Bibliotheka is a site that gathers digital files of books in Spanish. The collections can be searched by title, author, and subject. Files can also be browsed through larger topical categories such as art, science, poetry, or religion.

Individual entries include a brief description of the piece, art cover, file size, genre, and two different options for download. There is also space for users to comment on the piece.

Here’s an example of what you will find for Isabel Allende.

You can take a look at the site here.

Crítica Biliotecológica (Library and Information Science Critique: Journal of the Information Sciences Recorded in Documents) is a budding publication from the Facultad de Filosofia y Letras, Universidad Autonoma de Nuevo Leon, Mexico. The online, open access, publication will be focusing on information sciences and critical analysis of the field. Some of the broader topics contributors are encouraged to discuss include, analysis of the “information society”, “research methodology”, “the limits of copyright”, “social injustice within the field”, and “privatization and monopolies from information providers”, among other challenging topics.

While the journal will specialize in articles by professionals, paraprofessionals and students debating various sides of issues within the library field, it also welcomes poetry, short stories, and other writings on the matter. The publishers expect to publish 4 times a year (January, April, July and October). Entries are welcome in both Spanish and English.

The first issues is already in the works, but people who wish to contribute and who already have an article that might interest the journal are encouraged to submit their work. (I didn’t find an obvious link where to submit your work, but I guess you can contact one of the organizers.)

Zapopan Martín Muela-Meza - zapopanmuela@gmail.com

José Antonio Torres Reyes - joantreyes@gmail.com

You can expect the first issues here.

The OLPC has reinvented their signature laptop and come out with a new model that looks more like an e-books, is more energy efficient, and will cost only $75. This new model looses the keyboard, but but functions through two touch screens, one of which can function as a keyboard. Another development on this project has been the adoption of Microsoft’s Windows as the machines operating systems. The new laptop will have a dual booting system.

Colombia’s Caldas region has signed up to offer OX laptops to about 65,000 children. Caldas’ governor Mario Aristizabal expressed the desire to offer children in this region the same advantages offered to children in developed countries around the world. There are plans for Manizales to join the OLPC project as well.

You can read about the new design here, and about the Colombian project here.

Image info here.

Lubuto means knowledge, enlightenment and light in the Bemba language, and this is exactly what the Lubuto Library Project is proving vulnerable children throughout sub-Saharan Africa.

The project is a non-profit based in Washington DC which has been providing library services since 2005. Their aim is to help provide information, a space for socialization, and a positive physical environment for children throughout sub-Saharan Africa. The project began after seeing the success a makeshift library at the Fountain of Hope Center which provided help for street children, victims of the AIDS crisis.

Each Lubuto Library has starts out with a collection of 5,000 items, primarily non-fiction, and covering a wide range of subjects. The initial collection has only English language books, but material in local languages is added once the library is established.

Interestingly, this project helps children in the USA as well. The project aims to educate children in the USA about the impact of AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa, while helping create the collections, organizing them, and helping out with other aspects of the project, as well as learning about the children these libraries will impact.

The above video shows the libraries, the children they service, as well as the children in the USA who organize book drives and help keep the project going in a number of other ways.

You can learn more about this project by visiting their website.

The Mali government has begun work to create a library that will house material from Timbuktu’s golden age. Material consists of works of law, history, poetry, and science, much of which has been gathered from private collections, and storerooms, many having been in danger of decay for lack of proper care.

The material is being made available on the web through Aluka, a project which works to make digital content from and about Africa available on the web. Aluka does require users to be members to access their content. The project also counts with the help of the Mellon Foundation and Northwestern University.

You can read more about this story form an article in the NYT.

Image from the NYT.

A few days ago OCLC and Google Books created a partnership that will allow uses of both services to benefit, and better locate library material. OCLC member libraries who already have agreements with Google Books will now be able to make their MARC records available through Google, which will increase the visibility of material. Basically this partnership will allow users of the web to search for books and other library material be guided towards specific library catalogs, which will then provide full access to books that are already part of Google Books. Ideally this set up will drive up traffic for libraries both online and in person. Web users will be able to access full text books from home, but those who wish to borrow the books will be able to see local libraries’ holding.

