Iconic books are texts revered as objects of power rather than just as words of instruction, information, or insight. In religious and secular rituals around the globe, people carry, show, wave, touch and kiss books and other texts, as well as read them. This blog chronicles such events and activities. (For more about iconic books, see the links to the Iconic Books Project at left.)

Monday, January 28, 2008

Soundprint Radio "Who Needs Libraries?"

"Books to me were magical physical objects, as well as magical literary ones."

Soundprint Radio's Lisa Simeone's sense that books have a magical quality is one that I think this 'blog's users are pretty familiar with. Last weekend's broadcast "Who Needs Libraries?" is not specifically about scripture, but it does contain a number of points that might be of interest regarding iconic books, including the host's childhood impressions of the smell and magic of books and and a great description of the shrine-like Folger Shakespeare Library vault (complete with stained glass windows, church architecture, a crypt, and 79 copies of the iconic First Folio). The program goes on to consider the challenges posed to libraries in an age of digitization, Google, and Internet books.

The audio program may be streamed through RealPlayer, and the links for RealPlayer are provided on the Soundprint site linked above.

No comments: