Library Stuff

“Museums will have to pay upfront for orphan images, or images whose copyright owners cannot be found, after an amendment to the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Bill to limit proposals was narrowly defeated in the House of Lords. Several members condemned the government’s plans, which require holders of orphan works to pay for copyright licensing on use, rather than when a rights holder steps forward.” (via The Art Newspaper)

“When a La Grange Park Public Library employee noticed the German word for secret written inside the front cover of an old book donated to the library, she knew it wasn’t the typical anonymous gift. An envelope tucked inside its pages gave more clues to its significance a document of the Third Reich’s industrial build-up to World War II in Germany. The return address was for Paul Pleiger, who was selected by Nazi party leader Hermann Göring, to oversee the industrial push to produce iron, steel and other material necessities for conducting the war.”

via Chicago Tribune

“Libraries have always been mostly about books, though in recent years they have added music and movies for cardholders to borrow and enjoy. Lately, many New Jersey libraries are trying a more active kind of cultural mission by buying memberships to area museums to provide their patrons with free or discounted admission to nearby cultural hot spots. Dozens of public libraries across the state are loaning out passes to the Montclair Art Museum, Grounds for Sculpture, the Museum of Modern Art, the Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum and a host of others.”

via NJ.com

WSJ – “The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Foundation is best known for its raucous induction ceremonies—on April 15, acts including the Beastie Boys, Guns N’ Roses and the Miracles will be welcomed into the fold. But today, the 29-year-old institution is emphasizing a quieter aspect of its mission with the grand opening of a new library and archives facility near its Cleveland, Ohio, headquarters.”

The Next Web – “Google has announced that Google Art Project, where art lovers, students and armchair travellers can explore the visually creative world, has seen a major expansion. Now culture fans will be able to explore sculpture, street art and photographs from 151 museums in 40 countries. The service was launched last year as a successful “20% project”, where Google employees can spend 20% of their time working on personal projects. It allows users to browse thousands of works of art in exceptional detail and uses technology like Picasa and App Engine along with technology that enables Street View to enter museums and collections.”

NYT – ” In a sun-drenched room overlooking Russell Square, a visitor’s eye is immediately drawn to a display of cheerful coloring books, a brightly colored board game and photographs of laughing children. On closer inspection, the children in one photo can be seen crowding around a cake decorated with a swastika.”

USA Today – “It’s not every day that a museum explores the distinction between bloomers and pantaloons. Or sheds light on the true meaning of “pantywaist.” Or reveals what was behind all that swooning the Victorians used to do. But suddenly, it seems, a rash of institutions are finding that spotlighting so-called “unmentionables” is a way to attract fresh audiences.”

NYT – “To the list of things that J.D. Salinger found hard to bear, we can now add these: pompous graduation ceremonies and shlepping overseas to see tulips. “I’ve been going to graduations, and there isn’t much that I find more pretentious or irksome than the sight of ‘faculty’ and graduates in their academic get-ups,’’ he wrote a friend in June 1982, mentioning that it took self-control at one point “not to gag.”

LA Times – “A beloved but sometimes forgotten center of Jewish history in the Bay Area will soon have a new home at UC Berkeley and, supporters hope, a new audience of researchers and admirers. The collection of about 10,000 objects and documents, housed until recently at the Judah L. Magnes Museum in Berkeley, tells a broad and varied history of Jewish faith and life, both on the West Coast and far afield.”

Washington Post – “In the newest installment of Prestigious Institutions Slumming It (remember when the Library of Congress acquired Twitter’s archives?), the Guggenheim Museum has announced that a new exhibition will come from . . . YouTube. YouTube Play, which launched Monday, is a partnership between the video site and the renowned art museum. It invites users to submit their short creative videos at http://youtube.com/play. The top 20, chosen by a jury of professional artists, will be on view this fall at Guggenheim museums around the world.