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.

Horror Express, also known as Pánico en el Transiberiano (Panic on the Trans-Siberian Express), is a 1972 Spanish-British horror film produced by Bernard Gordon and Gregorio Sacristan, directed by Eugenio Martín, that stars Christopher Lee, Peter Cushing, Alberto de Mendoza and Telly Savalas.  It was written by Arnaud d'Usseau and Julian Zimet (credited as Julian Halevy).  The film was loosely based on the 1938 science fiction novella "Who Goes There?" by John W. Campbell.  (The novella was also the basis for three film adaptations titled The Thing).  Read more and link to information on composer John Cacavas at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horror_Express

Rio Douro roughly translates from Portuguese as "river of gold."  When the setting sun catches it right, you can see why.  The waters gleam like liquid bullion bars.  The Douro cuts across northern Portugal, snaking 200 miles from rugged wilderness on the Spanish frontier to the old city of Oporto and the Atlantic beyond.  Grapes grown on its steeply rising banks have been sending forth legendary port wines for centuries.  It may be the world's most beautiful wine region.  Not enough?  It's also got spectacular landscapes and a scattering of World Heritage sites.  Read more and see pictures at

http://www.cnn.com/2016/08/02/travel/portugal-douro/

In Alice in Wonderland, Lewis Carroll parodies well-known poems.  Examples: *  Against Idleness and Mischief by Isaac Watts (How doth the little busy bee) became How Doth the Little Crocodile (How doth the little crocodile).  *  The Old Man's Comforts and How He Gained Them by Robert Southey ("You are old, father William," the young man cried) became You are Old, Father William  ("You are old, father William," the young man said).  *  Speak Gently, by David Bates (Speak gently!  It is better far)  became Speak Roughly (Speak roughly to your little boy). *  The Star by Jane Taylor (Twinkle, twinkle, little star) became The Mad Hatter's Song (Twinkle, twinkle, little bat!).  * The Spider And The Fly by Mary Howitt ("Will you walk into my parlor?" said the spider to the fly) became The Lobster Quadrille ("Will you walk a little faster?" said a whiting to a snail).  *  The Sluggard by Isaac Watts ('Tis the voice of the sluggard; I heard him complain) became 'Tis the Voice of the Lobster ('Tis the voice of the Lobster:  I heard him declare).  *  Star of the Evening by James M. Sayles (Beautiful star in heav'n so bright) became Turtle Soup (Beautiful Soup, so rich and green).  Jonathan Klassen  Read entire poems at http://english.scu.edu.tw/jmklassen/scu102/102a-ChLit/chlit-alicepoem.htm 

STATE TRIVIA  Q.  What two state capitals rhyme?  A.  Austin and Boston.   Q.  How do you pronounce Pierre, the capital of South Dakota?  A.  Peer.

The common button or white mushroom, the crimini or brown mushroom, and the portobello mushroom are all the same species of mushroom.  Agaricus bisporus has increased in popularity in North America with the introduction of two brown strains, Portabella (sometimes also spelled portobello, portabello, or portobella) and Crimini.  Portabella is a marketing name the mushroom industry came up with for more flavorful brown strains of Agaricus bisporus that are allowed to open to expose the mature gills with brown spores; crimini is actually the same brown strain that is not allowed to open before it is harvested.  http://kottke.org/16/03/button-crimini-and-portobello-are-all-the-same-mushroom  See also https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agaricus_bisporus

August 12, 2008  Octopuses use two of their long tentacle-like limbs as legs.  A study by scientists at Sea Life centres across Europe found that the invertebrates move across the sea bed using their two rearmost limbs, leaving the other six free for the important business of feeding.  Researchers who observed the creatures in action found they push off with the "legs" and then employ the other tentacles to pump themselves along.  David Thomas  http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/2547597/Octopuses-have-two-legs-and-six-arms.html

Words in octo- are usually of Latin origin, ones in octa- from Greek.  See Affixes:  the building blocks of English at http://www.affixes.org/o/octo-.html  See also Numbers Prefixes at http://www.sightwordsgame.com/spelling/prefixes/numbers/

Vermillion Falls is located in downtown Hastings Minnesota.  This is an urban waterfall, and apparently was once a working waterfall.  A large factory is located right next to the falls.  The falls is located in Vermillion Falls Park, which is located on 26th Street just off of Vermillion St (aka US 61).  There is another Vermillion Falls located in Minnesota far to the north near Crane Lake.  The northern Vermillion Falls is smaller, perhaps being better described as a rapids, but much, much wilder.  http://www.gowaterfalling.com/waterfalls/vermillion.shtml  See also Great Lakes Waterfalls and Beyond at http://www.gowaterfalling.com/index.shtml

