Michael J. McCann's Blog: Open Investigations, page 15

Crowdsourcing and Libraries

With limited funds, resources, and physical space, it is not surprising that many libraries have turned to crowdsourcing to expand their digital holdings, as well as to identify errors and gaps in digitized works or to aid in their translation.

What is crowdsourcing? The term was coined in 2005 by editors of Wired Magazine to refer to the act of taking tasks traditionally performed by an employee or contractor and outsourcing them to a group (i.e., crowd) through an open call to the community, usually via the internet.

A good example of how libraries can use crowdsourcing to their advantage is a joint project between Cornell University in New York and the University of Warwick in the United Kingdom. The joint project "is seeking Yiddish speakers around the world to translate more than 1,500 pages of journals and newspapers originally written for working-class Jewish immigrants who settled in London and New York City in the late 19th and early 20th centuries." For more information on this project, please see http://edcetera.rafter.com/crowdsourc....

The Dartmouth College and Boston Public Library recently received funding for an initiative that "will examine how libraries, archives, and museums can most effectively use crowdsourcing techniques to augment their collections and enhance their patrons’ experience." The crowdsourcing initiative will use a series of meetings and webinars to collect information and identify best practices. For the press release,please see http://collaborativelibrarianship.wor....

Book Etiquette

There is an amusing, tongue-in-cheek article by Henry Alford entitled "Be Polite with Your Books" in the recent Sunday Book Review of the New York Times.

Included in his recommendations are the proper way to make a literary allusion in casual conversation without causing "status anxiety" and how to perform book spotting on a train now that e-readers have made it more difficult to determine what your fellow passengers are reading.

In regard to gifting or recommending a book, he suggests a gift certificate if you're unsure whether a person shares your tastes. If, however, you do give someone an unsolicited book, do it without obligation or expectation and wait for him/her to bring it up in conversation.

If you borrow a book from someone, do you need to replace it if it suffers additional wear and tear? Make the offer, at least, he suggests.

And what about re-shelving books? He recalls an academic, jealous of the success of a colleague's books, who would go into a book store, find all of the copies of these books, and misfile them in the Humor section. Although an interesting approach to professional jealousy, this practice isn't recommended by Alford because it encourages "mayhem".

For the full text of the article, please see http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/21/boo....

The Evolution of Language

It's always interesting to see how new words/meanings gradually gain acceptance in the English language.

For example, the latest additions to the Oxford English Dictionary are now out. I think you could be forgiven if you don't recognize some of the words and phrases.

Here are some examples:

- day gecko (a diurnal sub-species of gecko);
- group of death (unless you're a soccer fan, you might not know that this phrase refers to a group that is highly competitive);
- little bluestem (a type of ornamental bunch grass);
- up to high doh (extremely excited);
- yernfully (with yearning)

To see the full list of additions, you can visit the online OED at http://public.oed.com/the-oed-today/r....

And if you know all of these words already, you can pat yourself on the back as a high muckety-muck, which incidentally is another addition-- meaning a person of great importance or self-importance.

How to Write Historical Fiction

Historical fiction seems to be very popular these days, including in the crime fiction genre.

A recent article in The Guardian by Tanya Landman, author of Apache and Buffalo Soldier, suggests some helpful techniques in writing historical fiction.

Among her points are the following:

- historical fiction should give the reader the experience of walking into another time;

- the emphasis is on "fiction": the story is the most important element;

- the writer should pick a period s/he enjoys and learn everything about it; and

- despite the need to do a lot of research as background, the writer needs to avoid overwhelming the reader just to show how much s/he knows.

For the full text of the article, please see http://www.theguardian.com/childrens-....

I'm Back!

Thanks, everyone, for sticking with me while I took the summer off to write. I'm pleased to say that I have finished the first of my new crime fiction series set in Canada. It was quite a learning curve for me because there are so many differences between U.S. and Canadian criminal investigation procedures. At the same time, I enjoyed developing two new characters, Kevin Walker and Ellie March of the Ontario Provincial Police. The draft of the novel is with an OPP subject matter expert who so kindly agreed to allow me to pick his brain for this new series. Stay tuned for more information on the new novel, and rest assured that you also haven't seen the last of Donaghue and Stainer.

