Tuesday 17 December 2013

Happy Holidays

Since this is the last blog entry for 2013, I would like to take this opportunity to wish my readers a Happy Holiday season.

As I look back on this very busy year, I am pleased to be part of a community building project that is going to make a major contribution to the residents of the Town of Lincoln.  I look forward to the opening which is planned for June 21, 2014 and to have our summer program in our new space. There is still a lot to do before we move, but the anticipation of providing library service in a modern facility that matches the up-to-date library service we offer.  We are currently in an 1851 building which is historical and quaint, but can't meet the needs of 21st century library service.

I hope your 2014 is full of wonderful challenges.

Tuesday 10 December 2013

2 new studies question effectiveness of TV, movie ratings systems

 
Toronto staff -  City TV
File photo of two children watching a movie. GETTY IMAGES/JOHNER RF/Susanne Kronholm.
File photo of two children watching a movie. GETTY IMAGES/JOHNER RF/Susanne Kronholm.

Two new studies are calling into question the effectiveness of movie and television ratings systems and are raising concerns that young, impressionable minds are being saturated with images depicting sex, violence, and the glorification of substance abuse.

A study out of the University of Pennsylvania found that movies rated PG-13 contained as much violence, sexual behavior and drug and alcohol use as R-rated films.
The report found a repeated pattern in the top-grossing moves over a 25-year period, with 90 per cent of films depicting characters acting violently. In 77 per cent, the same characters also engaged in sex, alcohol and/or drug use.

Researchers said the films were “potentially teaching youth that violence is as acceptable as these other behaviours.” “We know that some teenagers imitate what they see on screen,” lead author of the study, Amy Bleackley, said in a release. “What concerns us is that movies aimed at younger viewers are making connections between violence and a variety of risky behavior – sex, drinking and smoking.” The fact that there was little difference between the content in PG-13 and R movies begs further examination into the “reliability and validity of the ratings system…”

A separate study by the Parents Television Council study released Monday found that there was a marked difference in parental cautions when it came to shows on broadcast networks in comparison to popular cable shows like The Walking Dead and Breaking Bad.
The study found that violence and graphic gore was often equal, but warnings on broadcast networks were milder. Depictions of rape, murder and mutilation usually garnered only a TV-14 “parents strongly cautioned” rating on network television, while similar scenes on cable were hit with a stricter TV-MA for mature audiences only.

Media watchdog council president Tim Winter noted that were no TV-MA rated shows on broadcast, despite numerous programs that depicted disturbing levels of violence.
With files from The Associated Press

Tuesday 3 December 2013

22 Things That Belong In Every Bookworm’s Dream Home

  BuzzFeed Staff        
  Posted   October 15, 2013                         

1. This awesome bookcase.

2. This giant book bed.

Yusuke Suzuki / via heartanddesign.blogspot.com

3. A literary shower curtain.

4. This relaxing bathtub.

Joshua Simpson / Via fsgworkinprogress.com

5. A book bench.

7. This book staircase.

8. And this one.

 

9. A colorful reading spot.

11. This cool lounging contraption.

12. Color coordinated wallpaper.

Yes, that is wallpaper!

13. These beach chairs.

14. Book shelves with a built-in slide.

15. Curtain-style book storage.

16. This comfortable reading chair.

18. This library chair.

19. A library room with big windows.

 

20. This sunflower book seat.

22. And this Southern-style nook.

Tuesday 26 November 2013

How little libraries get people reading

November 24 2013 at 09:00am
By Anne Renaut IOL          

More on my 'Little Libraries' series.  I am fascinated on how widely this grassroots initiative is spreading throughout the world.  I wish my town had one!

little library one
AFP
A Little Library book lending kiosk is viewed in front of a home in Washington, DC.

