Monthly Archives: February 2012

Marginalia

Posted on February 29, 2012 by

H.J. Jackson wrote an entire book on the subject of marginalia, or readers’ scribbles on the margins of books. The most famous example of a reader leaving his mark on a page of a book — and consequently on an … Continue reading →

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"The Future of Taypayer-Funded Research," Committee for Economic Development (2012)

Posted on February 28, 2012 by

Reblogged from A Fine Theorem: It’s one month after SOPA/PIPA. Congress is currently considering two bills. The Federal Research Public Access Act would require federal funders to insist on open-access publication of funded research papers after an embargo period. The … Continue reading →

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Bibliographic Irregularities

Posted on February 28, 2012 by

Of course we’re not going to call them freaks of nature. Rather they’re specimens of oddities that reflect the diverse ecosystem of books. These three books that I’ve come across in my indiscriminate reading. The first is Court of the Lion, … Continue reading →

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Never Thought of It

Posted on February 27, 2012 by

The ratio of my restaurant to home-cooked meals is such that I can’t admit to it without blushing. It is high enough that I feel like a complete dufus never having thought about this before. You know the music that restaurants … Continue reading →

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Guessing Game, Round 3: Monkey Sees . . .

Posted on February 24, 2012 by

How about another round of the guessing game? Please blast away! Image by GlitchNYC

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Deeply Impressed!

Posted on February 23, 2012 by

There are libraries that offer life annuities in exchange for (substantial) gift donations! How financially savvy is that?! Certainly impressive enough to warrant non-standard punctuation!

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Paper Quality

Posted on February 22, 2012 by

I’ve got Robert Levine’s Free Ride in my hands. I cracked it open and then quickly found the need to flip back to the verso of the title page to find this statement The Random House Group Limited supports the Forest Stewardship … Continue reading →

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Library Privatization

Posted on February 21, 2012 by

As you may imagine, library privatization, or the outsourcing of the operations of a library to a private company, is not a prospect to warm the cockles of many librarians’ hearts. The American Library Association (ALA)’s official policy manual flatly … Continue reading →

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Not Available

Posted on February 20, 2012 by

This is my least favorite page to encounter when browsing for a book. This page conveys the message that the book is not available for sale in the US, at least not through the major distribution channels, but it is … Continue reading →

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The Importance of Inter-library Loan

Nobel Prize Lectures by the most recent laureates in economics touch on the usefulness of inter-library loan.

Video | Posted on February 17, 2012 by | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments