Change to Summer Hours – Now Open Longer on Thor’s Day!

May is half over and Summer is on our doorstep! On Memorial Day, the library will be changing to our Summer hours until Labor Day. Please note that, besides being different than our typical hours, our Summer hours have themselves been modified!

In an effort to better provide service to the community and in honor of our illustrious board member, Thor Conley, we will extend our Thursday operating hours during the summer – Henceforth known as Thor’s Day.

Please take note of our new Summer Hours:

Monday – Wednesday
10:00 AM – 6:00 PM

Thor’s Day
10:00 AM – 7:00 PM

Friday and Saturday
10:00 AM – 6:00 PM

Our board member, Thor Conley. You just can’t stop this guy from swinging hammers and throwing lightning around.

Tumblebooks comes to your iPad, iPod, or iPhone!

The Idaho Map Room

The University of Idaho Library would like to announce the release of its latest digital project, The Map Room.

http://www.lib.uidaho.edu/digital/maps/

The Map Room is a Google Fusion Table powered Google Maps application that allows users to browse over 8000 photographs from our digital collections.  Users can browse all of these photos on our Map of All Items or browse items on 9 collection-specific maps (click the “About the Map Room” link on the home page to see the list).  Each map is searchable by keyword, limitable by decade, and equipped with pre-defined zooming coordinates for easier discovery. The images in the maps’ info/pop-up windows are linked from our instance of ContentDM; each provides metadata about the image, a link back to the image’s web page (for more information), and a link back to the collection from which the image is drawn.  Most of the photos cover the state of Idaho although there are also several groupings from around the Northwest and throughout the country.

The Map Room’s newest additions come from another new collection – Idaho Cities and Towns. http://www.lib.uidaho.edu/digital/cities/

This collection makes available photographs from 134 Idaho Cities and Towns, from Aberdeen to Yellow Dog.   These can be browsed by time, location, subject, and city name (use the cities/subject tab).

Guilty as charged…

Source: http://imgur.com/gallery/MvWm0

Colorblindness effects roughly 7% of all men and 0.5% of all women. The above pie chart, while funny, is also strikingly true! Chances are you’ve asked the same of someone else before. But now you can see for yourself with the colorblindness Vision Simulator!

The Vision Simulator lets you select from a variety of images and apply a filter that simulates what a colorblind person would see. Satisfy your curiosity without annoying your colorblind friend!

http://www.webexhibits.org/causesofcolor/2.html

Mango Languages Android App!

We’re Celebrating Arbor Day!

Introducing Ancestry.com!

Ancestry® Library Edition, distributed exclusively by ProQuest and powered by Ancestry.com, delivers billions of records in census data, vital records, directories, photos, and more.

Ancestry Library Edition brings the world’s most popular consumer online genealogy resource to your library. It’s an unprecedented online collection of individuals from North America, the UK, Europe, Australia, and more.

Answers await everyone—whether professional or hobbyist, expert or novice, genealogist, or historian—inside the more than 7,000 available databases. Here, you can unlock the story of you with sources like censuses, vital records, immigration records, family histories, military records, court and legal documents, directories, photos, maps, and more.

And, with ongoing updates and new content always being added, you’ll keep coming back to discover more. Popular and recently added collections include:

U.S. collections deliver hundreds of millions of names from sources such as federal and U.S. censuses; birth, death, and marriage records including the Social Security Death Index; and U.S. border crossing and trans-ocean ship records.

Canadian collections provide nearly 60 million records from the Census of Canada; and key vital records, such as the Drouin Collection (1621-1967), which includes nearly 30 million baptism, marriage, and burial records from Quebec.

U.K. collections offer censuses for England, Wales, Isle of Man, Channel Islands, and Scotland, with nearly 200 million records; Births and Baptisms (1834-1906), Marriage Licenses (1521-1869), Deaths and Burials (1834-1934), and Poor Law Records (1840-1938) in London; and more.

Other international collections continue to grow with more than 46 million records from German census, vital records, emigration indexes, ship lists, phone directories, and more; Chinese surnames in the large and growing Jiapu Collection of Chinese lineage books; Jewish family history records from Eastern Europe and Russia; and more.

Military collections deliver over 150 million records containing information often not found elsewhere; and includes records from the colonial to the Vietnam era.

Multimedia collections deliver millions of files ranging from family and gravestone photos to postcards and newsreels.

All this, plus an intuitive search interface, detailed search indexes, and helpful Learning Center tools, makes Ancestry Library Edition an indispensible resource for any library serving genealogists and historians.

Come in and use Ancestry.com in the library today!  NOTE – You MUST be in the library to use this resource!

Support Your Idaho Libraries!

Support your state’s libraries now by sending your elected officials a message from your state library association’s take action page: http://capwiz.com/ala/id

Libraries continue to be busier than ever helping families, students, seniors, etc., during these tough times. But as we know, public libraries, school libraries, and academic libraries are still struggling to maintain budgets, staff, and resources to serve the needs of their communities. Your state government provides much needed funding for libraries to provide public access to the Internet to everyone, critical databases for individuals and small businesses, homework help, and much more.

If you want to, include in your message a personal story about how your library makes a positive difference in your life!

Please forward this message to your friends, family, and colleagues, and ask them to take this opportunity to support libraries in your state!

Meet Penny

Penny Lefevre has worked at our library for two years, she loves working with the community. Penny mends the books when they come back to us falling apart. She also works the circulation desk, manages Interlibrary Loan, our Community Service program, and processes the magazines. Along with the rest of our staff she loves books, and her favorite book of all time is Anne Frank Diary of a Young Girl. Currently, she is reading the Stephanie Plum series by Janet Evanovich. Penny is just about 5 feet tall and when she was younger wanted to work in criminal justice. She has lived in many places, such as Hawaii, Germany and England.

It’s Rodeo Week!

Happy April Fools’ Day!

So have you played a prank on someone today?  Or had one played on you?

Today is April Fools’ Day, a day when people play practical jokes and pranks on one another.  In this day and age, the Internet is great, great fun on April Fools!  There’s always some amusing prank that some company or group is doing.  For example, check out this likely April Fools joke by Google – Google Motion – which suggests that you can now use motions with your webcam to organize your emails.  Pretty funny!

April Fools’ Day is not a new day.  It’s actually pretty old, having been mentioned as far back as the 1300′s in Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales.  Lots of people think that April Fools’ Day came about when the calendar was switched from April 1st to January 1st, although that change didn’t occur until the 16th Century.  Either way, it’s a day of fun, and I hope you enjoy some safe and good natured pranking!

For more info:

Wikipedia

Featured Board Game of the Week!

