National Book Research Articles

Perceptions of e-lending in Scandinavian libraries: tension and harmony between institutional logics

ABSTRACT This study examines e-lending dynamics in Scandinavian public libraries, by exploring the relationship between libraries and publishing houses. We ask how representatives of both fields perceive the public library’s role. Public libraries and publishers have traditionally served different roles in the book sphere: the library as a key cultural policy institution providing access to information and culture, and the publishers as involved in the production of books, operating on commercial premises. This relationship is affected by the change from ownership to licensing of digital book collections, which occurs along with changes on the national book markets. As a theoretical and analytical tool, the study uses the institutional logics perspective to explore the relations between different perceptions. We argue that this relationship can be illuminated through the dynamics of public service logic, market logic and digital logic. The study is empirically based on 26 in-depth interviews interviews with representatives of Danish, Norwegian and Swedish major libraries and trade publishers. Findings indicate that the relationship is nuanced and multifaceted, more than if it relied on a simple opposition between the public and the market. Both libraries and publishers share a common understanding of public service and market logics; however, they differ in perceptions of library’s role which is amplified by digital logic. The study also indicates that e-lending dynamics are influenced by cultural policies but with different outcomes in the three countries.

“Cured, I Am Frizzled, Stale, and Small”: Jungian Individuation Realized in Robert Lowell’s Life Studies

Robert Lowell’s Life Studies won the National Book Award for Poetry in 1960 and is credited with initiating the confessional poetry movement, which included followers and students of Lowell such as Anne Sexton and Sylvia Plath. In Life Studies, Lowell channeled his 1950s experiences with bipolar disorder and mental health hospitalizations into poems such as “Man and Wife”, “Waking in the Blue”, and “Home After Three Months Away”. Lowell’s hard-won Life Studies triumph, though most recently analyzed through socioeconomic and “divine madness” lenses, can also be understood through Carl Jung’s individuation concept which posits that self-realization can be attained through the reconciliation of one’s own conscious and unconscious mental processes. This article argues that Lowell’s Life Studies poems, when examined through Jungian individuation, enabled Lowell to achieve self-realization, and paved the way for mentally ill individuals to learn how to achieve psychological wholeness through art.

The Interweaving of Humanity and Animality-Animal Narrative at Poems Seven: New and Complete Poetry

Alan Dugan was a contemporary American poet. His last volume, entitled Poems Seven: New and Complete Poetry, was published in 2001 and won Dugan a second National Book Award. This paper is based on Alan Dugan’s narration of animals in his new poems and Dugan’snarration of animals, which conveys his profound thinking and care about human beings and the life form of existence. “Human beings” are often closely related to animals. The animal narration in Dugan’s literary works expresses a hidden human world “behind his back.” Therefore, “animals” is one of the keys to interpreting Dugan’s complex, mysterious, and bizarre narrative world. The expression and writing of animals can be used as a breakthrough point of Dugan’s research so as to dig deeply into his spiritual world and artistic characteristics in order to achieve a new understanding and thinking of his literary creation.

An Interview with Matthew Noe on Graphic Medicine and Librarianship

Since 2018, Matthew Noe has been Harvard Medical School's leading champion for Graphic Medicine at their Boston, MA campus's Countway Library. In his role as Lead Collection and Knowledge Management Librarian, Noe -- a Graphic Medicine International Collective (GMIC) board member -- has brought a wealth of graphic medicine content to the collection as well as a number of virtual & on-site events, including the NIH traveling exhibition "Graphic Medicine: Ill-Conceived and Well-Drawn" and speakers from around the globe. Graphic Medicine Review had the opportunity to chat with him about his experiences at Countway, national book bans, and efforts for representation.

