Tag Archives: Library

Arts & Humanities, Books & Reading, Current Affairs, Libraries, Memories & History, Science & Health, Sports

Going to the Dogs: The American Kennel Club Library and Archives l Archives Deep Dive | Library Journal

By Elisa Shoenberger, Apr 26, 2023 | Filed in News

Produced by the C. and P. Products Company, the Kennel Club Card Game debuted in 1939
Photograph by Almerry Martins, courtesy of the AKC Museum of the Dog

The American Kennel Club (AKC) Library and Archives has been collecting practically everything dog-related, with a significant focus on purebred dogs, since 1934.

The library began as a resource for AKC members, explained AKC Archivist Jaimie Fritz; it holds about 15,000 volumes and the archives contains more than 1,200 linear feet of ephemera. A professional librarian was hired to manage the collection in the 1930s, starting with publications like the AKC Gazette and other non-AKC materials related to dogs.

For its 138th anniversary last fall, AKC announced the launch of its digital library, which provides access to materials including the full run of the Gazette—described as “the official journal of the sport of purebred dogs”—since its launch in 1889. People can search for specific breeders, read about the results of shows, learn about updates to breeds over time, and more.

Editor’s Note: Read more, see link below for original item...

Source: Going to the Dogs: The American Kennel Club Library and Archives l Archives Deep Dive | Library Journal

Arts & Humanities, Books & Reading, Current Affairs, Film & Movies, Libraries, Love & Relationships, Memories & History, Pleasures, Web & Technology

When the Culture Wars Come for the Public Library | The New Yorker

A Montana county’s battle shows how faith in public learning and public space is fraying.

By E. Tammy Kim, April 20, 2023

Illustration by Emmanuel Polanco

Every public library is an exception. The world outside is costly and cordoned off, but here no one is charged, and no one is turned away. People browse for books and go online. They learn English, meet with friends, dawdle, nap, and play. For children, the public library is a place to build an inner life, unencumbered by grownups. Story time is an invitation to that experience. A librarian reads a book aloud to a huddle of kids seated cross-legged on the floor.

It’s part early-literacy tool, part theatre, and looks basically the same wherever it happens. The public libraries in Flathead County, Montana, a region of mountainous beauty bordering Canada and Glacier National Park, offer seven story times per week, for babies on up. Three scattered branch locations—in Kalispell, Columbia Falls, and Bigfork—serve a population of a hundred and eleven thousand people, spread out over five thousand rugged square miles.

When the Culture Wars Come for the Public Library | The New Yorker

Current Affairs, Libraries, Memories & History, Politics

Home – Attack on the U.S. Capitol / Impeachment – LibGuides at University of California San Diego

By Kelly L. Smith, UCSD Library

Screenshot

The goal of this guide is to compile documents and statements by government officials related to the riots at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021 by supporters of Donald Trump.

As the attack was related to Congress meeting to certify Joe Biden’s presidential win, the guide will also include statements about certifying the election made by officials immediately prior to the attack.

Because objections were being raised about certain states’ vote counts, the guide also points to relevant statements by state officials. Also included are important announcements about security for the Biden Inauguration. And because the attack has led to a historic second impeachment of Donald Trump for inciting the attack, the guide also includes a timeline linking to official impeachment documents.

Source: Home – Attack on the U.S. Capitol / Impeachment – LibGuides at University of California San Diego

Arts & Humanities, Books & Reading, Current Affairs, Libraries, Politics, Science & Health, Times They Are A-Changing

How libraries became refuges for people with mental illness.

By Anthony Aycock, Sept 22, 20225:50 AM

Photo illustration by Natalie Matthews-Ramo/Slate. Photo by Chanvre Québec on Unsplash and Pawel_B/iStock/Getty Images Plus.

Welcome to State of Mind, a new section from Slate and Arizona State University dedicated to exploring mental health. Follow us on Twitter.

The Argentine writer Jorge Luis Borges is often credited with saying that “Paradise is a library.” He must not have meant a downtown public library, circa 8 p.m. Such places, like most communal spheres, can be a challenge to oversee.

Some people treat them like a sort of roomless hotel, sleeping in chairs and bathing in restrooms. I used to watch a man who looked like the famous woodcut of Blackbeard the Pirate ride the escalator of my three-story library up, down, up, down. For hours. Carrying a duffel bag. He never bothered anyone, so our security officers left him alone. (Can’t say the same for the lady of the evening who was meeting clients in the stairwell.)

Then there are the questions from believers in Qanon. Election deniers. Sovereign citizens. The woman who ranted about the “news” that the World Health Organization was going to “force a vote to allow them to take over the U.S. and force a lockdown like China.” (If WHO had that kind of power, why bother with a vote?)

The man who asked me how he and a few of his buddies could get into the governor’s office to “remove him” over pandemic closures. (Would that all insurrectionists did such thorough research!) Declinism is the feeling that everything is getting harder, scarier, and weirder, and a lot of people seem to have it.

Work in a library, I want to tell them, and you’ll learn what weird is.

Source: https://slate.com/technology/2022/09/libraries-mental-health-support.html

Arts & Humanities, Film & Movies, Libraries, Memories & History, Pleasures, Weblogs (Blogs)

Asking Your Opinion: National Film Registry | Now See Hear!

August 3, 2022 by Stacie Seifrit-Griffin

I am happy to say that I work with some of the most fascinating, brilliant and passionate people that I’ve ever known. The halls here at the Library of Congress National Audio-Video Conservation Center are abuzz every day with discussions about movies, directors, cinematography, casting decisions, and opinions about what is the greatest film of all time. (You can add your thoughts in the comments).

from article…

The most-lively debates revolve around the National Film Registry.

Second to Librarian of Congress Dr. Carla Hayden, I think I have one of the greatest jobs at the Library. An important part of my role is working with the National Film Preservation Board to research and recommend works to the Librarian for induction into the National Film Registry.

Source: https://blogs.loc.gov/now-see-hear/2022/08/need-your-opinion-national-film-registry/?loclr=eanshb

Arts & Humanities, Books & Reading, Libraries, Memories & History, Politics, Science & Health

The right in the US has a new bogeyman: libraries | Maeve Higgins | The Guardian

By Maeve Higgins, Wed 27 Jul 2022 06.25 EDT

‘Twenty masked neo-Nazis recently protested outside a library in Boston hosting a Drag Queen Story Hour event.’ Photograph: Seth Wenig/AP

Neo-Nazis and Proud Boys are targeting libraries, as legislators and conservative lobby groups are trying to remove books from shelves and change how library board members are appointed

Last month, I went to a library in more or less the exact middle of America, and everyone was there – kids, elderly people, students of all ethnicities and ability levels – quietly doing their own thing, together.

A librarian interviewed me in an elegant amphitheater in front of Kansas City residents. We spoke about immigration, politics and the climate crisis and managed to laugh a lot too. Some audience members challenged my views, and we talked it out right there. We had a frank and fun conversation in a public space, free to all, and streamed live for people who couldn’t make it to the library that day. I only later thought about how rare that is – and how profound.

Source: The right in the US has a new bogeyman: libraries | Maeve Higgins | The Guardian