libraries

Digital Archives

/ rtrube54 / 4 Comments

Internet Archive

One of the most fascinating things about the Internet from when I first started using it twenty years ago was this sense of having the world at your fingertips. I remember downloading Mosaic for the first time and discovering this thing they called a search engine, in this case, an early version of Yahoo. Organized by categories, you could search and drill down from topic to topic.

Eventually Google supplanted Yahoo, and then conceived the project back in 2004 of digitizing every known book. I’ve used this to track down quotes to their sources (and sometimes discovered that there was no source for the quote attributed to a particular author). I’ve downloaded 19th century sermon collections available for free. I understand that in recent years, Google has slowed down these efforts. Some would contend this reflects a shift in mission to use of search data in marketing, but it also reflects the fact that they’ve digitized over 20 million books! And they’ve been hampered by some lawsuits along the way.

Another outfit that has also been digitally archiving books and an incredible array of other materials is the Internet Archive. The Internet Archive is a non-profit effort launched in 1996 in San Francisco that includes text, audio, moving pictures, software, and, significantly, archived web pages. I discovered for example that you can look at a collection of archived campaign webpages from 1996. One of the challenges of the internet is its ephemerality. Have you ever come across a weblink that no longer works or a page that no longer exists? The Internet Archive may be the place that still has a record of this. From their homepage you can use their Wayback machine to enter an old URL to see if it is in their archives.

One of the other standout features of Internet Archive for the computer geek is old software from MS-DOS games to VisiCalc for the Apple II. They even have an emulator that allows you to play the games in your browser. Yes, you can play Oregon Trail again!

One writer described the Internet Archive as “a chaotic, beautiful mess”. Indeed, among other places you can go from their home page is a free audiobook collection, a Grateful Dead collection, the Biodiversity Heritage Library, The Iraq War Collection, The Portuguese Web archive, and that collection of MS-DOS software!

The question of course, is whether you can find what you are looking for. My sense is that Google’s search algorithms are better for getting you in the neighborhood of what you are looking for. But the Internet archive is just a fun place to snoop around, and you can do it from your own home.

It occurs to me that one of the big questions around the future of libraries and archives is both how to preserve materials in physical form and also to continue to preserve digitized materials including media that only ever had a digital format, especially because of the weird paradox that digital materials often degrade far faster than the printed page. It makes me wonder if a journal on my daily doings will last longer than my social media presence on Facebook’s servers–of course, who is going to want to study either?

At any rate, exploring all this reminded me that librarians and archivists to day face very different challenges in preserving not only printed primary source materials but the digital record of our society. It will be an interesting task to figure out what is important enough to safe and what is just ephemera!

Ohioana Library: Ohio Writers, Ohio Subjects

/ rtrube54 / Leave a comment

ohioanaWhat do Sherwood Anderson, Anthony Doerr, Wil Haygood, Toni Morrison, Louis Bromfield, Arthur Schlesinger, David Webber, and James Thurber all have in common? They are all Ohio authors. What about David McCullough and Doris Kearns Goodwin? They’ve written on Ohio subjects (the Wright brothers, and William Howard Taft respectively). And all of their works can be found in the Ohioana Library, located just north of downtown Columbus, sharing a building with the State Library of Ohio and the Columbus campus of the Kent State University School of Library and Information Science.

Until my wife called my attention to an interview with current director of the Ohioana Library, David Weaver, I had not known such a thing exists. Yet the Ohioana has been around since 1929, founded by Martha Kinney Cooper, who at the time was Ohio’s first lady. It was established to gather a collection of books and other materials written by Ohioans or about Ohio. Currently there are over 45,000 books, 10,000 pieces of sheet music and 20,000 files of biographical materials on Ohio authors. Sheet music? One of the most famous pieces, at least for died-in-the scarlet and gray wool Buckeyes is Frank Crumit’s Buckeye Battle Cry, written in 1919. Materials do not circulate but are accessible for research use by the general public.

The Ohioana doesn’t simply preserve the works of Ohio writers, artists, and musicians. It also is dedicated to promoting these works. There are two principle means by which they do this. One is the Ohioana Quarterly, which highlights and reviews new books added to the library and features literary events throughout Ohio. All members receive a copy but back issues can be accessed in .pdf format online.

The other way the library promotes Ohio authors and artists are through the Ohioana Book Awards, annually recognizing outstanding literary accomplishments in poetry, juvenile and young adult literature, fiction, non-fiction, and works by non-Ohio authors on Ohio subjects.

Last of all, The Ohio Library sponsors the Ohioana Book Festival in the spring of each year. The next Festival is scheduled for April 23, 2016 at the Sheraton Columbus Hotel on Capitol Square. There are seminars on various literary subjects and genres throughout the day, chances to meet a number of Ohio authors, children’s activities, food trucks (!) and of course, books!

As a native Ohioan, I would argue that our state has a rich but often under-estimated cultural heritage. The mix of urban and rural communities, of peoples from so many different ethnic heritages, the vibrant support of the arts throughout the state, and cutting edge library systems in many communities fosters a rich cultural life, and I believe a vibrant cadre of writers and artists past and present.  So it was a delight to learn about the great work the Ohioana Library is doing to preserve and promote our Ohio literary heritage.

