LISNews Librarian And Information Science News

Vicki Myron intended to wait a year or two before getting another cat.

Her best-selling book, "Dewey, The Small-Town Library Cat Who Touched the World," was keeping her on the road most of the time and she didn't have time for a pet. An orange and white kitten (subsequently named Page) found on a snow-covered road changed her mind.

"I fell in love instantly," Myron says. The little tabby was found Dec. 16 by Sue Selzer, who works for the school district in Myron's northwest Iowa hometown of Spencer. AP Story.

Nat Hentoff has been laid off from the Village Voice. Hentoff a fifty year veteran at the Village Voice, was a champion of civil rights, a pro-life advocate, and jazz Oracle.

The Village Voice , NYC's premier alternative weekly newspaper, as purchased in 2005 by Times New Media - which changed its name to Village Voice Media after acquiring the VVM properties.

VVM also owns the online alternative to Craig's List, Backpage.com.

Hentoff serves on the Board of Advisors for The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (F.I.R.E), an individual liberties group.

In an effort at full disclosure I have made small contributions to F.I.R.E.

The USENET News group alt.sysadmin.recovery brought word this morning that apparently English author Terry Pratchett has been knighted at the rank of Knight Bachelor. More details can be found in this year's honours list.

The last story of 2008 on First Lady Laura Bush.

From The New Yorker: "According to Mrs. Bush’s spokeswoman, Sally McDonough, “She’s going to write a book about the people she met and her life in the White House. It’s not going to be an ‘I grew up in Midland’ type of book.”

The reception to Mrs. Bush’s pitch has been mixed so far. “She was not forthcoming about anything that I would consider controversial,” the [unnamed] publisher who met with her said. “We questioned her rigorously, but it was one-word answers. I considered it the worst, or the most frustrating, meeting of its sort that I’ve ever had.” He added, “But she really couldn’t have been nicer.”

“I chose not to meet with her,” a publisher at another [unnamed] company said. “I got the impression that everyone was totally underwhelmed by her. That’s why there’s so little buzz.”

When library professionals get together and talk internet filtering, we often forget something vitally important. Sure we talk about freedom of access, how filtering supposedly coincides with collection development policies, and how to protect our patrons and such like.

One thing that seldom gets brought up, at least in conversations I've been privy to is "So, what do our patrons actually think about our filtering?" And it's kind of rare to see any input from the outside, you know, from the people we're actually supposed to be serving.

Twanna Hines is not a librarian. She's a Funky Brown Chick. She's a writer, an occupation I think we can all say we know something about. She lives in New York City and writes about dating, sex, and relationships. And as a patron, she was appalled to find out that the New York Public Library filters her site.

I have to wonder, how many of us can access the above links at work? And does it say anything about filtering when some of us might have to go home to read about what people think about filtering?

Author-Librarian Scott Douglas announced that he is tweeting and can be found on Twitter.

Jean Shepherd was the author of the book "A Christmas Story" and was the narrator in the movie of the same name. In the 1950's he was a radio broadcaster on WOR in New York. It was there that he created a great literary hoax. You can read the details of the hoax here.

...Knucklehead, by Jon Scieszcka. “Knucklehead” is Scieszka’s own tall tale, a memoir organized like a collection of snapshots about growing up with five brothers in the Flint, Mich., of the 1950’s. Ever the teacher, in this slim volume ­Scieszka writes a model memoir. Or as he puts it, when you are getting in trouble “it’s good to be the one telling the story.”

Scieszka gets children, and he gets their humor. Especially boy humor. He tells the truth about what really goes on when parents aren’t looking. Want to hear more? The book is reviewed in the New York Times Sunday Book Review.

If you go in for crazy knuckleheaded kids stories, you might want to check out this accompanying blog from the paper entitled "Are You a Knucklehead"?.

When Patricia Cornwell began writing thriller novels, she ruled the world of forensic science.

"I could treat readers in each book to some new aspect that they wouldn't be familiar with," Cornwell said.

Now the author is bombarded with "CSI"-like information from every side -- from "Bones" to "Forensic Files" to, well, "CSI."

Here’s a letter that Roy Blount Jr., a wonderful author (all football fans should read his Steelers classic About Three Bricks Shy …) and president of the Authors Guild, recently sent to Guild members:

I’ve been talking to booksellers lately who report that times are hard. And local booksellers aren’t known for vast reserves of capital, so a serious dip in sales can be devastating. Booksellers don’t lose enough money, however, to receive congressional attention. A government bailout isn’t in the cards.

We don’t want bookstores to die. Authors need them, and so do neighborhoods. So let’s mount a book-buying splurge. Get your friends together, go to your local bookstore and have a book-buying party. Buy the rest of your Christmas presents, but that’s just for starters. Clear out the mysteries, wrap up the histories, beam up the science fiction! Round up the westerns, go crazy for self-help, say yes to the university press books! Get a load of those coffee-table books, fatten up on slim volumes of verse, and take a chance on romance!

There will be birthdays in the next twelve months; books keep well; more from the NYTimes.