Hot This Week: April 29

It's a big week on the DVD list as blockbusters Django Unchained, The Hobbit, and Les Miserables all appear for the first time. On the CD chart, rock band Fall Out Boy takes the top spot with their first new album in five years. The latest from perennial bestseller Nora Roberts top the week's fiction list; on the non-fiction side, Laura Hillenbrand's Unbroken makes a large leap back onto the top half of the list.

DVD

1. Django Unchained
2. Life of Pi
3. The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
4. Les Miserables
5. Zero Dark Thirty
6. Lincoln
7. Argo
8. This Is 40
9. Red Dawn
10. Skyfall

 CD

1. Fall Out Boy, Save Rock and Roll
2. Kid Cudi, Indicud
3. Justin Timberlake, The 20/20 Experience
4. Blake Shelton, Based on a True Story...
5. Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Mosquito
6. The Band Perry, Pioneer
7. Brad Paisley, Wheelhouse
8. Lil Wayne, I Am Not a Human Being II
9. Macklemore & Ryan Lewis, The Heist 
10. P!nk, The Truth About Love

Fiction

1. Whiskey Beach, Nora Roberts
2. Daddy's Gone A Hunting, Mary Higgins Clark
3. Life After Life, Kate Atkinson
4. Gone Girl, Gillian Flynn
5. Taking Eve, Iris Johansen
6. The Burgess Boys, Elizabeth Strout
7. Don't Go, Lisa Scottoline
8. Unintended Consequences, Stuart Woods
9. Six Years, Harlan Coben
10. Starting Now, Debbie Macomber

Non-Fiction

1. Lean In, Sheryl Sandberg and Nell Scovell
2. Gulp, Mary Roach
3. Unbroken, Laura Hillenbrand
4. The Great Deformation, David Stockman
5. Killing Kennedy, Bill O'Reilly and Martin Dugard
6. Mom & Me & Mom, Maya Angelou
7. My Beloved World, Sonia Sotomayor
8. Salt Sugar Fat, Michael Moss
9. Clean, David Sheff 
10. Carrie and Me, Carol Burnett

In Memoriam: Storm Thorgerson (1944-2013)

Written by Jon Williams

Think of your favorite album. No doubt your mind turns first to all the great songs it contains, and to the hours of enjoyment you’ve gotten from listening to it, to say nothing of the memories associated with it and the joy of sharing it with others. And chances are good that you can also picture it in your mind, the vibrant colors or stark design of the album cover being as much a part of the experience as the music itself.

Recently the music industry lost an icon. You haven’t heard Storm Thorgerson’s work, because he wasn’t a musician himself, but if you’re a rock music fan at all, you’ve almost certainly seen some of it. Thorgerson was a visual artist responsible for some of the most well-known album covers in rock history. He worked primarily with hard rock and prog rock bands, coming up with surreal cover visuals that complemented the songs to be found inside.

Thorgerson’s most famous work graces the cover of Pink Floyd’s 1973 masterpiece Dark Side of the Moon. His work with Pink Floyd began with their second album, A Saucerful of Secrets (1968), and continued throughout the band’s career, up through their 2007 compilation album Oh, by the Way. He also worked on the cover for Floyd guitarist David Gilmour’s 1984 solo album About Face.

It was his friendship with Gilmour and other members of Pink Floyd that gave him his start designing album covers, but they were by no means the only famous band Thorgerson did work for during his long and illustrious career. His art adorns the cover of Black Sabbath’s 1976 album Technical Ecstasy. He did three albums for Led Zeppelin (including In Through the Out Door, their last album of all-new material), as well as three albums for Peter Gabriel as a solo artist and one during his time with the band Genesis. He also worked with more modern rock bands, such as Muse and the Mars Volta. His most recent design was for the Biffy Clyro album Opposites, which released in January.

Click here to browse a more complete list of albums sporting Thorgerson’s memorable artwork.

RDA Implementation and Your Library

The Library of Congress implementation date of March 31, 2013, for the new Resource Description and Access (RDA) cataloging standards has come and gone.  Also effective on this date was OCLC’s new policy statement regarding RDA (https://www.oclc.org/en-US/rda/new-policy.html).

So what does this mean for you? First, rest assured that no library will be required to do original cataloging in RDA. Each library will have to determine an RDA implementation timeline, along with how to incorporate this new type of record into the current catalog database. Some libraries may want to keep the old AACR2 format for existing records entirely, while others may choose to add select RDA elements, thus creating hybrid records.

RDA records are out there and more are on the way. These records may affect search paths and item display in the OPAC, so waiting too long to decide on a plan of action may have far-reaching effects. Here are a few proactive suggestions:

• Contact your ILS provider to see if they will offer upgrades regarding RDA records.
• If your library purchases MARC records from outside agencies (including Midwest Tape), reach out to them to make your plans and needs known.

In order for us to best serve you, we need to know your implementation plans. Some of the things we will need to know are:

• Your ILS vendor
• If you plan on implementing RDA gradually, all at once, or not at all
• What accommodations do you require for RDA implementation?
• What adjustments have you had to make (if any) for the increase of RDA records for books?

