Librarian Fashion

Many articles and posts have covered, and ranted, about Librarian fashion, from the stereotypical dowdy librarians to the newer cliche of the sexy Librarian look. One thing I have not seen yet is discussion of the Librarian t-shirt. Just about all of us have them, most avid readers do too. My Librarian t-shirt is from the Library of Congress and has books all over the front AND back of the shirt, as well as the LOC name on the sleeve, swoon! I stumbled across this website yesterday and found out most of my co-workers knew about it already. Out of Print offers t-shirts with classic covers of books on them. My favorite is the Jazz Babies. My second favorite is the Nancy Drew t-shirt because I read my mom's copy of that book with the 1930's illustrations when I was younger.  So far, every librarian has a different favorite. Which shirt would you choose?

(standard disclaimer: I, and the Library are not affiliated with, or promoting this company. I just really liked their shirts and thought you might enjoy them too.)

Job Opening at the Adult Circulation Desk

Always wanted to work at the DPL? This is your chance!

ANTED: PART-TIME LIBRARY ASSISTANT I
ADULT CIRCULATION DESK 

Avg 11 -13 hrs/week. Includes weekday, evening, and some Saturday hours.

Seeking an energetic person, ideally with public library experience, with an extensive knowledge of books and authors, an avid personal reading habit, well-developed customer relations skills, and familiarity with computer technology to work part-time at the library’s busy Adult Circulation Desk.

Duties include: use of automated check-in/check-out system, registration of borrowers, collection of fines/fees, and assistance to patrons.  Circulation desk staff also reshelve library materials, answer telephones, offer readers’ advisory and guidance in the use of library computers/databases and in the operation of printers, photocopiers, and microfilm readers.
 
Hourly rate is $12.09 and ranges up to $17.12.
Application CLOSING DATE:  Open until filled
Responses received by April 30th will receive priority consideration.

Applicants must have high school diploma; college degree and/or library experience preferred. Benefits include vacation, holiday and sick leave on a proportional basis.   

Applications available at the City Manager’s Office at City Hall, or may be downloaded here.  A full job description is available at the Adult Circulation Desk, or can be viewed here. All completed applications must be returned to the City Manager’s Office or mailed to:

Employment
Office of the City Manager
City of Dover
288 Central Avenue
Dover, NH 03820

New Ladybug Award Nominees for 2011

The Ladybug Picture Book Award is designed to promote early literacy and honor the best in recent children's picture books. A committee of children's librarians from around New Hampshire selects 10 picture book titles early in the year. Then, during Children's Book Week in November, New Hampshire children from preschoolers to those in third grade vote to select the award winner. The award is a project of the Center for the Book at the New Hampshire State Library.
And the Nominees for 2011 are...
City Dog, Country Frog by Mo Willems
Guyku: a year of Haiku for boys by Bob Raczka
Hibernation Station by Michelle Meadows
In the Wild by David Elliott
Interrupting Chicken by David Ezra Stein
Memoirs of a Goldfish by David Scillian
One by Kathryn Otoshi
Rubia and the Three Osos by Susan Middleton
The Cow Loves Cookies by Karma Wilson
Ugly Pie by Lisa Wheeler

Let the Sun Shine In

Seacoast Energy Alternatives will be presenting two FREE workshops on Alternative Energy.

The first workshop will be held on Monday, April 4 @ 7pm in the Library Lecture Hall, and will be on "Solar Hot Water for Your Home". They will answer questions such as: How do the systems work? What are the costs? What is the return on your investment?

The second workshop will be held on Monday, April 18th @ 7pm in the Library Lecture Hall, and will be on "Electricity From the Sun". Participants will learn about conventional grid-tied solar electric, battery back-up, and off-grid systems.

We hope to see you there!

Looking for More eBooks?

If you would like other sources of free downloadable eBooks in addition to New Hampshire Downloadable Books, take a look at these web sites.

InkMesh
Search engine that checks 30 sources for free eBooks. You can search by title or author.

Project Gutenberg
33,000 free eBooks that play on any eBook reader. Mostly classics and public domain works.

Baen Books
Science Fiction publisher offers over 100 of their titles as free downloads.

University of Pennsylvania’s Online Book Page
An index to thousands of free eBooks available on the Internet.

Open Library
Sign up for a free account and you can borrow up to 5 eBooks at a time, for up to 2 weeks. Books can only be borrowed by one person at a time.

You Could Win a Nook eReader!

During National Library Week, April 10 - 16, all checkouts by Dover Public Library patrons who’ve registered to use New Hampshire Downloadable Books will be automatically entered in a special raffle to win a Nook eReader! Each time a downloadable audiobook or eBook is checked out during that week, a DPL cardholder will qualify for another entry in the raffle.