The First Ladies National Historic Site, in Canton, Ohio, operated and managed by the National First Ladies' Library, is housed in two buildings.  One is the Ida Saxton McKinley Historic Home and the other building, just a block north, is the Education & Research Center where the museum is housed.  Read about tours and link to other information at http://www.firstladies.org/mapdirections.aspx

Butter is a solid dairy product made by churning fresh or fermented cream or milk, to separate the butterfat from the buttermilk.  It is generally used as a spread on plain or toasted bread products and a condiment on cooked vegetables, as well as in cooking, such as baking, sauce making, and pan frying.  Butter consists of butterfat, milk proteins and water.  Most frequently made from cows' milk, butter can also be manufactured from the milk of other mammals, including sheep, goats, buffalo, and yaks.  Salt such as dairy salt, flavorings and preservatives are sometimes added to butter.  Rendering butter produces clarified butter or ghee, which is almost entirely butterfat.  Butter is a water-in-oil emulsion resulting from an inversion of the cream; in a water-in-oil emulsion, the milk proteins are the emulsifiers.  Butter remains a solid when refrigerated, but softens to a spreadable consistency at room temperature, and melts to a thin liquid consistency at 32–35 °C (90–95 °F).  It generally has a pale yellow color, but varies from deep yellow to nearly white.  Its unmodified color is dependent on the animals' feed and is commonly manipulated with food colorings in the commercial manufacturing process, most commonly annatto or carotene.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Butter

Moby-Dick (1851) is a whaling novel by Herman Melville. While some characters only appear in the shore-chapters at the beginning of the book, and others are captains and crewmembers of other ships, the majority of the characters are crewmembers of the Pequod.  Starbuck, the young chief mate of the Pequod, is a thoughtful and intellectual Quaker from Nantucket.  He is married with a son. Such is his desire to return to them, that when nearly reaching the last leg of their quest for Moby Dick, he  considers arresting or even killing Ahab with a loaded musket, and turning the ship back, straight for home.  Starbuck is alone among the crew in objecting to Ahab's quest, declaring it madness to want revenge on an animal, which lacks reason; such a desire is blasphemous to his Quaker religion.  Starbuck advocates continuing the more mundane pursuit of whales for their oil.  But he lacks the support of the crew in his opposition to Ahab, and is unable to persuade them to turn back.  Despite his misgivings, he feels himself bound by his obligations to obey the captain.  Starbuck was an important Quaker family name on Nantucket, and there were several actual whalemen of this period named Starbuck, as evidenced by the name of Starbuck Island in the South Pacific whaling grounds.  The multinational coffee chain Starbucks was named after Starbuck, not due to any affinity for coffee, but because the name "Pequod" was first rejected by one of the co-founders.  Find all characters described at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Moby-Dick_characters

Paraphrases from Bullseye, book #9 in the Michael Bennett series, by James Patterson and Michael Ledwidge  The family that watches soccer together stays together.  The bass hum of the craft's turboshaft engine suddenly became molar-loosening.

http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com  Issue 1552  November 18, 2016  On this date in 1865, Mark Twain's short story "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County" was published in the New York Saturday Press.  On this date in 1878, soprano Marie Selika Williams ("Queen of Staccato") became the first black artist to perform at the White House.

Aphorism is a statement of truth or opinion expressed in a concise and witty manner.  The term is often applied to philosophical, moral and literary principles.  To qualify as an aphorism, it is necessary for a statement to contain a truth revealed in a terse manner.  Aphoristic statements are quoted in writings as well as in our daily speech.  The fact that they contain a truth gives them a universal acceptance.  Find examples at http://literarydevices.net/aphorism/

Most people recognize aphorisms like "Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm," from Ralph Waldo Emerson, and its seeming opposite, "Intense feeling too often obscures the truth," from Harry Truman.  James Geary, the editor of the compendium Geary's Guide to the World's Great Aphorists, says the aphorism is the oldest and the shortest literary art form on the planet.  But what qualifies as an aphorism?  Geary says that he has five laws:  "It must be brief.  It must be definitive.  It must be personal—that's the difference between an aphorism and a proverb. It must be philosophical—that's the difference between an aphorism and a platitude, which is not philosophical," he says.  "And the fifth law is it must have a twist.  And that can be either a linguistic twist or a psychological twist or even a twist in logic that somehow flips the reader into a totally unexpected place."  Read an excerpt of 'Guide to the World's Great Aphorists' at http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=14899836

