j's scratchpad

Wishing j and her family, the other Scratchpad contributors and the Scratchpad readers a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Posted by Rich

a particular librarian stereotype, of which BCJ reminds me. I personally prefer to think of this profession as the best of all possible worlds.

15 librarians, a driver named Lazaro, and a tour guide named Jesus. (No, really. Would I kid you about such an important trip … ?) I just need to condense one of the most amazing weeks of my life into a blog post. (Good thing I don’t use Twitter!)

The 2011 Boston Book Festival is being held on Saturday, October 15, 2011 around Boston’s Copley Square and it is free!

Michael Ondaatje, author of the English Patient and his new novel, The Cat’s Table, will be the keynote speaker.

One of the marquee panels will be on the Civil War with Adam Goodheart, author of 1861: The Civil War Awakening, Tony Horwitz, author of Midnight Rising, Drew Gilpin Faust, author of This Republic of Suffering: Death and the American Civil War, and Charles Bracelen Flood, author of Grant’s Final Victory as the panelists.

For more info:

http://www.bostonbookfest.org/

Posted by Rich

Via The Chicago Public Library’s Facebook page

Posted by Rich

Technical services manager and author Catherine Willis tells Radio Boston’s Adam Ragusea about some of the BPL’s McKim Building’s nifty architecture (Pneumatic tubes for communication? Guastavino vaults?). Willis pulled many neat photos together for a book on the library for the Images of America series. Some pictures accompany the Radio Boston piece.

(Look, Ben, something about libraries! )

I know you were hoping for something about libraries, but as I rode home, I couldn’t help thinking about the rumor I heard about Antietem doing something special in the coming weeks for the 150th anniversary of the first year of the Civil War and how that’s great road trip fodder. Many libraries, including the Boston Public Library, are commemorating the occasion with special exhibits and programs. Check your local listings.

The August 30 Library Journal has a very good roundup of the damage suffered by libraries on the East Coast by Hurricane Irene. It appears upper New York State and New Jersey suffered the most damage from flooding. One Vermont library lost 60 percent of its collection:

“The Vermont state librarian is guardedly optimistic that the state’s 183 public libraries have come through in relatively good shape after the devastating flooding caused this week by Tropical Storm Irene, which is expected to be the state’s worst natural disaster since the flood of 1927.”

“The state libraries in New Jersey, Connecticut, Massachusetts, and North Carolina also reported relatively good news, but New York is reporting significant damage to a number of libraries, including an unconfirmed report that one library building in the Adirondacks was swept away.”

“The Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners, which is the state agency responsible for library services in the commonwealth, sent out an email to the state’s 374 public libraries and the 1700 members of the Massachusetts Library System (a regional system) asking for damage reports.”

“We sent out the message but we haven’t heard back from anybody yet,” said Cindy Roach, the head of library advisory and development. “We aren’t sure if it’s because of the power outages across the state or because people can’t get to their building or because there is no damage,” she said

For the whole article:

http://tinyurl.com/3vxy5kn

More info when I get it.

Posted by Rich

PodCamp Boston 6 is being held on September 24-25, 2011 at the Microsoft NERD in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Cost is $30.00

For those who need a reminder of what PodCamp is all about:

“Podcamp is an unconference where newbies and advanced content makers alike come to learn more about and share their knowledge of podcasting, blogging, video blogging, social media and more.”

For more info:

http://podcampboston.org/

PodCamp is now being held worldwide:

http://podcamp.pbworks.com/w/page/17344268/FrontPage

Posted by Rich

Yep. It’s that time of year again. Cherry blossom festival in DC. So up here we’re busy putting the final touches on another terrific tech unconference: BarCamp Boston 6. Maybe I’ll see you there.