Here at the Portneuf Library we LOVE gaming!  We think gaming is a great way for family and friends to build relationships through play.  We’ve got our xBox Kinects set up for everyone to play, and now we’ve added a Featured Board Game of the Week.  Each week, our gaming staff will choose a board game to feature for the week.  The featured board game will be set up on the little table to the left of the service desk, all set up, and complete with instructions.  The featured board game will not be available to check out the week it’s featured, but once you try it you can come check it out the following week!

So, come play!  Get your game on!

New Mobile Website!

We’ve gone mobile!  The Portneuf Library now has a mobile website designed to work best on your smart phone!  The new mobile website will automatically give you brief bits of the content we post, and offers the most important information quickly.  Access the library on your smartphone or phone browser at our website to see hours and directions, lists of services, databases, and more on the fly!

Prepping for the ACT or SAT?

Know anybody who is preparing for the ACT or SAT, or the GED or GMAT?  Did you know that Idaho provides access to preparation courses and practice tests for these, and more, exams through the Learning Express Library?  Well, they do, and it’s an easy way to practice up for those tests!

It’s the First Day of Spring!!!!

photo taken by Roger Lynn, in Moscow, Idaho.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/rogerlynn/470765168/

Happy first day of spring!

Today marks the first day of Spring, while marking the first day of Fall down in the Southern Hemisphere.  Today, the sun is directly over the Earth’s equator, and day and night are an equal 12 hours.  Also, from here on out it’s only going to get warmer and longer!  That means it’s time to clean up the campers and tents, and get the fishing gear out, because pretty soon we’ll all be outside a whole lot more.  Yaaay!

For More Info:

Answers.USA.gov

Wikipedia

Happy St Patrick’s Day!

Happy St Patrick’s Day!  Are you wearing green?  You better hope so, or you’ll be pinched to pieces!

St Patrick’s Day is always celebrated on the 17th of March, which is the anniversary of St Patrick’s death.  St Patrick was a patron saint of Ireland, and was one of the most significant preachers who brought Christianity to Ireland.  He used the shamrock to explain the concept of the Trinity to the native Irish, and worked hard for nearly thirty years to bring Christianity to the small country.

The celebration of St Patrick’s Day came to America from the Irish immigrants who settled in this country from its inception, and is now a nationally recognized holiday.  Feasting and merry making are common themes, as is wearing the color green.  But, did you know, St Patrick’s original color was blue?

What other neat facts can you learn about St Patrick’s Day?

References:

Wikipedia

History.com

Happy Pi Day!

It’s Pi Day!  You know, 3.141592653589793238492643383….

What is Pi?  Pi is probably the most famous mathematical constant, since we all learn about pi while in grade school in order to determine the circumference of a circle.  Pi never ends; the number continues forever after the decimal point.  With today’s computers, pi has been calculated to one trillion spaces after the decimal point.  It also continues indefinitely without ever repeating!

Pi day was first created and celebrated by a famous physicist in San Fransisco, and was made a real, national holiday when, on March 12, 2009, the US House of Representatives passed a resolution (HRES 224) making March 14th National Pi Day.  Why March 14th?  Why, 3/14, of course!!!!

Learn some really neat things about Pi at the official Pi Day website, linked below!

References:

Official Pi Day Website

Wikipedia

Meet Josh

Tax Time!

Yes, it’s that time of year!  Drag out your W2s and begin to think about whether you paid enough taxes, or you have to pay more!  However, easy it is to pay someone to do your taxes, that’s not always ideal! Personally, I’d rather spend the time to muddle through on my own and put that fee money into my pocket.  Here’s some free, yes, FREE, ways to do your taxes!

The IRS has a free file system set up, and if you make less than 58,000$, you can even use software to do it.  If you make more than that amount or dont want to use software, you can use their electronic forms.  Learn more here.

IRS FREE FILE www.irs.gov/freefile

Totally lost?  No worries!  The Portneuf Library is partnering to offer AARP tax help twice a week from this Tuesday till April 14th!  The volunteers have attended a training session and know the software they use.  They’ll help you navigate your taxes and get this task done, all for FREE!  Now THAT’S a deal!!!!  Come see the AARP volunteers every Tuesday and Thursday from now till April 12th in the Meeting Room from 10-3:30.

THE GIRLS OF ROOM 28

Meet Kathleen

Kathleen joined our team in October 2011.  She has a BA in English and love’s  reading, writing and just being around books in general.  Kathleen’s  favorite book by far is Watership Down by Richard Adams.  She makes sure to read it at least once a year. Currently, though, Kathleen has been  reading nothing but baby name books, She is expecting her first child in March!

Outside of work, one of Kathleen’s  occasional hobbies is deep sea fishing.  The  biggest fish  she has caught so far is a 300lb., 8 foot long Salmon shark that she  hooked on a charter out of Valdez, Alaska.

Idaho Pictures Online!

I would like to announce the release of the newly redesigned Barnard Stockbridge Photograph Collection:

http://www.lib.uidaho.edu/digital/barstock/

The digital collection contains over 1200 historical photographs of Northern Idaho towns, mines, and mills, including photographs documenting the aftermath of the Big Burn fires of 1910 (an online exhibition of these photos and related documents can be found here: http://www.lib.uidaho.edu/digital/bigburn/). The original collection consists of over 200,000 nitrocellulose and glass plate negatives taken by Nellie Stockbridge and her predecessor, T.N. Barnard. These were given to the University of Idaho Library in 1962.

The web portal allows a user to browse these photos by timeline, subject or Google map interface, view selected photos via image gallery, and search the photographs’ metadata.

LOVE YOUR LIBRARY!!!!

LOOKING FORWARD TO SEEING YOU!!

Tastekid and Decide-o-tron

Decide-o-tron is Pandora for gamer’s.  It quickly builds a library of the games you like and own, then makes a list of recommendations for you based on your library. It just launched in August for iOS devices and will be free. So grab your iphone or ipad and see what Decide-o-tron recommends for you!

Tastekid  is able to give you recommendations based on your interests in music, games, and books.  TasteKid has been around since 2008  an actual mascot called Emmy, the TasteKid. Emmy is a adorable anime  girl who will guide you along the site and provide book, music and movie recommendations for you. Tastekid is also available as an app for your phone.

Both have similar attributes as Pandora, good reads, last fm and book lamp. Both of these sites offer quick recommendations and “adapt” to your taste in order to make searching for your interests quicker and easier. Check theses fun sites out!

Snow Flower and the Secret Fan

 

Kid and Young Adult program’s return!!

After all the effort that has been put into our “Great Children migration 2011-2012″, We are happy to say  Children and Young Adult program’s  will resume on January 30. 

