New books for new school year

Such a great feeling to find new books awaiting me in Bellview Elementary School library. The new school year began with a summer bounty of Junior Library Guild monthly selections and a shipment of books ordered through Follett Learning.

Processing these books is technically “work” but feels to me like a joy as so many titles pique my own interest. Here’s hoping that each new book finds an appreciative reader, and each student finds the perfect book that will spark a lifelong reading adventure.

His and her newsboy hats

His and her newsboy hats are assembled from scraps of Guatemalan cotton, interspersed with panels of black cutwork embroidery (repurposed from a skirt) and solid black linen or wool.

NPR dropping comments from website

Effective Aug. 23, National Public Radio (NPR) is removing the “Comment” function from stories on its website.

Digital archives: Free or subscription-based?

Digitized newspaper delivery and archiving. Image created with BitStrips

“Google News Archive” provided free digital access to more than a century’s worth of newspapers in the Milwaukee area. At “Urban Milwaukee,” Michail Takach asks why listings for local newspapers suddenly disappeared. The answer concerns privatized digitization through a subscription-model database, and should make compelling reading for anyone interested in how the shift from print to digital publishing impacts historical archiving.

TIME author equates Asperger’s with trolling

As a survivor of bullying who has personally experienced cowardly attacks on the Internet, I share with TIME magazine author Joel Stein a concern that anonymity is a breeding ground for abuses. That said, I wish to express my concern with Stein’s portrayal of “the web” as “a sociopath with Asperger’s.”