The Olympics -- fascinating to watch, a great conversation starter, and even better to read about. Believe it or not, not a large body of work exists on the Olympic games, which have been around since 1896. French educator, Baron Pierre de Coubertin, developed the idea for the Olympics as a way to share education and culture ideas, as well as to foster international relations. The first Olympic Games featured only 13 countries. Today the games represent more than 200 countries from five continents. If you're interested in finding out more about the Olympics, check out the following books and resource links.

You can also find Olympic sports information on our wiki, GRPLpedia.

( Photo by Zhang Gene)

Polacco's preparatory drawings and watercolors will be on display on the second floor at the Main Library through September 29.

When I first arrived at Prints and Photographs, I received a processing plan and several Hollinger boxes filled with unsorted postcards. With the help of three other interns, I sorted and organized over 56,000 postcards dating from the 1890’s through the 1950’s. We sorted the postcards into a series for U. S. geographical, foreign geographical, and topical. Each series were further sorted into states, countries, cities, topics, genres, etc. It was a great experience getting to see our history through postcards. It was almost a kind of vicarious traveling. Throughout the project I had to do a lot of research. Many of the postcards lacked geographical identities, so part of my task was finding out where these places were or what these postcards were about.

Sometimes this required going up to the Copyright Office and using their record books and card catalog (the Copyright Office has the largest card catalog in the world, it really is something to see). Also, while working on the collection, we pulled postcards that we thought were interesting or unique and set those aside to use for an exhibit. Part of the Junior Fellow program includes a one-day exhibit of the treasures that we discovered in our divisions. One of the postcards I included in the exhibit was of an early Zeppelin airship (the LZ3) and written on the back was the following, “Vienna, Austria. Sept 7, 1908. Dear Uncle, Here is the way we may visit Europe in 2008 […].”

I also got to create catalog records for the items that I chose for the exhibit (I have to say, I have a lot more respect for catalogers now). By the end of the ten weeks, I had helped turn an unorganized collection (useless to librarians and researchers) into over 70 organized boxes, including a container list, allowing anyone interested in either the history of postcards or in specific localities the ability to find and use this collection for their research.

Besides the actual work I did, I also got to see a lot of great things that others don’t get the opportunity to see. The program included many tours of different divisions and facilities. I got to see the Conservation division and watch conservators work on one of Thomas Jefferson’s papers. I got to see the bible that Lincoln was sworn in on, Thoreau’s personal copy of Whitman’s Leaves of Grass, two books from George Washington’s collection, the Bay Psalm Book (the first book printed in North America), and much more. It was a biblioholic’s dream come true. We took a tour of the Fort Meade facility, which is their newest off-site storage facility that uses a maximum space-efficiency approach to storing items (the building is brand new, it houses millions of items, and already they need to expand it!). Also, we toured the new state-of-the-art Audio-Visual Conservation Center where all of the motion pictures and sound recordings are kept. The Library of Congress is enormous, obviously.

Overall, I had a wonderful time and I learned a lot about the Library of Congress and how something so large and daunting is managed, cared for, and used. I learned a lot about the management of collections, in general, and the approaches and techniques that the Library of Congress uses. Hopefully, I can say that I’ve acquired a new skill set; I’ve definitely received top-notch professional training. Although I had a great time, I am glad to be back. One of the things I’ve learned is that like any library, the collections are only as good as the people who care for them and share their knowledge and passion with others. The Library of Congress truly is our nation’s library and there are many wonderful people there who make it what it is.

The Junior Fellow program brought 50 interns to the library and set us up in one of the many divisions which make up the Library of Congress. My assignment was with the Prints and Photographs Division. My task for the ten weeks -- to sort, organize, and index the unprocessed postcard collection.

First of all, if you haven’t been to the Library of Congress, be sure to make it your first stop if you’re ever in the District of Columbia. The LC has three buildings at the top of Capitol Hill, the Jefferson, Adams, and Madison—you can’t miss them. The Jefferson building is absolutely stunning, filled with marble, frescoes, and an awe-inspiring reading room. I, however, worked in the Madison building, the least sexy of the LC buildings.

