Going Rogue: An American Life.
Palin, Sarah (author).
Nov. 2009. 432p. illus. Harper, hardcover, $28.99 (9780061939891). 973.931.
REVIEW.
First published November 20, 2009 (Booklist Online).
No good deed goes unpunished. Just ask Steve Schmidt, John McCain’s campaign manager and the guy who pushed Sarah Palin as McCain’s running mate. Now, in Palin’s much-hyped book, he’s just a fat, smoking bullet-head who told her to “stick to the script.” The feeling running through Going Rogue is that Palin has been bursting to take a whack at those she believes didn’t do right by her during the campaign. (Ka...
Ohio Memory is a collaborative effort between the Ohio Historical Society and the State Library of Ohio. Launched in 2000, the project includes 75,000 primary sources from 330 archives, historical societies, libraries, and museums that document Ohio’s past, from prehistory to the present. Read more...
Something Out of Nothing: Marie Curie and Radium by Carla Killough McClafferty. Best Books for Young Adults Winner Like Nick Healy's overview, Marie Curie (2005), this readable biography examines Curie's life and work as a groundbreaking scientist and as an independent woman. Unlike Healy's, though, McClafferty's account is more detailed and includes extensive documentation with chapter source notes. The groundb...
Is Memoir the New Literary Fiction?
Register Now for National Library Advocacy Day
For one year only, Library Advocacy Day will replace National Library Legislative Day (NLLD). On June 29, 2010, library advocates from all 50 states and Washington, D.C. will meet at Upper Senate Park on the U.S. Capitol grounds. The event, which will begin at 11 a.m., will feature guest speakers, photo ops, and a chance to cheer on libraries! After the rally, participants will meet with their elected officials and their staffs. More details
Exempt Books from the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act!
Children’s libraries across the country may have to close due to the unintended consequence of Congress’ efforts to decrease the levels of lead in products intended for children 12 years of age!
Though books are a safe product, "The Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008 (CPSA)" did not exempt books. Thankfully, U.S. Representative Jeff Fortenberry (R-Neb.) has introduced legislation to amend the CPSIA to exempt books. Please contact your Representative to cosponsor H.R. 1692. Read more and take action.
Pennsylvania student selected Step Up to the Plate @ your library® grand-prize winner
Eleven-year-old Elizabeth Ann Bishop has a Baseball Hall of Fame connection - her neighbor is the widow of Hall of Famer and Chicago White Sox player Nellie Fox. But thanks to a trip to her school library, Bishop went to the Hall of Fame herself, as the winner of Step up to the Plate @ your library®.
In early October, Hall of Famer Ozzie Smith drew Bishop’s name as the grand-prize winner of the Step Up to the Plate @ your library program. Bishop’s name was randomly selected from eligible contestants who correctly answered a series of baseball trivia questions developed by the Hall of Fame’s library staff. Entries were sent in from across the country and Puerto Rico.
Graves, founder of the Delta Blues Museum in Clarksdale, died in 2005. Recently his daughter, Abby McCall of Mobile, Ala., donated a collection of his personal correspondence, awards, audio recordings and photographs to the world-renowned Blues Archive at The University of Mississippi’s J.D. Williams Library. McCall said she hopes that scholars will study the collection and learn of her father’s contributions to the blues legacy and to the state. Building a Blues Legacy
It was not until the 1970s when Sidney Foster Graves Jr. (MA 71) took the helm at the Carnegie Public Library in Clarksdale that the Mississippi Delta town began to harness the power of its blues-rich heritage.
Mail-A-Book: Making the Personal Connection
Queens Library’s Mail-A-Book Service allows homebound customers to borrow library materials, including books and audiobooks, regular and large-print books, movies on DVD and music on CDs without leaving their homes, nursing homes, adult care centers, or assisted living facilities. Though Mail-A-Book serves all ages, its primary customer base consists of older adults.
Recently, with the help of a grant from the Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation, Inc., the Mail-A-Book service has added a teleconferencing console so that library staff can facilitate weekly chat sessions with homebound customers. The group also has book discussions, and recently discussed Echo Park, by mystery writer Michael Connelly. The lively discussion, which included about 10 participants, veered from conversations about the plot to explanations of character development in the novel. The group also discusses poetry and short stories by authors including Ambrose Bierce, Walt Whitman, and Edgar Allan Poe. Read more...
The Book Bike
Attending the Banned Books Read-Out on September 26, 2009, was Gabe Levinson, operator of the Book Bike. The concept is simple: Levinson travels around Chicago giving away books. Read more...