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All this online information got you down? Then you have to explore social bookmarking. Take some time over the upcoming break learning how to save, organize, and share your favorite sites. It’s more gratifying than cleaning your desk!
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| Interview |
| A Stanford Lawyer Argues 'Fair Use' for The Harry Potter Lexicon |
 Harry Potter fans are well aware that J. K. Rowling and Warner Bros. have filed a lawsuit charging copyright infringement by Steve Vander Ark, the Michigan-based creator of the online Harry Potter Lexicon. The Web site—a popular encyclopedia of Potter-related minutiae—isn't the issue. What is, is Vander Ark's plan to publish a print version of the Lexicon. The newest legal wrinkle? A temporary restraining order has halted publication—until at least
February. Last week, that news was trumped by the announcement by the Fair Use Project of Stanford Law School's Center for Internet and Society that its intellectual property lawyers would enter the fray on Vander Ark's publisher's behalf. SLJ phoned Project Director Anthony Falcone to find out more.
Why is the Fair Use Project getting involved with the Lexicon defense?
It really goes to the right of fans to interact with, and make use of and discuss, copyrighted work, whether it's Harry Potter, or fans of music, or movies, or something else. The work at issue here is a very useful reference tool for better accessing and understanding and, frankly, just better enjoying the "Harry Potter" series, because it provides a lot of helpful information that would be hard, otherwise, to readily access.
read more... |
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| TechTrends |
UN Announces Video Contest on World Hunger
ADVERTISEMENT |
Those interested in ending world hunger might consider raising a camcorder for the cause.
The World Food Programme (WFP), the United Nation's food aid agency, has launched a video contest. Hunger Bytes encourages creative types to produce a 30 to 60 second video that illustrates the international hunger crisis. The organization hopes the film project will both inspire students and encourage them to think about how they can help end hunger—which kills a child somewhere in the world every five seconds, according to the WFP. read more... |
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 BOOKS
Birmingham, 1963 by Carole Boston Weatherford
From SLJ December 2007
 Gr 4-8–In understated free verse, an unnamed, fictional girl narrates the events that preceded the bombing of the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church.... |
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 VIDEO/DVD
Pocahontas Revealed: Science Examines an American Legend
Gr 7 Up–This program seeks to separate fact from fiction regarding the early years of the Jamestown settlement and the relations between the colonists and the Native Americans.... |
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 AUDIO
Dream Big
PreS-Gr 3–Roger Day, whose previous collections include Rock 'n' Roll Rodeo (1997) and Ready to Fly (2001, both CDBaby.com), has created another extraordinary album of 13 original tunes.... |
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| News and Views |
| Margaret L'Engle Remembered at New York Cathedral |
The Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine was the site where one of the most beloved authors in contemporary American literature, Madeleine L'Engle, was recently laid to rest. On November 28, more than 400 family, friends, and fans gathered on the eve of what would have been the author's 89th birthday for a high Episcopal choral evensong and Eucharist service steeped in the same spirituality that L'Engle brought to her fiction, essays, and poetry. L'Engle, who lived in Goshen, CT, and New York City, died on September 6.
After an opening reading from L'Engle's Walking on Water, a book of reflections on faith and art, she was eulogized by the Reverend James Kowalski, dean of the Cathedral Church. He commented that L'Engle's best known book, A Wrinkle in Time (Farrar, 1962), was not a book to be assigned reading because of its overtly Christian themes. Nevertheless, it was sought out by children, who, in turn, were introduced not only to the book's spiritual elements but to "goodly amounts of Shakespeare and Einstein's theory of relativity." read more... |
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| Is Wi-Fi in Libraries Doomed under Proposed U.S. House Legislation? |
Will the U.S. House of Representatives' proposed SAFE Act, aimed at protecting kids online, prompt a wholesale Wi-Fi shutdown by libraries, hotels, and coffee shops?
