Library Journal articles from March 2004

Library Journal archives from March 2004

ALA did it right on Cuba: let Nat Hentoff rant!(American Library Association's stance on censorship of academic freedom in Cuba)(Editorial)
March 1, 2004... Librarians need not be concerned by columnist Nat Hentoff's unfair attacks on the American Library Association (ALA) under such lurid and misleading headlines as "The ALA's Shameful Silence" and "A U.S. Librarian Defends Castro." The Hentoff...

Drunken sailors.(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
March 1, 2004... I read the report on the proposed sale of the Providence Athenaeum's Birds of America (News, LJ 1/04, p.16) with some interest. It failed to touch on the most important issue. The question is not whether the Birds should be sold, but rather how...

Out of the mainstream.(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
March 1, 2004... I like John Berry, really I do. I consider him a friend though we've never met. But "opposition is true friendship," as Blake once said. So I object to his "High Profile, Strong Image" (Editorial, LJ 12/03, p. 8).... The Patriot Act has done...

Inadequate "training".(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
March 1, 2004... It is a pleasure to respond to misrepresentations... in Ronald Pollock's letter ("New Texas librarians," LJ 11/15/03, p. 10).... I never questioned the value of the library, only that of the education of librarians. As a former director of a...

NextGen is wonderful.(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
March 1, 2004... As a "new" librarian, I was definitely excited to see Rachel Singer Gordon's inaugural NextGen column (LJ 1/04, p. 62). I think it is a wonderful idea! --Christine Giannoni, Reference Libn., Field Museum Lib., Chicago

Correction.(Letters)(Correction Notice)
March 1, 2004... In "Budget Blues" (LJ 1/04, p. 52-54), comments attributed to Terri Assaf and Keith Curry Lance should have been attributed, respectively, to a Michigan Library Association spokesperson and to Colorado State Librarian Nancy Bolt. Also, the...

Bush proposes 11% LSTA increase.(funding for Library Services and Technology Act)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2004... The Bush administration's proposed budget for FY05 calls for an 11 percent increase in funding for the Library Services and Technology LSTA increase Act (LSTA), administered through the Institute of Museum and Library Services. For FY04,...

After cut, PA governor offers only 10% more for libraries.(Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell's increase of funding for public libraries)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2004... After a nearly 37 percent reduction in state aid to public libraries (see News, LJ 2/1/04, p. 16), Pennsylvania governor Ed Rendell last month released his budget proposal for FY04/05, calling for only a ten percent increase. The proposed $4.8...

UK's JISC signs with Elsevier.(Joint Information Systems Committee)(academic libraries' access to online databases)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2004... The UK's Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC) and Elsevier have announced an agreement to provide access to Elsevier's ScienceDirect for all university and research communities in the UK. The deal was struck as part of NESLi2, a national...

Will FL State Library move?(Florida State Library)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2004... Less than a year after the Florida legislature refused to send the circulating collection of the Florida State Library and Archives to Nova Southeastern University, Fort Lauderdale (see News, LJ 5/1/03, p. 13), a private effort may be underway...

Stanford to digitized back file via Google.(Stanford University libraries)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2004... Shortly after the Stanford University libraries left the Association of Research Libraries (see Late Bulletins, LJ 2/15/04, p. 13), a new project apparently bubbled to the surface. Buried within a February 1 article in the New York Times on the...

OCLC to library community: time to think differently: environmental scan charts changing information world; librarians urged to pursue context and collaboration.(Online Computer Library Center)
March 1, 2004... In OCLC's last "environmental scan," conducted in 2000, Google was not mentioned. In Pattern Recognition: The 2003 OCLC Environmental Scan, Google, Amazon, and other self-service, web-based consumer sites are major players shaping the...

Report slams Atlanta-Fulton PL: employees say that system is failing; newspaper calls for change.(Atlanta-Fulton Public Library System)
March 1, 2004... A consultant's report on the troubled Atlanta-Fulton Public Library System (AFPLS) has reinforced the grumbles of employees, portraying a system plagued by mistrust and low morale, undermined by volatile director and micromanaging board. ...

A timely reminder.(Clinton-Macomb Public Library's First Amendment Wall, exhibit on civil liberties)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2004... A TIMELY REMINDER: With libraries feeling pressure owing to the USA PATRIOT Act, CIPA, and other federal measures, the First Amendment may seem pushed to the wall. The Clinton-Macomb Public Library, MI, has installed a First Amendment Wall as a...

Jacksonville PL told to slow down: Mayor cuts spending on staff, materials; library to prepare plan.(Mayor John Peyton's regulating of public library's expansion project)
March 1, 2004... The Jacksonville Public Library (JPL), FL, has been a bright spot on the national library scene; it's in the middle of a growth spurt that would nearly triple its budget and staff from 1999 to 2005. However, new mayor John Peyton has...

Hentoff renounces ALA award: opposes stance on Cuba; ALA's Krug calls columnist inaccurate.(columnist Nat Hentoff; American Library Association's John Phillip Immroth Intellectual Freedom Award)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2004... Still fuming over the American Library Association's (ALA) response to Cuba's "independent librarians," nationally syndicated columnist Nat Hentoff has angrily renounced ALA's 1983 John Phillip Immroth intellectual freedom award. "It is...

Cronin to head Indiana SLIS: returns to deanship after he helps derail possible merger.(Blaise Cronin; Indiana University's School of Library and Information Science)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2004... After spearheading opposition to a possible merger of Indiana University's (IU) School of Library and Information Science (SLIS) into the fledgling School of Informatics (see News, LJ 12/03, p. 20ff.), Blaise Cronin, who served as dean of the...

Veto promised for Patriot Act response: still, California libraries and ACLU campaign to back SAFE Act.(Attorney General John Ashcroft's planned veto of Security and Freedom Act, proposed amendment to USA Patriot Act)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2004... Even though the pending SAFE (Security and Freedom Ensured) Act, one of several that would scale back the USA PATRIOT Act, has not come up for a vote in the Senate Judiciary Committee (SJC), Attorney General John Ashcroft has preemptively...

Pew study: online growth has slowed: Internet use differs significantly depending on demographics.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2004... Some 63 percent of Americans are now online, according to a report by the Pew Internet & American Life Project, which analyzed the responses of more than 64,000 people. Online activity has grown consistently over the past three years, but it...

Free CDs for PLs in WI, others? Settlement of price-fixing lawsuit may soon be implemented.(record labels to offer music discs for public use as part of lawsuit settlement)(Wisconsin to donate discs to public libraries)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2004... Public libraries and other nonprofits will benefit from the settlement of a lawsuit involving distributors and retailers of music recordings. Forty-three states alleged that the companies named in the suit, among the largest and most well known...

Friends of the Saint Paul Public Library.(organization receives donation from E.M. Pearson Foundation)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2004... The E.M. Pearson Foundation, before it dissolves, has given the Friends of the Saint Paul Public Library (FSPPL) a parting gift of $500,000. The foundation, which was created in 1989, has been a regular contributor to FSPPL, but with the deaths...

Springfield-Greene County Library.(man sets fire to library)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2004... A January 19 fire ravaged the Library Center, the headquarters of the Springfield-Greene County Library, MO, causing some $250,000-$500,000 in damage from both flames and water from the sprinkler system. It was set by a man attempting to...

Houston Public Library.(library celebrates centennial )(Brief Article)
March 1, 2004... The Houston Public Library celebrated its centennial with a "One Hundred and One Big Party" on January 24 at the Central Library. The library dubbed its milestone "Empowering Houstonians for 100 Years: 1904-2004." As part of the celebration, an...

Lorain Public Library.(George Kallas charged with murder of wife, library employee, Barbara Kallas)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2004... Police have charged George Kallas with the murder of his wife, Barbara, a part-time worker at the Lorain Public Library, OH. The killing took place in the library's parking lot, January 20, according to the Morning Journal. The couple...

