LibraryTechtonics

Wandering around my library this evening looking for magazines for a patron, a few magazine covers caught my eye, and my brain thought, “Hey, these bits might be interesting to librarians. Maybe.” Some are very techy, some are not but were found in typically techy pubs. So I thought I’d share.

I’ve done this a few times with the “Why librarians should read Wired” posts, since keeping up with technology, society, technology in society, etc., is a good thing for librarians to be doing (and, well, I find it entertaining). So I might make this some sort of semi-regular thing here on the blog. Lemme know if this is interesting to you, too.

Enough preface. On to the niftiness.

Popular Science - April 2006

• Dynamic Displays, pg. 24: The predicted evolution of laptop displays, from todays tablets to tomorrow’s roll-ups.
• It’s About Time, pg. 24: Belkin finally released a wireless USB hub. Great for crazy, cable-ridden workrooms or points of service.
• 2019 - Open Doors Telepathically, pg. 40: Forget RFID and library cards.
• How It Works, pg. 43: The first annual feature on the guts of so many gadgets. Most interesting: see the intimate innards of a cell phone, find out just out a cell phone call happens, and get the quick lowdown on the different between GSM (global system mobile) and CDMA (code division multiple access) phones.
• Resurrect a Dead Laptop, pg. 80: And on the cheap, for that matter. Good for libraries that own laptops without service contracts (or perhaps just for troubleshooting), and for patrons who ask about such things (I know our library is getting more tech supportish inquiries lately).
• How 2.0: 5 Things to know before doing your own taxes digitally (pg. 85), plus the bottle cap digital camera tripod, how to surf the web anonymously, and how to RFID-proof your wallet (all pg. 86).

PC World - February 2006

• 25 New Products that are Anything but Ordinary, pg. 18: superfast wi-fi, long life batteries, 10.3 megapixel camera, and portable Tivo, to name a few.
• A Smart New Office, pg. 22: Sneak preview of the next version of MS Office.
• Hanging Up on Tech Support, pg. 37: Troubleshooting on your own is a bit easier these days. Not *perfect*, but easier. My favorite tip: do an online search for an error message to find help with how to fix it. I do that a lot, myself.
• Better Budget Wi-Fi, pg. 49: Is your library “exploring the options” on wi-fi? If you’re a small (or maybe not-so-small) library, and you’ve already got broadband, but you just want to slap a sensibly-priced router on that bad boy, check this out.
• Instant Messengers Grow Up and Go to Work, pg. 66: IM isn’t just a tool of the teen scene, it has been a tool of company workers everywhere. Check out this little round up of IM clients, and how they’re being used.
• New, Improved Web, pg. 80: It’s Web 2.0, in plain English, with screenshots. Many current favorites mentioned, like Flickr, Technorati, Google Earth, plus a bunch of new, interesting stuff.
• 23 Things to Do with a Thumb Drive, pg. 113: Also known as jump drives, flash drives, and USB drives, you can now keep 2 GB of stuff on a thing the size of a stick of gum. A few reviews of different models, plus a plethora of tasks your pocket file sherpa can perform for you.
• Here’s How, pg. 118: This section full of tips and advice for hardware, software, and the web changes every month. You should read it every month, it will make your brain happy with technology know-how. This issue the niftiness includes backups, making several Windows folders at once, an essential networking acronym glossary, and more.

PC World - April 2006

• Spammer: It’s no longer easy money, pg. 20: Interesting interview with a spammer, sidebar to a longer article on the State of Spam.
• Battery Boosters, pg. 109: “[S]queeze every last drop out of your gadgets’ batteries and charge them up quick and conveniently.” Also includes some reviews.
• Here’s How, pg. 140: This month’s gems include taking charge of what web sites know about you, securing your laptop on the go, and putting your PC on a power diet.

Discover - April 2006

• Blinded by Science: When First We Clicked, pg. 30: Very interesting cultural/philosophical conmmentary of the Internet vs. the telegraph. I’m not really sure where this fits, or what to say, but I think it’s worth reading.

Newsweek - April 3, 2006

• The New Wisdom of The Web, pg. 47: Web 2.0 and the kids making it happen. Please ignore the Geek Chic quiz at the end, it’s totally lame and so not the true measure of a geek, even a chic one.

Just remember that the Borders Educator Savings Days ends tomorrow. So be sure to go in and get your librarian sweet lovin’ discount while you can.

