Happy Year of the Dog / 狗 年 旺 旺 !

The Year of the Dog is now underway, the new lunar year having begun on February 16, 2018. The image above is a woodcut from Edward Topsell's bestiary entitled The History of Four-Footed Beasts and Serpents . . . , which was published in London in 1658. A digitized copy of this text is available online via the Internet Archive. For a modern take on the life of canines, check out artist Laurie Anderson's contemplative film, Heart of a Dog (2015).

The Past Re-Imagined As The Future

The Free Music Archive and the Prelinger Archives Collection are co-sponsoring  a video remix contest called "Sound for the Moving Image: The Past Re-imagined As The Future." The contest invites artists everywhere to mix video from the Prelinger Archives Collection on the Internet Archive with audio from the Free Music Archive to create new digital mashups for the public domain.

The Prelinger Archives was founded in 1983 by Rick Prelinger, and the Free Music Archive is directed by freeform station WFMU. A free public screening of winning entries will be held at Anthology Film Archives on November 29, 2012 at 8-10pm. More information on how to participate in the contest can be found online; the deadline for submissions is November 4, 2012. The video above describes the Prelinger Archives.

Jackie's White House Tour on Valentine's Day

On Valentine's Day 1962, millions of television viewers watched First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy lead "A Tour of the White House." Initially broadcast on CBS and NBC, the same show aired on ABC four nights later and later was syndicated for viewing in dozens of other countries.

Of related interested are the just opened Personal Papers of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum. In a news release, Library Director Tom Putnam observed:

“Students, scholars, and the general public continue to be fascinated by Jacqueline Kennedy and the pivotal role she played in our nation’s history. These new documents demonstrate her work as First Lady, her legendary attention to detail, and the incredible range of her understanding of art, history, and public diplomacy.”

A detailed archival finding aid to her papers can be downloaded; information on visiting the library's research rooms can also be found at the library's website.

Note: The video above is available at the Internet Archive, as part of its Classic TV collection.

Internet Archive Protests SOPA / PIPA

As stated on its blackout page: The Internet Archive believes that it is critical to protest and raise awareness of pending legislation in the United States: House Bill 3261, the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and S.968, the PROTECT IP Act (PIPA).

We are going dark from 6am to 6pm PST on Wednesday, January 18 (14:00 - 02:00 UTC) to drive a message to Washington. We need your help to do this.

Legislation such as this directly affects libraries (pdf) such as the Internet Archive, which collects, preserves, and offers access to cultural materials. Furthermore, these laws can negatively affect the ecosystem of web publishing that led to the emergence of the Internet Archive.

For United States residents, please take action.

For non-US Residents: Sorry for dragging you into this, and if you are willing please sign a petition to the State Department to express your concern.

The Internet Archive Book Drive

The Internet Archive has been scanning books for some years now, and we're always looking for more. In addition to 1,000,000+ eBooks available to anyone available through Open Library, we've announced the release of modern books for the print-disabled community in a special format called DAISY. It's a brand new collection--one of the largest available online. For too long, print-disabled people have been denied access to the full breadth of contemporary books, and we'd like to assist in tipping that balance back to where it should be, universal access for all readers.

Please help us by donating books to be scanned or with financial support for the scanning process. Based on existing foundation funding, we are sponsoring the scanning of the first 10,000 books that are donated in this Book Drive. We're looking for wonderful and important books for this first 10,000 and even more books and money to keep it going. We will make these digital books as available to the world as we can, including the print-disabled, and will preserve the physical book for the long term.

How Does The Book Drive Work?
You can simply send up to 100 books or drop them off in person at our headquarters:

Internet Archive Book Drive
300 Funston Avenue
San Francisco, CA 94118

If you'd like to make a donation of more than 100 books, wow! That would be wonderful, but please give us a call on +1 415-561-6767 to arrange shipping and handling.

Read more . . . .