Analyzing the Logistics of the Brazilian Book and Teaching Material Program: a sociotechnical strategy to inform optimization

The National Book and Teaching Material Program, formulated and executed by the Brazilian Ministry of Education and the National Education Development Fund, aims to ensure that students and teachers in Brazilian public schools have the constitutional right to access teaching materials. The program's logistics are complex, requiring the timely and cost-effective delivery of thousands of tons of teaching materials to public schools across thousands of Brazilian municipalities. A sociotechnical analysis is essential to comprehend the logistics challenges of such a program, as it enables considering social, normative, and technical aspects in a comprehensive and integrated manner. This article presents a qualitative analysis of the program logistics by applying different sociotechnical artifacts. The findings reveal a complex problem involving diverse processes and stakeholders who must adhere to several norms, adopt different computer systems, and rely on a direct and intense communication culture. Identifying key attention points and acknowledging the unique Brazilian context, the article argues that a sociotechnical perspective is crucial for understanding the problem's complexity and informing the design of solutions to optimize the program’s logistics.

Un análisis del impacto del covid-19 en el mundo editorial en Argentina: redes sociales, digitalización y activismo digital

Since March 2020, the effects of the mandatory quarantine promoted by governments to face the pandemic by covid-19, generated an unprecedented impact on the characteristics that the global and national book industry had so far. The present work is part of a project based in the Gino Germani Research Institute of the University of Buenos Aires called “The Argentine edition, between the State and the market”, and its objective is to reflect analytically on the current moment in the publishing world, considering the conjunctural transformations suffered by publishers in terms of economic impact, reprogramming of publishing plans, the initiatives undertaken by publishers and digital activism put into practice in this context. To carry out this objective, we present the results of a survey carried out among 131 publishers in Argentina in May 2020. The results allow us to describe the importance of the digital environment, social networks and digital activism in this new scene. As an example of digital initiatives, we will describe the collective projects “¡Sálvese quien lea!” and Feria del Libro en Casa.

INOVASI LEMBAGA PENDIDIKAN ISLAM ACEH DALAM MEMPERSIAPKAN GENERASI QUR’ANI DI ERA DIGITAL

Aceh after the conflict, precisely after the peace agreement between the Free Aceh Movement and the Government of the Republic of Indonesia on August 15, 2005, has provided space for the revival of Islamic education in Aceh. This article discusses the innovation of Islamic education in Aceh using qualitative methods. The main data of this study are articles that have been published in national and international reputable scientific journals and books in libraries related to Islamic Education Institutions. Data collection uses https://scholar.google.com/ links, https://garuda.kemdikbud.go.id/, and https://www.sciencedirect.com/ which are then analyzed with content analysis techniques. The results of the study show that the revival of Islamic education in Aceh occurs in three innovations. First, institutional innovation with various policies and regulations from the government that is getting stronger. Second, curriculum innovation that combines religious education materials with general science materials with learning methods and media that utilize information technology. Third, innovation in the integration model of dayah/pesantren education with public schools, and integrated public school models such as SD IT, SMP IT and SMU Plus.

TAXONOMIC DIVERSITY OF BENTHIC ALGOFLORA OFF THE WESTERN COAST OF THE CRIMEAN PENINSULA

The article presents the results of the study of benthic flora along the western coast of the Crimean Peninsula (Sevastopol region, Black Sea) in the summer of 2020. Hydrobotanical studies covered the water areas of Cape Tyubek, Lukull, VaiVai, Margopulo, Nemetskaya and Yazykovaya Balka. The flora included macroalgae of 74 species from the departments Chlorophyta, Heterokontophyta and Rhodophyta. The identified taxonomic composition was characterized by high species saturation of suprageneric taxa and low genus coefficient (1.1–2.0), coincidence of the proportion “order/family” in the divisions and in the whole algoflora, as well as “order/family/genus” in Heterokontophyta and Rhodophyta. The basis of taxonomic diversity was the following Rhodophyta (Ceramiales, Corallinaceae, Rhodomelaceae, Ceramiaceae), Chlorophyta (Cladophorales, Ulvales, Cladophoraceae, Ulvaceae), Heterokontophyta (Ectocarpales, Chordariaceae). Multispecies orders and families united from 55 to 88% of the total number of species found. High species diversity was characteristic of the genera Cladophora, Ulva, Polysiphonia and Ceramium. Seventeen species included in the national Red Data Books and international lists were found in the studied areas of the western coastal zone, which indicates the conservation significance of the study area. The large proportion of permanent species, their high joint contribution with additional species, the presence of maximum occurrence in a quarter of species (100%), and the average value of Jaccard’s coefficient (60%) testified to the spatial homogeneity of the species composition in the studied water area, which corresponded to relatively uniform habitat conditions of hydrobionts along the open sea coasts. Spatial changes in taxonomic composition were moderate (Cv = 9–26%). The difference in the extreme values of the absolute number of taxa was insignificant (by 30-50%). Among the departments, Chlorophyta was characterized by the lowest variation in the number of taxa, and Rhodophyta – by the highest. The increase in the difference between the extreme values of the absolute number of taxa was realized in the direction of orders < families < genera < species. The results of phytoindication indicate the warm-water character of the flora and the emerging trend of increasing trophicity of algal habitat in the study area.