THE COLOR HELIOTROPE  Heliotrope is a pink-purple tint that is a representation of the color of the heliotrope flower.  The first recorded use of heliotrope as a color name in English was in 1882.  The first recorded use of heliotrope gray as a color name in English was in 1912.  The first recorded use of old helio (old heliotrope) as a color name in English was in 1926.  Find a list of heliotrope in culture at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heliotrope_(color)

THE FLOWER HELIOTROPE Common heliotrope (Heliotropium arborescens) is a fragrant, woody perennial, native to South America.  It was introduced into greenhouse culture in Europe in 1757 after travellers discovered it in Peru.  Hence, it's sometimes listed and sold as H. peruvianum.  By the nineteenth century, heliotrope was used extensively for bedding plants and as standards.  It was nicknamed the "cherry pie plant" because its fragrance supposedly resembles the aroma of a freshly baked  cherry pie.  A few species are so fragrant that they are grown in Europe to make perfume.  According to Mary Cashman, a garden specialist with White Flower Farm in Litchfield, Connecticut, heliotrope is an underused plant that's easy to care for and does well in most parts of the country except the Deep South, where high humidity limits best growth.  A member of the borage family, common heliotrope is one of about 250 Heliotropium species, but it is the only one widely grown in gardens.  All are tropical or subtropical shrubs or subshrubs (a somewhat woody plant sometimes grown and used as a shrub or perennial).  Common heliotrope grows 2 to 3 feet high; some varieties are a compact 10 inches.  Tiny, star-shaped flowers of deep blue, purple, lavender, or white come in tightly packed spikes that develop into rounded, 2- to 4-inch-diameter clusters.  Hairy and veined 1- to 3-inch leaves have a purplish cast.  All parts of the plant are toxic.  http://garden.org/learn/articles/view/74/

Paraphrases from The Elegance of the Hedgehog, a novel by Muriel Barbery  False lucidity comes with age.  Cats are mobile decorative objects.  Eyes  may perceive, but not observe.    

Muriel Barbery (born 1969) is a French novelist and professor of philosophy.  Barbery was born in Casablanca, Morocco but her parents left when she was only two months old.  Her novel L'Élégance du hérisson (translated into English by Alison Anderson as The Elegance of the Hedgehog) topped the French best-seller lists for 30 consecutive weeks and was reprinted 50 times.  By May 2008 it had sold more than a million copies.  It has been a bestseller in France, Italy, Germany, Spain, South Korea, and in many other countries.  It concerns the inhabitants of a small upper-class Paris apartment block, notably its crypto-intellectual concierge, Renée. She and Paloma, the likewise intellectual (even radical) teenage daughter of a resident family, narrate the book in turn.  Renée also features briefly in Barbery's first novel, Une Gourmandise, which appeared in Anderson's English translation as Gourmet Rhapsody in 2009. The Elegance of the Hedgehog was also turned into a film called Le Hérisson (in English The Hedgehog), directed by Mona Achache.  It was released in 2009.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muriel_Barbery  See John Lichfield's 2015 interview with Muriel Barbery at http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/muriel-barbery-reclusive-writer-of-the-elegance-of-the-hedgehog-returns-after-eight-year-hibernation-10114581.html

Something that is biannual occurs twice every year.  Something that is biennial (1) occurs once every two years, or (2) exists or last for two years.  http://grammarist.com/usage/biannual-biennial/

Equinoxes and solstices are biannual.  See Earth’s Seasons - Equinoxes and Solstices - 2016-2025 from the U.S. Naval Observatory at https://www.weather.gov/media/ind/seasons.pdf 

Biennials in the garden are flowering plants that have a two-year biological cycle.  Biennial plant growth begins with seeds that produce the root structure, stems and leaves (as well as food storage organs) during the first growing season.  A short stem and low basal rosette of leaves form and remains through the winter months.  During the biennial’s second season, biennial plant growth completes with the formation of flowers, fruit and seeds.  The stem of the biennial will elongate or “bolt.”  Following this second season, many biennials reseed and then the plant usually dies.  What may be grown as a biennial in Portland, Oregon, with a fairly temperate climate, would likely be treated as an annual in Portland, Maine, which has far more severe temperature extremes.  Examples of biennial plants are:  beets, Swiss chard, parsley, carrots, celery and onions.  Read more at http://www.gardeningknowhow.com/garden-how-to/info/biennial-plant-information.htm

