Elizabeth Bird

Fusenews: C is for Dinner, That's Good Enough for Me

• I don't think I'm Editorial Ass.  I'm pretty sure I'm Fuse #8.  But how else can I explain the fact that we sometimes eat the exact same thing for dinner? Mother, do not read this. By the way, I've only just started reading Editorial Ass for fun.  There's much to be said for it.  I'm thinking of using some of her rules for not incurring the wrath of editors in an upcoming SCBWI speech.  With proper credit (such as it is) of course.

• And now for you law fetishists out there (you're all former lawyers anyway) it's what you've always wanted.  The Lord of the Rings as property law.  When law blogs and children's literature blogs combine, the result is white hot blogability. Thanks to Bookninja for the link.

• Today's "It Was Only a Matter of Time" contestant is the book How to Make Webcomics. Success like Diary of a Wimpy Kid doesn't happen in a vacuum, people.  It is at times like these that I must resist visiting the blog Your Webcomic is Bad and You Should Feel Bad.  I'm never a better person for visiting.  Just a happier one.

• FYI: Editorial Anonymous, everyone's favorite anonymous children's editor, is back from her mysterious secret assignment in the Pelagos (my theory).  I greatly appreciated her going on break with my blog's name right there front n' center on her last post.  Twas a good run.  A good run indeed.

• Forget trying to find dates in bookstores or libraries?  The real place to find a mate?  Goodreads.  GalleyCat has the scoop on the newest Internet trend.  Want to vet a potential date or find someone with your taste in books?  It's the place to be.

• And finally, this is an interesting bit of info all thanks to Carter Hasegawa.  Carter had asked me once what the deal was with those publisher descriptions you find on the publication pages of books.  He was particularly impressed with how much succinct information they could contain and how well written they were.  So he wrote the Library of Congress and got a response.  Here, for your viewing pleasure, is what they have to say for themselves:

LC catalogers prepare summaries for a select number of children's titles. They prepare these to be non-judgmental; to be descriptive of the content; and to aid a reader, librarian, or other user to get a sense of what the book is about.  The summaries are not written as marketing ads.  A sufficient portion of a book has to be read to prepare the summary.  This work does take a considerable amount of time to accomplish.

LC catalogers are librarians with masters degrees in library and information science; some have years of experience; some are newer. As our cataloging resources decline, we are moving towards our catalogers using summaries provided by publishers.  We have found that these summaries in most cases are sufficiently good to serve as useful guides to users. When publishers' summaries are used, the catalog record so indicates.

Thank you for you interest in the Library of Congress' cataloging.

Posted by Elizabeth Bird on April 10, 2008 | Comments (4)