1. Call for reviewers! LJ Fiction Editor Wilda Williams (you can find her here on Tumblr) is looking for reviewers for ebook original mysteries and sf/fantasy/horror. If you’re interested in reviewing for LJ, please read our guidelines first. To apply, fill out a questionnaire and email it, along with the signed contract, a résumé, and two sample reviews in LJ style to Wilda at wwilliams at mediasourceinc dot com.

    Call for reviewers!

    LJ Fiction Editor Wilda Williams (you can find her here on Tumblr) is looking for reviewers for ebook original mysteries and sf/fantasy/horror.

    If you’re interested in reviewing for LJ, please read our guidelines first. To apply, fill out a questionnaire and email it, along with the signed contract, a résumé, and two sample reviews in LJ style to Wilda at wwilliams at mediasourceinc dot com.

  2. Poetry Goes (Sort of) Viral, Undying Love for Nick Carraway, and an Unlikely Roadtrip | What We’re Reading

    This week, Library Journal and School Library Journal staffers are reading some books very much of the moment: the follow-up to Elizabeth Wein’s multiple-award winner, Code Name Verity; Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, the basis of Baz Luhrmann’s fizzy film. Other staff reads are stuck in the past, or someplace in the middle.

  3. jothelibrarian: Pretty medieval manuscript of the day is a lovely decorated initial from a fourteenth century manuscript produced in England. Image source: British Library MS Lansdowne 475. Image declared as public domain on the British Library website. I love the way this letter looks like an amoeba or space.

    jothelibrarian:

    Pretty medieval manuscript of the day is a lovely decorated initial from a fourteenth century manuscript produced in England.

    Image source: British Library MS Lansdowne 475. Image declared as public domain on the British Library website.

    I love the way this letter looks like an amoeba or space.

  4. willywaldo:

    Se7en (1995)

    The power of literature!

    A great gif set (minus the homophobic pejorative, Brad Pitt) to introduce  LJ’s review of Dan Brown’s Inferno, which we gave a star! Also if you aren’t following LJ’s fiction editor, Wilda Williams on Tumblr, get on it.

    Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon (Angels and Demons; The Da Vinci Code; The Lost Symbol) returns in another thriller that invokes history, architecture, science, and conspiracy. Langdon wakes up in a hospital bed with no memory of the last two days. He’s surprised to find himself in Florence, Italy, and even more shocked to discover that someone is out to kill him for something he knows. The doctor treating him helps him to escape from an assassin, and the chase is on. Can Langdon follow clues that tie in to Dante’s epic masterpiece, The Divine Comedy, and stop a plot destined to change the world forever? Verdict Brown delivers an amazing and intense read that arguably is the best Langdon thriller to date. Everything a reader expects from Brown is here, plus a well-written thriller with jaw-dropping twists as well. A high demand for the works of Dante plus a surge in Italian tourism is sure to follow. The king of the historical thriller is back, and this book will easily dominate the best sellers lists for quite some time. [See Prepub Alert, 1/15/13.]—Jeff Ayers, Seattle P.L.

    (Source: mcavoiding)

  5. Oxford Academic (OUP) on Tumblr: Trekkies: Are you ready? →

    oupacademic:

    The new Star Trek movie, Star Trek: Into Darkness, opens today and the trekkies in the office are psyched! And being good Star Fleet members, we know to explain the lingo to our non-trekkie friends over popcorn and luckily we have a few good dictionary editors at OUP to help out. 

    Senior Assistant Editor of the OED Matthew Bladen breaks down Star Trek’s impact on the English language as well as several science fiction terms it relies and expands on. Set phasers to stun, prepare for warp factor five, and get ready to explain emotion to a Vulcan.

    So are you ready?

    image

    Image credit: GIF via fanpop. 

    YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS.

  6. bookavore: Readers’ advisory practice So cool.

    bookavore:

    Readers’ advisory practice

    So cool.