Famous residents of Brooklyn's Green-Wood Cemetery  Green-Wood has more than 560,000 permanent residents, including Leonard Bernstein, Boss Tweed, Charles Ebbets, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Louis Comfort Tiffany, Horace Greeley, Louis Moreau Gottschalk, Henry Ward Beecher, baseball legends, politicians, artists, entertainers, inventors, and Civil War generals and other veterans.  http://www.green-wood.com/2010/famous-residents/

Green-Wood Cemetery, founded in 1838, is located in Greenwood Heights, Brooklyn, several blocks southwest of Prospect Park, between Park Slope, Windsor Terrace, Borough Park, Kensington, and Sunset Park.  The gates of the cemetery were designated a New York City landmark in 1966, and the Weir Greenhouse, used as a visitor's center, in 1982.  The cemetery was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1997 and was granted National Historic Landmark status in 2006 by the U.S. Department of the Interior.  The Fort Hamilton Parkway Gate and the cemetery's chapel were designated as landmarks by New York City in 2016.  Inspired by Pére Lachaise Cemetery in Paris and Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where a cemetery in a naturalistic park-like landscape in the English manner was first established, Green-Wood was able to take advantage of the varied topography provided by glacial moraines.  See pictures and list of notable burials at Green-Wood Cemetery at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green-Wood_Cemetery

November 4, 2016  Tough times are falling on a library in Russia.  Last October, the Library of Ukrainian Literature in Moscow, was raided by the police.  They arrested the library director, Natalia Sharina.  Her trial started this week, on Nov. 2.   Sharina is accused of “inciting ethnic hatred and humiliating human dignity,” as well as embezzling 3.5 million rubles (about $54,500) from the library to pay her legal fees.  The librarian has pleaded not guilty.  “I do not understand the charge and so I do not feel any guilt,” Sharina said in court.  The prosecution said that Sharina, 59, had procured Ukrainian books, brochures, and a CD for the library that were on a list of banned “extremist” literature, as well as titles deemed “degrading” to Russians.  Her lawyer, though, said that they had witnesses who would testify to seeing the police planting the banned books in question when they arrived to search the library.  The library is funded by the Russian government, and has about 60,000 Ukrainian-language books, according to the International Business Times.  Employees joke that they see the Russia’s Federal Security Service, the FSB, more often than actual library patrons.  The visits and raids reflect ongoing tensions between Russia and Ukraine and are part of what some see as an “information war” within Russia over Ukrainian books and culture.  Sharina faces a decade in jail if she is found guilty.  She’s currently under house arrest.  Thu-Houng Ha  http://qz.com/827818/library-director-natalia-sharina-is-on-trial-in-moscow-for-lending-banned-extremist-ukrainian-boo  Thank you, Muse reader!

Oxford dictionary editors have chosen their word of the year:  "post-truth," a term sometimes used to describe the current political climate.  Oxford Dictionaries said that use of the term rose 2,000 percent between 2015 and 2016, often in discussions of Britain's decision to leave the European Union and the campaign of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump.  It's often used in the phrase "post-truth politics" and is defined as belonging to a time in which truth has become irrelevant.  Each year, Oxford University Press tracks how the English language is changing and chooses a word that reflects the mood of the year.  Runners-up for 2016 include "Brexiteer," an advocate of the U.K. leaving the EU; the extreme conservative movement known as the "alt-right"; and "hygge," the Danish concept of domestic coziness.

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2016/11/16/world/europe/ap-eu-britain-word-of-the-year.html

http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com  Issue 1551  November 16, 2016  On this date in 1715, Girolamo Abos, Maltese-Italian composer and educator, was born.  On this date in 1851, Minnie Hauk, American soprano and actress, was born.  Thought for the Day:  Remember, when the judgment's weak, the prejudice is strong. - Kane O'Hara, (1711/1712-1782)  Kane O'Hara was an Irish musician, and author of several burlettas or comic operas.  He attained a foremost position in Dublin, and was elected the Vice-President of the Musical Academy in 1758.  Next year appeared his burletta of "Midas," written to throw ridicule on Italian operas, and shortly afterwards "Golden Pippin" and other pieces.  O'Hara also dabbled in art.  http://www.libraryireland.com/biography/KaneOHara.php

"Politics and business don't mix, but pure politics is big business."  Father's Day, a novel by John Calvin Batchelor

