Delaware Division of Libraries Blog
Division of Libraries' Blog



Division of Libraries


Facebook  Twitter  Pinterest  Flickr  Google+  YouTube  Instagram

  Archived Posts From: 2009

virtual-reference

Q: Where can I find an Internet list of New Castle County civic groups (like the 7 & 40 Alliance)?

Written on: September 9th, 2009 in Q & A's

groupA: The News Journal maintains a list of umbrella civic groups on their website.

The News Journal states “more than half of New Castle County residents live in unincorporated areas, and for many of them, their closest “government” are civic associations and maintenance corporations. Such groups often arrange for snow removal and organize family activities; some supervise deed restrictions and maintain common land.”

Thanks for using Ask a Librarian Delaware.  Have a question?  Ask us!

Follow us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/askalibrarian




news

New Additions

Written on: September 9th, 2009 in News

new_booksClick on the links below to get lists of new items available from the Delaware Library Catalog in various formats (lists will open in a new window):

Read more Delaware Library Catalog blog postings here.


virtual-reference

Q: How do I get a library card?

Written on: September 8th, 2009 in Q & A's

Library cardA: You can print out a library card application from home in English or in Spanish.  Fill it out and bring it with ID to your local library.  Parent/guardian signature is required for children under 17.

Thanks for using Ask a Librarian Delaware. Have a question? Ask us!


blog-posts

Afghanistan: a pre-deployment reading list

Written on: September 8th, 2009 in Blog Posts

090418-F-0465C-051

The Army recommends a substantial reading list to warfighters preparing to deploy to Afghanistan- it has published a list which includes dozens of books and online resources selected to give service members a deep understanding of the history and culture of Afghanistan and the role and tactics of Al Qaeda and the Taliban.

It’s an impressive list that anyone with an interest in U.S. foreign policy and international affairs would benefit from looking at.

The Delaware Library Catalog includes many of the core titles from the list:

The list also includes links to online resources and online retailers, such as MCDP1: Warfighting. The full pre-deployment reading list can be seen here (opens in a new window)

UPDATE: More military reading lists can be found at this link.


blog-posts

This Week’s NYT Reviews

Written on: September 7th, 2009 in Blog Posts

new_books

There’s an African theme to several of this week’s New York Times Book Review selections.
An Expensive Education by Nick McDonell gets a great review, and Sam Tanenhaus’ weekly podcast (opens in a new window) includes an interview with McDonell about his “unerringly entertaining book”.

Tracy Kidder’s Strength in What Remains-“a work of the utmost skill, sympathy, and moral clarity” concerning central Africa’s ethnic genocide . You can read an extract from chapter 1 at this link (opens in a new window).

Sisters of Sinai, by Janet Soskice is a delightful recounting of the rediscovery of the earliest Christian gospels at St. Catherine’s Monastery by an irrepressible pair of Victorian widows

Moving away from Africa, the new E.L. Doctorow novel, Homer and Langley has been garnering great reviews as a “small but sweeping masterpiece”, based (typically for Doctorow) in a true story about two reclusive brothers in New York who fill their decaying mansion with the daily evidence of the madness of the world. The book is also a sensitive study of the psychopathology of compulsive hoarding.


reviews

Question for the weekend

Written on: September 4th, 2009 in Reviews

geekdadonesieIf you’re a ‘geek dad’ like me, this question can take the place of any rugged outdoor pursuit you may otherwise be planning this holiday weekend.

If you’re interested in the history of how labor day came to be, you can learn more at the Department of Labor’s website. The first labor day holiday was observed in 1882 by the Central Labor Union, and in 1894 the U.S. Congress passed an act making the first Monday in September a legal holiday.

(more…)


blog-posts

Duty to the Dead

Written on: September 4th, 2009 in Blog Posts

cover-duty-to-dead-med

I had just finished reading Charles Todd’s extremely good new mystery, A Duty to the Dead, another book that I received in galley form while at the American Library Association Conference in Chicago, when I coincidentally discovered this story in publishers weekly which revealed that “Charles Todd” is actually a mother and son writing team, one of whom is a Delaware resident.

In fact, next Thursday the duo will be signing copies of the new book at the Stanton Borders bookstore, according to our very own Division of Arts’ excellent cultural events calendar, DelawareScene.

The Todd’s website includes this video introduction to the new book and its new protagonist Bess Crawford, an army nurse who bears a message from a dead patient to his family and uncovers a sinister conspiracy.

Or you can read my review, along with other library patrons opinions, which is available through the library catalog’s LibraryThing book review feature. All patron review submissions are welcome- you can find instructions at this link.


news

Today in History

Written on: September 4th, 2009 in News

ho-chi-minh-1-sizedOn September 4th, 1969, North Vietnamese radio announced the death of Ho Chi Minh. Almost 25 years had passed since Ho, taking advantage of the retreat of the defeated Japanese army and the weakness of the postwar French government, had announced the formation of an independent Vietnamese Republic. After the division of the country under the Geneva Accords which followed the defeat of the French army at Dien Bien Phu, Ho declared war on the U.S.-supported South Vietnamese government. Despite Ho’s death, and despite the promise of the Paris peace talks, the North Vietnamese continued their attempt to conquer the South, and eventually prevailed in the protracted and bloody conflict.

You can read a biographical summary of Ho Chi Minh at our online Nonfiction Book Collection, with your Delaware Library Catalog library card and PIN. Ho has been a popular subject for biographers since the beginning of the conflict with America- it might be interesting to look at the differences in how Ho was perceived in different books between 1968 and 2006, as revolutionary romanticism has been supplanted by a deeper understanding and documentation of the impact of communism in South-East Asia over that time.


reviews

Blast from the past

Written on: September 3rd, 2009 in Reviews

girl booksNEWHere’s the New York Times bestseller list from Dec. 27, 1998- what’s so special about that date? Well, it’s the date that Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone debuted on the list (at number 16):

  1. A Man in Full, Tom Wolfe
  2. Bag of Bones, Stephen King
  3. Simple Truth, David Baldacci
  4. Mirror Image, Danielle Steel
  5. Rainbow Six, Tom Clancy
  6. Poisonwood Bible, Barbara Kingsolver
  7. When the Wind Blows, James Patterson
  8. All Through the Night, Mary Higgins Clark
  9. Vampire Armand, Anne Rice

Vampires were apparently less popular back then, but as for many of the rest, plus ca change….


virtual-reference

Q: I’m looking for a book that is the modern day version of the Great Gatsby. It was written a couple of years ago, same theme but the characters were teenagers.

Written on: September 3rd, 2009 in Q & A's

Jake ReinventedA:  The book you are looking for is called Jake, Reinvented by Gordon Korman.  According to Booklist “high society meets high school in this retelling of The Great Gatsby, set at the class-conscious F. Scott Fitzgerald High.”

Both the Delaware Library Catalog and New Castle County Library Catalog have copies of the book.

Thanks for using Ask a Librarian Delaware. Have a question? Ask us!





+