Colophons will be swollen and printer slugs tumescent when Bruce Whiteman, Head Librarian at the William Andrews Clark Memorial Library of U.C.L.A. in Los Angeles, presents an address to The Colophon Club of San Francisco on October 13, 2009 titled Erotika Biblia or, Collecting Naughty Books at a Distinguished Institutional Library (Not at the Public’s Expense, I Assure You).Bruce has been kind to share in advance with me the text of his lecture. In it, he discusses William Clark’s personal interest in erotica, erotica esoterica, and the kind of material in this area that Bruce has been acquiring for the...
Beware Of Bibliophiles Bearing Bedbugs
To avoid what amounts to a modern day version of the Trojan Horse, Denver Public Library has banned one of its most avid borrowers due to his continued introduction of vermin into the book collection.The borrower in question, Roger Goffeney, is actually uninterested in reading the books he takes out. Rather he reviews the books, comparing them to online versions scanned into the Project Gutenberg database of archived materials. Unfortunately, this review process takes place in Goffeney 's home, an apartment in downtown Denver owned by the Catholic Archdiocese. This apartment is infested with bedbugs, and therein the rub, or...
Library Nixes Final Exits
In what would seem to be the smart move for a library that values live customers, Vancouver Public Library has opted to cancel a scheduled workshop on how to commit suicide.The Australian-based suicide advocacy organization, Exit International, has been denied the use of a room for the workshop to be held in early September. The booking was cancelled by city librarian Paul Whitney, upon receipt of advice from attorneys and the Vancouver Police Department. Whitney stated he was told: "In what, for lawyers, I would describe as fairly unambiguous language that the program as presented by Exit International would be...
Update: Philly Free Dodges Bullet
We are pleased to report a happy ending to a potentially dire story featured recently on Book Patrol. In an encouraging development for threatened urban public libraries, the Pennsylvania State Senate voted to pass a bill which allows the Free Library of Philadelphia to remain open.Passed on September 17, 2009, Senate Bill 1828 allows the City of Philadelphia to avoid the "Doomsday" Plan C budget scenario, which would have resulted in the layoff of 3,000 city employees and forced the closing of all libraries. According to the Free Library's blog, more than 2,000 letters were received by state legislators, along...
Library Bling: The Chain’s The Thing
Bookish buyers break out your bucks. The British edition of Elle Magazine has chosen the must have fashion accessory for Fall 2009: "Dirty Librarian Chains."Reporter Amy Lawrensen announces the trend with her In Store This Week column: "Dirty Librarian Chains will add autumn’s essential punk edge to anything pretty." Promising to deliver "an edgy, understated and yet slightly askew elegance," designer Susan Domelsmith creates a collection of "vintage chains that were deconstructed and reconfigured into new designs, meticulously composed, but still exuding an easy, streetwise wearability." What to call these chains NOT made for fools? What else but "Dirty Librarian...