Room to Read, a non-profit organization that donates libraries to communities in developing nations, is the inspiration and life-work of former Microsoft executive John Wood, who delivered the keynote address at the Public Library Association Conference in Minneapolis, MN on March 25, 2008. I was fortunate enough to be in attendance as Mr. Wood brought his energy, intellect, humor and passion to an audience of over 2,000 librarians.

In addition to donating libraries, Room to Read also builds schools, publishes children’s books in the native languages of developing countries and provides scholarships to girls in nations where they would not normally have the chance to receive an education due to lack of funds and cultural preferences. Founded on the belief that “World Change Starts with Educated Children” - and that education is the key to breaking the cycle of poverty, Room to Read has established over 5,100 libraries in the developing world since its inception in 2000.

Mr. Wood was inspired to leave his job at Microsoft after a vacation spent trekking in Nepal where he had the opportunity to visit a local school whose library’s only books were popular soft-cover fiction titles in English left behind by other hikers. His promise to return with more appropriate books for the schools’ students, was met with a certain degree of skepticism, as the local teachers had heard this many times before; but return he did, with Yak-loads of books. The joy he saw on the faces of the students as they eagerly accepted his donation convinced Mr. Wood to quit his job at Microsoft and found an organization that could address this problem on a larger level.

His transformation from Microsoft Executive to proselytizer-and-chief of a pioneering non-profit organization is documented in Mr. Wood’s memoir Leaving Microsoft to Change the World. I picked up a copy at the conference, and found it informative, inspiring, and surprisingly entertaining. As I write this JJML has ordered a copy, which should be on our shelves in a short time. Had I known about this book when I was compiling my Staff Picks list for April, it would definitely would have been on the list. I recommend both the book and the charity as worthy of your time and money.

You can find out more about Room to Read at http://www.roomtoread.org.

This is absolutely fascinating. Project Song from National Public Radio (NPR), is an intimate look at how song writers go about the business of creating words and music in real time. Hosted by Bob Boilen of NPR’s All Songs Considered, Project Song invites musicians to spend two days in the NPR recording studio during which they are asked to write and record a new composition. NPR provides inspiration in the form of words and pictures to stimulate the musicians’ imaginations, and asks them to pick one photo and one phrase as “themes” for the song they will create. Then they get out of the way as they, and we, watch the process unfold.

So far Boilen has worked with three musicians Stephen Merritt of the group Magnetic Fields, Nellie McKay, and the duo of Laura Burhenn and John Davis, who comprise Georgie James, and the results have been both enlightening and, to my ear, very pleasing. The fascinating thing for me is to contemplate the fact that in no other era would it have been possible to observe artists at work in this very personal way.

NPR’s Project Song website has videos of each of the musicians at work, as well as the story of each session as it was presented on public radio’s All Things Considered, and a recording (with video) of the completed song. If you enjoy popular music, this is a don’t miss web experience.

Love Books and Libraries? If you do, you will enjoy a visit (or two, or more) to Library Thing (http://www.librarything.com). Library Thing is an ingenious website that lets you catalog your own books on the Internet. You can also label them with “tags” that are representative of some aspect of the book, and/or meaningful to you. Once you’ve done that, other users of the website can find books you’ve cataloged based on the “tags” you’ve given them. For example, if you cataloged The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown with the words “art,” “Jesus,” and “Mary,” “conspiracy” and “crime fiction,” anyone searching at Library Thing on any of those words, and especially on all of them, would find the book you had cataloged. In that way, readers can share books they love with other readers with similar interests.

And the fun doesn’t stop there. Once you’ve cataloged a few books, you can then ask Library Thing to show you the collections of other readers with similar tastes on the theory that if you both read a lot of the same books, you will also be interested in other books that person or persons have read that you have not.

Library Thing also lets you rate books on a 1-5 star rating scale, and, if you’re so inclined, write reviews of books you like, or of ones you don’t. And there’s more, but I’ll let you discover the additional features for yourself. Best of all, though, is that you can use all the features of Library Thing, and catalog up to 200 books free. To expand your catalog beyond 200 books will cost you anywhere from $6.00 to $20.00 a year. You decide how much you’re willing to pay. $10.00/per year is the recommended fee, and, of course, they’ll gladly accept more than $20.00/per year if you’re inclined to pay more.

Highly recommended by librarians and book lovers everywhere. Check it out.

The library has recently acquired three great travel DVDs.  They include Rick Steves’ Germany and Scandanavia, Rick Steves’  Ireland and Scotland and Rick Steves’  Italy’s Countryside.  Soon to come…..Rick Steves’ Italy’s cities.

If you don’t have time for a European vacation this summer, come to the Library and check out our new walk and talk audio guides.  A professional tour guide will walk you through the streets of Paris, Rome, Venice or Florence.  The narration provides delightful descriptions of points of interest.  Just close your eyes and enjoy the history and beauty of these cities while relaxing in your backyard.  These books on CD can be found in the non-fiction section of our books on CD collection.   They include:  Paris CD BOOK 914.43 , Florence CD BOOK 914.55 ,  Rome CD BOOK 914.56  and Venice CD BOOK 914.53.