There's no card catalogue or late fees. The informal lending libraries work under a simple principle: “take a book, return a book.”
You can bring back the same book you read, or put in a new one.
“Last week, 11 new books came in,” said Kevin Sullivan, who launched his “little library” in Bethesda, a northern suburb of the US capital, in May 2011 on Mother's Day.
“It was a present for my wife, who is a big reader,” he explained.
He started putting around 30 books a week in the little wooden house-shaped box perched on a red post at the end of his driveway.
little library two
Kevin Sullivan stands next to a Little Library book lending kiosk in front of his home in Bethesda, Maryland.
AFP
On its roof is a quote from Oscar Wilde - an homage to Sullivan's Irish heritage - that reads, “The suspense is terrible. I hope it will last.”
Half of the books are for children. Since Sullivan and his wife live near a school, they think it's great that parents and students “could stop at the library and get books.”
The concept first started in a small city in the midwestern state of Wisconsin, in 2009, as Todd Bol searched for a way to honour the generosity of his mother, a teacher, who had just died.
He built a small-scale replica of a school-house, which he filled with his parents' books and posted a sign: “free books”.
Soon his neighbours did the same thing at the end of their driveways. Now the little libraries have popped up as far as Ukraine and Pakistan.
In October, Bol sent 20 little libraries to be set up in Ghana. In India, he supports an aid group called “Going to School,” which aims to build little libraries for 3 500 schools.
His “one little library” is turning into “15 000 libraries by the beginning of 2014, in 55 countries, in 50 states, at a rate of 700 to 1 000 new libraries a month,” Bol told AFP.
Although many of the little libraries are built to look like bird houses, variety abounds. One looks like a clock, another like a robot, and another like a theatre, each inspired by the imagination of their owners.
For Phillip Vahab, installing a mini-library in front of his house was less about the books - “my wife reads more than I do,” he said - and more about his desire to build relationships with his neighbours.
“The city is so anonymous. It's like a conversation for the block,” Vahab said.
His neighbours helped him pay for and set up the library in January, one of the first in Washington proper.
Vahab built a bench just next to it, where passersby can sit to read - or chat.
Almost every day, “there is a new book in there,” the 38-year-old orthodontist said enthusiastically.
Many of the books are about politics, because in the US capital, “there are a lot of people in politics here,” he mused, though he noted one neighbour donated a treasure trove of feminist literature.
In Winslow, Arizona, John Ford hung scissors in his library so people could grab cuttings of the herbs he planted just below. Many of the books in his library are about cooking.
Back in Washington, near the National Zoo, Erin Astarr, 19, an Australian au pair, grabbed books for the children she looks after.
“It's a good opportunity for the community to come together and share and get educated,” she said.
The chief librarian in Washington's public library system, Ginnie Cooper, said she couldn't be more pleased to see the book boxes pop up in her city.
“Sharing a great book from your public library or a little library is one of the ways that the District (Washington) continues to be a city of readers,” she said.
Elinor Kotchen, carrying her four-month-old baby, found a book for her older son. “Now I need to bring a book to return the favour,” she said. - Sapa-AFP

Wednesday 20 November 2013

Take a book, leave a book: tiny libraries thrive in US

Another in my series, 'Libraries aren't just Buildings Anymore' and another installment in the popularity of Little Free Libraries.

Thursday, November 14, 2013
Daily Nation



Kevin Sullivan stands next to a "Little Library" book lending kiosk in front of his home in Bethesda, Maryland on November 5, 2013. As shelter for birds, with sometimes a sentence on the roof, and a window through which books can be seen: the "small libraries" have flourished in Washington, DC ,encouraging people to read. PHOTO/AFP
Kevin Sullivan stands next to a "Little Library" book lending kiosk in front of his home in Bethesda, Maryland on November 5, 2013. As shelter for birds, with sometimes a sentence on the roof, and a window through which books can be seen: the "small libraries" have flourished in Washington, DC ,encouraging people to read. PHOTO/AFP 
By AFP
WASHINGTON,
Technology has given readers new ways to curl up with a good book, but the latest trend in Washington is surprisingly old-school: "little libraries," stuffed with paperbacks, cropping up on front lawns.
There's no card catalogue or late fees. The informal lending libraries work under a simple principle: "take a book, return a book."
You can bring back the same book you read, or put in a new one.
"Last week, 11 new books came in," said Kevin Sullivan, who launched his "little library" in Bethesda, a northern suburb of the US capital, in May 2011 on Mother's Day.
"It was a present for my wife, who is a big reader," he explained.
He started putting around 30 books a week in the little wooden house-shaped box perched on a red post at the end of his driveway.
On its roof is a quote from Oscar Wilde -- an homage to Sullivan's Irish heritage -- that reads, "The suspense is terrible. I hope it will last."
Half of the books are for children. Since Sullivan and his wife live near a school, they think it's great that parents and students "could stop at the library and get books."
FREE BOOKS
The concept first started in a small city in the mid western state of Wisconsin, in 2009, as Todd Bol searched for a way to honour the generosity of his mother, a teacher, who had just died.
He built a small-scale replica of a school-house, which he filled with his parents' books and posted a sign: "free books".
Soon his neighbours did the same thing at the end of their driveways. Now the little libraries have popped up as far as Ukraine and Pakistan.
In October, Bol sent 20 little libraries to be set up in Ghana. In India, he supports an aid group called "Going to School," which aims to build little libraries for 3,500 schools.
His "one little library" is turning into "15,000 libraries by the beginning of 2014, in 55 countries, in 50 states, at a rate of 700 to 1,000 new libraries a month," Bol told AFP.
Although many of the little libraries are built to look like bird houses, variety abounds. One looks like a clock, another like a robot, and another like a theatre, each inspired by the imagination of their owners.
For Phillip Vahab, installing a mini-library in front of his house was less about the books -- "my wife reads more than I do," he said -- and more about his desire to build relationships with his neighbours.
"The city is so anonymous. It's like a conversation for the block," Vahab said.
His neighbors helped him pay for and set up the library in January, one of the first in Washington proper.
Vahab built a bench just next to it, where passers by can sit to read -- or chat.
NEW BOOK EVERYDAY
Almost every day, "there is a new book in there," the 38-year-old orthodontist said enthusiastically.
Many of the books are about politics, because in the US capital, "there are a lot of people in politics here," he mused, though he noted one neighbour donated a treasure trove of feminist literature.
In Winslow, Arizona, John Ford hung scissors in his library so people could grab cuttings of the herbs he planted just below. Many of the books in his library are about cooking.
Back in Washington, near the National Zoo, Erin Astarr, 19, an Australian au pair, grabbed books for the children she looks after.
"It's a good opportunity for the community to come together and share and get educated," she said.
The chief librarian in Washington's public library system, Ginnie Cooper, said she couldn't be more pleased to see the book boxes pop up in her city.
"Sharing a great book from your public library or a little library is one of the ways that the District (Washington) continues to be a city of readers," she said.
Elinor Kotchen, carrying her four-month-old baby, found a book for her older son. "Now I need to bring a book to return the favor," she said.

