Fusenews: Robots, Wars, and Brooklyn (Not to be Confused with Robot Wars in Brooklyn, Which Would be Hopelessly Awesome)

• And let’s see here.  At final count the winners of last night’s Kidlit Drink Night appeared to be the Brooklyn Public Library.

New York Public Library: 2

Brooklyn Public Library: 8+

Queens Public library: 0

This is a real upset for the Queens team, who until now had been winning the Kidlit Drink Nights in full force.  Sorry, ladies.  Looks like BPL had the leg up this particular evening.   There were illustrators, editors, and school librarians in attendance as well, but no one could compete with the librarians of distant boroughs.  Well played.

• There we go.  Had to happen.  "Harry Potter" has finally become a style.  With any luck designers will be using the term to describe home libraries of the rich and famous ala that scene in The Great Gatsby.  You know the one I mean.  And if you don’t, tell me since I haven’t reread that book is such an awfully long time.  Thanks to Read Roger for the link.

• People with opinions can be fun.  The piece about the 5 People Who Make Me Hate the Public Library is positively rife with them too. It’s a sequel to the piece The 9 Most Annoying People I Always See in a Bookstore.  Agreeing is not obligatory, which is probably a good thing. Thanks to bookshelves of doom for the link.

• Fine Lines continues to look at children’s literature of yore.  This week: The Chocolate War.  I just found out from the child_lit listserv that his name was not pronounced cor-mee-aay as I had always assumed but cor-mur.  That’s why I like my name.  Bird.  Very hard to mispronounce.  Bird.

• Imagine a world in which library books and cards are as easy to attain as Metro cards and those little plastic balls with cheapo toys and tattoos inside.  Behold the wonder and glory of Beijing’s Integrated Library Automation System.  Does it sound boring?  Yes it does.  But does it do cool stuff?  Sure as shooting.  Basically it’s an ATM with books inside.

"The report says the machine can hold more than 400 books, which are encased inside a glass window and circulate on a three-layer conveyor belt to facilitate readers’ selection. The machine is equipped with a box to hold returned books and a computer to help readers search for book information. The round-the-clock service system can even issue library cards."

Ooo, lar lar.  It also happens to cost a handsome $57,131 to build so . . . yeah.  I think we’ll be waiting a couple years before we start importing this particular pup.