New Hampshire Downloadable Books are available via the library’s website 24 hours a day, seven days a week. All you need is a valid Dover Public Library borrower’s card, a computer, and Internet access. To get started, you must install free software available on the site: for audiobooks, download OverDrive® Media Console™, and for eBooks, Adobe® Digital Editions. You may then browse the collection, check out items with your library card, and download them to a PC, Mac®, and many mobile devices. Titles can transferred to a variety of devices, including iPod®, Nook ®, Sony® Reader™, and many others. Titles will automatically expire and “disappear” at the end of the lending period so there are no late fees! The eBooks can be returned early.

To get started downloading audiobooks and eBooks, visit the New Hampshire Downloadable Books service. Use the service anytime, but don’t forget to check out items between April 10th and 16th in order to enter our Nook Raffle. The Nook has been donated by the Friends of the Dover Public Library and the winner will be notified on April 18th. 

A Princess @ DPL?

Was that a princess who walked into the Children's Room and went straight over to Bluebeary to give him a kiss? Will Bluebeary turn into a handsome prince? Those were the questions the staff in the Children's Room were asking themselves (and maybe hoping to witness a fairy tale come to life) when this beautiful woman walked by our desk but...
No, that was "Miss Strafford County", Kamilah Fucci, giving Bluebeary her traditional Kiss for good luck! It seems that Kamilah, a UNH graduate, has made it her tradition to kiss Bluebeary for good luck every time she competes in a beauty contest.
This time, she's hoping to be crowned "Miss New Hampshire" in the 2011 Miss New Hampshire Scholarship Competition. The annual competition will take place at the Stockbridge Theatre at Pinkerton Academy in Derry, New Hampshire, from April 28-30, 2011. Good Luck, Kamilah, from Bluebeary and all of us at DPL!

More New eBooks Have Been Added to the NH Downloadable Books Site

The Arctic Incident by  Eoin Colfer
Artemis Fowl by   Eoin Colfer
At the Edge of the World by  Avi
Beauty and the Spy by  Julie Anne Long
Blood, Bones & Butter by  Gabrielle Hamilton
Blue Bloods by  Melissa de la Cruz
Deadly Little Secret by Laurie Faria Stolarz
Dramarama  by   E. Lockhart
Endgame by  John Mauldin, Jonathan Tepper
Evening Class by  Maeve Binchy
Four in Hand by   Stephanie Laurens
The Glass Lake by  Maeve Binchy
Heart and Soul  by  Maeve Binchy
The Heir  by  Grace Burrowes
The Hidden Reality  by  Brian Greene
The Information  by James Gleick
The Lincoln Lawyer by   Michael Connelly
The Lost Hero by   Rick Riordan
Love You More  by   Lisa Gardner
Midnight Sons Volume 1  by  Debbie Macomber
Minding Frankie by   Maeve Binchy
The Neighbor  by  Lisa Gardner
Persuader by   Lee Child
The Red Pyramid  by  Rick Riordan
The Serpent Prince by   Elizabeth Hoyt
Stink and the Incredible Super-Galactic Jawbreaker by Megan McDonald, Peter H. Reynolds
This Matter Of Marriage by  Debbie Macomber
Thunderstruck by   Erik Larson
Thursdays At Eight by  Debbie Macomber
The Tiger's Wife by  Tea Obreht
Twenty Wishes by   Debbie Macomber
The Warrior Heir by  Cinda Williams Chima
The Weird Sisters  by   Eleanor Brown
Whitethorn Woods by   Maeve Binchy
Wicked Angel  by  Julia London
You've Been Warned by  James Patterson, Howard Roughan

The Lost Suitcase

Just finished The Paris Wife by Paula McLain which is the early story of Ernest Hemingway, and his first marriage to Hadley Richardson. Most of the book takes place in Paris where the young couple goes so that Hemingway can become part of the writing scene. They meet and befriend other writers of the time such as Gertrude Stein, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and Ezra Pound. There is a part in the book where Hemingway has been sent to Switzerland on assignment, by the newspaper he is writing for, and meets fellow journalist and editor Lincoln Steffens. Steffens is impressed with Hemingway's work and asks to see more of his writing. Hadley is just leaving to visit Hemingway and decides to suprise him by packing all of his manuscripts and copies into a suitcase and bringing them to him. The suitcase is stolen on the train and she has to explain to Hemingway that it is all gone. Of course, I had to research this to make sure it was a true, and yes it was. It is such a crushing and heartbreaking story! Imagine if that suitcase was found today? There are some that say this tragedy freed Hemingway to adopt the "clean prose style" that he became famous for, but I still wouldn't have wanted to be the one to tell him I'd lost years of his work.

