A Literary Legend Fights for a Local Library

a literary legend…

Ethan Pines for The New York Times

“Libraries raised me,” Mr. Bradbury said. “I don’t believe in colleges and universities. I believe in libraries because most students don’t have any money. When I graduated from high school, it was during the Depression and we had no money. I couldn’t go to college, so I went to the library three days a week for 10 years.”

To read the complete article, click on the link “a literary legend…” above the picture.

Here is the book: “The Open Veins of Latin America…”

Here is the book that Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez presented to president Barack Obama at the Summit of the Americas this past Friday, in Trinidad and Tobago. Everyone is talking about this book and guess what? I read the book back in Brazil when I was in Senior High. This book is a classic in the whole Latin America, written by an Uruguayan anthropologist, Eduardo Galeano. The book is about the exploitation of natural resources that Latin America suffered for five centuries, first from the colonial powers and then, from the big power from the north. It is pretty similar of what happened in Africa (and still happening today) and how this exploitation of natural resources led to social and political unrests. I am so glad that people here are now talking about this great book.

In this past weekend the book became the second most sold book in Amazon, it’s amazing what a gift from high profile people can do. Hugo Chavez has done it again, first was when he used Noam Chomsky book “Hegemony or Survival: America’s Quest for Global Dominance”  during a speech at the United Nations in 2006, in the same week that book reached Amazon’s No.1 best-seller list. I guest if an author wants his book to become a best-seller just look for Hugo Chavez endorsement.  I really recommend this book, here is something I agree with president Chavez!

Introducing Le Book

I love this video about new technology. Here is a monk, hundreds of years ago interacting with a new technology…the book. It’s so funny and in a way, I believe we all can relate to it when facing new technologies. Enjoy it!!!!

“Let Them Eat Tweets” – A different view of Twitter

 

Kevin Van Aelst

In this article by Virginia Heffernan published in this Sunday’s Times Magazine we found a not so positive view of Twitter the “the microblogging service that lets you post and read fragmentary communications at high speed”. Ms. Heffernan discuss the obsession with Twitter and affirms that no connectivity is in fact a good thing. I for one love my privacy and don’t want to be connect 24/7.  Here is the entire article:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/19/magazine/19wwln-medium-t.html?_r=1&ref=magazine

Peter Drucker – the Father of Moderm Management

I did a presentation about Peter Drucker, best known as the “Father of Modern Management”, for my Special Library Management class and would like to share it you. Here it is:

http://wannabelibrarian13.files.wordpress.com/2009/04/lis-232-peter-drucker-final.ppt

The Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History

                                                                        

Oh no! Another timeline at this blog…

This one is really worth seen, it’s a timeline of art history from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, in New York. This site is so well put together by the folks at the museum. The coolest thing about this timeline is that you can see lots of work of art that are part of the museum’s collection and learn about the artwork’s time in history.

The timeline is done by the museum’s curatorial, conservation, and education staff—the largest team of art experts in the world. By visiting this site a viewer has access to works of art and their history, timelines and maps, thematic essays and do searches on art subjects, artists and works of art. This is the best art history class that I have taken.

http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/

Knol is Google’s response to Wikipedia!!!

Today when debating about online encyclopedias the first thing that comes to one’s mind is Wikipedia, a free on line encyclopedia containing millions of articles that have been collaborated by viewers worldwide and where almost of its articles can be edited by anyone who can access it. The main issue with Wikipedia is accountability since its articles are not credited, that has led teachers to prohibit students to use it as a reference source. Many Wikipedia defenders argue that the site is a good source for students to start their researches and its access should not be denied in school libraries.

Goggle competing with Wikipedia, recently launched “Knol Project” (Google calls it Knol: a unit of knowledge) where authors’ names are included in the articles, emphasizing authorship thus, addressing the main shortcoming of Wikipedia, accountability. I first learned about “Knol” last fall but didn’t access it until now. So, in order to do a few projects for school I decided to give “Knol” a chance. I am happy with Knol so far, it’s easy to search and the fact that all the results you get has authorship it gives me peace of mind and then it’s up to me to access an article and eventually use it on my research; but still I’m an early user. There are several criticisms to Knol, some say it is a vehicle for self-promotion, others say that articles are incomplete and inaccurate. I think it’s up to the user to decide. Here is Knol’s link, you decide:

 

http://knol.google.com/k