The other day my colleague Kee Malesky turned me on to an incredibly interesting article from the New Scientist website about the granting of patent 7508978. What's so important about Patent 7508978 you ask? It's the patent that explains how Google's proprietary book scanning technology works.
Image of Google's infrared camera technology United States Patent and Trademark Office
By Maureen Clements
Strange things are afoot in the world of digital books, and I don't mean inappropriate book content. According to the New York Times, the Justice Department is opening an antitrust inquiry to examine the recent settlement between Google Books and the Association of American Publishers and the Authors Guild. There are so many facets to this story it literally boggles the mind. Is Google creating a monopoly with this agreement? What happens to access if Google no longer exists? Is the book industry being greedy by asking too much? Are copyright laws in the Internet age too Draconian? Stay tuned because this is definitely a story worth following.
By now most people are aware of the joint venture between the Library of Congress and Flickr to post and promote photographs long cloistered within the LOC's stacks. But did you know about the new initiative between LOC and YouTube? So far, seventy videos have been posted to the site, including this super weird short film of boxing cats. Not only is it the coolest thing around, it's the perfect Friday time-waster. Happy Friday!
Frankenstein - the human face of Climate Change. iStockphoto.com
April 22nd is Earth Day - a holiday celebrated around the planet to inspire appreciation and generate awareness for the Earth's environment. It just so happens, I have recently concluded compiling a report about NPR's Climate Connections. Produced in partnership with National Geographic, Climate Connections was a year-long series of stories reported from around the world that explored "how climate changes people and how people change climate." It is a lovely series, with much interactive web content, such as video, audio slide shows and animated web features. I highly recommend visiting the series page and poking around on this Earth Day.
And what is my favorite story from the series? Did Climate Inspire the Birth of a Monster, a story questioning whether climate change possibly inspired Frankenstein and other works of literature. Listen to the story and read the related web articles here.
If you're like me, you have good memories of summer reading programs and story time at the public library. Curious about how story time has changed? Check out Victoria Rossi's piece for Intern Edition here: Nannies Take Over Storytime
Kudos to all the public librarians out there who make story time a major draw, while retaining a passion to serve everyone who comes through the door.
It was September 2004 when Amy DeCicco first arrived at NPR. She was our fresh-faced music intern who spent months cataloging such illustrious titles as Babbachichuija by Tom Waits and Hag's Christmas by Merle Haggard. As luck would have it, Amy's internship ended just as a position opened in the Broadcast Library. Three grammar tests, two phone interviews, and one formal job offer later, Amy officially became an NPR Broadcast Librarian.
Since then, Amy has cataloged thousands of NPR stories, answered countless audio reference questions, organized the entire spoken word collection, written reams of documentation, and made major contributions to the online content management system. Not only has Amy done all these things, she's done all these things to near perfection. Last month, Amy landed a great taxonomy gig with an uber-crafty and cool web company located deep in the heart of Brooklyn, a place she's been longing to live. So, from all of us, we'd like to wish you the very best luck in your new venture, Miss Amy D. We'll miss you!
Judith Krug, head of the American Library Association's Office for Intellectual Freedom, died last weekend, just before National Library Week. Last night on All Things Considered, Robert Doyle, Executive Director of the Illinois Library Association, described her this way:
"She was an articulate, irrepressible voice for the First Amendment, and certainly an unforgettable force within the library profession. And I would say that an entire generation of librarians committed to the First Amendment -- what the library profession refers to as intellectual freedom -- was really forged and shaped by Judith Krug."
Judith often said, "Censorship dies in the light of day." In her honor, we should all read a banned book this month.
Filmmaker and screenwriter Bill Haney was driving home in rush-hour traffic in Boston, listening to NPR, when a story came on about a working single mom in Texas who'd been unjustly accused of dealing drugs. He was so moved by it he pulled over to the side of the road and began to cry. He tells an interviewer at the Philadelphia Film Festival that the radio piece inspired him to make the movie "American Violet," premiering April 17, which tells the real-life tale of the wronged mom, Regina Kelly, and stars Alfre Woodard and Nicole Beharie.
Today is the day we have, for the most part, finished our taxes, almost finished, filed for an extension, or begun a slide into the kind of state in which we are only fit for public office. But the United States is full of all sorts of colorful individuals, many of whom have their own reasons for not wanting to engage in this annual ritual. Consider the late Karl J. Bray, tax attorney, Utah congressional candidate (success rate: 1% of vote), and author of the pamphlet "Taxation and Tyranny" which posited that the income tax was search and seizure without due process of law, and thus illegal. Clever! Right?
Oops, he went to jail. Hear all about it in this 1976 Susan Stamberg profile.
It's National Library Week for real this time and what better way to celebrate than by reading about your fellow brethren. Take for example the Shovers and Makers website. If you count yourself among the hundreds of thousands who didn't make the Library Journal'sMovers and Shakers list, then the Shovers and Makers site is for you. Write a bio about yourself and post it to their site. Or why not check out the Original Librarian Trading Cards website? It's chock full of interesting people who've heeded the call.
