Book Art: Is it Sacrilege?

I recently received a pretty cool link to a page about a guy that took old books, and turned them into art.  This caused a huge amount of crying and gnashing of teeth for some people, who think that books are absolutely precious, and should never be defaced under any circumstances.

That got me to thinking.  When IS it okay to "deface" a book?  Well, from the point of view of someone who sees a lot of pretty aged and ratty tomes come through the door because people simply don't have the stomach to send them to recycling, I'd say that there comes a time when a book needs to be given a dignified funeral (recycled), or a new life found for it.  NEVER do I think it is okay to send a book to the dump.  They are someone's lifework, and deserve more respect than that.

So, do I think it's okay to turn books into art?  You bet!  What a wonderful way to honor them when they have reached the end of their useful life!  How inspiring and heartening to think that something that gave pleasure in its first life will continue to give pleasure for a long time to come.  I would so much rather see my favorite books turned into sculpture, than to see them sent to recycling and turned into tar paper, or be put into someone's basement or garage and become nasty, smelly and moldy.

One of my favorite "altered book" artists is Brian Dettmer.  What he does with a book will knock your socks off!  http://briandettmer.com/

And this is some great work by Isaac Salazar:

 http://www.rockingfacts.com/3d-art-made-with-recycled-books/

In honor of my having missed the deadline for my Library Reference Final...

In honor of my having missed the deadline for my Library Reference Final (I actually forgot I had it) ...I'm entitling this post, "No Good Deed Goes Unpunished."  This is the first semester I've taken this many classes at once in over 30 years.  Back then, the brain cells were a little more able to handle school, family, and volunteering.  Now, not so much.  I've learned that I have to really, REALLY practice my "NO" skills.  No, I can't help with lighting the luminaries in nearly a thousand bags at the church, I have a test.  No, I can't babysit the grands, I have a test.  No, I can't decorate the church's Christmas tree today.  I have a test.  I can do it next week, though.  You're busy, and can't help afterall, but it needs to get done today?  Oh, sorry.  I understand that your needs trump mine, but...well... I have a test.  See, that wasn't so hard now, was it?  Yeah.  Right. 

You want me to pull what?

I am a Public Librarian. I am not your mama. I may not care for the kind of books you read, but I will defend to the death your right to read them, and make it my job to see that you have access to them. It irks the heck out of me when someone tries to tell me we shouldn't have a book on the shelf because it is "offensive". Offensive to who? If it offends me, I don't read it. If it's not appropriate for my child, I won't check it out. But don't ask me to tell everyone else they can't read it.

My New Favorite Website (for today......)

Children's reference websites have an amazing array of things to do and places to go.  One of my very favorites at the moment is the Association of Library Services to Children.  I mean, the name says it all!  If you need to know who got what book awards, this is the place to be!  Need to find a biography, but can't find a reliable website?  Look here to find one that has been reviewed and approved by the ALA.  Learn about initiatives to improve reading skills in children, or about how to get those pesky continuing education credits done.  It's all here!  If you haven't them visited yet, you're in for a real treat.

A Little Bit of Everything!

Is it possible to have too much of a good thing?  Mmmmmmmm......no, not in this case.  The Library Spot bills itself as "a free virtual library resource center for educators and students, librarians and their patrons, families, businesses and just about anyone exploring the Web for valuable research information..."  and they've taken that mission very seriously! Here, you can find links to libraries of every kind; law libraries, medical libraries,

Bring out the Kid in Yourself!

There are some amazing websites out there for children's reference!  A couple of my favorites are the Carnegie Library of Pittsburg's Kid's page (http://www.clpgh.org/kids/) and Grolier Online Kids Splash (http://go-kids.grolier.com/).  Not only are they colorful and fun, but they also have tons of easily accessible information.

From the Carnegie page, kids can look up a book, or play a game, or get live homework help, or write a story, among many other things.  There's a section for little kids, a section for big kids, a section for parents, and a section for educators.  The grown-up sections have a plethora of resources for everything from reading to your baby to theme-based book lists.

The Grolier page is full of fun activities.  You can watch a video of a valcano exploding, or look up information on sealions, or find out what happened on this day in 1791.   It's also broken down into sections for elementary, middle school, senior high, adults and educators/librarians.

There are tons more out there, and each day I will highlight a few more.  If you have any that you would like to share, please send them on! 

Are libraries doomed?

Somebody recently told me they thought that the library we knew from our youth was dead.  Books would become a thing of the past.  E-Readers will take over!  It was enough to make me rethink my Library Science major!  Afterall, what will there be left for me to do? 

Then, I got to thinking....  It's true that people can hop on a computer and almost instantly find what they're looking for, info wise.  But, what about when the power goes down, and your paper is due in 4 hours?  Where will you find your info then?  Just like the idea that we would be a "paperless society" by now, I think that's an unfounded concern. There will always be libraries.  What those libraries are expected to provide has definitely changed dramatically, but a Kindle will never replace a lapful of 2 year old and an excellent picture book.  And for many of us, myself included, flipping pages trumps clicking a button any day.  Kindles have their place, just like all new technology.  But in the end, the paper page will triumph. 

We're going on an Info Hunt!!!

My last several weeks have been spent exploring the internet, looking for buried treasure.  I've found lots!  There is so much out there!  The hard part is making sense of it all.  This blog will be used for sharing some of my favorite places to go for reference information.