  7. BEA For All: A Librarian’s Guide to BookExpo America 2013 New York can be gorgeous in the spring, and there’s plenty to see. Relatively near the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center, the now-perennial site of BookExpo America (BEA), is great shopping, the spectacular Highline Park, and the New York Public Library’s Schwarzman Building, with its fascinating exhibits. You might not see any of it though; changes are afoot at BEA, and they mean more…of everything. Along with a return to weekend hours—the show now runs from Wednesday, May 29, through Saturday, June 1, 2013, including LJ’s and SLJ’s warm-up Day of Dialog events—there is now a third author stage. Attendees will find almost 300 autograph signings on the three stages, as well as the relocated BEA Editors’ Buzz sessions, which cover children’s, YA, and adult books. The stages will also welcome the new “BEA Selects,” featuring indie publishers discussing their fall 2013 romance, mystery, literary fiction, and sf/fantasy titles. You’ll want to take in the exhibits, of course, and the dozens of programs offered during the conference. Below are the offerings that are best for librarians—not all of them are particularly aimed at our profession, but eavesdropping on “the other side” can be illuminating. Though ebook questions feature heavily, we’re moving on from library availability concerns to debates surrounding secondhand ebooks, the effects on authors, and e-publishing of out-of-print titles. For a break from it all, do what the fun crowd did at the American Library Association Midwinter Meeting: check out the Association of American Publishers (AAP) Library Family Feud. Featuring Simon Doonan on the author team, it’s a hotter ticket than any Broadway show. Or take a load off at any point during the show at LJ’s Librarians’ Lounge, open Thursday through Saturday, at booth 757. Check out the events LJ editors Etta Thornton and Margaret Heilbrun recommend!

    BEA For All: A Librarian’s Guide to BookExpo America 2013

    New York can be gorgeous in the spring, and there’s plenty to see. Relatively near the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center, the now-perennial site of BookExpo America (BEA), is great shopping, the spectacular Highline Park, and the New York Public Library’s Schwarzman Building, with its fascinating exhibits. You might not see any of it though; changes are afoot at BEA, and they mean more…of everything. Along with a return to weekend hours—the show now runs from Wednesday, May 29, through Saturday, June 1, 2013, including LJ’s and SLJ’s warm-up Day of Dialog events—there is now a third author stage. Attendees will find almost 300 autograph signings on the three stages, as well as the relocated BEA Editors’ Buzz sessions, which cover children’s, YA, and adult books. The stages will also welcome the new “BEA Selects,” featuring indie publishers discussing their fall 2013 romance, mystery, literary fiction, and sf/fantasy titles.

    You’ll want to take in the exhibits, of course, and the dozens of programs offered during the conference. Below are the offerings that are best for librarians—not all of them are particularly aimed at our profession, but eavesdropping on “the other side” can be illuminating. Though ebook questions feature heavily, we’re moving on from library availability concerns to debates surrounding secondhand ebooks, the effects on authors, and e-publishing of out-of-print titles. For a break from it all, do what the fun crowd did at the American Library Association Midwinter Meeting: check out the Association of American Publishers (AAP) Library Family Feud. Featuring Simon Doonan on the author team, it’s a hotter ticket than any Broadway show.

    Or take a load off at any point during the show at LJ’s Librarians’ Lounge, open Thursday through Saturday, at booth 757.

    Check out the events LJ editors Etta Thornton and Margaret Heilbrun recommend!

  8. mydaguerreotypelibrarian:

    Edward Christopher Williams (1871 – 1929) was the first African-American professional librarian in the United States of America. His sudden death in 1929 ended his career the year he was expected to receive the first Ph.D. in librarianship.

    Upon his graduation with distinction from Adelbert College of Western Reserve University in 1892, he was appointed Assistant Librarian of Hatch Library at WRU. Two years later, he was promoted to librarian of Hatch Library until 1909, when he resigned to assume the responsibility of the Principal of M Street High School (now Dunbar High School) in Washington, D.C. He continued his career as University Librarian of Howard University until his death on December 24, 1929.

    He is also author of the novel When Washington Was in Vogue.

    Holla library history / DC history twofer.

  9. Really, diversity is not about black or white or gay or straight or anything so specific. Diversity is about inclusion. It’s about including everyone in a world that doesn’t just yet. It’s about leading by example, not by lecture. So often, readers don’t need an explanation when it comes to diversity. What they need are characters who are naturally themselves in a story that easily fits them. Seeing those pure examples of diversity, the reader can feel at ease in the real world without having to explain or lecture or look around and question.

    — For Diversity’s Sake: A Guest Post by David James | one [word] at a time (via sdiaz101)

  10. Arrested Development - Books for Buster Bluth | The Seattle Public Library | BiblioCommons →

    A personal reading list for Buster Bluth, brought to you by the brilliant folks at the Seattle Public Library.

    image

    Brilliant. Brilliant.

