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Storm Center - Bookmarking a Movie

11/12/2019

2 Comments

 
​This unassuming bookmark advertising the movie “Storm Center” in 1956 dramatically declares that the book in the story has “enough dynamite in its pages to blow a city apart”.  The movie stars a favorite actress, the inimitable Bette Davis.  When I received an inquiry from Kay Delanoy asking if I would like to have it, I immediately said I would.  Little did I know that the story behind this movie had so many angles relating to libraries, books and censorship. 
In 2010, a librarian wrote to the American Library Association with this inquiry: “I saw this week's article at the Huffington Post website about movie librarians, Librarians Save The Day! 11 Great Movies In Which They Star  . I was very surprised to see a film there starring one of my favorite actresses, Bette Davis, that I never heard of! By any chance, can ALA tell me anything about Storm Center (1956)?”
​Indeed they could and referred to the July/August 1956 issue of the ALA Bulletin which “had a two-page article that featured still photographs from the film. But more importantly, the article explained that there was a private preview showing of the film at the ALA 75th Annual Conference that year in Miami Beach, …. The showing of the Columbia Pictures release was presumably set up when the film's producer, Julian Blaustein, and its director and co-writer, Daniel Taradash, spoke about the film at the Midwinter Meeting earlier that year.”
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They go on to explain that “The movie's events were largely fiction, but the character played by Bette Davis was based on Miss Ruth Brown, Librarian of the Bartlesville Public Library in Bartlesville, Oklahoma, from 1919 until she was fired in 1950 on suspicion of being a Communist. Her so-called crimes included treating the town's African American residents as equals, letting them borrow books from the library well before Brown v. Board of Education allowed them access. There's a bust of Miss Ruth Brown at the Bartlesville Public Library that recognizes and celebrates her achievements”. ​
Another person commented that there is a book about her: “The Dismissal of Miss Ruth Brown: Civil Rights, Censorship, and the American Library” by Louise S. Robbins. University of Oklahoma Press (2001).
​The commenter explains: “This book is the winner of the Eliza Atkins Gleason Award and the Willa Literary Award for a nonfiction book from Women Writing the West. The author, Louise Robbins, is not only a professor at the School of Library & Information Studies, University of Wisconsin-Madison, and the former Director of the School, but is also the former Mayor of Ada, Oklahoma and first woman elected to their city council!”
Ironically, in the movie, it is the city council that demands that Bette Davis’s character, librarian Alicia Hull, should remove a book about Communism.  In this clip from the movie , she makes her case about why removal and censorship is something she cannot do, even if it means she loses her job.
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The movie was filmed in Santa Rosa, California in a classic Carnegie library.  In 2012, one of the librarians wrote a post for Banned Books Week about the movie and some of the behind-the-scenes details that were described in an article by Ruth Hall who was the librarian at the time of the filming. [photo of Ruth Hall and Bette Davis]
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The plot includes the librarian’s influence on a young boy, Freddie Slater.  Without giving away the shocking developments related to Freddie, the “Winners of the Children’s Book Contest” listed on the reverse of the bookmark can be explained.  As the winner of a contest to name the world’s ten best books, Freddie participates in the ground breaking ceremony for a new children’s wing in the library in a critical scene.  Presumably, the bookmark lists Freddie’s selections. [See Robbins, Louise. “Fighting McCarthyism through Film: A Library Censorship Case Becomes a ‘Storm Center.’” Journal of Education for Library and Information Science, vol. 39, no. 4, 1998, pp. 296. JSTOR] .
At the time of its release in 1956, the movie received lukewarm reviews due to its heavy handed approach to the story and because much of the fervor over McCarthyism had subsided.  Bette Davis was praised for her acting in which she portrayed a stereotypical prim and proper librarian, but infused the character with her usual steely determination.  [See for example the New York Times review and these excerpts from reviews.]
How did the bookmark for such an obscure film survive?  Because Kay’s father was  assistant librarian at the District of Columbia library when it was playing there and saved it. Kay says he would have been glad to pass it on to a fellow librarian, and I hope he would have appreciated seeing it in context of its story. 
The movie is difficult to find but occasionally a library will screen it because they still deal with censorship. It has received more attention recently from academics and various bloggers, such as this one whose comment from five years ago rings even more true today: “It’s striking how little has changed in fifty-eight years. Oh sure, we like to convince ourselves that we are more evolved than our elders but when it comes right down to it, we are just as susceptible as they were to fear and propaganda.”  
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Poster from Wikipedia cite rights holder By Corporate author/original rights holder: Columbia Pictures - Scan from private collection, PD-US, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=9713493
2 Comments