A Thematic Interpretation of Selected Novels Of Tim O Brien

Author from the United States who enlisted in the military during the Vietnam War. “The majority of his works are about Vietnam during the conflict, and his latter works often investigate the life of Vietnam soldiers after the war. O'Brien is perhaps most known for his book, which was published in 1990 and titled The Things They Carried. This book is a compilation of connected semi-autobiographical tales that were inspired by O'Brien's experiences during the war. The latter was referred to be " a masterpiece of modern war fiction" by The New York Times in the year 2010. Going For Cacciato, O'Brien's book about the conflict that was published in 1978 and won the National Book Prize, is another reason for the author's widespread reputation. In spite of the fact that O'Brien is most known for his writings on the Vietnam War, he is also highly regarded as a teacher and instructor of creative writing. From 2003 to 2012, he was the holder of an endowed chair in the Master of Fine Arts programme at Texas State University–San Marcos. The purpose of this article is to provide thematic interpretations on a selection of Tim O'Brien's works.”

The Index as a Form of Self-Archiving in the Works of Alejandro Cesarco and Joan Wickersham

Contemporary life-writing, especially of an experimental disposition, increasingly demonstrates its wariness of narrative as an organising principle of auto/biography and favours structures that resemble an archive – a repository of autobiographical content, disconnected, fragmentary, and arbitrarily arranged. Over the last two decades, we can observe a rise in the popularity of self-archives adopting alphabetical structures such as the bibliography, the encyclopaedia, the glossary, and the index. Of all the alphabetical arrangements of the archive, the index appears the least likely form to be used in life-writing because of the rigidity of its structure and its aura of formality and academic detachment. However, as this article demonstrates, the index can be successfully used in life-writing as a method of processing and investigating one's past. The article begins with a theoretical discussion of the index – its historical and cultural significance, as well as its politics and poetics. It proceeds to analyse two notable uses of the index for autobiographical purposes: Alejandro Cesarco's long-term artistic project titled Index (2000–2015) and Joan Wickersham's memoir The Suicide Index: Putting My Father's Death in Order (2008), a National Book Award's finalist for non-fiction. The article shows that whereas Cesarco employs the index primarily to catalogue and examine his intellectual and artistic influences, Wickersham uses it as a structural foundation for her personal search to comprehend and mourn the suicide of her father.

Palestine and Israel War Conflict During COVID-19

The purpose of this study is to determine how international law affects the Israeli-Palestinian conflict during the COVID-19 pandemic. The approach used in this research is literature study, which entails gathering pertinent material from books and journals, evaluating it, and drawing conclusions. Concerns regarding the socio-economic circumstances of Palestinians have been highlighted by the fast-spreading COVID-19 epidemic. Overcoming two issues at once is becoming more and more difficult. Considering the harm done to infrastructure for sanitation, hygiene, and water, the Palestinians’ situation is getting better. The COVID-19 virus is being stopped by impeding the flow of essential supplies into the Palestinian state and causing environmental harm, both of which may affect public health. International humanitarian law is in place to prevent these kinds of tragedies, but the Israeli government and military disobey these laws. From an international law standpoint, this research helps understand how the state of Israel behaved toward Palestine during the COVID-19 epidemic. References to a wide range of national and international periodicals and books were used in the preparation of this research. In addition, it makes use of the most recent news about the subjects covered. The findings of this review of the literature indicate that despite an increase in attacks on Palestinian civilians, the situation between Israel and Palestine has not improved