Wichita Public Library.(Read Your Way Across the U.S.A., library reading program)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2004... Taking a cue from its programs to encourage kids and teens to read, the Wichita Public Library, KS, offers adults monthly chances to win gift certificates if they read a book by an author from one of five specified regions. Read Your Way Across...

Contra Costa County.(Interfaith Council withdraws application to turn old library building into homeless shelter in Orinda because of residents' opposition)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2004... After area residents complained, the Interfaith Council of Contra Costa County, CA, has withdrawn its application to convert an old library--vacant for two years after a newer building opened--into a 75-bed temporary homeless shelter in the...

Adams County.(resolution to establish new county library disctrict)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2004... The Board of Commissioners of Adams County, CO, approved a resolution in a December 15, 2003 public hearing to establish a new county library district. Director Michael Sawyer hopes that his new board will put a levy increase on the November...

Andrew Carnegie Free Library.(library receives financial pledge from anonymous foundation for renovation project)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2004... The Andrew Carnegie Free Library in Carnegie, PA, outside Pittsburgh, has received a $500,000 pledge from a foundation to help refurbish the 103-year-old library complex. The foundation, which wishes to remain anonymous, requires matching funds...

Harvard College Library.(employee layoffs)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2004... The Harvard College Library will eliminate ten current staff positions and will leave vacant 8.5 open positions. While Harvard's endowment is back in black ink, expenditures are outstripping the endowment's sluggish growth, and all of Harvard's...

Association of Southeastern Research Libraries.(Ask a Librarian, online reference service)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2004... The Association of Southeastern Research Libraries (ASERL) has launched "Ask a Librarian," which it claims is the first-ever virtual reference service cooperatively staffed by research libraries across a region. The service is staffed by...

Library of the Year nominations sought.(Library Journal/Gale Library of the Year Award)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2004... The Library Journal/Gale Library of the Year Award honors the library that most profoundly demonstrates outstanding community service. Last year, the inventive staff at Las Vegas-Clark County Library District showed us how patron insight led to...

UCLA Library.(academic library acquires archive of fashion designer Bonnie Cashin )(Brief Article)
March 1, 2004... The UCLA Library has acquired the archive of fashion designer Bonnie Cashin (1908-2000), considered one of America's foremost designers from the second half of the 20th century, as a bequest from her estate. The archive is accompanied by a gift...

University of North Texas School of Library and Information Sciences.(Patti Patterson Dale, assitant to dean, charged with fraud)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2004... The assistant to the dean of the University of North Texas School of Library and Information Sciences, Denton, has been charged with leading a theft ring that cashed paychecks for work never performed and rigging expense reports, resulting in a...

Library of Congress.(senators call for improvements to THOMAS portal for legislative information)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2004... Six U.S. Senators have called for extensive improvements to the Library of Congress's THOMAS portal for legislative information. In a letter to Librarian of Congress James Billington, the service was characterized as "insufficient as a portal...

Congressional Research Service.(agency's stance on public access to its reports)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2004... An internal Congressional Research Service memorandum states that pending legislation (S. Res. 54 and H.R. 3630) to permit broad public dissemination of its reports would interfere with the agency's ability to support Congressional needs and...

Database and Collections of Information Misappropriation Act.(House Judiciary Committee approves legislative act)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2004... The Database and Collections of Information Misappropriation Act was approved in a 16-7 vote by the House Judiciary Committee. Introduced by Rep. Howard Coble (R-NC), H.R. 3261 would allow database producers to "maintain perpetual ownership...

National Commission on Libraries and Information Science.(commissioner nominations)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2004... The U.S. Senate January 26 confirmed the 12 nominees proposed in October 2003 by President Bush to serve on the National Commission on Libraries and Information Science (NCLIS). This marks the first time the group will have had a full...

Kathleen Balcom, Executive Librarian, Arlington Heights Public Library, IL has been given the first Lifetime Achievement Award by the North Suburban Library System, IL.(People)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2004... Kathleen Balcom, Executive Librarian Arlington Heights Public Library, IL has been given the first Lifetime Achievement Award by the North Suburban Library System, IL. Having served in the position since 1989, she will retire later this spring...

