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Minneapolis-based MAKE created this poignant flashback series of hand-drawn animation sequences for Ramon Nuñez’s feature-length documentary Invisible to You. The film looks at the stories of street kids (homeless, runaway, at-risk and outcast) in the United States.

CREDITS
Director: Ramon Nuñez
Creative Director: Danny Robashkin
Animators: Aaron Quist, Alec Mueller, Andrew Chesworth, Ben Bury, Jordan Hill, Justin Weber, Niklas Norman
Edit/Sounds design/Mix: Mike Nelson

I missed the original article when it came out on Make: Is It Time to Rebuild & Retool Public Libraries and Make “TechShops” but have to say, this idea has me complately jazzed. I’ve often wondered how we could take our spaces and go from a place where people get access to information to getting access to tools so that they can become makers, people who can build things from scratch and not just have to take vendors and dealers’ words for what is possible. And of course this concept comes up against the same old issue “Freedom of the press is for those who own one” These tools, the tools to build tools, are often expensive, especially for one person to own. Maybe there’s a way we could share our tools and spaces…?

Fayetteville Free Library [NY] is taking steps to make that sort of thing happen in their space, an old building that used to be an old furniture factory. They have space, and some grant money, and a few people who really want to make it happen. I’m excited to see where this goes. I’ve always thought that the digital divide wasn’t just where everyone had access to broadband, or a computer, but where everyone had a social community space that was for learning about and using technology. The library is sort of that–it’s totally that in some places–but now the technology is changing. Free printers? How about a 3D printer?

Tomorrow is the day I take off for Philidelphia & the ALA conference where the Best Committee Ever will meet to decide the winner of the first Odyssey Award for Excellence in Audiobook Production. Here's how you can share in the excitement:

The 2008 award winners will be announced Monday, January 14, starting at 7:45 a.m. EST. A live Webcast of the award announcements will be available on a first-come, fist-served basis; visit http://www.unikron.com/clients/ala-webcast-2008/ for details.

Youth Media Awards results available in real time on your cell phone! Unable to attend the 2008 ALA Youth Media Awards or sit in on the live Webcast Monday, Jan. 14th? Get award winners sent directly to your cell phone by text message - as it happens - for free, beginning at 7:45 a.m. EST.

Text the word "ALA 5" to 32075 in the U.S. and Canada to receive notification of the winners of the following five awards, one text message per award. You will receive 5 text messages for this subscription, winners only :
Newbery Medal
Caldecott Medal
Coretta Scott King Awards
Michael L. Printz Award
Pura Belpré Award

For complete results, text the word "ALA 13" to 32075 in the U.S. and Canada to receive notification of the winners of all 13 Youth Media Awards (winners only), including the five previously mentioned and the following, one text message per award:
Alex Awards
Margaret A. Edwards Award
Odyssey Award
Robert F. Sibert Informational Book Award
Andrew Carnegie Medal
Mildred L. Batchelder Award
Schneider Family Book Award
Theodor Seuss Geisel Award

Results will be limited to the winners. To review the full list of honorable and notable mentions, visit www.ilovelbraries.org.The awards press release will be posted online by 10 a.m. EST at www.ilovelibraries.org.

Look for me in the press conference crowd!