[A cutey little short bit that resembles this post will appear in the PLA Daily News conference newspaper tomorrow. Shiny.]

The turnout for this morning’s Book Buzz session was tremendous. So many attendees showed up that the room couldn’t hold any more people due to fire code limitations, and chairs were set up outside the room, and the audio was broadcast into the lobby overflow area.

Nancy Pearl was delightful in her opening comments and facilitation of the panel, as usual. I’m hoping to get some time with her before the end of the conference for a quick little interview. We’ll see how it turns out.

Due to the huge turnout of the session (this session really needed to be hosted in a room much like the one I’m in now for the general opening session), there weren’t enough handouts to go around. Anyone who missed a handout or folder can stop by the booths for each of the publishers who presented to have the presentation materials and book lists mailed to them later. For now, here’s a sampling of what’s coming down the pipe, as I was able to take them down (my fingers were fast and furious), with a bit of commentary from the presenters.

By the way, all of the publishers herefore mentioned are working together on a project called Authors @ Your Library, connecting libraries with authors for events.

Marcia Purcell, Random House
You’ll note that the books listed definitely fall into the “Find Happiness” theme of their current advertising campaign (for the show, I believe).

Brief History of the Dead by Kevin Brockmeier
Literally about memory, and what it means to be alive. Like rich character? You’ll love this book.

Black Swan Green by David Mitchell

Stumbling on Happiness by Daniel Gilbert
A book about “what really makes us happy, what we think might, what doesn’t, and how come.” Great insight into why you aren’t always happy when you get what you wish for.

Miracle in the Andes by Nando Parrado
The story of the Urugayan soccer team that crashed in the Andes. “One of *the* most amazing survival stories ever told.” Also the feature story on National Geographic’s Traveler this month.

Man of My Dreams by Curtis Sittenfeld (author of Prep)
As a kid, the main character reads feature after feature about weddings in magazines as her parents’ marriage is crumbling. As an adult, given her childhood experiences, how can she find true love?

The Attack by Yasmina Khadra
The main character’s wife is killed in a terrorist attack, and in the process of trying to cope with her death, he finds a devastating secret about her.

The Whole World Over by Julia Glass (she’s signing books here at PLA on her birthday)
The story of a woman who is a chef in Brooklyn in a bad marriage, who moves to New Mexico with her 4-year old son at the request of the governor to become his cook.

The Poe Shadow by Matthew Pearl
Theorizes that Poe didn’t just die, he was murdered. Thoroughly researched; through the research process, Pearl found new information about Poe as a person.

Stuart: A Life Backwards by Alexander Masters
Story of a knife-wielding heroine addict who does hard time in the joint.

The Good Good Pig by Sy Montgomery
The story of Christopher Hogwood, an adopted pig runt, who lives forever and becomes a 750lb hog, and the community that takes him in and loves him.

The Culture Code: An Ingenious Way to Understand Why People Around the World Buy and Live as They Do by Clotaire Rapaille
Why people around the world really are different and the hidden clues to understanding us all. You know, crazy stuff like why people need instructions for Legos and stuff.

A Day With a Perfect Stranger
About an agnostic woman on flight whose seatmate is Jesus, and her opportunity to ask all the questions she’s ever wanted to ask.

With her time up, the quick flurry at the end of her persentation included:

Armageddon’s Children by Terry Brooks

The Glass Books of the Dream Eaters by Gordon Dahlquist

Thirteen Moons by Charles Frazier

Blood and Thunder by Hampton Sides

The Audacity of Hope by Barack Obama

The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid by Bill Bryson

Thunderstruck by Erik Larson

Titles from the Barefoot Contessa and Rachel Ray.

Talia Ross, Holtzbrinck
I believe most of these titles are on the St. Martin’s Press imprint, but since the site is framesetted, I’m refraining from linkage to individual titles.

The King of Lies by John Hart
Reminiscent of novels like Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. The author will be signing books at ALA Annual in NOLA, and the film rights to the book have already been acquired.

Sequence by Lori Andrews
Fascinating science mixed with romance, with a female geneticist as a sleuth as the main character.

Stil Life by Louise Penny
First installment of three in a series, Chief Inspector Armand Gamache of the Sûreté du Quebec. Those who don’t normally read mysteries will like it anyway, and those who do read mysteries will *love* it.

The Darkest Place by Daniel Judson
Just how far will someone go to erase his past?

