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Author and Writing Interests

Julian Barnes Website: I maintain the official website for the British author Julian Barnes. His works include Flaubert's Parrot, A History of the World in 10½ Chapters, and the recently published novel Arthur & George. I am currently working to compile a bibliography of his writings from 1972-present.

Ian McEwan Website: I also maintain the official website for British author Ian McEwan. His works include The Cement Garden, First Love, Last Rights, the Booker Prize winning Amsterdam, the award winning Atonement, and the acclaimed novel Saturday.

James Fenton Website: I maintain the official website for British poet and author James Fenton.

Areté Magazine: Literary magazine edited by British poet Craig Raine. In its first few issues Areté has already published such well-known authors as Harold Pinter, Martin Amis, Ian McEwan, James Fenton, and Julian Barnes. Worth the time of anyone interested in contemporary literature.

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Poetry

Between the Lines (Interviews with Poets): Poetry site with excerpts from interviews with some of the best living poets, including Seamus Heaney, Anthony Thwaite, Thom Gunn, Donald Hall, and W.D. Snodgrass.

philiplarkin.com: Website of the Philip Larkin Society, a group devoted to the study, discussion, and promotion of Philip Larkin's poetry.

Modern American Poetry: An Online Journal and Multimedia Companion to Anthology of Modern American Poetry hosted by the English Department at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

poets.org: Website for the Academy of American Poets. Features poetry news and events, biographies and bibliographies of poets, and an online collection of poems by various authors.

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Books and Letters: (Bibliography, Book History, Printing, Preservation, etc.)

abebooks.com: One of the last great online used book databases. Before you try Amazon's out-of-print location service, try ABE. You can deal directly with the individual used book stores and save yourself the cost of Amazon's "processing fees", which can be as high as a 30% markup! Bibliofind, another wonderful used book database, was actually purchased by Amazon.com, so the word is still out about whether the database quality will change or suffer cost increases.

American Newspaper Repository: Created by novelist Nicholson Baker, the ANR's chief purpose is "to keep safe for future scholarship a collection of about 7,000 bound volumes of original American newspapers." Through Baker's research into the microfilming habits of some of the world's largest libraries, he discovered the British Library's intent to sell off one of the last remaining print collections of these wonderful and historic American newspapers. Baker liquidated his retirement savings and purchased the collection himself. In the summer of 2000, he published an article on the subject in the New Yorker (July 24, 2000, Vol. 76 Issue 19, p.42+). Baker's book on this and other library issues titled Double Fold: Libraries and the Assault on Paper was released in 2001. (Note: Nicholson Baker is the well-known author of Vox, a novel about phone sex that was made even more famous when it was discovered Monica Lewinsky gave a copy to President Clinton.)

Paper, Leather, Clay & Stone: The Written Word Materialized: Online exhibition presenting the "Visual and tactile aspects of the written word. Learn about the history of writing and see examples of writing materials such as clay tablets, papyrus, vellum and paper. Created and hosted by Cornell University Library's Rare & Manuscript Collections.

Gutenberg Bible: Complete scanned editions of the King's Library copy (paper) and the Grenville copy (vellum). Maintained by the British Library.

Oak Knoll: Both a Press and Rare Book Dealer, Oak Knoll specializes in quality books about books and books dealing with bibliography.

SHARP Web: The Society for the History of Authorship, Reading & Publishing.

The Bibliographical Society of America.

American Printing History Association : Organization established "to encourage the study of printing history and its related arts and skills, including calligraphy, typefounding, typography, papermaking, bookbinding, illustration, and publishing."

Emergence of Advertising in America: 1850-1920 : Presents over 9,000 images related to the early history of advertising in the United States. "The materials, drawn from the Rare Book, Manuscript, and Special Collections Library at Duke University, provide a significant and informative perspective on the early evolution of this most ubiquitous feature of modern American business and culture."

The Classic Typewriter Page: A website devoted to early writing machines.

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Libraries of Interest

British Library: The website often has online exhibits from its rich collections.

British Library Newspaper Library: The national archive collections in the United Kingdom of British and overseas newspapers. Located in Colindale (NW London), the library is reached via tube using the Edgware branch of the Northern Line. It's just a short block from the tube stop.

Library of Congress: Great online exhibits dealing with America's history and development.

Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center: One of the premier libraries in the U.S., the HRC has outstanding archival collections of some of the world's leading writers.

Bibliothèque nationale de France: Includes some really interesting virtual exhibits.

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Library Organizations

American Library Association: Professional library organization devoted to the protection and promotion of library services.

Illinois Library Association: Professional library organization devoted to the protection and promotion of library services.

Association of College and Research Libraries: A division of the American Library Association, ACRL is "dedicated to enhancing the ability of academic library and information professionals to serve the information needs of the higher education community and to improve learning, teaching, and research."

Library History Round Table: A division of the American Library Association dedicated to the history of libraries and librarianship.

Beta Phi Mu: International honor society for library and information studies.

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Music Interests

(I know this doesn't classify as either a "Library" or a "Book", but I had to fit it in somewhere)

U2.com: Official website of the world's greatest band currently performing.

U2 Chicago Concert -- 05/16/01: Makeshift website that has a few of the images I took while standing a few feet from the stage during this amazing concert.

Chris Isaak: Official website with images, discography, and tour information.

Cowboy Junkies: Official website with images, discography, and tour information.

The Museum of Robyn Hitchcock: Official website with images and information about the eclectic performer.

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Lincoln Land Community College • 5250 Shepherd Road • Springfield, Illinois 62794-9256
217.786.2200 • 800.727.4161 • TDD 217.786.2798