Space Station collection

Maybe another addition to our collection of "ship's libraries". Appx. 100 books on the international space station for recreational reading in 2008. Only title/ author (too bad!), so a fairly easy manual entry project (good).

Also on the list are music, movies and TV shows. The music selections are.... well.... awful. Perhaps with the incredible tinyness of mp3 players, astronauts are more likely to take their own music. Anyway, an interesting list. No idea what into the selections or how often books ae swapped out, etc.

http://www.governmentattic.org/docs/ISS_Media_2008.pdf

Let's do it as a (tiny) flash mob! We haven't had one in a while.

And these could always be put into a 2008 collection, in case earlier/later lists are found.

Yes, good idea! I'll pull it together for sometime this week (after the ER batch opens :-)

Who's in for this? Since it's sort of an odd collection, and pretty small, we'll only need a few folks. Raise your hands! Depending on how many want in, I'll split up the list into the right number of pieces :-)

Dibs!

*politely raises hand*

Have at it!

I split it up for six, we'll see how many takers we get :-)

The music is awful - reminds me of "Good Morning, Vietnam!

I'm definitely in!!
What a great project.

Are we just doing the books?

Did you catch the name on the response letter?

Yes, just the books :-)

Reviewing the list, I think humour accounts for many of the selections (for all media). I mean: "Good News For People Who Like Bad News"? Snicker.

I've reserved a section, but I won't get to it until later today.

I'll do a chunk!

I have done Echoes of Honor to Honor of the Queen.

>11 elenchus:
Science fiction seems to be a predominant theme too, at least in the books. I'm not sure whether that's an obvious choice, or weird, considering that those people are really living science fiction!

I can take the last unclaimed section, unless someone else wants it.

ETA: I have taken In Enemy's Hands to Pandora's Star

ETA: Done.

So, how are we going to get the Russian ones? Anyone have an idea?

We can always tweet the astronauts and see if any of their cosmonaut buddies want to send a list :-)

@ISS_NatLab is also pretty active.

Examining photos inside the space station, I've found two more books: Last of the Mohicans (Barnes & Noble) and a Russian-English Dictionary. Will upload on the ISS's profile page. There's also a photo of a couple DVDs floating around: Firefly and Serenity.

Wait are they literally floating around? (Generally not a valid question, but in this case ...)

Yes. Check my photos!

"Tale of Two Cities" is showing up as a duplicate work. (Also listed under "A Tale of Two Cities," apparently.) Should I delete the second entry?

- Katya

Just found this with a few "who brought what and left it" type info. Pretty cool. Looks like some people get to bring books and leave them behind.

http://www.newscientist.com/blog/space/2006/10/little-lightweight-reading.html

>21 IntlSpaceStation:, yeah, might as well, I guess.

>20 IntlSpaceStation:/22 - Awesome.

Susan Helms's new home suits her just fine. She has great views, nice neighbors and plenty of space.

"She was allowed to pack 10 paperbacks, and chose some voluminous classics (Gone With the Wind, Vanity Fair, War and Peace) and a couple of Russian detective novels to keep her Russian fresh. "

http://www.stanfordalumni.org/news/magazine/2001/mayjun/features/helms.html

Heh. Awesome! I'm off for the night now, but if anybody wants to tweet the astronauts and see if they have more info, go for it (if not, I'll do it in the a.m.)

>23 jbd1:

"Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea" was also a duplicate. (Alternately listed as "20000 Leagues under the Sea.")

I wonder what other FOIA requests might turn up something interesting? Library at Camp David? Etc.

I think there should definitely be tags and/or collections for the different sources used.

>29 infiniteletters: - Collections added!

And I've tweeted @ the ISS. I love my job.

And we love the work you do. :)

I found covers for all but 2 entries.

We don't have edition info on most works, so how would you select covers?

Well, I worked at a bookstore during that time, and I'm assuming the collection would have been purchased around that time and in paperback. Did I go beyond what is wanted?

We don't know how the collection was formed. It looks like some books were brought aboard by astronauts as part of their personal cargo, so guessing all books are from around 2008 and paperback is presumptuous. Legacy Libraries try to reflect each library in the most accurate way, so covers should reflect edition cited in the library, and until we get edition information, we can't select covers for most books.

I don't know if you're counting temporary books, but my friend J. D. Weeks had one of his books on the station for 4 months in 2009.

news article (toward end) : http://blog.al.com/spotnews/2009/03/john_archibald_batmobile_memor.html

book: http://www.librarything.com/work/3309042

Cool! Adding it!

