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National Book Festival: For Your Listening Pleasure

Posted by: Matt Raymond

#nbf Heads up: The first batch of podcast interviews with 2009 National Book Festival authors are now online here, on iTunes here (link opens in iTunes client) and on iTunes U here (link opens in iTunes client). Included in the first round are Junot Diaz, Rickey Minor, James Patterson, George Pelecanos, Nicholas Sparks and David Wroblewski–with more …

Image of an ornate clock showing 2:05 with sculpted male figures sitting on each side of the clock face

The Joys of Jabbing Jefferson

Posted by: Jennifer Gavin

When revolutionary-turned-president Thomas Jefferson still walked the streets of Washington, D.C., there were people who wanted to give him a good jab with their index finger and hand him a piece of their minds. These days, here on Capitol Hill, you can give Thomas Jefferson a jab … and dig a little deeper into his …

Image of an ornate clock showing 2:05 with sculpted male figures sitting on each side of the clock face

'Authorama' on the National Mall

Posted by: Jennifer Gavin

The authors’ lineup for the National Book Festival on Saturday, Sept. 26 went public today–what star-power! Bestselling authors David Baldacci, John Grisham, John Irving, Julia Alvarez, Judy Blume, Ken Burns, Gwen Ifill, and Jodi Picoult–as well as celebrity chef Paula Deen–will be among scores of authors and illustrators presenting at the festival, organized and sponsored …

Image of an ornate clock showing 2:05 with sculpted male figures sitting on each side of the clock face

How 'Big' Is the Library of Congress?

Posted by: Matt Raymond

I want to preface this post by reiterating one of our general disclaimers up front, to wit: “This blog does not represent official Library of Congress communications.” Because this post will edge slightly closer to “editorializing” than most of my previous posts. Working in the Office of Communications as I do, I’m aware of the …

Image of an ornate clock showing 2:05 with sculpted male figures sitting on each side of the clock face

We Tweet, Therefore We Are

Posted by: Matt Raymond

Howdy, folks! (Sorry, my Wyoming roots are showing.)  The Library of Congress finally has its own official Twitter feed.  You can follow us here: http://twitter.com/librarycongress “Library of Congress” was too long as a user name, so in the spirit of Twitter itself, we’ve been truncated. As I’ve been alluding for some time, we are on …

Image of an ornate clock showing 2:05 with sculpted male figures sitting on each side of the clock face

We've Been Scobleized!

Posted by: Matt Raymond

I stopped by our Prints and Photographs Division this afternoon to meet blogging legend Robert Scoble, partly because he was interviewing Helena Zinkham, the acting chief of P&P, about our Flickr project, but also to tell him how his book “Naked Conversations” has had an important impact on impelling the Library’s blog forward.  Before I …

Image of an ornate clock showing 2:05 with sculpted male figures sitting on each side of the clock face

Group Ranks Library’s Web Site No. 8

Posted by: Matt Raymond

The Brookings Institution this week rated 61 federal Web sites based on 18 criteria such as publications, databases, audiovisual material, disability access, personalization, and privacy and security policies.  This blog’s mother ship, LOC.gov, ranked No. 8.  The full PDF report is here.  (Congrats to our friends at USA.gov!) We’re constantly working to enhance our Web …

Image of an ornate clock showing 2:05 with sculpted male figures sitting on each side of the clock face

Political Conventions Throughout History

Posted by: Matt Raymond

As Americans settle in to watch the two major party nominating conventions this week and next, have you ever wondered what political conventions were like before the days of the Web, television, or even the telegraph? The Humanities and Social Sciences division at the Library of Congress has provided timely summaries of the Democratic and …