Security

1. BugMeNot: This extension protects you from advertising spam generated by the sites that require registration to view content. When you come across such a Web site and activate BugMeNot, if registration information is available in its database, it will use that information to log in into the Web site.
2. Click&Clean: This innovative extension will clean up all traces of Internet activity by deleting browsing history, removing download history, erasing temporary files, clearing cookies, and emptying the cache.
3. WOT (Web of Trust): The WOT add-on is a crowd-sourced safe surfing tool that shows reputation ratings next to search results. Symbols indicate which Web sites are safe for surfing, shopping, and searching. The ratings are powered by a global community of millions of users who have rated millions of Web sites based on their experiences.

Productivity

4. AdBlock and AdBlock Plus: Adblock Plus for Google Chrome was created by the Adblock Plus community, an open-source movement that is supported by many voluntary contributors who aim to make the internet better for everyone by eliminating bad advertisements. Both extensions prevent all ads from adding on any Web page. AdBlock Plus is still in beta.

5. Diigo Bookmark: This extension has bookmark, highlight, and add sticky note features. Perfect for research.
6. FastestChrome: This extension’s Endless Pages feature automatically loads the next page just before you reach the end so that you don’t have to click “Next” or wait. It also allows you to look up definitions instantly by highlighting a word, and it automatically turns text URLs into links.
7. Google Quick Scroll: This extension helps you find what you’re searching for faster, and can also be used for information skimming and scanning. After you click on a Google search result, Quick Scroll may appear on the bottom-right corner of the page, showing one or more bits of text from the page that are relevant to your query. Clicking on the text will take you to that part of the page.
8. MuteTab: MuteTab provides a centralized way to manage sounds in Google Chrome. It tracks down where a sound is coming from by maintaining and displaying a list of all possible sound sources, and it provides a menu of sound-related operations that can be applied to any or all tabs.
9. Xmarks: Xmarks synchronizes across multiple computers and across web browsers: Chrome, Firefox, Safari, and Internet Explorer. Xmarks also synchronizes open tabs across computers and browsers.

Tools

10. Any New Books: This extension is a notification service developed to alert you to new books in any of 42 categories. The notifications are sent out weekly in the form of a digest of new book releases.

11. Cloudy Calculator: Formerly named Chromey Calculator, this extension generates results using Google and Wolfram-Alpha. It features persistent printer tape style history, persistent links to the original source of each result, and persistent user variables.
12. Nicetranslator: Nicetranslator allows you to translate into up to 51 languages in real time, as you type. Simply select which languages to translate to and start typing. The extension also auto-detects languages.

Science

13. BioDigital Human: This is a 3D platform that simplifies the understanding of anatomy, disease, and treatments. Interactive tools for exploring, dissecting, and sharing custom views, combined with detailed medical descriptions provide an innovative way to learn about the human body.
14. Planetarium: Planetarium is an interactive sky map of the stars and planets, customizable by longitude/latitude and time of day. Because it includes all stars that are visible to the naked eye, you can pick out a star in the sky and look it up in the extension.
15. Popular Science Magazine’s Chrome Edition: This extension features the best content from recent issues of the magazine, delivering science and technology news that’s simple to navigate and easy to share in a dynamic and interactive platform. It features interactive videos, multiple layers of content, and big photographs with zoom and pan.

Misc. Reference

16. 20 Things I Learned About Browsers and the Web: This illustrated online book describes the evolution of browsers and how the internet has changed since its inception. In a playful, lively way it gives answers to such important questions as what’s a cookie, how do I protect myself on the Web, and what happens if a truck runs over my laptop?
17. Art Project: Art Project is a collaboration with art museums that enables people to view more than 1,000 artworks online. Using Google’s street view technology, users can move around in museums and navigate though interactive floor plans. In Artwork View, they can use the custom viewer to zoom into paintings. By expanding the info panel, users can read more about an artwork, find more works by that artist, and watch related YouTube videos.
18. GradeGuru: GradeGuru is a study network for college students that enables them to connect with classmates and share class notes, get help and feedback and share study materials, find class notes to help them study, and access 50,000+ study materials created by students from 1,400+ schools.
19. Image Definitions for Dictionary: This extension inserts relevant images from Flickr.com into popular dictionary Web sites to help users get a richer understanding of the words they are looking up.
20. Wikihood: Combining Wikipedia and Google Maps, the Wikihood World Browser provides a wealth of cultural, economic, and historical information about any location in the world — either one’s current location or a remote one.

