MADAME, it is no modish thing,
The bookman’s tribute that I bring ;
A talk of antiquaries grey,
Dust unto dust this many a day,
Gossip of texts and bindings old,
Of faded type, and tarnish’d gold !Can ladies care for this to-do
With Payne, Derome, and Padeloup ?
Can they resign the rout, the ball,
For lonely joys of shelf and stall?The critic thus, serenely wise ;
But you can read with other eyes,
Whose books and bindings treasured are
‘Midst mingled spoils of peace and war ;
Shields from the fights the Mahdi lost,
And trinkets from the Golden Coast,
And many things divinely done
By Chippendale and Sheraton,And trophies of Egyptian deeds,
And fans, and plates, and Aggrey beads,
Pomander boxes, assegais,
And sword-hilts worn in Marlbro’s days.In this pell-mell of old and new,
Of war and peace, my essays, too,
For long in serials tempest-tost,
Are landed now, and are not lost :
Nay, on your shelf secure they lie,
As in the amber sleeps the fly.
‘Tis true, they are not ” rich nor rare ; ”
Enough, for me, that they are there !
Library Advertainment
I hope you’ve seen the hilarious Old Spice ads popping up. Really clever actually, to write and film proper responses to people’s tweets.
On Twitter, wawoodworth wrote “ATTN LIBRARIAN TWEEPS: Need help getting @oldspice guy to say a few words regarding libraries. RT plz. Thanks.”
Bundle o' Updates
In addition to our Lending Launch last week, we’re constantly adding new bits and pieces to the site almost every day. Here’s a bunch of things we’ve been working on:
- Over 10,000 human edits last week!
Wow! So great to see so many people making large and small contributions to the catalog. Some standout editors include Fiction Addiction, menolly42, Anonymous (no, really), and an actually anonymous editor who has taken an interest in books written in Raeto Romance languages. We’re also seeing new books being added in a variety of languages, by R. Knoop, for example. [this is good]
Open Library is back online
Open Library is offline. We are having some hiccups with our database node. We are working on the issue and will update here once the it is resolved.
UPDATE, 10:11am PST: And, we’re back. Sorry about that, folks! Have you seen the new collection of ebooks you can borrow?
Small Moves: Open Library Integrates Digital Lending
Today, the Internet Archive is pleased to announce 2 new borrowing options through Open Library:
- Borrowing ebooks through OverDrive – an ebook through your local library
We have worked with the team at OverDrive to import about 70,000 new ebook editions into Open Library. All loans via OverDrive are managed through the OverDrive system. Once you click on borrow for these titles, you’ll need to tell OverDrive where you are so it can find your local library.Want to try a search through the OverDrive titles?
- Borrowing Scanned Books through participating libraries – an ebook to you, anywhere in the world
Three long-time Internet Archive library partners are now offering scanned books from their collections for loan through Open Library. Boston Public Library, the Biblioteca Ludwig von Mises at the Universidad Francisco Marroquin in Guatemala, the Marine Biological Laboratory in Wood’s Hole as well as the Internet Archive itself are proud to make around 200 titles available for loan as ebooks through Open Library.You’ll need to download the free Adobe® Digital Editions software to manage borrowing scanned books.
- Borrowing Physical Books through WorldCat– from your local library
Since Open Library was launched back in 2007, we’ve added links wherever possible into the WorldCat catalog, which you can search using your location to find a copy of the book near you.