Alexandra Bernet is now Project Archivist, Rare Books & Manuscript Library, Columbia University Libraries and Information Services, New York.(People)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2004... Alexandra Bernet is now Project Archivist, Rare Books & Manuscript Library, Columbia University Libraries and Information Services, New York. She was Archivist, Atlanta University Center. Ndola Carlest is Budget and Financial Analyst for the...

San Francisco Public Library.(People)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2004... David G. Dodd is now North District Manager, San Francisco Public Library. He was Administrative Librarian, Marin County Free Library, San Rafael, CA.

St. Louis Public Library .(People)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2004... Glen E. Holt, Executive Director, St. Louis Public Library, has announced that he will be retiring by September 2004, after serving in the position since 1987. Since he took over the library, 11 new branches have been built.

Donald Muccino is now Chief Operating Officer, Endeavor Information Systems.(People)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2004... Donald Muccino is now Chief Operating Officer, Endeavor Information Systems. He was Vice President of Customer Services. He joined Endeavor in June 2003 after 27 years of progressive leadership at OCLC. Mark Wilson has been named Chief...

Stanley Olson is now the new Firector, Wells Public Library, ME, following the death of the former director, Stephen Bahre.(People)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2004... Stanley Olson is now the new Director, Wells Public Library, ME, following the death of the former director, Stephen Bahre. Olson was Head of Reference, Lane Memorial Library, Hampton, NH.

Quality Books Inc.(People)(Obituary)
March 1, 2004... Jeffrey Tegge has been appointed General Manager and Vice President of Sales, Quality Books Inc., Oregon, IL. He had spent the last four years as National Sales Manager-Libraries and Schools, Sourcebooks, Inc., Naperville, IL.

Obituaries.(People)(Obituary)
March 1, 2004... Basil Malish, who was employed by the Library of Congress for 28 years, died on January 12. Francine R. Rorabaugh, former Librarian, Chevron Geosciences, Houston, died on February 3 at the age of 57. Mary F. Rusinek, former Assistant...

Calendar.(Calendar)
March 1, 2004... Celebrating "A Living Legacy" at AlaLA; DLA/DCET join in a "Partnership for Lifelong Learning"; "Knowledge=Power" at NHLA/NHEMA APRIL 12-14--Indiana Library Federation (ILF) 2004 Annual Conference, Indiana Convention Center,...

Tennant tackles MARC record revamp at Midwinter; claims MARC is no longer a simple inventory control tool and needs to be transformed to include more information.(columnist Ray Tennant)(American Library Association's Midwinter Meeting)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2004... ALA MIDWINTER At the American Library Association's (ALA) Midwinter Meeting in San Diego, January 9-14, California Digital Libraries manager and LJ columnist Roy Tennant tackled the MARC record at a session hosted by Endeavor Information...

Endeavor adds XML Scirus gateway: scientific information searching added to ENCompass system.(Endeavor Information Systems)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2004... In addition to sponsoring Tennant's talk, Endeavor Information Systems beefed up its ENCompass management system with the addition of an XML gateway to the Scirus science-specific search engine. Although Scirus is available free, the vendor's...

Dynix airs Horizon Web Reporter: product offers multiple templates; director dashboard tracks stats.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2004... According to Dynix, the hottest demand in libraries right now is for web-based report tools. The firm recently announced several new products, including the Horizon Web Reporter, which is the result of an alliance with business intelligence...

ProQuest casts 20th Century Drama: first release includes 239 plays by 25 authors from UK and Australia.(online database)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2004... ProQuest has released 20th Century Drama, a database that, when complete, will contain roughly 2500 English-language plays from the 1890s to the present, all in searchable full text. The works are largely in-copyright texts, unavailable...

Utah State goes with innovative: Buys Resource Management module; becomes development partner.(includes note on National Library of France's contract with Innovative Interfaces for use of Millennium catalog management system)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2004... The Midwinter Meeting wasn't all about new products; several vendors brought word of new sales. Innovative Interfaces sold the standalone version of its new Electronic Resource Management (ERM) module to Utah State University, Logan, which will...

