Institute of Museum and Library Services statistician Justin Grimes mapped all 17,000 public libraries in the United States, revealing the reach of our library system. Atlantic Cities has the scoop:

If you have ever felt overwhelmed by the ubiquity of McDonald’s, this stat may make your day: There are more public libraries (about 17,000) in America than outposts of the burger mega-chain (about 14,000). The same is true of Starbucks (about 11,000 coffee shops nationally).

Follow this link to see the complete Google Map Grimes created.

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The New York Public Library will be hosting a special exhibit called “The ABC of It: Why Children’s Books Matter.”

Visitors will find this exhibit at the Gottesman Exhibition Hall inside the Stephen A. Schwarzman Building. It will run from June 21, 2013 until March 23, 2014. Children’s literature expert Leonard S. Marcus served as the curator. Here’s more from the release:

The ABC of It draws on collections across the Library to present the literature for children and teens against a sweeping backdrop of history, the arts, popular culture, and technological change. The books and related objects on view reveal hidden historical contexts and connections and invite second looks and fresh discoveries. They suggest that books for young people have stories to tell us about ourselves, and are rarely as simple as they seem.

A group of brave librarians are raising money to save a collection of manuscripts (some are 700 years old) rescued from Timbuktu last year. Here is the remarkable story:

In 2012, under threat from fundamentalist rebels, a team of archivists, librarians, and couriers evacuated an irreplaceable trove of manuscripts from Timbuktu at great personal risk. The manuscripts have been saved from immediate destruction, but the danger is not over. A massive archival effort is needed to protect this immense global heritage from loss … Though removed from immediate threat, the manuscripts are still jam packed in footlockers used for their evacuation and the current environment of this precious world heritage is significantly more humid than Timbuktu. There are already signs of damage and exposure to moisture.

These librarians are struggling to store a set of priceless manuscripts in an “archival, moisture-resistant manner” before they are damaged by moisture. They hope to raise $100,000 on Indiegogo, but it is a flexible funding campaign–so every contribution will help.

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Here are some literary events to pencil in your calendar. To get your event posted on our calendar, visit our Facebook Your Literary Event page. Please post your event at least one week prior to its date.

Chinese writer, musician and poet Liao Yiwu will appear for a conversation with Paul Holdengräber to close the LIVE from the NYPL’s spring 2013 season. Hear them on Thursday, June 13th at the NYPL’s Stephen A. Schwarzman Building starting 7:00 p.m. (New York, NY)

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Library champions will meet up on the steps of the Brooklyn Public Library’s Central Library branch this weekend, protesting proposed budget cuts with the “We Will Not Be Shushed” 24-hour read-in.

The event lasts from 4:00 p.m. on June 8th until 4:00 p.m. on June 9th. Will you join them? During this event, activists will read in fifteen-minute shifts.

Follow this link to sign up for a reading shift.

Here’s more from Bookable:

Once again libraries in the five boroughs are facing historic budget cuts. This year’s budget is proposing a $106 million cut for libraries. Should these cuts go through more than sixty neighborhood libraries across the city will be forced to close and services and hours at the remaining libraries will be slashed. More than a thousand library workers will be let go and public services including budgets for new books and materials will be severely cut.

Thousands of library patrons around New York City have mailed letters trying to avoid $47 million in budget cuts at New York Public Library.

Follow this link to send a letter supporting the library system. You can also see how many other library patrons in your neighborhood have sent letters. You can also donate to the library during this tough time. Check it out:

The Library has always relied on the support of individuals like you. Your donations have become increasingly vital over the last five years, and will only become more important as city funding continues to decline. Today more New Yorkers than ever depend on the Library, and the numbers keep growing. A $47 million cut in funding threatens the services they need and the materials they access. But it doesn’t have to be that way. Your generosity will help serve the next person in need…one gift at a time.

From now until June 1st, 7,500 libraries around the world have joined the Big Library Read–allowing millions of patrons to check out and read a single digital book simultaneously.

OverDrive and Sourcebooks have teamed up to share The Four Corners of the Sky by Michael Malone. As libraries struggle to pay higher fees for some eBooks and some publishers limit the number of check-outs permitted for a book, this campaign could have an important impact. Here’s more from the release:

In addition to ongoing Facebook and Twitter (#BigLibraryRead) conversations during the pilot, Sourcebooks will host a live Facebook chat on May 23 with author Michael Malone.  Many of the largest library systems around the world are participating in the Big Library Read, including: Queens Library (NY), the U.S. Navy, Melbourne Library Service (Australia), Toronto Public Library (Canada), London Libraries Consortium (United Kingdom), and the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality (South Africa). The Big Library Read is the first event of its kind and may be replicated in the future to reach wider and more targeted audiences.

The New York Public Library is hosting a special exhibition honoring Federico García Lorca at the Stephen A. Schwarzman Building. “Back Tomorrow: Federico García Lorca / Poet in New York” opened on April 5th and will run until July 20th.

This free program features the manuscript for Lorca’s Poet in New York, drawings, photographs, letters, and mementos. Fans of the Spanish poet can also attend various “Lorca in NY” lectures, workshops, and events. Here’s more about the exhibit:

In 1936, the poet left the manuscript of Poet in New York on the desk of his Madrid publisher with a note saying he would be ‘back tomorrow,’ probably to discuss final details. He never returned…The book was published posthumously in 1940, but the manuscript mysteriously disappeared, lost to scholars for decades. The Fundación Federico García Lorca in Madrid and The New York Public Library exhibit it now for the first time…

School Library Journal has opened its doors to children’s and YA e-originals.

AppNewser has all the details about how to submit, along with advice for publishers who want to set up an alternative system for submission. Check it out:

The books must be exclusively available as eBooks. Publishers can submit titles using this form, which will send the title information and a widget to SLJ reviewers who will be able to access the digital galley through NetGalley. Only School Library Journal authorized reviewers (a distinction designated in their NetGalley profile) will be given access to the title.

Think that libraries are obsolete in the 21st Century? A whopping 94 percent of American parents agree that “libraries are important for their children.”

Last year, Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project surveyed 2,252 Americans aged 16 or older to find out more about library attitudes in America. Here is more information from the inspiring report:

84% of these parents who say libraries are important say a major reason they want their children to have access to libraries is that libraries help inculcate their children’s love of reading and books. 81% say a major reason libraries are important is that libraries provide their children with information and resources not available at home. 71% also say a major reason libraries are important is that libraries are a safe place for children.

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