Tuesday 12 November 2013

Tracing Downton Abbey's lineage: the novel that inspired a TV hit

Isabel Colegate's The Shooting Party, published in 1980, is an acknowledged influence on Julian Fellowes's ratings monster. But what can we glean from it about where the story will go? With the arrival of news that Downton Abbey is to return for a fifth series, speculation rises over what Julian Fellowes has in store for us. How long can Mary's vision withstand the punishing regime of never-ending eye-rolling over Edith's love life? Will Carson ever recover from Mrs Hughes installing an electric toaster? Has Daisy finally learned to breathe through her nose?

Estate of play … Lily James, Michelle Dockery and Hugh Bonneville in Julian Fellowes's Downton Abbey

 Estate of play … Lily James, Michelle Dockery and Hugh Bonneville in Julian Fellowes's Downton Abbey. Photograph: Nick Briggs

For those starting to wonder if Downton is in danger of going on so long that it catches up with the 21st century, there is one book that reveals Fellowes's motivations, intentions and predilections: The Shooting Party by Isabel Colegate. Set in 1913, the novel comprises one day in the life of a large country house. The men are guffawing and shooting, the ladies are frostily lunching and servants dart hither and thither like beleaguered nymphs as Colegate meditates on Fellowes' favourite themes: frustration, friction between the classes, tradition v progress, and the imminent disintegration of an aristocratic world. The day culminates in a moment of tragedy that tugs at the tightly woven lives of the masters and their servants and forces both groups to realise the extent of their dependence on each other.

When The Shooting Party was published in 1980, the popular representation of the aristocracy was as a bunch of bungling toffs: weak chins and weak morals abounded, while servitude was either mocked or ignored. Colegate, however, chose to dispense with these tropes and present everyone as humans instead of saints or villains. The book, written at the height of Thatcherism, is a precursor to Fellowes's forelock-tugging that shows both poor and rich characters in a sympathetic light.

In his introduction to the 2004 edition of The Shooting Party, Fellowes was quick to acknowledge that his screenplay for Gosford Park owed a great deal to the film adaptation of Colegate's novel: "without it the seed of the idea behind my script would never have been allowed to germinate". However, at the time of writing Gosford Park Fellowes had not yet read the book, and in Robert Altman was working with a director notorious for his fractious relationships with screenwriters. As a result of Fellowes's novice status and Altman's heavy hand on the tiller, Gosford Park ended up owing far more to Agatha Christie's whodunnits than to Isabel Colegate.

Once Gosford Park had hoovered up its Oscar nominations and Fellowes had completed the transformation from actor to respected screenwriter, he finally got around to actually reading The Shooting Party. The result is that Colegate's influence runs throughout the four series of Downton: the aristocratic family, the restless young women, the grouchy cook; entire scenes hanging on missing cufflinks. Kemal Pamuk, who vigorously romanced Mary in the first series, has a Colegate counterpart in Count Rakassyi, while Robert's overreliance on tradition echoes that of The Shooting Party's beleaguered host, Sir Randolph.

The similarities between Downton and The Shooting Party are most apparent in the final scene of the novel, when the landowner Lord Hartlip endangers the life of one of the gamekeepers by deviating from "the rules of the game". Fellowes, in turn, has developed all four series around Robert's well-meaning but near-disastrous mismanagement of Downton Abbey. Critics have griped about the amount of time spent discussing entails and dodgy overseas investments, but the series is largely powered by Robert's repeated gambling of the estate on shares and his constant hope that some woman, somewhere in his family, will produce a son.

It is the suggestion of dry rot within their protagonist families that links Fellowes and Colegate as writers and offers an insight into the eventual demise of Downton. Colegate is concerned with characters who are unable to break away from the established traditions, often at the expense of their own happiness. Everyone is trapped in the role assigned to them at the beginning of the book, and the result is a novel powered by nostalgia and pathos.

