Treat it well, it's the only one we've got

Newspapers, magazines, news reports, community organizations, individuals are all a-buzz with what is happening to our environment. The month of April highlights the planet in which we live with the celebration of Earth Day on the 22nd. The library has a number of displays throughout the building featuring the difference we can make to the environment. The recycling display featured here points out the many items that can be recycled, more than we may be aware of. Our students are in the “think green” environmental mode as bottles and cans are recycled around campus, and cell phone drives and prom dress collections give a second life to the items we may have otherwise simply thrown away. As always, the library looks for books to highlight the displays and to inspire, some include; The Weather Makers (363.738 FLA), High Tide: the truth about our climate crisis (363.73 LYN) and Silent Spring (363.73 CAR). As mentioned, looking at any news related magazine this month will highlight articles on the environment as shown in the display photo, great for browsing and getting a taste of what is being said on the many sides of this issue. Finally, a new find for me is the Discovery Channel’s Planet Earth, makes one appreciate this planet in which we live and sparks a desire to treat it well.

Bloom where you are planted

For the Academy Seniors this could be the best of times or the worst of times. As they receive their college notification letters their level of anxiety runs high. The April 1, 2007 Boston Globe magazine had a timely article by Tom Keane about the disappointment students feel when they are not accepted at the Ivy or elite schools that are often their first choice. His words of wisdom include, “Your success isn’t a function of which college you attend. Rather, it’s all about what you do when you’re there.” He gives numerous examples of very successful men and women who graduated from UMASS and notes that, “It’s pretty widely known that the selectivity of the college one attends doesn’t relate to success in life.” Many of the Academy Seniors have been accepted by their first choice colleges of course, but for the rest of the students, remember the old adage “Bloom where you are planted.”

A new poetry assignment for students in Elaine White’s and Karen Gold’s English classes included visualization. In addition to poetic analysis, students needed to take five pictures and caption them with specific quotes from the poem they had chosen. The work was then uploaded to the library’s Flickr space.
To prepare for this, your Pesky librarians also did the assignment. Selecting “Aimless Love” by Billy Collins, we printed out the poem and sat together with stickies and highlighters. We generated idea after idea and then went out for a campus walk with our camera. After downloading our work, we kept one picture, dumped the rest, and went back to the poem. We continued this process until we had a set we thought worked well. The next day both classes came to the library and we introduced this part of the assignment, modeling the process we had undertaken and showing our work. In the next week we worked with the students, uploading their pictures and talking about how Flickr is a social networking tool and lets us connect with other people who share our interests. We were thinking about how we connect with other librarians but a young woman in London has a Flickr pool for pictures of soap (who knew?) and she invited us to put one of our pictures in it. The students did some nice work. Take a look.

We Were Censored!

How do you know when it’s spring in the library? Answer: when you start getting bombarded with questions about the location of the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit edition. Each year it presents a mystery. While its arrival date is not on my personal horizon, it is for many patrons. So I start asking questions myself. Does anyone remember seeing it in our box in the mailroom? (Some years it gets borrowed before coming across campus and appears a week or two later.) Has it been checked in as arriving? Did anyone put it out on the shelf? Is this a year when we will never see it? And, for all of you who accuse us of “censoring by losing,” we do put it out on the shelf even though its existence there is always short-lived.
As the annual mystery began this year, the new edition of Library Journal provided us an answer. The headline reads “Swimsuit Issue Denied to Libraries” (April 1, 2007 edition.) Apparently, Sports Illustrated decided not to ship the edition to 21,000 classrooms and libraries. They arbitrarily made the decision without giving the subscribers an option to receive or not to receive. After much criticism from librarians who thought that they should decide whether to display it, hold it behind the desk, or throw it in a drawer, the magazine decided that those who did not receive a copy could request one. Here at the Pesky Library, Meredith called the magazine and the edition is on its way. Of course, for us the perennial mystery will once again play out – Has anyone seen it yet in our box in the mailroom?

Annual Peep Post

It would be a shame to let the month of April pass us by without sharing our annual Peep post. Spring is here, Peeps are lining the shelves and many, including librarians, seem to find unique ways to showcase these sweet little creatures. Enjoy the adventures and travels of Peeps ! Happy Spring!

Everyday....learning something new

On Friday, the blogging Pesky librarians attend the NEEMA (New England Educational Media Association) conference in Boston featuring speakers, Dr. Ross Todd and Dr. Carol Gordon from Rutgers University. This conference is always a way for us to stretch our brains, look at our own library program and consider ways in which we can improve our services to the community. This year’s title was, “Re-Designing Knowledge Spaces: From Information Literacy to Knowledge Outcomes.” One of the key ideas from Ross Todd’s presentation was how we help our students transform the information they find into a deep knowledge and to connect with what they find. Rather than simply transporting information, we need our students to transform the information they find, and as educators we need to ask what will be the outcomes of their research. I could go on about all of the information and ideas we gathered from a day such as this, but I will end my post today with a quote Ross Todd shared with the group. It is one which struck a cord with me as a librarian in an ever changing profession, working with young adults who are immersed in all of the new technologies we are rushing learn; "Standing still is the fastest way of moving backwards in a rapidly changing world. Imagination is the highest kite one can fly" -- Lauren Becall. As I assist students with their poetry Flickr projects today, (more on this to come in a later post!), I realize it is all part of the learning process, for me and the students…keep on moving and keep on learning.

Children's Collection

Did you know that Pescosolido Library has a Children's Collection? We have picture books, including a Caldecott collection, non-fiction books, Chapter books, Videos, puzzles and stuffed animals in this special collection. The faculty children enjoy this area of the library and students who baby sit also find it useful. Many of the items in the collection have been donated by faculty families whose own children have outgrown these items. Pictured below is a faculty member who is babysitting. The faculty member is on the right.

