New Blog Background

You may be surprised when you visit this site to see the new background. I will be exploring  additional features that are a part of this new look.

Teens’ Top Ten Books

Teen members from school and public library groups have nominated twenty five of their favorite books from the previous year.  The results will be made public during Teen Read Week from October 16-22. The books we have in our collection that are on that list are displayed on the glass bookcase.  In the same area  are the  books we own that are among the ten title winners from 2010. I am glad one of my favorite authors, Sarah Dessen, is part of the group. She always tells an interesting story in a way that resonates.

Take a moment to look at our display to see if there is anything that peaks your interest. I’ve noticed one of the books has already been checked out.

Welcome Back

Summer went by very quickly as usual. I hope you have had a good one and  found something you could enjoy on the summer reading list.  I ordered a number of pleasure reading fiction and nonfiction that you may enjoy. Hopefully there will be something for everyone’s taste. I will display the new books on the beige bookshelves near the entrance to the library. If you read something you really liked over the summer, let me know.

I’ll be writing about some of the titles I particularly liked and/or really got good reviews.

Library Opening and Study Hall Schedule

We will be open for the same hours as last year from 7 to 3.

Library sign up will not happen until you’ve had the opportunity to meet  with your study hall teachers so they and you know you are in the right room. We will announce when the library sign ups will start.

Reading Rants

One of my favorite sites is Reading Rants. Jennifer Hubert has been writing book reviews for high school students for 12 years.  Many of the books we have in the library have been reviewed by her. If something appeals to you and we don’t have it, let me know either through this blog or see me.

More refined search options

Searching as efficiently as possible saves you time and yields better results.   Boolean searching (see the link on the left hand side of this blog) should be your standard search mode. Using Advanced Search options also help to reduce the number of hits. If you link to Google’s Advanced Search, you will have many choices for narrowing your results as well as a page of Advanced Search Tips to help you frame your search. Additionally, Google gives you the chance to narrow your results to a specific file type such as PowerPoint or to a domain, .edu, .org, etc

Directories provide a different type of information from search engines. Directories are run by humans who review web sites and categorize them within designated topics. Librarians are in the forefront of creating them for libraries and students.  The number of sites are less, but often chock full of information – and definitely authoritative! A well known one we placed on the bottom of the database page is Librarian’s Index to the Internet. Another one that can be helpful is INFOMINE at the bottom on the main library page.