Library Elf

No, as much as I wish I had, I did not invent that name.  Library Elf is a service that helps you keep track of your library materials to avoid those overdue fines.  The free (basic) service allows you to track one library card and will give you overdue email alerts for that one account.  With the premium service ($20 per year) you can track multiple library accounts and can customize, including getting text alerts and have iCal integration.

Hat tip to ProfHacker

Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat

Digital Public Library of America

Once exams are over--or as a study break--take a look at the debut of a landmark online project: The Digital Public Library of America (DPLA).  Launched April 18, the DPLA ultimately aims to make the holding of American research libraries, archives, and museums available free to everyone in the world on the internet.  Right now, the DPLA has taken the first step by offering a wide array of over 2 million books, documents, photos, media, and works of art that have already been digitilized by the libraries and cultural institutions that own them.

Everything in the Digital Library of America is searchable by keyword, time period, geographic location map, and subject.  The site also includes special exhibitions. With a view to a future "world library" for all, the DPLA is designed to be interoperable with Europeana, Europe's digital culture portal.  A current exhibition of photos and artifacts, "Leaving Europe: A New Life in America," was jointly produced by Europeana and the DPLA.

Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat

Law, Past and Present

The Law Library of Congress has a popular blog, In Custodia Legis, written by a team of 15 librarians.  It covers modern legal trends, international law sources, and much more, in addition to gems of legal history that you won't find anywhere else.  Yesterday's "Pic of the Week" is sure to bring a smile to the faces of today's law students, because it shows how little some things have changed since the days of their medieval predecessors.  If you've ever been bored during a class lecture with a heavy casebook open on the desk, you can relate to the medieval law student who created a doodle of his boring instructor right on this page of Justinian's Institutes, the introductory textbook for Roman Law.  And if you want to find out how Richard III, the king whose remains were recently unearthed in an English parking lot, used the law of his day to take revenge on enemies and expand his legendary reputation as a cruel monarch, Thursday's post will fill you in on that subject. Count on these librarians for some different takes on the legal world.     

Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat

Lady Justice: Sign of the Law

Is justice impartial, or just foolishly blind? Take a study break with an online exhibit and put the law into perspective. "The Remarkable Run of a Political Icon: Justice as a Sign of the Law" features thirteen pages of images from the 500-year history of an iconic symbol--a woman, draped and holding scales. The exhibit was created by the Lillian Goldman Law Library at Yale University using volumes from its Rare Book Collection to illustrate the changing image of Justice and what it represented, from its roots in the 15th century through the next 300 years. Enjoy.
Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat

The 'Library Voice'

A new post on the NY Times City Room blog complains about how libraries are becoming ever-noisier.

It is true that something like our library's "talking areas"--rooms where low talking about schoolwork is permissible--would have been unthinkable in a law library 20 or 30 years ago, and some of our library's patrons think that making phone calls where no one can see them also means that no one can hear their conversations (cell phone calls are not permitted inside the library). But, from some of the descriptions in this City Room post, our library is still much, much quieter than many public libraries have become.

With these thoughts in mind, please remember to be respectful to other library users during this finals season.



Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat

The Morgan Library

If you plan to go sightseeing in the city one of these days, you might want to check out the Morgan Library and Museum. The library has some interesting exhibits on display including illuminated manuscripts from the Netherlands (through May 2, 2010) and an exhibit on the life of Jane Austen (through March 14, 2010)

Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat