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Different wiring…

Written on: August 12th, 2009 in Reviews

I picked up this book for my daughter after seeing it reviewed in twitter form by @MKlibraries (the Milton Keynes library system near London). For the tween/early YA reader, it’s a nicely crafted mystery set in England, but also notable for its narrator, Ted, who has a brain with “a different operating system”, not specifically defined in the book, but likely something along the autistic spectrum. It’s curious that is the second children’s book I’ve read in the last few months featuring a narrator like this- the other one being Anything But Normal, which was incredibly good and extremely moving.

Taking a quick look in the GoodReads website, I saw a handful of other children’s titles with autistic narrators or main characters, including Marcello in the Real World and Emma Jean Lazarus Fell in Love, the latter of which, like Dowd’s book, doesn’t diagnose its main character, preferring instead to present Emma Jean as quirky, unique young woman with a different way of thinking.

Databases for Every Day

Written on: August 12th, 2009 in

One thing that we’re working towards in the Delaware Library Catalog if breaking down some of the mystique surrounding databases. We’re always looking for good ideas and new ways to promote these valuable subscription resources and make access easier (subject to the constraints of Delaware law surrounding their access through the library catalog).

One message that should be loud and clear to all Delaware public library users is: databases are not just for students! While we do subscribe to some very valuable in-depth resources that are in many ways branded for higher education use, these subscriptions contain incredibly useful full-text magazines and periodicals that are used everyday by people who aren’t necessarily on an academic path. Our Masterfile (full-text online magazines) subscription includes current issues of Consumer Reports, for instance. This magazine is not available for free online, and is fairly pricy at the newstand, but by logging in to your local libary catalog and selecting either the Online Magazines link or the database page, I can search for the magazine by title and get last minute travel tips or even rational discussion of health care reform.

Alternatively, you can bookmark the magazine directly and subscribe to an RSS feed that will deliver links to new articles as they become available to your email account or reader:

View it on the ScreenToaster site

Entertainment Weekly is another everyday title available through your library account- one that costs $70 or more to subscribe to annually and your library can deliver online for free, as is Good Housekeeping. The Economist is another essential periodical that is tremendously useful for the purpose of staying informed about U.S. and international current affairs, but this weekly title costs more than $100 annually to subscribe- and once again is available to you for free with your library card.

You can access thousands of well-known and widely read periodicals through our online magazines subscription- check it out today!