eReaders

1. Bluefire: Read ePub and PDF books from most booksellers; transfer books between computer and Apple device; read books protected with Adobe DRM — even library books. Interact with this app the way you normally would with taps and swipes…the Bluefire Reader has many controls to customize your reading experience.
2. Google Books: Access free preview pages, unlimited storage of books in the digital cloud, hundreds of thousands of public domain titles; 2 million free e-books available instantaneously.
3. iBooks: Read a free sample of any book in Apple’s iBookstore before purchasing; sync your bookmarks, notes, and current page wirelessly across Apple devices; the only reader that offers an integrated bookstore and in-app purchases on Apple devices. According to the linked review, the iBooks app is easier to use than the Amazon Kindle and the Kindle app for the iPhone (see below).
4. Kindle: Gain access to Amazon Kindle books and periodicals and share quotes and passages on Facebook and Twitter while reading; look up words on Google and Wikipedia without leaving the app.
5. Kindle Cloud: Download e-books from Amazon directly to your device, rather than downloading onto a computer and then transferring to the device.
6. NOOK: Access Barnes & Nobles books and periodicals; LendMe feature allows you to lend out certain e-book titles to one friend one time for 14 days; built-in Merriam-Webster dictionary. This tool has an added feature that may be important to researchers and students — the pagination is the same as the original book.
7. Stanza: Read books in non-DRM-protected ePub, eReader, PDF, Comic Book Archive, and DjVu formats; access free books from Project Gutenberg and the Random House Free Library.
8. Wattpad: Offers downloadable content from published and unpublished writers for free; allows unknown writers to self-publish; used by a YouTube-like community for reading and sharing ebooks.

Tools

9. Book Crawler: Quickly and accurately upload an entire book collection into one easy-to-manage database using an ISBN barcode scanner or manual number search.
10. BookSearch: Allows users to search for online prices of books using an ISBN, book title, author(s), or keyword; single easy-to-read table presents prices at many online bookstores.
11. iBookshelf Lite: A comprehensive book database that helps you track of both your physical and digital books; – track book loans; rate your book; find places to buy books and the price at each vendor.
12. IndieBound: Browse for the latest independent bookseller recommendations and bestsellers; locate independent booksellers in your area; buy books online from independent booksellers.
13. Leatherbound: Features in this app include e-book searching, plot summaries, and the ability to share information viewed within the application via email; price comparison feature tells exactly where the cheapest place to buy an e-book is located.
14. OverDrive Media Console: This app allows you to hook into over 13,000 libraries worldwide; if your library is part of the system, then you can download free, contemporary, popular titles.
15. SnapTell: Take a picture of any book and SnapTell will identify it and list vendors that sell it, prices, and links to websites; also provides links to sites with related content, such as IMDB, YouTube, and Wikipedia.

Specialty Books

16. Audiobooks Premium: An audio player that features automatic bookmarking to keep your place in all audiobooks in your library, a custom sleep timer, and lots of advanced search options.
17. Comic Zeal Comic Reader: Both a comic book viewer and a storage application; access the online archives at Golden Age Comics, a free British repository of vintage comics now in the public domain.
18. iLibrary+Audio: An audio player/download manager and advanced multimedia book reader with text-audio synchronization.
19. Marvel Comics Reader: Each panel is displayed by itself, and you can zoom in with a double tap; a finger swipe moves on to the next panel. With larger panels, the swipe can zoom out farther to reveal more of the action.
20. TomeRaider: Makes fresh, open reference, multiple language content available and is the primary source of reference data for casual and education users.
21. Zinio: Try a single magazine issue for free, or subscribe and have it delivered to your device; pages auto-adjust for either portrait and landscape viewing, and it remembers where you left off if you leave the app.