The Networked Vote

Presidential candidates have taken to social networking sites as a way to reach the youth vote. MySpace has launched the Impact Channel. As of this writing twelve candidates have profiles. After clicking on one of the smiling faces on the intro page, you come to a page of that candidate’s views on issues, a way to subscribe to his (or her) blog, a video or two, and ways to show your support.

Rock the Vote which has been around since 1990 is sponsored by MTV. Voter registration is a key component. It has information on how and where to register and absentee ballot deadlines for where you live. Rock the Vote’s blog covers voting and issues news and the site also has a presence on the networking Facebook.

With primary dates coming earlier in the process this coming year, becoming informed now, early and often, will be key to casting a vote.

Blogging Baghdad Without a Map

Students in Karen Gold’s and Elaine White’s sophomore English classes recently contributed to a class blog as they read Baghdad without a Map by Tony Horwitz. In addition to blogging on their daily readings, the students researched issues and places covered in the book and commented on what they learned. Horwitz is this year’s Common Book speaker. His book has been spawning interesting conversations on campus. We look forward to his coming visit.

READ

We have added another set to our Flickr page; READ posters featuring members of the Academy. As I write, I am wrestling with technology to load as many photos as I can before the day is done. If I have taken your photo, don't worry, you will be part of the set by the end of the week and I will be scouting the campus looking for more READers very soon! Happy Reading!

Student Work on Display

Two pieces of Student Artwork are currently on display in the Library's Reference area. Both pieces are from the Academy's Fine Arts/Architecture course and have been created by seniors. In addition to these intricate models, student photography can be found on the second floor and on the library's Flickr page.

Spring has Sprung

Yes, we can finally feel the end of winter at The Academy. Not only are our library displays showing bunnies and brighly colored eggs, the students are arriving in shorts and tee shirts. Outside our windows there is still snow, but it is melting and the temperatures are much more temperate than they were even yesterday. I think Spring has Sprung, or at least I hope so. It has been a long, cold winter. Many students and staff are sporting tans from their Spring break and I sense a longing for warm weather. Spring sports have started and you just know that Spring weather can't be far behind. ENJOY!

A Historical Diversion

Launching the Archives’ blog has left us in a state of anticipation. Putting together the pieces of our past is not only valuable to our institutional memory but is downright fun! My husband has been researching his family’s origins and contributions to early America (Mayflower, Salem witches, Salem maritime history) and it has proven contagious. Recently, we were in the Conway Public Library researching my family. The librarian handed me our family Bible which my great-grandfather’s father had donated for the interest of family members to come. There was recorded 3 generations of my line in different hands. Who was this John Chase who obtained the Bible and recorded his marriage to Phebe Carr? And what kind of a woman was Phebe whose father Francis has proved a mystery to research but shows as an active participant in establishing Bow, NH and signing documents in support of the Colonies. Phebe bore 12 children, relocated with John from Concord to Conway through the mountains when she had seven of them, and spent time alone with those children while her husband did various stints with militias.

After work in the National Archives, NH State Archives, and the history sections of many libraries, I have discovered more about John and his older brothers (participants in the French and Indian War, Roger’s Rangers, supplying military leadership during the Revolution, and as first settlers of several NH towns.) Reading town histories and the NH State Papers, I know that John and his father Daniel signed the Association Test in the Spring of 1776 (“at the Risque of our Lives and Fortunes, with Arms, oppose the Hostile Proceedings of the British Fleets and Armies, against the United American Colonies.”) He also signed the Non-Intercourse Agreement (“suspending all commercial Intercourse with the Said Island of Great Britain until the Parliament shall cease to enact Laws imposing Taxes upon the Colonies without their consent or until the Pretended Right of taxing is dropped.”)

He was a Second Sergeant in the First NH militia in 1774. In June and July of 1777 he twice marched to enforce Ticonderoga, once in his brother’s regiment. From September to December of that year he marched to Saratoga to support the Continental Army under General Gates. After this he moved with his family to Conway. In 1781 he became a scout with Simpson’s Ranging Co. “for the security of said Conway and towns adjacent, against Indian invasion.”

I may never know more than this although we do have our own mystery. We found where he was buried and the stone on his grave can’t be more than several years old. On it is recorded his rank from 1774. We have to wait until spring to see if there is an original stone under the snow. The Conway Parks department has no knowledge of a new stone nor does the local historian.

Knowing that my family line is made of younger sons who followed the Merrimac River from Newbury to West Newbury and on into the wilderness has given me insight into our family’s character. I hope that what we can learn from the Academy’s Archives will give us an insight into this community.

Announcing the Academy's Archives Blog!

The Pesky Library announces the launch of a new blog "The Governor's Academy Archives." This blog will highlight intriguing finds from our school's history and ask you to dig into your memories and share your stories about what you remember regarding what we find. Simply click on the comment button at the end of a post and give us your thoughts. We are looking forward to connecting our Archives with your school experiences.

Welcome Back!

We hope students and families enjoyed their Spring Break, it always takes a day or two to get into the groove. As we gear up for the Spring season (and wait for the snow to melt!), we will report on the many exciting displays, programs and resources we have planned for the weeks ahead. Stay tuned!

Breaking for Spring(?!?) at 1:00

As my good friend Pop Crowley was wont to say, it's a dirgey day. The beautiful fat flakes that fell during my drive here gave way to sleet and now to rain. Chunks of snow just fell from our roof for a solid five minutes, keeping all of us in the reference area mesmerized. Nonetheless, our spring break officially starts at 1:00! We return March 20. A happy vacation to us all!

