hmm…voluminous is a rather nice tool for reading books in the public domain. it’s a downloadable app for macs. i downloaded the free trial and already found 6 books that look entertaining:
a history of art for beginners and students – painting, sculpture, architecture
fifty soups
how to make a shoe
lippincott’s magazine, vol. 26, august 1880 – of popular literature and science
the botanical magazine, vol. 8 – or, flower-garden displayed
pleasing stories for good children with pictures
a nice feature of the program is the variety of style sheets, so that you can read the words in your font/style of choice. the default style is good enough but there is also ‘holidayreading’, ‘scifisaucer’, ‘autumn’, and two kinds of woodcut.
i’m thinking about switching our reference desk sign that says “ask me” with a sign that says, “we don’t have cookies, just books!” and see if anybody notices.
i uploaded photos from my iphone to the online photo service, flickr, last week for the first time, during a trip to philadelphia. it was surprisingly easy! i’m posting my favorite one here, but you may check out some others at http://www.flickr.com/photos/orgmonkey.
a new opportunity for a presidential debate on science and america’s future has been proposed, during the oregon mail-in primary. it’s important to learn what the candidates plan to do to support and promote the work of our nation’s scientists, and an open forum on the topics of science/technology, the environment, and health/medicine is an appropriate venue.
here’s a snippet of the latest invitation to such a forum, sent to the candidates by sciencedebate:
This is a serious policy discussion about the candidates’ vision for solving many of America’s most serious challenges, the majority of which revolve around issues of science and technology, and an opportunity for candidates to focus on big ideas and express their vision for how our country will remain innovative and competitive in the future.
the list of supporters for this kind of forum is impressive, and continues to grow. consider adding your name!
Marie Kennedy is the Serials & Electronic Resources Librarian at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, CA. This blog is about organization, librarianship, and sometimes monkeys and/or bananas.
