Archive for November, 2009
One Year Anniversary
November 19th, 2009
Today is the one year anniversary of the first post to the Library History Buff Blog (LHBB). The LHBB is a companion to the Library History Buff website. This is blog post number 137. The LHBB has turned out to be one of my better ideas for promoting library history. I installed a website statistical package last January, and it tells me that 19,000 pages have been loaded from the site since I installed the package and that 12,000 unique visitors have accessed the site. Not very impressive in the scheme of things but I'm still pleased that there are people finding their way to the site. Thanks to George Eberhart for his AL Direct links to many of the blog posts and to the ALA Library for its tweets about my posts. Also thanks to those who have provided a link from their website or blog to the LHBB. And most of all thanks to all the readers of the blog.
USF Book Club: Love Life by Ray Kluun
November 18th, 2009Greetings! The next book club selection is Love Life by Ray Kluun, translated from the Dutch by Shaun Whiteside.
We will meet on Wednesday, December 16, 2009 from 12 noon – 1 pm in Kalmanovitz Hall, Room 265. Bring your lunch and tell your friends — the book club is open to the whole USF Community.
To get a copy of the book, request it through Link+. Gleeson Library is purchasing a copy but we haven’t received it yet.
From what I understand, this novel, set in Amsterdam, is dark and gritty — it tells the story of a man coping with his wife’s terminal breast cancer, so at times he is despicable but the story is told with probing honesty. I hear it’s beautifully written and is a page turner — the book club member who suggested it read it in 3 days!
To read full reviews, check out the book’s Amazon page.
Check it out and join us for a lively discussion. You don’t need a background in literary criticism to join us. You just have to like books 
UPDATE: The Gleeson copy has arrived! If you want it, click “request” on its record in the catalog.
USF’s web site joins the 21st century
November 17th, 2009
California’s Free Public Library Law
November 17th, 2009
This year is the centennial of the free public library law in California. The California law was based around the county unit of government. The law was permissive and counties were not required to establish public libraries. Municipalities with their own public library were also not required to be a part of the the county library. The California State Library under the overall leadership of James Gillis, the state librarian, took on the task of organizing county libraries throughout the state. Harriet Gertrude Eddy (1876-1966) joined the staff of the California State Library in 1909 and was the person responsible for organizing county library service in 40 of California 58 counties in the next nine years. The postcard shown here was used to promote county library service in California. The postcard which was produced in 1915 has been updated by hand to show that 33 county libraries had been established up to that point. There is an interesting article in the California State Library Foundation Bulletin Number 94 (2009) about Eddy which points out that she has received little recognition for her contribution to public library development.
Books for Sailors
November 16th, 2009
Charles Seavey has an impressive website Books for Swabbies: Ship's Libraries in the "New" Steel Navy, 1880s - 1930s. As Seavey points out, books on ships in the United States date back to at least 1820 with the various book collections on the U.S.S. Franklin. This is the same year that the first mechanics libraries and mercantile libraries for young men were established in the United States. I have an interest in libraries that served the military and have a collection of postcards on this topic. The first postcard above shows a group of sailors in the Library of the Brooklyn Branch of the Naval Y.M.C.A. in Brooklyn, NY which was mailed in 1910. The American Library Association (ALA) took an active role in supplying books and magazines to sailors in World War I through its Library War Service. The second postcard shows sailors of a merchant marine vessel enjoying books from the ALA Library War Service. More postcards depicting ALA's service to merchant marine sailors are shown on the Library History Buff website. The third postcard shows a group of sailors in front of an ALA World War I Camp Library at the Great Lakes Naval Training Station in Illinois. Historical documents relating to US Navy Libraries are located on the Navy Department Library website.
