Reference Divas: ready to dish up information

The librarians at the Pescosolido Library are putting on their best tiaras and are ready to take on any information challenge this Halloween Day. These reference divas are more accurate than any search engine, are able to bound heaps of information and retrieve results, and always serve with a smile. Do not underestimate their awesome powers. They are ready to share their knowledge and wisdom with you as you seek out information. Happy Halloween!

Ghouls, ghosts, and other ghastly creatures

The Library is prepared for Halloween with witches, ghosts, ghouls and other ghastly creatures lurking in our foyer. Our Library Witch is displaying some of our newest and scariest titles on DVD: Poltergeist (DVD POL), The Sixth Sense (DVD SIX), Signs (DVD SIG), The Spiral Staircase (DVD SPI), The Innocents (DVD INN) (a movie Truman Capote assisted in writing the screenplay for and based on the Turning of the Screw by Henry James) and the classic, Psycho (DVD PSY). There is nothing like watching a film that makes you think twice about turning off the lights.

For the faint of heart (I would fall into this category,) there is always the absurd of the season that can be equally entertaining and not so frightening. The BBC was reporting on some ingenious boaters who have created floating vessels out of large pumpkins. After hollowing them out, they race these giant gourds in the river. Although I was unable to find the results from this particular race, it seems giant pumpkin racing is not so uncommon. To give you a taste of this phenomenon, take a look at the first annual Massachusetts Pumpkin Paddle being reported by Living on Earth. It offers a little bit of humor for the Halloween season.

Look at our Flickr page and our Halloween displays before they are taken down! We have two great bulletin boards and displays, Edgar Allen Poe and the Salem Witch Trials. Thank you Mrs. Healey and Ms. Toumayan for making our library suited for the season!

Not your ordinary Book Group

Our camera found three members of a newly formed book group chatting in the corner of the library recently. The gentlemen were discussing possible book choices for their first read. They were considering Jeffrey Deaver’s new Lincoln Rhyme mystery, Cold Moon (FIC DEA), and Jennifer Egan’s much acclaimed haunting novel, The Keep (FIC EGA). One of the participants was making an argument for, Ask Me No Questions (FIC BUD) by Marina Budhos hoping for some insight into the life of a Muslim woman. All the books being considered were in the “New Book” alcove in front of the circulation desk. Take a look at all the new fall selections of fiction and non-fiction.

A chance encounter

Rising early one gray London morning, Jen and I took a walk and ended at The Muffin Man for tea and scones before the day's conference sessions. We met by chance a delightful man. When he learned that we were at a conference focusing on the Internet, he shared how the Internet had expanded upon his 40 year love for cowboy music. In fact, he would be travelling to the 2007 National Cowboy Poetry Gathering in Elko, Nevada before travelling through the Southwest and then down to cross the Sierra Madre. Serendipitous validation of how the 'Net connects us to our hobbies and also our passions for learning! (By the way, check out the Western and Cowboy Poetry at the Bar-D Ranch - an awesome collection.)

We flew back from our conference and landed smack in the middle of the Junior Thesis research crunch. All three of us are meeting one-on-one with the juniors guiding them on developing research strategies and resources specific to their chosen thesis topics. In our unscheduled moments we are bolstering our resources for the topics chosen this year - ordering second hand books through Amazon, full-text articles through document delivery at the Boston Public Library, and inter-library loan materials from either our regional library system or the CLASS shared system of school libraries in the Greater Boston Cooperative Library Association.
The intensity of the junior research process should mellow by Friday and develop a comfortable rhythm for the next few months. Jen and I shall be working through all we learned at the conference and applying it to our program. We did get our pictures posted (although the descriptions are sparse!) We both have notebooks with cryptic ideas to be deciphered and a few definite plans to be put in place. Coming back from a conference can be as wonderful as the anticipation of attending as we begin to put into practice what we learned!