Love Letter to a Favorite Book

What has constituted your most memorable reading experience - a book, a character, an author? Is it the first book you read all by yourself? The first time a story really spoke to your life's experience? The first author of whom you could not get enough? Here's an opportunity to honor that memory. Newburyport's Literary Festival is soliciting Love Letters to Favorite Books or Authors. Letters will adorn the walls of the Firehouse Center for the Arts in Market Square in the 2 weeks surrounding the event which will be held April 27 - 29.
There are a few guidelines. Letters should be on 8 1/2 by 11 paper held vertically. Include the title and author. As your letter will be hanging with many others, choose a way to make it stand out visually. Don't fold it. It can be dropped off at the Newburyport Public Library or mailed in a large envelope to Love Letters, Newburyport Literary Festival, Box 268, Newburyport, MA 01950. You could even turn your letter into us and I'd drop it off on my evening walk. The deadline is April 7. (More information at the Literary Festival.)
I am looking forward to writing mine. Jane Austen and I have been together for 4 decades and a year now since that fateful moment in 7th grade when Mr. Sprague handed me a copy of Pride and Prejudice. She's my letter. What will be the subject of yours?

On Display - Freshman IFA Pots

These are truly amazing when you realize that these pots are a freshman’s first attempt at ceramics. These pots are from Mrs. Okula’s freshman Intoduction to Fine Arts class. They are coil-built and then stone-polished. The students then scratch their own design into the surface before the piece is fired in an electric kiln with sawdust.

Cameras rolling

The beauty of the library is that it can be used for a variety of reasons. It has become a popular location for students to work on their film projects. Drama, comedy, mystery - they have all been made here. Recently we had some students filming upstairs, as pictured.

Clara Pesky: “Cancun or Bust!”

Our favorite librarian, Clara, is anxiously awaiting Spring Break. With her bikini and a stash of her favorite Romance novels, she will enjoy her favorite pastime – reading on the beach. We invite all of you to visit the library this week and select a few books for your vacation reading as well. For a relaxing vacation, whether you are going to a warmer climate or just enjoying our New England winter, settling in with a good book is just the ticket.

What’s a Mardi Gras and who is that masked man?

To keep the winter doldrums at bay, even in ancient times there were celebrations. Mardi Gras, a colorful spectacle, actually goes back to an ancient Roman custom. Now we celebrate it the day before Lent begins, and it is the culminating event of a season that begins January 6th, or Twelfth Night. Mardi Gras means “fat Tuesday” in French and the French colonists brought the celebration to America in the early 1700’s. We associate Mardi Gras with New Orleans, Louisiana, where the parades, balls and parties attract tourists from around the world. The wearing of masks, colorful costumes and beads are important aspects of the celebration. Mardi Gras is also celebrated in Germany where it is called Fastnacht, and in England where it is called Pancake Day.

Most Often Never Found on Shelves

We decided this year to scale back on some journals which can be accessed through databases and to increase the amount of “recreational” magazines, ones that browsers might select. Given how many of these are taken from the display shelves and are found on tables or on the floor beside comfy armchairs, we think it was a wise decision. These five are the ones I have reshelved most often in the past few weeks. Mental Floss : Where Knowledge Junkies Get Their Fix has an article on “The 20 Greatest Mistakes in History” as well as one on “How Biodiesel Works” (with a sidebar on BioWillie, the first major brand in America which is marketed by Willie Nelson. Who knew?) Seed: Science is Culture looks at the ideas, issues, and icons shaping the culture of science. E: the Environmental Magazine covers green living. Analog: Science Fiction and Fact contains novellas, short stories, and a factual article, this month’s being “The Ice Age that Wasn’t” by Richard Lovett on “How Our Ancestors May Have Held the Ice at Bay.” And the last, rather surprising to us for a boarding school, is Everyday with Rachel Ray. After finding her cookbooks never residing on the shelves upstairs in proper Dewey order, we thought we’d give her a try. Probably, the most popular of all!

Masifunde Sonke

Through South Africa Partners, Dr. David and Donna McGrath have donated 25 books to our library. This is part of the initiative Masifunde Sonke: Let Us Read Together. The books, written and illustrated by South Africans, have themes of justice, hope, and renewal. In addition to our library receiving the books, an underserved school in South Africa will also receive the collection of books for its library.

South Africa Partners has four major goals for Masifunde Sonke: “to increase literacy and a joy of reading among students in rural and township public schools in South Africa, to foster an appreciation of South African children’s books in the U.S., to facilitate contact and exchanges between South African and U.S. schools, educators, and learners, and to stimulate the South African book publishing industry.”

These beautiful books are ready to be checked out. We are very appreciative that the McGraths included us in this wonderful initiative. You can read more about the books, the state of school libraries in South Africa (over 60% of schools have no library materials,) and Masifunde Sonke at South Africa Partners.

And the Runner Up Is...

Library Thing continues to be one of my favorite Web 2.0 tools, although it takes the best ideas of online sharing and technology, it is all about the BOOKS. When our Director, Susan heard of the Library Thing 10 Million Books contest, we had to jump in and give it a try. The Pesky Library was chosen as a runner up for the contest for our photograph highlighting the President’s in honor of President’s Day. It was actually a great way to think about this holiday (besides having the three day weekend and all of the car "sale" advertisements,) and to remember the leaders of our country, past and present. Read more about the contest and the winners at the Library Thing Blog.