Now that Open Investigations is up and running again, I will be talking about the latest book and publishing news, library innovations, and other subjects that have proven popular in the past. If you have a particular topic that you'd like to see covered in the blog, please be sure to let me know.

Time for a Break

I will be taking a break from my three weekly blogs, The Overnight Bestseller, Open Investigations, and Behind the Walls of Nightmare so I can focus on completing the first novel in my new Canadian crime series.

Thanks to all of you who continue to follow my blogs. I expect to be back at the end of August with an update on the new series.

I will continue to post reviews as part of the Tribute Books blog tour. Next week's review on The Overnight Bestseller will feature Dianne Ascroft's Dancing Shadows, Tramping Hooves.

In the meantime, I will remain active on Facebook and Twitter.

Have a great summer, everyone!

The Declining Number of Male Readers

The Guardian reports on a new study for the Reading Agency conducted by OnePoll which found that 63% of men don't read as much as they think they should. Almost 30% of men admitted that they hadn't picked up a book since they were forced to read at school. Three-quarters of male respondents also indicated that they would rather watch the screen version than read the book.

Bestselling British author Andy McNab stresses the need to reach young boys before they turn away from reading completely. His concern is that once they stop reading, they will never start again.

On April 23, 2014, an event entitled "World Book Night" will provide for the free distribution of 250,000 copies of selected titles. This year's selection shows "a particular emphasis on books for men and teenagers".

To read the full text of the article and to find out what books have been selected for World Book Night distribution, please see http://www.theguardian.com/books/2014....

The readers' comments on this article are also interesting, with a number of male respondents crediting Goodreads membership with renewing their interest in reading.

The Popularity of Historical Crime Fiction

You may have noticed in last week's post on new novels recommended by the Library Journal that many of the selections were historical crime fiction. This sub-genre seems to be very popular these days.

Historical crime fiction writer S.J. Parris wrote an article last month for The Telegraph entitled "The Best Murder Mysteries Are Historical" in which she postulates that reading about crime in an historical setting is more satisfying to the reader.

Parris states:


Writing history is a kind of detective work, so it’s no surprise that the murder mystery lends itself so well to historical settings. Part of the pleasure of historical crime is that it allows a return to the golden age of the amateur detective, before investigations depended on forensics and CCTV.


Among her favorite historical crime novels are Josephine Tey's The Daughter of Time, based on the murder of the Princes in the Tower (Edward and Richard); Umberto Eco's The Name of the Rose, a tale of ritualistic murders inside a 14th-century monastery; and novels by Iain Pears, Charles Palliser, and Matthew Pearl.

For the full text of the article, please see http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/bo....

Spring Reading

Among Library Journal's picks for best spring reading is Gabrielle Zevin's new novel, The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry , which is set on an island off the New England coast and has an endearing cast of characters, including a middle-aged bookseller trying to come to terms with the death of his wife.

Also featured is Emma Donaghue's Frog Music, an historical fiction based on an unsolved murder and set in San Francisco in the 1870s.

Silence for the Dead by Simone St. James features an isolated hospital for World War I veterans who may be haunted by more than their war experiences.

Donna Leon brings us her twenty-third book in the Commissario Guido Brunetti series entitled By its Cover, in which Brunetti must investigate the theft of pages and maps from rare books.

And if you enjoy cozy mysteries, check out Colin Cotterill's The Axe Factor, a Jimm Juree mystery set in coastal Thailand and billed as "laugh-out-loud funny".

For the full list of recommended reads, please see http://reviews.libraryjournal.com/201....

The Solace of Silence

There is an interesting article in The Telegraph which chronicles the efforts of novelist Tracy Chevalier to find quiet time in a too-noisy world. Chevalier is the author of Girl With A Pearl Earring, inspired by the Vermeer painting.

In the past, Chevalier has attended Quaker meetings where she sat in silence for an hour. (If you're of a certain age, you'll probably remember the childhood game of Quaker's meeting, sometimes invoked by parents desperately trying to get some peace and quiet.)

Chevalier's latest book, The Last Runaway, features a young Quaker girl. As she indicates, “I wanted to write a character who found the value of silence as important as I do.”

For the full text of the article, please see http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/bo....

And, by the way, if you're trying to remember the Quaker's meeting rhyme, the version I know is:

Quaker's meeting has begun.
No more laughing, no more fun.
If you show your teeth or tongue,
you must pay a forfeit.