By Mary Glendinning

Last Wednesday the sun came out for the first time in days, and it finally started to feel like spring in Washington. I know this because I was outside during the afternoon, on my way to see a presentation by Bill Allison of the Sunlight Foundation. While I was sorely tempted to go slice golf balls at the driving range in East Potomac Park, I opted for the theoretical sunshine of Transparency 101: The New Web Tools instead.

Here's a tiny recap of a few of the tools Bill showed that were new to me.

Party Time -- See all of the fancy parties, sporting events, snack times and other social events congressional candidates and incumbents are slated to attend.

Open Congress -- With Open Congress, you can track a bill through the legislative process and in one fell swoop bring that information together with news coverage and other relevant information. You can look for a particular bill by how much it's been viewed, blogged about, appeared in news articles, etc.

Clean Up Data -- You can use this site to import data from a spreadsheet and make quick global changes. It's a free service and you have to wait for them to email you the finished product, but it's pretty nifty.

Dabble DB -- If you have a spreadsheet with data, Dabble DB will create a searchable database for you. It allows for more sophisticated grouping and queries, intelligent filters, sharing, and lots of visualization options. Librarians have used Dabble DB and lived to tell.

Happy (transparent) searching!

By Barbara Van Woerkom

In the ongoing discussion of why the media industry is under duress and how it happened, a few things have appeared recently that may shed some light, or maybe just muddy the waters.

The State of the News Media 2009 is the sixth annual report on American Journalism by the Pew Project for Excellence in Journalism (PEJ) that examines the health of the profession. The Associated Press news item on the report sums up the prognosis of the profession as "disoriented, not dying." The day the report came out, NPR's Talk of the Nation had PEJ director Tom Rosenstiel on to talk about it.

Continue reading "Media's Messy State" >

By Hannah Sommers

Earlier this week we were looking for sound of Senator Edward Kennedy's "Robert Bork's America" speech from 1987. The Congressional Record provided two dates: one was a calendar date of July 1, 1987, the other a legislative day of June 23, 1987. Which was right?

Fortunately we didn't have to wait long to get the question answered as Mary Glendinning and I already had a date to visit Georgetown University's Law Library -- just up the street from NPR. In a former life I was a librarian at a law firm and I was curious to see what's new in law libraries. Sara Sampson and her colleagues treated us to a fantastic visit, and promised to share any scoops they hear regarding future Supreme Court nominees.
Oh, and the answer to my question is right here.

By Jo Ella Straley

This Air Force instructor is all eyes. National Museum of Health and Medicine

 

Wired reports that archivist Michael Rhode of the National Museum of Health and Medicine is bringing hundreds of medical photos out of the stacks and into public view using the photo sharing tool Flickr. This fascinating collection documents battle field medicine and life at Walter Reed Army Hospital. Be forewarned, some photos in this collection show surgical procedures and other things of a graphic nature.

The same Mr. Rhode spoke with NPR's Joe Shapiro in 2003 for a piece about the history of medical science, soldiers, and public perceptions of both. For a multimedia experience, listen to it here while you browse.

By Maureen Clements

No Saint Patrick's Day would be complete without paying tribute to one of Ireland's most notable bards, William Butler Yeats. Check out the National Library of Ireland's amazing interactive online exhibit about WBY's life and work, or take a listen to this Morning Edition piece from March 17, 2000. It contains clips of William Butler Yeats reading his poetry on the radio. Erin Go Bragh!

By Maureen Clements

Wondering who's shaping the future of libraries? Look no further! The Library Journal has just released their list of Movers and Shakers for 2009. It's a veritable who's who in the field of librarianship. Congrats to all the lucky recipients.

By Maureen Clements

Kerry digs through the stacks Maureen Clements

 

Kerry works her magic Maureen Clements

Today we'd like to introduce you to Kerry Thompson. She's the producer of NPR's podcast Playback, which we'll now be featuring on our blog every month to augment your aural experience. For those who are unfamiliar, Playback has been around for a while. It's a monthly podcast that highlights the best NPR pieces from 25 years ago. We're posting it on our blog because it showcases the very best NPR audio from our collection.

We see Kerry a lot, she's heavily addicted to mining the library's vast sound archive to find the gems that comprise the podcast. When Kerry finds the stories she wants using our online database, she hits the stacks down here in the broadcast library and pulls the vintage audio. After gathering the CDs, she loads the audio onto her computer, exercises her special blend of NPR radio-editing magic, et voila! awesome historical podcast of NPR's most interesting stories from that same month, just 25 years earlier.

We're really excited to have Playback now featured on our blog. This month's podcast includes a wacky interview with Bozo the Clown and a story about trademarking the phrase "Where's the Beef?" Sometimes a walk down memory lane can be truly entertaining. We hope you enjoy it as much as we do.

By Hannah Sommers

Manchaca Road Branch, APL / Anthony Yoder

 

We've been hearing about how people are getting more from public libraries during the economic downturn. At the same time the recession means public funding is stretched to its limits. In Austin, TX, where I spent the weekend, folks are asking, "How many librarians equal one firefighter?"

And this brings me to how I came to be standing in front of Austin's Manchaca Branch location on Sunday afternoon posing for this photo with 2 freshly printed Southwest Airlines boarding passes.

