Libraries

Poetry is Wanted Here!

We can't let National Poetry Month go by without a taste of some of the poetry goodness that lives within the confines of the Digital Public Library of America. From the postcard above featuring an excerpt from a poem by Alex Caldero proclaiming 'Poetry is wanted here!' to a sampling of dust jackets, to a lunch poem from second graders, poetry is alive and well at DPLA.  The First book of poetry [Title-page]. 1811 The pleasures of poetry. (Vol. 2) 1947 Poetry as a means of grace. The poetry of the Bible, a new anthology Poetry Week at Miss Duckett Monroe School Washington,...

Continue Reading →

Uptown Funk at the Library

For National Library Week the crew at Pogona Creative and the Orange Public Library in association with Chapman University took the runaway hit by Mark Ronson and Bruno Mars and gave it the book treatment. Ladies and gentleman, here is Unread Book featuring the one and only Guy the guybrarian Enjoy! [youtube]https://youtu.be/J6zcIFUvdJ0[/youtube]

Continue Reading →

Orange is the new green at the Multnomah County Library

The Multnomah County Library in Oregon (think Portland) has become the first major library in the country to sustainably source the paper it uses to print patron receipts and hold slips. The library, which uses upward of 10,000 rolls of paper each year for these slips, has moved from the traditional white paper that contains bisphenol A (BPA) or bisphenol S (BPS) to an alternative paper that uses a vitamin C formulation instead. That's right vitamin C, though the paper has a yellow tone it is actually sourced from oranges!  And just how many oranges are needed for a years supply? How about...

Continue Reading →

A library built with 50,000 free books hopes to debut at the Bay Area Book Festival

It's called Lacuna and if all goes well this spectacular homage to books, libraries and public space will be open for business at the Bay Area Book Festival that will be held in June. Commissioned by the Bay Area Book Festival and created by the FLUX Foundation Lacuna is hailed as an interactive art installation, a library, and a monument to books. It is constructed with 50,000 books that can be removed from its walls and taken home for free. Why Lacuna? Lacuna is about rekindling that sense of wonder we all have experienced with books. We want people to be enthralled and captivated...

Continue Reading →

George R.R. Martin donates first edition of ‘The Hobbit’ to Texas University

    George R.R. Martin, whose  “A Song of Ice and Fire” book series is the basis for the hit HBO show Game of Thrones, has donated a rare first edition of J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit (1937) to Texas A & M University.  Martin, whose archive is housed at Texas A&M, became enamored with the University and especially with the Cushing Memorial Library and Archives’ Science Fiction and Fantasy Research Collection during the 1970s while visiting for the AggieCon science fiction conventions. The cause for celebration? It is the five millionth volume acquired by the university! It will take it's place alongside a first edition...

Continue Reading →