Bed bugs checked in at Toronto library

From what I hear, most libraries have bed bugs. So don’t take too long reading that book.

West Van library loans out Kindles

How long until we see them “MISSING” in the catalogue?

Toronto libraries LFG—lowbies OK

The Star reports the Toronto library system wants to create gaming programs at branches around the city. I don’t know — I’m a big video game player, but I don’t think I want to cross the streams of those two worlds.

The evolution of libraries

The Globe has posted a story about how libraries aren’t just about the books anymore.

It’s not the only reason Toronto’s public library system just had its busiest year ever, but it helped: A bar opened last fall in the downtown reference library.

The canteen in the branch’s new 16,000-square-foot “salon” serves wine and spirits while opera stars, celebrity chefs and baseball executives deliver talks that compete with the best of the city’s cultural event circuit.

Toronto’s salon is just one example of the innovations attracting new patrons to the modern library, a place that has gone from silent biblio-temple to wired town square.

I’m actually OK with the library as a “community hub.”

Libraries embrace book networking

The Walrus reports on Canadian libraries finally joining the social media revolution with BiblioCommons, a book networking service. It’s only live in Ontario at the moment, but it’s coming to a library near you soon.

Instead of relying on librarians to act as gatekeepers for collections that are increasingly virtual and global in scope, BiblioCommons harnesses crowds of users to guide one another — a familiar Internet tactic. “Collaborative filtering” is a staple of such sites as Amazon and Chapters, where we’re constantly reminded that “customers who bought X also bought Y.” Libraries haven’t caught on, partly because few individual systems have sufficiently large user bases to make it work. Viewed as a collective, though, they’re a formidable force. Library websites are already about as “sticky” as sites like Amazon, with an average stay of almost ten minutes — and libraries that have experimented with enhanced online services have seen their average jump to over fifteen minutes, comparable with Facebook and eBay.

The 99-branch club

Fans of Toronto Public Library reports on Catherine Raine and her quest to visit all 99 TPL branches and write about them.

Danforth/Coxwell branch hummed with energy from the moment I walked in the door. Kids raced around gathering books, strollers abounded, and every corner of the building hosted a reader. Danforth/Coxwell seemed the place to be on a summer weekday afternoon.

On the west side of the main level, a lime-green gorilla hung from the ceiling next to a fuzzy pelican in green, orange, and black. Near the west wall, three carpeted steps led up to a small platform that supported shelves of picture books. A father was sprawled on one of the steps, reading a story to his two boys. In addition to the comfortable steps, three solid window benches provided yet more literary opportunities and doubled as miniature stages for self-expression. One little girl was so happy in the library that she was jumping up and down on a window seat in her flip-flops! A cheerleader for literacy!

Cory Doctorow’s donation program

Cory Doctorow alerts readers to the donation program for his books — perfect for your back to school shopping. Here’s how it works:

In Canada, the US and the UK, kids will be going back to school in a short while, so now’s a good time to remind you of the donation program for my books. Here’s how it works: teachers, librarians (and others, like people who work in family shelters, halfway houses, prisons, etc) indicate that they’d like copies of my books for their classes or collections. Then, people like you order copies and have them sent straight to the teachers. I pay someone who checks out each donation solicitation to make sure that it’s legit.

Here’s the link to donate a copy of Little Brother, here’s the link for Content. And in case you’re thinking this is just a self-promotion move on his part, he says he’s thinking about a way to expand the program to include other authors.

CanLit for CanKids

The Star has an editorial calling for Canadian schools to add more children’s books by Canadian authors to their libraries.

The Ontario government has a welcome new program to purchase books to stock up elementary school libraries. But the Canadian Coalition for School Libraries studied the first allotment under the four-year program and determined that only about 18 per cent of the $15 million was spent on Canadian-authored books. The government disputes the accuracy of this claim but has no figure of its own because it did not keep track of the titles purchased.

Fans of Toronto Public Library

Torontoist points to the new blog Fans of Toronto Public Library, which offers some history lessons on the library — and some useful tips. Which makes you wonder why the library doesn’t have a blog like this.

Best of B.C. Books Online

B.C. libraries and publishers are teaming up to make e-books available to anyone with a B.C. library card. So far it appears limited to nonfiction, but this is a promising start.

The Best of B.C. Books Online is a project to purchase electronic rights to a collection of non-fiction books by B.C. publishers, and make them accessible through public and school libraries. This pilot project will make about 1000 non-fiction titles, both new and back catalogue, available for free to anyone with a British Columbia library card.

“We want this to be a success story which then translates into more Canadian content being available, generates more revenue for Canadian publishers, and more people accessing these books so the Canadian content doesn’t get left behind,” says Mr. Whitney, city librarian at the Vancouver Public Library.

See also the Vancouver Public Library’s Library to Go service, which lets you download audio books to your computer or portable MP3 player.