Cool sites for January 2007

I wish I could provide some sites that would warm us all up! Alas, these will have to do. Maybe if you move your fingers quickly enough across the keyboard to type in these URLs, that'll help? Well, never mind: they're live links so one click will do it. :(

LibriVox: Acoustical Liberation of Books in the Public Domain
http://www.librivox.org
LibriVox comes recommended by Kim. LibriVox volunteers record chapters of books in the public domain and release the audio files back onto the net. Their goal is to make all public domain books available as free audio books. They are a totally volunteer, open source, free content, public domain project. Kim says: "Audiofile referred to this site as being good but that sometimes the volunteer [readers] aren’t as good as the professionals. However, in listening to a little of Emma by Jane Austen, I liked it because it was just like a friend reading to me ... They also include the Gutenberg e-text if available and more info about the book." You can volunteer at the site to be a reader!

F.I.N.D. Families of Iowa Network for Disabilities: Empowering Families Through Networking
http://www.askresource.org/find.shtml
Nancy Geiger refers us to this local site. F.I.N.D. has been developed through a grant awarded to Access for Special Kids (ASK) Resource Center by The Administration on Developmental Disabilities, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The purpose of the grant is to support family-to-family communications on behalf of youth/adults with disabilities in Iowa. F.I.N.D. has created a database/directory only accessible to Iowa families who have a family member with a disability. Through the directory families will be able to find other families who share similar experiences and interests, as well as access information to expand their knowledge and leadership qualities. All parents are welcome to join the directory/database by completing a F.I.N.D. Parent Information Form, available at the site.

National Contact Center
http://www.pueblo.gsa.gov/call/locating_individuals.htm
The National Contact Center is a resource to help locate people. The site lists federal agencies and private organizations that "assist individuals in locating persons of unknown whereabouts." Provides guidance for finding active, reserve, and retired military personnel, and private individuals (including U.S. citizens living or visiting abroad). From the Federal Citizen Information Center, a service of the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA). This one might be a good resource for some of our patrons who are searching for friends or relatives. Thanks to Karen J. for passing this along!