We're migrating!

On June 30th, the Delaware Library Blog became an "official" blog of the State of Delaware! We're migrating to a hosted WordPress platform in the Delaware government portal, where we'll have a slick new look and some enhanced functions- so please update your bookmarks to our new site at http://library.blogs.delaware.gov

I'm looking forward to getting hold of a number of books that were well-reviewed in the most recent Sunday New York Times:

• The Evolution of God, by Robert Wright
  
• Love and Obstacles, by Aleksander Hemon
  
• Wanting, by Richard Flanagan
  
• The Whole Five Feet, by Christopher Beha

The last title looks especially interesting- in which the author spends one year attempting to read the 51- volume set of Harvard Classics in its entirety. You can read part of the first chapter here. Happy reading.

121 and 40

During this last week, the Delaware legislature voted to amend State anti-discrimination laws to include gay and lesbian Delawareans for the first time. Shortly after the legislation was passed, Delaware Lt. Gov. Matt Denn published a touching blog post about the history of the decade-long attempt to pass this legislation.

June 28th also marks the 40th anniversary of the "Stonewall Riots" in New York City, one of the pivotal events in modern Gay and Lesbian history- the event that is credited with beginning the movement for liberation movement that has made events like the passing of S.B. 121 possible.
The Delaware Library Catalog has several books and movies about the event itself and more resources about the 20th Century gay liberation movement.

How're we doing?

The circulation of library items from the Kent and Sussex County continues to rise, with June's final figures not yet in, suggesting an all-time high for the year as the message continues to be heard that libraries are a tremendous economic and leisure resource when times are hard:





Beach community public library circulation is growing nicely this year. We're already seeing a steep rise in circulation every month since February, with the vacation season barely begun!

59 years ago today...

The Korean War began with the invasion of South Korea by the Communist-led North and the beginning of the United Nations "police action" to restore the independence of the South. Three months later, hundreds of thousands of Chinese troops crossed into the peninsula and began clashing with the predominantly American troops making up the bulk of the U.N. forces.

You can view an incredible set of digitized maps of various phases of the conflict at this U.S. Army Center for Military History webpage, and click here for a public domain collection of photographs from the War. Other downloadable resources from the U.S. CMH include chronologies and posters, and a list of Medal of Honor recipients.

You can find a large number of books about the Korean War in the Delaware Library Catalog. Click here for a full list of books, although the Coldest Winter: America and the Korean War by David Halberstam and the Coldest War: A Memoir of Korea by James Brady are particularly well regarded general histories of the war.

The Korean War never actually ended, of course. The U.S. Army still maintains substantial forces in the Korean peninsula, and the stalemate in which the active conflict ended is still a significant factor in current U.S. foreign relations.

Mysterious Learning

I think that my personal knowledge of English vicarages and country homes comes from Miss Marple, and though I don't have any first hand experience of Hawaii I feel like I know plenty about the Island State from watching reruns of Hawaii Five-O.

This makes me think about how much we can learn from the type of genre fiction that is most often categorized as merely entertainment.

On (gen)re-flection, mysteries and thrillers can be a unique form of access to foreign lands and foreign cultures- there are incredibly good, entertaining reads out there that also vividly portray the geography and everyday lives of nations that most people will never visit.

How many people knew all that much about Botswana before McCall-Smith's Precious Ramotswe mysteries? They are thoroughly enjoyable, enormously popular, and are brought alive by the author's obvious love for the country and its people, with vivid depictions of how the intersection between traditional culture and modernity plays out in this one dusty nation.

Eliot Patison's Inspector Shan mysteries, while thrilling and tragic, are also rich with ethnographic details about Tibetan folkways, from agriculture and diet to spirituality.

There are mysteries set in the slums of India such as The Case of the Missing Servant, by Tarquin Hall, which portray the intersection between the "New India" and the ancient caste system, a well as the well-regarded "Inspector Ghote" series by HRF Keating.

If you're interested in exploring the world AND enjoying a gripping read, Linda Bertland's School Library Resource Website has links to other great lists for mysteries set in foreign countries, organized by region.

Ohio Libraries Fight for Survival

Last year, the fight to save the Philadelphia libraries was the big news in libraries. As befits that fair city, the campaign was a bare-knuckle street fight, with daily rallies, political maneuvering, and direct action.

On Friday, Governor Strickland of Ohio announced a budget that included the elimination of as much as $200 million of library funding over the next two years- potentially equaling a 50% cut in most public library funding.

In Ohio, the revolution has been digitized. Over the weekend, an huge number of websites were created or overhauled to publicize the budget issue and to encourage library patrons to contact their legislators:

The "Save Ohio Libraries" website
The Toledo Library homepage
The Columbus Public Library website today

The campaign has also encompassed social media to an unprecedented degree. Comments on Governor Strickland's Facebook page now almost exclusively concern the library issue, with a new comment from an Ohio voter every couple of minutes, all stating their support for libraries and opposition to the cuts. Twitter is also seeing an incredible amount of posts in support of Ohio Libraries, with supporters using the site to drive supporters to sites where they can register their opinion, contact their state and local legislators, and publicize the issue within local and national media.

Good Luck, Ohio-ans! With this amount of passion and commitment, all things are possible!