The schedule will be as follows:

MONDAY JAN 30th- 10:30-MUSIC & MOVEMENT

TUESDAY JAN 31st-10:30 BABY STORYTIME

11:00-TERRIFIC TWOS

WEDNESDAY FEB 1st- 10:30 OR 1:00-PRESCHOOLSTORYTIME

3:30 SPECIAL NEEDS STORY TIME

FOR ALL OTHER PROGRAMS PLEASE CONSULT A

CALENDAR 

We will be having a grand reopening after our Young Adult area is complete in mid February.

Made in the U.S.A

Meet Nancy

In the course of the 30 months or so that I have worked here my co-workers have shared with me their abundance of generosity and kindness and interests. One introduced me to Aunt Dimity. Another to Atticus O’Sullivan a contemporary to the students at Arizona State university, though he is 2000 some years old. And to his Irish wolfhound Oberon. Amelia Peabody was another clerk’s source of chuckles even as she, Amelia, solved her Egyptian mysteries. A co-worker defended Agatha Raisin’s crabbiness, and indirectly invited lovable Hamish Macbeth into my world of books. Frederick Bastiat knew in the 1800′s the true concept of law, what we are still endeavoring to attain. On and on.

Nana – Anna

OLD – YOUNG

ENDING – STARTING OUT

BUNDLED UP – BUNDLED DOWN

BEEN THERE – WHERE TO

KNOWING – WONDERING

HAPPY – HAPPY

and the blood of generations courses through both and the Spirit of God transforms both

Zephyr and Gentle Breeze they name Thee

And so Thou art in Thy domain

But if it please Thee Lord I pray Thee

Possess me as a Hurricane

Draw of the Library for me?

Finding the answers.

Serving others of the Greatest Generation.

Enjoying the mothers and their wee ones

Working with wonderful colleagues

A few facts about SEICAA

The Weird Sisters

 

TumbleBooks on the iPad and iPhone!

We are pleased to announce that we have begun a project which will allow your students and patrons to access your TumbleBooks picture book collection on the iPad and iPhone 4!!

As you may know, TumbleBooks are created using flash animation and Apple has been steadfast in refusing to include flash in their iPads and iPhones.

So, in the spirit of, “if you can’t beat them, join them”, and in our continued efforts to give our subscribers the best experience possible, we are making non flash videos especially for the iPad.

You can check out our first batch of iPad-compatible TumbleBooks by signing into TumbleBookLibrary on your iPad and going to the Story Books section. There are currently 44 iPad books to choose from!

Just below the “Story Books” heading, there is a link called “Click here for iPad-compatible titles”. Click on this link, and the iPad books will be sorted for you. Now, simply click on the “iPad” button to launch the book of your choice! The book will appear in a small window at first, but to expand, simply click on the “full screen” button.

In the coming months, we will be creating iPad content for the entire TumbleBooks animated picture books collection.

Maximize Your Job Search!

Looking for work?  Or maybe looking to find a new job or a new profession?

Many job search tools and resources are available from the Idaho Department of Labor, including the following recent additions:

1.       Online workshop: “Maximize Your Job Search” online workshop, a step-by-step guide to a better job search that includes video and audio tips Idaho employers, emphasizing what they expect to see in a potential employee. Find the online workshop atwww2.labor.idaho.gov/jobsearchworkbook/.

2.       24-page workbook: “Maximize Your Job Search”  workbook, a 24-page guide to getting started, identifying skills, networking, the hidden job market, using social media, and more.

• ·         A PDF of the “Maximize Your Job Search” workbook is available at http://labor.idaho.gov/publications/JobSearch_Workbook.pdf

Website Roundup

Oooooh, who doesn’t love a great FREE website?  We’ve stumbled across these and we thought we would share!

MATCHED

Meet Holly

Holly has worked at the library for about two and a half years.   She is a clerk up front  helping patrons as well as shelving books.   Her favorite part of working here is getting to work with all the different people.   Holly also loves working around books all day!   When asked who her favorite author is or favorite book she exclaimed, “I love to many books to name just one!”  Currently Holly is reading  One fun random fact about Holly is that she enjoys watching reruns of  The Cosby Show and The Nanny.

Auto Repair Reference Center

Did you know that EBSCO’s newly enhanced Auto Repair Reference Center, (ARRC), offers the most comprehensive collection of automobile repair information in the market?

Content includes:

•    Coverage of more than 37,000 vehicles from 1945 to present
•    Millions of drawings and step-by-step photographs
•    Approximately 110,000 technical service bulletins & recalls issued by the original equipment vehicle manufacturer
•    Over 180,000 enhanced wiring diagrams for easy viewing and printing
•    Specifications & maintenance schedules
•    Labor Time Guide & Estimator
•   Video overviews of auto systems with AutoIQ
•    Quick Tips (a complete guide to vehicle ownership & maintenance)
•    Diagnostic information

Interface features include:

•    Completely redesigned interface with intuitive, user-friendly navigation
•    Enhanced searching within content collections
•    Ability to print/email/save high-quality PDF records
•    Increased repair coverage – more than 37,000 vehicles covered
•    Expanded, in-depth repair information from the major original equipment manufacturers, including Ford, Honda, and GMC
•    On-Board Diagnostics (OBD II) codes with description and troubleshooting information

The Help

THE HELP BY KATHRYN STOCKETT

Kathryn Stockett’s first novel; “The Help” is considered one of the years best. This is the story of a young white woman,Skeeter Phelan growing up in Jackson Mississippi in the 1960’s and the black maids, Aibileen and Minny who work for white families in the town. Aibileen is the older, wiser maid who loves the children she cares for, Minny is a younger, sassier maid who has trouble keeping work and struggles to support her own five children.

I personally enjoyed this novel, I like the way it was written from the perspective of these three different women. Skeeter is a woman who grew up with a  maid who she faithfully stayed in touch with while studying  journalism and literature at Ole Miss. Then the letters suddenly stop.She tries to find answers when she returns from school but without avail, so she stays busy with her friends Hilly Holbrook; head socialite and Elizabeth Leefolt who jumps at Hilly’s every whim.

In the beginning of the story Minny works for Holly Holbrook and her aging mother while, Aibileen has been working for Elizabeth Holbrook . After scandal which leads to Minny being fired and having no luck finding another family to work for. A new woman, Celia Foote enters the picture who the other “proper ladies” consider no good “white trash.” Aibileen helps Minny find employment with Celia, who attempts to keep it a secret from her husband. Many different relationships get tied up and messy, Skeeter is wanting to know what happened to her old maid,Constantine as well as working on her career in journalism. She finds a position at the Jackson local paper writing advice columns on house cleaning, something she herself has no knowledge of. With permission from Elizabeth Skeeter begins asking  Aibileen’s advice for her column and a slow tentative friendship develops. Which begins the enticing idea for a tell all book from the maids perspective of working for white women in Jackson Mississippi.Thus begins a life of sneaking around and betraying trusts to bring out these women’s stories.

