Thanksgiving Recipes

Happy Thanksgiving!

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Grand Opening!

We are simply tickled with our new entry door! The old and rusting double steel doors have been replaced with a single, ADA-compliant aluminum door.

I hope our patrons like the new simpler and cleaner look - with fewer moving parts we expect long and useful service from our new door.

Thank you for your patience during the 'Out of Service' period. Stop by and see us sometime. The door is open.

The Beatles with a 21st Century Twist

When my aunt was a teenager, she was the President of The Beatles Fan Club of Rockland County. She saw them in concert a couple of times and says that she couldn't tell what music was being played over the screeches of the obsessive fans. Apparently, there were ambulances on standby, and girls were being wheeled out of the concert hall after having fainted from shock at seeing The Beatles in person.

The music that this legendary British group created will no doubt continue to go on in history as some of the most iconic music ever made. How many times have you heard someone singing a variation of "Hey Jude" to a friend to cheer them up? Or a group of laughing teenagers belt out "I Am the Walrus" just for the fun of it? Have you ever wished that you could learn these songs and rock out like The Beatles for yourself? Well your dream has just been granted.

On September 9th, the new edition of RockBand hit stores: The Beatles RockBand. People had pre-ordered this game since it's unveiling in June and most could not wait to get it home and play it for themselves. Only a few days ago, I had the opportunity to play this game and it was, without a doubt, the most fun I've had playing a video game.

I understood what my aunt meant when she said it was a rush to see The Beatles playing before you; the graphics on this game are so incredibly life-like to the actual musicians that I spent more time staring at them then concentrating on the game. At points though, instead of the usual computer-generated, rainbow colored, background, there is actual footage of The Beatles recording their songs in the studio.

As for the tour section of the game, the player starts off as The Beatles did; playing in all the same locales in the exact same order on their rise to fame. As you play the tour, and unlock more venues to play in, the player also unlocks special photos and short videos about The Beatles. This game truly takes the player into The Beatles lifestyle; and to say that I was able to play guitar to "Revolution"? Yes, that is pretty incredible.

In occordance to the arrival of this new video game, all The Beatles albums have been digitally remastered, and deluxe versions are quickly climbing the charts as being some of the most popular music at the moment. Folks who were able to appreciate The Beatles in their heyday are now able to share that same love with their children, nieces, and nephews so that all generations can bond over these timeless songs and give new appreciation to the phrase "All you need is love."

Random Summer Reading

Thanks to all who participated in our adult summer reading program. Readers were invited to submit brief reviews in our readers' raffle - several lucky readers won gift certificates to area merchants.

Here is the short list of winning titles and the reader's recommendation -

Week I: The Front - Patricia Daniels Cornwell. "Not up to usual Cornwell fiction, but entertaining nevertheless."
Week II: Execution Dock. Anne Perry - "Anne Perry - [I recommend] All her books!!"
Week III: Finger Lickin' Fifteen - Janet Evanovich. [No reader comment, but Ms Evanovich can be habit-forming]
Week IV: The Alchemist - Paulo Coelho. "The book is full of life lessons."
Week V: Somewhere Towards the End -Diana Athill. "Interesting memoir about old age."

While I was ineligible for the raffle, I must say I couldn't put down John Markoff's What the Dormouse Said, a non-fiction account by the New York Times Technology writer of the impact the sixties counter culture on the evolution of the Personal Computer. It was quite a trip, especially in this Woodstock anniversary year.


A few summer weeks remain - maybe time for one or two more trips to the shore, lake or deck. Check one of these out and see what your fellow readers saw.

Summer School (2009)- Internet for Beginners

Each Thursday morning this summer, I'll provide a little one-to-one Internet Basics on our Public Access computers. This will be summer casual, relaxed help in getting started on the Internet - what it is and does, how to set up an email account, what's Google anyway?

Here are some links that we will explore:

From About.com, many useful links to get the Internet New User started:
http://netforbeginners.about.com/

Basics:
http://netforbeginners.about.com/od/internet101/u/inetbasics.htm)

Schott's Miscellany 2009 Almanac

Welcome to 2009!

Schott's Miscellany ranks high among my recent discoveries. Described on the book jacket flap as an 'almanac written to be read', Schott's is truly a miscellaneous collection of fascinating items compiled by Ben Schott, New York Times best-selling author. I thought I would share some of the interesting data filed under Reading in the Society & Health section of the new edition.

The National Endowment for the Arts 2007 report, To Read or Not to Read, focused on American literacy - the findings are somewhat depressing, especially for a librarian in the public sector:

The average American aged 15 - 24 spent only 7 minutes a day reading for pleasure. Older Americans, on average, spend about 20 minutes per day, with Seniors reading as much as 50 minutes each day.

The report notes that teenage literacy levels have declined at the same time as the decline in reading for pleasure, although our youngest readers have shown an improvement in reading levels. This makes me wonder whether the distractions of electronic games, music and video contribute to the decline as children move through adolescence.

While the library is consciously adding to our digital collection(s), we still have lots of books and printed material for your reading pleasure.

If you're interested, here's a link to the 98-page report: http://www.nea.gov/research/ToRead.PDF. Browsing the report should help to raise the national average!

LIBRARY 2.0

The Library 2.0 concept is the social and technological changes that are having an increasing impact on libraries, their staff, their patrons, and how they interact. The new tools were coming to enable patrons of all ages to suggest titles, write reviews and recommendations, and enable our librarians to enlist the entire community of readers in a collaborative effort to share their favorites - whether in print, on the web or in digital format - by using new networking tools such as wiki's and blogs. These new tools are now ready for your use.

So what is a blog, anyway? Generally speaking, it's an online journal comprised of links and postings in reverse chronological order, meaning the most recent posting appears at the top of the page. Blogs are "post-centric" -- the posting is the key unit -- rather than "page-centric," as with more traditional websites. Blogs typically link to other websites and blog postings, and many allow readers to comment on the original post, thereby allowing audience discussions.

We have totally revised our website (http://www.orangeburg-library.org) and created our initial foray into the Blogosphere! The blog is frequently updated with program information, the NYTimes Bestseller List, links to newly added DVD's, eBooks, and an extensive selection of music for your MP3 player. There is even a comments area following each section where you can suggest your recent favorites for sharing. And that's the point - we would like the library to be a place to discover the unexpected.
Please Visit our Library 2.0 at: http://orangeburglibraryblog.blogspot.com/.