That's the scenario a technology journalist portrayed online this week, prompting mixed reactions from the American Library Association (ALA) and the free-speech watchdog group, the Center for Democracy & Technology (CDT). read more... |
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| Pullman Unfazed by Flap over 'The Golden Compass' |
So what kind of a guy is Philip Pullman, exactly? Pullman has been in the news lately as author of the "His Dark Materials" trilogy (Knopf). The Golden Compass, the just-released cinematic version of the trilogy's first book, has stirred up controversy after the United States-based Catholic League urged a boycott of the film. The League wasn't alone: Britain's Association of Christian teachers blasted the movie, and a Catholic school district in Canada removed the trilogy from its libraries. Even the British newspaper The Mail labeled Pullman "the most dangerous author in Britain."
The source of the criticism? Pullman's supposed "anti-Christian"—some call it "atheist"—content. Critics have worried that children who see The Golden Compass—despite the film's lack of religious elements—will rush off to read Pullman's more religious-specific trilogy, which includes The Golden Compass (1996), The Subtle Knife (1997), and The Amber Spyglass (2000, all Knopf). read more... |
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| Remarkable Reads |
| Mission Life |
Sanctuary for some, unholy bonds for others–the concept of the religious mission is both to comfort and convert. Students interested in learning more about religious fieldwork will enjoy these titles, which will jumpstart discussions on cultural ethics and religion's place in society.
HAMILTON, Harriet. Ribbons of the Sun. Brown Barn. 2006. pap. $8.95. ISBN 978-0-9768126-2-3.
Gr 8 Up–Rosa comes from a poor Mayan family and dreams of going to the city with her father where he sells flowers.
read more... |
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| Watch and Read: Spotlight on Media Tie-ins
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| Celebrate Christmas—Ogre Style |
The characters from the popular Dreamworks Animation motion picture trilogy—Shrek (2001), Shrek 2 (2004), and Shrek the Third (2007)—made an appearance in Shrek the Halls, a TV holiday special featuring the voices of Mike Myers, Eddie Murphy, Cameron Diaz, and Antonio Banderas that aired on November 28 on ABC. Viewers can relive the experience with a picture book of the same title from HarperCollins (PreS–Gr 2). read more... |
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| Shameless SLJ Promotions |
Gale and School Library Journal Announce the 2008 Giant Step Award
Has your school or public library made a significant improvement or created new programs that have had a huge impact on student learning? Then enter our Giant Step Award.
Sponsored by Gale, part of Cengage Learning, and School Library Journal, Giant Step recognizes libraries that have made a difference over the last three years with up to $10,000 in cash prizes. So, don't waste any time—run to your computer and apply today! Nominations will be accepted through February 11, 2008.
U.S. and Canadian school library media centers and the youth services departments of public libraries are eligible to apply. Applicants must be certified librarians.
Click here for more details.
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| Librarian's Internet |
| Boxing Day |
| www.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/customs/Xmas/boxingday.html |
On December 26, folks in Canada, England, Australia, and New Zealand celebrate Boxing Day (which has nothing at all to do with boxers). This year, why not teach kids and their parents about what this holiday, primarily about giving to the needy, is all about? Consider celebrating at your library by collecting canned goods from your community prior to Boxing Day and then having staff and kids take them to a local food pantry.
This wonderful Web page was created by students and teachers at Woodland's Junior School in Kent, England. In addition to information about Boxing Day, the students have also created Web pages about other English holiday traditions, such as Wassailing and Yule Logs, which might be familiar to some kids from Christmas carols. Christmas Crackers, Mummers Plays, Pantomimes, and Stir Up Sunday are some lesser-known traditions included here, too.—Gail Junion-Metz
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| Youth Services Programming Specialist |
Loudoun County Public Library
Leesburg, VA
The Loudoun County Public Library is looking for an energetic, innovative Youth Services Programming Specialist. This is a new position designed to help take our already exciting program to the next level.
To see all positions available through the SLJ Career Center, click here...
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