This  story exposes the “what people think” ideals of 1960’s Mississippi. Hilly Holbrook was a representation of the opinion machine and gossip mill that “mattered” in segregated life. With misplaced courtship, sass or sympathy;a step across the imaginary color barrier an entire life could be made or ruined.

A well written novel set in a historical time, “The Help” is a wonderful look at the radicals of times long ago and how far we have come. Life held hardships and fear along with grace and goodness. Stockett captures both in this complex reality and I believe shows the invisible barriers we have crossed and how much we could have together by crossing the lines.

Texting Makes U Stupid (Well, Sort Of)

This is a very interesting article that came across my email a few days ago.  Good food for thought, but I do think that any act of reading is a good place to start.  You dont have to begin with a heavy classic, as long as you and your loved ones are reading SOMETHING.

http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/2011/09/11/how-will-today-s-texting-teenagers-compete.html

Texting Makes U Stupid

The U.S. is producing civilizational illiterates. How will they compete against America’s global rivals?

by Niall Ferguson | September 11, 2011

The good news is that today’s teenagers are avid readers and prolific writers. The bad news is that what they are reading and writing are text messages.

According to a survey carried out last year by Nielsen, Americans between the ages of 13 and 17 send and receive an average of 3,339 texts per month. Teenage girls send and receive more than 4,000.

It’s an unmissable trend. Even if you don’t have teenage kids, you’ll see other people’s offspring slouching around, eyes averted, tapping away, oblivious to their surroundings. Take a group of teenagers to see the seven wonders of the world. They’ll be texting all the way. Show a teenager Botticelli’s Adoration of the Magi. You might get a cursory glance before a buzz signals the arrival of the latest SMS. Seconds before the earth is hit by a gigantic asteroid or engulfed by a super tsunami, millions of lithe young fingers will be typing the human race’s last inane words to itself:

C u later NOT

Now, before I am accused of throwing stones in a glass house, let me confess. I probably send about 50 emails a day, and I receive what seem like 200. But there’s a difference. I also read books. It’s a quaint old habit I picked up as a kid, in the days before cellphones began nesting, cuckoolike, in the palms of the young.

Half of today’s teenagers don’t read books—except when they’re made to. According to the most recent survey by the National Endowment for the Arts, the proportion of Americans between the ages of 18 and 24 who read a book not required at school or at work is now 50.7 percent, the lowest for any adult age group younger than 75, and down from 59 percent 20 years ago.

Back in 2004, when the NEA last looked at younger readers’ habits, it was already the case that fewer than one in three 13-year-olds read for pleasure every day. Especially terrifying to me as a professor is the fact that two thirds of college freshmen read for pleasure for less than an hour per week. A third of seniors don’t read for pleasure at all.

Why does this matter? For two reasons. First, we are falling behind more-literate societies. According to the results of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development’s most recent Program for International Student Assessment, the gap in reading ability between the 15-year-olds in the Shanghai district of China and those in the United States is now as big as the gap between the U.S. and Serbia or Chile.

But the more important reason is that children who don’t read are cut off from the civilization of their ancestors.

So take a look at your bookshelves. Do you have all—better make that any—of the books on the Columbia University undergraduate core curriculum? It’s not perfect, but it’s as good a list of the canon of Western civilization as I know of. Let’s take the 11 books on the syllabus for the spring 2012 semester: (1) Virgil’s Aeneid; (2) Ovid’s Metamorphoses; (3) Saint Augustine’s Confessions; (4) Dante’s The Divine Comedy; (5) Montaigne’s Essays; (6) Shakespeare’s King Lear; (7) Cervantes’s Don Quixote; (8) Goethe’s Faust; (9) Austen’s Pride and Prejudice; (10) Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment; (11) Woolf’s To the Lighthouse.

Step one: Order the ones you haven’t got today. (And get War and Peace, Great Expectations, and Moby-Dick while you’re at it.)

Step two: When vacation time comes around, tell the teenagers in your life you are taking them to a party. Or to camp. They won’t resist.

Step three: Drive to a remote rural location where there is no cell-phone reception whatsoever.

Step four: Reveal that this is in fact a reading party and that for the next two weeks reading is all you are proposing to do—apart from eating, sleeping, and talking about the books.

Welcome to Book Camp, kids.

Cliff Notes Study Guides in Ebsco eBooks

The end of the semester is right around the corner!  Get ready with Cliff Notes Study Guides!

Did you know that our Ebsco eBooks subscription contains lots and lots of Cliff Notes study guides?  Well, it does, and through Ebsco, you can download and view tons of study guides on literature, math, science, and more!  Ebsco also offers tons of other manuals and reference books, which will help you master topics for your final tests and exams, or to just learn more about topics you’re interested in!

Log into Ebsco eBooks today!  You’ll need your 14 digit barcode to log into Ebsco from home.

Ebsco eBooks here

Breaking Silence

Breaking Silence
by Linda Castillo

This is the third in Linda Castillo’s Kate Burkholder books, focusing around former Amish police chief Kate Burkholder.  Kate is a police chief in a small Ohio town with  a significant Amish community.  Kate’s community suffers horrible hate crimes on the Amish, and she must delve into the secrets of her community in order to find the truth, and put a stop to the crimes.

This book is similar to the first two books in the series, although it is milder and much less gristly.  However, the themes are the same, the characters and their interpersonal dynamics are the same, the cold, slushy, wintery weather is the same… Although Castillo writes a good book, this book is not remarkably different from her first two enough to classify it as an excellent read.  It’s high time Castillo develops the characters more, and let them let go the tired drama they’ve experienced in the first two books.  And for pete’s sake; change the weather!

Trickster Native American Tales: A Graphic Collection

iTunes U

Learn anything, anytime, anywhere!

Have you heard of iTunes U?  iTunes U is a collection of lectures, lessons, videos, and more, produced by schools, colleges, and museums for the public.  These materials are totally free!  Download iTunes for your computer and search for many topics that interest you.  Recently, I’ve downloaded many history lectures from the Smithsonian Museum and different colleges on American History and World History.  Using any device that has iTunes on it, like an iPod, you can listen to these lectures on the go.  Or, just play them on your computer.  iTunes U is a great way to learn more and challenge your current knowledge on many topics.

Learn more about iTunes U here

Download iTunes here

Confessions of a Prairie Bitch

Confessions of a Prairie Bitch
by Alison Arngrim

Ever watch Little House on the Prairie?  How did you feel about Nellie Oleson?  Did you love her?  Hate her for the mean things she did to Laura?  Have you ever wondered just what Nellie was like in real life?