Bookmark Inspirations

26/11/2019

0 Comments

 
Have you ever mentioned using bookmarks to someone and later they say that you inspired them to do so?  Gaby Dondlinger sent two examples.  
The first is a bookmark designed for the municipality of Perl in Germany after she talked to a woman who had a little free library and also published a story in a local magazine about Woboda 2019.  The reverse of the bookmark says ”You tell stories to the children to make them sleep – and to the adults to make them wake up” (Jorge Bucay).  What a nice quote and sentiment.  We assume she will also be distributing these bookmarks in her little free library in addition to city organizations. 
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Gaby was also inspired through her IFOB activities to add tiny bookmarks to the tiny books she makes and sells.  In these photos, you can see the display she uses to showcase the books on large letters.  Now they will also be promoting the use of bookmarks. 
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Please tell us if you have examples of bookmark inspirations!
0 Comments

Book Care

24/3/2019

2 Comments

 
By Georg Hartong

​There is apparently a widespread bad habit of marking the place where the reading of a book has stopped, by making a fold in the top corner of a page: making dog-ears. In other languages the same phenomenon has a different name: in Dutch: 'ezelsoor', in German: 'Eselsohr' and in Danish: 'Aeselorer', all meaning 'donkey's ear'. In South-Africa, in the Boeren-language (familiar to Dutch), they name it 'varkore', pig's ear.
How is this called in French, Spanish, Italian and other languages? Does anybody know?  

The first scan shows three German bookmarks. 
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The second scan a Danish and two Dutch bookmarks; on 'operatie ezelsoor': 'a book is not made of steel' and 'a book is not made of stone'; Bladwijzer means Bookmark; the remaining text: 'donkey's ears are ears that do not belong in books; even closed you keep seeing the book; donkey's ears spoil the beauty of a book; can you promise never to make donkey's ears again, Hi-a? ​
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The third scan shows an English bookmark, a South-African one and a shaped one. ​
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The fourth scan shows the English translation of the South-African one, but not literally: 'bending the pages' = 'met varkore merque'.
Who can supply this note?
For more examples of bookmarks encouraging the care of books, see the Gallery page on this topic. 
2 Comments

Book Fair Bonanza

22/3/2019

0 Comments

 
As you can see from the listing on our Events page, there are many book fairs all over the world.  They provide an opportunity for readers, writers, publishers and related organizations to be immersed in books, ephemera, and even art and music.  And, of course, they are great places to find free bookmarks.  Here are two reports on recent book fairs in Vilnius, Lithuania and Oakland, California, USA.
From Regina Mačiulytė
From 21 February till 24 February in Vilnius was the book fair. This fair started in 1999, so now the Vilnius book fair celebrates its 20th birthday. In the fair were not only writers and publishers, but also you can listen to music and meet musicians. There were not only writers who wrote books, but also actors, singers, nature scientists, journalists, etc.
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Regina with friends and IFOB members Vilija and Julija
It's like a cultural event where you can meet friends or people you know and meet once in a year.
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​You can go to books presentations, listen about books, and listen to people who read books who can tell more. Sometimes books presentations have many people, sometimes just several. This book presentation was discussion about Latvian and Lithuanian books. 
​As you can see, where you can buy fiction books, there are many people. Sometimes books are cheaper at the book fair, but sometimes it's just 2 euros or less. Also you can ask for writers’ autographs. Science fiction books are not so interesting, but also sometimes there are many people. 
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Fiction hall
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Scientific hall
​Also you can get bookmarks. This year I found about 100 new bookmarks.
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​I took a selfie with writers, singers, and a painter. Sigutė Ach is a painter who has publisher "Nieko rimto" where you can buy books, cards, bookmarks and other stuff. She is a very nice person and asked me maybe I don't have all bookmarks from the publisher? So I took 3. 
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The Lithuanian mint made a bookmark-coin for this 20th book fair. It's really interesting. ​
In the music hall there are so many young people, who want to have photos with their idols. ​My idol is Andrius Mamontovas. He is one of the best musicians and has been singing more than 30 years. He is really famous in Lithuania. 
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Music hall
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Regina with Andrius Mamontovas
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​8 kambarys is a group who sing rap/hip-hop. They are very nice people.

