Libraries and Museums Books

The architecture of this building (formerly the SF Public Library) and the art inside are fascinating. The interior is a mash-up of old and new styles, which echoes the museum collection of ancient and modern Asian art. This book is a must-have for architecture and art enthusiasts.

This 95-page publication is an informative and fascinating catalogue book published in conjunction with a Smithsonian exhibition at the National Museum of History and Technology in 1980-81. Its subject is ranchlife in Paradise Valley, Nevada, north of Winnemucca and near the Oregon border. First settled by California farmer/ranchers in the 1860s, the region's development was influenced by the Spanish colonial agricultural practices of California, and its "cowboys" have traditionally been known as "buckaroos," an anglicized rendering of the Spanish "vaquero."

Contents of the book are based on field research by the American Folklife Center of the Library of Congress. It covers history of the region and then focuses on cowboy life and culture, including clothing, bunkhouses, and branding irons. The book contains many black and white photographs, both vintage and contemporary. Several are two-page spreads. There is also a list of 244 artifacts from the exhibition, with photos of many of them....

As of this writing...this wonderful book is out of print. If you can find a copy, it's well worth having.

Online exhibitions vary immensely but good web design and easily-navigated displays are keys to their success, so art and computer collections alike need BUILD IT ONCE: A BASIC PRIMER FOR THE CREATION OF ONLINE EXHIBITIONS to make it all happen successfully. From building a reliable, easily modified exhibition format to using both art and computer experience to enhance the user experience, this is the item of choice for any seeking a specific guide to producing online exhibitions.

Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch

Twenty one states and the District of Columbia all have Civil War Memorabilia stashed away in their Museums, and "Civil War Museum Treasures: Outstanding Artifacts and the Stories Behind Them" is here to show readers the best of the best of these items and the long, storied tales behind them. A state for state guide of relics, packed with invaluable and intriguing history behind each, and enhanced with nearly 200 photographs, appendixes, bibliography, and indexes. "Civil War Museum Treasures: Outstanding Artifacts and the Stories Behind Them" is highly recommended to all civil war history buffs and community library civil war collections.

"Civil War buffs will warmly welcome Gelbert's guide" - Rettig on Reference

"an ideal supplement to any personal, academic, or public library Civil War collection" - The Midwest Book Review

"indispensible for Civil War buffs; others will find this guide very useful" - Ozarks Bookshelf

Let me say from the outset that this is a great book. It is reasonably short, easy to read and packed with great information. The focus of the book is its title, "Curating Oral Histories." Those who are familiar with doing oral history know about getting the right recording equipment, setting up the interview and all that. What we don't know too much about is what to do with it all once it's done. What do you do with all those tapes? How do you catalog them? Perhaps the biggest issue is how to preserve the originals. At some point in time those tapes are going to deteriorate.

This book answers all the questions. I really liked the focus on cataloging and curating. This added an important dimension to the whole issue of what one does after the interviews have been done. From my own experience, I have conducted a couple of oral history interviews for my own personal research, and right now, the tapes are more or less sitting in a box. At some point I will transcribe them, but I still don't know what to do with the tapes. Should I make a backup copy? This book pretty much answers it.

Of particular note are the appendices. There are forms for a variety of purposes. The legal forms are useful for copyright releases which is very important. I really liked the collection policy form and the other practical forms for processing and organizing the oral histories. The appendices alone are worth the price of the book.

My overall impression of this book after reading it is that it is of reasonable length, easy to read, and packed with useful information. The author did a great job of explaining the meaning of certain terms used in oral history. Overall, I am quite pleased that I bought this book. It is a welcome addition to my personal library, and I highly recommend it to anyone interested in oral history. It is particularly useful to librarians who need to catalog their collections and preserve the originals for future generations.

I think that children of all ages will enjoy this book because any Wishbone book is funny, serious, scary and mysterious at the same time. I know children with pretty much the entire series of these type of books. So all I'm saying is that this book is a 5 star book!!

This book was an assigned read for a CRM survey class and I certainly know why now. Thomas King goes into detail about what culture resource managment archaeology is and is not, while making the reading easy and humor-filled. This book was an excallent introduction to CRM archaeology for me as a student and also for anyone having to deal with any aspects of CRM!!!!!

The Dorrie books are all fantastic - one of the reasons I love them is that the house is messy, Dorrie is always wearing odd socks, and her mother, the big witch, is mostly distracted and focused on her work - but Dorrie doesn't seem to mind much, and her mother is often giving her a hug at the end. These books would also be good for single parent families, as Dorrie lives with her mum, her cat Gink, and Cook - there's no sign of dad. In this book, Dorrie, Gink and her cousin Cosmo become invisible and explore the Oddson-Ends Museum. There is also foiling an evil enchanter. The books are exciting, there are some jokes for the adults reading the books out loud, and the illustrations are nothing short of brilliant. These books need to be republished!

I've been looking at books on Central Asian art and history for the past year and this book is without a doubt one of, if not the, best compilations of Dunhuang Cave art reproductions. The volume is beautiful and carefully constructed. Historical and contextualizing information is minimal; for this, readers will want to look at works by Western Asia scholars like Frances Wood, Peter Hopkirk, Sally Wriggins, the Whitfields, etc. The high quality, low price and historical and cultural importance of this collection make it a must for libraries, bookstores, personal collections, and coffee tables. The book is published in China (as befits a tome about Chinese cultural treasures) but has impeccable English editing by Sarah Fraser of the International Dunhuang Project.