Urban Librarians Unite and the Save NYC Libraries Campaign are seeding more than 1600 books all over the city in response to massive cuts proposed to the budgets of New York City Libraries.
A great idea with an impressive scope. I’ll be watching this closely. (h/t @FunkyPlaid)
—Daryl Green, rare books librarian at the University of St Andrews, quoted in Future U: Library 3.0 has more resources, greater challenges | Ars Technica
Digital archivists should read this Ars Technica article, via infoneer-pulse:
Game creator Jordan Mechner wanted to teach the next generation. So the man behind the groundbreaking 1989 Apple II game Prince of Persia recently posted his original 6052 assembly source code to Github. But getting the code from decades-old floppy disks “covered with dust” was no simple task. Mechner employed the services of vintage computer expert Tony Diaz and digital archivist Jason Scott to extract the bits from the floppies and assemble it into a readable code file.
Without Diaz and Scott, Mechner’s code could’ve been lost forever. The exact methods he used to create this landmark game would have become as obsolete as the 1976 technology it was played on.
But old source code isn’t the only cultural artifact that requires specialized knowledge to preserve. As paper and dyes deteriorate, acetate degenerates, and the minute magnetic flux recorded in analog tape fades with the ages, how do we preserve cultural artifacts like photographs, music, and film? And what of more modern digitally created media? Images and video are shot directly in digital formats and stored on flash media. Music is recorded in 24-bit, 192kHz digital resolution onto massive hard drives. All these files exist in various codecs, formats, and file systems; on spinning magnetic platters or in solid state NAND flash. How do we preserve these files for future reference, study, and appreciation?
» via ars technica
Shameless plug time: I started the Library Lovers’ LiveJournal community in early 2001 and it’s still going strong! You don’t have to have a library degree or job to participate, just a love of libraries. Join us!
My new favourite blog is dedicated to library resources that aren’t online and how to find them.
The premise behind this petition is very simple: libraries are the best way for people to learn about new books. So why are publishers preventing libraries from providing these new books in whichever format the patron desires? Please sign and share.
Via yourathenaeum:
Augusta Braxton Baker, librarian with The New York Public Library from 1937 to 1974, blowing out the story hour candle. Baker was a devoted storyteller who developed a groundbreaking list of stories that portrayed African Americans positively and established a collection of African American children’s literature at the New York Public Library. She became the first African American coordinator of Children’s Services at the NYPL in 1961, in charge of youth programming at all eighty-three branches. Her influence touched New York libraries, schools, community groups, the American Library Association, Sesame Street, and the works of authors like Madeleine L’Engle and Maurice Sendak. World-renowned novelist James Baldwin was one of the young men who sat in the children’s room at her first library job at the 135th St Branch.
She was born on this day, April 1st, in 1911. You can read more about her life and legacy from the New York Public Library, Wikipedia, and the University of South Carolina. Hear her interviewed and see more photographs of her at work at Speaking of History.
