBooks for free to their handsets as part of a series of Free Friday campaigns being run by the operator. The books - which include the first title of the bestselling Millennium Trilogy by Stieg Larsson "The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo" now a major motion picture, Sophie Kinsella's "Twenties Girl"; James Patterson's "The Murder of King Tut", Alex Preston's "This Bleeding City", and in conjunction with the Tim Burton film release, the classic "Alice in Wonderland" by Lewis Carroll - are being made available in partnership with digital book service provider Mobcast. Customers who download the books will also be in with a chance to win a private film screening of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. Vodafone have set up a dedicated microsite and have issued a video showing customers how to download books"

On Thursday, March 11, 2010 the National Book Critics Circle announced its award winners for the publishing year 2009. Hilary Mantel's Wolf Hall (Holt) won the fiction award. The poetry award went to Rae Armantrout's Versed (Wesleyan University Press). The nonfiction award went to Richard Holmes for The Age of Wonder: How the Romantic Generation Discovered the Beauty and Terror of Science (Pantheon). The criticism award was given to Eula Biss's Notes from No Man's Land: American Essays (Graywolf). In biography, Blake Bailey's Cheever: A Life (Knopf) won. In autobiography, the board honored Diana Athill's Somewhere Towards the End (Norton).

Checking Out the Future: Perspectives from the Library Community on Information Technology and 21st-Century Libraries by Jennifer C. Hendrix. ALA Office for Information Technology Policy Policy Brief No. 2, February 2010

"The London Seminar in Digital Text & Scholarship focuses on the ways in which the digital medium remakes the relationship of readers, writers, scholars, technical practitioners and designers to the manuscript and printed book. Its discussions are intended to inform public debate and policy as well as to stimulate research and provide a broad forum in which to present its results. Although the forum is primarily for those working in textual and literary studies, history of the book, humanities computing and related fields, its mandate is to address and involve an audience of non-specialists. Wherever possible the issues it raises are meant to engage all those who are interested in a digital future for the book"

The Friday Brain-teaser from Credo Reference - this week: Answers in Quotations. "This week's brainteaser is all about quotations - the people who originated them, what they said, the people or things they described, etc." Answers here.

1. What is the name for the law which states that "If there is a wrong way to do something, then someone will do it" or "If anything can go wrong, it will"?
2. Which British poet wrote: "A thing of beauty is a joy for ever"? Was it Keats, Shelley or Gray?
3. What was Shakespeare referring to in "Othello" when he wrote: "It is the green-eyed monster which doth mock the meat it feeds on"?
4. Fill the gap in this quotation from a 1918 speech by David Lloyd George; "What is our task? To make Britain a fit country for...what?...to live in".
5. Which British conductor said "The English may not like music - but they absolutely love the noise it makes"?
6. In the 1933 film "I'm No Angel", which actress said "Beulah, peel me a grape"?
7. Complete this quotation from Kingsley Amis's "Lucky Jim", about someone recovering from a hangover: "He resolved, having done it once, never to move his...what?...again".
8. Which French author wrote "L'Enfer, c'est les Autres" (Hell is other people)?
9. Which British prime minister was Peter Cook impersonating in "Beyond the Fringe" in 1961 when he said "We exchanged many frank words in our respective languages"?
10. Which American said: "A good newspaper...is a nation talking to itself"?

"Vintage Life Magazine is aimed at revisiting and rekindling the wonderful years gone by - bringing those memories alive again! From style and fashion, hair and make-up to house and home, music and film, everything great about the 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s, 60s through to the 70s - all in one great magazine! With a wide collection of experts sharing their knowledge and many featured articles each issue. Concentrating on the 1920s, through to the 1970s, let us take you down memory lane to revisit those cherished times. Not only do we look at the past, but VLM is full of how you can recreate styles and more, today in the present! In the trial issue Aya Smith of the fantastic Strawberry Koi discusses various vintage styles; We take a look at the popularity of the women’s suit in the early 1950s, made popular by Audrey Hepburn in Sabrina; and Lynsey Le Keux explains how brides can create a fabulous fifties backdrop for their big day! Also featured in this issue, how to create the perfect red lips, Lisa Freemont gives a step-by-step guide to creating classic pincurls and meet the vibrant up and coming 1940s and 50s singer, Heather Marie"

