The Library of Congress received a lot of bad press recently when a report suggested they were missing 17% of their holdings. Matt Raymond, the LOC’s director of communications responds in his blog with claims that the Washington Post’s report was both "sensational" and "misleading." Over at HNN, blogger Samuel J. Redman suggests, in “How Museums and Libraries Lose Stuff,” that Congress should take a look at its own history of underfunding the Library of Congress before casting stones. HNN also drew us in this week with a new section of the site that recognizes teachers, and the news that Cliopatria is again accepting nominations for this year’s Cliopatria Awards for the best history blogs. Also check out an article on Google Books, from the perspective of a librarian, followed by a report on former AHA president Robert Darnton’s ambitious plans for his upcoming electronic book. Find links to all of these articles below:

• Thoughts on Inventory and ‘NOS’ Issue
  The Library of Congress blog responds to recent concerns about the significant proportion of books that could not be found on their shelves.
• How Museums and Libraries Lose Stuff
  This article by Samuel J. Redman adds another take on the LOC inventory issue, and expands it to other cultural sites.
• Master Teachers: The Educators Who Most Influenced Me
  HNN is offering a terrific new feature on an underappreciated aspect of the history profession—teaching. Their new feature on "Master Teachers: The Educators Who Most Influenced Me" kicks off with an essay by McGill University historian Gil Troy discussing his mentor David Herbert Donald.
• The Cliopatria Awards
  Also on HNN, the group blog Cliopatria is accepting nominations in the month of November for the best history blogs out there. Categories include: Best Individual Blog, Best Group Blog, Best New Blog, Best Post, Best Series of Posts, and Best Writer. The winners will be announced at our 2008 Annual Meeting. Check out the winners for 2005 and 2006.
• On Being in Bed with Google
  Perhaps along the same lines as the two articles above, Paul Courant, the University of Michigan Librarian, offers a useful insider’s view of the Google Books project that recognizes some of the concerns but also provides a hopeful image of where the project might be headed.
• New Library Director Calls for E-Scholarship
  Former AHA President Bob Darnton, now head of the Harvard University library, uses his new post to continue proselytizing for the expansive possibilities of electronic scholarship.

Contributors: Elisabeth Grant and Robert Townsend

This post first appeared on AHA Today.