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Written on: April 12th, 2010 by: in Blog Posts
The prizes were announced today:The First Tycoon wins the biography category, Paul Harding’s Tinkers takes the honors for fiction, and Lords of Finance: the Bankers who Broke the World wins in history.
The Philadelphia Daily News shared the investigative reporting citation. The full list of award-winners in all the categories is here
Written on: April 12th, 2010 by: in Blog Posts
The Bridge, David Remnick’s new biography of President Barack Obama leads off this Sunday’s Sunday Book Review section this week. This “exhaustively researched” book concludes with the new President’s inauguration, and provides fresh perspective on his rise to the nation’s highest office, with reinterpretation of his autobiographical writing and new details about how a strategy of “omnidirectional placation” enabled Obama to move into offices never held before by one of his race.
Harvard entomology professor and noted scholar of evolutionary theory Edmund Wilson detours into fiction in Anthill, the story of “a southern Alabama boy comes of age in the thrall of ants, nature and solitude, determined to save what he loves from destruction.”
Last Summer of the Death Warriors is a new Young-Adult title from Francisco X. Stork, an insightful story about “a boy struggling to find his way through a tangle of love, loss and retribution.”
Written on: April 12th, 2010 by: in Blog Posts
Carla Markell’s Letter to Delawareans
Organizations looking for volunteers for Week of Service projects, and individuals and groups looking for opportunities can find them on the Volunteer Delaware website. Carla Markell recently started a project of her own, with the assistance of some of Delaware’s Future Farmers of America, to assist the Food Bank of Delaware and other programs involved with feeding the needy and homeless- click here to see a slideshow from the recent planting of the new vegetable garden at Woodburn.
Written on: April 9th, 2010 by: in Blog Posts
I was all prepared to talk about re-reading with audio books when I re-read this post by Laura Allen, our virtual assistant for the Library Associate Training Institute. No need for me to re-do. Enjoy.
Laura here: Not too long ago I came across a question that I found intriguing: “What one book changed your life as a child?” The answer was simple because Mrs. Dee was my favorite teacher ever, and in third grade she allowed us to choose between two books for our reading assignment and book report. I chose Watership Down by Richard Adams and as a result was magically transported to a world of talking rabbits and characters that entered my heart and curled up and stayed. This book is the reason I became an avid reader as a child and a lifelong bibliophile.
During my reading life I’ve discovered how much I enjoy a well made audio book. It’s not the same as reading a book. And I say well made because for me it has to be recorded expertly for clarity and crispness and also employ a reader who uses different voices for the characters, which really makes the story come alive. I’ve listened to non-fiction audio books while I exercised or home-cared but then happily discovered fiction worked in this format as well.
I discovered I could combine my continued enjoyment of audio books with revisiting old favorites when I found Watership Down on audio in my local library. Once again I was swept away by Adam’s universal story of survival, happiness, friendship, and love. I haven’t read this book in twenty years or more but it captured my imagination as strongly now as it did when I was ten and twenty. I think that’s what makes certain works timeless and classic because they resonate with us so deeply at any age.
Over the past two years I have listened to Outlander one of my favorite historical fiction series by Diana Gabaldon. The entire series is delightfully read by Davina Porter and I haven’t slacked over two years because each of the six books is approximately 48 CDs in length. Wow is right! I hadn’t read the first in the series since it was published in 1991 but once again the characters were so familiar, real, and beloved that I was effortlessly drawn in to the story after all these years and so richly rewarded by the experience.
Do you make it a habit to re-read your favorites? If so, how often and which titles? Have you experimented with listening to audio books? Please share your thoughts and criteria for a good listen. We’re all ears!
Written on: April 7th, 2010 by: in Blog Posts
Click on the links below to get lists of new items available from the Delaware Library Catalog in various formats:
Written on: April 6th, 2010 by: in Blog Posts
It’s not to late to consider a career change, even if you’re Keith Richards. Which is funny because all this time Keef has been wanting to be a librarian, I’ve been wanting to be Keith Richards… Is it to late for a career swap?
Please use the comments to add your own caption for the picture to the left: I’ll start with this one, “You’ll find me in 362.29!”
Written on: April 6th, 2010 by: in Blog Posts
During a late-night online conversation with Laurel-based twitterer @thatselbert over the weekend we briefly digressed into a few comments on the “perks” of working in a library. I don’t think that there’s much of an argument- if you work in a library, publishers want to give you books, sometimes months before they’re available in stores, so that you can write about them and recommend them and contribute to the ‘buzz’ around this or that title- more often than not, perhaps, titles that aren’t going to consume all of the publicity oxygen available.
Now that publishers are starting to prepare their summer releases, and we’re also in conference season, advance copies have been thick on the ground. Here are a few that I’ve read recently that I was impressed by, and I’m hoping that you will get to see these in your Delaware library- most are slated for a May publication date:
Written on: April 5th, 2010 by: in Blog Posts
Here are some of the books featured in the most recent New York Times Sunday Book Reviews. Click on the titles to see holdings in the Delaware Library Catalog, learn more about the books, or place a hold.
Written on: April 1st, 2010 by: in Blog Posts
This map marks the cities, towns, communities, and states that have made the decision to either eliminate certified school library positions (indicated in blue) or require one school librarian to work with two (2) or more school library programs throughout the week (indicated in red).
Written on: April 1st, 2010 by: in Blog Posts, Informal learning, Learning, Learning Journeys
Know up front that I alternate between amazement and criticism of communication technologies. And, my peers evidently agree. So as I report back to you about the Virtual Public Library Association (PLA) Conference, we bounce from “Wow, our panel members are all over the country during this presentation too,” to “The sound is just awful,” and “Why isn’t there streaming video?” However, the topic selection & panel format for the workshops were perfect for this venue. General interest subjects full of in-the-trenches content provided by experts in the field. Keep this in mind as you consider a full day of online learning. A full-day is a very different intellectual commitment than a one-hour webinar.
The real power of the conference emerged in the group learning. Participants from varied libraries gathered at one of the five hosting sites to “attend” together. The shared experience enriched the learning by sparking conversations centered on Delaware libraries and patrons; the idea exchange was huge! And of course, the informal learning that occurs when dedicated individuals congregate almost always results in better service for customers. I heard discussions on everything from speedier ways to get items on the shelves to programs for 20-somethings to library collection building. A special thank you to the staff at the Lewes and Laurel public libraries for including me in this most gratifying adventure.
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