"Knowledge Architecture will be hosting KA Connect 2010, a knowledge management conference for the AEC industry, in Chicago on April 8th and 9th, 2010. Join us for 40 talks in 2 days, panel discussions, and breakout sessions with thought leaders from AEC firms, academia, consulting, and software development"

The Salem Press announcement: "As you are probably aware, blogs about libraries have spread across the web. There are (literally) hundreds of people writing about books, libraries, librarians and related subjects. If you count the blogs that come from specific institutions, spreading local news, there are thousands of the things. Some are funny. Some are brilliant. Others, aren't. Salem Press' staff includes many fans of library blogs. We're entertained and enlightened by them. So, we've decided to recognize the best efforts in the field. Not only to praise the praise-worthy but also to publicize the good stuff. To that end, we're hosting something we call the Library Blog Awards. We think there should be a well-organized directory of library blogs and a "peoples' awards" program of some kind to let folks know what blogs are best-liked and most widely read. So Salem Press is going to host the Library Blog Awards. Complete with cash prizes. These awards won't be at Salem's whim. We've enlisted some terrific, independent judges (from journalism, publishing and libraries) who really know their stuff. But we'll go beyond an annual celebration and related hoopla. We will also build a website that monitors library blogs and updates folks on especially interesting thoughts and news. You'll be able to scan the gist of several recent posts and then drill down to the blogs themselves"

"The Italian government has signed a deal with Google to put the contents of two national libraries on the internet. Up to one million antiquarian books - including works by Dante, Machiavelli and Galileo - will be scanned and made available free on Google Books. There is no copyright issue as all the works were published before 1868. The Italian authorities welcomed the scheme as budget pressures have cut the amount that can be spent on preserving the collections in Rome and Florence. Mario Resca of the Italian Ministry of Cultural Heritage said the deal would help save the books' content forever, noting that the 1966 Florence flood ruined thousands of books in the city's library. Previous attempts by Google to scan books have run into legal troubles in the US and France. A French court ruled that Google had committed copyright violation to the detriment of three publishers by scanning entire books or excerpts and putting them online. Google is appealing the ruling. And Google had to settle a 2005 class action lawsuit brought by the Authors Guild and Association of American Publishers, which also charged the company with copyright infringement" - BBC

FreePint Newsletter 297 - 11 March, 2010 now available

"Just launched, it's Alexander Street's newest streaming video collection - Ethnographic Video Online. Quickly growing to include more than 1,000 of the most frequently used films in anthropology courses, Ethnographic Video Online includes classic works from the pioneers of ethnographic film, including Robert Flaherty, Timothy Asch, John Marshall, Robert Gardner, Jean Rouch, and many more—together with contemporary works by innovative filmmakers from around the world. Access it now, registration-free, through Friday, March 12"

The Association of Research Libraries has released issue 268 of Research Library Issues

ALPSP has published the Scholarly Book Publishing Practice Report, the findings of a survey of academic book publishers' policies and practices, authored by Laura Cox and John Cox. Scholarly Book Publishing Practice is the first ALPSP survey undertaken to establish current practices in scholarly book and e-book publishing, to provide detailed analysis and statistics in this growing market. This report develops a picture of the market as it emerges and is a starting point for further research into how publishers are treating this rapidly developing arena. A survey was conducted of 400 publishers, both commercial and non-profit, consisting of ALPSP and other major association members. A response rate of over 60% was achieved including most major academic book publishers

The March 2010 issue of C&RL News is now available online and in the mail. The rise of widgets, gadgets, and apps has moved academic and research libraries into a customized, mobile world. But commercial tools can often be pricey and platform-specific. In this issue, Nina McHale encourages you to "Steal this code! Please!" to create and share your own HTML widgets to provide customized access to library resources

THATCamp is a user-generated 'unconference' on digital humanities organized and hosted by the Center for History and New Media at George Mason University, May 22–23, 2010

The Judaica Reference and Bibliography Awards for 2010, given yearly by the Research Libraries, Archives, and Special Collections Division of the Association of Jewish Libraries, have been announced

'F--- off, grandad!', yelled an aggressive young man with a bicycle at me at Clapham Junction station the other day. It is, I think, the first time I have been called that, but since I am now over half-way through... Tom Roper