Analysis of Focalization: A Case of John Steinbeck’s “The Grapes of Wrath”

Modern studies in narratology provide some fine models to study the structure of novels and stories. The modern narratological approaches divide books and stories into story, narrative, and narration. There is also a further division of these units, the focalization of which is very important. Focalization gives the idea of the center of perception, which means who the focalizer is and what is being focalized. The important advancement in this study is that this approach distinguishes between the narrator and the focalizer and states that the narrator is not always the focalizer. The Grapes of Wrath is one of John Steinbeck's best novels, and it won the National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize for fiction.

The Obstacles Encountered by Immigrants and their Cultural Assimilation in Bharathi Mukherjee’s Short Story “A Wife’s Story”

While replacing to a new country can be a wonderful experience, there are many challenges and adjustments required. Language barriers, cultural adjustment, job opportunities, education access, financial instability, and lack of family support are a few of these. Migration often causes conflict when cultures clash. However, migration has many positive cultural effects on both the migrants and the local population in the areas where they settle. Migration is a double-edged sword for migrants. Whether or not they choose to migrate, they are unlikely to wish to lose their culture. When immigrants to the US move out of ethnic communities and into more broadly defined “American” spaces, they could try to put their memories of their home countries behind them in favour of “becoming American.” In the past, they discovered that assimilation aided in their access to homes, employment, education, and other resources.“A Wife’s Story” was included in Bharati Mukherjee’s 1988 National Book Critics Circle Award-winning The Middleman and Other Stories. Since then, it has been included in several feminist and international literary anthologies featuring short fiction. Like many of Mukherjee’s writings, the story explores the nuanced and frequently contradictory experiences of South Asian immigrants adjusting to life in the United States. It also covers how other immigrant groups and Americans, some of whom have only been in the country for a generation or two, have reacted to these South Asians, who Mukherjee refers to as “the new pioneers.”The short story “A Wife’s Story” centres on the experiences of an immigrant Indian woman to the United States. The story is told from Panna’s point of view, which is the protagonist and faces difficulties promoting into a new culture and evolving as a person. Examining the intricacies of identity, marriage, and adaptation, this is a gripping account of the cultural and personal changes that an Indian woman in the US went through.

When I Am Asked: Lisel Mueller's Beginning in Poetry.

Why does anyone write poetry? Lisel Mueller (1924-2020) was a poet, author, and translator with a long and much-decorated career. She and her family fled Nazi Germany in the 1930s and emigrated to the United States, where she would establish herself as a writer. The poem "When I Am Asked" describes the beginning of her journey into poetry, undertaken during a period of grief after the death of her mother. Her writing would come to include nine collections of poetry and myriad accolades, including the 1981 National Book Award and the 1997 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry. Though her ouvre is filled with evocative works, this piece stands out as particularly relevant to physicians and other writers who find solace by expressing themselves through the art of poetry.

Visibility of ‘I’ in the invisible: a diasporic reading of invisible man by Ralph Ellison

Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man (1952) is awarded with National Book Award in 1953. It is a work of nationhood that discusses various topics like marginalisation, sustainability, crises of livelihood, supremacy and the socio-political instabilities. Modernity and the imperialist have brought diversity in the regional and ethical entities. Invisible Man deals with the need of willingness that is being suppressed by the unethical norms of colour, cast and creed. It also discusses the hardships of the Afro-Americans who survived in the mainstream with a spur of revival. So Invisible Man is on the other hand is treated as the voice of the marginalised. The novel begins with a first person narrative who is a black. The colour of his skin made him invisible even in his own eyes. So the question of being “I?” remains constant through out the novel. Apart from black identity and nationalism Invisible Man also discusses the substantial issues of individuality and personal identity. The narrator is being unnamed because it does not represent the black or the marginalised where as it represents the whole idea of the individuality. The novel seeks answer for the invisible ‘I’ who is needed to be visible and voiced.

