Last week the Library of Congress launched a pilot project with Flickr--the popular photo-sharing website--to publish more than 3,000 photos from its collections, including 1,600+ color photographs taken by photographers working for the United States Farm Security Administration, and later the Office of War Information, during the 1930s and… continue reading Library of Congress Photos on Flickr
By written by Communications Office January 23, 2008
The website American Rhetoric has compiled a list of what it deems the top 100 American speeches , all of which can be freely accessed in multiple formats, including MP3. At the number one spot is Martin Luther King, Jr.'s " I Have a Dream " speech, which King delivered on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. on August 28, 1963. continue reading Great American Speeches Online
By written by Communications Office January 18, 2008
This past Saturday, the National Book Critics Circle announced the finalists for the 2007 NBCC Awards in all six categories--fiction, nonfiction, poetry, biography, autobiography, and criticism--as well as the recipients of the Nona Balakian Citation for Excellence in Reviewing and this year’s Ivan Sandrof Lifetime Achievement Award .… continue reading In Other Awards News, National Book Critics Circle Announces 2007 Finalists
By written by Communications Office January 16, 2008
Today, at its Midwinter Meeting right here in Philadelphia, the American Library Association announced its picks for the best in youth media for the past year--including recipients of the Newbery, Caldecott, King, Schneider Family, and Printz awards. The announcement of Brian Selznick's The Invention of Hugo Cabret as the recipient of the 2008… continue reading And the Award Goes To..., ALA Announces 2008 Youth Media Awards
By written by Communications Office January 14, 2008 1
Free Library of Philadelphia Interim President and Director Joseph McPeak is co-author of an op-ed item in today’s Philadelphia Daily News . Entitled “ What's playing at the library? ” and co-written by American Library Association President Loriene Roy , the piece considers how offering video games and video game programming… continue reading Dance Dance Revolutionary Times at the Library
By written by Communications Office January 11, 2008
The 2008 One Book, One Philadelphia kick-off was a standing-room-only affair--conclusively answering this question ...--with hundreds of people interested in learning more about Dave Eggers’ critically acclaimed novelization of Valentino Achak Deng’s life story filling the Central Library’s Montgomery Auditorium and two… continue reading One Book Kick-Off with Dave Eggers Draws a Full House
By written by Communications Office January 9, 2008
Congratulations to Jon Scieszka--author of clever children's favorites including The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales and The True Story of the Three Little Pigs --who was yesterday appointed by the Librarian of Congress the United States' first Ambassador for Young People’s Literature . continue reading Stinky Cheese Author Appointed National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature
By written by Communications Office January 4, 2008
Yesterday writer Belinda Webb posted an item on the Guardian 's books blog announcing her New Year's resolution to keep to an " audiobook diet " in 2008. She writes, "So here we are, in 2008. Today is the day when many of us will take stock of the 12 months that have passed us by. Some of us will also set out our good intentions for the year… continue reading New Year's Resolution, An Audiobook Diet in 2008?
By written by Communications Office January 2, 2008 2
One Book, One Philadelphia will soon kick off its sixth consecutive year with a visit on January 8 from bestselling writer Dave Eggers , author of this year’s featured One Book reading selection , What Is the What . More than 150 events are scheduled to take place all across the city during the One Book program period (January 8 - March… continue reading Get Ready for One Book
By written by Communications Office December 21, 2007
A copy of the Magna Carta that dates from 1297--the only copy of the Magna Carta in the United States--was auctioned by Sotheby’s yesterday, fetching $21.3 million from David Rubenstein, a lawyer and founder of the Carlyle Group. And it looks like it will be going “home.” "I am really just a temporary custodian," said… continue reading Sold!
By written by Communications Office December 19, 2007
Whether you’re looking for a last-minute holiday gift idea for a lapsed bibliophile , or just curious how your favorite books of the past 12 months have been ranked by the “experts,” check out who listed what as the best reads of 2007 at the Los Angeles Times , the National Book Critics Circle , New York magazine, the New York… continue reading Best of the Best Of, Books of 2007
By written by Communications Office December 17, 2007
The University of Pennsylvania’s 60-Second Lecture Series offers an excellent repository of thought-provoking distractions. Check out the Fall 2007 series here . With topics ranging from “Death and Body Fluids (or Why Religion is Important)” to “Freudian Time” to "Language Change in Philadelphia," there’s… continue reading Smarter in 60 Seconds
By written by Communications Office December 12, 2007
Yes, such a thing does exist. Since September, folks at the Nobel Foundation have been adding videos of Nobel Prize announcements, interviews with Nobel Laureates, and official Nobel Lectures. Check it out . continue reading The Nobel Prize Channel on YouTube
By written by Communications Office December 5, 2007
Described by Gillian Engberg for Booklist as a “winning Dutch import for parents looking for an original tale with a gay slant,” Linda de Haan and Stern Nijland’s King & King is a picture book that tells the story of a prince whose mother (the queen) is tired of ruling her kingdom and tries to arrange for her son to marry… continue reading Children’s Books Presenting Same-Sex Relationships Continue to Scandalize
By written by Communications Office December 3, 2007 1
In January 1943 Philadelphia’s readers couldn’t get enough of Marcia Davenport’s second novel, The Valley of Decision , and Cecil Brown’s Suez to Singapore , the respective number one fiction and “non-fiction” (when the latter was still a hyphenated compound) bestsellers according to the New York Times ,… continue reading Regional Bestsellers of the 1940s
By written by Communications Office November 30, 2007
A comprehensive study released by the National Endowment for the Arts on November 19 finds that Americans are reading less, and also less well. Key findings include that on average Americans between the ages of 15 and 24 spend almost two hours a day watching TV, but only seven minutes on leisure reading, and that “reading scores for… continue reading Americans Are Still Reading Less, And Less Well
By written by Communications Office November 26, 2007
A time to celebrate togetherness like it's 1621 ? continue reading Happy Thanksgiving
By written by Communications Office November 21, 2007
Read any good book autopsies lately? continue reading Where Fine Art and the Book Vivisect
By written by Communications Office November 19, 2007
Etymythologies are etymologies that are not factually true but remain popular nonetheless. "[They're] like family anecdotes," writes Ben MacIntyre for the Times. "They may not literally be true; indeed, they may not be true at all; yet they contain a deeper kind of truth." Click here to read MacIntyre's entire article and disabuse yourself of… continue reading Etymythologies
By written by Communications Office November 16, 2007
This Saturday , November 17 , the Free Library's Print and Picture Collection, together with the Philadelphia Center for the Book , will present Book, Paper, Scissors , an artist's book fair. (If you’re wondering what artists’ books are--in short, they're art expressed as books. They step out of the traditional book form, playing… continue reading Book, Paper, Scissors
By written by Communications Office November 14, 2007