London bound

Our postings shall be erratic for the next week as Jen and I are off to London for the Internet Librarian International Conference. We shall be located in Kensington near the Gardens and the V&A Museum. Our plan is to start with literary walking tours in Kensington and Richmond while we battle jet lag. (As my youngest son, class of ’00, observed, can any two librarians be geekier?) Monday morning we’ll be ready to learn more about Library 2.0 with colleagues from around the globe. We are looking forward to sharing what we learn so keep checking in. If we find a convenient Internet café, we may blog from London!

Still Life with Chickens

I have always been entranced by chickens. One of my favorite driving- back - roads-of-Maine memories is happening upon a small chicken processing plant bearing the sign “The cluck stops here!” My grandfather raised a backyard flock of chickens – Rhode Island Reds. (He had downsized from the family farm by the time I was born.) He referred to them as “the biddies.” A major treat was to be entrusted to gather the eggs although sometimes it took courage to slip my hand under the sitting hen. Once a year I would participate in a special overnight and get up early to accompany him to the Agway and pick up the carton of chicks which would peep gently beside me on the back seat while we got them home and under the warm lights.
I was deep into these memories as I meandered slowly through the Poultry House at the Topsfield Fair last weekend. Coming back to school I grabbed a copy of Still Life with Chickens: Starting Over in a House by the Sea by Catherine Goldhammer. It’s a lovely memoir chronicling the year following a divorce when the author needs to sell her home and start over somewhere smaller with her daughter. Her daughter refuses to move and is bribed with the promise of chickens at the new home. With the bargains and compromises which move family life forward, the chickens arrive much sooner into their lives. Not only are there wonderfully funny moments, but there are also inspirational ones as the author is empowered by learning how to raise these chicks. I definitely see chickens in my backyard’s future!

Exploring a new frontier: Podcasting

iPods and MP3 players, we see them all over campus connected to our adolescents and children. What are they listening to? What are these large play lists they hold in the palm of their hands? What is a podcast? I have decided to do a bit of research to learn more about this new format of information. Podcasts can offer serious information, such as newscasts and commentary on timely issues, or provide some comic relief, and even music not found in the mainstream. All of these things (and more,) can be downloaded onto an MP3 player and listened to when it best suits the user. To find out more about podcasts check out MyPods, podcasting for beginners (I would fall under this category!) Pluggd, offers a large list of podcast categories and tags to begin exploring what is out there and what people are creating . Enjoy discovering this new frontier.

Neverwhere

October may be considered the month of the scary story, and although “scary stories” are not usually high on my preferences for reading, I recently read a book I could add to this category. Neil Gaiman’s Neverwhere (FIC GAI), is not overly scary, but he does bring you to another dimension that is not at a pleasant place to be. Richard Mayhew works in London and one evening happens upon a stranger injured on the sidewalk. Richard cares for this injured stranger, Door, and his involvement with her determines his fate to leave the London he knows to the “London Below”. London Below is a place full of peril, unseemly creatures and a place Richard must navigate through before he can return to the London he knows. To find out more about Neverwhere or Neil Gaiman’s writing check out his webpage or journal. Happy Reading!

Developing a Thesis

Seniors in Mr. Werner's Comparative Religion class came to our themed fair the other day. We pulled books from our collection and grouped them: "the Great Awakening and Modern Evangelicalism," "the Founding of America and Early Religious Beliefs," "the Role of Mary in the Catholic Church," and "the Role of the Catholic Church during the Holocaust" among many other topics. The students were shown searching in the Academic One File database and general reference titles in the 200's. Each student left with a topic for a thesis and a stack of books and DVD's!

A Room with a View

The Library can be a wonderful place even without books. Probably the prettiest room in the Library is the glass room at the rear of the building. Its circular shape entirely of glass allows for a panoramic view of the outside.
Since there is nothing more beautiful than a Fall day in New England, we often find a lone student or faculty member sitting quietly in one of our comfy chairs, looking out at the view of the trees in their colored glory. I always wonder what they are thinking about. They could be thinking about family and friends or just reflecting on the day. Maybe they are thinking about how lucky they are to be sitting in such a beautiful setting.

