Its grade was an F.

Teachers’ Colleges Upset by Plan to Grade Them: Grades are the currency of education — teachers give them to students,  administrators grade teachers and states often assign grades to schools.         Now U.S. News & World Report is  planning to give A through F grades to more than 1,000 teachers’  colleges, and many of the schools are unhappy, marching to the  principal’s office to complain the system is unfair. U.S. News and its partner in the ratings, the National Council on Teacher Quality,  an independent advocacy group, originally told schools that if they did  not voluntarily supply data and documents, the teacher quality group  would seek the information under open-records laws. If that did not  work, the raters planned to give the schools an F. That got the attention of educators. Education schools have faced criticism frequently over the years. They are faulted by a recent wave of education advocates as emphasizing education theory over hands-on classroom training, and as graduating teachers with weak academic skills.

Actually, I think they ten dot be strong in academic skills, and weak on practical skills.


The federal education secretary, Arne Duncan,  has said that many, if not most, teacher-training programs are  mediocre. “It is time to start holding teacher-preparation programs more  accountable for the impact of their graduates on student learning,” Mr.  Duncan said in a speech in November.

The same should be done for libray schools.

Civic Engagement Trumps ‘Shhh!’

Steven Holl Architects - A rendering of Steven Holl’s design for a new library at Hunters Point in Queens.

There may be no better example of the worrying state of American architecture than the career of Steven Holl. At 63, this New York architect is widely considered one of the most original talents of his era. His work has influenced a generation of architects and students. And over the last decade or so he has become a star in faraway places like Scandinavia and China, where he is celebrated as someone able to imbue even the most colossal urban projects with lyricism.

So when the Queens Library Board of Trustees approved the design of the new Hunters Point community library this month, it was a well-deserved and long overdue breakthrough. The project, done in collaboration with Mr. Holl’s partner Chris McVoy and scheduled to begin construction early next year, will stand on a prominent waterfront site just across the East River from the United Nations. It is a striking expression of the continuing effort to shake the dust off of the city’s aging libraries and recast them as lively communal hubs, and should go far in bolstering the civic image of Queens.

Racial Disparities Seen

White people in the United States die of drug overdoses more often than other ethnic groups. Black people are hit proportionately harder by AIDS, strokes and heart disease. And American Indians are more likely to die in car crashes. To shed more light on the ills of America’s poor — and occasionally its rich — the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Thursday released its first report detailing racial disparities in a broad array of health problems.

 

Differences in Race and Health

Weeding Wuthering Heights

Working on paper books for RFID, came across a tattered paperback copy of Brontë's classic. In concurrence with my boss, we decided to weed this copy. And, I said to her, it occurred to me that that would make a wonderful title for a story: I weeded Wuthering Heights; or, perhaps, I thrashed Brontë. Now that I have the title(s), to write the story.

Killing Castro

Block, Lawrence. (2009). Killing Castro. New York: Hard Case Crime.


I know that paperbacks are, well, can be schlock, but this is amazing, even by those standards. Lawrence Block is a crime writer, and this book was originally published in 1961 as Fidel Castro Assassinated (Block writing as Lee Duncan). But this cover is amazing in its, what shall I call it, implied meaning? Little implied about it.

Journal Showcases Dying Art of the Research Paper

Gretchen Ertl for The New York Times - William H. Fitzhugh publishes The Concord Review, featuring research papers written by high school students.

NORAD tracks flying sleigh

What is that sound?

Web-Scale Discovery

From ALA magazine.

Connecting users with the information they seek is one of the central pillars of our profession. Web-scale discovery services for libraries are those services capable of searching quickly and seamlessly across a vast range of local and remote preharvested and indexed content, providing relevancy-ranked results in an intuitive interface expected by today’s information seekers. First debuting in late 2007, these rapidly evolving tools are more important today than ever to understand.

Great theory, and, perhaps, a reality in some libraries, but nothing I've seen. An example of the divide in the library world between the reality of the mundane and commonplace, and the theoretical academic writing.

Akedah secular source

12/22, 4pm
    A young man, university-age, approached the Reference Desk, and asked for information on the akedah. At first I thought he meant Acadia, but he explained that it is Isaac's binding (the binding that Abraham used to bind Isaac before the sacrifice). He wanted a "secular source," he explained when I suggested the Encyclopedia Judaica, which he had at his table. He also has a Christian source he got from the Internet; when I asked him if he thought it a reliable source he pointed out that he'll explain in his paper that it is an electronic source, and, indeed, it is that sort of source that he needs. Makes sense.

    OPAC searches revealed that HW's book on it was gone and billed; his deadline is tonight ("I like to leave papers for the last minute."). I suggested database searches, and gave him 296.14 as the call number of the book that is not there, the religion call number (actually 296 is Judaism). He thanked me, and went back to his table, laptop and assignment.
 
    Remembering Tikkun, I went to to the site and searched; plenty of results. I searched ProQuest and also found many results (Galenet gave 4 results).
 
    Walked over to the table where he's sitting, and told him about Tikkun, "it's a liberal Jewish publication." As soon as I said the word Jewish the Orthodox Jew sitting at the next table turned around to look at me.
 
    O, and the students first name is Solomon; I told him mine is Salomon.

Someone knows my name [electronic resource]

A patron asked for this book, and, curious, I went to take a look. Searching the title, I saw that the OPAC contains a record for an electronic resource: an excerpt from the book is read, and can be accessed through a hyperlink. Whew, libraries racing into the future (well, the present, but, still).

