Holyoke Public Library "The Library in a Park", a 1902 building in Massachusetts, has a new sparkly, glass-sheathed addition.  The 22,257 square feet nearly doubles the library's usable space.  Take a virtual tour of the new library at http://www.holyokelibrary.org/holyokenew/  

See also Preservation Magazine, Summer 2014. 

A.Word.A.Day with Anu Garg

toady   (TOH-dee)  noun  A person who flatters or tries to please someone to gain favor.  verb intr:  To behave as a toady.  From shortening of toad-eater.  In times past, a quack employed an assistant who ate (or pretended to eat) a poisonous toad and was supposedly cured by the quack's medicine.  From there the word extended to a person who would do anything to curry favor.  Earliest documented use:  1827.

grogram  (GROG-ruhm)  noun  A coarse fabric of silk, combined with mohair or wool, and often stiffened with gum.  From French gros grain (large or coarse grain).  Another fabric from the same origin is grosgrain.  Earliest documented use: 1562.

Let us be grateful to people who make us happy, they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom.  Marcel Proust (1871-1922)  French author  http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/m/marcelprou105251.html

dog's breakfast  The slang lexicographer Eric Partridge cited Glasgow circa 1934 as the place and time of origin, though he noted that Australians also used the phrase with the same meaning as "confusion, mess, turmoil." About the same time, a dog's dinner appeared with a quite different sense.  "Why have you got those roses in your hair?" asked a character in "Touch Wood," a 1934 novel by C. L. Anthony. "You look like the dog's dinner ."  This expression was defined by the Oxford English Dictionary Supplement as "dressed or arranged in an ostentatiously smart or flashy manner," probably derived from the 1871 usage "to put on the dog ."  William Safire  Find other phrases using the word dog at http://www.nytimes.com/1993/03/07/magazine/on-language-dog-s-breakfast.html

The Great Wall of China is a series of fortifications made of stone, brick, tamped earth, wood, and other materials, generally built along an east-to-west line across the historical northern borders of China in part to protect the Chinese Empire or its prototypical states against intrusions by various nomadic groups or military incursions by various warlike peoples or forces.  Several walls were being built as early as the 7th century BC; these, later joined together and made bigger and stronger, are now collectively referred to as the Great Wall.  Especially famous is the wall built between 220–206 BC by the first Emperor of China, Qin Shi Huang.  Little of that wall remains.  Since then, the Great Wall has on and off been rebuilt, maintained, and enhanced; the majority of the existing wall are from the Ming Dynasty.  The main Great Wall line stretches from Shanhaiguan in the east, to Lop Lake in the west, along an arc that roughly delineates the southern edge of Inner Mongolia.  A comprehensive archaeological survey, using advanced technologies, has concluded that the Ming walls measure 8,850 km (5,500 mi).  Another archaeological survey found that the entire wall with all of its branches measure out to be 21,196 km (13,171 mi).  The collection of walls known today as the Great Wall of China was referred by a number of different names.  The current English name evolved from enthusiastic accounts of "the Chinese wall" from early European travelers; by the end of the 19th century "the Great Wall of China" became the name of the walls.  In Chinese, they are most commonly known as changcheng, meaning "long wall".  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_wall_of_china

Bespoke is an adjective for anything commissioned to a particular specification.  "Custom-made", "made to order", "made to measure" and sometimes "hand-made" are near-synonyms.  "Off-the-shelf" and in clothing "ready-to-wear" are the opposites.  The word bespoke is derived from the verb to bespeak, to "speak for something", in the specialised meaning "to give order for it to be made" or commission, first cited from 1583 by the OED, with the adjective in its alternative form "bespoken" first quoted from 1607 in this sense.  The term is generally more prevalent in British English than American English, which tends to use "custom" instead.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bespoke

Find photos of six hummingbirds (Ruby-throated, Rufous, Allen's, Black-billed, Broad-billed and Calliope) found in Massachusetts and link to more information about the birds at http://beautyofbirds.com/hummingbirdsmassachusetts.html

Apple has agreed to pay $450 million to resolve state and consumer claims that the iPad manufacturer conspired with five major publishers to fix e-book prices, according to court records filed July 16, 2014.  The settlement, which would provide $400 million for consumers, is conditioned on the outcome of a pending appeal of a New York federal judge’s ruling last year that Apple was liable for violating antitrust laws.  A ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit in New York reversing the judge could, under the settlement, either reduce the amount Apple pays to $70 million, with $50 million for consumers, or eliminate payments altogether.  The settlement, which requires approval of U.S. District Judge Denise Cote, had been announced last month.  Terms were not disclosed at the time.  It came ahead of an Aug. 25 damages trial in which attorneys general in 33 states and territories and lawyers for a class of consumers were expected to seek up to $840 million.  The deal follows earlier settlements with five publishers that provided $166 million for e-book purchasers.  http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/apple-agrees-to-450-million-settlement-in-e-book-suits/2014/07/16/a1851e66-0d2f-11e4-8c9a-923ecc0c7d23_story.html

July 16, 2014  A beauty pageant winner who was stripped of her Miss Delaware crown for being a few months too old is suing the Miss America organization, saying officials knew her age and disqualified her unfairly, court documents filed on Wednesday show.  The lawsuit filed in Delaware's Court of Chancery by Amanda Longacre seeks $3 million in damages and her reinstatement as Miss Delaware so she can compete in the Miss America pageant in September.  She said she did nothing wrong and was honest when she applied to take part in the pageant, providing her birth certificate, driver's license and other documents.  Rules for the pageant, the state preliminary for Miss America, require that Miss Delaware contestants be no older than 24, and say they cannot turn 25 before the end of the year.  Longacre's 25th birthday will be on Oct. 22.  John Clarke  http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/sns-rt-us-usa-pageant-delaware-20140716,0,1438385.story  Find "Becoming a Contestant Fast Facts" at http://www.missamerica.org/competition-info/become-a-contestant.aspx

http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com  Issue 1172  July 18, 2014  On this date in 1902, American author Jessamyn West was born.  On this date in 1937, American journalist and author  Hunter S. Thompson was born.