Heart of the World by Linda Barnes
Meet Linda Barnes Friday afternoon, she’ll be signing copies in the booth. Most intense, personal, intense Carlotta Carlyle book ever.

Cold Kill by David Lawrence
Third installment of a series (the first two received rave reviews), comparable to Derek Raymond. Love blood and guts? He’s your man.

No Rest for the Wicket by Donna Andrews

The Highly Effective Detective by Richard Yancey
“Very clever stuff.” Our protagonist uses his inheritence to live out his dream: to be a private eye.

Inside the Mind of Gideon Rayburn by Sarah Miller
The narrator is a mystery woman who tells the story of a boy at a prep school getting a greater education from his schoolmates than his classes.

Virginia Stanley, Harper Collins
Check out more useful library resources at http://www.harperlibrary.com.

The Girl from Charnelle by K.L. Cook
Virginia’s favorite on the list. It’s a coming of age story of a young girl whose mother abandons the family with no explanation, set in the 60s in the panhandle western Texas. Our main character is left taking care of father, family, house, and everything else, all the while developing a crush on her father’s best friend. This book very much reminded Virginia of She’s Come Undone.

Full of Grace by Dorothea Benton Frank
Funny southern story of a NJ couple that retires in North Carolina, and the family hilarity that ensues. Very good at evoking the south, and the author is described as “a hoot” and a “saucy broad”. Think Michael Lee West. Galleys are available at the booth.

Savannah Breeze by Mary Kay Andrews
If you get a chance, enter the world of Mary Kay Andrews, she’s quite the delightful author. This book is the follow-up to Savannah Blues. Speaking at a “Serious South” panel tomorrow (I’m still trying to find the information on this event). [I read Hissy Fit, which I really, really enjoyed.]

No Good Deeds by Laura Lippman
Book 9 in the Tess Monaghan series (if you’re new to this series, you can really start anywhere, you don’t really need to start at the beginning). Lippman writes for the Baltimore Sun, and she’s won every major mystery award, because her “writing is impeccable.”

Coronado: A Collection of Stories by Dennis Lehane
From the same talented author who wrote Mystic River. A wonderful collection of short works (most poeple don’t know that he’s such an excellent short story writer), and Lehane fans everywhere are “busting” to get this next work. A an off-off Broadway show called titled Coronado, based on Lehane’s story entitled “Until Gwen” did so well in its brief run that the word is it may be brought to Broadway proper.

Abundance by Sena Jeter Naslund
Excellent historical fiction on the life and times of Marie Antoinette, impeccably researched, making you feel like you’re really there.

Leaving Microsoft to Change the World by John Wood
This author will be speaking at ALA Annual as part of the Auditorium Speaker Series on Saturday June 24, 8:30-10:00 am. After about an 8-year stint working in Microsoft’s upper escelons of management, Woods went on a trek across Nepal which led him to decide he needed a new direction in life. He subsequently formed an international non-profit organization called Room to Read, setting up libraries, computer labs, and literacy programs throughout the developing world. This book is about his transformation from computer mogul to bringer of literacy.

Nora Rawlinson, Time Warner
In an attempt to win over the audience with cuteness after three other great lists, Nora started with cute and moved on to practical, sassy, and poignant. This publishing group was recently acquired by Hachette (think “sneeze,” not the axe-type implement), and there’s a bit of reorganizing happening as a result.

Smitten: The Kitten’s Guide to Happiness by Rachael Hale
Absolutely adorable photo compilation of kitties. Too cute!

My Smart Puppy by Brian Kilcommons and Sarah Wilson
Yet more cuteness. A manual on training your puppy well.

Monkey Portraits by Jill Greenberg
Nora claims to have the cover photo of this amazing photo book hanging in her office. A collection of entertaining and artful portrait-style photos of primates.

A Perfect Mess: The Hidden Benefits of Disorder
I wish I caught the author on this one. Nora just had to share it, even though it’s not even finished yet and isn’t due out until January 2007. The premise: we spend too much time organizing our lives, and it’s better to live with some mess than to waste too much time minding the little things. [I'm putting this on the buy list at my library so I can have dibs on it when it comes in!]

Vanity Fair has a forthcoming article on the blur between young adult and adult fiction, and a renewed interest from readers in these cross-group fiction (like works from James Patterson, and the Gossip Girl series). Some titles that fit into this category that are coming down the Time Warner/Hachette pipe include:

Maximum Ride: School’s Out - Forever by James Patterson [I've actually had requests from many teens on this series.]