Google Launches New Book Database

A Google-backed project allows centuries of books to be scanned for specific words and phrases, equipping the humanities with a new method of cultural analysis.

Can't wait; gotta have it

A regular patron reserved two Clive Cussler books due to be published next year, 2011: The Jungle (2011/03/08), and The Kingdom (2011/06/07)

Narcissus leaves the pool

One of the beauties of working with people is that they bring ideas and topics to my attention that I do not know. A perfect example is this book, asked for by Dr. Evans, a regular patron who is in the Library just about every single day.

Epstein, Joseph. (1999). Narcissus leaves the pool: familiar essays. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.

Booklist Reviews: Epstein is one of the premier contemporary American essayists, and his status is reaffirmed in his latest collection, which, as the title indicates, is about himself. But there is nothing wrong with such egotism, because he happens to be an interesting fellow.

Kirkus Reviews: Vintage Epstein, for those who don't mind a faint bouquet of self-absorption.

Google e-Book

Google Inc. is in the final stages of launching its long-awaited e-book retailing venture, Google Editions, a move that could shake up the way digital books are sold.

Google Editions hopes to upend the existing e-book market by offering an open, "read anywhere" model that is different from many competitors. Users will be able to buy books directly from Google or from multiple online retailers—including independent bookstores—and add them to an online library tied to a Google account. They will be able to access their Google accounts on most devices with a Web browser, including personal computers, smartphones and tablets.

Google says it is on a mission to reach all Internet users, not just those with tablets, through a program in which websites refer their users to Google Editions. For example, a surfing-related blog could recommend a surfing book, point readers to Google Editions to purchase it, and share revenue with Google. Through another program, booksellers could sell Google Editions e-books from their websites and share revenue with Google.

Not too early?

Chicago vies with Hawaii for Obama presidential library

Already?

Remote viewing

On a busy afternoon, a young man asked, sotto voce, for material on Remote viewing. I found this book that includes the topic.

Mayer, Elizabeth Lloyd.  (2007). Extraordinary knowing: science, skepticism, and the inexplicable powers of the human mind. New York : Bantam Books. 133.8 M

Morris Louis

A patron was seeking books about this artist. Morris Louis (born Morris Louis Bernstein, 28 November 1912 – 7 September 1962) was an American abstract expressionist painter. During the 1950s he became one of the earliest exponents of Color Field painting. Living in Washington, DC. Louis, along with Kenneth Noland and other Washington painters formed an art movement that is known today as the Washington Color School.

Morris Louis, Where, 252 x 362 cm. magna on canvas, 1960, Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden

Schomburg gets Maya Angelou archive

Olive: Voters approve library funding

Published: Tuesday, November 02, 2010

OLIVE — Town voters on Tuesday approved, 1,280-419, a plan to support the Olive Free Library with $129,000 in annual town funding. The approval of the ballot proposition allows the library to receive $129,000 annually until the amount is changed through a future ballot proposition.

The library currently receives $43,000 from the town and another $54,000 from the library’s Bishop Trust.

Library board President Mary Ann Shepard has said funding cuts over the past several years had hurt basic services in a rural community where the library serves as a cultural center, educational resource, and job search facility.

Halloween at the Library

Starting today at the Children's Room.

A man came in asking for Dear Mr. Henshaw / Beverly Cleary ; illustrated by Paul O. Zelinsky.

A mother with her two daughters were looking for a PG-rated DVD; they looked at Home Alone 4, but Mum nixed it. The violence was okay, but the plot includes a relationship that clearly she did not approve of.

A father with his son, Joseph, who is in the third grade, asked for a book; recommended Cam Jansen.

It has gotten busy, and I can't keep up, but I've recommended, and as wasked about, Patricia Giff, Barbara Cohen, Robert Munsch. Books on Thanksgiving (on Halloween Day), Magic school bus.

At 3, I repaired upstairs to Reference. Decidedly different in Reference than in Children's. A few people studyuing, 6 Internet PCs in use. A patron I know came over and asked for three books:

 Men of Silk: The Hasidic Conquest of Polish Jewish Society, by Glenn Dynner. An associate professor of religion at Sarah Lawrence College. Growth and development of Hasidic movement in Eastern and East Central Europe. Glenn Dynner draws upon newly discovered Polish archival material and neglected Hebrew testimonies to illuminate Hasidism's dramatic ascendancy in the region of Central Poland during the early nineteenth century. (from Oxford Press)




Blind jump: the story of Shaike Dan, by Amos Ettinger. Found it in Suffolk.

Blind Jump is the story of the amazing exploits of Shaike Dan. During World War II, Shaike Dan volunteered to parachute behind enemy lines in Romania on behalf of British Intelligence. His jump had two objectives: to locate the prison camp where 1,400 Allied Air Force crewman, downed when bombing the Ploesti oil fields in Romania, were being held, and also to find ways to get them out of Romania so that they could go back into action and resume their contribution to the war effort. The second objective was to try to rescue Jews from Eastern Europe and get them to Palestine.

Rome and Jerusalem: the clash of ancient civilizations. Martin Goodman. New York: Alfred A. Knopf. 2007.
933.05 G

Clearly there is a theme running through his requests. He is one of the more interesting patrons I encounter here.