In his introduction, however, Fellowes takes this doomy outlook as a rallying cry: "If we cannot defend our own values against the trivial, fluctuating fashions in morality, then we are lost." While Lord Fellowes valiantly defends a life that was built upon the subjugation of the many and the profit of the few he is simultaneously steering Downton Abbey towards the same conclusion as The Shooting Party. With Robert reacting to Matthew's death and relinquishment of the estate in the manner of Augustus Gloop confronted with a chocolate river, Downton is once again in danger. The fun remains in deciding if Fellowes will stay true to Colegate's novel or if he will keep Downton afloat long enough for George Osborne to move in.

From The Guardian

Tuesday 5 November 2013

Club Monaco Will Offer Books and Coffee Alongside Fashion

   

Tina Fineberg for The New York Times
Strand and Toby’s Estate Coffee will set up shop in the Club Monaco store, 160 Fifth Avenue.

 By JULIE SATOW New York Times Published: October 15, 2013   

Offer the coziness of a library, a cup of coffee or an Art Deco fireplace in a ladies’ lounge as a gateway to a shopping spree. That’s the new vision for Club Monaco, which is opening a sprawling flagship store on Fifth Avenue in the Flatiron district on Monday.

 
Club Monaco
A rendering of the ladies’ lounge.

It will feature the first Manhattan outpost of Toby’s Estate Coffee, the Williamsburg, Brooklyn, mainstay, and a bookstore operated by the Strand, the eclectic New York literary shop, with more than 700 titles. Club Monaco’s specialty Manhattan store will also include a 1920s haberdashery display within the men’s store, a conservatory with a barrel-vaulted ceiling, and decorative hints reminiscent of the retailing era when the neighborhood was known as Ladies’ Mile.
“We wanted to create a space where you don’t just come to buy a sweater, but are getting an education on art and culture,” said Allison Greenberg, Club Monaco’s director of marketing and communications. “You can have a cup of coffee or sit in the library and read a great book that is relevant to the Flatiron district.”
The 20,000-square-foot store, a renovation and expansion of a previous Club Monaco location, is part of a larger strategy to expand the brand. The clothing retailer has been branching into accessories, including a recent partnership with Jane Mayle, the handbag designer. This summer, it produced its first shoe line.
In addition, Club Monaco recently opened a shop on Bleecker Street, is converting its location on Prince Street in SoHo to a stand-alone men’s store and is opening a second women’s location on Broadway, also in SoHo. It recently opened its first free-standing shop in London, with plans to add more locations next year, and is renovating its stores in Seoul, South Korea, and Hong Kong.
Club Monaco is not the first retailer to try to drum up foot traffic by teaming up with ancillary businesses. This year, Rag & Bone opened in the meatpacking district with a beverage station operated by Jack’s Stir Brew Coffee, and Shinola in TriBeCa shares its space with the Smile cafe.
The design at the Fifth Avenue Club Monaco, which was overseen by an in-house team, drew inspiration from the neighborhood’s past, when department stores like B. Altman and Best & Company were popular shopping destinations. It has a mostly white palette, with Venatino marble flooring and Ionic columns on the ground floor. Floor-to-ceiling drapery, vintage furniture and silk rugs adorn the rooms.
The bookstore and coffee shop are efforts “to bring our blog to life,” said Ms. Greenberg, referring to Culture Club, which was started two years ago and has more than 260,000 followers.
“We wanted to reinforce our status as a true lifestyle destination,” she said.
Club Monaco teamed up with the Strand, which opened in 1927 and is famed for having 18 miles of used and new books, “because it is iconic to New York City,” Ms. Greenberg said. The bookstore, whose other locations are the main store on Broadway near Union Square and a kiosk that abuts Central Park, will have 2,500 books jointly selected by Club Monaco and the Strand. Tucked inside the store’s so-called library, the bookstore will have armchairs for customers to peruse the offerings, and it will hold events like authors’ readings.
As for Toby’s Estate Coffee, “we are big fans of the brand internally and we wanted to offer coffee — who doesn’t want coffee on a Sunday afternoon as they shop?” Ms. Greenberg said.
Toby’s, originally from Australia, had been looking for a Manhattan location for nine months “when we got a call from Club Monaco saying they had this opportunity for us,” said Amber Jacobsen, one of the owners.
“Here at Toby’s, we don’t want to be a chain retail store and we are not looking to replicate what we have in Brooklyn,” she said.
The Brooklyn location includes a roasting plant and a slow bar, where coffee is allowed to brew for several minutes before being poured. The Club Monaco site in Manhattan will offer a slow bar, but will not have a roastery. Its décor, designed by Club Monaco, is intended to match the store’s palette, with custom-made espresso machines that are powder-coated white with walnut wood paneling.
Retailing experts see these partnerships as a way for the store to set itself apart from competitors by attracting a variety of customers. “Club Monaco is starting to follow trends that are emerging from more specialty brands,” said Lisa Weiss, the owner of a wholesale showroom and a former retailer. “They typically compete against the likes of the Gap and J. Crew, so this is a way for them to differentiate themselves.”
Also, retail rents in the neighborhood have risen rapidly, and sharing a space can offset some of those costs. Asking rents in the Flatiron district now run as much as $500 a square foot, up from just $175 a square foot five years ago, said Joanne Podell, a vice chairwoman at Cushman & Wakefield.
While Club Monaco declined to discuss the specifics of its lease or how the deals with the Strand and Toby’s were structured, typically stores like Club Monaco will be paid some compensation. “Most retailers are trying to be very effective in their use of space right now, especially as rents continue to rise,” Ms. Podell said.
But there are risks inherent in separate companies’ sharing a common retail space, cautioned Robert Cohen, a broker at RKF, a retailing real estate brokerage firm. “Over the life of a lease, say 10 to 15 years,” he said, “a lot of things can happen.”
Still, more retailers are betting that the strategy will pay off. “Right after the recession, everyone was scaling back and going to smaller footprints,” Mr. Cohen said. “Now, we are seeing the opposite, that companies like Club Monaco are willing to take bigger spaces, but they have to do something extra, something interesting to entice consumers to go in.”

