California State Library

Take a photographic trip around California!

Starting on April 1 and continuing throughout the month, we will be posting a new postcard every day from the California State Library’s E.F. Mueller postcard collection on our blog, Around California in 30 Days.

These aren’t just any postcards - they are real photo postcards. Real photo postcards required the use of a special camera and film to create one-of-a-kind postcards. Often photographers would identify the subject of the postcard by writing the names of events, buildings or people on the negative.

Institute of Museum and Library Services has released Building Digital Communities: A Framework for Action and its companion primer Building Digital Communities: Getting Started, new resources to help set a vision for the future.

These resources raise awareness about the access and adoption that are essential to digital communities and identify goals related to availability, affordability, design for inclusion, public access, relevance, digital literacy, and consumer safety.

The Institute of Museum and Library Services posted the webcast of WebWise 2012. The WebWise Conference brings together representatives of museums, libraries, archives, systems science, education, and other fields to explore the many opportunities made possible by digital technologies. This year’s theme was “Tradition and Innovation.”

Here are some of the items that the library staff are reading or watching:

Billy Collins: Everyday Moments, Caught in Time - TED (Video)

51 Percent of Total Online Traffic is Non- Human - Singularity Hub

First User of Google’s Self-Driving Car is Legally Blind - Singularity Hub

The Future of Apps and Web - Pew Internet and American Life Project

U.S. Public Libraries: A Snapshot of Priorities & Perspectives - OCLC

Will Harry Potter Break the E-book DRM Spell? - Copyright and Technology

Studies in the News - a weekly compilation of policy-related articles and reports produced by the California Research Bureau

ProQuest announced on March 22, 2012, that it would publish the next edition of the Statistical Abstract of the United States in conjunction with Bernan Press.

Since 1967, on or around Hans Christian Andersen’s birthday, April 2, International Children’s Book Day is celebrated to inspire a love of reading and to call attention to children’s books.

Each year a different National Section of International Board on Books for Young People sponsors the Day. This year’s sponsor is Mexico.

On April 2, the National Archives and Records Administration will make individual records from the 1940 Census available to the public for the first time.

March is Women’s History Month. The Library of Congress, National Archives and Records Administration, National Endowment for the Humanities, National Gallery of Art, National Park Service, Smithsonian Institution and United States Holocaust Memorial Museum join in paying tribute to the generations of women whose commitment to nature and the planet have proved invaluable to society.

Here are some of the items the California State Library Staff is reading:

Be More Productive by Making Better Daily Choices - HBR blog

Einstein’s Complete Archives Now Online - Mashable Tech

The No Whining Rule for Managers - HBR blog

The State of Mobile America - Pew Internet and American Life Project

The State of the News Media 2012: An Annual Report on American Journalism - Pew Research Center for Excellence in Journalism

Studies in the News - a weekly compilation of policy-related articles and reports produced by the California Research Bureau

The State Library is creating a Pinterest board to honor and showcase libraries in California and we would love you to participate. If you are not familiar with Pinterest, it is a new social media that allows you “share the things you love” on an online pinboard. Take a look at the State Library’s current Pinterest boards.

If you would like to participate, please send a photo or drawing of your library to Kris Klein (kklein@library.ca.gov). The image can be old or new. It can be the inside or outside of your building. Please send the image as a jpeg. And feel free to send more than one photo!

Encyclopaedia Britannica: After 244 Years in Print, Only Digital Copies Sold - Christian Science Monitor

Google Begins to Scale Back Its Scanning of Books from University Libraries - Chronicle of Higher Education

Microsoft: OnLive’s Windows-on-iPad Service Violates License - Ars Technica

U.S. Warns Apple, Publishers, Justice Department Threatens Lawsuits, Alleging Collusion Over E-Book Pricing - Wall Street Journal

Using Web Archives to Preserve the Past - The Guardian

Studies in the News - a weekly compilation of policy-related articles and reports produced by the California Research Bureau

Luis Herrera, City Librarian for San Francisco, was nominated by President Barack Obama to serve on the National Museum and Library Board. Earlier this year, Mr. Herrera was named Library Journal’s Librarian of the Year.

On Thursday, March 21, a Night at the California State Library will present Illuminated Manuscripts with internationally known antiquarian bookseller John Windle and our History Librarian Emeritus, Gary F. Kurutz who will present rare pieces from the California State Library’s collection and tell the stories behind them. Doors open at 5 pm.

Check out some of the illuminated manuscripts we have display.

Here are some of the items the California State Library Staff is reading:

By the Numbers: Technology’s Place in our Lives - Pew Internet and American Life Project

The Library in the City: Changing Demands and a Challenging Future - Pew Charitable Trust

Tablets putting a Big Hurt on E-reader Sales - PC Magazine

Studies in the News - a weekly compilation of policy-related articles and reports produced by the California Research Bureau

The Homeless Youth Project is a project of the California Research Bureau dedicated to educating local and state policymakers about unaccompanied youth who are homeless or at-risk of becoming homeless. Visit HYP’s CA Homeless Youth Project blog to find out more.