Chinese New Year

February 18th begins Chinese New Year. Having had the opportunity to be in China for 2 Chinese New Years, I was reminded of the occasions by our display in the library. Chinese New Year is a lot like our Christmas. Everyone buys presents and children get red envelopes with money in them. Since many people do not have a lot of material goods, this is a very big thing. Also, everyone travels to be with their families. The train and bus stations are extremely crowded and everyone is carrying large presents for their families. Houses are cleaned from top to bottom to get rid of any bad luck from the previous year. Like our Thanksgiving, a feast is prepared for the entire family, and every possible kind of treat is splurged on. At night there are loud fireworks to frighten away any remaining bad luck. 2007 is the Year of the Pig in the Chinese calendar. If you were born in 1911, 1923, 1935, 1947, 1959, 1971, 1983, 1995, or 2007, this will be an auspicious year for you.

A Shared Moment

The Valentine's Day Storm

I was going to blog on my three favorite components of the day - kissing (Pucker up Buttercup: How Kissing Works,) love as a life science (How Love Works,) and chocolate (Hey, It Grows on Trees.) But, as the four of us took turns digging ourselves out, I realized that this lovely shot of winter was worth a picture. The snow is giving way to stinging sleet. The wind is sweeping it across the fields to beat on our wall of windows. The usual pile of backpacks has disappeared early this afternoon and it's starting to feel lonely in the library.

You have been accepted...

Admission into elite schools is intense, image raising the bar a bit more with a unique and challenging entrance exam; use of chopsticks. The Hisatagakuen Sasebo Girls High School in Japan is requiring all applicants to test their chopstick skills by using chopsticks with beads, dice, beans and marbles. Ms. Toumayan has created a wonderful display in our Reference area that allows our own Academy members to test their own chopstick skills. Stop by the library to learn more about this culture and education in Japan.

Happy Birthday Abraham

Our official “Presidents Day” is celebrated next week, but today marks the birthday of one of the country’s greatest Presidents, Abraham Lincoln. As President’s Day has become the catch-all for all our nations Presidents, and not simply Washington and Lincoln, the history of these two men can be overlooked. Thankfully, there are authors who are bringing new life to our historic figures, and we have a few of these titles in our collection; Mr. Lincoln’s T-Mails: the untold story of how Abraham Lincoln used the telegraph to win the Civil War (973.709 WHE), The Radical and the Republican: Frederick Douglass, Abraham Lincoln, and the triumph of antislavery politics (973.711 OAK), and a graphic novel, The Murder of Abraham Lincoln (GN GEA). The Library of Congress holds many of Lincoln’s paper and the White House has an extensive biography on Lincoln worth looking at. All of these resources can help spark an interest to learn more about this fascinating leader. As we approach President’s Day next week, how will you remember the leaders of our country?

Valentine's Day Reading

Did you know that the custom of sending romantic messages on Valentine’s Day may have begun as early as the 1400’s? This holiday is celebrated in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Italy, Denmark and other countries. The customs vary from country to country, but they all have to do with romance. Even Shakespeare and Chaucer mention St. Valentine’s Day in their writings. The history of the holiday is not certain. Some believe it started as an ancient Roman Festival. Others believe it had to do with a man named Valentine who was a martyr in the early Christian church. It was also believed that birds chose their mates on February 14th.
We celebrate the holiday with several displays in our library. Try some of the selections from the “Books you will Love” display, or go to the OPAC Card Catalog and search for Love Stories. We have 173 books listed, and one of them is sure to make you feel the LOVE.

Answers . . . To Go

It’s 11:00 pm. The library’s closed and Google’s not retrieving the search results you need to finish your homework. What do you do? Select Answers . . . To Go (Your @ Home Library.) Provided by the Northeast Massachusetts Regional Library System, this resource connects you to a variety of resources. Here find the link to the databases that the region and state supply to us. You’ll need the Academy’s library card (in Researching at the Library at Classrooms on Elm Street) to access them. Here also find CHAT Reference supplied by Mass Answers. You can talk in real time to a librarian 24/7 who will help you find an article, construct a better Google search, locate a book you can check-out the next morning – anything you need to finish your assignment. So, when our library’s not available, try Answers . . . To Go.

Library as refuge

Not only kitties sleep in the sunshine! Students are making good use of our comfy chairs on these bitterly cold afternoons.

Recommended Reads: The Thirteenth Tale

Our recommended read display has had a turnover of new titles added. I would add my own new title, but it has already been claimed before it even made it there. The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield (FIC SET) is getting rave reviews and although I am only partially through it, it is holding up to the praise. It is a must read for book lovers and one you will be unable to put down. For more information about The Thirteenth Tale, visit the book's Amazon page or see what people are saying about it on Library Thing. Until it makes it back to the shelves stop by our display to see what others are reading!

That is so cliche

Monday, what better day for clichés? Our magnet boards are back out on the library floor and feature clichés. Like quotations, clichés offer the user bang for their buck by summing up a feeling or idea in a few words and can give the reader something to ponder. Visitors can create their own clichés on our boards or check out books in reference, including The Facts on File Dictionary of Clichés (REF423.1 AMM). And so I leave you with some words to ponder….

Don't judge a book by its cover, take a page out of your book, there is harmony in disharmony, tomorrow is another day, there is a light at the end of the tunnel, every rose has its thorn, this too, shall pass, Rome was not built in a day, laughter is the best medicine, Smile. It makes people wonder, Carpe diem, as easy as pie, there's no place like home.

"A film festival at your fingertips"

Independent Lens (PBS) is presenting an Online Shorts Festival. The two Grand Prize winners were shown on television's Short Stack 2006. There are ten films in all and you are encouraged to vote for the Audience Award. The site also has links to Indie film resources and lists. I admit to watching just one since the link came my way - "Chickens in the City" (and I was charmed by Miss MoneyHenny.) But, the rest are part of my weekend plans.

