We reach more than we know . . .

Welcome new interns!

Two new interns will be helping us out in the library this summer. Katie Griffin is a graduate student in the Library and Information Science program at USC with a concentration in archives. Lauren DeReese is an undergraduate at Queens Unversity. Please be sure to say hello when you see them in the library. Welcome to Katie and Lauren and hope you enjoy your summer here at the Mint!

Mint Wiki goes global!

Remember Helene Blowers at PLCMC's Learning 2.0? As she hoped, her program has been picked up and adapted and is in use all over the place. One place is the State Library of New South Wales (Australia) and one of the wikis they point to as an example is ours! How cool is that!

AND Joe is using Google Analytics on the Mint Wiki to see who views the page and from where. Just in the last month, the Mint Wiki has been visited by folks from Pennsylvania, Michigan, Florida, (of course) North Carolina, but also Australia, the UK and Russia!! Plus, from the analytics, we can see that folks are actually looking at the site - not just clicking through - by the amount of time they spend there. This is so neat!

AND a professor at Kansas State University just wrote to ask permission to use a screen shot of the Mint Wiki in her new book! The screenshot will be used "in a guide for professionals at small museums who want to create an "eMuseum" . . . and would be presented as an example of a museum using a Wiki to communicate with the public." (Yeah!) The book is Developing Curriculum Materials for Teachers: Lessons from the Negro Leagues Baseball eMuseum. Proceeds from its sales will be donated to the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum in Kansas City, MO. We will get a copy when it gets published! All the way cool!

New titles/articles department:

• Each year, the Friends of the Mint donate a book in honor of the past president. This year, the book Queen Victoria and Thomas Sully, by Carrie Rebora Barratt has been donated in honor of Donald Freund. The Mint's painting The Student, Sully's lovely portrait of his daughter Rosalie, is one of Donald's favorite paintings, so this was a perfect gift in his name. Thank you Friends! and thank you Donald!
• Ripped from his still warm hands: The Golden Age of Couture: Paris and London 1947-1957 from the V&A's exhibition. Thank you Charles!! It is absolutely to drool over. (and actually, the ripped from his hands part is not true - it was offered very graciously, but I just had to say it)
• The latest entire issue of Fiberarts is devoted to "Our Fiber Heritage". Subjects include Andean tapestries inspiring new forms, guidelines for the care of textiles, and a review of the Met's exhibition of ancient Peruvian featherwork called Radiance from the Rain Forest.
• New book - The Furniture of Sam Maloof - a great big volume with tons of pictures of his gorgeous furniture. But you'll have to get it from Allie 'cause she had first dibs!
• Latest issue of Charlotte magazine has a big feature article about what South Tryon will be like in 2010 - very different and very exciting! Great composite "what it will look like" photo.

Only a matter of time department: Artist's tees from the Gap! They are celebrating the 2008 Whitney Biennial by issuing artist designed t-shirts by former Whitney Biennial artists.http://www.gap.com/browse/category.do?cid=40760 There is also a full multi-page spread of ads for these in the latest issue of W - on the shelf in your library! Take a peek. (I especially like the Kenny Scharf and the Kiki Smith) Speaking of Kiki Smith, she's now doing a line with Steuben Glass - a collection of designs inspired by tatoos!

Favorite design ideas department: Metropolitan Home's annual top 100 designs issue is always fascinating but I didn't get to see it until I was at the eye doctor last week. I scribbled down some of my favorites while my eyes were dilating!(Don't you love this "you are there" aspect of the blog? I am kidding.) Anyway, a few I thought were particularly noteworthy (but in no particular order):

• Charles + Ray Eames postage stamps - Classic design for 42 cents!
• Jasper Conran's designs for Wedgwood - He's the son of . . . and the designs are gorgeous
• The Encyclopedia of Life - http://www.eol.org/ . Just check it out - it's just one of those things the Internet was made for.
• GreenForAll.org - Good work, good sense, for good.
• LocalHarvest.org - Like the web site says, "real food, real farmers, real community."
• And for fun, the Eiffel Tower Lego! Build your own in the comfort and safety of your own home.
• And last but not least, BIKES! Or pedal power with some really gorgeous examples from Puma. Of course, there is always my personal favorite - the Townie!

By the way, are we going to have bike racks uptown outside of our new building?? I'm trying to up my own personal pedaling percentage and know others are doing it too. So, I'm thinkin' it could be a really good idea.