I hope I can get down to meet the folks doing this work soon. Look for a follow-up on this one!

Some Questions About Banned Books Week

/ rtrube54 / Leave a comment
Artwork courtesy of the American Library Association.

Artwork courtesy of the American Library Association.

This is Banned Books Week (September 27 to October 3). Schools, libraries, and booksellers are proclaiming the evil of attempts to ban books, publishing lists of the top banned books of the past year (here is one), and featuring these books prominently for lending or buying.

Please understand: I think attempts to ban access to any books are both unconstitutional and stupid. Unconstitutional because of the First Amendment, which provides broad protections of speech, even speech which is offensive. Many call this our First Freedom and for good reason.

It’s also stupid. Nearly all challenges to books fail, and only spotlight the very books people are trying to ban. It strikes me that attempts to ban books take the focus off the quality of the book and make the author something of a “martyr” and give the book the allure of forbidden fruit.

But I have some questions about the “banned books” phenomenon, which strikes me as “the outrage of the week”.

  1. Is this really the big deal it is made out to be? In 2014, there were 311 reported challenges of books. That is less than 1 challenge for each million people in this country and only a bit over 6 per state. Yes it could be argued that any challenges are too many but is this really a big deal?
  2. How many books are actually “banned” in the US? I am unable to find statistics on this. The American Library Association’s Banned Books website indicates that “most” challenges are unsuccessful and most materials remain accessible. At very least, it might be more honest to call this week “Challenged Books Week” because I suspect that is mostly what it is–although I understand the alliteration and rhetorical value of the term “banned”.
  3. It is striking to me that a number of the “challenges” are by parents to school curriculum. I would observe that curriculum may be distinguished from libraries in public discussion. Curriculum is what students must read, study, and intellectually engage to accomplish educational objectives. Every curriculum includes–and excludes–certain materials based on these educational objectives and this is not regarded as censorship because those materials excluded are still accessible in libraries or via booksellers. Parents, whose taxes or tuition support the schools, are stakeholders in these decisions, along with educators, and local and state boards of education. Are all questions by parents about the educational merits of books to be labeled as “censorship”–particularly if the effort does not seek to ban access to the book in question in school or public libraries? Access implies choice of what one will read. Curriculum is generally mandated, with some opportunities for “opt outs” or “alternatives”–a very different thing.
  4. I would argue all attempts to challenge and ban books in libraries are wrong. Period. But I would also observe the librarians make decisions about the acquisition of materials and the suitability of materials, particularly for children. In acquiring materials, I suspect librarians weigh a combination of factors including community preferences as well as some basic values that probably result in excluding materials that are blatantly racist, intolerant, or simply represent inferior aesthetic or intellectual value. There is only so much “shelf space” in any library. Are the librarians themselves using their institutional power to “ban” books in what they decide not to acquire? Most of us would say “no” but this argues for a legitimate form of discrimination in selecting what librarians deem the “best” books for their clientele.
  5. Finally, I wonder if both those who attempt to ban books, as well as those who vehemently defend them divert us from the more important discussion, which is an assessment of the quality of a given work. And I suspect that in the “banned” lists there are both works of great artistic excellence and those which time will judge as mediocre.

What I would propose is that the focus on banned books (by ban-ners as well as defenders) may keep us from focusing on better books. Granted, we may have different ideas of what is better, and we should allow the difference, and access to the different choices. But that discussion might just elevate, even a bit, the choices we make, which might just elevate us as people. Better books, not banned books–now there’s an idea…

[Postscript: The issue of banned books and limits on free speech is a real issue in many countries. I also wonder if a more constructive use of the energy that goes into a week like this would be to work with legislators, those who administer foreign policy, the press, and others to press for greater speech freedoms in these countries, a basic human right.]

The Allure of a Book-Lined Room

/ rtrube54 / 1 Comment
A comfortable nook at Blue Jacket Books in Xenia, Ohio

A comfortable nook at Blue Jacket Books in Xenia, Ohio

I follow various book sites on Facebook, Google+, and Twitter and one thing I notice is the frequency that people post pictures of fantastic libraries, both institutional and personal, or sometimes of bookstores that look like libraries with shelves and shelves of books and comfy nooks and crannies with overstuffed chairs in abundance.

I have two hunches of why we love such images. I’d love to know what others think.

One is that such places represent a place of safety or refuge in a world that can at times feel scary. Maybe this is just me. I was in a seminar where we were asked to imagine a safe space. The image that came to mind was a book-lined room, with lots of old, leather-bound volumes, a fireplace with a good fire burning, comfortable leather chairs and good lighting, a stand at my side where I could place a mug of something warm, and reading tables or a reading desk for more serious work, looking out on a woodland or mountain vista.

So much for my fantasy life! But wouldn’t you love to spend time in a room like that? Maybe if you are a bibliophile, you’ve tried to create, with your means hopefully, a room like that. Yet the funny thing is, that all I need really is the book! I can be in an airline waiting area in a major airport with a cup of Starbucks and a book or my Kindle, and I’m in that place.

