It’s one of three murals in the library’s entryway, painted by artist John Theodore Jacobsen when the art deco building opened in 1934. Jacobsen was also a preeminent architect, helping lay the groundwork for Pacific Northwest modernism. But the mural was almost lost forever to water damage following a storm that hit the library during … Continue reading Saving Our Murals
Goodbeer—a 2007 graduate of Indiana University’s master’s programs in music and library and information science—is a Braille music transcriber. According to the Library of Congress, which certifies music transcription in Braille, fewer than 100 people are listed as having such a skill. “It was an uphill climb at first,” Goodbeer says of learning the work, … Continue reading Bookend: Feeling the Music
For kids, a library card is often their first entry to membership in grown-up society as individuals who are independent of their families. Library cards represent belonging for adults as well. For new immigrants, a library card may be the first material sign of membership in their wider new community. Whether one is a first- … Continue reading Sharing Our Cities, Towns, and Natural Places
I live in Portland, Oregon, which has a thriving music scene with many artists achieving national recognition. Local music has great value to the cultural fabric of a city or town, and libraries can play an important role in collecting, supporting, and promoting it. The D.C. Public Library’s D.C. Punk Archive not only preserves artifacts and … Continue reading Beautiful Music Together
What started as an archive to document Washington, D.C.’s fabled punk music history evolved into wider support of the city’s current music scene, including hosting basement shows—a punk staple—in the library itself. Librarians Michele Casto, Bobbie Dougherty, and Margaret Gilmore of D.C. Public Library (DCPL) explain how this unconventional venture increased visibility not only for … Continue reading Punk at the Library
Don’t ask Brunsdale to name a favorite item; instead, “it’s the stories that draw me in,” she says, such as the contents of a 1907 letter from circus magnate Otto Ringling to his brothers, suggesting that they purchase the rival outfit of Barnum & Bailey. Among other highlights of the collection: an elephant harness and … Continue reading Bookend: Not Clowning Around
Hoopla Hoopla, launched in 2013 by Midwest Tape, provides single-platform access to most major types of digital holdings: audiobooks, ebooks, video, and music. Patrons can access content either by streaming it from the Hoopla website or by using the mobile app, which allows both streaming and temporary downloads for offline access. Items are automatically removed … Continue reading Online Streaming Options
The do-it-yourself ethos of the local music scene tells a story of dissent from mainstream culture, says Rutgers University media studies doctoral student Frank Bridges, who played in bands and ran his own record label in the 1980s and 1990s near the New Brunswick, New Jersey, campus. He thinks it’s a story worth preserving. Bridges’s … Continue reading Rock in the Vault
The answer, to be more precise than that 1st-grader, is “termites,” and the question was, “What hollows out the branch of the eucalyptus tree used to make the didgeridoo?” It’s one of the most organic world-music instruments around and easily one of the best known. The 1st-graders had just finished a unit on Australia, and … Continue reading Music without Borders
MusicFirst Student App Digital music education company MusicFirst has created an app that streamlines music education for students and teachers, using cloud-based solutions. The MusicFirst Student App allows students to continue their in-school music learning outside of the classroom. When connected to a school or library’s MusicFirst Online Classroom subscription, the app lets students view … Continue reading Making Music in Your Library
“A Body in Places” is a two-year series of dance and movement performances that includes “A Body in Fukushima,” in which Otake danced in the vacant areas surrounding the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant, damaged during the earthquake and tsunami in Japan in 2011, and “A Body in a Station,” first performed at Philadelphia’s 30th … Continue reading Eiko Otake at Russell Library: “A Body in a Library”
Michael, you are currently at work on a book, This Machine Kills Fascists: Technology and Culture in the US Folk Music Revival, about the American folk music revival of the 1950s and 1960s. What part did Alan Lomax play in that revival? MICHAEL J. KRAMER: Alan Lomax’s part in the US folk music revival is … Continue reading The Legacy of Alan Lomax