Announcing the Third Annual Peeps Show Contest!

The Dover Public Library is looking for some creative peeps to enter our third annual “Peeps Show” contest during National Library Week, April 10-16.

Here’s how it works: Build a diorama using peeps of any color in a standard size shoe box. The theme is anything literary; recreate a scene from a favorite book or portray a character from a book.

Anyone 18 or older is invited to compete in the Adult Division, while peeps, er, people 13- 18 may enter the Teen division. Children ages 4 – 7 are invited to enter the Kids Division, and ages 8 – 12 may enter in the Youth Division. On the back of your shoe box, please include your name, address, phone number, and title of your “Peeps Show”. All Peeps displays may be dropped off at the Dover Public Library beginning Monday, April 11th, through Saturday, April 16th during operating hours. The Peeps will be displayed in the library for all to enjoy. Prizes will be awarded Monday afternoon, April 25th. Peeps should be picked up Thursday, April 28th. All Peeps not picked up by the deadline will be discarded or eaten.  For more information, call 516-6082.

Spring @ the DPL

 I was so excited when I saw this proof outside of the Children's Room that spring is truly coming.

 

To an Early Daffodil by Amy Lowell

Thou yellow trumpeter of laggard Spring!
Thou herald of rich Summer's myriad flowers!
The climbing sun with new recovered powers
Does warm thee into being, through the ring
Of rich, brown earth he woos thee, makes thee fling
Thy green shoots up, inheriting the dowers
Of bending sky and sudden, sweeping showers,
Till ripe and blossoming thou art a thing
To make all nature glad, thou art so gay;
To fill the lonely with a joy untold;
Nodding at every gust of wind to-day,
To-morrow jewelled with raindrops.  Always bold
To stand erect, full in the dazzling play
Of April's sun, for thou hast caught his gold.

Wishing You a Happy St. Patrick's Day

The Librarians would like to wish you all a 

very happy St. Patrick's Day!

Sticky Fingers

Just read an article in Publishers Weekly titled "Where the Kids Are: Marketing Online". I was a bit shocked by this quote: "In general we've seen a major shift in resources and dollars to the online market," says Lucille Rettino, director of marketing for the Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing Group. "We still do traditional marketing, but if we want to reach kids--even as young as three or four, who are playing with their parents' iPhone or iPad--we need to be in that space." Now I don't have either an iPhone or an iPad, but I do have a 3 1/2 year old and I can't picture myself letting him play with either of those things. Would you let your child play with your iPhone or iPad?

Why Should Grown Ups Have All the Fun?

We have been talking and writing a lot lately about eBooks, and how you can access some free from NH Downloadable Books. Did you know that this is not just a service for adults? There are Teen and Children's sections offering over 200 titles! These titles include crowd favorites such as books from the Judy Moody, Junie B. Jones, Magic Tree House, and Percy Jackson series. Teens may be interested in these authors: Lauren Oliver, Alex Flinn, Beth Kephart, Bree Despain, L. J. Smith, among others. As always this is a free service to Dover Public Library cardholders. Follow this link to the NH Downloadable web site--what do you have to lose?

Rubber Ducks Overboard!

I just read a review in the New York Times Book Review of Moby-Duck: The True Story of 28,800 Bath Toys Lost at Sea and of the Beachcombers, Oceanographers, Environmentalists, and Fools, Including the Author, Who Went in Search of Them By Donovan Hohn. The books story stems from a real event in 1992 when a container ship, in the North Pacific, carrying bath toys loses its cargo--namely 28,800 rubber ducks, blue turtles, and green frogs. The bath toys took until 2000 to make it to the North Atlantic, and are found on beaches in New England. There is a very interesting article about the event in the Daily Mail that has a timeline of where the bath toys have been found, and map of where they traveled. Donovan Hohn trys to answer the questions where did the ducks come from, where did they drift, and why? Of course, if you are looking for a more simplistic version of events you could read Eric Carle's picture book 10 Little Rubber Ducks which is also based on the 1992 event. :)

Friends of the Library Irish Book Sale, March 14 - 19

Celtic-themed books will be on sale mid-month at the Friends of the Dover Library’s Irish Booksale which will run for one week only, Monday, March 14 through Saturday, March 19, on the library’s Main Floor.