Although the Madison building isn’t much to look at, there are tons and tons of really interesting items stored away in boxes throughout miles of shelving -- like postcards, for example. I'll tell you all about that in my next entry.

GRPL offers gaming events for teens. Check our calendar for the next Wii gaming event location.

To get an idea about how libraries use games, watch this video:

1. Fearless Fourteen by Janet Evanovich
2. The Shack by William Young
3. Sail by James Patterson and Howard Roughan
4. Tribute by Nora Roberts
5. TailSpin : [an FBI thriller] by Catherine Coulter
6. Mistaken Identity: two families, one survivor, unwavering hope by Don Van Ryn
7. Twenty Wishes by Debbie Macomber
8. Twilight by Stephenie Meyer
9. The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch with Jeffrey Zaslow
10. Love the One You're With by Emily Giffin

Musician Rick Kelley entertained crowds around the city last week!

With some original songs and some "borrowed," Rick had kids and adults alike dancing in the aisles. He taught us how to do the shovel, the hand jive, and even had his very own posse to help with one of his songs. It was overheard by some that this may have been the best program yet this summer!

The parking lots will reopen on Saturday morning.

A Constellation Album: Stars and Mythology of the Night Sky
by P. K. Chen

Among the bevy of constellation books this one stands out. The layout is very easy to use, and the way the spiral binding lets one look at the actual sky photo of the constellation and then turn the transparency to overlay the photo with the pictorial image of the legendary figures is very nice. Each of the 45 constellations has 2 pages. One page with the image and next to it the story from the old Greek and Roman mythology, as well as interesting scientific facts about the stars. A must see for novice star watchers.

Available now: NEW: 523.8 C42c

Extreme Weather: Understanding the Science of Hurricanes, Tornadoes, Floods, Heat Waves, Snow Storms, Global Warming and Other Atmospheric Disturbances
by H. Michael Mogil

Filled with interesting, understandable science about something that is still mysterious to many of us: the weather, especially the "extreme" kind. If you ever thought that reading about the weather would be dull, this book will definitely change your mind. Many photos, charts, and graphs add to the content, and also help answer the question, "Is the weather really becoming worse?" Check it out and find out!

Available now: NEW: 551.5 M724e

World Encyclopedia of Fossils and Fossil-Collecting
by Steve Parker

This is just a great, great read for any fossil lover! This book is full of beautiful photos, clear text, information on major world sites. It also includes some history and how-to, legal and ethical codes, and many photos of the different types of fossils. It is just the right size, with large, readable text, to really enjoy sitting down with and imaging how things might have been eons ago.

Available now: NEW: 560.75 p228W

Vanishing World: the Endangered Arctic
by Mireille De la Lez

Published to coincide with the International Polar Year, this book consists almost exclusively of very large photographs of just what the title says: an area of our earth that may well be vanishing.

Available now: NEW: Oversize 577.09113 D37v

Spotted Owls: Shadows in an Old-Growth Forest
by Jared Hobbs

Surely one of the most beautiful of this mysterious family of birds, a whole book on the Spotted Owl is a real treat. Listed as "Endangered " in Canada, and "Threatened" in the U.S, due to the loss of it's territory, this book gives us a stunning look at the Spotted Owl and life in these old-growth forests, and why they are important for us as well as the owl.

Available now: NEW: 598.97 H652s

Venomous Animals of the World
by Steve Backshall

No one can resist the fascination of deadly life forms. Backshall is a naturalist who has traveled the globe for the BBC, National Geographic, and the Discovery Channel, and has written guidebooks to some of the world's most exotic places. Now he's concentrating on some of our planet's most exotic animals: the venomous ones. Some will be familiar (although he always has some new and surprising information about them), and some will be real surprises. Great text and amazing photos.

Available now: NEW: Oversize 591.65 B128v