RSS FeedThe Card Catalog Is Dead! Long Live The OPAC!
At the Public Library recently we noticed that the last remnants of the card catalog had been removed. Although DC switched long ago to an OPAC (Online Public Access Catalog) they still had the old card catalogs in the middle of the library, right behind the information desk. For a while many public internet terminals sat on top of the old card catalog, but those have now been moved to shelves along the back wall.
We asked library employees what was going to happen to the space where the card catalogs had been, they were not positive but thought the space might house even more quick Internet terminals (15 mins of less).
DC Central Library NOT Relocating To Old Convention Center Site
The WaPo recently published an article about how a 400 room hotel will be built on the small piece of land that the DC government owns at the Old Convention Center site. This puts to rest the mystery of whether or not a new DC Central Library would be built in the City Center development.
As you may know, the large parking lot at 10th & H St NW (that spans 10 acres) is slated to be developed into a huge mixed-use complex. Most parts of the development have already been designated as residential, commercial, or retail. However, the District owns a small piece of land at the site with an uncertain future. Our former Mayor pushed a plan to build a new DC Central Library on District-owned land, but that plan was rejected by the council. It is now slated to become a high-end hotel and will begin construction during phase 2 of the City Center development.
Here is some more PQLiving background on the DC Central Library debate: Future Of MLK Library Uncertain.
The site of the hotel will be the upper middle parcel on the graphic next to NY Avenue.
Wax Museum Offers Free Admission From 6 – 8:30pm Tonight! *Updated*
Editorial note: We stopped by the museum at about 7:15pm and the museum was a ghost town. While there was an acknowledgment posted on the front door that a special event was going on (that also directed you to the group entrance), the group entrance door was locked and no one was visible inside. Bummer!
Madame Tussauds will be unveiling their new wax figure tonight: Denzel Washington!
For those of us who were wary of the $20 admission fee, tonight would be a great time to check out the museum. While we are sure that you’ll be able to see the new Denzel Washington wax figure, we don’t know if the whole museum will be open free of charge.
Madame Tussauds is located at the corner of 10th & F St NW.
New Year Baby Movie at Calvary Church
ITVS/WETA TV 26 Community Cinema will present a free community preview screening of the movie New Year Baby this Sunday, May 18 at 2 PM at the Calvary Baptist Church (755 Eighth Street, NW) in the Penn Quarter. This film garnered a number of awards and is the retrospective documentary tale of a Cambodian family fleeing the Khmer Rouge to find a new life in the United States [synopsis].
Community partners for the screening include the Social Action and Leadership School for Activists (S.A.L.S.A.) of the Institute for Policy Studies, Southeast Asia Action Resource Center, and Calvary Baptist Church.
Filmmaker, Socheata Poeuv, will participate in a Q & A following the screening. Born in a refugee camp on April 13 — the Cambodian New Year’s Day — Socheata Poeuv has always been called “the lucky one” by her family. Her parents, Ma and Pa, survived the Khmer Rouge, one of the cruelest political regimes ever documented, eventually escaping to Thailand and then moving the entire family to Texas. Once in the United States, Ma and Pa never talked about what happened in Cambodia, focusing instead on giving the kids a “normal American life.” What happens when the family returns to Cambodia for a visit? You’ll have to show up at the screening to find out.