Just a few book lists

I like collecting book lists. I keep a folder of lists at work for ideas to read later as well as in case I need to recommend something to someone; I have another one at home. I often try to find lists for topics that I may not know as much about or that will expose me to new things. At any rate, here are some lists I have found recently:

• Kirkus had a 30 Graphic Novels to read list. When you go to the article, it will give a link to Kirkus's list of special editions. Look for the one for the graphic novels. Warning: it opens a PDF file. (found via Bookslut Blog).
  
• Bookmark Magazine has compiled 101 Crackerjack Sea Books. If you long for adventure at sea, this is the list for you. The list is a mix of genres from fiction to history to memoirs. There should be something for any reader. (found via Bookslut Blog).
  
• World Hum featured a list of 30 travel books. It's summer, so if you want some travel, but can't quite make it, these books may do the trick for the armchair traveller. (found via Bookslut Blog).
• PZ Myers, of Pharyngula, has compiled a book list for evolutionists. He provides reading suggestions for readers from children to advanced adults. If you are looking for good books on evolutionary biology, this is a good list. It is also good if you need some ammunition to dispel the ignorance of the anti-science lobby.
  
• The Phantom Professor provides the list given to her by "Dr. March" on the Holocaust and the Nazi Death Camps.
  
• The Feminist Majority Foundation provides a list of the Feminist Canon. These are mostly nonfiction in the areas of history and feminist theory. (found via the Library Tavern blog).
• The Amelia Bloomer Project of the Feminist Task Force of the Social Responsibilities Round Table of the American Library Association (that's a lot of organizational packaging) has a list of books for young readers on strong women and feminism. The link leads to the current list, but they also link to previous years. From the website, "we applaud authors, illustrators, editors and publishers with the courage to publish feminist books accessible to young readers. We challenge publishers to move beyond merely ‘spunky' and ‘feisty' young women. We encourage publishers to understand that feminism is more than friendship and make-up. We need books that represent the world in which we live, as well as the world that we hope to achieve. We hunger for books that portray females who exemplify personal empowerment while still being aware of the global challenges and opportunities." (found via Rory Litwin's Library Juice blog).
  
• If you are looking for something different, then you may be interested in the IPPY Awards (Independent Publisher Book Awards). From the website,"the "IPPY" Awards, launched in 1996, are designed to bring increased recognition to the deserving but often unsung titles published by independent authors and publishers." They recognize books in various genres, so odds are readers will find something they like. (found via Rory Litwin's Library Juice blog).
  
• The Jane Addams Children's Book Awards can be found here. The work of the Jane Addams Peace Association, these awards recognize children's books that "effectively promote the cause of peace, social justice, world community, and the equality of the sexes and all races as well as meeting conventional standards for excellence." (found via Rory Litwin's Library Juice blog).
  

Article Note: On Facilities and Campus Recruitment

Stephen Abram, of Stephen's Lighthouse, picked up an article about facilities and recruitment in his post "Academic Libraries and Student Recruitment." The article in question is a brief piece summarizing recent research on the impact of physical facilities in the decision making process of students preparing to attend college as well as asking questions about their retention once they are in college. The study found that the top five characteristics students name for evaluating the quality of an institution are academic. The library turns out to be one of the facilities they look at in their decision making. This may be the start of a resource that some administrators may want to consider when making a case for better library facilities. I was reminded of this article as well because in one of the classes I was teaching one my students had a question along the same lines. If I recall, she was looking at student satisfaction and facilities. The article's print citation is as follows:

Cain, David and Gary L. Reynolds. "The Impact of Facilities on Recruitment and Retention of Students." Facilities Manager (March/April 2006): 54-60.

In addition, Mr. Abrams pointed to an article in The Chronicle of Higher Education for May 30, 2006, entitled "Facilities Can Play Key Role in Students' Enrollment Decisions, Study Finds." The article was written by Audrey Williams June, in case anyone needs to search it on a database or print.

Dysfunctional information behaviors and dealing with the millenials

Right now, I am just making a note of this so I can reflect on it later. Dave Pollard at How to Save the World had a post on dysfunctional information behaviors. It includes a large list of dysfunctional behaviors, and it also features suggestions for managers to deal with the Millenial generation in light of being aware of these behaviors.

Maybe I should consider a subject blog

There may be various reasons for me to create a blog for my subject specialty. However, a good reason is that I have been coming across a good number of arts and humanities-related sites. Here is a sampling, courtesy of the Resource Shelf. If you are a librarian, and you do not read the Resource Shelf, go add it to your feed reader now. I will wait. . . . Now that you are back, here are some of the things I have been finding:

• ARTNews posted their annual list of the top art collectors in the world. Now that would have made a nice note of interesting trivia on a subject blog (featured on Resource Shelf here).
  
• A large list of classical music resources on the web by David Mattison. For me, this may be helpful to evaluate what we currently have on our music resources page, maybe add a few new things (featured on Resource Shelf here).
  
• Resource Shelf featured a collection of searchable databases for art museums. Now that I can probably use too. They now have a second compilation of searchable databases for art museums.
  
• Infoplease has a list of the 10 Most Expensive Paintings Ever Sold (featured on Resource Shelf here).
  
• Here's a reference guide to classical music recordings of Black composers (featured on Resource Shelf here).
  

This is just a small sampling of stuff I have come across from just one of the sources I have on my aggregator. I come across a lot of neat stuff, but time to look them over is often a challenge. Well, if nothing else, I would have some items for content. But on looking at the list above, I also see some items that could serve as tools for collection development. In addition, I have been acquiring a pretty good selection of art books that deserve a little more promotion. A blog could serve that purpose as well.

"Are you the guy who orders books?"

Even though there are twelve other librarians in my library, I tend to attract people because of my visible role as the Instruction Librarian. So when a student walked into the Reference Office asking "are you the one who buys books?" I did not flinch much when I answered, "we all buy books, was there anything in particular you wanted?" He was very vague, asking me if I looked at Jet magazine. I had to admit I had not, and he told me there was a book about this guy who was homeless and was now a millionaire, who had been featured on ABC (at least he thought it was ABC). He said he would try to get me the article. He took a while, so I got up, went to our browsing section and got a hold of the current Jet issue. Here is the article's citation then:

Ballard, Scotty. "From the Streets to Corporate Suites: How Homeless Man Made Millions." Jet 31 July 2006: 50-54.

The article is an interview with Chris Gardner, author of The Pursuit of Happyness. The book, which is the item the student wanted, is Mr. Gardner's memoir. He went from homelessness to becoming a Wall Street stockbroker with a lot of perseverance and as a single father. Will Smith, the actor and rapper, bought the rights to it to make it into a film. It did not click at the time, but I do remember hearing about Will Smith getting the rights to the book. At any rate, I did tell him I would be happy to order it, but it would probably not be here fast enough for him to read it. So, I showed him how to put an interlibrary loan request for it. Hopefully, it will get here with time for him to read it. It does interesting, so maybe I will check it out after he is done with it.

A reminder to myself: I need to at least glance at Jet once in a while. Given our population, it would be smart. Besides, I already scan Hispanic and similar publications. I guess I am adding one more to the reading list.