Wonder no more, and read this remarkable and likeable autobiography of Alison Arngrim!  Alison played Nellie on Little House and dishes on what life was like living part time in the 19^th century on everyone’s TV screens for years.  Did Alison, playing Nellie, and Melissa Gilbert, playing Laura, really fight like that in true life?  Who was the nasty one on the set?  What was it like to dress up and play on the prairie every day?  How did the rest of the cast interact with each other?  Was Michael Landon the Pa they all needed?  Find out that, and so much more in this engaging autobiography!

Alison writes a funny and endearing story, and you’ll find yourself smiling at her inner strength and her strong character through her words.  She is honest and forthright in her book, and tells of life lessons all of us can learn from and enjoy.

Check out Confessions of a Prairie Bitch today!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving is a national holiday that mixes European and Native traditions.  The first Thanksgiving was held in 1621 by Plymouth colonists and Wampanoag Indians, creating our tradition of giving thanks for future generations.  Thanksgiving was made an official holiday in 1863 by President Abraham Lincoln.  Thanksgiving is a celebration of thanks and a celebration of family.  We are thankful for you, our community members, and for the bounty of books and materials so we may continue to learn and enjoy literature, movies and media, and gaming.

Learn more about Thanksgiving at these two links:

Thanksgiving at History.Com

Thanksgiving on Wikipedia

Alas, Babylon

Alas, Babylon
by Pat Frank

Alas, Babylon… that was the secret pass phrase.  The pass phrase shared by two brothers, only to be used when times are dire, when the world is stark, when the world is coming to an end.  Mark is in the military, and he sees a horrible future only moments away.  He calls his brother, whispering the secret phrase.  Randy knows just what to do, and begins to prepare.

Alas, Babylon is written in the middle of the Cold War era, and tells the tale of what our land would be like after the ravaging of nuclear bombs.  Bombs explode, taking out all the major metropolitan areas and destroying life as we knew it to be.  In a small section of Florida, a small community of people survive the holocaust, and must rebuild.  Although Randy thinks to prepare after his brother’s warning, he finds he doesn’t think of all the things this new society needs.

This book is very well written, is remarkably authentic, and the depth of research behind the storytelling is clear.  The struggles and strife of the small group in Florida will catch you and wrap you deep into their story, and make you think twice about what’s going on in the world, and what’s in your pantry.  Things you never even considered become horrible problems, and things we would think of don’t even matter two bits.  This is a great book!

Check out Alas, Babylon today!

Comcast – Low Internet Rates for Qualifying Families

The World Ends In Hickory Hollow

Lili Databases

LiLI Databases

The Maze Runner

Game On! Family Read Week Activities!

Join us this week for tons of awesome family friendly gaming activities!!!!

The staff at the Portneuf District Library would like to invite area families to join us as we kick off Family Read Week.  This year’s theme is “Let the Games Begin”.    Each day, there will be activities and events for all ages.  These events include:

• Chess Club – Monday, Nov. 14 from 1-5.  All levels, even beginners invited.  Refreshments and door prizes.
• Family Astronomy Night- Monday, Nov. 14 from 6:30-7:30.  Basic Astronomy, activities and refreshments.
• Checkers Tournament- Tuesday, Nov. 15 from 2-6.  Snacks and Prizes!
• Virtual Café- Wednesday, Nov. 16 from 4-5:30.  Electronic and board games. 10 cent snacks and MORE!
• Giant Word Search- Thursday, Nov. 17.  All Day.  Circle a word, you could win a prize!
• Children’s, young adult’s and adult’s contests in every area of the library-  Friday, Nov. 18. All Day.
• Daily contests and games include crossword puzzles, hidden picture searches, estimation stations and MORE!

We want to encourage the whole community to come out and enjoy our facility and programs.  We will also be holding prize drawings for families participating in events and activities.  For questions about Family Read Week, contact Jeanne or Amanda at 237-2192.

Audiobook Classes

Curious about audiobooks?  Want to learn how to download audiobooks to your iPod or MP3 player?  Sign up for our class to get step by step help to make it happen!

What: Audiobooks Class

Where: Community room

When: Tuesday, November 15th,  5:oo PM

Sign up here!  Reserve your spot today!

The Idaho Songs Project

THE IDAHO SONGS PROJECT

The mission of the Idaho Songs Project is to collect, interpret and preserve songs predating the radio era (before 1923) about the people, places and events of early Idaho. Such songs provide a unique window into the region’s rich heritage. The project began in 2007,when Gary Eller received a grant from the Idaho Humanities Council to collect historically-based songs of the Snake and Salmon River region. Since then, he has compiled about 200 Idaho-related songs predating the coming of radio to the state. These widely ranging songs include somber event ballads, stage songs, hilarious parodies and even operas. The early songs are being preserved in written and recorded forms that are accessible to present and future generations, and in public performances. Please click on Early Idaho Songs to see an annotated bibliography of early Idaho songs. Click on Songs of the Month List to hear and read about selected early Idaho songs. Click on Nashville abstract to read about the paper that was presented at the International Conference on Country Music in May, 2008 about Idaho roots music. Click on Recordings and Books to learn how we preserve early Idaho Songs.

Cool New Search Engine – Blekko

Privacy is all the buzz these days, with people paying more and more attention to the privacy of their searches, their web behavior, and the privacy of their personal data.

Blekko is a neat new search engine that regards privacy very seriously.  Blekko only keeps its search history for 48 hours, and does not sell or market their search data to marketing firms.  You know how when you search in Google you get ads that are related to your search?  You wont see that in Blekko, because they do not share their ads with market firms.

Blekko also has a very unique way of letting you limit your searching by using a slash tag.  A slash tag is a term that specifies what kind of information you want to search, so if you do a search for “Boise /travel” you’ll be presented with travel information about Boise, not just information about Boise.  It’s an easier way to hone in on the information you want.  The slash tags are really cool!  Plus, you can create your own slash tags!

So go check out Blekko today!

http://blekko.com

and their slash tags, too!

Blekko Slash Tags

Halloween Party!!!!!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!  On Friday October 28th from 6:30-7:30 there will be a Library Halloween Party! There will be a spook alley for kids ages 8 and up. It will be fairly scary, so we discourage children younger than 8 from going through. In the meeting room we will have games and activities for the younger kids as well as popcorn and cider. Costumes are welcome but not required. Bring the whole family and celebrate Halloween at the library!

Cinderella Ate My Daughter

Ghostery for Internet Privacy

So you probably heard the latest about how Facebook kinda pulled a fast one about tracking Internet use, even if you’re logged out.  Well, after the publicity, Facebook modified its tracking cookies to stop that.  Now, when you log out, Facebook stops tracking what you do on the web.

However….

