Librarian at a Philadelphia seminary finds a Beethoven manuscript. The piece is "Grosse Fuge", originally written for string quartet, here a four-hand piano version. The scribbled, "self-edited" manuscript (and others) is important because it gives "insight into [the composer's] working methods" and is also from late in his life, when he was already deaf.

It expected to fetch $1.7 - $2.6 million (USD) at a Sotheby's auction. The money goes back to the seminary.

A Historic Discovery, in Beethoven's Own Hand
By Daniel J. Wakin
Published: October 13, 2005

Article about New York corps de ballet, including musings on what makes a great ballet dancer.

The Corps Standouts, from Tip to Toe
By GIA KOURLAS
Published: October 14, 2005

" ... what matters most is the whole package, specifically the hard-won combination of musicality and line, a slippery concept that connects a dancer's movement to his or her core. It means that every muscle and bone - from the toe to the fingertips - is working in exquisite harmony.

Proportion, highly arched feet, and long, straight legs figure into the equation, but the dancer with the extra-special something is able to radiate that internal power without thinking about how to do it."

There is a point in here for musicians too.

A great librarian blog... A look at the life of a librarian in a public library.

The blog itself is Feel-good librarian: http://feelgoodlibrarian.typepad.com/

There's also interview/article with/about her in Library Journal
LJ Talks to the Feel-good Librarian, October 1, 2005

I love the ALA "READ" posters, though I wonder what they do with the old ones. It's very cool - they have all sorts of celebrities and famous people, sometimes holding a particular book they chose, with the word "READ" emblazoned across the top or side. New includes Aishawrya Rai, Orlando Bloom, Keira Knightley. The Julia Stiles one is quite nice.

There's a very nice LOTR one with Frodo sitting at the foot of a tree, emerald grass all around. But that doesn't seem to be in the list anymore, or the WWF(E) wrestlers, which I noticed back in 2003 and thought it would have been a very good one for the Makheto High School library as the guys in the village were all crazy about wrestling and watched Smackdown every Wednesday and Sunday.

Current ALA Celebrity READ catalogue... more posters can be found in the other categories as well (sports, TV, teen, etc.)

There are actually people interested in books that don't exist...

The Invisible Library
http://www.invisiblelibrary.com/

Books that only appear in other books - now why would that be interesting? Hoaxes or fake books are also included, which seems a bit more practical or at least historical. But imaginary books... something Jasper Fforde (author of "The Eyre Affair" etc.) would like, perhaps.

Joan Didion, new work. "The Year of Magical Thinking". Grief, crisis, marriage.

The End of Life as She Knew It
By Michiko Kakutani
NY Times Published: October 4, 2005

Rambling Librarian :: Incidental Thoughts of a Singapore Liblogarian

Singapore librarian Ivan Chew has a great post on what is a librarian, or what does a librarian do? (Dated Thursday Sept 29, 2005)

The book sponsorship programme for our church library started off great today. Almost all but 2 sheets were filled, and over RM 700 was collected! (Tho' about half the amount was given by the Chairman of the Board). I'm glad it is working well. My thinking was that people are generous and would like to give - you just have to give them the chance.

By the end of the month hopefully it will all be filled.

Things are moving with the library, mainly due to the dedication of 2 aunties and also my dad is keen to keep things going. We have not yet got everything organized, but there have been recommendations from the pulpit, borrowing by the adults and kids. I am going to get an accession book this week and start accessioning new books and also have to finalize a user-friendly classification scheme. The ladies' fellowship (newly being revived) is supposed to help with book-wrapping (in plastic to protect the books) in two weeks time.

Now that I am not working Saturdays anymore, I can go to church on Saturday evenings and work in the library during youth meetings (when the premises will be open). Must remember about the bulletin board, too - want to get one for the library, and have people post recommendations and stuff.

Dangling Particles
By LISA RANDALL

NY Times, Published: September 18, 2005

Physics professor writes on the difficulty of writing about science - misleading terms ("ambiguous word choices" or terms that in normal conversation mean one thing, but when used by scientists mean something much more specific and possibly quite different), the inherent complexity of scientific research and subtleties not entertained in the press.

For the latter problem, she suggests more emphasis on the "mathematical significance of results", which would also be easier if the public were not so afraid of math, and accepted science as complex rather than as a simple story. Whose prerogative it to achieve this? She doesn't say.

Examples include relativity, string theory, evolution, global warming/climate change.