The ripple effect, where the delivery is the message
Since 2005, a number of public libraries in the Netherlands have set up shop on the sandy beaches of the coast to reach out to vacationers destined for sunbathing and swimming in the North Sea. The project in two coastal provinces Noord-Holland and Zuid-Holland is coordinated by ProBiblio, a public library service provider. ProBiblio has thrown out all of the rules to serve this unique audience of beach goers: no fees, no fines, no library cards. You don’t even need an ID. To borrow something from the beach library, all you do is sign your name and address. Each year has been a success, averaging more than 15,000 circulations during the six-week period the beach library operates; only 1 percent of borrowed items has not been returned. About 25,000 people visit a year. Apart from Dutch, German books also are available, since the Dutch beaches are a popular summer destination for German visitors. The beach library has circulated audiobooks, iPods and eBooks and organized a range of activities from yoga classes and creative writing workshops to pirate parties and nature classes. “This year we’ve done a big project with actors who walk along the beach and tell stories to children and grownups. And we’ve had seven writers-in-residence, who post their thoughts to a special blog about their visit as well as read to visitors and give interviews.”
Read about many interesting ways that libraries reach people at: http://www.oclc.org/us/en/nextspace/013/1.htm Thanks, Ginger.

Colum McCann won the National Book Award for fiction on November 18 for “Let the Great World Spin,” a novel featuring a sprawling cast of characters in 1970s New York City whose lives are ineluctably touched by the mysterious tightrope walker who traverses a wire suspended between the Twin Towers one morning. In the nonfiction category, T. J. Stiles won for “The First Tycoon: The Epic Life of Cornelius Vanderbilt,” a biography of the man who fathered a dynasty, presided over a railroad empire and, in the words of the judging panel, “all but invented unbridled American capitalism.”
Perhaps the most moving moment of the night came with the presentation of the award for Young People’s Literature, which went to Phillip Hoose for “Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice,” a biography of Ms. Colvin, who as an African-American teenager in 1950s Montgomery, Ala., refused to give up her seat on a bus nine months before Rosa Parks took the same stand. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/19/books/19awards.html

Ineluctable means impossible to avoid.
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&defl=en&q=define:ineluctable&ei=VW0FS4yYGIuCnQeclIjBCw&sa=X&oi=glossary_definition&ct=title&ved=0CAcQkAE

Find four terms all designated by A.M. plus meanings for LL. D., N.B., N.P., p.d., R., and many abbreviations at: http://ablemedia.com/ctcweb/consortium/moremottoes2.html

NewspaperARCHIVE.com is the world's largest online newspaper archive. Featuring billions of articles from historical newspapers around the U.S. and the world, NewspaperARCHIVE makes exploring history and genealogy easy and fun. Discover fascinating news in archived newspapers hundreds of years old—including obituaries, birth announcements, sports articles, comics, and more—to fill in the life stories you are interested in. And share those stories with others through our community at OurNewspaperARCHIVE. All of our historical newspapers are full-page and fully searchable. Fee-based, reasonable rates. Thanks, Julie.

Preserving the Library in the Digital Age from the Readex Report
by Benjamin L. Carp, Assistant Professor of History, Tufts University
Libraries promote literacy, equity of access (generally free access) and intellectual freedom. They are refuges for people who live the life of the mind, gateways for those in search of knowledge and public spaces vital to healthy communities. The internet and home computers allow each of us to work and play in our own little boxes, not too differently from televisions, video games and private book collections . Libraries celebrate the spirit of coming together to share in the pursuit of knowledge. Thanks, Marianne. http://www.readex.com/readex/newsletters.cfm?newsletter=95&article=99

Feedback to A.Word.A.Day with Anu Garg
From: Steve Patterson (pattersons@allentownsd.org)
Subject: stalking horse
There is a lovely image of the derivation of this term at cequs.com.
From: Terri Currier (tercurrier@aol.com)
Subject: stalking horse
Stalking horse has another common usage, particularly now in times of economic pressure. When a company filed for bankruptcy under Chapter 11 of the Bankruptcy Code, it may wish to sell itself as a going concern. To do so, it negotiates a deal with the best bidder it can find, then files the terms of that deal with the Bankruptcy Court for the purpose of luring other interested parties who may overbid the deal at a public auction. This first bidder who sets the "floor" for the bankruptcy auction is known as the stalking horse.
From: Dick Koepsell (koepsell@embarqmail.com)
Subject: stalking horse
In the American west this is a term for a trained horse used to draw in wild horses, as horses will often follow the leader. The use is similar to cat's paw.
From: Bill Mintz (bmintz@aol.com)
Subject: hobbyhorse
In sailing we use the expression to mean the fore and aft bouncing of a boat. Some boat designs are more prone to it than others. Placing too much weight in the bow or stern will cause the same effect.
From: Alex Eliott (rae@khl.co.za)
Subject: hobbyhorse
A hobbyhorse was also the name given to a forerunner of the bicycle in the early to mid-nineteenth century. This pre-bicycle had two wheels but no pedals and was propelled by the rider's feet, much like the pedal-less bikes given to small children today. I would suggest that the phrase "ride one's hobbyhorse" owes much to this historical usage of the term.
From: Ellen Raw (ejraw@meltel.net)
Subject: horse phrases
Just wanted to mention a horse phrase that is common here in rural Minnesota (that I had never heard before, growing up only 150 miles away). So I don't know if it's used very many places, but I think it's interesting. "A horse a piece" means the same as "Six of one, Half a dozen of the other"... Presumably it comes from horse trading, meaning it's basically the same value either way...
From: Andrew Kornweibel (akornweibel@hotmail.com)
Subject: horse words
One of my favourite words is hackneyed, which is derived directly from the suburb I live in, Hackney, in London. They would breed the horses for hire in the area during the medieval times, and they would often be over-used and run into the ground, as well used for carriages (the term "Hackney Carriage" still applies to taxis in London today). Now "hackneyed" means a term which is over-used, and it also goes through to "hack" meaning literary writers employed to churn out copy. All from my little suburb.

On November 19, 1863 President Abraham Lincoln got up in front of about 15,000 people seated at a new national cemetery in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, and delivered the Gettysburg Address. It was a foggy, cold morning. Lincoln arrived about 10 a.m. Around noon, the sun came out as the crowds gathered on a hill overlooking the battlefield. A military band played, a local preacher offered a long prayer, and the headlining orator, Edward Everett, spoke for more than two hours. At that time, a two-hour speech was quite normal. Everett described the Battle of Gettysburg in great detail, and he brought the audience to tears more than once. When Everett was finished, Lincoln got up and pulled his speech from his coat pocket. It consisted of 10 sentences, a total of 272 words. Unfortunately for Lincoln, the audience was distracted by a photographer setting up his camera, and by the time Lincoln had finished his speech and sat down the audience didn't even realize he had spoken. Lincoln was disappointed in his performance, but the next day Edward Everett told the president, "I wish that I could flatter myself that I had come as near to the central idea of the occasion in two hours as you did in two minutes." The Writer’s Almanac