Shopping, marketing, advertising

Shopping, marketing, and advertising are certainly fueling major news stories. A story in this morning's Boston Globe talked about the generational divide evident with the viral advertising campaign which shut down the city of Boston yesterday. TJX's data hack makes me wonder how much "stuff" do I really need? Is "stuff" really what I am getting out of shopping or is it something totally different? Marketing and product placement are interesting to contemplate but are infuriating if my grocer moves things so that I can't shop "in the zone." Approaching the top of my bookstack is Not Buying It : My Year Without Shopping by Judith Levine (658.8 LEV.) TJX is pushing me in this direction (I've already been the route of the compromised credit card when the Boston Globe goofed last year.) Other newish books which are looking good include:
The Long Tail : Why the Future of Business is Selling Less of More by Chris Anderson (658.802 AND)
Why We Buy : the Science of Shopping by Paco Underhill (658.8 UND)
Branded: the Buying and Selling of Teenagers by Alissa Quart (658.83 QUA)
Born to Buy : the Commercialized Child and the New Consumer Culture by Juliet B. Schor (305.23 SCH)
Packaging Girlhood : Rescuing our Daughters from Marketers' Schemes by Sharon Lamb and Lyn Mikel Brown (306.3 LAM)
A Consumers' Republic by Lizabeth Cohen (339.47 COH)
The Overspent American : Upscaling, Downshifting, and the New Consumer by Juliet B. Schor (339.47 SCH)
Unleashing the Ideavirus by Seth Godin (659.13)

Mass Moments

Each morning I look forward to an e-moments of Massachusetts history delivered to my in-box. Created by the Massachusetts Foundation for the Humanities, these e-moments serve as an almanac of the state's history. The stories are accompanied by primary source documents, images, further readings, and links. You can look at the event on a timeline and on a map. The database is also searchable so you can locate stories by regions, dates, or categories. And, of course, if you prefer, you can listen to each story as a podcast.

MOO

At the last conference we attended, no one was exchanging business cards. Instead, MOO cards were flying! Intrigued, we Googled upon our return and found that we could upload images from our Flickr account into MOO, add six lines of text, and, for a nominal sum, create our own cards. We started with some images from our library tour set. In a week we had our cards and were amazed that they had come from the UK. We uploaded a picture of them into the Flickr MOO Card pool and had a request to exchange cards. Turns out the cards were going to and coming from Rome.

We became hooked on MOO. Surely we had an academic reason to create more? We did. Already working on fine tuning for next fall how we work with the Juniors on their thesis papers, we have decided to hand out bags of writing supplies during our American history topics fair. Each bag will have a MOO clipped to it with info on how to access the library's resources specific to the paper. Now, how can we apply MOO to the freshmen orientation?????

Blogging about Blogs

If you are looking for a better understanding of what a blog is or the impact it is having on how we seek and find information, check out the Bloggers Blog: Blogging the Blogosphere: reporting on blogging news and trends. It reports on all the new technologies and ways companies, organizations, and people are using not only blogs, but other applications.

“Happiness is all about your state of mind”

January 22, they call it “Blue Monday.” Scientists in England have dubbed this day “blue” by coming up with a mathematical equation as to why so many people feel particularly down on January 22 over any other. You can read more about their reasoning in the Portsmouth (UK) News. What better way to counteract gloom and melancholy than with a dose of happiness! For your reading pleasure the library has just acquired the book, Happiness: a history (170 MCM), where it states “happiness has been equated regularly with the highest human calling, the most perfect human state.” In addition, you will also find in the Pescosolido collection under “happiness”, Dahn Meditation: a spiritual exercise to perfect health and happiness (181.45 HEU), Authentic Happiness: using the new positive psychology to realize your potential for lasting fulfillment (158 SEL), The Art of Happiness: a handbook for living (294.3 LAM), and The Architecture of Happiness (720.103 DEB). Lastly, to help you fight the Monday blues, visit the Authentic Happiness website, or the Resources of the Happiness Foundation. Don’t worry this blue Monday will pass.

What's next?

Many of our Seniors have been accepted into college and of course, feel a big sense of relief. They have met a major goal of their prep school career. The anxiety that they have felt for the last year cannot be overestimated and they have been so proud to tell me of their plans for next year. As I have been congratulating them on their acceptance letters I have been offering a bit of librarian advice. Should they be wondering what to read once their senior class assignments are completed or if they find they have more free time, I have advised them to go to their new college’s web-site and find out what readings are required for their freshman year or even for their summer reading before school starts. Getting a head start on some of this required reading will make the transition from high school senior to college freshman a little easier. The amount of reading is often a big shock to new students. Right now the seniors are still too busy with school work to embrace my advice, but come Spring, they may be more receptive to my suggestion as they contemplate their futures.

New Technology Blog at the Academy

The newest Academy blog is Technology of the Month. Designed and written by the Technology Committee, the purpose is to introduce classroom teachers to new technologies as well as new ways to use “old” (or rather existing) technologies. The first post is on mobile blogging – ways that students can use the technologies in their pockets (PDA’s, cameras and phones) in their class work. Imagine a science field trip: “Students could snap pictures using their camera phones, use their fantastic text messaging ability to identify and describe the image, and then post it to the field journal in seconds. Back in the classroom or, even better as part of their homework, students could log into the blog and add to or edit the post, slowly building a comprehensive field journal which could also double as a study guide.” As we all know, the pace of technology growth outstrips our ability to keep up with it. The Committee hopes their blog will be informative on current educational technologies.

A Day in the Life of a Governor's Academy Student

Last week while ESL teacher Karen Gold was at a writing seminar, Jen and I took over her class. The assignment was a Flickr essay on A Day in the Life of an Academy student. We wanted these international students to reflect on what they had observed and learned (sometimes the hard way!) these past few months. Each student had to take pictures in four categories: Academics, Afternoon Program, Residential Life, and American Culture. The pictures needed to reflect something that a new international student needed to know in order to be successful here at the Academy, something that would enable a new student to “hit the ground running” so to speak. Once the pictures were uploaded, the students needed to write informative commentaries. Take a peek! (Double click on a picture to read the commentary.)

