Pratt-Smoot Act Day

Every March 3rd here at the Department of the Blind and Physically Handicapped Library Service,we celebrate the Pratt-Smoot Act. The Pratt-Smoot Act essentially gave talking books their start for the blind.

Ray Foushee, speaker at Pratt-Smoot Day, 2013
Narrator from American Printing House

On March 3, 1931, President Hoover signed it into law “An Act to provide books for the adult blind,” also known as the “Pratt-Smoot Act” after its sponsors Representative Ruth Pratt and Senator Reed Smoot. This Act authorized an annual appropriation of $100,000 under the direction of the Librarian of Congress, for a national library service to provide books for use by adult blind residents of the United States. The Pratt-Smoot Act also permitted the Librarian of Congress to “arrange with such libraries as he may judge appropriate to serve as local or regional centers for the circulation of such books, under such conditions and regulations as he may prescribe” and to give preference at all times “to the needs of blind persons who have been honorably discharged from the United States military or naval service.” Following the passage of the Pratt-Smoot Act, the Library of Congress established the “Books for the Adult Blind” project, which began operating on July 1, 1931. Now the National Library Services for the Blind and Physically Handicapped serves anyone with a visual impairment, physical impairment, or an organic reading disability. For more information: http://www.loc.gov/nls/eligible.html.

Pratt-Smoot Act Celebration
at the Mississippi Library Commission, 2013

What's On Your Bookshelf, Roosevelt?

We recently came across a charming, small book in our collection titled Dr. Johnson's Doorknob and Other Significant Parts of Great Men's Houses by Liz Workman. We were certainly not disappointed when we saw that the table of contents included "Great Men's Books"! Readers get a peek at the bookshelves of greats such as Thomas Cole, Washington Irving, Sir Winston Churchill, and Thomas Jefferson. The close-up of Franklin Delano Roosevelt's books, in particular, caught our eye. We could literally browse a snippet of his reading selections. Of course we had to share!

• The Key by Patricia Wentworth 
• There Shall Be No Night by Robert E. Sherwood 
• The Workers at War by Frank Julian Warne
• American Planning and Civic Annual 
• New Frontiers of the Mind: The Story of the Duke Experiments by J.B. Rhine
• The Bundle of Life by Jane Revere Burke
• New Year's Day by Edith Wharton
• The Old Maid by Edith Wharton
• The Spark by Edith Wharton
• Response by Mary Pownall Bromet

So, what's on your bookshelf? Need suggestions? Contact us or stop by our building to browse our shelves!


Workman, Liz. Dr. Johnson's Doorknob and Other Significant Parts of Great Men's Houses. Rizzoli International Publications, Inc. NY 2007. Print
www.goodreads.com
www.amazon.com

Love, Mississippi Style

Love is a strange beast. Our human hearts are both fickle and steadfast at the same time, draped in a gauze of romance. Mississippi authors are no exception to the highs and lows of love--why would they be? When two hearts begin to talk to one another, the idea that they'll ever stop is absurd. Here are two of those beginnings.

Richard Wright and Ellen Poplar (Poplowitz)

Richard Wright met Ellen Poplar (Poplowitz) about 1939. Of their first outing together, Ellen later said:

We talked for hours. We had a wonderful time. We sat on a bench and talked. There was an instant understanding between us.

Richard proposed to Ellen almost immediately, within a few weeks of their meeting. She, though, was a practical woman and wanted to be certain that they truly loved one another. After much soul-searching, Ellen decided that their love was pure and tried to meet Richard. Surprisingly, he had already proposed to another woman, a former fling, and he married her instead. Ellen was heartbroken. (Some say that Richard claimed he married Dhimah Meadman to spite Ellen. Ah, the things we do for love.) The marriage lasted less than a year. Upon Richard and Ellen's reunion:

He heard her voice and came onto the landing at the top of the stairs and called her name. "It was a really eerie thing," she says. "I knew immediately that my family counted for nothing... I was very excited and we fell into each other's arms and there was no talking after that. The whole thing was settled... I just moved in with Dick right in that house."

Medgar Evers and Myrlie Beasley

Medgar Evers met Myrlie Beasley on her first day of classes in 1950 at Alcorn in Lorman, Mississippi. They fell in love. Myrlie remembers his proposal of a little over a year later,

I couldn't speak. Medgar took the ring from the box and put it on my finger. I watched as though I were watching someone else. "I'm sorry I can't afford a more expensive ring, Myrlie," he said softly. "This is the best I can do. But along with it goes all the love I have."
I have never felt quite like I did at that moment.

Although these two marriages traveled very separate paths, the meeting of souls, the mysterious bonding of two hearts, is the same. Love is a hard road to travel, but it does, indeed, seem to make the world go round.

Want to explore the (love) lives of Mississippi authors? Our biography section is sure to warm the heart of any book lover. Come on in!

