October

This post is an overview of the history and current state of accessibility services and features in libraries.

Movable books have long been used as both educational tools and as sources of entertainment for children and adults. Exploring the history of such books can offer unique insight into the evolution of interactive reading materials and juvenile literature.

On October 6th, 1889 American inventor Thomas Alva Edison (1847- 1931) showed his first motion picture, Monkeyshines, which was produced using a kinetograph, an early motion picture camera that was developed by his lab assistant William Kennedy Laurie Dickson.

On October 13th, 1958, a little bear from "Darkest" Peru made his debut appearance in the beloved children's book, A Bear Called Paddington, by Michael Bond, a cameraman for BBC whose heart softened for the teddy bear left alone in a shop in the eponymous London train station.

The American philosopher and educator John Dewey, known for founding pragmatism, functional psychology, and progressive education, was born on October 20th, 1859 in Burlington, Vermont to Archibald Sprague Dewey and Lucina Artemisia Rich Dewey.

Martin Luther (November 10, 1483-February 18, 1546) was a German theologian, pastor, professor, and church reformer who began the Protestant Reformation by nailing his Ninety-Five Theses to the church door in Wittenberg, Germany on October 31st, 1517.  Luther objected to the sale of indulgences, or the atonement of sins through monetary payment to the Catholic Church.

With the number of books Gottesman Libraries has, students often wonder how the team organizes the storage of books and promptly retrieves them upon request. The key here is the call numbers. Our team at Gottesman Libraries uses the Library of Congress call numbers to help locate and identify the exact book we need to retrieve among thousands from the stacks....

Created by Joan Ganz Cooney, Lloyd Morrisett, and Jim Henson, Sesame Street -- also known as Children's Television Workshop -- debuted on national educational television, via provider PBS, on November 10th, 1969.  Known for its use of muppets, a colorful, lovable cast of puppet characters in short, amusing, and often humorous, musical sketches,  Sesame Street opened with positive, though some controversial reviews.