Wednesday 30 October 2013

The Netflix-ication of all media

Is this the future of ebooks? All sorts of entertainment are quickly becoming available online through subscription services, including books, comics, radio, magazines and more.
 
Rogers customers get a first crack at on-demand magazine platform Next Issue Canada beginning this week.
Rogers
Rogers customers get a first crack at on-demand magazine platform Next Issue Canada beginning this week.
 
Entertainment is fast becoming an all-you-can-eat buffet.

Call it the Netflix effect, as a growing number of companies are borrowing that successful streaming provider’s model for movie and TV show content — offering hundreds or thousands of titles on demand for a monthly subscription fee — and adapting it to other forms of media, including music, radio, newspapers, magazines, books, comics and audiobooks.

For newspapers, there’s Newspaper Direct, which offers digital versions of thousands of papers and magazines. Last March, Marvel Comics launched its all-you-can-read Unlimited service. Two weeks ago, San Francisco-based Scribd launched a similar service featuring thousands of books from HarperCollins back catalogue. And this week, Rogers launches Next Issue Canada, a service that features all of its consumer publications along with more than 100 titles from the biggest U.S. publishers.
     

Most of these services are colloquially being dubbed a Netflix for that media, even if they don’t quite offer everything that company does as they enter the subscription-based on-demand world.
“It’s already worked quite well for video and music and magazines, and I don’t see this shouldn’t happen for books too,” said Trip Adler, Scribd’s CEO. “We’re surprised that it hasn’t already happened for books.”

Burlington-based Audiobooks.com has also dived in, billing itself as the only service in the world that lets you stream audiobooks to mobile devices.
“To my knowledge, there isn’t anyone else out there. We’re kind of paving the way here,” says Ian Small, Audiobooks.com president. “In the publishing industry, specifically the audiobook space, there isn’t necessary too much groundbreaking going on, so that’s where we think there is a competitive advantage.”
The site’s subscription plan costs $14.95 for one book a month, with each additional book costing $10 each. The company experimented with an unlimited model, but found that most consumers only listened to one or two audio books a month, since a typical audiobook is at least 10 hours long.

Here is a rundown of pros and cons of content streaming services.
 
