The Woman Who Created the Children's Library

Can you imagine a world where children were not allowed into libraries so they would be protected from the morally corrupting influence of novels? Until Anne Carroll Moore (b. 1871), the subject of this fascinating "New Yorker" article, took on the task of creating a children's library for New York City in 1895, you had to be 14 years old and a boy to get in to the Astor Library. As I look around me at the very busy North Branch on a summer afternoon, I find it hard to believe that kids were denied this wonderful experience. Moore's influence turned out to be a good thing, of course, but there were aspects of her story that are almost as surprising as the experts' opinions of children's needs and limitations. For one, if she didn't like a book, that was it. She would deem a book unsuitable with a terse,"Not recommended for purchase by an expert," noted in the margin of a publisher's catalog. Unfortunately, she disapproved of E. B. White's Stuart Little.

Read on for a very interesting story on libraries and the world of children's literature:
click here

Ciao. Barb

Too many mistakes

Somehow I've posted twice now to Kate's blog. I'm sorry. I haven't a clue how this happened (unless it's something to do with both blogs being open on the same PC). Anyway, she showed me how to do a Wordle, and it's loads of fun. Here's mine:
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Ciao. Barb

Do we have a book on...?

This was a pretty interesting subject search. A young woman in pursuit of material for her research paper (junior college level, I'd guess) asked for a book on sarcasm. That's a fairly broad topic to search under, and I had only moderate success by suggesting we look in the 808s and biographies of Don Rickles and the like. I did have book on irony, however, and since irony is close to sarcasm, and using the right tone, irony can be delivered sarcastically, I thought it was worth a look. The book is called The Big Book of Irony by Jon Winokur. Ironically, it's a very small book.
Ciao. Barb

Here goes!

First posting, kinda scary. Writing my profile was harrowing enough. Anyhow, I'm using this as a learning experience to be able to be a better librarian and to maintain a place in the world of the digitally hip. I really don't believe there are a lot of people out there who want to know my thinking on too many things, so I will probably offer a mix of book recommendations, library experiences (the most interesting question of the day), and random thoughts as they come up. I don't promise to be fascinating, controversial, or titillating. I do promise to use good grammar and spell things correctly.
Ciao for now.
Barb