Books in the News

The New York Times had an interesting essay called, ‘Steal These Books’.  To quote:
‘With the recession, shoplifting is on the rise, according to booksellers. At BookPeople in Austin, Tex., the rate of theft has increased to approximately one book per hour.’
You won’t believe what the most frequently stolen book is! 
Read on….http://www.nytimes.com

Continue Reading Bookstore Clerk: ‘Where did that book I recommend often go?’

Ran across two interesting articles today and ironically they were both about the return of a book after 60 years or more later.
One of the books was a book of art compiled by Hitler for a planned musuem, the ‘Fuhrermuseum’.  The book was removed from Hitler’s home and is to be returned to Germany in [...]

Continue Reading The Return of TWO Books Some 60 Years Later! One related to Hitler and the other Napoleon.

On Saturday morning I had the pleasure of seeing Jon Scieszka share his favorite children’s books on CBS’s Early Show .  A posting on ‘The Early Show’s’ Website, ‘Holiday Reads for Your Kids‘, described Scieszka’s expertise:
‘In 2008, Scieska was appointed by the Library of Congress to be the first National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature. [...]

Continue Reading Holiday Books for Children

Shelf-Awareness.com says, “Beginning with today’s edition, the bestseller list published every Thursday in USA Today will include Amazon Kindle book sales in its overall rankings…”     Read the post…http://news.shelf-awareness.com
Read the USA Today announcement: http://www.usatoday.com

Continue Reading “USA Today List Kindled”

Shelf-Awareness.com intruduced me to an article in the N.Y. Times, “Target Can Make Sleepy Titles Into Best Sellers“. The post on Shelf-Awareness.com said, “In the last few years, Target has become “a tastemaker for books” through its book club and the Bookmarked Breakout program, both started in 2005, the New York Times wrote. The programs [...]

Continue Reading Selling Books the Target Way

Matt Cutts, a Google Software engineer has shared how ‘Using a simple USB-powered barcode scanner, Matt shows how you can easily add your books from off your bookshelf at home to the My Library feature in Google Books….You can then use Google Books-powered search to browse just the books in you own home library.’
For more [...]

Continue Reading Use a Barcode Scanner to add YOUR books to Google Books’ “My Library feature”

The best in books, videos and audiobooks for children and young adults were announced on Monday.  The awards include the Caldecott, the Coretta Scott King, the Newbery, Printz Awards.
Check out the winners…http://www.ala.org

Continue Reading Literary Award Winners announced by ALA

Kimberly Miller of the Palm Beach Post wrote a good article, State university officials take aim at slashing book prices examining the issue and seeking solutions.  Some excerpts:
“The rising cost of textbooks has long been a sore spot for students and parents. And for good reason. Textbook prices have increased at twice the rate of [...]

Continue Reading Soaring Textbook Prices and Solutions

The Library of Congress Blog posted the following:
“The Library of Congress often provides Bibles from its vast
collections for the use of Members of Congress during their swearing-in
ceremonies. But it is not every day that a president-elect makes the
same request for his inauguration. It is rarer still when that Bible is
the same one upon which Abraham [...]

Continue Reading A Special Book for a Special Inauguration

Ironically one of the best passages about the value of libraries I’ve ever read came from an article about library cutbacks and closings in Pennsylvania:
“In Franklin’s and Carnegie’s times, the library offered access to encyclopedias and books. It gave everyone a chance to educate himself during a time when access to education, especially higher education, [...]

Continue Reading Library Cutbacks in Pennsylvania and Lower Income Citizens