It's Not Too Late to Save the Stacks--why we still need to keep books in our campus libraries by Ann E. Michael   For in-depth assignments, nothing replaces the chance to introduce students face-to-face to a nonvirtual librarian who can help them navigate the research process.  One invaluable lesson of standing next to a real person undertaking real-time information browsing:  Students learn that good information takes time to locate.  Even the experts have to problem-solve through some deadends and overgeneralized hits before finding a good source.  And when something suitable turns up, students can share that eureka moment or the relief of genuine gratitude with another person.  All of this takes place in the physical space of the library and its community of books and people.  Books offer more chances for surprise and delight than we credit, probably because physical texts are a tool that we have learned to take for granted.  My favorite example of the surprise encounter the stacks can provide is from a conference talk that the poet Stanley Kunitz gave some years ago.  He said he was wandering the aisles of the college library and feeling totally lost as to what his thesis topic should be when he picked a book at random off the shelf.  It was a collection of poems by Gerard Manley Hopkins, and the page he opened to was "God’s Grandeur."  Kunitz told his listeners:  "And there it was, before me!" adding, "It changed my life."  Books are so common as to have become—in the view of some college administrators—optional residents of the library.  But without the opportunity for a secular communing with books in the quiet hum of reflection, study, concentration, and silent conversation would be lost, the edifice spiritless.  The stacks absorb sound but also attract thoughts.  The titles on the spines offer differing views and deepening perceptions.  And surprise, too.  A student gazing out at the attractive view from the library window may see a hawk, feel inquisitive, and discover Helen MacDonald’s H Is for Hawk, or T. H. White’s The Goshawk, and—who knows?—that might just change her life.  Read more at http://www.chronicle.com/article/Its-Not-Too-Late-to-Save-the/238106/

The second largest canyon in the U.S. lies in the heart of the Texas Panhandle.  People have inhabited Palo Duro Canyon for about 12,000 years.  The Clovis and Folsom peoples first lived in the canyon and hunted large herds of mammoth and giant bison.  Other cultures, such as the Apache, Comanche and Kiowa, used the canyon’s plentiful resources more recently.  These early cultures left behind rock art and bedrock mortars, where they ground mesquite beans and roots for food.  Early Spanish explorers probably discovered the canyon, naming it Palo Duro, Spanish for hard wood.  http://tpwd.texas.gov/state-parks/palo-duro-canyon/park_history

Deep below the thick ice that covers the Antarctic region, geologists have discovered the world's biggest canyon measuring a staggering 621 miles long (1,000km).  The previous record for the longest canyon in the world was achieved in 2013--also below the ice--but in Greenland.  That mega canyon is a mere 460miles (750km) long.  Colin Fernandex  Read more and see graphics at http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-3397377/World-s-largest-canyon-beneath-Antarctic-ice-sheet-Mega-chasm-carved-flowing-water-bigger-UK.html

Media, ancient country of northwestern Iran, generally corresponding to the modern regions of Azerbaijan, Kurdistan, and parts of Kermanshah. Media first appears in the texts of the Assyrian king Shalmaneser III (858–824 bc), in which peoples of the land of “Mada” are recorded.  The inhabitants came to be known as Medes.  Although Herodotus credits “Deioces son of Phraortes” (probably c. 715) with the creation of the Median kingdom and the founding of its capital city at Ecbatana (modern Hamadan), it was probably not before 625 bc that Cyaxares, grandson of Deioces, succeeded in uniting into a kingdom the many Iranian-speaking Median tribes.  By the victory in 550 of the Persian chief Cyrus II the Great over his suzerain,Astyages of Media, the Medes were made subject to the Persians.  In the new Achaemenian Empire they retained a prominent position; in honour and war they stood next to the Persians, and their court ceremonial was adopted by the new sovereigns, who in the summer months resided in Ecbatana.  Alexander the Great occupied Media in 330, and in the partition of his empire, southern Media was given to the Macedonian commander Peithon and eventually passed to the Seleucids, but the north was left to Atropates, a former general of Darius III, who succeeded in founding an independent kingdom, named Atropatene, with its capital at Gazaca.  In later times Atropatene came under the control of Parthia, Armenia, and Rome.  Southern Media remained a province of the Seleucid empire for a century and a half, and Hellenism was introduced everywhere.  About 152 bc, however, Media was taken by the Parthian king Mithradates I, and it remained subject to the Arsacids until about ad 226, when it passed, together with Atropatene, to the Sāsānians.  By that time the Medes had lost their distinctive character and had been amalgamated into the one nation of the Iranians.  https://www.britannica.com/place/Media-ancient-region-Iran

The British Library is becoming a modern news publisher.  Its expertise in the field of journalism is immense.  The home of one of the greatest newspaper archives in the world, amounting to more than 15m pages of news, it also houses The Newsroom, a permanent resource charting the evolution of news in broadcast, print and digital media.  And it is in digital publishing that this institution is going through a transformation, producing its own articles, live streams and video clips for a worldwide audience.  The British Library fights for the highest Google rankings on key subjects.  In searches for “Mr Darcy” or “Elinor Dashwood”, for example, it will be competing with Wikipedia, the BBC and the Jane Austen Society, as it seeks to “own the domain” of English literature.  Having hired Graham MacFadyen as its head of digital and marketing operations, the library has doubled its online audience to 20m over three years.  The British Library is succeeding in this “battle” for search engine optimisation (SEO) by creating content around named authors and exploiting its “curatorial expertise, which is world class, and the original [manuscripts and other objects in its collections],” says MacFadyen.  Every month, the library’s marketing team gathers with the curators to plan media strategy, identifying subjects for topical curator-authored blogs and articles--witness a recent “Great Medieval Bake Off” blog on 11th Century culinary techniques--which can be tied to collections.  Although such pieces are competing with news media for attention, they are designed to have longevity  and a “long tail” of reader interest.  Ian Burrell  Read more and see pictures at https://inews.co.uk/opinion/columnists/british-library-using-seo-become-digital-news-publisher/

Nocturnal means active or happening in the night.  Diurnal means active during the day.  Crepuscular means active at dawn and dusk.  *  Mesopredators are medium-sized predators whos poulations usually increase when their larger predators are eliminated.  *  Adult giraffes sleep between 20 and 30 minutes a day.  *  Elephants usually stop lying down between 10 and 15 years of age.  On average, elephants sleep three and a half hours a day.  *  Birds sleep only a few minutes at a time.  *  Flamingos can sleep while balanced on one leg.  Safari magazine "After Dark" issue  Winter 2016

 A visibly moved Smokey Robinson put an emotional cap November 16, 2016 on a festive, melodic night celebrating his storied songwriting career.  Amid multiple standing ovations from an audience filled with political dignitaries at DAR Constitution Hall, the Motown star reflected on his humble Detroit roots as he accepted the prestigious Gershwin Prize for Popular Song.  Awarded annually by the Library of Congress, the Gershwin Prize has become one of the leading honors recognizing popular-music songwriting, named for the musical brothers who crafted a host of 20th Century standards.  Previous recipients have included Paul Simon, Paul McCartney, Carole King, Billy Joel and Robinson's Motown colleague Stevie Wonder.  Brian McCollum  http://www.freep.com/story/entertainment/music/2016/11/17/smokey-robinson-gershwin-prize/94002418/

http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com  Issue 1553  November 21, 2016  On this date in 1877, Thomas Edison announced his invention of the phonograph, a machine that can record and play sound.  On this date in 1922, Rebecca Latimer Felton of Georgia took the oath of office, becoming the first female United States Senator.