The Woodberry Poetry Room at Harvard University just might be the closest thing we have to a poetry heaven on earth. Yes, there is the extensive collection of 20th and 21st century English-language poetry books and "an encyclopedic array of poetry journals and literary magazines" but the crown jewel of the collection is their collection of sound recordings, "one of the largest poetry-specific sound archives in the world". And, as you can imagine, many of the older vinyl recordings are simply to beat-up to listen to. That is, until now. The folks at WBUR, Boston's NPR station, take us behind the scenes and...
The Classics for the Masses: The Loeb Classical Library heads online
When James Loeb founded the Loeb Classical Library in 1911 he had two simple goals: 1. To make the work of classical authors accessible to as many readers as possible—regardless of their knowledge of Greek or Latin—so they could profit from the wisdom of the ancients that had enriched his life so much. 2. He wanted the Loeb Classical Library to offer the best of Anglo-American classical scholarship Loeb was also way ahead of the crowd by having the books in the series designed to fit into one's pocket (the Penguin paperback was still 20+ years away). Technology has finally...
Cooking up the future in the ‘Library Test Kitchen’
The Neo-Carrel“What if you thought seriously about the library as a laboratory, as a place where people do things, where they make things?”says Jeffrey Schnapp. The class is called "The Library Test Kitchen." It is taught by Schnapp and offered through the Graduate School of Design (GSD) at Harvard University. During the class "ideas flew like cream pies at a food fight" and before the semester was out some of the ideas were developed into student projects. Pictured above is the Neo-Carrel, a "study chair with a raised platform in front that doubles as a laptop stand and a comfortable...
Archive Exhibit Exposes Espionage
Original European Union Poster For: Prague Through The Lens Of the Secret Police.Imagine that every move in your ordinary, everyday life, was secretly photographed. Your seemingly innocuous activities, strolling through a park, munching on an apple, waiting for the subway, were considered so dangerous they were captured forever by the secret police. Sounds far fetched, doesn't it? But a traveling exhibit from the newly created Security Services Archive in the Czech Republic capital of Prague reveals that from 1968 to 1989 this was exactly what citizens in that city endured.The exhibit, Prague Through The Lens Of The Secret Police, is...