Readers' Advisory

Farewell Jackie Collins

Writer

1937-2015

British-born author Jackie Collins regularly landed on best-seller lists with her racy page-turners that chronicled the scandalous doings of various fictional movie stars, rock stars, up-and-coming stars, and has-been stars. Best known for her immensely successful Hollywood series that kicked off with the 1983 best seller Hollywood Wives, Collins mined her own experiences in celebrity-ville for the plots of many of her books. Critics were not always been kind to Collins, but the 500 million books sold under her name attest to her enduring appeal. Collins died of breast cancer at the age of 77. (Biography in Context).

Click here for book by Jackie Collins.

Readers' Advisory

Patience and Fortitude: Power, Real  Estate, and the Fight to Save A Public Library
By Scott Sherman (2015)

 

 

For over a century, the New York Public Library (NYPL) has been considered a cultural mecca, with its iconic lion statues "Patience" and "Fortitude" welcoming tourists, scholars, writers, new immigrants, and its fellow New Yorkers. As Sherman (contributing writer, The Nation) details in this real-life thriller, the historic research center and its branches recently faced an uncertain future in light of financial struggles and misguided good intentions. NYPL officials and trustees formulated a plan to renovate the central library by transporting three million research books to a storage facility in New Jersey in order to make room for Internet and technology labs. To raise money for the project, they also wanted to sell several rundown branches. When the public heard about the plan, they fought to keep the renowned research library intact and save the branches from closing. Famous authors, scholars, and library lovers built a grassroots campaign, which ultimately succeeded, in support of these vital neighborhood centers. (Library Journal).

 

NPR Review

 

Excerpt from NPR:

The late eminent architecture critic Ada Louise Huxtable deserves special mention as a heroic voice of the opposition forces. Sherman says Huxtable was 91 and in failing health when the controversy erupted. Stonewalled by library officials when she initially tried to research the renovation plan, Huxtable persevered and wrote an excoriating essay for The Wall Street Journal in 2012. Responding to the library officials' argument that modernization was needed because only 6 percent of print sources were being read every year by patrons, Huxtable said:

"If we could estimate how many ways in which the world has been changed by that 6%, the number would be far more meaningful than the traffic through [the library's] lion-guarded doors ... [A] research library is a timeless repository of treasures, not a popularity contest measured by head counts, the current arbiter of success."

 

Readers' Advisory

Black Mass: The Irish Mob, the FBI, and a Devil's Deal
Dick Lehr and Gerard O'Neill (2000)

John Connolly and James "Whitey" Bulger grew up together on the tough streets of South Boston. Decades later, they met again when Connolly was a major figure in the FBI's Boston office and Bulger was godfather of the Irish Mob. This is the true story of what happened between them as a dark deal spiraled out of control, leading to drug dealing, racketeering, and murder. Includes black and white photographs. The authors write for the Boston Globe . O'Neill has won the Pulitzer Prize, and both authors have won the Hancock and Loeb awards. They have covered the Bulger-Connolly story for over a decade. (Booknews.com)

Books for Librarians

Library Professional Development

The Meaning of the Library: A Cultural History
Edited by Alice Crawford (2015)

 

From Greek and Roman times to the digital era, the library has remained central to knowledge, scholarship, and the imagination. Generously illustrated, The Meaning of the Library examines this key institution of Western culture. Tracing what the library has meant since its beginning, examining how its significance has shifted, and pondering its importance in the twenty-first century, significant contributors--including the librarian of the Congress and the former executive director of the HathiTrust--present a cultural history of the library. (From the publisher)

Books for Librarians

Library Professional Development

The Library Innovation Toolkit:
Ideas, Strategies and Programs
Edited by Anthony Molaro and Leah L. White (2015)

Librarians describe innovations in libraries focusing more on people--either staff or patrons--than on technology. They cover innovation in terms of culture, staff, outreach, technology, spaces, and programs. Among their topics are the library's role in promoting tolerance and diversity in a university, the Virginia Tech experience in building a toolkit to craft an instruction program, seizing the opportunity for innovation and service improvement, a digital media lab in an academic library, and stepping into the story with children and young people.

Readers' Advisory

Farewell Wayne Dyer

Self-Help Writer

1940-2015

 

Charismatic and camera-friendly, Wayne Dyer became well known after the publication of his first best-selling book, Your Erroneous Zones, in 1976. Since then, he has been a proponent of such typical New Age concepts as "living in the moment" and making "choices that bring us to a higher awareness," as he told a reporter for the St. Petersburg Times in 1994. In addition to books, Dyer has used audio recordings and the broadcast media to his advantage, securing his position as a cultural icon and leading light in the areas of motivation and self-awareness. (Biography in Context).

 

Dwyer was diagnosed with lymphocytic leukemia in 2009.  He died in August 2015 at the age of 75.

 

For books by Wayne Dyer, click here.

Readers' Advisory

Farewell Oliver Sacks

Neurologist

1933-2015

 

An author and physician in the field of neurology, Oliver Sacks (1933-2015) helped fuel debate about the essential qualities of humanity through his books, essays, and lectures. The author of such well-known works as Awakenings and The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat, Sacks used case studies from his own practice to advocate re-humanizing the medical arts. His stories of courageous patients coping with handicaps inspired popular movies, plays, and even an opera, but they spoke most eloquently on their own as a testament to the hardiness of the human spirit. (Biography in Context).

Click here for books by and about Oliver Sacks.