How Libraries Stack Up

If you read this blog often, you've heard about the wide range of programs and materials we offer. But a new report from OCLC helps to put libraries' value in perspective. Did you know that:

• 12,000 public libraries (including HCML) offer free Wi-fi? That's 1,000 more locations than Starbucks and over 10,000 more than Barnes & Noble and Borders.
• Every day libraries lend out more DVDs than Netflix, and a million more DVDs than Redbox?
• Every day U.S. libraries circulate as many materials as FedEx ships packages worldwide?

Read the full (2-page) report at: http://www.oclc.org/reports/pdfs/214109usf_how_libraries_stack_up.pdf

If you're interested in helping us provide these services, visit our monthly Friends of Socastee Library meeting at 1:00 on Thursday, May 6. And tell a friend!

-Alan

Blockbuster Movies and the Books Behind Them

Entertainment Weekly's cover story last week is about the summer's biggest movies. You might be surprised to learn how many of them have literary beginnings. A book lover knows that a novel captures a richness and depth that's missing from most movies, and a movie lover knows that a great film can bring source material to life in surprising new ways. So be both: start now and you can read these before opening day!

• Twilight: Eclipse -- based on the insanely popular books that need no introduction.
• Eat, Pray, Love -- based on Elizabeth Gilbert's bestselling memoir, is "a celebrated writer’s irresistible, candid, and eloquent account of her pursuit of worldly pleasure, spiritual devotion, and what she really wanted out of life."
• Sex and the City 2 -- the sequel to 2008's big hit continues with the characters from Candace Bushnell's series of novels.
• Robin Hood -- read one of the many iterations, for kids or for adults.
  

-Alan

Food for Thought -Again

I was asked once again to write another blog. I must have done an ok job with first blog if I am being asked to write a second one. Who knows?? The 1^st blog that I wrote (well, the one and only blog I wrote) was about food – sort of. If you remember correctly I like food. I enjoy making food and I definitely enjoy eating food. We here at Socastee Library even have a patron who brings in cookies every other week. That’s right, every other week; 4 dozen delicious chocolate chip cookies get delivered to our branch. I swear the patron has to own stock in chocolate chips. How am I to lose weight working here?? I have NO will power.

So, In keeping with the “food” theme, I enjoyed reading another book: “Crepes by Suzette” by Monica Wellington. Yes, another children’s book about food. This one is about a young girl named Suzette who sells various types of crepes day and night throughout Paris. The best part about Crepes is the different varieties you can make plus they are very easy to make. My personal favorite crepe, of course, is with chocolate chips and whip cream. The possibilities are endless of the different crepes you can make. I am hungry just typing this blog. Funny how I mentioned the chocolate chip cookie lady and now I am talking about chocolate chip crepes-I guess there is a theme here. The book also included the recipe which convenient. No, I am not including the recipe here; you have to check out the book yourselves! (Bon Appétit): Below are my thoughts on crepes:

Can eat and enjoy morning, noon or night!

Refrigerate unused batter for up to 2 days.

Eat them with chocolate and whip cream (DELICIOUS!!).

Prepare them ahead of time and eat them later.

Eat them with chocolate and whip cream (it bears repeating).

Share w/your friends and family or NOT.

One More Stop!

This coming Thursday, at 12:00 noon, we will host our final Cultural Safari of the year. We'll be touring France's Provence region and the French Riviera. It's sure to be a beautiful, relaxing trip.

Cultural Safari will resume in January 2011. In the meantime, all are welcome to join one of our four bookclubs. (See the online calendar here.) And watch this space for upcoming details about our Adult Summer Reading Program.

Finally, if your wanderlust can't wait until next January, why not take a trip yourself?

-Alan

National Library Week

This is it! The most important week of all.* National Library Week is April 11-17 this year, and it's a great time to check out** the myriad resources your local library has to offer.

If you already use the library to check out books, did you know that we also offer thousands of DVD and VHS movies, both feature films and documentaries?

If you check out movies from the library, did you know we have music CDs and audiobooks?

If you bring your children to Preschool Storytime and Family Fun Nights, did you know that we also offer programs for adults like Cultural Safari, computer classes, book clubs and more?

In addition to the above, we also have art displays by local artists, free public computers with Internet access, over 50 magazines and newspapers for adults, teens and children, board games and puzzles, community information, job search and resume help, contests, clubs for knitting, Mah Jong, gardening, and much more.

And if you already use all of those library resources, remember that NLW is a great time for one other thing: spreading the word. If you have a friend, relative or neighbor who can benefit from something the library offers -- and that's everyone -- bring them with you next time!

-Alan
*Though I may be biased.
**Pun intended.

New Non-fiction

Our non-fiction section covers everything under the sun. Just pick a Dewey number and browse for a few minutes and you're sure to find something fascinating!
New arrivals this week include:

• Slow Death by Rubber Duck by Rick Smith and Bruce Lourie - This book about "the secret danger of everyday things" suggests how to protect yourself from harmful chemicals found in common objects.


• Difficult Personalities by Helen McGrath and Hazel Edwards - Learn to deal with frustrating and annoying people -- or make yourself easier to live with.


• Guantanamo, USA by Stephen Schwab - Long before Guantanamo Bay made headlines, Guantanamo was causing controversy and making history as America's first foreign naval base after the Spanish-American war.


• The Diabetic Pastry Chef by Stacey Harris - Over 200 recipes for sweet treats that anyone can enjoy.


• The Top 50 Questions Kids Ask by Susan Bartell - Answers that will please both parents and children for questions about fear, money, religion, boundaries, and more. We have a pre-K - 2nd grade edition as well as a 3rd - 5th grade edition.
  

Happy reading!
-Alan

The FroggyOne Ribbits

Can you imagine a world without libraries? I shudder to think of such a possibility for libraries have always played an important role in my life. As a child in a very small S. C. town, I remember my excitement the day the bookmobile was scheduled visit. Years later when my hometown rated a small branch in the Aiken-Bamberg-Barnwell-Edgefield Regional Library System (SC), I was a constant customer. In high school I was a member of the Library Club, at college I worked as a student assistant in the college library, and the summer after my sophomore year, I served as a library intern in the ABBE system. How appropriate it was one week to ride the bookmobile route as a librarian-in-training and see that same joy I’d felt years ago on the face of others.

The dictionary defines a library as a place set apart to contain books, periodicals, and other material for reading, viewing, listening, study, or reference. But it is so much more. It’s a refuge for many – a place where fears and hardships can be temporarily forgotten as well as the place where solutions can be found, where a newcomer can feel ‘at home,’ a second home to someone whose home life is unhappy. It’s a place to stay in touch with the world through newspapers and the Internet. A library can be a child’s first step towards recognizing there’s a big, big world around them, a calm place to complete an assignment, the location of a special program to enhance your life, the opportunity to see a movie when your wallet is wearing thin, an island of sanity in a crazy world.

So when you’re having one of those days when it seems you’re not making a difference and all the questions seem to be more than a little off-beat and no one seem to appreciate your efforts, remember you are part of a very vital institution of our society. As Germaine Greer said “Libraries are reservoirs of strength, grace and wit, reminders of order, calm and continuity, lakes of mental energy, neither warm nor cold, light nor dark. The pleasure they give is steady, reliable, deep and long-lasting.”