Video updates!

Most of us have seen the Shift Happens video from awhile back. I always wondered when that would be updated. I found out yesterday when I came across these two videos:

Did you know 3.0:

Did you know 4.0:

My worst fears realized?

Here is the latest in my new series "Things-that-get-Tiff-all-riled-up-and-passionate-and-crazylike."

Cushing Academy, a prep school in New England, with a former library of over 20,000 books [I wish!], has 'decided to discard ALL THEIR BOOKS.' I'll let that sink in for a minute.

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Are you freaking out yet?!?

I can barely grasp this idea or summarize the article very well because I am so shocked that it's hard to type.

Here's a quote that I can hardly believe:

“When I look at books, I see an outdated technology, like scrolls before books,’’ said James Tracy, headmaster of Cushing and chief promoter of the bookless campus. “This isn’t ‘Fahrenheit 451’ [the 1953 Ray Bradbury novel in which books are banned]. We’re not discouraging students from reading. We see this as a natural way to shape emerging trends and optimize technology.’’

Um, hold up a second. I have two problems with this quote:

#1 - Books are outdated? Seriously? I highly disagree. I do think e-readers are fabulous for some purposes but not for all! Not many [any?] schools can afford an e-reader for each student at their school, but I bet most [all?] schools have at least one book per student in their library. Oh, and further on in the article it mentions that this school has only purchased 18 e-readers for their entire school! Really. Really? I am not totally sure how many students attend Cushing Academy, but I'm pretty sure it's more than 18. [I did some online research and I believe there is somewhere between 500-800 students.]

#2 - "We’re not discouraging students from reading." I also disagree with this statement. Here's an example: Student walks into library. Asks for favorite fiction book. Is told 'we no longer have any books.' Is handed an e-reader which does not have book student wants. Student leaves. Sound discouraging to you?

Another part of the article that I just adore [where is that sarcasm font?] is:

"Where the reference desk was, they are building a $50,000 coffee shop that will include a $12,000 cappuccino machine."

OMG. No words. None.

What this article does for me, besides make me freak out, is worry about the future of my profession. Libraries without books? It's absurd. Don't get me wrong, I love having access to eBooks, and the databases I provide for my students are amazing resources and greatly supplement my collection. But that is what I believe digital media/books/etc should be: a supplement. Not the whole.

The librarian [what will they call her now?] at Cushing said she never imagined working as the director of a library without any books.

Neither have I.

[more to come on this topic and the fate of libraries in the very near future!]

Here is the link to the article. Read it yourself and please let me know what you think! Am I the only one freaking out here?

http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2009/09/04/a_library_without_the_books/

Update on LIAR!

The cover of LIAR has been changed! Look!

I am so happy about this, if you read my last post you will see why/what I am talking about. You can buy the book here.

Kudos to Bloomsbury for making this change!

You can read about the changes and Justine's thoughts here.

PS I know this post is really late, but I was out of the country when this happened and have been too busy ever since!

LIAR by Justine Larbalestier

Since this is an arc and the final published work does not come out until October, I will just tease you with a vague review:

Have you ever read a book where you can't trust the main character? Where she tells you part of her story, only to admit 100 pages later that she was lying? This may sound frustrating, but instead I found this book fascinating. It's broken into 3 parts, and by the end of Part One I wasn't convinced that I liked this book. It just didn't grab me. As soon as I got into Part Two - BAM! The plot drastically changed and I was completely surprised, and from then on I could not put it down. LIAR may be one of the most intriguing books I've read.

I highly recommend it and will be purchasing it for my high school library when it comes out in October! [I also think it would be a fabulous read for a discussion group - I plan to start some sort of book/movie/discussion club/group at my high school this year.]
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Sidenote: When I read this book, I was bothered by the cover because I felt the main character was misrepresented. Not only is the main character African American, she is not pretty and can pass for a boy! Not so with the girl on the cover! It's bad enough to misrepresent the character in other ways, but changing the race on the cover of the book just seems wrong.

What do you think? Does it matter if the cover doesn't match the story? Does it bother you that the race of the character is misrepresented?

For more on this [interesting? disturbing? controversial?] topic, read this article from School Library Journal: http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/article/CA6647713.html