The film is a broad satire of American ignorance of the Soviet Union. The naive American, Mr. John West, played by Porfori Podobed as a Harold Lloyd type (complete with enormous round glasses), is a YMCA president who is planning a trip to the newly founded Soviet Union to spread the idea of the YMCA. His wife, Madge, is worried that Russia is full of savage Bolsheviks who wear primitive rags and fur for clothing, as depicted in American magazines....

A provocative examination of how communications has shaped the language of the media, and vice versa, and how rhetoric shapes how Canadians thinks of themselves as a nation and Canada's engagement in peacekeeping, war, and on the international stage. According to Richler, each phase of engagement in Afghanistan has been shaped not only by rhetoric but an overarching narrative structure. This topic is very much in discussion at the moment. With the...

This exciting program shows how to provide outstanding customer service in person, on the phone, and online. Putting Customers First also shows how two libraries transformed themselves by following basic principles of customer service. The Columbus (OH) Metropolitan Library implemented a 48-hour turnaround time in its technical services department in order to provide better customer service and keep their library relevant to its customers. The West...

Political theorist Justin Lewis examines how polling data presented in the media do not simply reflect what Americans think, but construct public opinion itself. Exploding the myth that most Americans are moderate or conservative, Constructing Public Opinion demonstrates how political elites help to promote militarism, and how mainstream media sustain an electoral system with a built-in bias against the interests of ordinary people.

This training program highlights libraries that have replaced the Dewey Decimal System for customer use. Rethinking the call number visits the Maricopa Public Library (AZ) and the Frankfort Public Library (IL) to see how their conversion to a "Dewey-less" library has gone. The results have been pretty dramatic. Even if leaving Dewey behind is not an option, this offers plenty of ideas and suggestions about library layout, signs, shelving, and more....

"The beautifully ornate reading room at the Boston Public Library is completely silent one weekday morning, until a woman's terrified scream echoes through the room. Security guards immediately appear and instruct everyone inside to stay put until they determine there is no threat. While they wait for the all-clear, four strangers who had been sitting in the reading room get to chatting and quickly become friendly. Harriet, Marigold, Whit, and Caine...

Taken from their families when they are very small and sent to a remote, church-run residential school, Kenny, Lucy, Clara, Howie and Maisie are barely out of childhood when they are finally released after years of detention. Alone and without any skills, support or families, the teens find their way to the seedy and foreign world of Downtown Eastside Vancouver, where they cling together. The paths of the five friends cross and crisscross over the...

In a narrative as beguiling and mysterious as memory itself, we read the story of fourteen-year-old Nathaniel, and his older sister, Rachel. In 1945, just after World War II, they stay behind in London when their parents move to Singapore, leaving them in the care of a mysterious figure named The Moth. A dozen years later, Nathaniel begins to uncover all that he didn't know and understand in that time, and it is this journey - through facts, recollection,...