Danbury Library Blog

On Tuesday, March 25, Yahoo announced it was joining forces with Google and MySpace to form the OpenSocial Foundation. This foundation is intended to be “an independent non-profit entity with a formal intellectual property and governance framework,” and “…will be structured to include both corporate and individual representation, and to foster a transparent and participatory community for the purpose of providing equal access to specifications published by the OpenSocial Foundation, at no charge.” The hard work and efforts of the millions of content developers that have been working competitively against each other and independently from one another will now work collaboratively together, in the true spirit of open source and social networking.

What does this mean to you and me? It means that now, instead of having to choose between a Yahoo! map and a Google map application, they are united as one, presumably better and more powerful. Instead of being divided across virtual communities (“You use Yahoo? Oh…I use Google…” ), developers for these programs will all be united as one big community, reaching out to millions more. The OpenSocial Foundation is planned to launch July 2008; we should expect many great efforts to arise from this project in the future.

Posted by Merry at 12:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Persepolis, the graphic novel by Marjane Satrapi, tells the story of a young girl's childhood in Iran--first under the Shah and after his removal in 1979--an even more extreme religious regime. It is the story of a very independently- minded family coping with war and oppression as seen through the eyes of a very intelligent little girl.

The animated, award-winning film version (nominated for an Oscar and winner of the Cannes Film Festival Jury Prize) of Persepolis currently playing in theaters captures the spirit of the novel--the coming of age of a young woman--"magnificently".

Posted by Mary at 01:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Blogs are useful for a myriad of reasons. One of the most recent uses that impressed me was as a tool in genealogy-family history research. If one wishes to publish the results of your family history research one can simply use a blog to do this.

A great example of this is a blog called Papa's Diary Project. I read about this project in an article in Family Tree Magazine. A grandson has transcribed portions of his granfather's diary into a blog and the results are outstanding. Have a look and think how you can use a blog in your own family history research.

Posted by John O'Donnell at 02:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

In any restaurant, any cuisine, I’m always checking the menu for the sampler plate. I like to try something new, to consume just a taste before making a meal-length commitment. I guess the literary equivalent is the anthology or literary collection, a sampling of writing by various authors. Why gobble up a big helping of Denis Johnson or Alice Munro or Julian Barnes when you can start with a tasty hors d’oeuvre and gradually work your way to the big enchilada, a full-length novel? The venerable New Yorker has published many collections of the work of its best contributors; the latest is Secret Ingredients: The New Yorker Book of Food and Drink. If you’re craving a little love, check out My Mistress’s Sparrow Is Dead, featuring great love stories (not all of them so lovely), edited by Jeffrey Eugenides. Look for a wide variety of annual “Best American” anthologies, collections of the best writing of the year in a particular category (i.e. Best American Mystery Stories, Best American Sports Writing). My favorite tidbit of 2007? Jonathan Stern’s “The Lonely Planet Guide to My Apartment” in Best American Travel Writing.

Posted by Andrea at 04:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Reading books about movies combines two of my favorite passions, and I highly recommend Pictures at a Revolution: Five Movies and the Birth of the New Hollywood by Mark Harris. Tracing the histories of the five 1967 movies nominated for a Best Picture Oscar - Bonnie and Clyde (DVD on order), Dr. Dolittle, The Graduate, Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, In the Heat of the NIght - Harris shows the growing struggle between the old Hollywood studio system, represented by the hugely expensive disaster Dr. Dolittle, and a new generation of filmmakers and stars, represented by Bonnie and Clyde's Warren Beatty and director Arthur Penn and The Graduate's Dustin Hoffman and director Mike Nichols. Somewhat in the middle were Guess Who's Coming to Dinner and In the Heat of the Night, both of which tackled the subject of race in very different ways; Stanley Kramer thought Guess was a powerful statement about interracial relationships, but what drew audiences was their final chance to see Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn together, while Norman Jewison's Heat treated race relations more successfully and dramatically by avoiding Kramer's liberal Hollywood cliches. As either an introduction to or reminder of the era when American movies began to reflect the interests and passions of the late 1960's, this book is a fascinating read that should make you want to watch at least 4 of the Best Picture nominees of 1967. (By the way, the Oscar went to In the Heat of the Night.)