Liberace wearing what appears to be the world's heaviest costume. Associated Press
It's time again to feature NPR's monthly historical podcast, Playback. For this month's episode, NPR producer Kerry Thompson scoured the library's April 1984 archives to bring you the most relevant and interesting news from 25 years ago. It was a bittersweet month, as we go from learning about the AIDS epidemic to learning about Liberace's tax-deductible, show-stopping regalia. So, sit back and enjoy a tasty dose of history, NPR-style. Want more Playback? Subscribe here!
Sticker from Baked & Wired, Georgetown / Hannah Sommers
I recently spotted this sticker in a local bakery and had to ask for an extra for our rocked-out library cart. It's even more appropriate since baking is a process we're familiar with in our archive. Over time some reel-to-reel tapes absorb moisture, leading to sticky shed syndrome. Exposing the tapes to the drying environment of a lab oven stabilizes the tapes long enough to create a digital copy. So, we bake.
In fact, our sassy tape transporting cart is showing its age, so it's time to start thinking about grooming another to take its place. Do you have a sticker that needs to live on an NPR library cart? If so, go ahead and send it our way!
(That's: NPR c/o Broadcast Library; 635 Massachusetts Ave NW; Washington DC; 20001.)
Blog reader Emily Scharf has kindly pointed out that National Library Week is not this week but next week. AHAHAHAHAH!!!! Please forgive my erroneous posting. However, it never hurts to drum up a little excitement, so Happy Pre-National Library Week!
Next week kicks off National Library Week, the week when librarians toot their own horn. Last year, the American Library Association paid homage to NLW by making hilarious videos demonstrating the type of questions librarians are apt to be asked on any given day. Hope you enjoy them and Happy National Library Week everybody!
The spelling of proper names is always a challenge for the brave typists and editors who transcribe NPR's audio. Their difficult task is further exacerbated when we at NPR have made up the names ourselves.
Witness this letter from a vigilant transcripts editor working on Wednesday night's All Things Considered.
We are a bit perplexed by this ATC letters segment tonight. They're talking about listener outrage regarding a segment that they aired yesterday regarding whale farming. Thing is, there is no such story in last night's transcripts, and it's nowhere to be found on the Web site. I tried searching it on Google, and no dice.
Did anyone happen to catch the recent article from the New York Times about the stress libraries are facing as a result of the economic downturn? Here's a major shout out to all those public librarians at the forefront of the crisis.
Rod Blagojevich is back in the news today, the US attorney's office said to expect a filing on "a significant criminal matter" having to do with the former governor. So since we're down here in the archives, let us take this moment to time travel -- back to a place where things were simpler, but recordings were much more difficult to transfer from place to place. The year is 1988, the place is Arizona, and on April 4th, the state senate removes Governor Evan Mecham from office, finding him guilty on two charges of misconduct.
Accessibility is a value most librarians strive to promote no matter where we work. Recently, I had the opportunity to introduce the folks at NPR Labs to my former colleagues at the American Printing House for the Blind -- all for the cause of accessibility.
Pictured: (from left) APH VP of Public Affairs Gary Mudd and his guide dog, Denver, NPR Librarian Anne Ledford, NPR Labs Manager Strategic Tech Applications Rich Rarey, NPR Senior Librarian Laura Soto-Barra, NPR Labs CTO & Exec Director Mike Starling, and APH Director of Government and Community Affairs Nancy Lacewell. / John Kean
A little background about these two groups: NPR Labs' mission is to "identify, evaluate, and advance the application of innovative technologies in support of the public service mission of NPR and our member stations." NPR Labs was established as America's only not-for-profit broadcast technology research and development center. American Printing House for the Blind (APH) promotes independence of blind and visually impaired persons by providing specialized materials, products, and services needed for education and life. Located in Louisville, Kentucky, APH is the world's largest nonprofit organization creating educational, workplace, and independent living products and services for people who are visually impaired. Clearly these two groups have common interests and potential networks to form.
Wonder what NPR would sound like if Rupert Murdoch got a piece of us? Scott Simon does, in this CLASSIC 1985 April Fool's spoof from the annals of Morning Edition. Listen to NPR schock jocks Stamberg and Adams as they recount all the juicy headlines.
How Dare They Besmirch The Majestic Noble Beast? iStockphoto.com
One of the services the Librarians provide to the news programs is fact-checking for their commentators. If Diane Roberts or Ted Koppel need a detail verified, they send us the script. I sometimes check facts for Morning Edition's sports commentator, Frank Deford. I'm not much of a sports fan, so it's often a challenge and always an education to check a script for Mr. D. When I received the script for today's commentary, I got out my highlighter and started marking things to check. Some guy in Michigan wanted the legislature to stop the Detroit football team from using the name Lions, since their performance is apparently an insult to the noble beast. Who knew?
I actually started checking the Michigan legislature's web site before I looked at the rest of the script (other similar examples of fan outrage), realized the air date for the piece was April 1, and stopped checking.
You got me, Frank! I fell for it. Happy April Fool's Day to everyone.
As A Matter of Fact is a blog by and for the audio-loving, fact-finding, truth-seeking, pop-culture-fiending, news-addicted librarians of the world. Of course, you don't need to be a librarian to read it. But we're pretty sure you may secretly want to be one after you do. Interested in learning more? Read our Frequently Asked Questions, and don't forget to follow the discussion rules.