Social Interaction

22. Goodreads: Social network for readers; share and store book reviews, rate books, and keep track of what you’ve read and want to read.
23. Kobo: Add books to your library from email and the web; read websites, blogs, and other online content and get daily clippings from them delivered to your library; see what books your friends have read and ask for recommendations.
24. Pulse News: Aggregate all your news content in one place — from online newspapers, magazines, blogs and even Facebook. This app also allows you to share your content and sync it to read offline.
25. ReadMore: A reading log/diary to show you your reading habits and motivate you with relevant feedback, it can break large books into more manageable pieces and keep track of your progress.

You might be transported to another time, or enjoy the extravagance that comes with wide open spaces and the finest materials. Sometimes the greatest extravagance comes from being unadorned. In any case, there are some truly beautiful and extravagant libraries around the world. Here are 20 of the most beautiful libraries you can visit:

European Libraries

It’s probably not much of a surprise that a number of libraries in Europe are extravagant and beautiful. After all, many of them are housed in gorgeous palaces and monasteries, and were commissioned by the rich and powerful of times past. 

1. Austrian National Library: Without a doubt, one of the most opulent libraries in the world is the Austrian National Library. Housed in a beautiful palace in Vienna and elegantly adorned, the original library began in the 14th Century. There are few libraries that match it for sheer extravagance.
2. Abbey of Saint Gall Library: The library housed in this 8th Century abbey is one of the most beautiful and lavish in the world. It is the oldest library collection in Switzerland, and the library is considered to be one of the most perfect library rooms in all the world. You can access a number of manuscripts and ancient books.
3. Melk Monastery Library: In Europe, many of the most beautiful and extravagant libraries are in monasteries, and the library in the Melk Monastery is no exception. This beautiful library is rich in history, books and reflected wealth from ages past. It’s yet another extravagant monastery located in Austria.
4. Admont Library: This amazing library is largest monastery library in the world. And it’s located in…Austria! The library itself is a beautiful and extravagant work of art, featuring frescoes, paintings, statues and priceless books. Founded 1074, this library has been a focus of cultural collection for centuries.
5. Rijksmuseum Research Library: Located in a beautiful building in Amsterdam, in the Netherlands, this art library contains some of the most important works of Dutch art. It also has numerous volumes and exhibits. It’s a beautiful library located in a large and lavish castle.
6. Wiblingen Monastery Library: Located in Ulm, Germany, this monastery library was remodeled during the baroque period, even though the monastery was founded in 1093. As you might imagine, the lavish baroque remodeling included frescoes and friezes, as well as plenty of gold leaf to go around, making this a rather extravagant library.
7. National Library of Belarus: Meant to be a repository of Belarusian culture and heritage, this is a relatively new building constructed in Minsk. It includes beautiful modern architecture and is made from fine materials.
8. Sansovino Library: You would expect any library in Italy to be grand and extravagant, and this library is no disappointment. Built between 1537 and 1588, this library was built in the classical style and contains artwork and is constructed from the finest materials.
9. Vatican Library: The Vatican Library is a baroque masterpiece, and, as you would expect from one of the wealthiest organizations in the world, this is a rather extravagant library, filled with rarities and fine examples art, manuscripts and more.

Libraries in the Americas

Although newer, these libraries are often known for their architectural beauty and the extravagance that went into their building. You can find these libraries in North America and South America, and enjoy their beauty.

10. National Library in Rio de Janeiro: If you are looking for a beautiful library, extravagantly built, the National Library in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil offers you access to more than nine million items. Housed in a palace, this library is the largest in Latin America.
11. Jay Walker’s Private Library: Located in New England, this library is the private geek preserve of entrepreneur and inventor Jay Walker is a study in wealth. From historical artifacts from King James to Sputnik to ruby-bound books, this amazing library is definitely one of the most extravagant in the world.
12. Library of Parliament: Located in Ottawa, Canada, this library is extravagant in beauty. Highly polished wood adds a beautiful glow, and the architecture is something worth seeing. One of the most tastefully elegant libraries in all the world.
13. The George Peabody Library: This lovely library, located at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland, is the very picture of elegance and refinement. 
14. Library of Congress: This U.S. library, located in Washington, D.C., is beautifully constructed. Beautiful architecture, and fine materials, make this one of the best libraries in the world for books and information as well as its looks.
15. Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library: The extravagance of this Yale University library is in the rare books and manuscripts it houses. It is beautifully constructed, and one of the coolest libraries in the world.
16. Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library: Another library with rare books. It also includes a number of Lewis Carroll first editions. This extravagant library has an elegant simplicity that is hard to find.
17. The Morgan Library & Museum: Pierpont Morgan’s library is an extravagantly beautiful affair that includes many lovely museum pieces, as well as books, manuscripts and music.

