Sadly, however, there are always some books that don't find homes during the sale. In past years, some of these have become art projects; this year, a few are even being converted into iPad cases!
Last year, we began partnering with Better World Books, an organization that puts used books up for sale in physical stores and online. Proceeds from any sales are split between Better World Books, the library that "donated" the book, and the "literacy partner" designated by the library. (Our literacy partner is WorldFund, an organization that works to improve education in Latin America.) Books that don't sell are recycled or "reused" in some fashion.
After last year's book sale, we sent several boxes of books to Better World Books, and, while none of our books sold, they were put to good use. Seventy-six books were "reused," and 374 were recycled. This saved 9 trees, 3,166 gallons of water, 634 lbs of greenhouse gasses, 3 cubic yards of landfill space, and 1,470 Kwh of electricity.
We're currently boxing up this year's leftovers and sending as many as possible to Better World Books for a second year in a row. You can support this fantastic organization by buying used books directly from their site or by choosing to buy from Better World Books when you're shopping in such third-party sites as Amazon Marketplace. Thanks for helping them to help us, children and educators around the world, and the environment!
]]>Google crowdsources card index for 'humanity's last library' Garbage in, garbage out
Thoughts to ponder as you giggle at the "FC" notes embedded throughout.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/22/magazine/22FOB-medium-t.html?ref=technology
]]>And... 'cause that wasn't awesome enough... here's an even cooler one that was made at the BYU library.
With the man your grades could be like. Think about it.
We might even let you play with the book carts.
Yeah, probably not.
]]>This happens for a variety of reasons, so I went into troubleshooting mode. The lady was attempting to log in to JSTOR. Here's a rough transcript of our conversation:
Me: "Okay. What are you typing in as your username?"
Lady: "gobbledygook" [not really, but you get the idea]
Me: "Hm. Okay. What is your Seton Hill email address?" [your database username is typically the first part of your SHU email, the portion before the "@" symbol]
Lady: "janet.doe@students.shu.edu" [or something to that effect]
Me: "Oh! Um, ma'am, are you a student at Seton HALL University, in New Jersey?"
Lady: "Um, yes, why?"
Me: "Well, because this is Seton HILL, in Greensburg, Pennsylvania."
The two schools are often mistaken for one another, but I've never heard of a student confusing the two before. I wonder how she ended up on our website or with our number!
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Budget Gives, Takes Away From Libraries: State Budget Includes $10M For A New Library
]]>Firefighter denies manslaughter of farmer 'who was trampled to death by cows spooked by engine's siren'
Google—now we really won’t need traditional libraries and students won’t need to ask librarians for help.
Libraries—turn them into cyber-cafes, fill them with study pods, put more of the paper collection in storage—add more computers: the 21st century reference tool.
Wireless—get rid of those bulky computers in the library and make way for the laptops.
Librarians—prove your usefulness to academia.
In my years as a librarian I have heard these phrases and more just like them. “Libraries are becoming extinct!” is usually one of the comments I get from uninformed people when they find out what my profession is. Of course those with more tact won’t make an exclamatory statement but will make an interrogative one instead, “Are libraries becoming extinct?”
On the shelf behind my desk, right now, are among other items, a 5 ¼ “ floppy disk, a 3 ½ “ disk, a zip disk, and countless books. Some of these items stay there because I can be a bit nostalgic at times. Only one of the 4 types of media is still useable by me and will be useable by generations to come. I could go on and on about my first reel-to-reel tape recorder, my first cassette tape recorder, my first digital recorder, my 45s, my 33 1/3s, my cassettes, my CDs, and back to my vinyl. And, of course, there are my VHS videos, my DVDs, and my Blu Rays.
But I digress! This was meant to be a short introduction to an interesting article on librarians but I allowed my mind to wander and I just followed along to see where it would lead. And I think in a roundabout way it lead to a somewhat decent intro to this article:
]]>Enjoy!
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/12/education/12exit.html?ref=education
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