Personal Library Lessons from BooksTellYouWhy

I don’t need much in life. Someplace to sit, something to eat, and someone to share it with. Fancy furniture, electronics, and decor aren’t a priority–except when it comes to where my rare books will live. Oh my books, you are so many, how will I ever find the funds to give you a proper, comfortable home? Fear not! With a few excellent home library tips from BooksTellYouWhy, we’re all on our way to becoming a responsible rare book owners, while keeping a few extra dollars for ourselves.

Below are just a few key points to proper rare book-keeping.

For more, and some knowledgable context, read BTYW’s original blog post on their website, HERE.

• If metal shelves aren’t an option, coat your wooden shelves with a proper sealant to prevent acids from seeping into your books from the wood. The best options are a water-based aliphatic urethane or a clear two-coat epoxy finish.
• In locations with high humidity, consider ventilated shelving. The additional air circulation can help prevent the growth of mold and mildew.
• Avoid letting books slouch on the shelf. Any book with a spine wider than three inches, or taller than 18 inches, should be laid flat. The bindings of these books sometimes cannot support the spine, weakening the spine, warping the covers, and damaging the pages.

Guerrilla Libraries

New York City is brimming with artists and their art, from the traditional to the avant-garde. Some artists aim to shock, some to educate, and some to better their fellow citizens through education and reuse. John Locke, Columbia Architecture grad, is revitalizing the city’s all-but-abandoned phone booths guerrilla-style with pop-up libraries.

These small phone booth inserts are put together on site, akin to many IKEA flat-packs, which require minimal manpower and materials. The books available are constantly rotating, and uses are encouraged to leave books at will, providing a rotating selection that could potentially be as varied as those passing by.

Locke’s overarching program, which he calls the Department of Urban Betterment, showcases many other possible city improvement ideas. As for the City of New York and the how the ‘powers that be’ feel about his guerrilla libraries, take what you will from his recent interview with The Atlantic when they asked:

“(Locke declined to comment, so you can probably take that as a big “No, the city has not approved this project.”)”

 

The full Atlantic article on Locke and his libraries (by John Metcalfe) can be found here, complete with photos that were published with the cooperation of the artist.

 

Pinterest Personal Archiving, Part 2

A quick little update on using Pinterest!

I’ve been using Pinterest for about two weeks now, and I’m finding the layout, access, and community rather intriguing. Up until this point I had been a devout Tumblr user, relishing in the ability to focus my energies on posting to, in simplistic terms, an online sticker book.

Pinterest provides me with the freedom to categorize my postings so that I can utilize the information within- something that it quite difficult in Tumblr without first providing the proper tags (and then remembering those tags later).  It makes Tumblr the prefect entertainment tool, while introducing Pinterest as a utility. Example: Book cover designer friend using Pinterest for organizing her online inspirations, images, and typographic examples for future use.

One criticism I can offer (which might just be the nature of the beast itself) is my tendency to post purely visual items. Tumblr provides an avenue for textual links and posts, which are akin to blogs. Pinterest seems to be just that, a visual pinboard of images to remember.

Recently, there’s been rumblings about Copyright issues regarding how people post to Pinterest. For one viewpoint, and a bit of background published by The Verge, head over here.

Totem Friday theme acquired.

John F. Kennedy Alien Hunter, the latest bad-ass president tribute by Jason Heuser. Prints are available through Etsy.

Click image for full LaughingSquid feature.

Internship Achieved!

Huzzah! To The Rodgers and Hammerstein Archives of Recorded Sound I go!

Food Truck Festival Under Consideration for Coney Island

Reblogged from Amusing the Zillion:

South Street Seaport, Governors Island and Staten Island’s Midland Beach are some of the New York City destinations that have hosted food truck festivals–gatherings of 10 to 30 trucks– since the trend started four years ago. The above photo shows paper taco trucks, but real, live food trucks could roll into Coney Island this summer if a Brooklyn food blogger’s pitch to Community Board 13 is successful. On Monday, DevourNYC (“food blogging to the masses”) tweeted… …

The International Spy Museum

Located in Washington, D.C., the ISM “is the only public museum in the United States solely dedicated to espionage and the only one in the world to provide a global perspective on an all-but-invisible profession that has shaped history and continues to have a significant impact on world events.” In all seriousness…this is amazingly cool.

The International Spy Museum includes exhibits that puts the patron in the shoes of covert operatives from the earliest historical times to the present, exhibiting tech, practices, and how spies survived both in war and peacetimes. Adults can participate in the more focused interactive spying activities and include the younger sneaks in guided GPS spy-tours of the city!

Check out their spyblog, or tiptoe around their website for more info!

Couldn’t have said it any better.

“This is one of the wonderful aspects of gaming, that I think gets overlooked: when we play games, we’re using our imaginations to bring cardboard and plastic to life. If we’re lucky, that spark can start a fire that burns long after the game has been put away.”

-Wil Wheaton (excerpted from WWdn: In Exile, here)