It was just last month that Sean Taylor, one of the winners of the 2007 Nestlé Children's Book Prize, refused to accept the cash award because of the "questions surrounding Nestlé’s marketing of breast-milk substitutes."Now word comes that after 23 years Booktrust and Nestlé have parted ways.Katherine Solomon, Booktrust's PR person, claims the parting was "mutual and there was no hostility" and that it was a "natural time to conclude."Nestlé says it is "moving its community support towards the company strategy of nutrition, health and wellness," and would like to focus on healthy eating plans for primary schools. I hope...
The Library of Congress Hits the Jackpot on Flickr
No one saw this coming.The plan was simple enough. The Library of Congress teamed with Flickr for a pilot project called The Commons, which basically consisted of LOC opening a Flickr account and uploading a little over 3,000 images (the LOC houses 14 million prints, photographs and other visual materials!)The goal was to address two of the major challenges the library faces:1. "how to ensure better and better access to our collections, and2. "how to ensure that we have the best possible information about those collections for the benefit of researchers and posterity."The result was astonishing and could arguably be...
Book Scavengers
scav·enge: to take or gather (something usable) from discarded material.There are hundreds of them. They have gangster names like Tommy Books and Leprechaun and roam the streets of New York in the wee hours of the morning looking for books. Nothing is off limits - dumpsters, garbage cans, anyplace that might hold a discarded book is fair game. They gather as many as they can hold and then head to the corner of 12th of Broadway and wait.What are they waiting for?9:30am. For this is the time The Strand bookstore opens and they can turn their found objects into cash!This...
The Presidential Book Debate
As the presidential debate process marches on and the issues seem to get less and less attention lets attempt to get some book energy in the mix.I propose the great Presidential Book Debate of 2008.All the candidates are positioned in front of shelves filled with books from their library. The moderators can be drawn from the deep pool of writers, reviewers, bloggers and librarians whose world revolves around the printed (or digital) word.Potential questions:What is your favorite book? (Republicans must give a back up when choosing the Bible)What has the been the most influential book on politics that you have...
So You Want to Be a Book Collector
In 1909, almost 100 years ago, these Twelve Maxims For Book Collectors appeared in Volume 1 of The Bibliophile. A Magazine and Review for the Collector, Student and General Reader.Even today, one would be hard-pressed to find a better guide to the field. So if you are just starting out or have thought about starting a book collection here is your 12 step program. No need to spend your money on how-to books in the field or on book collecting classes, save that money and buy a good book!1.—Before starting to collect any class of books, make sure that it...