October 4, 1957

October 4, 1957. Was it really as long ago as 49 years? Leave it to Beaver was starting its run on prime time. The Soviet Union launched Sputnik. What a juxtaposition! The satellite, built by Valentin Glushko, weighed 184 pounds. It orbited the earth every 96 minutes at a height of 584 miles. America was suddenly jolted out of its post-war comfort zone and redefined. Education suddenly shifted to an emphasis on science. The arms race that became the Cold War began. NASA came into being and the space race began. Paul Dickson’s Sputnik, the shock of the century (629.1 DIC) is a fascinating history, starting with the weekend of “awe” through the changes the launch brought.

Archives

Loving Library Thing

I have been a Library Thing user since last spring after attending MLA and hearing Steven Cohen speak about it at a Reader’s Advisory on the Web session. It has been invaluable to me for those times when someone is looking for a recommended read. Although I am always reading, I have a hard time remembering the last book I read, never mind any titles beyond that. With just mouse click I have my reading library at my fingertips and can offer titles from any genre and to any reader. My list displays with book titles, book covers and I am able to rate the book, tag, and connect with other people who are reading the same books.
As we continue to find ways to connect our users with books, the library has now created our own “Pesky Library”, Library Thing page where we will be putting selected new books on the list each month. You can view selected titles from our Library Thing page from our blog, (located under the links.) We have recently added some of our newest titles and look forward to having our Library Thing list grow. With all of the 2.0 tools out there on the web, Library Thing has been my all time favorite. I hope you have the chance to look at our page, and if you are a big reader, set up an account for yourself as well. You never know when you will be asked “Have you read anything good lately?”

The Carl A. Pescosolido Library

As the newest member of the library staff , I have been wondering who Carl A. Pescosolido was and why the Academy library is named for him. I have researched the man and found the answer for those of you who may also be curious. Carl A. Pescosolido was the parent of two Academy students, Carl A. Pescosolido, Jr., Class of ’55 and Richard J.V.C. Pescosolido, Class of ’57. While he did not attend the Academy himself, he contributed a very large bequest for the building of the library in honor of the quality education his sons received while they were students here. He was also the co-author of a book titled “The Proud Italians, our Great Civilizers”, published in 1991. His generosity also endowed a Chair in the Classics at Harvard University, his alma mater. Carl A. Pescosolido was a successful businessman who owned and operated one of New England’s largest oil companies. When you visit our library come see the plaque by the entrance which honors his memory, or check out his book, call number 945 PES.

We are so del.icio.us!

As we are becoming 2.0, we are exploring ways to use del.icio.us. del.icio.us is a social bookmarking website. Here you can create an account (for free!) and save all your favorite links to places on the Web. You can then access them from any Web-enabled computer. You add tags to create order and an index format but the tags are your own words, not choices out of a rigid taxonomy (rather a “folksonomy”.) If you are doing research, you can store all your links and online articles here. Create an online cookbook or a vacation planning guide. Create a list of your favorite podcast sites for easy reference. Do any of these collaboratively with a group of like-minded people by sharing an account or creating your own organizational tags. You can share your favorites with family, friends, coworkers…. But more than just sharing with the people you know, you can share with the entire del.icio.us community. And, you get to look at all the other community’s favorites, finding things on your interests that you may have overlooked. You’ll see whether 5 people saved a link or five hundred people. (You can, however, choose to keep your bookmarks private and not share.)

Confused??? Take a look at our collection. We created a site which we are using to store our favorite Readers’ Advisory sources and research sites for writing guides and citations. The three of us are placing our favorite professional sites and librarian blogs here so that we can share professional development. We’ve only been at it for a week so it’s small and our “folksonomy” may need to be more standardized as there will be three of us adding. Social networking is exciting and learning from a community has real value. For us, seeing what other librarians have saved and tagged gives us insight into helping our students become adept 21st century library users. Try creating an account and see where the community takes you.

