Why you should always read an article thoroughly before commenting

especially in April. :)

NPR Pulled a Brilliant April Fools' Prank On People Who Don't Read

Cool--kudos to her and other public librarians serving the needs of small communities

Turning A Page Inside A Rural One-Room Library

There's one state highway running through Myrtle, Mo. It's a sleepy town in the Ozarks, population about 300. There's no bank or restaurant here, but enormous oak and persimmon trees loom over a small stone building right next to the road. Half of it is a post office; the other half, a one-room public library.

Rachel Reynolds Luster took over this branch four months ago with the goal of creating a learning hub. She calls herself a curator, not just a librarian.

Her first task? Filtering out some of the favorites of the previous librarian.

"It's been interesting working this transition with her," Luster says. "She was quite upset that the cooking magazines were gone. But we recycled them all, and we kept some holiday cookie editions."

Luster scanned her shelves for the one book she felt every library must have: the Greek epic The Odyssey. "I looked, and we didn't have one — no library in our system had one," she says.

I spent a couple of years in a small town in Kansas, population 1706, according to the census at the time, and the things that kept me sane were my friend Deana and our town library, which was one room. It was there I discovered Susan Cooper and many fantasy books. I appreciate having had that at a difficult time in my life (late junior high, early high school). I am glad that refuge was there, and I'm sure others in small towns are happy that people like Rachel Reynolds Luster care about them.

NPR let me down this morning

On my way to work, they were reading the news over the radio about the scientists who won the Nobel Prize for Medicine. Two American citizens (one originally from Italy) and a Briton won. So far, good. Then they gave their institutional affiliations. The announcer proceeded to say that Martin J. Evans, the Briton, was from the University of Cardiff 'in England'.

Tsk. Tsk. Cardiff is in Wales. Contrary to some opinions, Wales and England are different countries, under one United Kingdom. Wales is like Scotland in that regard. No one ever seems to think Scotland is England. What gives with Wales?

Hopefully they corrected the story or at least it was just a momentary slip. The story on the website is correct, thankfully.

Oh, well, these things happen, especially on radio, which may or may not be recorded ahead of time. But considering that NPR is considered rather highbrow, it's something you expect them to get right. :)