BPL resources at your fingertips

Any Massachusetts resident can now access Boston Public Library electronic resources, audio, video and music resources as well as place holds on BPL materials with the BPL e-card. The library will issue a temporary e-card that will need to be upgraded within six months, simply apply online. Learn more by visiting the Boston Public Library webpage.

Celebrating Martin Luther King Day

The school held the Martin Luther King Day convocation with a number of presenters offering insight to the importance and significance of this day. Jerri Anne Boggis, Project Director for the Harriet Wilson Project, shared in the efforts to bring Harriet Wilson’s Our Nig (FIC WIL) to the forefront as a piece of black history in New Hampshire. She also described the efforts to construct a memorial to Harriet Wilson in Milford, NH.

The library has a Martin Luther King display in one of our cases that reflects the efforts to raise funds for the Martin Luther King Memorial. The Academy’s NEXO club which promotes cultural awareness, has held a fund raiser for this cause. In addition to this display other Martin Luther King materials are being displayed in the library. An inspiring day for all.

There can only be one winner...

Browsing School Library Journal for December 2006 led me to the “Word of the Year” for 2006. Carbon Neutral is the winner, urging us to live a greener way of life or off-setting the damage we may do to the environment by doing something environmentally positive. The winner for 2005 was podcast, a word that has changed how we gather and receive information. The runners up from both years provide insight to our culture and the cutting-edge technologies, concepts, or language we use (or may use in the future.) Maybe carbon neutral, (some argue promoted by Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth,) will have a positive impact on how we live our lives. The word is having an impact in the blogging world, people are a buzz with this new word of the year! Makes you wonder what could be the winner for 2007, what will this year bring?

Whose blogging now?

We, the librarians at the Governor’s Academy, have been blogging for the past two years. It seems that we not alone. The Boston Sunday Globe (January 7, 2007) had an article in the “Career Development & Education Supplement” that stated that many colleges and universities now use blogs in their courses, in admissions departments, as well as department home pages. Blogs are different from online discussion forums. Greg Salyer, associate professor and chair of liberal studies at Boston University’s Metropolitan College explains the difference this way. “Forums are more like class participation. A blog is private, personal refection made public. It requires more thought and crafting, and is uniquely yours.” I really liked that definition. To visit some of the blogs from select Boston colleges and universities, go to:
Professor Salyer’s blog at BU
(www.bu.edu/dbin/liberalstudies//?q=blog)
MIT Admissions blog
(www.mitadmissions.org/blogs.shtml)
Harvard Student blog
(http://harvardextended.blogspot.com/)

Short Takes for Study Breaks

Hidden within the 813’s of the video collection was an assortment of short stories. We’ve moved them to the entertainment section where you can find them by title. Timed at 60 minutes or less, they provide some intriguing viewing. Who needs Snakes on a Plane when there’s Ambrose Bierce’s suspense laden “The Man and the Snake?” Owen Johnson’s funny Lawrenceville Stories (first published in the Saturday Evening Post) of high jinks in the famed prep school are represented by "The Prodigious Hickey" and "The Return of Hickey." Opening this weekend on the big screen is a movie about a murderous hitchhiker, but the Eudora Welty story’s point of view is from the driver who picked up a hitchhiker later found murdered (“Hitch-hikers.”) For those of you reading Gatsby and enjoying the period, try “Under the Biltmore Clock.” Kurt Vonnegut’s “Who Am I This Time” is one of my favorites. An endearing rather than creepy Christopher Walken stars with Susan Sarandon in a sweet romantic comedy. Ms. Pesky suggests that these are great study breaks as they are short but still brain-engaging!

Billy Collins

As Chapel speaker this morning, Headmaster Doggett spoke of this odd time when the New Year is just beginning yet we are gearing up toward the ending of the semester and its exam period. It was an interesting thought. Although we take stock of where we are personally at the year’s close and set ourselves resolutions for the year to come, we are probably not concentrating any longer on where we’ve been but rather on where we’re going. Seniors are either into colleges, anticipating graduation and the fall, or are anxiously awaiting letters while freshmen need to learn how to review the fall’s curriculum and demonstrate their mastery on an exam.

He continued his talk by reading some poetry by the very accessible former Poet Laureate Billy Collins. Collins takes familiar moments and transforms them. He transforms how we view reading a book, writing, or even looking out a window. His “Aimless Love” in Nine Horses (811.54 COL) has rescued me many times when my mind is too full of forests and no trees. You can read more about Collins at poets.org, an interview on bringing poetry to the people, or his poetry 180 project.

Visitor from Kenya

Joseph Lekuton, member of the Kenyan Parliament visited The Governor’s Academy on Tuesday, January 9. Read more about his visit on the school’s webpage. One message Mr. Lekuton shared with the audience was to encourage young people to look outside their world, travel and discover places unlike their own. If teachers and students are unable to travel, the next best thing would be to READ; read about the world, read about what is happening in other countries, people and their experiences. You can learn more about Mr. Lekuton from his book, Facing the Lion: Growing up Masai on the African Savanna (967.62 LEK) which Ms. Chase blogged about last week.

Oh, what a year can bring

It is always interesting to stop and reflect when a new year has come and gone. I remember last year at this time, feeling baffled by all of the new technologies libraries, and young adults had been adopting. iPods, blogs, social networking, online gaming, cell phones that have everything but the kitchen sink and more innovative technologies.

