11th annual Underground Railroad Public History Conference

The Underground Railroad Turned On Its Head: Old Themes, New Directions and its relationship with us today

The 11th annual Underground Railroad Public History Conference
Organized by Underground Railroad History Project of the Capital Region, Inc.
Co-sponsored by Russell Sage College and Rensselaer County Historical Society

April 13-15, 2012

Registration materials are available at www.ugrworkshop.com.

Don't miss this historic event
Choose from the 'a la carte' menu of tours, workshops, concert, receptions, and
art exhibit
Step into the experience of Spectres Of Liberty - The Ghost of Liberty Church

Register early - reserve your place - pass the word on

"The gold standard of Underground Railroad conferences" (Fergus Bordewich,
author of Bound for Canaan)

Questions? email info@ugrworkshop.com or call 518-432-4432

The mystery of Scotland's secret sculptor

A graffiti artist called Banksy became famous around the globe in the 1990s after secretly leaving his art work on walls across London. Now Scotland has its own secret artist.

Keith Wallace reports from Edinburgh on the delicate sculptures made from books which have been appearing in cultural establishments across the city.

Plastic: Why credit is better than debit cards

Firing up that credit card doesn't have to mean piling on the debt. Here's how charging it can help.

Best practices for fair use in libraries

A Code of Best Practices in Fair Use will help librarians decide what's appropriate, in terms of copyright and copying. Librarians developed this code under the aegis of the Association of Research Libraries and with funding from the Mellon Foundation in sessions over the course of two years, in locations around the country.

More HERE.

Turkey Busts Into Deadwood Library

Authorities in Deadwood, S.D., investigating an apparent break-in at a public library were surprised to discover the culprit: a 20-plus-pound turkey.

Library director Jeanette Chaney-Moodie tells the Black Hills Pioneer that she headed into work Sunday morning after authorities called her about the apparent break-in.

More HERE.

Public library use reached an all-time high in 2011

By any measure, 2011 was “one for the books” at the Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County.

True in many places across the country.

Little Free Libraries

"Instead of rows and rows of bookshelves filled with Dewey Decimal System-categorized tomes, [Alicia] Rheal's library is decidedly low-tech and charming. No library cards are required. There are no fines. In fact, library users are encouraged to take any book they want and keep it.

"Rheal is one of many caretakers of the growing phenomenon of Little Free Libraries - tiny boxes designed to promote literacy and the love of reading through free book exchanges. Each Little Free Library has a sign that says "Take a Book, Leave a Book," though it's not a requirement to do both.

Read more here.
For more information on Little Free Libraries, go here.

Job listing includes five stages of life for a copy editor

From Poynter:
The Crimson White, a student paper at the University of Alabama, is looking for a new copy editor. John Davis, the paper’s chief copy editor, posted a call for candidates that includes the typical qualifications, such as being a “grammar nerd” and having “at least a cursory knowledge of the Associated Press Stylebook.”

But in an effort to present a true picture of the job, Davis goes on to present his “five stages of life as a copy editor.” They are as hilarious as they are (mostly) true.

Digital Learning Day -- February 1st

The ALA's Office for Information Technology Policy is hoping to have libraries participate in Digital Learning Day (libraries of all types) and to that end, here’s a link to a blog post describing the idea.

Skatefest January 21

Olympic Regional Development Authority (ORDA) in conjunction with their partnership with the Lake Placid Regional Winter Sports Committee will host Skatefest, on January 21 at the Empire State Plaza skating rink as part of U.S. Figure Skating’s National Skating Month.
2002 Olympic gold medalist Sarah Hughes and 2006 Olympian Emily Hughes will join dozens of local ice skating instructors to provide free skating instruction at the Empire State Plaza ice rink. There will be classes for those who have never skated before and those who want to hone their existing skills. Free rental skates will be available for clinic participants and free hot chocolate are part of the afternoon’s activities. Albany Devils mascot Devil Dawg and others will also be on-hand to entertain the kids. Event sponsors include SEFCU, New York Air National Guard, East Greenbush Chiropractic and NYSUT.

