Book Thievery

There was a major jewel heist in Cannes on Sunday when jewels worth some $136 million were brazenly snatched from a diamond show at the Carlton International Hotel.

Book thievery can be equally bold, shocking, and lucrative.  Check out these stories about some real book heists:

12 Tales of Book Thievery

North Dakota libraries, including the BSC Library, have also been targets of this kind of thievery.  A recent example is when investigators discovered roughly 1,000 books and 20,000 individual pages of maps and documents that had been ripped from books in the home of a Great Falls, Montana, man.  Books from several North Dakota libraries were in the mix; one was from the BSC Library collection. (Note: We got it back).

eBook of the Week

This summer’s Capitol Shakespeare production is The Tempest. Free performances began on July 24 and continue through Sunday, July 28, at 6:30 p.m. on the capitol grounds. In addition, there’s a Children’s Renaissance Fair from 2-6 p.m. on Saturday, July 27.

If you find Shakespeare a little too daunting, this eBook is for you!

The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Shakespeare by Laurie Rozakis

“Don’t let a few thees and thous keep you from understanding Shakespeare!”

Check it out! EBSCOhost eBook Collection

Lifelong Literacy is a Basic Right

Hear! Hear! This is what we believe.

ALA Reconfirms Committment to Basic Literacy

“The American Library Association (ALA) Council has passed a resolution reaffirming and supporting the principle that lifelong literacy is a basic right for all individuals in our society and is essential to the welfare of the nation.

The resolution, which was passed at the ALA Annual Conference, held June 27 – July 2 in Chicago, also reaffirms the core value of basic literacy for people of all ages and the building block for the development of all types of literacy. In addition, it encourages appropriate ALA units and divisions to actively participate in the Association’s Literacy Assembly.

Basic literacy is defined by the U.S. Department of Education as “the ability to use printed and written information to function in society, to achieve one’s goals and to develop one’s knowledge and potential.”  Read rest of article …

 

 

eBook of the Week

China in Ten Words by Yu Hua

“… a unique, intimate look at the Chinese experience over the last several decades … Framed by ten phrases common in the Chinese vernacular–“people,” “leader,” “reading,” “writing,” “Lu Xun” (one of the most influential Chinese writers of the twentieth century), “disparity,” “revolution,” “grassroots,” “copycat,” and “bamboozle.”

Check it out!  Beyond Library Walls Digital Collection

Librarian v. Google

Literary Landmark – Boyhood Home of Sinclair Lewis

Today, the boyhood home of Sinclair Lewis in Sauk Centre, Minnesota, is being designated a Literary Landmark by United for Libraries, in partnership with the Minnesota Association of Library Friends (MALF) and the Sinclair Lewis Foundation.

Harry Sinclair Lewis (1885-1951) is known for the novels Main Street, Babbitt, Arrowsmith, and Dodsworth and for being the first writer from the United States to be awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature (1930).

Read more about it …

eBook of the Week – The Hidden Reality

Is ours the only universe? Brian Greene explores that question in

The Hidden Reality: Parallel Universes and the Deep Laws of the Cosmos by Brian Greene

“There was a time when “universe” meant all there is. Everything. Yet, in recent years discoveries in physics and cosmology have led a number of scientists to conclude that our universe may be one among many.”

Check it out! Beyond Library Walls Digital Collection

Federal Judge Rules Apple Led Conspiracy to Raise Prices of ebooks

On July 10, 2013, U.S. District Judge Denise L. Cote found that Apple violated antitrust law in helping raise the retail price of ebooks, saying the company “played a central role in facilitating and executing” a conspiracy with five big publishers ( (Penguin, HarperCollins, Simon & Schuster, Macmillan, and Hachette Book Group). The judge ruled that Apple is liable for civil antitrust violations. The five publishers accused of conspiring with Apple had already settled with the government in the case.

Apple said it would appeal.

Read more …

I Love My Librarian Award – Nominations Now Open

Do you have a favorite librarian?  Someone who goes the extra mile?  Here’s your chance to recognize that person by nominating her or him for the 2013 Carnegie Corporation of New York/New York Times I Love My Librarian Award.

Nominations are open through September 6 and are being accepted online at ilovelibraries.org/ilovemylibrarian.

 

eAudiobook of the Week

Good listens can be good reads, too. This book won a 2012 Minnesota Book Award for Genre Fiction.  Sit back in a quiet spot and enjoy!

Big Wheat: a Tale of Bindlestiffs and Blood by Richard A. Thompson

“The summer of 1919 is now over, and on the high prairie, a small army of men, women, and machines moves across the land, harvesting the wheat. Custom threshers, steam engineers, bindle stiffs, cooks, camp followers, and hobos join the tide. Prosperous farmers proudly proclaim “Rain follows the plow,” meaning that the bounty of the land will never be exhausted. Wheat is king as people gleefully embrace the gospels of bounty and progress.

But with the wheat comes a serial killer who calls himself the Windmill Man and who believes he has a holy calling to water the newly plucked earth with blood …”

Check it out!  Beyond Library Walls Digital Collection

If you’d rather read than listen, we have this one in print, too.