Netflix
What it is: The best-known streaming service, featuring thousands of movies and TV shows. It used to primarily offer older shows and movies, but has embarked on making its own series, recently winning its first Emmy for House of Cards.
Cost: $7.99 a month, with the first month free as a trial period.
Pros: There are thousands of movies, and the service is improving by bringing its instant queue feature to Canada and more HD offerings. There is also a hub for children’s content. Its original content strategy has been working and so far has been of high quality, including House of Cards and Orange is the New Black. Entire seasons are put up at once, encouraging binge viewing. No commercials ever.
Cons: Many have criticized the selection, often finding the Canadian version lacking compared to the U.S., which has a more comprehensive library. As well, some series or movies disappear without notice.
Competitors: There are many players in the field, and rumours of more coming. Two of the biggest are Hulu and Amazon Prime, but they are U.S. only. There’s Vidéotron in Quebec, and Cineplex.com has its own service. Sony has Crackle, which is free, and is also creating its own shows, like the recently launched Cleaners. Fandor.com features independent films.
Rdio
What it is: A music streaming service with more than 20 millions songs.
Cost: $4.99 for unlimited web streaming. $9.99 for unlimited web and mobile streaming. It has a free trial period, and recently gave unlimited access to its genre-based music stations.
Pros: Very easy to use with an excellent library of music, and is particularly good with new releases and lesser known bands. Very slick interface, which a New York Times reporter compared favourably to Spotify.
Cons: Not as well known as Spotify, which is one of those services that Canadians tend to lament isn’t available here.
Competitors: Also a very crowded market, including players like Deezer, Slacker, rara.com, Xbox Music and HMV’s the Vault. Songza features curated playlists, as opposed to albums, but is free. iTunes Radio has launched in the U.S. and is rumoured to arrive here in 2014.
Audiobooks.com
What it is: Over 40,000 audio books available to stream or download to your device.
Cost: $14.95 for one book a month, with each additional book costing $10.
Pros: Most books have a have a short preview and then there’s a save function if you would like to continue, so you get a taste before committing.
Cons: It is a good-sized library, but you still may not be able to find something you really want. It’s not an unlimited subscription model. The iOS app is pretty good, but could be more intuitive. I didn’t realize I had to listen to the preview, and then save the book to my smartphone.
Competitors: iTunes sells audiobooks, but the big one is Audible.com. Owned by Amazon, it offers a $14.99 membership for a single audio book a month or a la carte purchases. Neither Audible nor iTunes offer streaming yet.
Scribd
What it is: An all-you-can-read digital book service with thousands of titles from the HarperCollins back catalogue.
Cost: $8.99 per month, with the first month free to try.
Pros: It has a short survey at sign-up that tries to recommend books for you. Thousands of books available. It saves your place in the book as you move between devices. Easy-to-use app could be very good for power readers.
Cons: Only books released before July 2012 are available, with more recent bestsellers available on a purchase basis. HarperCollins’ back catalogue is 8 to 10 per cent of the American book market, but there are four other major publishers, so the selection could be better. It also does not support “e-ink” e-readers like the basic Kindle and Kobo models, which is a large part of the e-book market.
Competitors: It’s the first player to bring streaming to the market, but its competitors are all other e-book sellers that sell on a per-book basis.
Next Issue
What it is: Available in the U.S. since 2009, Rogers Media has bought a stake in the company, finally bringing it to Canada. Rogers’ publications including Chatelaine and Maclean’s will be joining the more than 100 U.S. magazines that are available on tablets and computers. It launches Oct. 15 for Rogers customers, who can try it free for 60 days, then Dec. 15 for everyone else.
Cost: $10 for all the monthly magazines. $14.99 if you want to include weeklies.
Pros: Very much a print-based model, what you see on your tablet is everything in the print magazine, including ads. It has an amazing selection of some of the top magazines including The New Yorker, Vanity Fair, Sports Illustrated and many more. Provides good access to a title’s back issues, and you can set it to automatically download the latest issue. Seems like a good value proposition, especially if you’re used to paying for individual subscriptions to three or four magazines.
Cons: Open only to huge publishers who are all part owners in the company, which is fine, but if you subscribe to Toronto Life or anything from smaller Canadian publishers, be aware it won’t be there. While magazines download onto the device, some pages also take up to five seconds to load, which is never a problem with paper.
Competitors: Most magazines have stand-alone apps for subscribers that often feature extra content, and of course, print subscriptions.

Tuesday 22 October 2013

Need a pricey kitchen gadget? There’s a library for that

Is this the future of public libraries? Where lending and makerspace come together? By: Graham Slaughter Toronto Star News reporter, Published on Fri Oct 18 2013 The library is a stocked with high-end kitchen accessories — food dehydrators, pasta rollers, a frozen yogurt maker — usually only found in a chef’s arsenal. Members pay $50 a year to access the library items, which are loaned for five-day periods. “A lot of the items I try to find are really inaccessible to people, price-wise or space-wise,” explained founder Dayna Boyer, 29. “They are things that are expensive that people don’t use too often.” Boyer, a self-professed amateur chef, was inspired by the Tool Library, a similar non-profit that loans hardware such as hammers and saws. “When the Tool Library started taking off, I started hearing more and more about how the sharing economy can help people and how it’s really great for community building,” she said. When Boyer approached the Tool Library with her idea, they gave her space inside their storefront at 1803 Danforth Ave. She then posted ads around town for donated appliances. In the end, she received 30 pieces of culinary hardware, from juicers to punch bowls. She stockpiled them in her living room until the library’s official opening Tuesday. It’s a one-of-a-kind concept for Canada. The only other kitchen library that Boyer knows of exists in Portland, Ore., “probably because they’re cool over there,” she joked. The Kitchen Library is a non-profit organization that Boyer, a communications officer for George Brown College, started as a passion project. “I’m passionate about food. Talking about food, cooking food — this just gives me more of a chance to talk about it,” she said. “It was something that I saw was missing from Toronto.” And the library has already garnered some local fans. Adrienne Van Halem, 27, lives in the Danforth neighbourhood and took out a waffle maker the day the library opened. “I’m excited for the ice cream maker, the pasta roller machine. We’re hoping that they’ll get a deep fryer,” she said. As a corporate librarian for a gold mining company, Van Halem naturally likes the idea. “People are much less inclined to rent a waffle maker than to borrow it from a library. It makes a mental difference that I think makes it seem more accessible,” she said.