Here at the library we have incorporated many of these new technologies into our program starting with the blog, flickr, Library Thing, (I love Library Thing – if you are a reader you must use it!) , del.icio.us and our library staff is using a wiki for professional development. As we look ahead to 2007 there are many new exciting technologies we look forward to diving into, when you make the dive once the rest becomes exciting new adventures. We hope you will stay turned and enjoy the adventures with us. Happy New Year!
Felice Anno Nuovo! (One of my New Year’s goals: to work on my Italian!)

Facing the Lion

Kenyan legislator Joseph Lekuton will speak at this Tuesday's convocation. We have available several copies of his book Facing the Lion: Growing up Masai on the African Savanna available in the library. When you come in to check out a copy, look at the display of Kenyon books in the hallway which Mrs. Healey put together. In March four of our students will be visiting a school in Kenya along with Mr. Nelson and Mr. Gerry. In April, two Kenyan students and their teacher will be coming to us. Let's welcome the visitors to our campus by learning about their country and culture.

Reading alums

One of the best parts of being a school librarian for me is connecting with an alum and once more talking about reading. I had lunch yesterday with Laura who is an English major at Williams. After the catching up on school news and old friends, we talked about her upcoming semester with three courses on the novel. She is currently reading Emma in preparation. After she had read Pride and Prejudice her freshman year, I got a wonderfully delirious e-mail: ”I knew I could count on you to truly understand. Imagine the emotion, excitement and absolute pleasure of a first-time reader. I felt guilty enjoying the book so much.” I imagineI babbled similarly to the teacher who first handed me the same novel.
I envy her the experience of Emma – meeting Miss Bates for the first time! Before I knew Kilpling was an Austen fan, I read the “Janeites” and was bemused when his soldiers assigned Austen characters and irony to the people they met: “I was past carin’. But [the grey-headed nursing Sister] went on talkin’ and talkin’ about the war, an’ her pa in Ladbroke Grove, an’ ’how strange for ’er at ’er time of life to be doin’ this work with a lot o’ men, an’ next war, ’ow the nurses ’ud ’ave to wear khaki breeches on account o’ the mud, like the Land Girls; an’ that reminded ’er, she’d boil me an egg if she could lay ’ands on one, for she’d run a chicken-farm once. You never ’eard anythin’ like it—outside o’ Jane. It set me off laughin’ again. Then a woman with a nose an’ teeth on ’er, marched up. ‘What’s all this?” she says. “What do you want?” “Nothing,” I says, “only make Miss Bates, there, stop talkin’ or I’ll die.”
In The History Boys, Hector responds to a student “The best moments in reading are when you come across something - a thought, a feeling, a way of looking at things - which you had thought special and particular to you. And now, here it is, set down by someone else, a person you have never met, someone even who is long dead. And it is as if a hand has come out, and taken yours.” Austen has given me some of my best moments in reading and is now doing the same for Laura. Our lunch chat was so satisfying. I wish this reading experience for all my students and that they return to talk about it!

Library collegiality

This semester has afforded us many collegial moments in the library. We had a student from the Salem State graduate program spend 25 hours observing our library program and our librarians in action. She is currently a teacher at the Landmark School which allowed us to talk more specifically about our roles in independent schools. In November the Greater Boston Cooperative Library Association held its November meeting here. We presented our Library 2.0 tools – how we are implementing, evaluating, and drafting policies and procedures. Last Friday, Linda Braun brought her class on Technology in the School Library Media Center from the Simmons Graduate School to look at how we use technology and how we are using the new 2.0 applications for programming. We did our 2-hour demonstration on a SmartBoard.
Presenting is a wonderful evaluation tool. As we decide what to share with our audience, we think about what we are doing and why we do it thusly. Also, questions from colleagues often get straight to the heart of librarianship. As we ponder and answer, we also wonder if there is a better way. Reflecting on your feet in front of colleagues can be illuminating (and challenging!) Earlier this week Jen wrote about sharing resources with other libraries. I count us fortunate that we have also had wonderful opportunities to share our profession.

Felice Navidad!

We welcomed carolers this morning. Felice Navidad rang through the halls, bringing students and faculty together in a Christmas moment!

GEORGE - "A reader's best friend"

Do you wish that you could read faster? The December 11th, 2006 issue of Newsweek magazine reports that if you read to a dog your reading speed will increase substantially. There are currently 16,000 certified therapy dogs trained for reading assistance programs, and requests for these trained dogs are pouring in from schools and libraries. The dogs curl up with their student and cause the anxiety level of the readers to go way down. This process of reading the dog a story aloud has proven to increase the number of words a minute a reader can read.
GEORGE, our astute cover boy, is ready, willing and able to lay at anyone's feet.

We know how to share

One thing libraries do exceptionally well is sharing, we share information, we share our resources. We are receiving ILLs (Inter-Library Loans) from around the state, and also sending out materials to other libraries. The Pescosolido Library belongs to a number of different networks, including, CLASS (independent schools), MassCat (Massachusetts Virtual Catalog), through NMRLS (Northeast Massachusetts Regional Library Network), we can access MVLC(Merrimack Valley Library Consortium) and WorldCat. Late fall is a heavy ILL time for the library as students are on the home stretch for a variety of projects, including the Junior Thesis papers. Inter-Library Loan services open up the availability of resources to our students and can often times bring them information they would of otherwise missed. Sharing, it's a great thing...

Waiting for the white stuff!

