Don't Miss an Event at the Dover Public Library

Did you know the Library has new event calendar software that makes it easier for you to keep track of our lectures, movies, book groups, story times, Lego Saturdays, etc. The software allows you to request a reminder of specified events 24 hours, 48 hours, 1 week, or 2 weeks prior to the event.  You can also "Tell a Friend" about a program you think they may be interested in.  Take a look at it and tell us what you think.

Saturday Matinees

We have just posted the Saturday Matinee schedule which will resume on Saturday, September 6 at 2pm. The first movie will be Divergent--rated PG13.
http://www.dover.lib.nh.us/movies.htm

Is "Kindle Unlimited" for you?

Amazon recently announced its new "Kindle Unlimited" plan: for $9.99 per month, you can have access to over 600,000 eBooks and 2,000 audiobooks. Wow! Sounds amazing! But let's look closer at this model:

For $120/year, you'd have to read at least 16 eBooks in those 12 months in order to break even. OK, fine. Many avid readers achieve that goal easily. (Reminder: your public library ebook downloads are always FREE. Yes, you may have to be on a waiting list for the popular title you want. And yes, the download process has more steps than simply pushing the "Buy" button on Amazon.)

Also keep in mind that this "glorified library card" (as HuffPost calls it) does not include any titles published by the so-called "Big 5" publishers: Simon & Schuster, Harpercollins, Penguin Random House, Macmillan, and Hachette. So that leaves most of your best-sellers and popular titles unavailable in Amazon's inventory. (Reminder: your public library does offer all publishers.) It's hard to estimate but I'd say at least 60% of the print titles we buy for our library are from these five publishers or one of their subsidiary imprints.

One article estimated that as much as 31% of Kindle Unlimited's large catalog are works by self-published authors. A critic of Kindle Unlimited has surmised that this new Amazon  service is just a way to monetize their aging backlist and self-published content. Now, indie authors are strongly endorsed in public libraries: many are good writers with loyal fan bases for their works, but a lot of self-published stuff online is truly just dreck: feeble plots, substandard sentences, terrible grammar and misspellings. (Reminder: your public library vets titles for quality and demand before purchasing.)

Coming clean here, your FREE public library card is not really free either. In Dover, the library is 1.2% of the city budget. So take 1.2% of your property tax bill and that's what you pay to support the public library...probably a bit less than $100/year for the average household. And thank you for your support, by the way!

Kindle Unlimited is offering a free 30-day trial to new subscribers, so go ahead and take a look. Search for the titles you really want to read and see if they're there. (Probably not.) Then search the DPL's catalog http://librarycatalog.dover.nh.gov/ and compare! Amazon will win on convenience and rapid delivery for sure, but your public library has the items you really want to read. We'd love to hear from Kindle Unlimited subscribers locally...tell us your impressions of the service and why you like it. I also hope that we'll hear, "...but of course we still come to the library."

Summer Reading Programs

665 Dover kids have signed-up for the Library's Reading Programs, but we would love to have more kids join the fun. You can sign-up throughout the program so we hope to see you soon!

Special Guest July 21...Meet Elsa from "Frozen"!

    During July, the Dover Public Library is showing free movie matinees in its Lecture Hall every Monday afternoon at 2pm. The schedule includes: “Meet the Robinsons” on July 14 and “Rio 2” on July 28 (both rated G). Admission is free and movie-goers may bring their own popcorn!

     On Monday, July 21, the library will show Disney’s “Frozen” and, as an extra treat, will host a meet-and-greet, in-person visit with the movie’s heroine “Elsa” at 1pm. Elsa, Princess of Arendelle, will pose for pictures with families, give autographs, and entertain us with her famous song, “Let It Go” before the movie starts. Special thanks to Caroline Carter, Miss New Hampshire’s Outstanding Teen 2014, for bringing Elsa to the library!

      For more information, call the Children’s Room at 603-516-6052.

Summer Reading eBooks

Are you on the waiting list for one of the Dover High School summer reading books? Some of them are available from the New Hampshire Downloadable Books Consortium or Overdrive with only a short waiting list. If you have an eReader or tablet this is a great option. If you have questions about accessing Overdrive give us a call at 516-6050. Here are the titles that are available:

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson
The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood
Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer
Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
March by Geraldine Brooks
A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hossein

Happy Independence Day!

The library will be closed Friday, July 4 and Saturday, July 5 for the Independence Day holiday. Have a safe and happy 4th everyone!

Best Book of 2014

Amazon has a section called Best Books of 2014 So Far. I finished a book today that inspired me to write my own Best Book of the Year So Far.

 Lucky Dog by Sarah Boston is the story of a veterinary oncologist who has cancer. You wouldn't think a memoir about someone battling cancer would be funny but Lucky Dog is. When Sarah first finds the lump on her neck she is suspicious, she spends all day feeling similar suspicious masses in dogs. She asks her husband who is also a vet to bring home the portable ultrasound machine from his practice so she get get a better look at her mass. About half the book is Sarah's struggle in the Canadian health care system to get diagnosed and receive care for her thyroid cancer and the issues that someone with cancer faces. The rest of the book is stories of the dogs with cancer she has treated, and their owners, as well as a few tart comments on how much more efficient and kind the care pets receive is compared to human patients. Sarah's stories of the wonderful dogs she has known are worthy of James Herriott. You will read about Riley, the blind Golden cross who saved her family from a fire, Jake who still managed to retrieve huge sticks after half his jaw was removed, and Mambo, the Yellow Lab who showed his owners that chemotherapy no longer made him nauseous by eating a entire carrot cake they had left out on the counter.

If someone you love that has cancer, you should read this book.
If you have pets, you should read this book.
If you are looking for an excellent memoir, you should read this book.