Tuesday 15 October 2013

Construction Update

A new library build is very exciting and very stressful. You are excited that you are finally getting a new building (after 162 years, I think we are due!).  However, you don't want to misjudge furnishings, the electrical placement or shelving which could cause a costly mistake.

This summer has been busy getting the floor plan just right.  The staff are finally happy with the way things have worked out, although there were some issues that required a lot of give and take, especially when you are in a joint facility with an arena.

I am looking forward to a bit of a break while the tenders are prepared for the furnishings.

In the meantime, take a look at the webcam to see how the building is progressing.

http://earthcam.net/projects/townoflincoln/

Tuesday 8 October 2013

What do your bookshelves say about your personality?

Canada Writes - CBC
What can we tell about you just by looking at how you arrange your books? Here are some personality types we have discovered by peering into our friends' and families' bookshelves. Hover over the question mark in each photo to see if any of them are you.



Which one are you? Let us know! Send a photo of your bookshelves and which personality type they correspond to to canadawrites[at]cbc.ca. Or come up with your own! Did we forget an important personality type reflected by your bookshelf (or someone you know)?

We've posted some of your photos on our Facebook page, check them out! One of our readers sent us a photo along with the story of her mother's address book. Read Auralia Brooke's letter to see how an address book turned into a bookshelf!
 
The last two photos are courtesy of Eccentric Scholar and Nikita Kashner respectively. Thanks!


Which one are you? Let us know! Send a photo of your bookshelves and which personality type they correspond to to canadawrites[at]cbc.ca. Or come up with your own! Did we forget an important personality type reflected by your bookshelf (or someone you know)?

We've posted some of your photos on our Facebook page, check them out! One of our readers sent us a photo along with the story of her mother's address book. Read Auralia Brooke's letter to see how an address book turned into a bookshelf!

Tuesday 1 October 2013

Bookless Public Library Opens In Texas

by  NPR



An artist's rendering shows computer stations at the new BiblioTech bookless public library in Bexar County, Texas. The library is holding its grand opening Saturday.
Courtesy of Bexar County
 

An artist's rendering shows computer stations at the new BiblioTech bookless public library in Bexar County, Texas. The library is holding its grand opening Saturday.
Courtesy of Bexar County
An all-digital public library is opening today, as officials in Bexar County, Texas, celebrate the opening of the BiblioTech library. The facility offers about 10,000 free e-books for the 1.7 million residents of the county, which includes San Antonio.
On its website, the Bexar County BiblioTech library explains how its patrons can access free eBooks and audio books. To read an eBook on their own device, users must have the 3M Cloud Library app, which they can link to their library card.
The app includes a countdown of days a reader has to finish a book — starting with 14 days, according to My San Antonio.
The library has a physical presence, as well, with 600 e-readers and 48 computer stations, in addition to laptops and tablets. People can also come for things like kids' story time and computer classes, according to the library's website.
A county official compared the concept to an Apple store, in a report on the library's plans by NPR's Reema Khrais in January.
And Reema reported that the idea of a bookless library has been tried before — perhaps a bit too early. That was in 2002, when Arizona's Santa Rosa Branch Library went digital-only.
"Years later, however, residents — fatigued by the electronics — requested that actual books be added to the collection, and today, enjoy a full-access library with computers," Reema said.
Sarah Houghton, a.k.a. the tech-savvy blogger Librarian in Black, who directs the San Rafael Public Library in California, told Reema that it will take more than 100 years before all libraries are paperless. But she added that 10 to 20 percent of libraries could go bookless in the next decade.
Some libraries have struggled to adapt to an era of digital options and budget cuts. In the Washington, D.C., region, the Fairfax County (Va.) library system's decision to destroy a reported 250,000 books drew the ire of residents — and an editorial from The Washington Post.

Tuesday 24 September 2013

Julian Fellowes bemoans North America's 'Downton Abbey' broadcast lag

Yes, we still have to wait until January to see Season 4.
 
TORONTO - "Downton Abbey" creator Julian Fellowes says he, too, feels the frustrations of the saga's North American fans.
Season 4 of the sudsy period drama debuted to raves in the United Kingdom over the weekend, but viewers on this side of the pond must wait another three months to see the fallout of a devastating cliff hanger.
Fellowes says he wishes the series could air simultaneously everywhere, noting that U.S.-based blogs are awash with spoilers.
He says a more unified release would "increase everyone's enjoyment" of the series.
Last season ended with the sudden death of new father Matthew Crawley who had found happiness with Lady Mary after a protracted courtship.
"Downton Abbey" — which chronicles the upstairs/downstairs woes of an aristocratic family and their servants — returns to PBS on Jan. 5.
"I'm sorry about the time creating spoilers," Fellowes said Tuesday from Los Angeles, shortly after attending the Emmy Awards bash.
"Unfortunately it's not down to me, if it was, everything would be alright."
Fellowes said he'd much prefer a universal release, noting the delayed broadcast can ruin the experience for some.
"Because then the whole 'Downton' conversation could all be equally balanced. And the blogs and the this, that and the other, everyone would be receiving the information at the same time within a few hours. And that would, I think, increase everyone's enjoyment."

