The Free Library of Philadelphia will remain open!

September 19, 2009

Thousands wrote and called the Pennsylvania State Legislature to advocate for the Free Library of Philadelphia system, and they listened! On September 17th, by a vote of 32 to 17, the state senate passed the legislation that was needed for Philadelphia to avoid a “Doomsday” budget scenario, which would have resulted in the layoff of […]


Have You Read . . . ?

September 18, 2009

If the lush green island above looks strangely familiar, that’s because you’ve undoubtedly seen it many times before. Although if you’re having trouble placing just how you know this beautiful wild landscape, that’s because you’re probably used to seeing it look more like this: Of course you know that the second picture is Manhattan Island […]


September 8, 2009

It Was a Dark and Stormy Night A while back a book on the library shelf caught my eye: 15,003 Answers: The Ultimate Trivia Encyclopedia, 2nd edition.  Just imagine how many family arguments could be settled at the Thanksgiving table if you had this book handy. Having given it a quick perusal, I found a […]


In the Pink

September 5, 2009

Browsing through the Recent Arrivals section here at EPL is a dangerous proposition. Finding incredible, brand new books that are just begging to be read is the easy part. It’s finding the time to read all the intriguing new books that’s hard. Next time you’re in the library, make some time to wander the section […]


Sony promotes E-books

August 28, 2009

I spotted an article yesterday about an e-book search tool that Sony is promoting. Here are the first few lines, and a link. – Jeff B., Reader’s Services Librarians’ delight: A device that helps readers borrow e-books Sony unveils tool to help readers find e-books on the e-shelves of local libraries By Matt Hamblen August […]


The Meaning of Ichiro by Robert Whiting

August 25, 2009

“Americans liked Ichiro because, for one thing, he was a throwback to another time. He had reintroduced them to a style of offense that many MLB fans, accustomed to andro-induced sluggers and tape-measure home runs, had forgotten – an attack based on the single, the hit and run, and intrepid baserunning that had once defined […]


Have You Read . . . ?

August 24, 2009

Today’s find from out of the stacks is a little book called Not Quite What I Was Planning: Six-Word Memoirs by Writers Famous and Obscure. The book is a project of SMITH Magazine, an online publication and community for storytellers of all stripes. Among other story projects, in 2006 SMITH launched the six-word memoir project […]


Have You Heard . . . ?

August 14, 2009

Since even those of us who work at the library are constantly surprised by all the cool, new, old, interesting, inspiring, and sometimes just downright strange books, music, movies, and websites that we come across every day, we’ve decided to start this new periodic column on the blog in order to share some of the more […]


Keep Your Hands Off My Kindle, Big Brother

August 3, 2009

It seems somehow very appropriate that George Orwell’s novels 1984 and Animal Farm are at the center of a controversy (and now lawsuit) surrounding Amazon’s unannounced deletions of the books from its customers’ Kindle ebook readers. It seems that the copies of the books Amazon had been selling were unauthorized versions, and when the bookselling […]


Attempting to Tread Lightly

July 24, 2009

About two weeks ago, I watched the documentary, Manufactured Landscapes. It follows Canadian photographer Edward Burtynsky around the globe and examines his beautiful photographs of the seldom seen consequences of globalization (read a full review here). At first while watching the movie I found the images of gigantic factories and mountains of industrial waste to […]


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