You can read OCLCs press release on the matter here.

Microsoft Research just came out with a tool that allows you to see the galaxy up close. After downloading the free software, WorldWide Telescope will bring you to a wide range of images of the galaxy, which you can then explore. The interface is easy enough to use, just use your mouse to scroll across the sky and zoom into whatever catches your attention. As you zoom in and out, the browser allows you to access information which has been hyperlinked to provide more context to what you are seeing.

The WorldWide Telescope functions by gathering the best images of telescopes around the planet and in space, and it seamlessly knits them together to create a holistic image.

This is a video showing the program and describing what it can do.

Check out the WorldWide Telescope here.

This morning I was reading Críticas and found a fascinating article by Loida García-Fedo about Wilton Hurtado Cuero, a man truly dedicated to making this world a better place. Hurtado Cuero is a librarian in Chocó, a department (state) on Colombia’s Pacific coast where poverty is prevalent, there is little infrastructure, and citizens have seen a lot of violence in recent years.

This dedicated man saw a need for services and did something about it. When a flood destroyed the public library where he worked, he asked the government for help in order to continue offering the community library services. Hurtado Cuero took up a bag full of books and started walking up and down the Santiago River bringing books to a number of schools and households in the area. This project became known as La Maleta Viejara (Traveling Suitcase). His visits later revealed that many of the children he was seeing where suffering from poor nutrition, which in part was attributed to the fumigations which are supposed to be killing coca plantations, but are instead destroying local crops. Hurtado Cuero worked to provide food security to this community.

Over the years I’ve discovered a number of similar projects. People truly dedicated to providing library services and promoting education. I’ve read about a Colombian who provides library services with a donkey, and a project where camels are used to provide library services to nomadic tribes in Kenya. These stories made me want to leave the comfort of the academic library I work at, and join these people who are truly improving the world we live in. On the other hand, I’m reminded that even in Colombia such noble actions get little attention. I asked my father, who lives in Colombia, about Hurtado Cuero and he said there was no mention anywhere. I also tried searching for more information about on him and came up empty handed. Still, if I can bring some attention to these brave souls, I want to do so, and I hope this drop in the bucket encourages others to take their careers to the full extent of the possibilities!

You can read Loida García-Fedo’s article here, and see Wilton Hurtado Cuero’s brief bio here.

A few librarians in Guatemala have set out to create a directory of Guatemala’s librarians in wiki format. The project is still quite new and with only a few entries, but they already have a number of enthusiasts offering their help either with providing content or helping with the technology needed.

As most wikis, the project is meant to be collaborative, and everyone is encouraged to contribute. The front page also offers a few links to existing projects which provide some information on Guatemala’s libraries; these include UNESCO, The Universidad de San Carlos de Guatemala, and a project through the International Center for Scientific Research.

All entries are in Spanish.

You can access the wiki here.

World Book and Copyright Day (what a mouthful) is a yearly event to commemorate Miguel de Cervantes, William Shakespeare, and the Inca Garcilaso de la Vega, all major figures in world writing (and I wonder where the women are…). Legend says that all these great men died on April 23, 1616, although more accurate calculations reveal that Shakespeare’s death date was actually marked on a Julian calendar, and therefore should be May 3^rd on the Gregorian calendar.

In any case, the date was proposed to the UNESCO’s International Union of Editor as a day to promote culture and raise awareness around intellectual property rights. Final approval came on November 15, 1995.

Current festivities include a rotating title of World Book Capital. This began in 2001 with Madrid, last year it was Bogotá, and this year the world’s book capital is Amsterdam, next year it will be Beirut.

Click here for UNESCO’s page on World Book and Copyright Day.

At random, here are a few links to how a handful of libraries around the world are celebrating.

• Bibliotecas Municipales de Málaga, Spain
  
• Centro Nacional de las Artes, Mexico
• General celebrations in Colombia
• Canada’s Education Ministry

Image info here.