That doesnt mean that there are TONS of other websites that track your every click, and use that data (not your personal info, but info on the website you visit) for marketing and advertising purposes.  You know how you get ads along the side of Facebook or Google?  Well, a lot of that is driven by the sites you visit.

Ghostery is a slick browser tool for Chrome and Firefox that will let you know if you’re being tracked, and lets you decide if you want to be tracked or not.  You can use the tool to turn off tracking altogether (although that may break some of the sites that need tracking to work), or you can choose.  Personally, I’ll often let companies use Google Analytics, for example, because that is a statistics gathering tool that tells you how many hits your website gets.  But, other things I dont want tracking me at all.

I am using Ghostery on my personal laptop, and I am pleased with the level of privacy it provides, so I thought I would share!  : )

http://www.ghostery.com/

Info on Careers in Sustainable Industries

New Labor Internet Site Offers Info on Careers in Sustainable Industries

Find the site at labor.idaho.gov/FutureReady.

Information on Idaho occupations and training programs in pollution and waste control, renewable and efficient energy, sustainable agriculture and natural resource management  is available online at a new Idaho Department of Labor microsite.

A 2010 survey found occupations in these areas exist in 95 percent of all industry sectors in Idaho, and the state’s growing expertise in these areas makes them a natural direction for Idaho workers who are looking to improve their skills.

Information on the site at labor.idaho.gov/FutureReady is tailored by interest to job seekers, employers and students.

Job seekers will find links to occupations, training programs, wages and information about the specific skills required by businesses with jobs that involve sustainable practices and processes.

Employers will find information about training opportunities, hiring programs and state incentives that support their industries.

Students and those just beginning their careers will find videos that provide a modern take on occupations in transportation, construction, forestry and other sectors. Infographics and career “lattices” targeted at high school students map out the required steps they must take to become foresters, environmental engineers, scientists or HVAC installation experts.

Easy links to skills and “education, training and pay” information let site visitors explore the top 30 green jobs in Idaho, which include construction worker, wildlife biologist, electrician and chemist.

By clicking on a job, a site visitor can learn more about the preparation and training needed for the job and the hourly wage it commands.

For example, someone who wants to become a forester would navigate the microsite to find that preparation for that profession is long – including advanced degrees – and that foresters in Idaho can expect to earn between $20 and $24 an hour.

Site visitors can also start with skills and link back to jobs that might fit. For example, the site suggests that a person with complex problem solving abilities might consider becoming a mechanical engineer or a biological technician among other professions. Other links within the site connect visitors to more detailed information about each of the 30 professions.

The Future Ready microsite also offers more general information about green industries. The “What is Green” tab takes visitors to an overview of the department’s 2010 Idaho Green Jobs Survey Report and a look at the economic impact of sustainable jobs in the state.

The “Tools” tab lets site visitors explore various occupations and industries including the outlook for specific jobs, wage comparisons and employers listed by industry.

Even teachers are in luck. A link on the Tools page will take them to three different lesson plans created by the department that will help students begin to learn about eco-friendly jobs in Idaho.

A $1.25 million federal grant financed the Idaho Department of Labor’s 2010 study on green professions in Idaho. The new microsite represents the last part of that effort — making the results public and helping Idahoans educate themselves in preparation for an evolving workplace.

Find the site at labor.idaho.gov/FutureReady.

This World We Live In

This World We Live In
by Susan Beth Pfeffer

This is the final book of Pfeffer’s riveting trilogy “Last Survivors.”  This book takes us back to Miranda, from book one, and her journal entries.  A year has passed.  Her family has struggled to hang on.  Through the ups and downs, deaths and traumas, they have prevailed.

And then, company arrives.  It’s Miranda’s father and step mother, and a motley crew collected on their journey.  Enter in Alex and Julie, from Pfeffer’s second book in the series.  They’ve left New York, and after their own troubles, begin to seek a brighter future.

Alex is willful and set in his decisions.  Julie is willful and insisting on her freedom.  Miranda just wants her family together.  But she finds herself drawn to Alex… but the choices he must make… will Miranda be one of them?

This is the conclusion to Susan Beth Pfeffer’s “The Last Survivors” trilogy, and brings together the shattered lives of a climactic devastation we should hope to never experience, and through this story, we begin to see the rebuilding of a new way of life in the face of loss and desperate circumstances.  Pfeffer pens a great story, and these books are enjoyable, if not a little frightening, reads.

Check out This World We Live In today!

The Dead & The Gone

The Dead & The Gone
by Susan Beth Pfeffer

This is book two in her “Last Survivors” series, and is the story of Alex and his sisters.  Alex, Julie, and Bri live in New York City when the moon is hit by the asteroid, pushing the moon dangerously close to the Earth, causing such global climate change that civilization is altered horrifically.  Alex’s family is gravely affected, not only because civilization stalls, food begins to disappear, people get sick, but also because his Father was in Puerto Rico, and his Mother was across the city in Brooklyn.

Alex struggles to take over the care of his sisters as the man of the house, doling out food, struggling to find the supplies they need to survive, while fighting to stay alive in the city, willing, hoping, and praying their parents will return.

Will they make it?  Do Alex’s parents return?  How to they survive the harsh, cold winter in New York City?  Come check out The Dead & The Gone today and find out!

Medieval Faire!!!

Life As We Knew It

Life As We Knew It
by Susan Beth Pfeffer

This is a great book!  Miranda writes in her journal –

May 16^th
“All of a sudden this moon thing is the biggest thing ever… Wednesday night we’re all going to be outside watching the asteroid hit the moon.”

May 18^th
“I know I can’t explain, because I don’t really know what happened and I sure don’t know why.  But the moon wasn’t a half moon anymore.  It was tilted and wrong and a three-quarter moon and it got larger, way larger, large like a moon rising on the horizon, only it wasn’t rising.  It was smack in the middle of the sky, way too big, way too visible.”

And so it happens.  The moon is hit by an asteroid, and is pushed out of its orbit, closer to Earth.  Through Miranda’s journal entries, you see what happens when civilization is affected by the significant climate changes an altered moon thrusts upon the Earth.

Will they make it?  Will they find food and be safe?  Come check out and read Life As We Knew It today and find out!

Study Guides and Strategies

Going back to school – or know someone who is?  Check out this site “Study Guides and Strategies” – very thorough – everything you ever wanted to know and more!  Created by Joe Landesberger, it is constantly updated with new information.

This site is full of information on different learning styles, exercises and games, reading, writing, vocabulary, and more.  It’s totally free and is a very useful site!

http://www.studygs.net/

Scout – PBS Learning Media

Teachers and students in Idaho now have immediate access for their lessons and homework to more than 14,000 research-based instructional resources—including videos, interactives, images, audio files, mobile apps, lesson plans, and worksheets–through Scout, Classroom Edition. Find it at http://idahoptv.pbslearningmedia.org.