Libraries Elsewhere in the World

There are also some beautiful libraries in the Middle East, and in Australia. You can find some truly extravagant libraries outside Europe and the Americas, and these are some of them.

18. The New Library of Alexandria: It’s famous ancient counterpart gone, Egypt spared no expense in creating a new library in Alexandria. This one is a beautiful structure, and meant to be a place of learning and information.
19. State Library of Victoria: Located in Victoria, Melbourne, Australia, this lovely library has an interesting design, and looks great, as well as being one of the more extravagant libraries.
20. National Library of China: Looking like a beautiful pagoda, the National Library of China is the largest library in Asia. It’s a beautiful library and extravagant because of the sheer size — 23 million books.

The following emergent genres or subgenres have garnered a fair amount of attention over the past few years. Some have been around for a while. Some have recently sprouted from preexisting movements, lately postmodernism. And others are relatively new. All any of them share is that they deserve more attention than they currently receive, yet appear to be currently gaining some degree of momentum. Readers of a more literary bent may recognize some of these genres and subgenres, but the mainstream still has yet to really embrace them or realize their existence.

1. Hindi Dalit Considered “untouchable” in India’s formal and informal caste systems alike, the Dalit suffered from intense marginalization for centuries. However, publishing houses recently came to realize that even the “outcasts” have extremely valuable, eclectic stories in need of telling. Major Hindi literary magazines such as Katha Desh and Hans began publishing a wider variety of Dalit works in late 2009 and early 2010. Obviously, this particular genre has been around for a while – it just took a while to receive anything beyond peripheral recognition by mainstream printers and critics.
   

   Hans dedicated a 2004 issue entirely to Dalit poetry, short stories, literary criticism and more, paving the way for the broader recognition it is beginning to enjoy today. Featuring Omprakash Valmiki, Chandrabhan Prasad, Rajat Rani Meenu, Mohandas Naimishray, Mata Prasad, Jaiprakash Kardam and guest-editing by Ajay Navaria and Sheoraj Singh Bechain, it opened up the community to new ideas and concepts. In January of 2010 Navaria became the first Hindi Dalit writer invited to take part in the prestigious Jaipur Literature Festival. Some members of the Dalit caste torched copies of “Munshi” Premchand’s acclaimed Rangbhumi in protest of the high-class hegemony and negative depictions of the “outcast” peoples in the same year. Most members of the Dalit literary community condemned this action, however.

   All literary movements have their own fractures between writers, and Hindi Dalit is not an exception proving the rule. Every creator speaks in his or her own unique voice, interpreting and relating their own experiences and visions. But at the core of almost every work of Hindi Dalit lay a pining for spiritual, social and political freedom after generations of finding themselves pushed to the fringes of society.

2. Cashier Memoirs The concept of memoirs by cashiers and other overlooked service workers has yet to gain any real momentum in the United States, but in Europe they seem to exist as their own self-contained subgenre. Anna Sam’s Tribulations of a Cashier kicked off the trend in 2008, recounting her triumphs and tragedies working in a French grocery store and eventually landing herself on the bestseller list. Her success piggybacked on Carmela Narcisi’s 99 Faces in One Day, which chronicled the interesting and frustrating individuals she encountered during her tenure as a cashier. At least one American author, Carrie Evans, attempted to emulate her European counterparts with her humorous Letters From Your Friendly Cashier, but it failed to catch on in her home country. Yet, anyways. Some believe the failure of such literature in the United States reflects consumer preference for memoirs by celebrities and those who work with them (and other wealthy, powerful individuals) rather than the more humble everyman and –woman.
   

   Although nearly every memoir of this type approaches the subject of life behind the register as simultaneously humorous and thankless, their value transcends the amount of chuckles to be had. Those who have read any of the memoirs find them fascinating sociological studies in retail behavior – displayed by customers and employees alike. From the perspective of those whose services oftentimes go unacknowledged, even abused, one can gain some interesting insight into how people regard low-income workers and the tics they don’t mind displaying in front of perfect strangers. If nothing else, it also provides some valuable lessons in the importance of common courtesy.

