Librarian Action Figure Unshelved strip for Tuesday, October 14, 2003. Unshelved by Bill Barnes and Gene Ambaum [Unshelved] I've ordered one of these figures -- I couldn't resist. BTW, is it ok for me to post this strip here? I don't want to goof here. Maybe I'll change it to just the link. 7:01:14 AM     [comment []];[]

National Book Award Finalists 2003 National Book Award Finalists. The National Book Foundation today announced the five finalists for the young people's literature category. They are Paul Fleischman -- Breakout Polly Horvath -- The Canning Season Jim Murphy -- An American Plague Richard Peck -- The River Between Us Jaqueline Woodson -- Locomotion [Kids Lit] The adult finalists are interesting too. And then there's the "issue" of Stephen King and the "distinguished contribution to American letters." 6:55:24 AM     [comment []];[]

BILL'S BEST BOOKS: A Monthly Menu: October 2003 [ALAN--The Assembly on Literature for Adolescents of NCTE] More good book recommendations, although some of these sound quite close to the cliff of "edgy" YA literature. 6:41:06 AM     [comment []];[]

More Evidence for Value of School Libraries School Libraries Source: Orlando Sentinel [requires registration] Good school libraries boost readers"Donna Baumbach, a professor at the University of Central Florida, analyzed more than 1,700 media centers at Florida schools. She found that well-staffed, well-stocked libraries drive up elementary reading scores by 9 percent, middle-school scores by 3 percent and high-school scores by 22 percent." Link contributed by Shirl Kennedy. [ResourceShelf] 6:25:42 AM     [comment []];[]

Primary Sources from the Web Using Primary Sources on the Web. Using Primary Sources on the Web is a nice little site put together by by the Instruction & Research Services Committee of the Reference and User Service Association History Section in the American Library Association. "Students and researchers now have greater access to primary source materials for historical research than ever before. The traditional use of sources available in print and microfilm continues to be the foundation for research, but in some cases documents, letters, maps, photographs of ancient artifacts and other primary material are available online in different formats from free websites or subscription services on the internet. Users of primary sources have always needed to examine their sources critically, but now with the proliferation of electronic resources from a wide variety of web site producers, evaluation is more important than ever before. Users of web resources must now consider the authenticity of documents, what person or organization is the internet provider, and whether the electronic version serves their needs. This brief guide is designed to provide students and researchers with information to help them evaluate the internet sources and the quality of primary materials that can be found online. " [LISNews.com] 6:11:47 AM     [comment []];[]