Academic cybrarian, bibliophile & culturista. Mentor to library school (LIS) students and graduates. Advocate for all libraries and their users. [Fmr. Organizer, NY Librarians Meetup]
A Syrian reading in the library rescued from burning houses
The Syrians defying napalm bombs and
sniper fire to build a library
Syrians in the rebel-held town of Darayya
have lived under siege from Assad's forces for three years. But some students
are trying to create a place of peace among the rubble
BY MAIREAD DIXON
Syrians in the rebel-held town of Darayya
have faced sniper fire, napalm bombing and indiscriminate killing at the hands
of the Assad regime.
But among the destruction, one group of
young men managed to create a place of sanctuary - a library.
After residents of the besieged town fled,
the students rescued books from their abandoned private libraries. In some
cases, the buildings were still burning. So far they’ve collected more
than 11,000 books.
One of the volunteers, Abu Al-Ezz, 23,
told Humans of Syria: “One day we came up with the idea to collect all the
books scattered throughout the city under the rubble of demolished homes.
“It’s been a daunting and dangerous task.
“We’ve spent long days cataloguing the
books, so if the owners return after the war they can have them back.” [ ... ]
The volunteers take turns to work as
librarians and have created a check out system to keep track of borrowed books.
They also wrote the original owner’s name inside each book, in the hope of
restoring them to them after the war.
The library contains 11,000 books
including Arabic and foreign novels, religious and academic books.
Abu Malek Alshamy said: “We created an
atmosphere inside the library of silence and light, with tables for the
readers.
“In such a place, the most beautiful thing
is getting away from the war and battles.” [ ... ]
Do you remember reading any books as a child that were in
some way disapproved of or forbidden? If yes, did they traumatise you
for life, or did the subversive element make them more enjoyable?
I was really lucky in that my parents definitely didn’t seem to have
any kind of rules about what I couldn’t read. And that was wonderful,
because it meant that whatever was on the shelves, if it was
interesting, I could pick it up and I was allowed to read it.
“Food deserts" refer to low-income areas where
convenience stores are often the only viable food source and fresh
produce is a rarity. But nutritious foods aren't the only thing kids
need to thrive and grow.
Image via Seattle Public Library.
Many of these undernourished kids also live in so-called "book deserts"—areas
without easy access to libraries and reading material to nurture their
imaginations and development (just think of the 12-year-old boy in Utah
who asked his mailman for junk mail to read because he couldn't get to a library).
To
combat these problems, creative-thinking librarians and literacy
supporters are using inventive solutions to expand access to books and
promote a love of reading. Read more...
Choosing a new book can be a big investment. You’re going to
put in time getting to know characters, learning their names, their
personalities, their stories. You’re going to likely shell out money, whether it’s
buying a novel at your local bookstore, or taking the bus to the library. You’re
going to offer up your emotions, hopefully because you've picked a book that engulfs your
senses and transports you somewhere new within its pages.
It’s a lot to ask of something that usually measures 8 by 5
inches. Whereas a bad movie or TV show may take at most two
hours of your life, a book can last weeks or even months (I'm looking at
you,
George R.R. Martin). So it better be good. (Plus, imagine being stuck
on, like, a seven-hour plane ride with one book that you can't get into.
THE HORROR.)
So, if you have to make sure you choose the right one, how, exactly,
do you do it? It's not as easy as just picking one off the shelf;
whether or not you enjoy a book can be actually affected by a long list
of surrounding
factors. Here are 10 things to consider when choosing your next read.
The IFLA Committee on Freedom of Access to Information
and Freedom of Expression (FAIFE) held a panel discussion Tuesday,
August 18, at the World Library and Information Congress in Cape Town on
“The Role of Library and Information Workers in a Time of Crisis.”
Simon Edwards, director of professional services for CILIP, the
Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals in the UK,
said the scope of potential crises that librarians face worldwide is
vast, ranging from personal crises to community, national, and global
crises that threaten the entire species. “Government agencies also
classify crises as sudden (with an immediate impact) and smoldering (a
long-term crisis of attrition),” he said. “Libraries play subtly
different roles in supporting communities in each.”
William Kamkwamba educated himself in his local library
By Jude Sheerin
BBC News
The extraordinary true story of a Malawian teenager who
transformed his village by building electric windmills out of junk is
the subject of a new book, The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind.
Self-taught William Kamkwamba has been feted by climate change campaigners like Al Gore and business leaders the world over.
His
against-all-odds achievements are all the more remarkable considering
he was forced to quit school aged 14 because his family could no longer
afford the $80-a-year (£50) fees.
When he returned to his parents' small plot of farmland in the central Malawian village of Masitala, his future seemed limited.
But this was not another tale of African potential thwarted by poverty.
Many, including my mother, thought I was going crazy - people thought I was smoking marijuana
When the right person is hired, there is a story...
