LISNews Librarian And Information Science News

He's the king of couch potatoes. A Manhattan man has won his second couch potato contest. Stan Friedman, 47, a research librarian at magazine giant Conde Nast, needed 18 hours, 48 minutes and 17 seconds of sports-watching time to outlast the competition at the second annual ESPN Zone Ultimate Couch Potato Competition.

The participants, sitting in recliners in front of dozens of televisions, weren't allowed to go to sleep or leave their recliners except for restroom breaks once every eight hours. He won a $5,000 prize.

Google News and even more detail at The New York Daily News.

The longtime law librarian at the Santa Maria court complex is facing felony charges for allegedly burglarizing the Solvang residence of a local attorney and stealing firearms and jewelry. Lompoc (CA) Record.

The Santa Barbara County District Attorney’s Office on Dec. 23 filed charges of first-degree residential burglary and grand theft firearm against Stephen Christopher Zaharias, 69.

Zaharias, of Santa Maria, is due in court Jan. 13 to be formally charged, according to a source with the District Attorney’s Office who asked to remain anonymous.

The librarian is suspected of breaking into and burglarizing the Solvang condo of attorney Milton H. Yoshimoto on Dec. 12, according to the source. Zaharias later tried to sell guns stolen from the residence at an Oxnard gun shop, the source said.

"It was crunchy on the outside and chewy on the inside," she said. "They take the stinger out, because they're poisonous."

What's that? A scorpion, encased in a lolipop, gladly eaten by Aubri Keleman, teen services and web coordinator for the Whatcom (WA) County Library System.

What led to the downing of the crunchy/chewy scorpion? Read all about it in the Bellingham Herald.

Self-help books, best-sellers, graphic novels and history -- these are among the popular books with inmates at the King County Jail.

But beginning in January, it won't be a librarian making the deliveries. Instead inmates, working under the supervision of a corrections officer, will be handing out the books.

The county's Department of Adult and Juvenile Detention will save about $240,000 annually by ending its contract with the King County Library System, which historically has provided librarians and a collection of books for the jail's inmates.

"It wasn't an efficient use of their money," said Nancy Smith, director of outreach services for the library system. Seattle P.I. reports.

Librarianship is not always a first career.

Take the career of Gayle Morrow, a 59-year old rollerblading teen librarian. After working as a teacher and accountant, Morrow found herself unemployed and decided to go to school in her hometown of Philadelphia.

When the John F. Kennedy Library in Vallejo (CA) was hiring a young adult librarian, she decided to give that line of work a try. For her, this latest career has been "so much fun."

She dedicates her days to creating fun activities to draw city youth to the library. Her love of not only the library but the teens she works with is evident. "They keep you young. I love the way they think. It's fun to be around them," she said.

Working with the teens has taught her a lot about young people, she said. "They're what adults would like to be. They're open. They're honest. They accept people for what they are," she said, apparently including herself. Times Herald Online.

The first Saturday in December, University Book Store in Seattle, WA opened its first "Holiday Advice Booth," the brainchild of Stesha Brandon, the store's events manager. Modeled after Lucy's psychiatrist booth in "Peanuts," book advice was offered for 25 cents, with the money raised going to the store's Scholarship Endowment Fund, which helps financial-aid students purchase course materials and textbooks.

It was staffed in one-hour shifts from 10 to 6; advisors included Brad Craft, the store's used-books buyer, Nancy Pearl, the World's Librarian, two sales reps--Dan Christaens from Norton and David Glenn from Random House--and me (author of this article, Marilyn Dahl). Stesha was our runner (and supplier of homemade baked goods). We had a blast.

Sounds like a lot of fun; read the entire article at Shelf-Awareness.

Maybe library friends shops could do something similar? Of course, there's only one Nancy Pearl, but those friends have done a lot of reading over the years...

California State Librarian Susan Hildreth likes the idea of putting a school inside a new downtown San Diego central library, which may bode well for the city's effort to keep a $20 million state grant.

But downtown San Diego parents aren't sure they need a high school, as is being proposed in a new plan to save the $185 million library project that has fallen short of its fundraising goal.

Hildreth will be leaving her position as the CA State Librarian to become Director of the Seattle Public Library. She will assume her new post early next year.

Is the term “librarian” antiquated? The term derives from the Latin word librarius meaning “of books.” That hardly seems sufficient any more, does it? Why, with the advent of the Internet, the Kindle, and Google, books aren’t all we do any more. Should we be called Information Specialists? Or perhaps Information Professionals? Or how about…Informarians!

I’m only half joking about this. Really, more and more librarians are working outside of conventional libraries…away from books. Now, I LOVE books, so I’m not advocating anything against them. I’m just asking a simple question…does our title clearly define what our job is? As an avatarian (my term for an avatar librarian in Second Life, feel free to use it), I question this. I, myself, am proud to wear the title of librarian, but I thought I’d ask your opinions…Any thoughts?

Bunny Burnstein

Milt Hathaway, the head librarian at Culpeper's (VA) Eastern View High School, defends his title tonight on the popular syndicated television show "Jeopardy."

Last night Hathaway, who is originally from Newport, R.I., became champion with $38,401, about $200 more than defending champion Stevie Benson.

The Fitchburg (Mass.) Public Library is being used as an emergency animal shelter for the pets of residents who have been displaced by the recent ice storm and lingering power outages.

http://www.sentinelandenterprise.com/local/ci_11261048