The book to art club

This project is part of the Library as incubator project work.  I have just joined the book to art club. I am not quite sure how it will work, hence joining.  I have borrowed the June book from my local library, but have yet to start to read it.

There are some groups who meet to do the art/craft together but there are also dispersed members.  I am trying it as a way to see how it fits with readers advisory work and makers (and I think it will).  I will write about it in a future post.  The June book is about graffiti so I will be interested to see what (legal) ideas come forth.  There is a back list of titles and a facilitators guide.

my review of The artist's library

The Artist's Library: A Field Guide by Erinn Batykefer
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is another new book exploring the area of artists/makers and libraries. The writers of the book manage the excellent Library as incubator project blog. There is a scarcity of writing in this area and this book makes a helpful contribution.

This book seems to be written for library clients/artists/makers, but it can also be used as a source of inspiration and ideas for library staff when developing programs, services and partnerships. There are many examples of how artists work with libraries. There is useful information about copyright and online resources. They explore the "inherently inspiring nature of libraries". Does this describe your library?

The poem by Joseph Mills called If librarians were honest gains a worthy inclusion.

Much of the material has been covered on their blog, but this book bring it together well. The chapters have different themes exploring diverse sources of inspiration and ideas, often within the library. The chapters also include the work of artists relevant to the points being made, and some exercises which artists/makers can do, or which libraries could run as programs or services.

It would work well as a companion volume to Bibliocraft by Jessica Pigza

View all my reviews

Live streaming premium events

The Sydney Opera House has been live streaming some events for a while, or making the events available later on.

They are currently having a series of Beethoven concerts which you can buy tickets for, or watch for free online.  This is impressive.  I am guessing (and it is a guess) that they could be using this as a way to build future audiences on site.  Some libraries are doing this too.

Library consultation by Hennepin County Library

This photograph shows some of the consultation done by Hennepin County Library during the US National Library Week.  You can see more images at this link.
I really like this, and it is a great way to find out how people who use the library think about it.

Another part of this could be taking similar questions to the local park, the farmers markets, and other areas where people who use your library could be.  This could be a way to reach people who use your online resources, but don't go into the buildings.  It could also be a way to let people who don't use your library know about what could be in it for them.

Vivid social media

During Vivid this kind of signage was in the area so you could easily share your images and comments with others.  I like the way it was really easy to see how to share - it helped the conversation.

Vivid and science

Last week, one of the talks I went to as part of Vivid was about science and illustration. It was fascinating to see that this scientific illustration and animation was all about storytelling. There was a tension between accuracy and interpretation.  You can see the animations shown and how one is used by the CSIRO as well as the work of David Goodsell.

Creating and designing with digital collections

Yesterday I went to a session of this name as part of Vivid. It featured the work of  Sarah Kenderdine (some examples of her work), 

Lucy Simpson and Kate Sweetapple. It was great to hear from all of them, and the diversity of their work was impressive.

With the fabric work of Lucy Simpson  the art/design starts with the stories, and is meant to be used, it seems that though use, stories are added, as people connect the stories of their lives to the stories of the art works.

Kate Sweetapple had wonderful elements of whimsy in her work exploring names and colours.

Sarah Kenderdine's work connects people to places they can't visit, like a cave system in China which has been closed because the visits are causing destruction of the art works which the caves are famous for. There is also lovely work in India, with Europeana, and the Museum ofVictoria.

It also, for me, connected to the work of Jessica Pigza, bringing stories and art together. 

People were being encouraged to use the State Library data - information about this here.

Much to think about. 

Great things happening with The Queenslander

This blog post from the State Library of Queensland tells about the new way of looking at The Queenslander.  It is great work from Mitchell Whitelaw and Geoff Hinchcliffe.  It really a lovely way of exploring this collection.  There a colour search/browse element which is a lot of fun.

You can't always be there...

The National Theatre in England does live streaming of some of their productions.  Earlier this year I saw Coriolanus that way.


This meant I could see the work of Josie Rourke, a totally amazing director, as well as an incredible cast.  It wasn't the same as being there. When I go to the theatre I try to sit in the first few rows from the stage (and I only go to performances with people who enjoy sitting so close to the action), so no live streaming was going to match that, but...it was impressive.  You did feel the energy of the live production, and it enabled me to see a performance which even if I had been in London I may not have been able to see, because the tickets sold out so fast.  It would be great if performances like these could be streamed in more locations.

This highlighted to me the value of streamed library services.  It is not the same as being there, but it can still be really impressive.  Are there library service you can stream to your community?

Look at what Sacramento Public Library is doing.

They have a Game of Thrones hangout coming up you might like to try, with a daytime time zone.

3D printing and history

A few days ago I shared this video on twitter, it is a 3D printing of the crown of Henry VIII.
I shared it because of the history element.  I thought how interesting it would be if schools around the world who had to study history of the Tudors could be able to access this technology as part of learning about the past.  I was interested to receive a very negative tweet about this, which lead to this blog post.