Well, actually, two stories: the employer’s story of the search for
the best applicant, and the new employee’s story of his or her job
search.
These stories begin apart and can cover weeks or even months with
multiple steps and behind-the-scenes activities before converging in the
new hire’s first day, when a new story begins.
This month we’re interviewing Krissa Corbett Cavouras, a recent hire at the Brooklyn Public Library, about her experience applying for the position of Engagement Manager in Marketing & Communications.
Ellen Mehling: Where did you go to school? What degrees and/or certificates do you hold?
Krissa Corbett Cavouras: I attended Sarah Lawrence for my
undergraduate degree and earned my masters from Pratt School of
Information and Library Science (SILS) in 2011.
EM: Were you employed elsewhere when you applied for this job? For how long had you been job hunting?
KCC: I was working for a small e-commerce company, as a knowledge
manager on their marketing team, for two years prior to starting at
Brooklyn Public Library. I had probably been actively looking for about
three months when I had my first interview here.
EM: How did you learn about the position? Did you have any connections via your network to that workplace?
KCC: I heard about the position on a couple of fronts -- first,
because I’ve had Brooklyn Public Library’s job page bookmarked for
years, ever since I graduated from library school! Second, my manager
Robin and I have several mutual friends from our early days as bloggers,
so I saw the job shared around that mutual circle on Facebook. (I do
think that’s how I knew it was in serious recruitment, because sometimes
you don’t know from a website job posting if it’s a really open
position.) I also have several library school colleagues who now work in
the system, although I don’t think I saw this specific posting on my
library school listserv. read more...
And I know what you're thinking: "Oh, another writer wanting people to think he’s all intellectual and highbrow."
But it really is my favorite book, only not because it has 1,500
pages of unforgettable characters or a generational plot that is more
compelling than that of any other book I’ve read. It’s because right
before I started reading it, my life was in a rut. I had recently been
passed over for a promotion at Apple and I had just been rejected by a
graduate school I applied to. This double whammy left me doubting
myself, my abilities, and my future. So when I came across the massive
tome that is War and Peace, I thought, "Why not? I’m not doing anything else."
Two months later, I finished the book and immediately knew I had a
new "favorite." But it wasn’t my new favorite book just because it was
so compelling. It was my new favorite because it changed something in
me. It’s almost impossible to explain why, but after reading it I felt
more confident in myself, less uncertain about my future. I became more
assertive with my bosses. I got back on the horse, so to speak, and
applied to three more graduate schools. I attended three interviews and
got accepted to all three schools (without mentioning War and Peace at all). As weird as it sounds, reading War and Peace put me back in control of my life—and that’s why it’s my favorite book.
But according to Dr Josie Billington,
deputy director of the Centre for Research into Reading at the
University of Liverpool, my experience wasn’t so odd. It’s actually the
norm for people who read a lot—and one of the main benefits of reading
that most people don’t know about.
"Reading can offer richer, broader, and more complex models of
experience, which enable people to view their own lives from a refreshed
perspective and with renewed understanding," says Billington. This
renewed understanding gives readers a greater ability to cope with
difficult situations by expanding their "repertoires and sense of
possible avenues of action or attitude."
And those possible avenues of action don’t have to mimic those in the
book. After all, I had no interest in learning the best ways to fend
off a French invasion, even though that was a major part of the story in
War and Peace. Rather it was in reading about the challenges
the dozens of characters in War and Peace faced that I learned to look
at my life’s challenges from a renewed perspective.
"People who read find it easier to make decisions, plan, and
prioritize, and this may be because they are more able to recognize that
difficulty and setback are unavoidable aspects of human life," says
Billington—and astonishingly these aren’t the only hidden benefits of
reading regularly that researchers are now discovering.
If the standard benefits of reading, which include knowledge
absorption and entertainment, were only complemented by the additional
benefits of the ability to refocus, regroup, and make better decisions,
it would be enough to argue that everyone should read for their own
good. But according to Billington and Sue Wilkinson, the CEO of The Reading Agency,
a UK charity that develops and delivers programs to encourage people to
read more, experts are now discovering reading has numerous additional
benefits to physical and psychological health.
"Reading for pleasure in general can also help prevent conditions
such as stress, depression, and dementia," says Wilkinson. "Research has
shown that people who read for pleasure regularly report fewer feelings of stress and depression
than non-readers. Large scale studies in the U.S. show that being more
engaged with reading, along with other hobbies, is associated with a lower subsequent risk of incidents of dementia."
Wilkinson also notes that people who read books regularly "are on
average more satisfied with life, happier, and more likely to feel that
the things they do in life are worthwhile." A recent survey of 1,500
adult readers found that 76% of them said that reading improves their life and helps to make them feel good.
Many, including my mother, thought I was going crazy - people thought I was smoking marijuana