Posted by Mark at 04:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Danbury is in full swing with St. Patrick’s Day celebrations! On Wednesday, March 12, the Children’s Library hosted a very successful and very green Greenalicious party, complete with a buzzing bee celebrating St. Patrick!

Who was St. Patrick, and why are we celebrating him, you ask? St. Patrick is the patron saint of Ireland, and was believed to have died on March 17th. His life is a bit of a mystery, but what we do know is that he was captured by Irish raiders and lived six years as prisoner before he escaped. According to his writings, St. Patrick was guided by his visions to escape to Ireland, and to become a missionary and begin religious training. Some of the more far-fetched myths of St. Patrick include his feat of banishing all the snakes from Ireland, and that he himself introduced Christianity to Ireland. Oddly enough, the first St. Patrick’s Day parade took place not in Ireland, but in the United States in 1762, down the streets of New York City. Danbury’s own St. Patrick’s Day parade takes place on Sunday, March 16, starting at 2pm in Rogers Park off South Street, and on Monday, come to the library and enjoy A Little Irish Blarney in the Junior Department at 4pm!

Happy St. Patrick’s Day! May you find a leprechaun to give you gold or a lucky shamrock!

Posted by Merry at 01:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

With the country in a recession, property values plummeting, a series of political debates captured the attention of the entire U.S. The year was 1858. The seven debates between Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas in the Illinois senatorial contest focussed on the issue of slavery--Douglas arguing for states' rights and Lincoln calling slavery a moral issue. Douglas won re-election--Lincoln won national prominence.

The format of the Lincoln/ Douglas debates was used in the 1960 Kennedy/Nixon debates-- in an abbreviated version. Read the story of these great debates of 1858 in Lincoln and Douglas: The Debates that Defined America. These debates raised important questions about the purpose of democracy--"the will of the majority or achievement of a moral public order"? Questions we are still trying to answer.

Posted by Mary at 11:25 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The Toothpick is the latest in a series of brilliant books by Henry Petroski. He is a Professor of Civil Engineering and History at Duke University. He is especially interested in writing (and writing readable books which appeal to readers) about simple inventions which have had a profound effect on both design and history like the pencil and the toothpick. The toothpick saga details that it has been around since Roman times(if not earlier). Nero used a silver toothpick and Sherwood Anderson, noted American writer, died as a result of accidentally swallowing part of a toothpick from a martini olive which caused peritonitis.

Posted by John O'Donnell at 10:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

March is National Women’s History Month---can you identify the woman pictured above? She was the first woman to run for U.S. President (in 1872), and has been followed in that quest by a number of women in the 19th, 20th, and 21st centuries. See the whole list on the website of the National Women’s History Museum. Test your knowledge of women’s history here. Need help with the answers? The library has many books, DVDs and electronic resources about women’s history, the women’s suffrage movement, and the history of feminism. (Bonus question: who did win the Presidency in 1872?)

Posted by Andrea at 10:25 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Construction began in the basement on Monday, March 3, to improve the library's heating and cooling system for the lower level. Specifically, the air handler and some of the ductwork are being replaced so that both heat and cool air will be distributed more evenly and efficiently. The West Street elevator will be closed off to the basement level but will continue to go up to the second floor. Until the project is finished, you will need to get to the basement -- the AV collections, the Language Center, and the Farioly Program Room -- by using the old Main Street stairwell, located near the library's event board on the main floor. If you cannot use the stairs, please let us know, and we will be glad to get your materials for you. The project is scheduled to end no later than late May. Until that time, we thank you for your patience!

Posted by Mark at 04:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)