TLC donates $5000 to PLA: kids reading campaign benefits from Midwinter show floor traffic.(The Library Corporation; Public Library Association's Every Child Ready to Learn reading campaign)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2004... During the American Library Association's (ALA) Midwinter Meeting in January, The Library Corporation's (TLC) booth doubled as a display venue for its products and as a fundraising site for the Public Library Association's (PLA) Every Child...

Auto-Graphics signs NJ State Lib: Toronto PL also to install Single Search Library Portal System.(company's contracts with New Jersey State Library, Toronto Public Libraries)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2004... Auto-Graphics has signed the New Jersey State Library for the installation of AGent Authentication and Portal modules. The library will use the portals to buttress the state's strategic plan, Library Visions 2005, which promotes its numerous...

Searching through embedded databases.(online search features on new version of Microsoft Office)
March 1, 2004... THE DAY OF THE standalone database may be numbered. Database searching is now embedded in the latest version of Microsoft Office software, so the process of looking for information is interwoven into writing a report or creating a presentation....

Unlock your demographics: GeoLib's database will help public librarians access valuable information about their communities.(Public Library Geographic Database)
March 1, 2004... WHO LIVES IN THE community I serve? Public librarians continually ask this as they develop collections, programs, and services for their users. Suddenly, with the Public Library Geographic Database (PLGDB) that question has gotten a whole lot...

Linda S. Porter: Burlington County Library System, Mt. Holly, NJ.(recipient of Paraprofessional of the Year award)(Interview)
March 1, 2004... "LINDA PORTER OPENED the doors here," says Gail Sweet, director of the Burlington County Library System (BCLS) in Mt. Holly, NJ. "'Whether or not you have a library degree,' Linda said, 'get out there and go to the workshops and bring the...

Beyond the facts: the year's 36 top titles offer new perspectives on the scientific endeavor.(science and technology)(Bibliography)
March 1, 2004... FRENCH MATHEMATICIAN Henri Poincare wrote, "Science is built up with facts, as a house is with stones. But a collection of facts is no more a science than a heap of stones is a house." The facts of science are sometimes esoteric, understood by...

Ah, Wilderness!(national parks and monuments)(includes travel guides, video recordings, and Web sites)(Bibliography)
March 1, 2004... THE HALLMARK of any great civilization is that it values and preserves its heritage. That the United States has done this in abundance is evident in its system of national parks that celebrate and foster American culture and natural history....

How do you manage?(library donor arrested for alleged insider trading; library's management of crisis)
March 1, 2004... Case Study Biting the Hand That Feeds You KATHLEEN LAFFERTY, director of the Donald J. Olson Memorial Library, was on easy street. Despite the hard times that had impacted neighboring libraries, decimating their budgets like a...

Where personal and professional collide.(conflict between librarians' responsibilities to library users and personal beliefs)
March 1, 2004... I'M A CITIZEN WHO often likes to proclaim his politics publicly. I wear buttons on my lapel, tack posters on my wall, paste bumper stickers on my car. As long as the First Amendment still operates as a check to laws like the USA PATRIOT Act 1...

Prepub alert.(upcoming books, audibooks, reference works)
March 1, 2004... COMING IN JULY 2004... Cussler, Hiaasen, Hoag, and a raft of mystery/ thriller authors old and new whose works make for perfect summer reading. Nonfiction, however brief, shows that the shipwreck genre launched by Sebastian Junger and...

Small press best sellers.
March 1, 2004... 1 Toilet Training. 3d ed. [HC] Vicki Lansky. Book Peddlers. 2002. ISBN 0-916773-65-5. $14.95. 2 Simply Essential Funeral Planning Kit [P] PSI Research Staff & Donald Cochrane. Self-Counsel. 2002. ISBN 1-55180-382-8. $11.95. 3...

Graphic novels continue to come out a furious rate, as more publishers enter the market and existing ones expand the lines.(includes list of graphic novels)
March 1, 2004... Graphic novels continue to come out a furious rate, as more publishers enter the market and existing ones expand the lines. Even with the help of guest reviewer Khadijah Caturani (who returns in this installment where indicated), time and space...

