Books of the Century

http://booksofthecentury.com/

This website compiles, by year, four different lists of books published during the twentieth century:

1. The top ten bestsellers in fiction, as recorded by Publishers Weekly.
2. The top ten bestsellers in nonfiction, also as recorded by Publishers Weekly.
3. The main selections of the Book-of-the-Month Club, which was founded in 1926.
4. Critically acclaimed and historically significant books, as identified by consulting various critics’ and historians’ lists of important books.

Open Library

http://openlibrary.org/

A project of the Internet Archive, the Open Library aims to create a web page for every book in existence.  Currently a very young beta site, the infrastructure has been created and approximately 20 million records are currently searchable.  Full records contain typical metadata fields as well as an image of the book.

Banning Children From Libraries?

I just received a call about Congress’ move to ban children from libraries… WHAT??!!

OK, calm down, and take a deep breath.  There is much more to the story.

The Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA), passed this past August, requires that all products for children under 12 must be tested for lead.  Books are subject to this requirement, as lead is often present in ink, but testing is expensive and time consuming.

So what does this mean for libraries?  Well, that is not completely clear just yet.  The Consumer Product Safety Commission is still working on guidelines for all industries, including schools and libraries, for when the law takes effect on February 10th.  Libraries and schools could be granted an exemption.

For more information:

ALA Wiki – http://wikis.ala.org/professionaltips/index.php/Consumer_Product_Safety_Improvement_Act_(CPSIA)

Library Journal – http://www.libraryjournal.com/article/CA6628453.html