Let us know your general plans in the comments section below. As the implementation date approaches and your plans solidify, keep us informed, provide feedback, and ask questions by posting to our blog.

Hot This Week:April 22

The acclaimed adaptation of Life of Pi comes in atop this week's DVD list. Rock band Paramore and country singer Brad Paisley team up to knock Justin Timberlake from his lofty perch at #1 on the CD chart. This week's fiction list sees debuts from Mary Higgins Clark, Lisa Scottoline, and Stuart Woods. In non-fiction, the only newcomer is Carol Burnett's tale of life with her troubled daughter.

DVD

1. Life of Pi
2. Zero Dark Thirty
3. Lincoln
4. Argo
5. Red Dawn
6. Killing Them Softly
7. Wreck-It Ralph
8. Rise of the Guardians
9. Skyfall
10. The Collection

 CD

1. Paramore, Paramore
2. Brad Paisley, Wheelhouse
3. Justin Timberlake, The 20/20 Experience
4. Blake Shelton, Based on a True Story...
5. Eric Church, Caught in the Act
6. The Band Perry, Pioneer
7. Tyga, Hotel California
8. Lil Wayne, I Am Not a Human Being II
9. Volbeat, Outlaw Gentlemen & Shady Ladies
10. Stone Sour, House of Gold & Bones: Part 2

Fiction

1. Daddy's Gone A Hunting, Mary Higgins Clark
2. Don't Go, Lisa Scottoline
3. Life After Life, Kate Atkinson
4. Unintended Consequences, Stuart Woods
5. The Burgess Boys, Elizabeth Strout
6. Manuscript Found in Accra, Paulo Coelho
7. Gone Girl, Gillian Flynn
8. Six Years, Harlan Coben
9. Starting Now, Debbie Macomber
10. The Storyteller, Jodi Picoult

Non-Fiction

1. Lean In, Sheryl Sandberg and Nell Scovell
2. Gulp, Mary Roach
3. The Great Deformation, David Stockman 
4. My Beloved World, Sonia Sotomayor
5. Salt Sugar Fat, Michael Moss
6. A Higher Call, Adam Makos and Larry Alexander
7. Killing Kennedy, Bill O'Reilly and Martin Dugard
8. Sum It Up, Pat Summitt and Sally Jenkins
9. Mom & Me & Mom, Maya Angelou
10. Carrie and Me, Carol Burnett

Preparing Grads for the Next Step

Written by Kyle Slagley

When I graduated from high school, I remember being thrilled at the prospect of finally being done, getting to go to a university that I’d had my heart set on for a long time, and of course getting out from under Mom and Dad in the process. I also remember being very nervous about all those things.

When I graduated college, there wasn’t nearly as much excitement and a lot more anxiety. The idea that I now had to completely put on my big-boy pants and fend for myself was overwhelming, despite the fact that I’d been preparing for it – theoretically, at least – for years.

Graduation can be a very bittersweet time for both the graduates and the parents, but the right words can be incredibly empowering. Every year during graduation season, I post the YouTube video of Conan O’Brien’s Dartmouth commencement address on my Facebook page. I wholeheartedly believe that if someone were to make a ‘graduation speaker all-stars’ video, this one would be at the top. It’s 25 minutes long, but I promise you, it will probably be the most worthwhile 25 minutes you spend on YouTube all year.

A couple years after I graduated, I came across the book Mastering the Seven Decisions That Determine Personal Success. This book is great for anyone, but in particular for graduates. The seven decisions are really very basic ones, but the book explains them in a way that isn’t quite so ‘self-help’ and more like a reminder. It is a sequel to the book The Traveler’s Gift, which reads like a story. These titles also make for great book club selections right around graduation time.

When it comes to storytelling, nobody can wordsmith a life lesson quite like Dr. Seuss. Whether he’s telling you to be ecologically responsible, be tolerant and respectful of other cultures, or that “a person’s a person, no matter how small,” when Seuss speaks, we listen. Oh the Places You’ll Go, one of the most popular graduation books of all time, is even more fantastic when narrated by John Lithgow.

Teachers and speakers are sometimes asked to consider their own deaths and give a lesson based on what they’ve concluded – commonly referred to as ‘last lectures.’ The book The Last Lecture has gained quite a bit of notoriety in recent years. When Professor Randy Pausch was diagnosed with terminal cancer, he went on to give what may be the most famous final lecture ever written down. It has nothing to do with cancer, but it does teach the reader to value every minute. This title will be around for generations, and don’t forget to check out the DVD of the lecture as well.

Finally, for a more humorous take on the entire situation, The Worst-Case Survival Handbook is an absolute gem. You never know when you might encounter quicksand, rabid wolves, or the need to deliver a baby in the back of a cab whilst at college. For the truly prepared, also check out the versions specific to Dating & Sex, Travel, and for college grads – Work.