What They're Reading at the Kitchen Table

Mark Oppenheimer in Opinion Journal says Home-schoolers of all stripes find common ground in some good, old-fashioned books.

The majority of families who home-school are conservative Christians, to be sure. But another sizable portion are secular counterculturalists, and then there are the diplomats, foreign-aid workers or those living in the desert or Alaskan wilderness--anyone far from a school. Home-schoolers put their numbers at about two million, the federal government guesses closer to one million, but everyone agrees that the number is growing by 5% to 15% a year.

All of which means that there are millions of parents buying books for their children's kitchen-table schooling. And while many of these moms and dads are assigning their children books that would be familiar to school kids anywhere, many are not. A new class of best sellers has arisen--mainly old books, given new life by the Internet, specialty bookstores, librarians and word of mouth. There is no one book they all read, but each camp has its favorites, and some have crossover appeal.

(via Arts & Letters Daily)

Check this out: Librarians flash some skin for a good cause

Tom Kertscher's report in today's Milwaukee Journal Sentinel is about some other library and its librarians.

Domesday 1986

In 1086 King William I of England published the Domesday Book, hand written on vellum and now on display at The National Archives in London.
In 1986 the BBC published its Domesday Project on a pair of twelve inch laser discs with a laserdisc player and microcomputer.

After a few years, it was realized that before long there would be no working players or computers compatible with these 12 inch laserdiscs. Then it was realized that there was a market opportunity in this and other similar problems with obsolete electronic media.

In 2003 LongLife Data, supported by The National Archives, BBC and ATSF, created a Windows version of the 1986 Domesday Community data which is available to use at The National Archives.
In 2004 LongLife Data created this web version.

(via The Economist)

Systems may pursue new ways to run libraries

Scott Williams writes in today's Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

The library systems in Milwaukee, Waukesha and Dane counties are seeking a federal grant to conduct what some officials believe could be a groundbreaking study on structural alternatives.

The project is not explicitly intended to examine possible intercounty consolidation of library services, but some officials say regional management opportunities could come up.

The Preview place

Adobe is providing some free e-books or excerpts in its PDF format.
(via WisBlawg)

Friends Monthly Board Meeting September 15th 7:00 p.m.

at the Library.

Library Thing

You can catalog your home library, books to read, favorites, or shopping list online, up to 200 titles free.

(via Video meliora, proboque; Deteriora sequor)

Annual Used Book Sale

Thursday, September 8th 6:00 to 8:30 p.m. Preview Sale for Friends members.

Friday, September 9th 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
Saturday, September 10th 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
Sunday, September 11th 1:00 to 5:00 p.m. Bargain Day

at the library, 9151 West Loomis Road

September-October Newsletter

Just published in PDF, the hard copy is being mailed as an insert in the current issue of the Library's own newsletter.