Archive for January, 2017

Tuesday, January 31st, 2017

Statement from LibraryThing’s Employees on Trump’s Recent Executive Order

LibraryThing’s eleven employees stand together alongside so many in the library, literary, publishing, and tech worlds in opposition to President Trump’s recent executive order on refugees, immigration, and travel.

We feel compelled to do so as Trump’s actions concern us deeply, and strike at the heart of our work at the intersection of libraries and technology.

From the Library of Alexandria to the present day, libraries best realize their mission when they participate in the open meeting of cultures. At the most basic level, LibraryThing draws its data from libraries around the world, whose librarians collaborate to create records and make them available freely everywhere. At a higher level, we celebrate public libraries, who do so much to welcome and support refugees and immigrants, and the love of reading, which knows no national, ethnic, or religious bounds.

The American tech industry too draws much of its strength from immigrants and diversity of all kinds. Steve Jobs, whose computers we use and whose picture hangs at headquarters in Portland, Maine, was the son of a Syrian migrant. Our own employees have included (so far) Christians, Jews, Muslims, agnostics and atheists, one US immigrant, and residents of half a dozen countries.

We believe:

  • The order is unjust and discriminatory.
  • The order conflicts with American—and democratic—ideals, including welcome to refugees and immigrants, and equal treatment for people of any religion.
  • The order harms America’s safety and standing in the world. It encourages America’s enemies and hurts its friends.
  • The order was executed cruelly and incompetently, inflicting needless additional suffering.

The people who work for LibraryThing do not all share the same politics or views. We have never made such a statement before, and hope we never have to again. But as librarians and believers in the promise of technology, we shall continue to stand for an open and accepting world, welcoming to refugees and immigrants, in which national, ethnic and religious differences are celebrated.

This statement was written by Tim, with encouragement and changes by other employees.

Update: If you’d like to join the discussion on Talk, that’s happening here.

Labels: employee statements, LibraryThing

Wednesday, January 25th, 2017

New TinyCat Swag

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Just in time for TinyCat’s first birthday this April, we’ve added new shirts to our Store! We’re offering soft, comfortable v-necks for adults and fun, purple t-shirts for kids.

Bonus: If you’re a current user of TinyCat, we’ll give you special, at-cost pricing*, so you can easily show off TinyCat for your library.

Come check out our new shirts (and other LT gear) in our Store. If you have some great ideas for more TinyCat merch you’d like to see, let us know by posting them on Talk!

 


* Special, TC-member pricing in our Store is for TinyCat items only. You must be logged into your LibraryThing account, and have an active TinyCat library, in order to get special pricing.

Labels: TinyCat, tshirts

Friday, January 13th, 2017

Welcome Josephine

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Welcome to Josephine Grey Krieger, the newest LibraryThing baby. Joey was born on December 29th, 2016—6lbs, 14oz—to our very own Kate Krieger, her husband Adam, and big brother Alex. Joey is already whiling away her days reading, and strangely enough, Kate has perhaps less time for books.

Labels: LibraryThing babies

Tuesday, January 10th, 2017

January 2017 Early Reviewers

Win free books from the January 2017 batch of Early Reviewers titles! We’ve got 104 books this month, and a grand total of 2,895 copies to give out, including New Boy, Tracy Chevalier’s retelling of Othello. Which books are you hoping to snag this month? Come tell us on Talk!

If you haven’t already, sign up for Early Reviewers. If you’ve already signed up, please check your mailing/email address and make sure they’re correct.

» Then request away!

The deadline to request a copy is Monday, January 30th at 6pm Eastern.

Eligiblity: Publishers do things country-by-country. This month we have publishers who can send books to the US, Canada, the UK, Israel, Australia, France, and many more. Make sure to check the flags by each book to see if it can be sent to your country, or select your country from the drop-down menu at the top of the list, to see just the books available where you are.

Thanks to all the publishers participating this month!

Lion Fiction Henry Holt and Company Candlewick Press
World Weaver Press Beacon Press Akashic Books
Month9Books Tantrum Books William Morrow
Anaphora Literary Press Tundra Books Unbound
Ballantine Books HighBridge Audio Tantor Media
Bellevue Literary Press Aneko Press CarTech Books
Story Spring Publishing, LLC Pneuma Springs Publishing Prufrock Press
Small Beer Press Plough Publishing House Orca Book Publishers
Raven Reads Oneworld Publications BookViewCafe
Bantam Dell EDGE Science Fiction and Fantasy Publishing City Owl Press
Crown Publishing Orion Books

Labels: early reviewers, LTER