3. Bitpunk An amalgamation of “8-bit” and “punk,” bitpunk has become the logical successor to the cyberpunk and post-cyberpunk movements. Gaining ground after blossoming from the chip tune/chipcore musical subgenre (a sterling example of which can be found here), the movement has swelled to encompass film and literature as well. Inspired by the unique sounds, textures and visuals of classic 8- and 16-bit videogames, this emerging genre is characterized by its nostalgia for the technologies of the 70s, 80s and 90s.
   

   The screenplay for J.B. Ghuman, Jr.’s 2010 film Spork epitomizes the bitpunk aesthetic, drawing from of the tackier, more embarrassing (or, alternately, iconic) elements of the aforementioned eras. Its categorization as “punkish” comes from its sociopolitical bent. Spork dissects gender and sexual constructs from the perspective of an intersexed individual who identifies as female. Not every bitpunk piece in the future will necessarily deal with the plight of the sexually marginalized, of course, but it stands to reason that many protagonists will likely come from similarly overlooked backgrounds – a populist sensibility very much in line with the original punk movement. Suffice to say, all the cogs are now in place to get a very new literary genre off the ground like so many twin-tailed foxes.

4. Twitter Novels Microblog juggernaut Twitter provides a 140-character limit that many writers find challenging and absolutely tantalizing. One of the more visible and popular literary genres on this list, it probably nevertheless comes as a shock to some readers that the ubiquitous website genuinely has more to offer than news regarding whether or not Justin Bieber OMG TOTALLY SNEEZED LOLOLOL SOOO ADORBS. Both poetry – the haiku structure seems to be a popular choice for obvious reasons – and full novels have made their way onto the Twitter scene, though none have really made it huge just yet. Brandon J. Mendelson’s The Falcon Can Hear the Falconer (first chapter archived here) gained a small amount of buzz, and searches for Twitter novels yield results of varying popularity.
   

   In Japan, whose prevailing culture seems to embrace technology with far more relish, the format has exploded with the same enthusiasm as the cell phone novel movement – the logical precursor that also saw experimentation in the United States as well. It remains to be seen whether or not a particularly enterprising and creative American writer can emulate the successes of his or her Japanese contemporaries with a breakthrough Twitter novel or poetry anthology of their own. For now, however, the genre continues to flounder about with an uncertain future ahead of it.

5. Picture Books for the Elderly Founded in 2007, Ageless Sages later earned the 2009 Leading Moms in Business Award for Natalie Tucker Miller. As the world’s first publishing company that predominantly prints picture books for senior citizens, she hopes that the books they produce will bring comfort and delight to elderly individuals in need of positive literature. Reading and soaking in artwork both keep a mind stimulated – and considering how age chips away at cognition, blending the 2 together certainly have their merits for the older demographics. Beth Miller penned the first of the genre, titled Lavender Ladies, in 2008. This picture book diverges from its “adult” counterparts found in Borders’ Humor section due to its lack of irony and entirely different motivation.
   

   One of Ageless Sages’ core goals revolves around de-stigmatizing the aging process and taking away society’s shaming of nursing homes, assisted living facilities and other eldercare institutions. It also hopes that taking in such literature together will help bridge gaps between family members who may not always understand what their senior relatives experience mentally, physically and emotionally on a daily basis. Few other publishing houses or writers appear to follow in the company’s lead for the time being, perhaps wondering whether or not a market exists for such literary works. Perhaps Ageless Sages should print a few more pieces before seeing how well their fledgling concept meets the needs and wants of their target audiences.

6. Progression Literature The true origins of this article stand as somewhat difficult to pinpoint given the number of spam blogs copying and pasting it for search engine hits, but the one listed here seems to be the oldest of the lot. More than likely the original. Here, Judyth Vary Baker pulls from sources as varied as Scientific American and the human experience to illustrate the concepts behind progression literature. The genre attempts to create a perpetual dénouement that mimics how people perceive time and events in their lives. Reality does not tie up all its loose ends, even continuing past the death of the protagonists experiencing their own unique narratives. From this, writers of progression works seek to build a more relatable piece of literature for audiences pining to know more.
   