​Journalist Andrius Tapinas is a writer and also has TV on youtube. With his team he makes shows about Lithuania, politics (I think many in politics don't like him). He has a sharp tongue for this. But many young people like him. 
​Also, not all people are happy that they should work in the book fair and don't have time to see what's happening.  My friend had to work all weekend.
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Regina's friend Tomas
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Regina with Andrius Tapinas

From Laine Farley
I attended a different kind of book fair, the 52nd California International Antiquarian Book Fair, held 8-10 February in Oakland, California, USA. Because it specializes in rare and antiquarian books, there are not as many vendors as at a general book fair, but they offer many interesting and unusual books and ephemera. 
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The Friends of Calligraphy were making free bookmarks like this one. 
 At this fair, there were also exhibits from related organizations such as the Miniature Book Society. I should have asked if they have miniature bookmarks!
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Miniature Book Society
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Miniature Book Society
the Ephemera Society of America  had a special display by a collector of Native American themed advertising ephemera. It’s possible there are some bookmarks in this detailed display. [warning: some people may find these depictions offensive, but they are artifacts of their time]
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Ephemera Society of America
Of course, there were free bookmarks to acquire such as these from book dealers. 
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​A curated exhibit of first edition books by L. Frank Baum and the subsequent authors of the "Wizard of Oz" series, courtesy of Joel Harris, a local member of the International Wizard of Oz Club, was complemented by a lecture from a librarian from the University of California, Berkeley, Peter Hanff.  He talked about the publication of the Wizard of Oz books by L. Frank Baum, based on his extensive collection of books and printing ephemera.  He also gave attendees a special keepsake postcard—but it could be used as a bookmark too!
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​Even if you are not a collector of rare or antiquarian books, it can be worthwhile to attend this type of book fair to see the  history of books and variety of interests among dealers and collectors.  
Check our Events page section on book fairs to locate one near you.  Many are held on a regular basis.  And let us know if there are others we should add to the list.  
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The Library 100

19/3/2019

0 Comments

 
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Library member organization OCLC has produced a list of the top 100 novels held by libraries around the world.  As their site says: "Yes, libraries offer access to trendy and popular books. But, they don’t keep them on the shelf if they’re not repeatedly requested by their communities over the years. We’ve identified 100 timeless, top novels—those found in thousands of libraries around the world—using WorldCat, the world’s largest database of library materials."  This page has book covers and links to libraries for these books. 
You can also go to the page for Librarians to download bookmarks with the logo and the list of books on the back--all 100 on a bookmark!  And look at the Frequently Asked Questions to find out more about how they identified this list of books.  
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Is it a page turner, a paper knife, a bookmark or a combination?

20/5/2018

0 Comments

 
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Have you ever seen a bookmark described as a page turner?  Or a paper knife? Or a letter opener?  This article on The Mystery of the Phantom Page Turner solves the mystery of whether there even is such a thing as a page turner and what distinguishes these other related objects. 

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Bacon, cheese slices and sawblades...

