|
Director's
Corner
by Kay Zaharis
I have been busy with
streamlining some procedures, introducing new services, and reviewing
our budget. I attended council meetings for the City of Cortland, the
Town of Cortlandville, and Virgil to inform them of the new direction
for the library and appeal for their generous financial support. If you enjoy this library and live in the City of Cortland,
please contact your
representative and ask them to be supportive of the library’s
request for funds. While
some of our new services are free to us through the Finger Lakes
Library System, we plan to offer additional services which will cost
money during 2004. We
also are moving toward automation.
During the next year, we will need money to pay for entering
our collection into the System’s computer catalog.
Computerization will enable patrons to reserve books, renew
books, and search for books and information in our library – all
online. We need our
patron’s support, our legislator’s support, and finances to move
ahead. Thank you.
|
New This Month
Hear - Here –
audio books
We added nearly 50 NEW audio books to our collection.
There is a complete list of our audio books in a folder located on top
of the circulation desk. Please review the list to find your favorite book, check it
out, and enjoy listening to it.
We have also started our audio book collection on loan
from the Finger Lakes Library System. The
2 title limit loan period is for 10 days.
Please remember that there is NO
grace period for these loans and you will be fined $1 per day for each day
that the audio book is overdue. That
is because they are loaned to us for a limited time and we want to have as
many patrons as possible enjoy them. Please
be considerate and return them on time. (Reminder:
the 7-day grace period will remain for the audiobooks in our permanent
collection.)
Mail-it Library
Service
This is a service offering books, magazines, audio
books, and videos by mail to individuals unable to use their local library.
Catalogs are provided. Anyone who has difficulty getting to the library due to
distance, lack of transportation, special circumstance, or disability is
eligible for this service. Senior citizens are automatically eligible.
Further information and forms are available at the circulation desk.
|
Training
Databases – our staff has been
trained to help you with the online databases.
Also one-on-one training will be available on
Wednesdays from 10:15 a.m. to 11:15 a.m., and Saturdays from
2:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. Sign-up begins November 24, classes begin on December 3.
If you would like specific training to learn what
these databases contain, and how they can benefit your
information needs, just come in and sign the sheet and we
will then arrange for training.
Databases,
available to us through the Finger Lakes Library System,
include: EBSCOhost: full text of 800+ general periodicals
back to 1984; NovelList: readers advisory resource which
assists in finding new authors and titles; Gale/NYSL Health
Database: full-text of health magazines, books &
newsletters; Gale/NYSL Twayne’s Author Series: in-depth
introductions to the lives and works of writers; Gale
Literature Resource Center: for both undergraduate and
graduate student as well as the sophisticated casual user;
and NewsBank: full-text of 10 regional NY, plus 6 national,
newspapers. A special access number can be issued to library
cardholders so that you can access these databases from a
remote computer. (Full-text
is word-for-word as printed in the magazine)
Large
Print
We expanded our large print section and now the fiction
is distinctly separated from the non-fiction. There is a sign on top of the section containing the
non-fiction books, which follow all of the fiction books.
|
|
Children’s Room Notes
Bob Comenole and Bob Sanders will
present original poetry and a holiday-themed short story for
children ages 8 and up on Thursday, December 18th
at 7:00 p.m. Be
prepared to laugh but also to think about the people and
objects you encounter everyday.
The Children’s Room announces a few
of its new purchases: in
the LC (Little Children) collection:
Madonna’s “English Roses”, Jan Brett’s “On
Noah’s Ark” and “Jackalope” by Janet Stevens.
In the J
(Juvenile) collection: the first three titles in the Spiderwick
Chronicles by Tony DiTerlizzi and Holly Black along with
“New Dinos – the latest finds, the coolest dinosaur
discoveries” by Shelley Tanaka have been added.
If you like the Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket, we suggest the Spiderwick
Chronicles. Lastly,
three new fantasy books have arrived for YA
(Young Adult) readers:
“Eragon” by Chris Paolini, “Amulet of Samarkand”
by Jonathan Stroud, and the newest Redwall title, “Loamhedge” by Brian Jacques.
Volunteers needed
We were pleased with the response to our volunteer
meeting held on October 29. If you are interested in giving
your time and energy, whether it is for one hour per year or
several hours per month (and have not yet filled in a
volunteer form), please contact the director, Kay Zaharis,
at 753-1042, to set up a time to discuss where help is
needed and where your interests lie.
|
Book Review
Brief intervals of horrible sanity,
one season in a progressive school, by Elizabeth Gold
Tarcher/Penguin Press c2003
The role of the teacher has seldom been
lived or described with such point-blank honesty as is found
in this new book about teenagers and modern schools.
Elizabeth Gold, a young writer, takes a job teaching
English in the School of the New Millenium (not its real
name). The
school is trying to become a charter school, and serves a
diverse population in New York City.
With her vision free of the interpretations usually
imposed by teacher education, Ms. Gold sees the drama, the
sorrow, and the dilemmas of public education with fresh
eyes. This puts her somewhat in the position of the child who
exposes the truth in the old tale, “The Emperor’s New
Clothes.”
Her daily teaching experiences are
related in deft, blunt prose, seasoned with the vivid
descriptions of her students, her colleagues and her own
dreams and doubts. As
a teacher and as a writer, she is gloriously honest.
And that is the power of her book.
Elizabeth Gold has given us a gift.
With humor and candor and fast-moving prose, she has
drawn a compassionate picture of life in school and its
effects on us all. In
a reflective afterword, she warns, “…it is foolish to
criticize a school system as an entity separate from the
society that made it.”
Readers will find this account of a teaching year
available now at the Cortland Free Library on the new
nonfiction table.
|
Book Review (cont.) . . .
(This review was written by Lynn Olcott
of Homer who teaches English at Maine-Endwell high school.
Lynn, an author, has had two of her books published.)
Do You Know What’s Here??
We have two BIG
EYEs available for loan. These are high intensity lights
with a 5-inch magnifying glass attached. This
light/magnifier can be an excellent tool for anyone who
needs help seeing those small projects, or tiny parts.
Stop in and ask the staff about checking one out on
loan.
Career
Pamphlets – Published by the Institute for Research in
Chicago, we have over 300 pamphlets which provide the
history of a particular profession, description of work
duties, path you will need to get there, where you can work,
real life stories, training programs, earnings, and even
disadvantages of the profession. There is a list of the
available pamphlets attached to an end shelf in the
periodical section of the Adult Library.
In the back of each pamphlet is a list of
associations and organizations, publications, and other tips
on obtaining information on that particular career.
|