   Each story concludes with open-endedness, leaving readers to speculate and form their own ideas and opinions regarding the characters’ futures. At its center lay the all-too-human pursuit of “truth,” understanding and clarity – every writer, every narrator pursues answers that may or may not even come. It has postmodernism and poststructuralism (if not an earlier movement) to thank for its philosophical roots, though its heavy emphasis on the past, the pursuit of an often subjective truth and attempts to always stay suspended in a state of dénouement lead Baker to consider progression a genre or subgenre in and of itself. How successful this experiment ends up is anyone’s guess, though it does hold considerable promise.

7. Lucid Fiction Spirituality and the mysterious nature of dreams are nothing new to the literary world – they have pretty much existed as a mainstay since the advent of writing itself. Tantra Bensko defines lucid fiction as a surrealistic reality that pulls from heightened senses of consciousness in waking and sleeping life. The genre perceives mass media as a manipulative fiction obscuring the truth, with its own ideas and an earnest desire to “wake” readers up to its own interpretation of what is and is not reality. Many New Age and experimental concepts unsurprisingly form the backbone of lucid fiction, and Bensko encourages adherents to embrace their personal beliefs and sell them as something true within the context of the work itself. It extends beyond the realm of the speculative and into something with feet in two different worlds.

   Lucid fiction as a genre is much easier to understand when one realizes it’s pretty much just postmodernism by people who believe in aliens.

8. Kinetic Poetry A new media phenomenon with its feet planted firmly in the digital age, kinetic poetry serves as a creative outlet for writerly and technological types alike. Interpretations of what it entails, of course, vary from artist to artist – but they all share a common grounding in synthesizing moving multimedia art with poetic traditions into a wholly stimulating experience. Some use Java as a canvas (such as Ken Perlin’s Magnetic Poetry-inspired example linked above), others prefer Flash or other animation programs.
   

   Kinetic poetry does not come saddled with any particular manifesto or philosophy. Rather, it only falls victim to limitations of the chosen medium’s coding. The DGAA Kinetic Poetry Project showcases just how diverse the movement is, with myriad artistic and literary styles at play. No matter one’s social or political standings and opinions, the slowly burgeoning genre exists as accessible to anyone who wants to see their ideas literally in motion. While it remains popular amongst artists, experimental writers and computer enthusiasts, kinetic poetry still flits around just outside of mainstream consciousness.

9. Combinatorial When the “Choose Your Own Adventure” series goes multimedia, the combinatorial genre happens. A wonderful amalgamation of art, technology and literature, this genre of interactive fiction overlaps with mathematics and game theory in how it peers into the way different elements of the story have to forge relationships with the others.
   

   Regardless of the writer’s philosophies and stylistic preferences, he or she can create interesting literature using the combinatorial method. Perhaps unsurprisingly, only the most devoted of individuals undergo this daunting and heavily detailed task. Dennis G. Jerz compares it to old text-based adventure games, where the developers had to consider every possible move a player could make and create situations accordingly. A similar subgenre of electronic literature known as hypertext involves similar components, though more akin to links on a blog post instead of an oldschool text adventure. It is not exactly the newest genre out there, but it continues to grow as video games and other technologies become more and more sophisticated.

10. Hmong-American The Hmong peoples, an Asian ethnic minority, only formulated their own written language in the 1950s. Unsurprisingly, then, it took a while for a strong literary tradition to gel. Thanks to efforts by the Hmong American Writer’s Circle, writers such as Mai Der Vang have organized events and classes in order to promote the community to members and non-members alike. As diverse as the literary canon of other cultures, the rich oral traditions passed from generation to generation can now reach a much broader audience and promote understanding between societies. Vang ruminates on how the comparatively recent establishment of a written Hmong language motivates the literati to work tirelessly in order to forge their own unique identity and rise to prominence as a valuable genre worthy of mainstream attention and formal study.


Time will tell whether or not any of these literary genres emerge to mainstream prominence, but the question of permanence does not squelch the fact that they are still growing and evolving this very minute. No matter their origins or life span, however, the one thing all these movements share is a desire to express specific ideas and aesthetics to a readership. They have stories that need telling, and audiences who need to read them.

]]> http://librarysciencedegree.org/10-emerging-book-genres-youve-probably-never-heard-of/feed/ 0