Twilight by Stephenie Meyer
Story of a girl falls for the ulitmate bad boy - a vampire. Great fiction even for those who aren’t horror fans. New Moon, next book in series, comes out later this year.

Incantation by Alice Hoffman
Hoffman’s first historical novel about a Jewish family in Spain passing as Catholics during the Spanish Inquisition. Also forthcoming is Skylight Confessions.

A Beautiful Gold and Pink by Kaavya Viswanathan: So the cover for this title didn’t download correctly, and somehow we ended up with the cover of (and the summary of) How Opal Mehta Got Kissed, Got Wild, and Got a Life, the story of a girl whose entire upbringing was focused on getting into Harvard, but while she should have been a shoe-in, the fact that she has no life jeopardizes her chances. Her parents use the same life-long training tactics to get Mehta a life, including study materials such as MTV, the WB, and the latest fashion mags.

Notebook Girls byJulia Baskin, Lindsey Newman, Sophie Pollitt-Cohen and Courtney Toombs: Four girls, Stuyvesant High School students who were evacuated on September 11, and their actual shared journal notebook accounts on life, parents, drugs, sex, and more. A startling and honest account of the typical lives of today’s teens.

The Girls by Lori Lansens: There’s such an amazing buzz about this book that the company is out of galleys, and books are being printed early to give them away here at the conference. This fictional work, originally published in Canada, is the touching story of the lives of conjoined twins sisters. Because of the great love between these girls, Nora notes that many readers come out of the book wishing they were conjoined, too. Steven Spielberg has acquired the movie rights.

(And two others that I missed.)

Nora is contemplating an audio galley book club for librarians to expose librarians to galleys earlier in the process without increasing the pile of books we read everyday. If you’re interested in participating in this musing of a pilot project, I’ll have that email address tomorrow…

PLA is indeed in Boston. Even my non-librarian friends in the area can feel it, as was evident from the IMs I received upon my return home last night. Here’s an example from this morning:

[09:37] PrettyDaisies: sorry, just wanted to let you know that i’m at the librarian conference *right this second*
[09:37] PrettyDaisies: and things are rowdy dowdy, baby
[09:38] oakenguy: i could tell! it’s at Hynes, isn’t it? that’s probably why Berklee declared this week spring break—they didn’t want their students exposed to all the debauchery
[09:38] PrettyDaisies: [09:39] PrettyDaisies: breaking the librarian stereotype, once raucous event at a time
[09:39] PrettyDaisies: [09:39] oakenguy: explaining to the parents how their guitar major woke up in an alley with a dewey decimal number tattooed on his rump…bad PR, oh so bad…
[09:40] PrettyDaisies: dude, can i blog that statement?
[09:40] PrettyDaisies: i’ll exclude your name to protect the innocent, if you like
[09:40] oakenguy: there are no innocents here! blog away, i’m flattered

And before anyone gets their knickers in a twist, I have much permission to post this little interchange. As a matter of fact, he mentioned being *flattered*, as you can see.

Hee, our reputation preceeds us. Let’s not let the Bostonites down. ;D

My flight finally landed in Boston’s Logan Airport at about 7:30a EST this morning, after a 1.25 hour delay last night in San Francisco (due to plane unavailability, and the flurry of passenger reassignments from a cancelled American Airlined flight earlier in the day). Despite the fact that I took a Unisom with a perfect vanilla milkshake that really hit the spot, and sleeping through the whole flight, I’m entirely too tired.

I had plans for today. Stay awake to write posts and Flickr photos and check email. Fight jetlag with every fiber of my being. Reset my circadian clock to sleep at night and be refreshed to head to PLA at the Hynes bright-eyed and bushy-tailed in the AM. Alas, I have been defeated, and slept quite a bit today. I s’pose the 13 hour flight from Hong Kong to SFO didn’t help that much, either.

I’ll see what I can get up on the blog and the photostream, but whatever I don’t post from my China trip tonight will have to wait until after PLA, since I don’t want to futz with both at the same time. This might be considered cheating, but I’m going to date the posts for their actually date of occurence, so that they will appear in the proper order in the archive.

Many thanks to Steve at See Also, host of the most recent Carnival of Infosciences, for the pointer!