Continue reading "Thank You, Austin Public Library" >

By Maureen Clements

Or should I say, fascinating people become librarians. Either way, start asking your local librarian about what he or she does all day and you're sure to have an interesting story on your hands. Take for instance the New York Public Library's very own Librarian to the Stars, David Smith. Not only was he profiled in the New York Times, he also reveals in his latest interview with Gothamist that he helped George Carlin find a 1946 edition of Ripley's Believe it Or Not. Fascinating indeed!

By Barbara Van Woerkom

Sitting on my desk is a can of Spam that someone left in the NPR kitchen for the taking. Most of it is inscribed in Japanese, I believe, with a couple of smiling geishas pointing to the "25% Less Sodium" information bar. On the back are photos of some of the wonderful sushi creations one can make with the product.

Spam Art/Maureen Clements

 

The can is a result of a Morning Edition story on Spam Sushi that ran last 4th of July, detailing Hawaii's creativity with the contents.

Continue reading "Spam Anyone?" >

By Maureen Clements
In tribute to the late novelist and screenwriter Horton Foote, we now present his wonderful interview with Lynn Neary for Morning Edition. It aired on January 15, 1986.

By Jo Ella Straley
You probably already received the popular chain email "Worst Album Covers EVER" -- say about 15 times somewhere between 2003 and 2006 -- or maybe you just saw it online. I don't want to beat a dead horse any more than the next guy, but I feel that spoken word recordings have largely been omitted by fellow Internet compilers. Here at NPR we have a carefully-selected collection of recordings, some of which happen to have somewhat amusing covers. For your edification and amusement:

By Barbara Van Woerkom

The American Library Association has sifted through the 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) to find a list of programs funded through ARRA that could benefit libraries. It also includes material on grants, how to advocate for funding, and state-by-state impacts on funding.

While you're in the government-policy frame of mind, check out the Special Libraries Association analysis of the Obama Administration's agenda and its relevance for special librarians, especially in the area of technology.

By Hannah Sommers

In preparation for Thursday's White House health care summit we've been digging through the audio archives for highlights from the health care debates of the 1990s. The first stop in our research is usually our internally maintained audio database. The indexing we do highlights such elements as the names of all speakers heard in NPR coverage, the context of their contribution (direct interview, public statement, acting, singing, etc.), and any particularly unique sounds such as protesters chanting, "Yes we can!"

Clinton speaking before Congress, September 22, 1993 / David Ake, AFP/Getty Images

While our database includes these, plus subject and geographic terms, one thing it doesn't account for is the visual dimension. In radio, the visual exists in the mind of each listener -- that's one reason so many of us love the medium. But this time, we were looking for the speech where Bill Clinton famously held up a prototype health care card and promoted his plan for guaranteed health care security. Using our own transcript search capabilities, those in Nexis, and referring to external sources such as this one from PBS, we were able to translate the elements of a visual description into an event with a date that could be found in the audio archives. On deadline!

By Maureen Clements

The Special Libraries Association, of which yours truly is a member, is celebrating its 100th anniversary this year. To mark the occasion, SLA is hosting a Centennial Celebration Video Contest. Contestants were asked to make a video about the SLA Information Professional of the Future. They received lots of clever video entries such as Stella KOS: Special Librarian 2109. Participation is closed now, but you can view all the awesome video submissions on YouTube.

By Maureen Clements

Tweet! / iStockphoto.com

While preparing for the launch of AAMOF (short for As A Matter of Fact), I signed up for a Twitter account. Problem is, I'm a twitter tenderfoot. My paw pads are so soft I don't even know the proper Twitter vernacular. Laugh and mock if you must, but what's the correct term for the act of using Twitter? Is it Twittering? Tweeting? Twitting? And what does one call a person who uses Twitter? A Twit? A Tweeter? A Twitterer?

In my quest to locate the answer, I pulled out the trusty Oxford English Dictionary. Much to my surprise I found that twit is a noun but it's also an intransitive verb meaning "to blab". After a quick consultation about intransitive verb usage with the grammar and transcripts czarina, Dorothy Hickson, I now feel confident and comfortable saying the NPR library twits.

Interested in following our Twitter Tweets? You can find us under the user name nprlibrary. Till then!

[Note: The Transcripts Czarina wishes it to be known that She Does Not Tweet.]

By Maureen Clements and Laura Soto-Barra

Laura and Tom together at last. NPR/Keith Jenkins

Last week, the staff of NPR fell under the captivating spell of legendary singer Tom Jones, who was at the mothership to record a Tiny Desk Set feature for NPR Music. Even our fearless leader, Laura Soto-Barra, succumbed to the titillating hunk of Welsh charm. She's been a fan of Tom's since she was a teenager.

I remembered the days of his TV show on Sundays when I was in my early teens in Chile. I also remembered my friend Patty Araya from high school. We loved his music and his hips and his smile. Did I mention how he moved his hips!

Not only was Laura lucky enough to have a front row seat for the show, she also had her photo snapped with him. Upon meeting, Laura exclaimed "Mr. Jones, I waited 40 years to meet you!" Working at NPR certainly has its advantages.

Laura's bird's eye view of Tom Jones. NPR/Keith Jenkins