Tuesday 17 September 2013

Libraries are the most important public buildings" - Francine Houben

With our new community complex project well under way, it has been interesting to see how the residents are viewing the new amenities of an arena and a library. 

With the fundraising campaign, more of the library naming opportunities have been taken than those for the arena. 

For a rural or semi-rural community, the library is the most important cultural and meeting place.

A great facility can make libraries more than just books!
             
Francine Houben
Interview: after completing Europe's largest public library in Birmingham, architect Francine Houben of Dutch studio Mecanoo spoke to Dezeen about the role of the library in the digital age and claims libraries are as central to society as cathedrals once were.
"Libraries are the most important public buildings, like cathedrals were many years ago," she said, explaining how Mecanoo designed the Birmingham building as a "people's palace". She added: "We wanted it to be very inviting and welcoming, not just about books. It's not just for the rich or the intellectuals, it's for everybody."
The building comprises a stack of four rectangular volumes that include a sunken amphitheatre, rooftop gardens and a shimmering facade clad with interlocking metal rings. Part of the library extends beneath a public square, while reading rooms branch out from a staggered rotunda.
"I didn't want to make a brick building, because we needed a lot of light, but I didn't want to make a glass building either," said the architect. "It's so beautiful to sit here because of the reflections and the shadows, and the changing of the weather. It's different from December to June."
Library of Birmingham by Mecanoo
Library of Birmingham front elevation
Houben dismisses the suggestion that digital technologies will see the end of libraries, explaining that the university library completed by the firm in Delft is still the most popular place in the city.
"We were always prepared that there would be less books in the future," she said. "The research machines will always be here, but to me the space is much more important."

Tuesday 10 September 2013

Little Libraries of Kitchener-Waterloo

It seems that I am finding another group or community that is building or organizing 'Little Libraries'.  Here is the group from Kitchener-Waterloo.  Another in the growing 'Libraries aren't just Buildings Anymore' series.

Little Libraries of Kitchener-Waterloo is a loosely organized group of people who are really into the idea of Little Free Libraries sprouting up all over KW.  Our goal is to make buying/building, setting up and maintaining your Little Library as easy as possible.  Read on for more!

Why?

Here are some of our reasons for wanting a Little Library… what are yours?
  • Neighbourhood Bonding – When you put out a Little Library, you are exchanging ideas and opinions with your neighbours.  As they walk by, they can take or leave books, and perhaps start a conversation about the books with you.  A Little Library is a great way to engage those who live near to you.  Put out books on art history, or on the biology of rabbits!  Put out 6 copies of a book that you want all of your neighbours to see!  You’re the steward of your Little Library; you get to curate it!
  • Immediate Availability of Books – While we do have a great set of libraries in Waterloo, there is a tangible benefit to having a book immediately available for perusal and taking, with no registration or process required.  See a book that intrigues you?  Just take it!  Don’t like it?  Drop it back off, put it in another Little Library, or just give it to a friend.  No need to head over to the main library or bookstore; the book is right there, just for you!  You may pick up a book that you never intended to read, that you might have glossed over otherwise.
  • A Marker of What We Believe – Just the presence of Little Libraries, perhaps even more so than the books in them, is a big part of the message.  Having Little Libraries all around town, and seeing them on a daily basis, reinforces that we in this community truly value literacy, thought, education, opinion, engagement.  We value knowledge over ignorance.  We value our millennia of personal experiences.  In short, we value books!  What better way to say that than to display them prominently?
  • Personal Engagement – When we walk through residential areas, often we see houses that are very much separate from the public roadways we walk along.  We value the notion of private property, and our propriety doesn’t allow us to interact with what we see.  A Little Library is a way for a homeowner to reach out, to say “You are welcome here.  I want to engage with YOU.”

Tuesday 3 September 2013

Austrian city builds public library with nothing but QR codes, NFC and stickers

Here's something new to me.  A digital library that does not have a building or equipment to access information.

What do you think?

Austrian city builds public library with nothing but QR Codes, NFC and stickers
Strangely, the Austrian city of Klagenfurt doesn't have a public library, even though it hosts the Festival of German-Language Literature. However, an initiative dubbed Project Ingeborg is turning the municipality into a book repository of sorts with 70 QR code and NFC chip-equipped stickers. Plastered throughout town, they direct users to web pages where they can download public domain works, largely from Project Gutenberg. Oftentimes, e-books will be located in relevant locations -- so you'll be sure to find Arthur Schnitzler's The Killer near the police station, for example. Come August, the team behind the effort will partner with local talent to distribute books, music and other digital content too. In an effort to build a stronger bond to the location, the organizers have prevented search engines from indexing the links, so you'll have to visit Klagenfurt to access the curated goods. If you'd like to turn your city into a library, the group hopes to release instructions for replicating their system soon.