John Calvin Batchelor (born 1948) is an American author and host of The John Batchelor Show radio news magazine.  Based at WABC radio in New York for five years from early 2001 to September 2006, the show was syndicated nationally on the ABC radio network.  On October 7, 2007, Batchelor returned to radio on WABC, and later to other large market stations on a weekly basis.  See bibliography at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Batchelor

Arkansas Traveler or Arkansas Traveller may refer to:

Arkansas Traveler (Michelle Shocked album); Arkansas Traveler (Breetles album) (1987), by the Breetles; The Arkansas Traveler (film), a 1938 American comedy film; "The Arkansas Traveler" (song), a fiddle tune by Sanford Faulkner; Arkansas Traveller (painting), an 1858 painting by Edward Payson Washburn; The Arkansas Traveler (newspaper), student newspaper of the University of Arkansas; Arkansas Traveler (radio show), a bluegrass program on WDET, Detroit, Michigan; The Arkansas Traveler, the original title of The Bob Burns Show; Arkansas Traveler, a Faustian western written by Sean Bridgers; "The Arkansas Traveler", nickname and stage persona of Bob Burns; Arkansas Traveler (boat line) made by the Southwest Manufacturing Co. of Little Rock, Arkansas; Arkansas Traveler tomato, a variety of heirloom tomato; Arkansas Traveler (honorary title), a title of honor bestowed by the State of Arkansas; Arkansas Travelers, a minor league baseball team in Little Rock, Arkansas; Kit, the Arkansas Traveler, 1868 stage play  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arkansas_Traveler

A Face in the Crowd was a 1957 movie drama based on the short story, “Your Arkansas Traveler,” written by Budd Schulberg.  It concerns a fictional Arkansas native, its opening scenes were set in northeast Arkansas, and it was filmed on location in Piggott (Clay County) using local residents as extras.  The film marked the screen debut of Andy Griffith and Lee Remick, along with being Walter Matthau and Tony Franciosa’s first major roles.  It is significant for its prophetic theme of the cult of celebrity, the power of television, and the merging of entertainment and politics.  Writer Budd Wilson Schulberg and director Elia Kazan had previously worked together on the film, On the Waterfront (1954), based on Schulberg’s script.  Both men had testified in the televised House Committee on Un-American Activities hearings in 1952, with controversial results.  (Kazan admitted to being a former Communist Party member and named other members he knew.)  They decided to make another movie together, based on Schulberg’s short story, “Your Arkansas Traveler,” showing the new medium of television’s power to make or break a performer or a politician.  “Your Arkansas Traveler” was the first story in Schulberg’s collection of short stories, Some Faces in the Crowd (1953).  Schulberg reworked the story for the movie, to be called A Face in the Crowd, with a few changes:  the heroine’s name, Marcia Coulihan in the story, was changed to Marcia Jeffries for the film; she meets Larry “Lonesome” Rhodes in the fictitious Pickett, Arkansas, in the movie (Fox, Wyoming, in the story), and while the short story ends with Lonesome’s death, the film ends on a more cautionary note, with Lonesome still alive and his resurgence predicted by a press agent.

http://www.encyclopediaofarkansas.net/encyclopedia/entry-detail.aspx?entryID=2641

The United States Treasury Department is entrusted with a broad range of duties and functions.  In addition to monetary functions such as budgets, taxes, and currency production and circulation, Treasury also oversees critical functions in enforcement, economic policy development, and international treaty negotiation, just to name a few.  The first Secretary of the Treasury was Alexander Hamilton, serving from Sep. 11, 1789 - Jan. 31, 1795.  Find a list of names, along with who appointed them, at http://www.u-s-history.com/pages/h1213.html

Franklin Delano Roosevelt was the first to appear on television when he opened the New York World's Fair in 1939.  He was the first President to appoint a woman, Frances Perkins, as a Cabinet member (Secretary of Labor.)  He was also the first President to have a Presidential plane.  John F. Kennedy was the first Catholic elected President.  He was also the first President who was a Boy Scout.  The first President to resign from office was Richard Milhous Nixon.  Jimmy Carter was the first President to be born in a hospital.  Ronald Reagan was the first President to have been divorced and the first to wear contact lenses.  Bill Clinton was the first President to be a Rhodes Scholar.  Find other presidential firsts at http://www2.lhric.org/pocantico/presidents/firsts.htm  See also https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_Presidential_firsts

" 'Come over,' he said.  'I'll order in Chinese.'  'You speak Chinese now?' "  " . . . in the way that theatres extracted a phrase like 'wonderful drama' from the sentence 'A wonderful drama this is not.' "  The Finkler Question, a novel by Howard Jacobson 

