Librarian in Black Blog – Sarah Houghton

Jessa Crispin (AKA Bookslut, AKA Violet Blue) posted links to these two great gifts for readers:

1) a stuffed bookworm
2) a “Reading is Sexy” t-shirt

She says she needs & wants both; I concur.

So, yes, we all have known this for quite some time, at least subconsciously. But the IMLS has released a report (“Toward Equality of Access”) that shows the real impact public libraries have on bridging the digital divide. Part of the report states:
“African Americans and Hispanics are twice as likely to use library computers as Asian Americans and whites. Families making less than $15,000 annually are two to three times more likely to rely on library computers than those earning more than $75,000.”
Yep, I’d call that bridging.

Word Spy, a site devoted to sleuthing new words and phrases (“freinemy” is a good example). Thanks to Bookslut for the link.

The Las Vegas Hilton’s Star Trek: the Experience will open a new “ride” on March 18th, Borg Invasion 4D. The ride’s film is the world’s first 3-D movie both shot and projected entirely digitally. You wear 3-D glasses and sit in theater chairs that apparently poke you and move you around, to make the experience more realistic. Ooooh, Borg ride….. *drool*

A recent study found that men and women spend similar amounts of time playing computer games online, are equally likely to own a handheld game system, and to send text messages on their phones.

Coolio animated paper models from Flying Pig for you to make. I think these would make swell gifts for office mates and friends. The witch model is a little suggestive–so, think before you give for Halloween 😉

Does half your mail consist of random credit card offers? Do you want them to stop? If you do, like I do (damn shameful waste of paper if you ask me), you can formally request that companies stop sending these to you. The best part is, all you do is make one phone call to stop getting these credit card offers.

Ooh, you people are naughty if you are thinking what I think you were thinking when you read that headline…So, Calvin & Hobbes now has an extensive strip search. Here’s LiB’s favorite strip regarding libraries.

TechTV (bless their little gamer hearts) took a long, hard look at four top of the line gaming laptops, including the new Inspiron XPS that Dell has been tooting their little horns about. They looked at gaming performance, overall laptop performance, size, battery life, and extra features. The winner? Alienware’s Area 51-m Extreme. Not only is it swanky looking, but it performs well too. Well, la de da. LiB’s wishlist just got one item longer.

The new Seattle Central Library (opening on May 23rd) has the following items which make me shiver with jealousy:

• free wireless access in every corner of the library
• sound domes that contain the music coming from speakers in the YA area from leaking into other parts of the library
• wireless “smart” necklaces that let library staff communicate and respond from anywhere in the building
• 400 public use computers
• software that will provide a floor map diagramming each book’s location, so the catalog will tell you a book’s call number and show you exactly where to find it (being developed by a library staffer)
• a book sorter that uses RFID chips to automatically take the items to the correct bin or branch truck

Thanks to Baa Baa Blog for the link.