On August 4th, 2008 women in the Saudi coastal city of Dammam were able to use its library for the first unaccompanied.Until then they had to be "escorted by a male relative," said the library's director, Saad al-Harithi."It is a safe place for everyone, and especially for women, who use a special area just for them," al-Harithi said.The next steps says al-Harithi is "to create sections for children, to introduce them to literature."Well, maybe the Olympics are next. Currently the Saudi government bans Saudi women from participating in any major sporting event!Saudi Activist Wajeha al-Huwaider created this video in protest...
RIP: Travel Phrasebook
The beginning of another death toll for an entire genre of book: the travel/foreign language phrasebook.See also:RIP Encyclopedias.RIP Textbooks.RIP Travel Guides (and another).RIP OED.
Arthur Jaffe Shows Off His Book Arts Collection
The Arthur & Mata Jaffe Center for Book Arts at Florida Atlantic University houses one of the best book art collections in the country.Connie Ogle has a great piece in The Miami Herald, "A new leaf: Revising the way we think about books and reading", on Jaffe and the collection.The collection has grown to some 12,000 items and offers "a dizzying array of subject matter and form."Commenting on the collection and the unique place book arts occupy in special collections, William Miller, director of FAU libraries, says ''It's a very unusual collection. It expands the concept of what a book...
Book Patrol Launches "Hall of Shame" on Twitter
Much has happened in the bookselling world since the rise of the online bookseller. One of the areas that has taken the biggest hit is in the proper cataloging and describing of a book offered for sale.So for your entertainment pleasure Book Patrol has created a Hall of Shame on Twitter. Though it will be predominately populated with real life book descriptions found on real life online marketplaces there will also be other inductees as the situation warrants. You know, like the guy in New Zealand who got busted for taking pictures of women's feet in the libraryEnjoy!
The Book Coaches of "The School of Life"
Going on a trip and don't know what books to bring.Is your best friend getting married and you want to supply the reading material for her honeymoon.Well, the Bibliotherapy department of The School of Life can help.For around $75 you get a half hour consultation and "you'll come away with a mini-prescription for an instant literary fix" with a more "detailed prescription" to follow.The School of Life is a "new cultural enterprise...offering intelligent instruction on how to lead a fulfilled life." They offer classes, "stigma-free psychotherapy, secular sermons, conversation meals, a floating faculty of experts and a new kind of...