Tis’ the season for snow! We are waiting for its arrival, and I am sure at some point Mother Nature will provide it. For those who are skiers, snowboarders, snowshoers, and sledders, young and old, the first sign of snow brings much anticipation and excitement. Ms. Toumayan has been busy creating intricate snowflakes for our bulletin board, bringing the exciting feel of the first snowfall into the library. Here you will find some new books including, The Little Book of Snowflakes (551.57 LIB), Ken Libbrecht’s Field Guide to Snowflakes (551.57 LIB), Snow in America (551.57 MER), and a display about snow cannot be without, Poems by Frost (811.52 FRO).
Staying with the “snow” theme, I read in one of my regular Bloglines feeds about the Orange County Library System’s Virtual Library where anyone can visit and create a virtual snowman (or lady.) This is strictly for fun, but shows how our world, via technology becomes smaller. All snow people created can be added to the Snowperson Gallery. I do admit to creating a virtual snowperson (Can you find it? She is gearing up for some some holiday time), visit the gallery, try it out for yourself. Even in Florida they are dreaming of snow!

Scarves, Ribbons, Paper

The gifts I treasure most are often those that are handmade, and took time rather than money to make. OK, maybe a little money too. For those of you who have a creative streak or those of you who wish to develop your creativity, there are many books in our library to help you make interesting and beautiful items that are sure to please the people on your holiday list. There is a wonderful display of arts and crafts books in the library right now to help you get started. Among the many titles are:
The New Paper Quilling 745.45 SMI
Embroidering with Silk Ribbon 745.59CIO
Celebrity Scarves 746.43 and
Fiber and Bead Jewelry 745.59

(Photo from: Edelman, Abra. Celebrity Scarves New York: Sixth & Spring Books, 2003.)

Flakey reads

Although the snow has fallen once this season, it was of the sleety and icy variety rather than the puffy and silent. No more perfect moment exists than when one stands, face uplifted, and watches the perfect flakes drift down in utter silence. The world stops and beauty reigns. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow captured it in “Snow Flakes”: Out of the bosom of the Air, Out of the cloud-folds of her garments shaken, Over the woodlands brown and bare, Over the harvest-fields forsaken, Silent, and soft, and slow Descends the snow.
Ken Libbrecht in his Field Guide to Snowflakes (551.57 LIB) provides a behind the flake science explanation accompanied by gorgeous microphotography of the different crystals. Snow, while wondrous, can also in drifting amounts provide challenges to us. Bernard Mergen in Snow in America (551.57) gives us three hundred years of cultural history from the settling days when snow forged our character to the present when it snarls our cities and challenges our environment with our wintry pastimes. If wintry pastimes are your passion, Jim Smith’s The Art of Snowboarding (796.93 SMI) might take your participation to a new level.

Santa or Brady?

I was in a quandry. It was after 3:30 and the Pats were down. And, even though they were playing poorly, this was the time in a game when they'd pull out the magic and the win. Unfortunately, my husband was Santa for the lighting of the tree on the Newbury Green and would soon be arriving by fire engine. Santa won over Brady (although it was closer than I'll ever admit to) and I hotfooted it over to the Green. Fortunately, my son who was an elf for the afternoon texted Janet Hansen (both of them Class of '00) and she texted back that the magic had happened and the home team won.
I was happy that after watching the Santa magic, I could snuggle by the fire and read Moving the Chains: Tom Brady and the Pursuit of Everything by Charles Pierce (796.332 PIE.) Not only is it a fascinating read on the growth and development of Brady but it's also the growth of the Patriots into a team who during Super Bowl introductions ran on to the field en masse. It was that moment which kindled my growing devotion to the team. The book simply enhanced that devotion.

That Holiday Feeling

The holiday spirit is filling the air at the library. One cannot help but be inspired when looking at the selection of materials on our Christmas display. Cookie books, favorite carols and Christmas stories from around the world fill the shelves. Our varied collection includes, Christmas Unwrapped: the history of Christmas (DVD 394.26 CHR), A Treasury of African-American Christmas Stories (SC TRE), The Physics of Christmas (394.26 HIG), The Autobiography of Santa Claus (FIC GUI), and Christmas Cookies: from the whimsical bake house (641.8 KAY). Just looking at the cookie recipes and pictures will get you inspired. (See the cookie theme I have going over my last two posts?) All we are missing is carolers, maybe in the next week and a half we will have some stop by to spread cheer.

How does your pyramid stack up?

This last month’s Library Media Collection (November/December 2006) had an interesting article titled, “Feed Your Brain!” by Tammy Failmezger. I copied the pyramid illustration as it intrigued me to think of what we read in the same context as the food pyramid we are all so familiar with. This pyramid was geared towards students, but is it something we can all benefit from to keep our minds alert, aware, healthy and growing? I have attempted to create this Brain Food Pyramid in the photo to the left. Failmezger suggests students have a healthy base to their pyramid with “Nonfiction reading” including, newspapers, magazines and nonfiction books, next “award winners”, followed by “inspirational reading”; biographies, character building stories, poems. This leads to the tip of the pyramid, with “pleasure reading” and, to be used sparingly, “mind candy.”
As I was considering my blog for today I was eating a delicious chocolate cookie from the dining hall (tempting dessert photo from today’s sweets table also below,) and thought about the last book I read and loved, Water for Elephants (FIC GRU). This may fall under the “pleasure reading”/ cookie category, but I must confess it makes for a great read without the cookie guilt. So find something at the tip of the pyramid once in awhile, it may even be better than the chocolate cookie.

Atlantic Monthly's List

December's Atlantic Monthly lists the top 100 list of influential Americans. In its 150th year of publication, the Atlantic asked 10 historians to submit their lists of those Americans who have had the greatest impact on the America of their time period and America as it is today. On the list are presidents, activists, authors, immigrants, theologians, scientists, athletes, and showmen. Walt Disney is at 26 before William LLoyd Garrison at 46 before Jonathan Edwards at 90. Debatable? Certainly and that is why the Atlantic encourages you to weigh in with your own lists and additions.