By Maureen Clements

Welcome to the second installment of our Patron Profiles feature, the series where we introduce you to our library clientele. Today's victim is Tom Huizenga, NPR Music's classical music producer.

Tom's a regular fixture in the Broadcast Library which makes us quite happy, not only because he's got a great sense of humor, but also because his coolness quotient is way over the top. When Tom was a teenager his favorite local radio station--which played the likes of John Coltrane and Nick Drake--suddenly switched its format to hard rock. Never one to follow the crowd, Tom soon found the classical music station. The next thing he knew, he was riding is bike all over town blasting classical music from the transistor radio he jimmy-rigged to handlebars. Now that's what I call cool.

Tom hanging out with his favorite cardboard cutout of Maria Callas Maureen Clements

 

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By Maureen Clements

Forty-four years. That's how long it took the English Language Department at the University of Glasgow to compile the world's largest thesaurus. Entitled Historical Thesaurus Of The Oxford English Dictionary, this 4,448 page, two-volume tome contains more than 920,000 words and over 300 categories.

The printed version isn't due out until October 2009, so I decided to satiate my curiosity by perusing its somewhat basic but ultimately effective web site. The home page for the Historical Thesaurus of English offers a lexicographical smorgasbord for word lovers of every variety. The book is divided into three major sections: The External World, The Mind, and Society with each section further broken down into a panoply of smaller categories. The interesting and varied taxonomy is sure to produce many librarian "ooh" and "ahh" moments.

The synonym search function is incredibly robust and a heck of a lot of fun. I spent more time than I care to admit looking up synonyms for terms as illustrious as "bogus" (suppository, pasteboard, mock-made ), "smelly" (reechy, stinkardly, puant) and "petulant" (nervy, snouty, effrontuous). What can I say? Not only is the Historical Thesaurus Of The Oxford English Dictionary destined to become a classic in the annals of reference materials, it's also destined by provide hours of good clean semantic fun.

By Barbara Van Woerkom

The Fourth Annual World eBook Fair is giving free access to over 2,250,000 books until August 4, 2009. Project Gutenberg, the World Public Library, Internet Archive and others have joined together to bring a variety of publications on one searchable page. Heading on vacation and don't have time to buy a book? Take a few minutes and download The Tale of Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle by Beatrix Potter for the kids, some Jane Austen, or the treatise On Corporate Social Responsibility by the World Bank.

By Maureen Clements & Jo Ella Straley

For this month's Playback, we're experimenting with something new. Instead of bringing you the headlines from 25 years ago, we're asking the people who created those stories about NPR in the early days. Have you ever wondered what you sounded like 20 or 30 years ago, or what you've learned since then? These are the types of questions we'll be putting to NPR staffers in an occasional series we're calling "First File," beginning with one of NPR's true greats, Susan Stamberg, the mother of public radio.

It takes guts to interview the queen of all interviewers, but our very own Jo Ella Straley was up to the task. Along with Kerry Thompson and Mike Katzif, they've created a GEM of a podcast that's a must listen for any longtime NPR fan.

By Jo Ella Straley
Curious to hear the pieces discussed in this month's Playback podcast? Find them below.

By Kee Malesky
Today, we had the pleasure of hosting a visit from three State Department librarians who work overseas in US embassies -- Mike Lynskey from Australia; Hee Yeon Park from South Korea; and Akemi Noda from Japan. They're in Washington for a few weeks of training and networking, and came to NPR to see how we use social media and new technologies to do our job. My colleague Maureen Clements and I talked about using wiki software to share information with the newsroom, how we follow other libraries on Twitter, and (of course) we showed them our blog! A very nice meeting with three very interesting librarians -- it made me want to visit their embassies and watch them at work!

Shown: Maureen Clements; Hee Yeon, Park; Kee Malesky; Mike Lynskey; Akemi Noda Katie Daugert

 

By Maureen Clements

Forgive me now for posting this oh-so-crazy clip from the overseas television hit, Britain's Got Talent. In it, comedian Adam Giltan poses as Eugene the Librarian - a hunched-back, glasses-sporting, geek-to-the-max librarian whose talent consists of reciting self-effacing, light-hearted poetry. For those hoping to do away with the unfair frumpy librarian stereotype, this clip will be highly offensive. For those who don't care, it's pretty darn funny.

By Jo Ella Straley
This just in: video games! If you play them all the time you will get repetitive stress injuries! But that was the news in 1984 and the New England Journal of Medicine christened the phenomenon "video game palsy." In our time we've seen some pretty heavy reporting on injuries and hazards posed by the Nintendo Wii, but this was all completely new then--this world beyond Pong.

Here's a piece from All Things Considered that ran July 4, 1987. Have a listen if you're concerned that you might have "Space Invader's Wrist."

By Mary Glendinning

Hannah accepts a gift from the stork Maureen Clements

 

The NPR Library is delighted to announce the arrival of its newest asset! Based on research, we can tell you that Boy George, Che Guevara and Burl Ives now share their Flag Day birthday with Noah Bartholomew Sommers Yoder.

Additional Metadata:
Born: Sunday, June 14th, 2009
Weight: 7 pounds, 11 ounces
Lenght: 21 inches
Hair: Lots
Lungs: Loud and clear
Provenance: NPR Broadcast Librarian Hannah Sommers and her husband Anthony Yoder.