Category Archives: General

The HarperCollins Debate

By now you’ve no doubt heard about HarperCollins’ decision to limit ebook checkouts to 26 per title. Perhaps you’ve even formed a strong opinion about the topic yourself. Now we have an opportunity to learn about some key reactions and responses from libraries that won’t stand for it! The article More Libraries Decide to Give HarperCollins the Cold Shoulder describes the actions taken by libraries and library organizations across the country. What is your library’s response (if any)?

Congratulations Movers and Shakers!

Movers and Shakers was launched in 2002, and it spotlights librarians and others in the library field who are doing extraordinary work to serve their users and move libraries and library services forward. With the 50 members of the class of 2011, the group now exceeds 500.

Take a look at this year’s lineup at http://tinyurl.com/45dff53 and consider following them through your social networking tools too!

Normalia available through MN Reflections website

All 93 issues of “The Normalia,” St. Cloud State’s first newspaper, are now publicly available and keyword searchable online, through the Minnesota Reflections website. They provide readers a glimpse into life on campus and in St. Cloud from April 1892 to May 1904 through historical articles, photos and local business advertisements.

This project was funded in part by a grant from the Minnesota Historical Society, through its Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund award, which came from the state’s Clean Water, Land and Legacy amendment fund. It was made possible by Learning Resources & Technology Services and the Minnesota Digital Library Coalition.

 For more information, contact:

Tom Steman

University Archivist

(320) 308-4753 or tdsteman@stcloudstate.edu

Marian Rengel

Minnesota Digital Library Coalition outreach coordinator

(320) 308-5625 or mrrengel@stcloudstate.edu

Image: http://www.flickr.com/photos/shironekoeuro/4040697914/ by ShironekoEuro[away]

Love the smell of books?

How’s this for quirky? A Senior Library Assistant at the Museum of Modern Art Library in New York City began her performance of “Smelling the Books” in early 2010. She started with the first LC call number in their collection, and has now been recording the call number, title, and smell of each book she picks up. So far she’s smelled around 150 books out of MoMA’s collection of 300,000. Her intention “…is to foster a discussion of the future of print media, the ways we read, methods of classification, and the way in which smell is entwined with memory”.  Check it out here http://www.moma.org/explore/inside_out/2011/03/07/smelling-the-books/

Image: http://www.flickr.com/photos/theogeo/2513621945/ by theogeo

Minnesota Book Awards Readers’ Choice Award

Voting for the Minnesota Book Awards Readers’ Choice Award is open now through the end of March! This is your chance to select your favorite book from the list of 32 finalists. Here’s the link to vote http://twincities.upickem.net/engine/Welcome.aspx?contestid=27674.

Free bookmarks listing all 32 finalist books can be ordered by contacting Ann Nelson, Minnesota Book Awards Coordinator, at mnbookawards@thefriends.org. Be sure to place your order soon since Readers’ Choice voting closes March 31.

When requesting bookmarks, please provide your mailing address and the number of bookmarks requested.

To learn more about the Minnesota Book Awards visit www.thefriends.org.