Distribution and conservation of the narrow sub-endemic shrub, Lonicera paradoxa in Pamir-Alay, Central Asia

Abstract. Daminova N, Nosirov S, Akbarov F, Tojibaev K, Temirov E. 2024. Distribution and conservation of the narrow sub-endemic shrub, Lonicera paradoxa in Pamir-Alay, Central Asia. Biodiversitas 25: 439-448. Lonicera paradoxa Pojark. (Lonicera ser. Alpigenae Pojark. ex A.Byalt) is a shrub with a geographically limited range. This species is included in the national red book lists of Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan and is considered one of the rare species in danger of extinction in nature. The species grows in a significant elevation from 1600 to 3200 m on the Northern slopes of the Alay Range, Central Asia. In this study, we investigated the geographic distribution of L. paradoxa based on scientific literature, herbarium data collections, and field surveys. We then modeled the current and potential future geographic distribution using Maxent. We also conducted a propagation study for its conservation under laboratory and greenhouse conditions. Our fieldwork in 2021-2022 found new records of L. paradoxa in Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan. We calculated the Extent of Occurrence (EOO) and Area of Occupancy (AOO) of the species, which were 5.08 km2 (VU) and 28 km2 (EN), respectively. Therefore, based on the IUCN Red List and Criteria, we recommend the conservation status of L. paradoxa as endangered (EN) in categories B2 ab (ii, iii, iv) + D. Our modeling prediction suggested that compared to the current, suitable habitat of L. paradoxa to reduce significantly in the future with very suitable habitats are expected to expand to the south and high mountain areas. For the first time, the conservation measures of L. paradoxa were carried out at the Tashkent Botanical Garden. The conducted research made it possible to preserve L. paradoxa in ex-situ conditions. The results of this research can be helpful in determining and planning measures for the protection of L. paradoxa in the territory of the Kyrgyz and Tajikistan Republics, both now and in the future.

Private initiative as a growth factor of Book publishing activity in Russia in the last third of the 18th century

Importance. A landmark event in the history of Russia in the last third of the 18th century was the development of private printing houses, which destroyed the state and church monopoly on printing publications. The work of publishing houses played a decisive role in satisfying the spiritual needs of the broad masses of the population, contributed to the secularization of the national book culture. At the same time, the richness and diversity of fiction, educational and scientific literature, produced both in Russian and in foreign languages, thoroughly influenced the emergence and dissemination of new information and facts, increased the level of education of all segments of the reading population. Despite the existence of extensive research on the book publishing of this period, there is a well-known imbalance in the description of the activities of famous domestic printers and their foreign colleagues. Meanwhile, it was foreign specialists (I.M. Hartung, J.J. Weitbrecht, etc.) who played a key role in opening the first private printing houses in Russia. The study of their activities contributes to the increment of knowledge on the Russian book culture history, allows you to consider unknown pages of Russian book publishing and book trade.Research Methods. The main sources of the study are the materials of the Russian State Archive of Ancient Acts (Fund 17, Fund 248), as well as legislative acts and orders of that time that influenced the book trade.Results and Discussion. Being a characteristic feature of the development of information culture in the first half of the 18th century, censorship could not stop the transformative role of books in the history of Russia. As a result of the intensification of book printing in the country, the emergence of free book trade, the successful operation of new education models, interest in printed products has noticeably increased. Book business has ceased to be only a capital occupation and has become the property of the whole country. By allowing everyone to start printing houses at will, the state equated them with factories, which facilitated the processes of creating and developing their own printing business.Conclusion. The activity of private book publishers in Russia in the second half of the 18th century created opportunities for the formation of the national book market, filling it with various scientific, fiction and educational literature. Thus, the printers contributed to the dissemination of the widest knowledge among the Russian population, increased the variety and quality of the literature sold.