Most students of Tudor history are not going to have the luxury of seeing this crown, or many other historical object up close, and 3D printing is a way to access some elements of history. Imagine being able to hold replicas of key museum items.

The robot tours at the Australian National Museum are another was to get up close to museum materials (and the tours are impressive).

I think using creative approaches to how information is provided are important, and libraries have a key role in that.

143 books to read in summer 2014 - really?

The headline "143 books to read in summer 2014" came through my zite feed and depressed me. I realise that it is a way of saying there are lots of wonderful books to read over the next few months. It briefly made me feel that I was a reader without hope.  I am sure it did not mean to.

I read, but unless they were 143 picture books there is no way I could read 143 books over a few months.  If they are 143 "big fat fantasy" titles, that would be a much longer time.  Looking at the list, and it is an interesting one, they are not titles you could read in 143 evenings (if you were kind of taking a book a day approach).

This is a lovely list, which did not have the desired effect of excitement.  It highlights the challenge of how you promote lots and lots of exciting things.  This headline implied I needed to read them all, but really they were giving me a lovely choice, which it took a while for me to see (being blinded by the inability to read 143 titles in a few months).

Zentral- und Landesbibliothek Berlin and sign language

When you visit the website of the Zentral- und Landesbibliothek Berlin you see a link to gebaerdensprache which takes you to their page about signing services.

It includes the video, shown below as well as information about services to children.


I was impressed to see that they are catering for  section of the community which is often under represented in library services.

Thanks to Google translate for making some of this possible.

Cockatoo Island and social media

Cockatoo Island makes it very clear, almost as soon as you exit the ferry, how you can connect with them in social media.  I really like this.

#blogjune starts today

I am again participating in #blogjune, thanks to this lovely blog post written by @flexnib.  Her enthusiasm for this is infectious.

In previous years I have taken a theme based approach, libraries I would like to visit, inspirations, and signs.  This year will be more general.


I thought starting off happy, was a good start, and I like this video because it shows people so happy to read they are dancing about it.  Feel free to do your own happy dance as part of it.  Yes, this video has a few issues (only reading on paper is shown, and only in English), but I will not be picky as it is a fun video, and simply being able to read is something to dance about.

Happy #blogjune Updated 2 June as the code for the video disappeared.

You are approaching the future...

This sign is at the National Museum in Canberra.

This is one of my favourite museums.   They have really really interesting exhibitions, an excellent permanent exhibition and an amazing building.  I think the building builds excitement as you walk towards it seeing the curve of orange towering above you.  There are lovely views over the lake as well.

This sign is on the way to part of the museum.  I thought it was asking an excellent question for the end of blogjune.  I thought it was suggesting a proactive rather than a passive approach to the future.  It is also suitably ambiguous as we all make and are made by our environments.  It seems to require conscious action.

It has been another fun blogjune. I am still catching up with lots of fabulous posts written by many amazing people - so part of my future will be reading more blogjune posts.

I already have a ticket...

This sign is at the National Gallery in Canberra.  It is about their current exhibition which is well worth seeing.

They had more complex information to convey, but it broke into three parts - hence the bigger writing on the sing.  This meant that you did not have to read the whole sign, just the part which related to your circumstances.

They were saving your time and giving you the information you needed, easily.  There were several of these panels on the way in, so which ever way you approached the gallery you were likely to see them.

I was interested that none of the signs had social media connections, but perhaps I missed them.

The signage for the exhibition was excellent.

Put your sign where it matters

This sign is encouraging people to download podcasts about the western MacDonnell Ranges, and other national parks in the Northern Territory.  This sign is in a location with mobile coverage.  This is really sensible.

Many national parks do not have mobile coverage and it would be really irritating to see this sign in one of those places.
Seeing it where there is mobile coverage, so you could actually download the podcasts is excellent.

Do you have any signs designed to irritate?  Or are they like this one, in the right place and even including the url to make it really easy to find the podcasts?

It worked well as a promotion to, letting people know about different places they could go in national parks.

You can see the links to the stories here. (Note there are a few issues about the names of the stories).

I also like the sharing element.

Is the sign big enough?

This example was taken from the train station near the Serangoon Library.

This sign was readable so that it was clear that the library was in the shopping centre.  It made it very easy to find.

apple sign

I really like this sign. I like it so much that I have blogged about it before. I think it is a great way to let people know about different apple types, and to encourage people to try some different ones.  It does not list all apple options, but a range.

It has simple to read graphics and gives useful to read information about apple without being overwhelming.

It is a very nice example of keeping a sign simple.

signs to explain services

Sometimes new services may need an explanation.  This sign in Clementi Public Library in Singapore used images and limited text to explain a services which provides surprise reads.  The service is a nice idea, as is the sign to explain it to people who may not be sure about borrowing a brown bag (with a book in it) from the library.