  11. willywaldo: millionsmillions: “Renowned author Dan Brown got out of his luxurious four-poster bed in his expensive $10 million house and paced the bedroom, using the feet located at the ends of his two legs to propel him forwards.” My reviewer loved The Da Vinci Code but I could not get past the first chapter. This brilliant parody of Brown’s clunky prose style shows why. The critics said his writing was clumsy, ungrammatical, repetitive and repetitive. They said it was full of unnecessary tautology. They said his prose was swamped in a sea of mixed metaphors. For some reason they found something funny in sentences such as “His eyes went white, like a shark about to attack.” They even say my books are packed with banal and superfluous description, thought the 5ft 9in man. He particularly hated it when they said his imagery was nonsensical. It made his insect eyes flash like a rocket.  I laughed at loud at the last sentence. Hoo boy.

    willywaldo:

    millionsmillions:

    “Renowned author Dan Brown got out of his luxurious four-poster bed in his expensive $10 million house and paced the bedroom, using the feet located at the ends of his two legs to propel him forwards.”

    My reviewer loved The Da Vinci Code but I could not get past the first chapter. This brilliant parody of Brown’s clunky prose style shows why.

    The critics said his writing was clumsy, ungrammatical, repetitive and repetitive. They said it was full of unnecessary tautology. They said his prose was swamped in a sea of mixed metaphors. For some reason they found something funny in sentences such as “His eyes went white, like a shark about to attack.” They even say my books are packed with banal and superfluous description, thought the 5ft 9in man. He particularly hated it when they said his imagery was nonsensical. It made his insect eyes flash like a rocket. 

    I laughed at loud at the last sentence. Hoo boy.

  12. Burlesque, Fairies, and The Rozz-Tox Manifesto | What We’re Reading

    This week, Library Journal and School Library Journal staffers are reading narratives of risqué histories and the earliest movement toward establishing racial equality in local U.S. public schools, media criticism, and discussions of gender. Oh, yes, a few novels are mentioned here and there.

    Mahnaz Dar, Associate Editor, LJ

    I’m reading Behind the Burly Q: The Story of Burlesque in America by Leslie Zemeckis and Blaze Starr.

    Josh Hadro, Executive Editor, LJ

    I have some ambitious plans to finish China Miéville’s Kraken ASAP, and then start Douglas Rushkoff’s new book, Present Shock.

    Stephanie Klose, Media Editor, LJ

    Jo Walton’s Nebula– and Hugo–winning Among Others has long been one of those books I’ve heard is great but never read.

    Molly McArdle, Assistant Book Review Editor, LJ

    I just started a book I’ll be reviewing for LJ‘s education section First Class: The Legacy of Dunbar, America’s First Black Public High School School.

    Chelsey Philpot, Associate Book Review Editor, SLJ

    I am very excited to have finally received a library copy of Going Clear: Scientology, Hollywood, & the Prison of Belief by Lawrence Wright. 

    Meredith Schwartz, News Editor, LJ

    I’m reading Gender on Planet Earth by Ann Oakley.

    Henrietta Thornton-Verma, Reviews Editor, LJ

    I took out my well-worn copy of Letters from Motherless Daughters: Words of Courage, Grief, and Healing by Hope Edelman.…Edelman’s Motherless Mothers: How Mother Loss Shapes the Parents We Become has been perfect over the years too.

  13. Magazine Vital Signs: Best Magazines of 2012 Big budgets and wide distribution aren’t enough on their own to sustain a magazine. Witness the demise of Holmes: The Magazine To Make It Right after less than two years of publication. Occasionally, it’s the low-budget, kitchen table–produced new periodicals that end up showing the most resiliency. An example of a past “best magazine of the year” published on a shoestring is hand-sewn Vintage, which against this reviewer’s expectations has published three issues and continues to thrive.

    Magazine Vital Signs: Best Magazines of 2012

    Big budgets and wide distribution aren’t enough on their own to sustain a magazine. Witness the demise of Holmes: The Magazine To Make It Right after less than two years of publication. Occasionally, it’s the low-budget, kitchen table–produced new periodicals that end up showing the most resiliency. An example of a past “best magazine of the year” published on a shoestring is hand-sewn Vintage, which against this reviewer’s expectations has published three issues and continues to thrive.

  14. Libraries Changed My Life →

    thelifeguardlibrarian:

    Real life accounts from library patrons whose lives have been changed for the better by libraries.

    Everyone, share the impact libraries and librarians have had on your lives—ALL submissions are welcome and encouraged. Take a moment and tell your story!

    Important!

  15. What the Show Planner Won't Tell You: 10 Tips to Survive BEA →

    Swag carefully. Each ounce of free galleys and gewgaws will double in weight hourly. If you need to understand the science behind this, please watch an episode of Doctor Who.