A large selection of Irish paperbacks, hardcover books, and some cassette tapes will be available at prices from $1.00 to $3.00. All of the items were donated to the library and the inventory includes a wide variety of Irish fiction, short stories, classics and poetry (some in the Irish language), history and geography, biographies, Celtic myths, folklore and legends, music, and many regional travelogues.  These books would make wonderful St. Patrick’s Day mementos for anyone with a fondness for Ireland or the tradition of Irish culture. 

All proceeds will benefit the Friends of the Library, a 501(c)3 charitable organization which last year donated over $14,000 to the library for museum passes, children’s and adult programs, furnishings and equipment.

I came across an interesting web site recently--The Prison Library Project. The mission of the group is to provide reading material free of charge to inmates nationwide. Here is a quote from their web site:

"We believe that everyone deserves access to literature and educational materials, including people trying to work towards social change, self-empowerment or rehabilitation within the incarceration system. The U.S. has less than 5 percent of the world’s population, but more than a quarter of the world’s prisoners. Nearly one percent of American adults are incarcerated, the highest rate in the world, but many prisoners have little access to books or educational material."

Very sobering statistics.

Do all good things really come to an end?

Have you ever wondered how the life of your favorite "serial" heroine/protaganist is going to work itself out? If you've been reading J. A. Konrath's novels over the years featuring Jacqueline "Jack" Daniels, you've watched her go through her career as a police Lieutenant meeting up with the most vicious serial killers while building a career and working through a marriage and a couple of long term relationships. Konrath's latest, "Shaken", is a compilation of several time lines in Daniels life that show where she's been, what she's been through, and what might have been. More than just an exploration of Jack's life though, this book is still a thriller, bringing together several notorious killers. The mystery successfully catches everyone up, even if you've never read Konrath's books (Bloody Mary, Rusty Nail, Dirty Martini, to name a few).

The really interesting part of this book is the author's afterward. Konrath foretells of the conclusion of his Jack Daniels series and Blake Crouch's Andrew Thomas series featuring villain Luther Kite. Crouch's Luther Kite showed up in a couple of Konrath's mysteries, making way for a perfect collaboration. Konrath and Crouch are currently hard at work on the finale "Stirred". Since they are calling the conclusion "bittersweet for the authors", I'm wondering how I'm going to deal with the ending to Jack Daniels career or life!

China Patterns

There've been several new books lately which have focused on the experiences of westerners living in China. Each is part memoir, part travelogue, and part biography, yet each one tells a unique and strikingly-good story about this most populous land in the world. Pick the "China Pattern" that appeals to you from among:

Big in China: My Unlikely Adventures Raising a Family, Playing the Blues, and Becoming a Star in Beijing by Alan Paul. After his wife takes a 3-year post in China, the Paul family, with three young children, adjusts to a new culture, a new language, and a new way of life in Beijing. Alan forms a blues band with 3 Chinese musicians and they end up winning an award as Beijing's Best Band! Based on the author's blog for the Wall Street Journal and sure to be enjoyable!

Fortunate Sons: the 120 Chinese Boys Who Came to America, Went to School, and Revolutionized an Ancient Civilization by Liel Leibovitz. In 1872, these boys were sent to elite New England prep schools and colleges in order to learn "western ways". After 9 years, they were called back to China and many became prominent in China's drive for modernization. Here is their fascinating story both here and abroad.

The Foremost Good Fortune by Susan Conley. This Portland, Maine-based mom of 2 young sons moved to Beijing with her husband on the eve of the 2008 Olympics. Just as they were getting adjusted, she developed breast cancer and had to return to the States. After treatment, she did return to China where she searched for the perfect Chinese talisman to ward off any leftover "cancer juju" and hoping to ease her boys' fear about their mom's mortality. An uplifting and memorable story.

Country Driving: a Journey Through China from Farm to Factory by Peter Hessler. This author of two other renowned books about China here recounts his epic road trip following the Great Wall along northern China. His experiences with driving on roads ranging from superhighways to dirt paths, from villages to industrialized cities, with so many "car-crazy" and inexperienced new drivers is both funny and fascinating.

Pearl Buck in China: a Journey to The Good Earth by Hilary Spurling. This biography of the author (1892--1973) of "The Good Earth" trilogy traces her youth in China as the daughter of a missionary and her work in the US for multicultural adoption and anti-discrimination laws. Buck won both the Nobel & Pulitzer prizes yet, at one time, was blacklisted as a communist sympathizer. Reading "The Good Earth" in junior high was my introduction to Chinese culture and the novel (pub. 1958) made a lasting impression on me.