There are approximately 100 clinic spots available in each of the three time slots. Participants are strongly encouraged to pre-register at www.ogs.ny.gov. There will be no public skating between Noon and 4 pm, except for clinic participants.

11 am - Noon: Public skating
11:30 am: Clinic registration opens inside on the Empire State Plaza Concourse, near the entrance to the skate rental lounge
Noon - 12:30: Rink closed for cleaning
12:30 - 1 pm: Local figure skating exhibition
1:00 - 1:30 pm: First skating clinic
1:45 - 2:15 pm: Second skating clinic
2:30 - 3 pm: Third skating clinic
3 - 4 pm: Rink closed for cleaning
4 pm: Public skating resumes

SOPA Internet Strike

On January 18th, 2012 the internet, or a good chunk of it, including Wikipedia, is going on strike to stop the web censorship bills in Congress.

Here's why.

Obama Says So Long SOPA, Killing Controversial Internet Piracy Legislation

The growing anti-SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act) support that has swept through the gaming and Internet community found a very big ally today. With websites like Reddit and Wikipedia and gaming organizations like Major League Gaming prepared for a blackout on January 18th – the same day that the House Judiciary Committee hearing on HR 3261was scheduled in Washington, DC – President Barack Obama has stepped in and said he would not support the bill. SOPA has been killed, for now.

More HERE.

Bookshelf stop-motion

Two unusual videos are basically animated bookshelves.

Isaac Asimov on libraries

"Apparently a town opened a new library, and as part of the festivities, asked a bunch of writers at the time to write letters about libraries to the town's children. This is the one that Isaac Asimov wrote. I've rarely seen a better summation of what libraries are for."

See it HERE.

Recycle Your Old Electronics

Did you receive new electronic gadgets over the holidays? If so, now is a good time to figure out what to do with your old ones. There are plenty of ways to put those unwanted electronics to use.

Learn more about how you can recycle old electronic gadgets.

White House Petition in Support of School Libraries

[An effort] trying to get the 25,000 signatures on a White House Petition about school libraries - To ensure that every child in America has access to an effective school library program.....

Here is the short URL to the petition.
http://wh.gov/Wgd

You just need to go to the link above, create an account (if you don’t have one) and sign the petition. Takes less than a few minutes to get it all done!

So, we have until Feb. 4th, which is only a month. We’re off to a good start, but we need to spread the word EVERYWHERE! We need to get our family, our friends, the parents at our schools, and anyone else that supports school libraries to sign this petition. We need to connect with our public librarian and academic librarian colleagues and encourage them to support us just as we would support them with these efforts.

63% Of Publishers Plan eBook In 2012

From eBookNewser:

According to a new survey from Data Conversion Laboratory (DCL), 43 percent of publishers “realized the importance of compatibility with all e-readers, including iPad, MOBI (Kindle), Nook and custom formats.”

The report, which interviewed 411 publishers, found that 63 percent of publishers plan to publish a digital book in 2012. The report also found that 64 percent of publishers are interested in publishing non-fiction and technical digital content.

Green's Dictionary of Slang: An Appeal

Re: "Jonathon Green's [no relation] wonderfully comprehensive three-volume reference work, Green's Dictionary of Slang (GDoS to its friends):

It's a never-ending challenge to keep up with the latest developments in the world of slang, but that is the lexicographer’s lot. Green plans to put his dictionary online for continuous revision, which is indeed the direction that many major reference works (including the O.E.D.) are now taking. In the meantime, his monument to the inventiveness of speakers from Auckland to Oakland takes its place as the pièce de résistance of English slang studies. To put it plain, it’s copacetic.

Now, at year's end, it turns out that Green's plan to make GDoS available online has run into some trouble. He asked me to post the following appeal on Language Log, responses to which should be directed to him.

More here.

The Librarian Shortage Goes International

Not just a North American phenomenon.