New title: IBM and the Holocaust

One of the newer titles in the John Trigg Ester Library is IBM and the Holocaust: The Strategic Alliance Between Nazi German and America's Most Powerful Corporation, by Edwin Black. This book is about how IBM created pre-computer technology that enabled the Nazis to identify, locate, and catalog European Jews—and thus round them up and murder them.

IBM and its German subsidiary custom-designed complex solutions, one by one, anticipating the Reich's needs. They did not merely sell the machines and walk away. Instead, IBM leased these machines for high fees and became the sole source of the billions of punch cards Hitler needed.

From Richard Pachter's review of the book in the Miami Herald:

The result is an exhaustively researched, highly detailed look at IBM, its history and business dealings. …IBM technology, Black asserts, also enabled the German war machine's mighty manufacturing and distribution prowess. …The question is raised how Watson and other IBM employees managed to get away with this murderous collaboration, how they escaped the notice of the press and the government. The answer, naturally, is complicated. Though much of the firm's activities at home and abroad were reported in newspapers (television news reporting was virtually nonexistent, and radio hardly a credible news medium) there was little effort made to "connect the dots''-with one significant exception. In 1942, an investigation by a minor U.S. government bureaucrat did, indeed, make the necessary connections, but IBM, by then the world's biggest corporation, was also an integral part of the Allied war effort, and had been careful to create an unimpeachable image of patriotism. The investigation was abandoned.

Black's book is, in many ways, like Spielberg's movie, Schindler's List; …More than just another Holocaust tale, the author paints a remarkable portrait of how a powerful company created enormous opportunities, irrespective of moral concerns and consequences. It's a chilling lesson in politics and business that remains potent relevant, and highly revelatory.

Hardcover: 528 pages
Publisher: Crown; 1st edition (February 12, 2001)
Language: English
ISBN: 0609607995

Volunteering at the office: cataloging books

Now that we have our cozy office and our computer, volunteers are welcome to come and find out for themselves at first hand how we operate. One of the regular tasks is simply entering all the titles we own into our online catalog at LibraryThing. This is a very good way to become familiar with our offerings!

For those of you inclined to get more involved with the nuts and bolts of library operation, we have a list of JTEL office chores and tasks that you can do. Chief among them is familiarizing yourself with the library's organization  and policies, history, building plans, grant applications, minutes, fundraisers, and so forth. It's important that our members and particularly our volunteers understand the library they are a part of!

The next item on the list is cataloging books and movies that have been donated to the Ester library. We started our online catalog in January 2008, and two or three volunteers have so far catalogued a total of 1,320 titles over the last three years. All the books that are on the shelves in the library itself have cards and card pockets and are ready for members to borrow them, but most of them are uncatalogued—which means that really, neither the board nor the members knows what we have.

So cataloging our collection is quite important. If you'd like to help with this task, Deirdre Helfferich (JTEL board president and chief cataloger) can show you how to do it (call 451-0636 or e-mail info@esterlibrary.org). There is also a how-to guide on the office computer. An alias on the computer desktop, LibraryThing how-to.pages, will open up a step-by-step guide to LibraryThing and the cataloging process.

We have an office coffeepot, so you are welcome to make yourself a cup of coffee or tea and spend an hour or two entering titles, reading up on the library, or just reading one of the many books here on our bookshelves. Enjoy!

New title: The Devil's Share, by Kris Farmen

The Devil's Share, written by Kris Farmen of Anchorage and published McRoy & Blackburn, Publishers, of Ester, is a coming-of-age story that takes place in the Wrangell-St. Elias wilderness. This novel, Farmen's first book, is one of many titles available in the John Trigg Ester Library by authors, publishers, or illustrators who hail from Ester.

Adult, paperback, ISBN 978-0-9820319-3-3

New title at the JTEL: the Solar Design Manual for Alaska

The fourth edition of the Solar Design Manual for Alaska: Building toward the ultimate, net-zero-energy, passive solar Alaska home is out. This book, written and edited largely by Rich Seifert, shows that you really can use solar energy in Alaska, and describes passive and active systems, thermal systems and photovoltaics, solar gain in dozens of communities across the state, and more. This title is in the John Trigg Ester Library in the construction section of Reference. The book is published by the Cooperative Extension Service, publication #EEM-01255, and is also available for PDF download at Alaska Sun.

New title: biography of Jimi Hendrix

Only a few music titles have been catalogued in the Ester library's collections so far, but the newest is a biography of Jimi Hendrix by Charles R. Cross, Room Full of Mirrors.

Ben Sisario of the New York Times reviews this book in an essay published in August 2005. The book was published in 2005 by Hyperion. More reviews are available on Amazon.

ISBN: 1401300286, hardcover, 400 pages

New title: Living with Wilderness, by Bill Sherwonit

Living with Wilderness, by Bill Sherwonit

The newest title in the Ester library is Bill Sherwonit's book, Living with Wilderness: An Alaskan Odyssey, published by the University of Alaska Press in 2008. Sherwonit has worked and lived in Alaska off and on since 1974, moving here permanently in 1982. From Andromeda Romano-Lax's review of the book: "…Sherwonit employs both a journalist’s skills and a non-specialist’s sense of humble wonder to deliver a portrait of the wild in its many guises. Though northern experiences take the main stage, his Connecticut childhood memories are particularly moving and instructive, reminding us all of the importance of early, unmediated experiences with nature. Throughout the book, Sherwonit taps the expertise of local natural history experts and mentors, weaving their observations and studies with his own, more personal discoveries."

Book information: 6 x 9 inches, 232 pages, paperback

ISBN #978-16022301-4-9

Library Section: Alaska nonfiction