15/5/2018

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"Every so often, a journalist discovers that people use very odd things for bookmarks and librarians and booksellers find them.  Here's the latest one. 
"What is the cheesiest book you’ve ever read? For Washington DC librarian Anna Holmes, it wasn’t so much the book, as the slice of Kraft American that she found inside it, clearly used by a cheese-loving patron as a bookmark. "
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Bookmarks in Art

22/4/2018

0 Comments

 
A recent reminder of a trip to Paris a few years ago led me to review photographs of bookmarks found in art works in the Musée de Cluny – Musée national du Moyen Âge.  While I knew that paintings of this period often showed books with several styles of medieval bookmarks, I was surprised to notice the first one and then began to look for more.  Now, anytime I see a book in a work of art, I look closely to see if there is an accompanying bookmark.  We have other examples in our Gallery pages.  Share with us any examples you have found.  
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0 Comments

Bookmark Contest in Italy - Enter by 5 May 2018

20/3/2018

0 Comments

 
​We learned about an exciting bookmark contest offering book prizes from Edoardo Bona who says:" I am the manager of a small library in a small Italian village. For 10 years we have organized a bookmarks contest that is having more and more success (2500 bookmarks in 2017) . We have had participants from many foreign countries too (USA, Madagascar, France, Germany, Turkey, Philippines). For this reason I am sending e-mail to collectors, libraries and Institutions that organize or have organized competitions bookmarks hoping that they can help us to share the contest." Check here for the contest rules in English.  The web site has a wonderful quote: "​It may surprise you that a library would promote reading through an unusual means such as a bookmark rather than through lectures, readings and book presentations. Yet the bookmark is a wonderful symbol of the joy of reading: it is the travel ticket that accompanies you through the pages of a book; it is the proof of your pleasure to hold in your hand a book, to browse it, to read it, to feel it your own."
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My Bookmark Project 'Mark the Book'

18/3/2017

4 Comments

 
by Keti Gabaitze

Introduction
Keti is a 15 year old student and nascent artist from Georgia who loves to draw as a hobby and also likes to read books a lot. Recently, as she had to create a project at school she came up with the idea to connect her hobby with her reading passion and to produce illustrated bookmarks matching popular books. Let's hear what Keti has to tell about her project and it's outgrowths after she has finished it.

Mark the Book
What do you think about bookmarks? Personally for me and for the readers generally, bookmarks are important accessories. They are interesting, functional and beautiful. My hobbies are drawing and designing, therefore, I decided to make a project about bookmarks called “Mark the Book”.  The aim of the project was to create bookmarks from different popular books among my generation such as: Hunger Games, Harry Potter, The Great Gatsby, The Devil Wears Prada, The Mortal Instruments, Sherlock Holmes, The Little Prince, Breakfast at Tiffany’s and Pride and Prejudice. The bookmarks were created with my own illustrations and on the back side they had quotes from these specific books.

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After I had the bookmarks ready, it was time to show it to society and prove that even nowadays bookmarks can be fun, interesting, beautiful and trendy. At that stage, I came across the website of International Friends of Bookmarks (IFOB) and saw that some artists and several people had submitted free downloadable bookmarks to promote the very first World Bookmark Day (Woboda). It was easy for me to contribute some bookmarks for this event, I just had to replace the title of the book on the bottom of my bookmarks with the wording and date of Woboda.

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Bookmarks I have submitted to IFOB for the promotion of the World Bookmark Day

Later, I decided to distribute some of my new bookmarks in the local city library, mostly to teenagers and younger generation people, because the books I created bookmarks about are popular among them. I also left some copies in a local bookshop, so people could buy them and I sold them at school as well. I got positive feedback, people liked bookmarks and they were sold really fast. With collected money at school, I bought some books and took part in a project in which the city library was collecting books and delivering them to small libraries within the country.

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In conclusion, with this project I didn’t just create the bookmarks but I also took part in popularizing them among society, I showed them the importance and the role of bookmarks and that they have to pay attention to bookmarks, and I also helped society and delivered some books to the library.

Editor's Note
We from International Friends of Bookmarks (IFOB) wish to congratulate Keti for her wonderful project and to thank Keti for her contribution to our project World Bookmark Day. Keti's project shows how bookmarks can be a employed in a creative way to spark enthusiasm and can be messengers of messages over the borders of countries.
19 March 2017 Asim Maner, webmaster

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      • Traditional Costumes of Countries - A bookmark Series by Rowohlt Verlag
      • Charting the Course of Celluloid Bookmarks
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