The entire Seattle Public Library system will shut its doors for a week beginning August 31st.The move is expected to save the Library $655,000 of the $1 million it needs to save due to budget reductions. An additional $300,000 in cuts will "include management and administration layoffs, extending the staff computer replacement schedule and reducing the training budget.""The closure will mean salary reductions for about 700 employees who will not be paid, or accrue vacation or retirement benefits during those week."Amazingly enough, the closure also includes the the SPL website. During the closure there will be "No access to the...
Book Sculptors at BAM
Guy Laramée, Pétra (2007). Sandblasted encyclopedias, pigments13 x 11.25 x 8.5 in. Courtesy Gallerie Orange, Montreal and the artistPhoto: Guy L’Heureux © Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / SODRAC, Montreal.Wondering what to do with those old encyclopedia's or those obsolete white pages that keep landing in your driveway? Perhaps a trip to the Bellevue Art Museum might help."The Book Borrowers: Contemporary Artists Transforming the Book"is the latest installment in the Bellevue Art Museum's (BAM) ongoing Material Evidence series.The show features work by some of today's leading artists working with books including pieces by Brian Dettmer, James Allen, Noriko Ambe,...
About Those Blue Book Donation Boxes
Photo by Joseph Lyon / Kitsap SunHave you seen those blue book donation boxes that seem to be popping up everywhere? Ever wonder what the deal is?Well, here's how it works:The boxes are are owned and operated by Thrift Recycling Managment (TRM), a for-profit company. This alone should bring into question the 'Books For Charity' mantra emblazoned on the front and sides of each box.To date, about 15,000 boxes have been placed around the country.51% of books donated end up being pulped. Think revenue stream.25% go to non-profit organizations committed to various literacy and book-related causes with only a tiny...
Victor Hugo To Congress: Confirm Sotomayor!
Victor Hugo (1802-1885), the celebrated author of Les Misérables, rose from the dead this morning to throw his tricorne into the ring and proclaim his endorsement of Sonia Sotomayor for Supreme Court Justice of the United States.“If you loved Les Miz, there is only one way for the Senate to vote,” he averred. “You gotta go with Sonia. Otherwise, cognitive dissonance, hypocrisie!"“Those who know my Les Misérables only as staged musical schmaltz herring may be surprised to learn that the actual novel, a two-ton tome upon which I rest my head in Tempur-Pedic eternity, is a vigorous plea for the...
ABC’s of Book Collecting : Aldus, Aldine
ALDUS, ALDINEThe great Venetian printer Aldus Manutius (Aldo Manuzio,1452–1515) initiated the printing of the Greek classics and the series ofpocket-classics, for which he is chiefly famous. His device of adolphin and anchor was widely imitated, not least by WilliamPickering in the 19th century, together with the title Aldine Classics forhis similar series of the major authors of English literature.Previous ABC's of Book Collecting postsCarter, John & Nicolas BarkerABC's of Book Collecting. 8th EditionNew Castle, Delaware : Oak Knoll Press, 2004Buy a copy