Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Cartoon America - a great book!

Cartoon America is not just a book about comic and cartoon. It is NOT just a collection of comic art at the Library of Congress. It is a history book of comic art in America which was displayed chronically. It consists of artists from early 1920 to contemporary artists such as Lynn Johnston.

This book also brings me back to my childhood - the comic books I read when I was a child.

An "Unfinished " book, The Library of Congress: America's Memory

Carol Highsmith and Ted Landphair's book: The Library of Congress: America Memory has a very rich text and colorful photographs which brings the readers to the inside of the world largest library. It takes the reader to the collections and architecture of the LC. It is a wonderful "tour guide" books of the Library of Congress, such as the more than 535 miles of book shelves, the first comic books, The Yellow Kids, etc. It is very informative.

However, .... there are something missing.

This book includes a brief history of the Library of Congress. I did not realize that the Library has been twice burned down. It was told in this book; however it did not tell the readers when, where, and why the Library was burned down. It might be the authors' intention to elaborate the history in this way so that the readers will do a further research. Here is the answer:

The Nassau Hall of the Library was twice burned down in 1802 and 1855. It was restored in 1856.

Tuesday, October 19, 2010

Book: Encyclopedia of the Library of Congress

I checked out this book at my hometown public library. Surprisingly I am able to check out this encyclopedia. I guess it is because it is NOT a new book. It was published in 2004.

This book collects , articles, essays and photos of the history of the world largest library. It is divided in different sections such as Asian collection, The Law Library Collection, The Copyright Office. This book is very informative but it lacks of organization. The essays are not in a particular order. It randomly from the brief history of Library of Congress to Copyright Office, from the Library of Congress and American Literature to the Library of Congress and National archives. Part II is the collection of articles. Personally I hope that the articles are arranged in chronological order instead of alphabetical order.

Wednesday, October 6, 2010

My Hometown New Library!

My hometown library is now located in a new building which I haven't visited until this morning. WOW is the only word from my mouth as soon as I stepped into the building.

The exterior of the building is not so great; but the interior is fantastic! I have been away for a couple of months... things changed so fast!

Our new library has wifi for everyone and you do not have to be a member of the library. That's impossible up north in Canada. In Canada, you have to show your residency even though you only need to use the Internet. There is no such thing called "guest pass." ("sigh") Plus if you want to check out the new books, you have to pay for each item! For printing? That's more expensive than the US - 50 cents per page. If you made a printing mistake, you still have to pay for the pages. If the library printer is malfunction, you also have to pay for the error pages. ("sigh") In addition, there are not too many library programs. Story time normally is once a week in Canadian libraries. Back in the US, most public libraries have stories time at least three times a week plus other kids activities. - We are doing much better in terms of library services.

The academic libraries are also not doing as well as the US libraries. The electronic document delivery services up north are still in the very first stage. Most students are still making copiers at the library! - We are certainly doing much better than that in the US academic libraries.

We should be proud of our library services!