NPR waxes literary

Today’s Morning Edition program on National Public Radio had a string of great stories of interest to librarians.

“Book-Binding Technique Could Revive Rare Texts”
Kevin Powis Parker has developed a new $1300 bookbinding machine that can produce a saleable-quality hardback or paperback book in a few minutes. As you can imagine, this has incredible ramifications for the idea of print-on-demand and the availability of out-of-print titles. In one application, The Internet Archive‘s Brewster Kahle has created a “Bookmobile” with a gasoline-powered generator, satellite Internet, and printers and binders. He says that he can give a child any book in the public domain, anywhere in the world, in just a few minutes, at a cost of about $1.

“Commentary: Children’s Books Awards”
Children’s Lit expert Marah Gubar talks about how Newbery books are selected, including a brief rundown of their history, and questions their relevance to what kids actually read.

“Intersections: John Adams and the Poetry of Music”
Modern composer Adams is inspired by poetry, including Emily Dickinson. The opera he’s currently working on, about Dr. Robert Oppenheimer, has no librettist. All of the text will be taken from existing poetry.
[expanded coverage of Adams from NPR]

All title links include audio that can be heard in RealAudio or Windows Media Player format. Remember that transcripts of Morning Edition stories are available to Electric Library subscribers within a few days of airing.

Today’s Morning Edition program on National Public Radio had a string of great stories of interest to librarians.

“Book-Binding Technique Could Revive Rare Texts”
Kevin Powis Parker has developed a new $1300 bookbinding machine that can produce a saleable-quality hardback or paperback book in a few minutes. As you can imagine, this has incredible ramifications for the idea of print-on-demand and the availability of out-of-print titles. In one application, The Internet Archive‘s Brewster Kahle has created a “Bookmobile” with a gasoline-powered generator, satellite Internet, and printers and binders. He says that he can give a child any book in the public domain, anywhere in the world, in just a few minutes, at a cost of about $1.

“Commentary: Children’s Books Awards”
Children’s Lit expert Marah Gubar talks about how Newbery books are selected, including a brief rundown of their history, and questions their relevance to what kids actually read.

“Intersections: John Adams and the Poetry of Music”
Modern composer Adams is inspired by poetry, including Emily Dickinson. The opera he’s currently working on, about Dr. Robert Oppenheimer, has no librettist. All of the text will be taken from existing poetry.
[expanded coverage of Adams from NPR]

All title links include audio that can be heard in RealAudio or Windows Media Player format. Remember that transcripts of Morning Edition stories are available to Electric Library subscribers within a few days of airing.