Aw, heck! Space nut that I am and I missed out on helping this project?! Phooey, but geez, am I glad you folks did this! What a great idea.

>39 rybie2:

I too am space nut...Since Atlantis will be the last shuttle trip and no back up shuttle, may all go well.

Also, did someone send a paperback copy of Space by Michener

I was checking out Legacy Libraries 2.0 today and searched for the ISS collection but couldn't find it (using ISS, space station, and a few other possibilities) . . . but I was sure it was there . . . which this discussion seems to confirm . . . is there a way to add it to one of the categories (ships?) and/or add a 21st Century Group (where I hope it would turn up) . . . BTW, the letter "I" is missing from the alphabetical list at LL . . . or is this collection listed under "S"? Sorry if all this is obvious to everyone else . . . I missed this discussion earlier and only thought of it today 'cuz I was following Atlantis last week.
Thanks!

I think a vehicles one would be good. Or maybe "institutional"?

We have "Ships" already. The space station isn't in yet as LL; it's still an active collection.

Ha. Can we promote it?

If we can't, can we discuss adding Hitler again?

Promote what, ships? Yes, it can be promoted. Not tonight.

No, the ISI to LL status.

Hitler is in the wings...

Meh. I'll think on it. Others, what do you think? Make it an LL even though it's still active?

I don't think we should wait for the ISS to die :) (at which point the library would probably burn up as the whole thing falls through the atmosphere) . . . Hadn't thought about the definition of "legacy" though . . . is it only for "dead people's books"?

Sadly, the days of the shuttle taking books up to the ISS are gone :( so there's that legacy component . . .

I've also tried to find it under Legacy Libraries and would like to see it there...

Not that I am superstitious but I don't feel right moving it from active to Legacy while it is still functioning.

We could call it the Shuttle Era ISS library, or something to that effect. Not change the name, but in the description.

>50 TLCrawford: - See that's my thought too. I'm not generally superstitious either but something about it just worries me! Irrational? Probably.

I think we should consider LLs to be, at base, interesting libraries that we've cataloged. That the ISI or the Unibomber aren't dead just seems like pedantry to me. At some point the point here is to be interesting. Interesting requires being exposed to people. That's why we did the new LL work in the first place. If we're going to take a month of Chris' time on something, we should attempt to wring all the benefit we can from it.

From the very beginning the basic requirement for LLs has been "dead." Hence Legacy, not some other term. Pedantry, maybe, but it also only affects about three libraries.

Well, if we can't have an exceptions category in LL, then let's subordinate LL to some other term.

Sure, just don't let it turn into an anybody-remotely-famous-for-almost-nothing free for all. Set the bar fairly high, though perhaps with a stepstool available for those deceased when legacy-ness is bestowed.

It is not the collections importance that is being questioned, it is the Legacy part of Legacy Library. There are real issues other than just putting a curse on the station by labeling it dead. Most important is the fact that it is a work in progress. Titles will be added and removed, the collection will change and evolve. Legacy Libraries do, occasionally, change as research yields more information but not at the rate that a living collection will.

Besides, look at post 44, I believe by the rules of the internet we win.

By the rules of the internet—Rule 34, specifically—there ought to be porn for it too.

Well, my wife does refer to LT as my book porn.

>54 jbd1: Sorry, but the description says nothing about "dead", it says "historical" (which any history teacher would tell you does not require "death").

Rename it or something. All the work on the ISS library seemed to come under the rubric of the LL Group. But now it's being called something else . . .

"Legacy Libraries are the libraries of historical people (as well as a few institutions), entered into LibraryThing by dedicated members working from a variety of sources, including published bibliographies, auction catalogs, library holdings, manuscript lists, wills and probate inventories, and personal inspection of extant copies. "

I'm also wondering why LL seems to be one of the few things on LT that isn't decided by the tyranny of the majority :) Shouldn't the users be able to designate, enter, and work on any "Legacy Library" they deem worthy? Seems that one person shouldn't be the sole arbiter of that decision.

How 'bout "Books that have traveled in space" . . .
pretty sure some of the Apollo guys brought along something other than technical manuals . . . didn't one of them read from the Bible?

And like space exploration the collection would be both a legacy and an ever expanding universe!

We could call it the Shuttle Era ISS library, or something to that effect. Not change the name, but in the description. This would place it into an historical and finite context.

Not really worth the argument. I'll add the subcategory.

Interesting!

https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/features/astronauts-inter...