Newsletter 2413 Issue 24132010330114644

March 30, 2010

TECH TRENDS

• A Copyright Course for Librarians
  Copyright is a universal concern among librarians. But librarians in developing countries can have difficulty locating accurate information on how these laws affect them. Enter Harvard University’s Berkman Center for Internet & Society, which recently launched an online curriculum called “Copyright for Librarians.” more » » » 

Blogs

• A Fuse #8 Production
  Elizabeth Bird, Children's Librarian, Children's Center at 42nd Street
  You want whitewashing? I'll give you whitewashing!
  So I get a little angry about the indiscriminate whitewashing of characters of color from the covers of children's books and novels. Generally speaking I don't think the people involved in these...
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• NeverEndingSearch
  Joyce Valenza Ph.D, High School Librarian,
  Google for Teachers: another gift from Richard
  Richard Byrne is at it again (happily). His lovely, new 33-page downloadable and embeddable ebook, Google for Teachers, is chock full of step-by-step, very useful stuff. S...
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• A Fuse #8 Production
  Elizabeth Bird, Children's Librarian, Children's Center at 42nd Street
  Top 100 Children's Novels (#10)
  #10 The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster (1961) (#1)(#1)(#1)(#2)(#2)(#2)(#2)(#2) (#3)(#3)(#3)(#3)(#3)(#4)(#4)(#4) (#4)(#4)(#4)(#4)(#5)(#5)(#5)(#5) (#5)(#5)(#6)(#6)(#6)(#6)(#6)(#7) (...
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• NeverEndingSearch
  Joyce Valenza Ph.D, High School Librarian,
  Write your senators and please share this widely!
  Please act on ALA's critical request before April 14th. More crisis strategies to follow! Ask your senators to protect library funding! Call your senators now to support library funding! ...
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NEWS

• Lowry's 'Number the Stars' in U.S., Turkey Political Storm
  It looks like Lois Lowry’s Newbery Medal-winning Number the Stars (Houghton, 1989) may be caught in the middle of an international storm between the United States and Turkey. Lowry wrote in a blog post dated March 9 that she received a troubling letter from a teacher at Turkey’s Tarsus American College, a private, coed secondary school that offers an International Baccalaureate to its international and Turkish students.
  
  “Last week the inspectors from the Turkish Department of Education came to our school and after reading one paragraph of your book, Number the Stars, banned the book at our school,” wrote Brenda Murphy Suffield, adding that the book had been taught in English and Turkish at the seven and eighth grade levels. more » » » 
  
  
  
• C-SPAN Video Archives Now Available Online
  Bill Clinton’s impeachment trial, an interview with Judy Blume at the National Book Festival, and President Obama’s remarks on health care are all part of the 160,000 hours of footage being made available online by C-SPAN (the Cable-Satellite Public Affairs Network), which airs nonstop coverage of government proceedings and public affairs programming. more » » » 

WATCH AND READ

• Olivia: Cavorting, Exploring, and Imagining…on TV
  Ian Falconer’s beloved porcine protagonist, first introduced in Olivia (Atheneum, 2000) and now the star of many popular picture books, launched her television career in January 2009. Simon Spotlight’s colorful line of titles based on the TV series includes an inviting mix of board books, picture book stories, offerings with movable parts, and easy readers. more » » » 

WHAT ARE THEY READING FOR FUN?

• Ragan O’Malley, Denise Rinaldo, Maria Falgoust, & Eva Zasloff, Saint Ann’s School, Brooklyn, NY:
  At Saint Ann’s, a progressive independent school, Robert Muchamore’s “CHERUB” series (Hodder Children’s Books) remains incredibly popular with middle schoolers, especially boys who love anything spy-related. Does My Head Look Big in This? (Scholastic) by Randa Abdel-Fattah (Scholastic); Graceling by Kristin Cashore (Harcourt); anything by Joan Bauer; and all of Melissa Kantor’s books, the latest being The Breakup Bible (Hyperion, 2007), still fly off the shelves. more » » » 

JOB OF THE WEEK

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