Non-Fiction

One of our teachers in my school was wanting some good material to teach a lesson on the Panama Canal.  I set off looking for materials and enjoyed the journey!  The Panama Canal is fascinating to me.  Here are some of the resources that I found (that weren’t blocked at my school - ex. YouTube [...]

Continue Reading Exploring the Panama Canal

Ran across two interesting articles today and ironically they were both about the return of a book after 60 years or more later.
One of the books was a book of art compiled by Hitler for a planned musuem, the ‘Fuhrermuseum’.  The book was removed from Hitler’s home and is to be returned to Germany in [...]

Continue Reading The Return of TWO Books Some 60 Years Later! One related to Hitler and the other Napoleon.

On Saturday morning I had the pleasure of seeing Jon Scieszka share his favorite children’s books on CBS’s Early Show .  A posting on ‘The Early Show’s’ Website, ‘Holiday Reads for Your Kids‘, described Scieszka’s expertise:
‘In 2008, Scieska was appointed by the Library of Congress to be the first National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature. [...]

Continue Reading Holiday Books for Children

Shelf-Awareness.com says, “Beginning with today’s edition, the bestseller list published every Thursday in USA Today will include Amazon Kindle book sales in its overall rankings…”     Read the post…http://news.shelf-awareness.com
Read the USA Today announcement: http://www.usatoday.com

Continue Reading “USA Today List Kindled”

Matt Cutts, a Google Software engineer has shared how ‘Using a simple USB-powered barcode scanner, Matt shows how you can easily add your books from off your bookshelf at home to the My Library feature in Google Books….You can then use Google Books-powered search to browse just the books in you own home library.’
For more [...]

Continue Reading Use a Barcode Scanner to add YOUR books to Google Books’ “My Library feature”

The folks at ZDNet.com do their part in introducing the new Kindle DX.  Read on…http://blogs.zdnet.com

Continue Reading “Live from New York: Amazon’s Kindle press conference”

The Internet and the news are full of reports of how libraries are meeting the needs of hurting patrons.  Here are a few examples:
Libraries are bustling with job huntersHouston Chronicle - United States
Hard times are boom times for public libraries, experts say, noting
that scanning computerized job banks and filing résumés via the
Internet largely have [...]

Continue Reading Recession and Public Libraries

PC Magazine does it again!  As I’ve been watching the Ravens vs. Steelers I’ve also been looking at the 2009  version of this invaluable list!  I used the opportunity to share some useful Web based resources from the list with my wife.  Now, she thinks I’m a genius!   Shh!  Don’t tell her otherwise.
The article has [...]

Continue Reading PC Magazine’s ‘Best Free Software of 2009′

Ironically one of the best passages about the value of libraries I’ve ever read came from an article about library cutbacks and closings in Pennsylvania:
“In Franklin’s and Carnegie’s times, the library offered access to encyclopedias and books. It gave everyone a chance to educate himself during a time when access to education, especially higher education, [...]

Continue Reading Library Cutbacks in Pennsylvania and Lower Income Citizens

Fallon, NV’s Lahontan Valley News reports in “Libraries thrive in poor economies” that
“People’s wallets are getting lighter and are going out less unless it is to their local library.  As the economy continues to slide, local libraries are experiencing a sudden influx in clientele using their free services.”
Read on…http://www.lahontanvalleynews.com

Continue Reading “Libraries thrive in poor economies”