To help engage students and foster classroom innovation, Idaho Public Television and the Idaho Commission for Libraries (ICfL) have launched Scout, Classroom Edition–a localized version of PBS LearningMedia, created in collaboration with PBS and WGBH, and their producing partners WNET and KET–to foster learning and engagement in the classroom.

In addition to a rich public media library, Scout will have content contributed from other publicly funded organizations, including the National Archives, the Library of Congress and NPR, as well as content funded by NASA, the National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Health and the US Department of Education, to deliver thousands of resources for use in the classroom, libraries, and with home-schoolers.

Delivering unprecedented access to a robust digital library, Scout is the next generation in digital media platforms with high-quality content drawn from more than 1,500 public media producers, 350 local stations, such as WGBH’s NOVA science series among many others, and a growing list of other contributors.

Check it out today!

http://idahoptv.pbslearningmedia.org

If I Stay

If I Stay
by Gayle Forman

Classified as a Young Adult novel, one would assume that this is another pulpy, quick read, but that is definitely not the case!  This book has the makings of great literature… the story is poignant and rich, and Forman’s writing is clear and well done.  The story wraps you in so fast, and then you find yourself losing sleep over the twists and turns of the story.

Divulging much about the plot will detract from the suspense of the story, in my humble opinion, as I feel the book is best read not knowing much about it before beginning to read.  Essentially, Mia has a typical teen age life and a promising future, but everything changes… and she must face a terrible decision that will hurt either way she chooses.  The story centers around one day in her life, around an incident so tragic that it is truly life altering.  During that day, Mia explores her past life, and the choices she has to face, and to make.  I know that’s not much to go on as far as a book review goes, but I can say that this is one of the best books I’ve read this year.

Author Gayle Forman writes for all ages a classic story that is rich and full and will inspire her readers.  This book cannot help but make you reflect on your own life, the choices you have, and to appreciate the gifts we may often overlook.  This is a definite Must Read.

New Job Search Workbook

Labor Releases New Job Search Workbook

Job seekers have a new tool to help in the search for employment or career transitions in “Maximize Your Job Search,” a guide released this month by the Idaho Department of Labor.

The 24-page publication, distributed through the department’s job search workshops and available to anyone online, covers the basics of getting started and setting career goals to specifics such as networking, the hidden job market and using social media.

“Matching job seekers with employers is an important part of our mission at the Department of Labor,” said Director Roger B. Madsen. ”This publication combines all the valuable information collected and used by our workforce consultants across the state in one unified package. It gets right to the point.”

An online interactive version of the workbook will be available in October, thanks to collaboration between the Idaho Commission for Libraries and the Department of Labor. While covering the same topics, the online version will include interviews with Idaho employers emphasizing what they expect to see in a potential employee. This module will be accessible from the department’s website, labor.idaho.gov/jobsearch, and on computers in public libraries across the state.

The guides will be used in the department’s job search workshops, which are regular ongoing classes offered free at the 25 local Labor offices throughout Idaho. Other free courses offered to jobseekers include résumé writing, interviewing and using social media in your job search.

Labor’s website also includes job listings, tools for setting up a profile visible to potential employers and links to many other career and job search resources. To download a copy of the workbook, visit labor.idaho.gov/jobsearch.

Earth Abides

Earth Abides
by George R Stewart

Something happens while Ish recovers from a rattlesnake bite.  Ish is a graduate student of ecology in California, and while hiking in the mountains is bit by a rattlesnake.  He manages to make it back to his cabin, where he eventually recovers.  Then, Ish heads down into town, but no one is there…

Set in the 1940s, this book tells the tale of what happens when a killer illness removes most of the Earth’s humans.  Ish finds himself alone in the world after his recovery.  He travels all the way across the country to New York, just to see what has become of the country, and his journey shows the different way the few survivors re-create their worlds.

Ish returns to California and begins to collect people, who begin to invest in a settlement and community.  As the intellectual of the group, Ish wrestles with the ‘what ifs,’ struggling to think of ways to shape his new community into a bright future.  Throughout the book, we see glimpses of the collapse of our man made artifacts as Earth retakes her land.  We also see how new societies grow, and how from certain perceptions, religion arises.  Ish tries very hard to steward his group into a future of sustainability and growth, and through the tale of his life we learn that Earth Abides.

Check out this great classic and others at the library today!

Magic – The Gathering Game!

What: Magic – The Gathering Game
Where: Portneuf Library Meeting Room
When: Saturdays, starting September 3rd

Come join us at the Portneuf library for “Battlefront tournament”!! The first in many new “Magic the gathering” unofficial  tournaments beginning September 3 at 2pm in the community room.  Each tournament will be five weeks long and be open deck (“unhinged” cards will not be allowed).We welcome all levels of experience from beginner to expert.Ages 11 and up are welcome without a parent.  We are open to many different ideas for tournaments and also welcome players for casual play. Hope to see you there for the beginning of our exciting endeavor into the Multiverse!!

Book Lamp

Now this is GREAT news!

Booklamp.org is the result of an exploratory project intended to help you find new books by comparing the content of the books themselves, similar to the way that Pandora.com matches music lovers to new music. We’re attempting to help you find books with similar themes and writing style to books you’ve enjoyed in the past – comparing elements like Description, Pacing, Density, Perspective, and Dialog – while at the same time allowing you to specify details like… more Medieval Weapons.

It’s impervious to outside influences like advertising budgets – so it’s an equal friend to the front, mid, and backlist author. At BookLamp, we’re a fan of the idea that it is what’s in the book that matters most.

It’s still in Beta mode, but you can use it!  I’ve already used it to find a few interesting suggested books for reading, and I’m VERY excited about Booklamp as a discovery tool.  You know what’s really neat about this?  It’s the creation of a group of people in Boise, so this is an example of just how awesome we are in Idaho!

So go check out Booklamp.org and start using this great tool today!

Reading Voted Most Important Skill by eSchoolNews

Ten skills every student should learn
Posted By Meris Stansbury On August 11, 2011 (4:34 pm) In Curriculum, Top News, eClassroom News

We recently asked our readers: “If you could choose only one, what’s the skill you’d like every student to learn?” Here are the top responses.

Article taken from eSchoolNews.com – http://www.eschoolnews.com
URL to article: http://www.eschoolnews.com/2011/08/11/ten-skills-every-student-should-learn/

“Perhaps surprisingly, while many readers did cite critical thinking as a skill every student needs, another skill was listed nearly twice as much as all other responses combined.

Need a hint? It’s a skill every student has needed since the days of the one-room schoolhouse: the ability to read.

Being able to read, though the most popular response, was certainly not the only one.”