East Reading Room at Thompson Library, The Ohio State University

East Reading Room at Thompson Library, The Ohio State University

My other hunch is that these spaces represent something of our aspirations as readers. Sitting in a university reading room studying (or pretending to) a challenging work makes me feel like a scholar, or perhaps a bit wiser, whether it is really so or not! Sitting in a place where we have access to the best of what human beings have thought or written encourages us in the hope that we might gain some of that knowledge.

I’ve observed that some of my favorite bookstores try, within their means and their space, to create this feel. They allow us to slow down, to savor being around all these books. They aren’t just warehousing books. They are welcoming those who read them. I’ve found others, particularly those selling used books that simply pack as many books in as possible. There’s no place to sit to skim a book or read a chapter to see if it is what you are looking for. I’ve found some great books in these places but they aren’t places where I want to linger. That can be mitigated somewhat by a friendly bookseller who is appropriately helpful and enjoys talking about books.

Maybe another word for all of this is that these places, whether mental images or real places, represent places of retreat. They are places where we come away and have the safety to reflect and be renewed. At one time, we might have turned more to religious places, and some of us still do. (I’ve found some of the best retreat centers even have spaces like this!). It makes me wonder whether such imagery, and the real places that approximate this, as good as they are, point us to something more, just as the books we read often do.

National Read a Book Day

/ rtrube54 / 2 Comments

weird-and-wackybooksI don’t usually do posts on Sundays, but just wanted to highlight that today (September 6) is National Read a Book Day! I don’t know who thinks these things up, but I like the idea! (Of course, for some of us, every day is “read a book day”!)

Some thoughts that came to me of how to celebrate National Read a Book Day:

  1. Visit the library with your family and everyone pick out a book to read.
  2. Check your local paper for any authors doing readings of their books–usually at a local book store.
  3. Find out what your friends thought was their best “summer read”. Some good wine and cheese is always a nice accompaniment. You might get an idea of something you’d like.
  4. If you are traveling over the Labor Day weekend, get or download a recorded book to listen to in the car.
  5. Or go low tech and take turns reading to each other in the car. No DWR (driving while reading)!
  6. Visit your “to be read” pile and pull out something that has been sitting there a while and read ten pages and decide if it should stay on the pile, get promoted, or discarded.
  7. Cozy up in a hammock or comfortable outdoor chair with a cold drink and enjoy a late summer afternoon read (and maybe a nap–just don’t get sunburned!).
  8. Pick a book that can be read at a sitting and read it. My reading of most books is broken up. Sometimes it is nice to get the sense of the whole book in one sitting.
  9. Pull out one of your favorite books of all time that you haven’t read in the last five years and revisit an old friend.
  10. And above all, READ something you can enjoy. I think that’s the idea after all.

What ideas do you have for celebrating National Read a Book Day?

Why Publishers Need Libraries

/ rtrube54 / 3 Comments
BookPage

BookPage

I was over at my neighborhood library yesterday. I had to do some planning for a conference talk and the library can be a good place to get away. And because there were books there, I spent some time browsing, particularly the new books section. I did not borrow any books on this trip, but I got some ideas. And a few of these might end up as book purchases. I also found a free publication with lots of book reviews called BookPage. Among other things, it had reviews of David McCullough’s new book on the Wright Brothers, and a review of H.W. Brands biography of Ronald Reagan–and a back page ad from Penguin Random House.

In short, that is why publishers need libraries, as a recent Publisher’s Weekly article observed. Fewer and fewer people are finding books at a bookstore. In the last five years, the numbers have dropped from just under a third to a mere 17 percent. Furthermore, the best-seller lists, another source of purchasing ideas are dominated by a relatively small number of authors. Think about how many times you see David Baldacci or Bill O’Reilly on one of these lists. It is hard for lesser known works to get much notice unless someone like Oprah or Mark Zuckerberg or Bill Gates talks about them. In light of all this, libraries may be among the best book show rooms around. While online retailers like Amazon have just about anything on their website, it doesn’t all fit on your computer screen and you may not find a new author unless you are already looking for that author or a book title.

One of the most interesting ideas in the article was that libraries don’t cannibalize book sales. For one thing, they buy books! In addition one third of the people who borrow a book in a given month also buy one. Libraries are also a great way to try out a new author you are not sure you like. Sixty percent of frequent library users buy a book by an author they first read at the library.

Staff picks

Staff picks from Worthington Libraries

Librarians know books and work hard to help their patrons know books. Most libraries these days publicize staff picks and staff book reviews as in the screen shot from the website for our local library. Good booksellers often do the same thing. And it occurs to me that sometimes a recommended book ends up wait-listed. That can turn into a book purchase if it is something the individual wants right away.

The article proposes that publishers work more closely with libraries, particularly in highlighting the work of new authors. Libraries could fall victim to the same forces that are pressing the publishers themselves. Free e-books and the growth in the number of titles are making it harder for libraries to bring in patrons and curate new authors. It is easy to just promote the best-sellers. Yet some of the most dedicated readers use libraries and are looking for new authors to read; and teamwork between libraries and publishers could be a win for both.

Reader question: have you purchased books because you learned about a book, or an author at your library?