Translation of deconstructivism in the Romanian post-communist transition interval

ABSTRACT In the 90s, after the fall of the communist regime, Romania underwent a period of enthusiasm in the cultural and editorial sphere. Editors and translators attempted to cover the intellectual gap left by the late nationalist-communist regime between national book distribution in Romania and the cultural forerunners of post-structuralist thought. This paper shows how Jacques Derrida’s work, when translated into Romanian, reveals the material conditions of translation policies during the early stages of enthusiastic cultural practices in post-communism. My analysis shows that the fast-forward policy of translation during the early 90s, combined with the lack of academic and institutional support, failed to introduce deconstruction to a larger audience and to accommodate it to the local theoretical field. I also investigate the felicity conditions of theoretical transfer in the case of deconstruction, which was marginalized in the Romanian intellectual field. Additionally, I demonstrate how the circulation of texts in the form of translation triggers intellectual interventions in the public sphere.

A botanical oasis rather than a biological desert: Rediscoveries, new species and new records in a tropical city

Societal Impact StatementCities present a unique challenge for conservation. While overall native biodiversity is reduced, remnant habitats in the urban matrix can be important refugia for native and endemic species. This study reviews the rediscovery of 173 presumed nationally extinct plant taxa and discovery of 155 new native plant records, including 22 new to science and five endemics, in the botanically densely‐collected tropical city‐state of Singapore. The findings of this study indicate that plant rediscoveries and new discoveries are still possible in cities and urban areas with remaining fragments of original forest reserved for species protection, and investment in comprehensive botanical surveys and taxonomic research.Summary The conservation of native species‐dominated forest fragments and investment into botanical surveys and taxonomic research have enabled the rediscovery of presumed nationally extinct plant taxa and discovery of new native plant records in the tropical city‐state of Singapore. We compared national plant checklists of 2009, 2022, and the national Red Data Book (third edition in press) to enumerate rediscovered and newly discovered native vascular plant taxa in the last 14 years. We examined if these were from taxonomic specialist redetermination of only pre‐existing specimens or newly collected from field surveys, and if they were from particular sites and vegetation types, disproportionately represented by certain life forms and families, and predominantly threatened. We documented 173 rediscoveries and 155 new records after 2009, including 22 new to science and five endemics. Most rediscoveries were newly collected from field surveys, but most new records resulted from redetermination of pre‐existing specimens. Native species‐dominated forest fragments were the most important sites for the first collection of new records or first re‐collection of rediscoveries. Trees and climbers were well‐represented among the rediscoveries and new records. Epiphytes were significantly under‐represented compared to their proportion in the presumed nationally extinct flora. Most rediscoveries and new records are nationally Critically Endangered but regionally and globally not assessed. Our findings indicate hope for the persistence of rare native plant species and opportunities for conservation in cities.

Ibram X. Kendi and Relativist Antiracism

Ibram X. Kendi’s bestselling book How to be an Antiracist (2019) has been enormously influential and deserves the serious attention it has received. It follows his important historical work Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America (2016), which is much more scholarly and won the National Book Award the year it came out. But these books seem to take for granted a fairly simple version of cultural relativism in ethics that is widely regarded by moral philosophers as seriously defective. I want to take these doubts further and show that cultural relativism is a disastrous theoretical choice for an anti-racist like Kendi to make. In Section I I explain the kind of relativism I have in mind: agent-based, cultural, normative ethical relativism. In Section II, using the two books I have mentioned, I give textual support to my attribution of this kind of relativism to Kendi. In Section III I argue for my theoretical-disaster claim and defend it against some Kendi-inspired criticism. In Section IV I address some serious relativist doubts about ethical universalism, the opposite of relativism. Finally, in Section V I offer some brief concluding remarks.