If you haven’t already, check out the “For Fun” section of today’s Shelf Awareness, (scroll down to the final story), which imagines what VP Sarah Palin would do with the Library of Congress.

“One Book, One Chicago” has picked Tom Wolfe’s 1979 book on the Project Mercury astronauts, The Right Stuff as their fall selection. Mayor Daley explained the selection in his announcement yesterday;

by selecting a book about the early days of space travel we take part in celebrating the 50th anniversary of NASA this year, as well as the city-wide celebration of science and technology, “Science Chicago.”

Wolfe, who will come to Chicago to receive the Carl Sandburg Literary Award in October, will discuss his work at free public program. The city will also feature an outdoor screening of the movie based on the book and many other events. The Chicago Public Library has 2,000 copies of the book available for circulation, in addition to copies of the movie on DVD.

Time Out Chicago praised the library’s choices;

…the Library’s done an impressive job with selecting books that are both intriguing and have wide appeal… It’s a tough assignment: The best choices seem to be minor classics, books that people feel they should have read by now, but for whatever reason haven’t. But they also have to appeal to new readers, so they should seem somewhat fresh. That’s why recent choices like Jhumpa Lahiri’s Interpreter of Maladies, Raymond Chandler’s The Long Goodbye and now The Right Stuff make smart selections: They’re great books that don’t feel like reading assignments.

According to the Library of Congress database of “One Book” programs, The Right Stuff has been selected by just one other program; Bakersfield, CA in 2002.

Whenever disasters strike, I immediately wonder what’s happening to the libraries and pets in the area.

On Friday, Library Journal posted an interview with Marie DeVries of Cedar Rapids Public Library. Astoundingly, despite heavy damage to the library’s main branch, the staff has managed to continue their summer reading program in temporary quarters (a shoe store!). Other staff members are working at a 24 hour crisis hotline.

In Des Moines, the central library has become the city’s emergency management center. Even the city’s tv station has been broadcasting from inside the library.

As for the pets, the National Geographic reports that 875 have been rescued and are being cared for by volunteers. (Photo from “Franny’s Cats Blog” on About.com).

The Sayreville Library in North Central New Jersey got a lovely shout out from Junot Diaz on yesterday’s CBS Sunday Morning. The Pulitzer prize winner (The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao) said that when he was growing up, he would secretly escape his grim neighborhood by going to the library. “My friends would have laughed their asses off if they found out I was walking down to the Sayreville Library to read books,” he said. Why did he risk ridicule? “I was convinced that I could stumble upon the key text that would maybe describe why I was in the United States.”

There’s a powerful statement to bring to funding authorities, “We help create Pulitzer Prize winners.”

With Father’s Day approaching, the show also featured CBS sportscaster Jim Nantz, whose book about his father, Always by My Side (Gotham), is now #11 on the New York Times Nonfiction list, after two weeks on the list.

From a list of what defines today’s broad (or, “kick-ass woman”), on PopMatters:

Today’s broad:

• Would never be caught speaking the words “that’s hot.”

• Doesn’t own any pairs of Manolo Blahniks…

• Is not the librarian with glasses and her hair in a bun who then tosses her glasses and shakes out her hair to lure a man. She’s the librarian. Period.

We just got our copy of Macmillan Library Marketing newsletter and were delighted to see Chicago PL’s Collection Development Director, Megan McArdle selected as their “Librarian of the Month.”

Our favorite living action figure, Nancy Pearl, leads today’s NY Times story on Seattle’s impact on national reading tastes. They also mention three lesser lights — Amazon, Starbucks and Costco.

Those attending PLA in a couple of weeks will be able to see Nancy in action:

Wednesday, March 26, 10:30 a.m. to noon

Nancy Pearl presents “Book Buzz”

Friday, March 28, noon to 1:45

Young Adult Author Luncheon, featuring Nancy Pearl (tickets required)

Because of their “mutating role,” libraries will not become extinct by 2019, as predicted by the Extinction Timetable, says Witold Rybczynski in Slate today. His essay/slideshow looks at several central libraries (including Seattle, Chicago and Salt Lake City) and wonders “What sort of public library does the ‘digital world’ of Google, Wikipedia and Kindle require?” There are no revelations, but Rybczynski offers some interesting analyses of each building (Chicago is a “slightly forbidding Fortress of Knowledge.” I’ve always found it quite a bit more than slightly forbidding).

Rybczynski, Slate’s architecture critic, has written several books, including Home: A History of an Idea and A Clearing in the Distance: Frederick Law Olmsted and North America in the Nineteenth Century.

“Librarian to the Stars” — what a great title (an honorary one, bestowed by a grateful author) and an inspiring story to begin the new year. The Dec. 31st issue of the New York Times profiles NYPL’s David Smith. With quotes from the many well-known authors he has helped, it’s a wonderful thank-you to one librarian, but also by association, to all the other librarians around the country who, as Smith modestly puts it, “expedite the use of the library.” Smith organized a holiday reception for the many authors who couldn’t have written their books without the library, a smart way to increase public recognition.

It’s amusing that the article finds it necessary to point out that Smith and his fellow reference librarians “provide information free.”

Several news organizations (among them, AP and Reuters) are covering today’s release of a Pew study showing that the most frequent users of libraries are in the 18 to 30 year old age group. The reports acknowledge that many library users are “drawn in by the computers rather than the books.” Unfortunately, the study itself doesn’t indicate how many users come to the library only for online access. A quote from Leigh Estabrook, a professor emerita at the University of Illinois and co-author of a report on the survey leaves the impression that the collections are the draw, “Internet use seems to create an information hunger and it is information-savvy young people who are most likely to visit libraries,” she said.

Librarians I spoke to say it’s definitely the computers. Minutes after a library opens, all terminals are taken. Since computer users come more frequently than book users, that also increases the stats. “We see many of the computer users every day, unlike book users who check out material once a week or once a check out period,” says Lynn Wheeler, director of the Carroll County Public Library. She further notes that “the demographic for computer use is widening as more people come to the library to use the Internet.”

Sno-Isle Public Library, as reported earlier this month in the Seattle Times, developed a program that addresses the generational divide. Teens are tapped to teach computer skills to seniors. Five years after the program began, over 300 seniors have been trained.

As most librarians already know, meeting the demand for computer time can be a challenge. This is verified by a recent article in First Monday, “The Looming Infrastructure Plateau? Space, Funding, Connection Speed, and the Ability of Public Libraries to meet the Demand for Free Internet Access.”