For All the Tea in China: How England Stole the World's Favorite Drink and Changed History by Sarah Rose. The true story of a Victorian-age botanical thief, Robert Fortune, who was hired by London's East India Company to spy and steal tea seeds and young tea plants in China and smuggle them to British India: "the greatest theft of trade secrets in the history of mankind"!

Beautiful Art in Children's Room

Youth Art Month (created in 1961) is a national event held every March to emphasize the importance of Art Education for all children. Every March, in celebration of this event, the talented art students from St. Thomas Aquinas High School arrive in the Children's Room to set up displays to exhibit their artwork. Be sure to stop in to admire their work.

An Invitation to Young Poets

We are pleased to announced the commencement of the Dover Public Library's 9th Annual Poetry Contest. Nine years--I can't believe it! The contest is for kids in grades k-12 that either have a Dover Public Library card or go to a Dover school (this includes private schools). Prizes will be awarded in 6 different grade categories. Pick up a contest rules sheet at the Dover Public Library, at your Dover School Library, or on our website. Deadline for submission is April 11. Good luck to all.

The Year of the Tiger?

Four recent, highly-acclaimed new books all feature the word "TIGER" in their titles. Three are non-fiction; the other a novel. Each is radically different from the next, but each has received rave reviews and/or significant notice from critics. They are:

Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother by Amy Chua. This is the controversial, and oft-debated, book by a Chinese-American mom who applied strict, uncompromising, and authoritarian parenting techniques in raising her two daughters. Chua disdains Western-style "indulgent" parenting and the fallout from this book has been all over the media.

The Tiger: A True Story of Vengeance and Survival by John Vaillant

Cited on many non-fiction "Best" lists, this riveting story follows a deadly Siberian tiger and the Russian poachers who seek to trap him. Not just an adventure story, the book explores late 1990s politics, socioeconomic conditions, and conservation fronts in the Russian Republic. The lethal encounters between man and beast are "bone-chilling".

Tiger, Tiger: A Memoir by Margauz Fragoso (on order)

The author's 15-year relationship, from age 7 to 22, with a pedophile she met as a child at a public pool, is detailed from her diaries with "unflinching honesty" and shows how pedophiles can manipulate and menace the lives of children. An important yet disturbing memoir.

The Tiger's Wife by Tea Obreht

This book, no doubt, will be named one of 2011's finest. Set in the wartorn Balkans, it is the story of a young woman doctor's search for her grandfather who has died in a remote village. On her journey, she recounts the family stories, legends and folk tales he told her as a child. A wondrous mix of magical realism and reality will keep the reader mesmerized.

Thou Shalt What???

If you happen to be in England for the Royal wedding this spring, you may want to pop over to Cambridge University to check out their special display of rare bibles. One of the bibles is known as the "wicked bible" or "sinner's bible". Through a typographical error, or Freudian slip, the seventh commandment was listed as "thou shalt commit adultery". King Charles I, that old killjoy, was most displeased. He fined the printers and demanded that all the bibles be recalled and burned. Only a few bibles survived, making the wicked bible very rare indeed.

Busby Berkeley Was Here

Sawyer Mansion

The Library just received a new biography of Busby Berkeley, Buzz: The Life and Art of Busby Berkeley. During the 1920s, Hollywood choreographer Busby Berkeley owned the Sawyer Mansion here in Dover. Berkeley was famous for elaborate musical productions featuring scores of chorus girls. He shared a very close bond with his mother, who lived with him. The Dover City Directory listed the house at 47 Central Avenue under his mother's name, Mrs. Gertrude B. Enos. The property was taken over by the city after Busby Berkeley neglected to pay taxes. The Sawyer Mansion was torn down in 1958 when the Spaulding Turnpike overpass was built, where the present day Burger King stands. We were thrilled to find that the Library's website was sited as a source of research for the book! Want to see the web page the biography mentioned?

Help I'm Having a Moral Dilemma

I just finished reading The Death Instinct by Jed Rubenfeld. I really enjoyed the book which is a historical thriller set in 1920, surrounding the real-life unsolved mystery of the Wall Street bombing. During the story we meet up with Sigmund Freud, Marie Curie, Warren Harding & Billy Flynn. Here is the moral dilemma: Jed Rubenfeld is married to Amy Chua, better known as "Tiger Mom", from her now infamous book The Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother. If you are not familiar with Amy Chua or her book take a look at this Wall Street Journal article that seems to have started the controversy. I personally find Amy Chua's parenting techniques upsetting to put it mildly. Where was Jed while all this was going on? Did he agree with the parenting techniques? I am feeling a bit guilty about enjoying his book. What do you think--can you like a book by an author that you find distasteful?