Want to learn about the culture, history, and politics in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Central Asia? Then listen to newsmakers@Central including:

• Andrew Bacevich | The Limits of Power: The End of American Exceptionalism
• Steve Coll | The Bin Ladens: An Arabian Family in the American Century
• Dexter Filkins | The Forever War
• Khaleid Hosseini | A Thousand Splendid Suns
• Sebastian Junger | War
• Ahmed Rashid | Descent into Chaos: The U.S. and the Failure of Nation Building in Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Central Asia
• Thomas E. Ricks | The Gamble: General Petraeus and the American Military Adventure in Iraq, 2006-2008
• Colin Thubron | Shadow of the Silk Road

You can listen to our podcasts directly from your computer (click the link Listen to MP3 audio) or subscribe via iTunes.

Happy listening!

Tags: podcasts

You may have heard about the 2010 World Expo that opened in Shanghai in May. Did you know that there was a world expo in Philadelphia in 1876? That exposition celebrated the centennial of the signing of the Declaration of Independence in 1776, and the fairgrounds were in west Fairmount Park and stretched from Memorial Hall (built as the Art Gallery for the exposition) to where the Mann Music Center is today.

Recently, Chinese National Television's American Correspondent, Leon He, came up from Washington and interviewed Karen Lightner, Curator of the Print and Picture Collection, and filmed photographs from the Centennial Collection for the televised spot in May. He also interviewed David Groverman, the proprietor of the Centennial Cafe, which is housed in Ohio House, the only remaining state building in what was the state's section of the exposition. All of his background talk is in Chinese, but his interviews with Karen and David are in English and were sub-titled for broadcast. You can see the spot on YouTube below: 

Nobel Prize-winning author José Saramago passed away today at the age of 87. The first Portuguese-language writer to win the Nobel Prize, Saramago reached international acclaim with 1982’s Baltasar and Blimunda (a Portuguese PEN Club Award winner), and his 1995 novel, Blindness, was later turned into a feature film.

Click here to read the New York Times’ coverage, and visit our catalog to browse our available titles of Saramago’s work.

Stay tuned for more information on this prolific author.
 

I am an iPhone user and recently decided that I had to invest in an iPad as well.  For two weeks I have been exploring everything about my new gadget and have a few tips for Library lovers and their iPads.

- You can use it to connect to the free wi-fi in our branches, but it seems that you have to turn ON the popup blocker (yes, that is correct) and turn OFF the AutoFill (both in Settings  > Safari)

- Get the following Library Apps!

• OverDrive Media Console (iPhone only at this time) - this will allow you to go to the browser and download mp3 audiobooks from the Free Library directly to your iPad.  You can't download eBooks from the library to your iPad...yet.  I spoke with the Overdrive staff recently and the App is in the works. 
• Access My Library (iPhone also from Gale) - this will allow you to search our research databases if you are within 5 miles of any of our library branches.  Sure, you can do this in Safari, but you will need your library card and PIN number  (you mean you don't have them memorized?) to get in.

- Get the following reading related Apps

• iBooks - easiest way to read free books that you get online
• Kindle - turn off the "Basic Reading Mode" in the settings for a really nice page-turning experience
• B&N EReader - download some teaser books for free from B&N once you set up an account
• Zinio - see what the future of magazine reading really looks like.  I am seriously thinking of not renewing any of my subscriptions at home.

 - Start doing arm curls now to avoid "iPad elbow."  Reading for long periods of time (I read all the Stieg Larsson books on my iPad in the last week) hurts!

Stay tuned for tips for other reading-related gadgets!

Tags: ebooks

We love hearing about the many ways the Free Library has impacted individuals across our city and about how much they value our treasured institution. Recently, we were delighted to read an impassioned article in the Daily Pennsylvanian on the value of the Free Library written by Alec Webley, a rising senior at the University of Pennsylvania. Titled “Paying for the Free Library,” the article extols the virtues of the Library—from its free internet and computer access to its community-centric special programming—and calls on private citizens to help support this valuable and critical resource.

To read the full article click here, and to support the Free Library of Philadelphia please visit our membership page!

Tags: Libraries in the News, Support