The Perfect Fit

Today is Jeans Day at the Academy. For a five dollar donation to the Walk for Hospice, we earn the right to wear jeans and be out of dress code for the day. Although I lived in jeans for my four years of college, it still seems odd to wear them to school. It wasn’t until 1970 that students were allowed to wear them to classes at Newburyport High School. Before that, I remember occasionally getting singled out at the front door to drop to my knees and have the length of my skirt measured! Once the jean restriction was lifted, girls went from mini skirts to denim clad legs. We haunted Newburyport’s head shop, Siddhartha’s, and bought our hip-huggers and bell bottoms.

Jeans have come far from those days when the brands were Levi, Lee, or Wranglers. They were inexpensive and had only several deviations in styles. The color was indigo and they were so stiff that they needed several washings before they were soft enough to wear. The rips and tears were genuine. Although still the choice of the masses to wear, jeans are now part of the global economy and manufactured off our shores in a variety of styles and colors. Jeans: a cultural history of an American icon (687.1 SUL) by James Sullivan is a fascinating look from their beginnings on the western frontier to their place in our wardrobes today.

A Rival to Google?

For many of our students, searching for information involves a Google search, and for years now it has seemed Google has dominated Internet searching. There is a new, or not so new, engine on the web that has been getting some well deserved buzz and one we are pointing out to students every chance we can, Ask.com (formally AskJeeves.) Recently, LibrarianinBlack.net had the Top Ten Reasons to Use Ask over Google. Many of the features of Ask include a better image search, the ability to narrow and expand a search, and preview the web page. Try for yourself, you may be pleasantly surprised and will now have another strong and effective option when searching the web.

Discover your inner Sci-Fi

Next time you visit the library, take a look at the Sci Fi display Mrs. Healey has created. Science Fiction is sometimes an overlooked genre, but a genre that has a great deal to offer and has made a mark in literature. Some of the titles we have displayed are; Neil Gaiman’s Anansi Boys (FIC GAI), an ALA best book for young adults, Poison (FIC POL), the Jonathan Strous Bartimaeus Trilogy (FIC STR), and the Fantastic Four (DVD FAN). After I have read through numerous titles with characters struggling through the everyday troubles and turmoil our world seems to be abundant of, there is nothing like picking up a sci fi and completely escaping to another time and place. That’s not to say that sci-fi plots are not wrought with tribulations, you could be reading about genetic engineering, alien species, and other dimensions with characters fighting for their lives. Like a good movie, a good Science Fiction/Fantasy book will take you out of the world you are living in and offer a great escape. (Some of the most visually entertaining movies we see in the theatres are based on science fiction/fantasy writing, does it get any better than Lord of the Rings (DVD LOR)?) Where else can you read about befriending a dragon, (Eragon [FIC PAO]), live in a place where big brother is always watching (1984 [FIC WEL]), have a chip implanted in ones brain to control every move made (Feed [FIC AND]), or enter a world where books are forbidden (Fahrenheit 451 [FIC BRA] )?

So, as you can see I have a soft spot for the occasional sci-fi/fantasy title. Not sure where to begin on your own sci-fi journey? Check out the Award Web: Science Fiction Award News website for the latest and previous winners of numerous Science Fiction and Fantasy awards. Also, LOCUS magazine online offers reviews of the latest Science Fiction and Fantasy titles. The next best thing would be your local librarian, of course.
Happy Reading!

What do the books in this display have in common? They are among the 100 most frequently challenged books according to the American Library Association. “Challenged” means that these books have been objects of censorship and have been banned by various groups for a variety of reasons. Librarians strongly oppose any censorship of reading materials and protect your right to read. You can find the complete list of the 100 titles at http://www.ala.org/ala/oif/bannedbooksweek/bbwlinks/1000mostfrequently.htm
Libraries across the country are celebrating Banned Book Wee from September 23rd to the 30th, 2006. Join the celebration and READ freely.