I love autumn!

This is the glorious view that I had today while sitting and doing some work at Brown County State Park. The autumn colors down in these parts of Indiana are famous for a reason.

Taking cues when choosing books

It could be a huge research project to fully understand the myriad of ways in which people choose their reading material. Saw it on a display? Heard about it on Oprah? A friend said you'd like it? I know that I pick up reading suggestions everywhere. How about you?

In this week's ALA e-newsletter, two links on this topic in particular stood out to me:

1) Rupert Grint chose A Clockwork Orange as the book he's holding on his READ poster; these celebrity endorsements can be rather effective in getting people to try out specific titles.

2) One librarian in New York has been compiling a list of books that have appeared on the television show Mad Men. Some of the titles may have been part of the storyline while others were just part of the background, but he says circulation of and requests for this books has jumped because of their inclusion on the hit show. And the fact that all the books are accurate to the show's time setting makes the surge in popularity even better, in my opinion. Let's give some older books a chance!

Rethinking the library and reference

I found two links from this week's ALA e-newsletter particularly interesting:

1) At the Hearthman Hotel in Portland, authors who stay there are asked to sign a copy of one of their books to go into the hotel library. What has resulted is a unique collection of some 4000 titles, all copies signed, that is available for visitors' perusal. What an interesting way to rethink what makes a library!

2) Some Texas Tech librarians have taken the idea of roving reference one large step further: they're experimenting with reference carts, complete with wi-fi-enabled laptops, roving about the campus, not just in the library. People can thus seek assistance wherever they find one of these librarians. Thoughts?

Banned Books Week: Fighting Literary Censorship on Twitter

I don't tweet, not at all, and I don't really want to. I think Twitter definitely has some great group-information applications, though.

Case in point: taking to Twitter to fight censorship. Check out this great blog entry from the NYT.

Banned Books Week 2010

This upcoming week (September 25 - October 2) is the annual Banned Books Week. Begun in 1982 in response to an upsurge in the number of books being challenged in libraries, Banned Books Week is meant to draw attention to book censorship and promote intellectual freedom.

Stop by your local public library--even your local bookstore!--next week and I'm sure you'll see displays of banned and challenged books. Take a look at the titles--I'll bet you've read a few. You probably even enjoyed them.

The NYT posted an article suggesting 10 ways you might celebrate Banned Books Week this year. Even if you don't have time to do one of these activities, and even if you don't have time to read your favorite banned book (or maybe try a new one!), do take a few minutes to think about the freedom to read. It's a particularly great freedom that we have in this country, and we shouldn't let those who would wish to censor books get away with it.

Support Banned Books Week and the freedom to read!

P.S. What's your favorite banned or challenged book?

This week in library links

I've got two links for you today:

1 - Google Instant. Have you tried it? Do you love it? Hate it? Somewhere in between? I found it interesting that Google Instant is blocking certain searches--your search results will not instantly update if your search terms include something that Google deems "not safe for work" (NSFW). Just what that encompasses is up for debate...

2 - How would you like a recycled reference desk at your local library? I know I would love one!

Military rations

If you've got a few spare minutes this weekend, take a look at this interactive feature at the New York Times on military rations in Afghanistan. The premise of the accompanying article is that, with troops serving in Afghanistan from all over the world, the variations in each country's provided rations give a glimpse of what soldiers might be yearning for from home. It's a neat visual twist on the whole food and cultural identity/comfort thing.