Evers, Myrlie. For Us, The Living. Garden City, NY: Doubleday and Company, Inc., 1967. Print.
Rowley, Hazel. Richard Wright: The Life and Times. New York: Henry Holt and Co, 2001. Print.

http://ecuip.lib.uchicago.edu/diglib/language/blackboy/gallery/index.html
http://www.jacksonadvocateonline.com/?p=3192

Jacks: You've Got To Be Nimble

Jacks

A few days ago, someone asked if the old-fashioned jacks with which we played as children were still being made and sold. "You remember those, right? We used to play with them back in the day." Oh, yes, we most definitely remember them, and yes, jacks are still around. In fact, it's pretty amazing how long the game of jacks has been around. Some claim that the Roman god Hermes invented the game. He liked to play a few rounds with his half-brother/mentor Apollo (Bloomsbury).

Jacks has had several different names over the years. Some have called it knucklestones, doing so because jacks originally came from sheep knuckles and other various small bones. Checkstones and jackstones were two other popular names; checkstones is a similar game played with small pebbles, or checks (Collins).

Some of the best things about the game of Jacks, in our opinion, are its complete versatility and ease of play. It can be played by one person or a group. To play, one follows these simple steps:

• Scatter the jacks
• Throw the ball in the air
• Pick up one jack with the same hand
• Catch the ball with the same hand after it has bounced once
• Repeat until all the jacks have been picked up
• Graduate to a new round by picking up the jacks in groups of twos, then threes, etc... (Diagram)

We checked www.amazon.com and found a plethora of jacks for sale. They're also available at many toy stores and drugstores. Have fun playing, and enjoy your blast to the past!

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_Childrens_Museum_of_Indianapolis_-_Jacks.jpg 
Hermes. (1996). In Bloomsbury dictionary of myth. Retrieved from http://search.credoreference.com/content/entry/bloommyth/hermes/0
Jacks. (2000). In Collins english dictionary. Retrieved from http://search.credoreference.com/content/entry/hcengdict/jacks/0
The Diagram Group. Family Fun and Games. New York: Sterling Publishing Company, 1992. Print.

Mississippi Library Leadership Institute 2014

The Mississippi Library Commission announces the opportunity for up to thirty librarians in the state of Mississippi to participate in the 2014 Mississippi Library Leadership Institute (MLLI). MLLI is an in-residence leadership training program open to librarians employed in public, academic, school, and special libraries in the state of Mississippi. Funded with a Laura Bush 21st Century Librarian Program Grant from the Institute of Museum and Library services (IMLS), the Institute is designed to develop the next generation of leaders in the field of librarianship in Mississippi.

The 2013 Mississippi Library Leadership Institute had 27 participants, including librarians from archives and from public, community college, school, and university libraries. Their studies were focused in the areas of team building, improving communication skills, and strategic planning. They did group work, gave four presentations over the course of the program, and engaged in numerous hands-on learning activities designed to enhance the content of the lectures and presentations. Participants also took the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) personality test and received training on using MBTI in the workplace. After reading The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Leadership Fable by Patrick Lencioni, Tribes: We Need You to Lead Us by Seth Godin, and Disciplined Dreaming: A Proven System to Drive Breakthrough Creativity by Josh Linkner, participants completed assignments designed to develop their skills as leaders in their institutions. Participants also received $1000 to implement a special project in their library with a community partner. Examples of projects include oral history projects, college entrance preparation, and digital literacy training.

The Institute consists of four three-day retreats held in Jackson over the course of one year. Eligible applicants must:

• Have a master’s degree in librarianship accredited by the American Library Association (ALA)
  or be currently enrolled in an ALA accredited Master’s degree program in librarianship
• Have less than fifteen years of professional experience
• Be employed by a Mississippi library
• Be nominated by their direct reporting authority such as Library Director, Dean, Administrative Board of Trustees Chair, Principal, Provost, etc...

The only cost to selected participants is transportation to and from Jackson. Dates of the 2014 retreats are:

• April 2-4, 2014
• July 16-18, 2014
• October 22-24, 2014
• January 14-16, 2015

Applications to the Mississippi Library Leadership Institute must be post-marked by Friday, January 17, 2014. Applicants will be notified of selection status by Friday, February 28, 2014.

Participation in the Institute is intensive; however, it is also extremely rewarding and fun. We look forward to seeing you!

New Books - Dogs of Courage

Do you love dogs? If you do, our new book Dogs of Courage: The Heroism and Heart of Working Dogs Around the World is a great pick. This informative book by Lisa Rogak explores dogs in various helpful-to-human roles. For example, did you know that in addition to drug-sniffing dogs, that there are such beasts as cancer-sniffing dogs? Drop in soon to check out this book on everyone's favorite pet. See you soon!

Did you know that books at the Mississippi Library Commission are available for check out to the general public? Simply bring in your current library card from a Mississippi public library, fill out this short application form, and you're set!

Did You Know? Carons Aren't Circumflex

Have you ever wondered what the little mark above certain letters is called? While all symbols written on, above, or beneath letters are called diacritics, they also all have special names. The little "V" written above this "S", for example, is called a caron, a wedge, or a haček:

 

 When the "V" is flipped, it is called a circumflex:

Each mark changes the pronunciation of the letter in some way, depending on the language. Now you know! Go dazzle someone with your new-found knowledge!

http://diacritics.typo.cz/index.php?id=5