Born in Manchester, England in 1942, novelist and broadcaster Howard Jacobson was educated at Cambridge University.  He lectured at the University of Sydney for three years before returning to England where he taught English at Selwyn College.  https://literature.britishcouncil.org/writer/howard-jacobson

Turning the Page by Kathy O. Brozek   We set out to build the bookstore of the 21st century,” says Praveen Madan, owner of Kepler’s Books, a retail outlet in Menlo Park, Calif., that serves customers throughout the San Francisco Peninsula.  It was late 2011, and Madan was leading a small group of Kepler’s supporters who were charting a plan that would allow the store to survive in a world where the prospects for brick-and-mortar bookselling looked bleak.  Kepler’s was one of a trio of San Francisco Bay Area bookstores—including City Lights in San Francisco and Cody’s Books in Berkeley—that emerged as centers of political and social activism during the 1960s and 1970s.  Founded in 1955 by Roy Kepler, a pacifist who had been a conscientious objector during World War II, the bookstore served as a gathering point for people in the anti-Vietnam War movement.  In 1980, Roy Kepler’s son, Clark, took over the shop and led it through a new era.  Menlo Park, which had been a sleepy, middle-class suburb, evolved into an affluent enclave in the heart of Silicon Valley.  The forces of disruption that helped define the region had begun to sweep over the bookselling business.  Bookstore chains like Barnes & Noble and Borders Books—and later the Internet retailer Amazon, combined with the emergence of digital books—steadily chipped away at the revenue of independent bookstores.  In 2011, Kepler’s hit a critical point.  “Kepler’s was about to be shut down, unless there was a reimagining of its future and the role that it played in its community,” says Madan.  “That bothered me deeply, that this great cultural and intellectual institution located in Silicon Valley—where there’s no shortage of innovation, creativity, and capital—would close.”  Madan and his wife, Christin Evans, already operated a bookstore in San Francisco called Booksmith.  Drawing on that experience, and on his passion for Kepler’s, Madan took up an opportunity to lead a rescue effort for the Menlo Park store.  He formed a transition team, and in 2012 the team launched a plan to save Kepler’s:  It settled the company’s debt via negotiated payouts to creditors, it put in place a new board of directors, and it transferred the store’s assets and liabilities to an entity owned by Madan.  The plan instilled new life into Kepler’s.  Each year since 2012, the store has turned a profit.  In its 2015 fiscal year, the store’s annual revenues came to slightly more than $3 million.  Among the factors that have made Kepler’s a sustainable operation, two stand out.  First, Madan and his team have built on the store’s heritage as a place that achieves impact not just as a book retailer but also as a community center.  And second, they have explored the potential of using a hybrid structure that combines for-profit and nonprofit elements.  Read more at https://ssir.org/articles/entry/turning_the_page?utm_content=buffer2a384&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer

Leonard Cohen, the Canadian poet and novelist who abandoned a promising literary career to become one of the foremost songwriters of the contemporary era, has died, according to an announcement November 10, 2016.  He was 82.  Adam Cohen, his son and producer, said:  “My father passed away peacefully at his home in Los Angeles with the knowledge that he had completed what he felt was one of his greatest records.  He was writing up until his last moments with his unique brand of humor.”  Over a musical career that spanned nearly five decades, Mr. Cohen wrote songs that addressed—in spare language that could be both oblique and telling—themes of love and faith, despair and exaltation, solitude and connection, war and politics.  More than 2,000 recordings of his songs have been made, initially by the folk-pop singers who were his first champions, like Judy Collins and Tim Hardin, and later by performers from across the spectrum of popular music, among them U2, Aretha Franklin, R.E.M., Jeff Buckley, Trisha Yearwood and Elton John.  Larry Rohter  Read much more and see pictures at

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/11/obituaries/leonard-cohen-dies.html

http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com  Issue 1550  November 14, 2016  On this date in 1765, Robert Fulton, an American engineer who invented the steamboat, was born.  On this date in 1889, Elizabeth Cochran Seaman, known by her pen name Nellie Bly, an American journalist, writer, industrialist, inventor, and charity worker, set out on a record-breaking trip around the world in 72 days, in emulation of Jules Verne's fictional character Phileas Fogg.  She also wrote an exposé in which she faked insanity to study a mental institution from within.  Word of the Day:  yurt  noun  A large, round, semi-permanent tent with vertical walls and a conical roof, usually associated with Central Asia and Mongolia (where it is known as a ger).