Melvil Dewey, author of the Dewey Decimal Classification System, tried to popularize several other unusual organizational schemes (he was an advocate of simplified spelling and spelled his last name ‘Dui’ for a time),  but I don’t think he would have approved of shelving books by color. Of course, Mr. Dewey is not the boss of you (unless you are a librarian) and many people apparently prefer their shelves to look like rainbows. I’ve never tried this myself, but it’s better than the people who secretly hate books (usually decorators) and wrap them all in white. They look like the ghosts of books. Every time I see this, I think “Why do you even own a book? Why not skip the books and go straight to the wallpaper?”

Decatur’s own Blue Elephant Book Shop always has a soothing display of blue books in their front window, which to me shows an admirable and daring disregard for bestsellers.  My current shelving scheme at home is ‘books that are too precious to me to go in the attic’ and ‘books that I put in the attic but miss and fret about’.  How do you shelve your books?

Sometimes when you find yourself with a case of the mulligrubs early in the morning, the best thing is to put something larruping down your goozle.

If you had trouble deciphering the above sentence, you can look up the unfamiliar words in the Dictionary of American Regional English (DARE for short), which is available at the library.  “DARE is a reference tool meant to capture not the homogeneous whole of English found in conventional dictionaries, but the rich regional variety that has been spoken and written across America.” (Mattmiller 2009). As the DARE website explains, what makes DARE unique “is that it shows where people use the words that are included” (for example, it tells you what different regions of the country might call a sandwich on a lengthy bun: sub, hoagie, grinder, etc.)

Recently NPR did a story on The DARE project in anticipation of the publication of the final volume in the series (S-Z) next year. As the article relates, the project was initiated in the 1950s, when the founder, linguist Frederic Cassidy, sent field workers out in “Word Wagons” to all regions of the country, where they interviewed more than 3000 people over the course of six years. The first volume was published in 1975, with subsequent volumes following over the years. Sadly, Cassidy passed away before seeing the conclusion of the project, but even posthumously he displays his enthusiasm for the work; his tombstone declares “On to Z!”

It is important to note that the Dictionary of American Regional English is cataloged as a reference book, and thus it cannot be checked out of the branch where it resides. However, if you wish to save yourself a trip and examine it from the comfort of your home computer, you can view selected pages from all the volumes on Google Books.

However you access it, the Dictionary of Regional American English is an informative, entertaining resource, from A to Izzard. Check it out.

April the 22 is Earth Day and nowadays, more than ever, many of us are looking for ways to be more environmentally conscious. Going Green is the popular phrase for all things earth-friendly and eco-chic but the movement to protect and preserve the environment has been going strong for decades.  Today’s the perfect day to consider ways in which we all can do our part to conserve our earth. At the risk of getting all Leonardo DiCaprio-preachy, I’ll stop here and just highlight some of the Library’s great resources on Earth Day and environmentalism in general.

A Few Books That I like:

Living Like Ed: Actor Ed Begley, Jr. has been at the forefront of environmentalism in Hollywood for over 30 years. In his book, he shares his practical and reasonable tips for being more environmentally sound.  Everything in this book is doable but the lickety-split “navy shower” idea is gonna take some getting used to for me. But the planet is worth the sacrifice…I guess (sigh).

Celebrating Earth Day: A Sourcebook of Activities and Experiments: Here’s a good book for any junior ecologist. Author Robert Gardner discusses the impact of enivironmental deterioration and offers insight into how we can perhaps turn the tide. Check it out for great earth-friendly projects and ideas.

Ecological Intelligence: How Knowing the Hidden Impacts of What We Buy Can Change Everything:  “Going Green” is a good start, but author Daniel Goleman explores how ecologically unsafe many of our purchases–even the “green” ones–can be. This book encourages consumers to dig deeper and make a greater commitment to environmental consciousness.

There are several other incredible books and resources exploring the environment and the crusade to preserve it.  Even if you don’t drive a hybrid car or make your own compost, there are little, practical and inexpensive things that we all can do.

To quote one of my favorite environmentalists: “The power is yours!”–

(so wise yet so awesome!)