Bendis, Brian Michael (text) & Alex Maleev (illus.). Daredevil. Vol. 7: Hardcore.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
March 1, 2004... Marvel Knights: Marvel. 2003. 128p. ISBN 0-7851-1168-9. pap. $13.99. F Recently, Bendis has become quite popular for projects ranging from crime noir GNs (Torso) to the Eisner Award-winning detective/superhero series "Powers" and Marvel's...

Brin, David (text) & Scott Hampton (illus.). The Life Eaters.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
March 1, 2004... Wildstorm: DC Comics. 2003. 144p. ISBN 1-4012-0098-2. $29.95. F This book's first third is a comics adaptation of Brin's Hugo Award-nominated story, "Thor Meets Captain America," in which the Nazis are aided in World War II by the Norse...

Claremont, Chris (text) & Igor Kordey & others (illus.). X-Treme X-Men. Vol. 5: God Loves, Man Kills.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
March 1, 2004... Marvel. 2003. 184p. ISBN 0-7851-1254-5. pap. $19.99. F During his original run of X-Men (1975-92), Claremont saw the series become Marvel's most popular. His God Loves, Man Kills GN (1982)--no longer available as a standalone but reprinted...

Igort. 5 Is the Perfect Number.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
March 1, 2004... Drawn & Quarterly. 2003. 176p. tr. from Italian by Ioana Georgescu. ISBN 1-896597-68-8. pap. $19.95. F This brilliantly inked work by Italian writer/artist Igort successfully evokes the moody beauty of Italy's Mafia underworld--its grimy,...

Jurgens, Dan (text & illus.) & Bill Sienkiewicz (illus.). Superman: Day of Doom.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
March 1, 2004... DC Comics. 2003. 96p. ISBN 1-4012-0086-9. pap. $9.95. F Ty Duffy, rookie reporter for the Daily Planet, is assigned to write an anniversary retrospective on Superman's "death" at the hands of the monster Doomsday--the story of which gained...

Kubert, Joe (illus.) & Brian Azzarello (text). Sgt. Rock: Between Hell and a Hard Place.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
March 1, 2004... Vertigo: DC Comics. 2003. 144p. ISBN 1-4012-0053-2. $24.95. F Legendary artist Kubert (Fax from Sarajevo; Yossel) worked on the World War II exploits of Sgt. Frank Rock for more than 30 years, starting in the 1950s. Now DC has revived the...

Mathieu, Marc-Antoine. Dead Memory.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
March 1, 2004... Dark Horse. 2003. 64p. tr. from French by Helge Dascher. ISBN 1-56971-840-7. $14.95. This strange and haunting absurdist fable is set in "The City," an urban area of such vast range that even telescopes cannot see beyond it. Every citizen...

Momochi, Reiko. Confidential Confessions. Vol. 3.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
March 1, 2004... Tokyopop. 2003. 216p. tr. from Japanese by Amy Forsyth. ISBN 1-59182-395-1. pap. $9.99. F In each entry of this six-book series, a different teenaged girl struggles with a serious issue; earlier volumes dealt with suicide, prostitution,...

Moore, Alan (text) & Kevin O'Neill (illus.). The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. Vol. 2.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
March 1, 2004... America's Best Comics: DC Comics. 2003. 224p. ISBN 1-4012-0117-2. $24.95. F According to Publishers Weekly, Volume 1 of this literary megacrossover series was the best-selling graphic novel of 2003; interest in this second volume is likely...

Nightow, Yasuhiro. Trigun. Vol. 1.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
March 1, 2004... Dark Horse. 2003. 360p. tr. from Japanese by Digital Manga. ISBN 1-59307-052-7. pap. $14.95. F The Trigun anime TV series, an sf action comedy, has been a hit with fans since its DVD release in 2000; it's also been shown on the Cartoon...

Hornschemeier, Paul. Mother, Come Home.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
March 1, 2004... Dark Horse. 2004. 128p. ISBN 1-59307-037-3. pap. $14.95. F Issues 2, 3, and 4 of the comic series "Forlorn Funnies" are compiled to create Hornschemeier's GN debut chronicling the effects of a woman's death on her husband and son. Switching...

Puckett, Kelley & Chuck Dixon (text) & Damion Scott & Robert Campanella (illus.). Batgirl, Vol. 3: Death Wish.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
March 1, 2004... DC Comics. 2003. 176p. ISBN 1-56389-981-7. pap. $14.95. F The original Batgirl, Barbara Gordon, was crippled by the Joker and now acts as information broker to the superhero community under the name Oracle. She appears here as a mentor to...

Sacco, Joe. The Fixer: A Story from Sarajevo.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
March 1, 2004... Drawn & Quarterly. 2003. 110p. ISBN 1-896597-60-2. $24.95. NONFICTION This is cartoonist and war journalist Sacco's follow-up to the masterpiece Safe Area Gorazde, which recounted a siege on a Bosnian town by Serbian nationalists during...

Tardi, Jacques (illus.) & Leo Malet (text). The Bloody Streets of Paris.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
March 1, 2004... ibooks. 2003. 192p. tr. from French by Jean-Marc & Randy Lofficier. ISBN 0-7434-7448-1. pap. $17.95. F Tardi is one of France's most acclaimed graphic novelists, and this oversized black-and-white book is his adaptation of 120 Rue de la...

Watase, Nozomi. Brigadoon, Vol. 2.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
March 1, 2004... Tokyopop. 2003. 200p. tr. from Japanese by Naomi Kokubo. ISBN 1-59182-378-1. pap. $9.99. Japanese schoolgirl Marin (age 13, though she's drawn more like a cute-as-a-button nine-year-old) is a poor orphan bullied by schoolmates. Yet she's...

Watsuki, Nobuhiro. Rurouni Kenshin, Vol. 1.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
March 1, 2004... Viz Comics. 2003. 208p. tr. from Japanese by Kenichiro Yagi. ISBN 1-59116-220-3. pap. $7.95. F Fans of the popular Rurouni Kenshin anime TV series, available on DVD and shown on Cartoon Network, have been asking for years for the original...

Weiner, Stephen. Faster Than a Speeding Bullet: The Rise of the Graphic Novel.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
March 1, 2004... NBM. 2004. c.80p. ISBN 1-56163-367-4. $14.95. GRAPHIC ARTS In this useful short history, Weiner (The 101 Best Graphic Novels) discusses the history of comic strips and books in the United States, citing some highlights of various periods...

Chelsea, David. David Chelsea in Love.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
March 1, 2004... Graphica: Reed Pr. 2003. c. 192p. ISBN 1-59429-004-0. pap. $16.95. AUTOBIOG When this autobiographical story was first serialized by Eclipse starting in 1991, Chelsea was nominated for three Eisner Awards and a Harvey Award. Now Reed Press...

Pini, Wendy (text & illus.) & Richard Pini (text). Elfquest Archives, Vol. 1.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
March 1, 2004... DC Comics. 2003. 216p. ISBN 1-4012-0128-8. $49.95. F First published in 1978, this wonderful, compelling, mythical fantasy was a pioneering work: one of the first manga-influenced American comics and the first GN series to find success in...

Bailey, Michael D. Historical Dictionary of Witchcraft.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
March 1, 2004... Scarecrow. (Historical Dictionaries of Religions, Philosophies, & Movements). 2003. c.199p. bibliog. ISBN 0-8108-4860-0. $60. REF This A-to-Z dictionary focuses almost exclusively on "the historical phenomenon witchcraft as defined and...

Burt, Daniel S. The Novel 100: A Ranking of the Greatest Novels of All Time.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
March 1, 2004... Facts On File. 2003. 468p. index. ISBN 0-8160-4557-7. $45. REF Next to reading fiction, fiction lovers love to rank fiction and debate the relative merits of their favorite works. Thus the popularity of "best books" reference works. One of...