So how do you stack up to these ten skills?  Check out the article to see!

Mango Languages On Your iPhone!

Mango Mobile is a Mango Languages application for the iPhone®, iPod touch®, and iPad™.  By downloading the application for free from the iTunes® store, library patrons will be able to access Mango courses just about anywhere!

How does it work?  The lessons themselves work just like the online Mango lessons!  The presentation, functionality, and course organization is very similar.  Users simply touch the screen to reveal answers, hear pronunciations, and interact with the lesson format.  Mango Mobile will be available to library patrons who have an iPhone.  Just download the app from iTunes, and log in with your username and password.

What language will you learn from your iPhone?

A Discovery of Witches

A Discovery of Witches
by Deborah Harkness

By now, we’ve all seen the profusion of vampire and otherworldly creatures appearing in today’s pop literature.  Most of the books in this genre are geared toward young adult readers, and much of the writing is vapid and shallow, with too much emphasis on teen angst and juvenile interpersonal relationships, and are scant on action and/or plot substance.  However, this book is strikingly different.  The author, Deborah Harkness, is an accomplished academic writer of history, and her experience with detailed and thorough writing appears in her storytelling.  Harkness writes an amazing story full of twists and turns and subplot developments that leaves readers solving the immediate mystery while slowly working towards the mysteries overarching the entire plot.

Diana is a historian, studying alchemy, and finds herself in Oxford stumbling deeply and suddenly into a mystery of epic proportions.  She is long descended from the witches of Salem, and finds herself fighting for her life and the life of her newfound love in this story.  Diana must come to terms with what she believes versus the reality in which she lives, throwing herself into a chaotic new place she never envisioned, learning things she fought to the core of her being as unacceptable.  While the audience enjoys the story of her solving the mysteries first discovered in the Oxford library, the audience watches Diana fall deeply in love and forced to reassess herself and change to meet her new world.

This book is incredibly stunning, and is one of those page turners that leave you aching for more long after you’ve finished the last page.  Hopefully, it’s the first in a long series of adventures, as Deborah Harkness weaves a detailed and enthralling story full of rich history and interpersonal character development and associations.  This book will leave you wanting more, and eagerly waiting for the next book penned by Harkness’ hand.

Check out A Discovery of Witches and other mysteries today!

Use Library Databases For Searching, Not The Internet

Must Read article about Search Algorithms from eSchoolNews:

New web-search formulas have huge implications for students and society
Posted By Dennis Pierce On August 10, 2011 (10:03 am) In Featured on eSchool News, Research, Technologies, Top News, eClassroom News, internet

A quiet revolution has taken place in recent months, as Google, Microsoft, Facebook, and other internet gatekeepers have revised their search algorithms in an attempt to bring users more personalized information. This subtle shift has enormous implications for students, researchers, and society at large, experts say.  This means that when you search using an online search engine, you only get results back based on what you’ve searched for in the past.  This is bad news when you need comprehensive information for researching.  Good thing your local library has lots of databases chock full of information for you!  Use our Ebsco Databases when you need to do detailed research for any learning need.  Got questions?  Please ask!

Article taken from eSchoolNews.com – http://www.eschoolnews.com
URL to article: http://www.eschoolnews.com/2011/08/10/new-web-search-formulas-have-huge-implications-for-students-and-society/

Audiobooks and eBooks

Great news! We now have a new and improved interface for our audiobooks and ebooks! Ebsco, who also provides us with tons of neat databases, now hosts our audiobooks and ebooks.

Audiobooks – Through Ebsco

EBSCO offers a premium collection of high-quality audiobook titles on EBSCOhost that are compatible with virtually every portable audio device, giving users 24/7 access to audiobooks from the library, at home or on the go.
With audiobooks on EBSCOhost, users can browse a growing collection of best-selling, classic and award-winning audio titles.

Learn more about downloading audiobooks here
http://support.ebscohost.com/knowledge_base/detail.php?id=5510

You’ll want to create your own account to manage your books. Click on the ‘sign in’ link at the top right side of the page. All NetLibrary accounts are gone.

Log in with your 14 digit library ID number to search the Ebsco databases from home.

eBooks – Through Ebsco

EBSCO offers more than 60 electronic book collections from some of the world’s most renowned publishing houses, including Springer, Taylor & Francis and Wiley InterScience®.

Please see the user guide here to learn how to check out and download eBooks.
http://support.ebscohost.com/knowledge_base/detail.php?id=5361

Use your 14 digit barcode ID to log into the Ebsco databases from home.

Pray for Silence

Pray for Silence
by Linda Castillo

Pray for Silence is the second book in Linda Castillo’s Kate Burkholder series.  Kate Burkholder is the chief of police in a small town in Ohio’s Amish country.  But she’s a unique chief of police, in that she was born Amish and lived Amish for her formative years.  This makes Kate ideal as the chief of police in a community populated by both the society that most of us know, and the Amish way of life.

But the book is deeper than the interplay between the two cultures of the Amish and the English.  Linda Castillo writes an amazing and addicting story, bringing her characters to life and the Ohio countryside into vivid detail.  This is the second story of Kate Burkholder’s adventures.  The first, reviewed last week, is a grim and horrific crime spree of murders across the Painter’s Mill landscape.  The story Castillo writes isn’t focused only on the crimes, but on the tangled past that Kate has as a former Amish woman.  This story is the continuation, in a way, elaborating more on Kate’s present life as the chief of police in light of a new mystery to unravel.

At the center of the story is sweet Mary Plank, a young girl head over heels in love with an outsider to the Amish world.  Her mystery man is handsome, dashing, and adoring, but…. twisted and cruel.  Mary is subjected to horrors no young woman should have to face at the hands of the beloved man she desperately wants to marry.  Her story ends in her murder, and that begins our tale.  Kate Burkholder must step into the Amish world and uncover all of Mary’s secrets in order to identify the brutal killer of sweet Mary Plank.

Not to be outdone by her first book, Linda Castillo again writes an exciting and addicting mystery crime novel, and this story will keep you glued to your most favored reading chair!

Check out Pray for Silence at the library today!

LILI Databases

The state of Idaho’s Commission for Libraries provides many top quality databases for all residents of our fair state, and they’re all FREE!  Using LILI, you can do research to learn more about a topic or write a paper for school, or you can learn about health information, or even find suggestions on what to read next!

Check out LILI here:

http://www.lili.org

LILI also offers tons of free tutorials to help you learn how to use the LILI databases.  Check them out today, and in no time you’ll be a pro at searching in the Auto Repair Reference Center, NoveList, and more!

Click here for the tutorials:

http://libraries.idaho.gov/page/lili-database-tutorials-training-and-tips

Encyclopedia Britannica

When I was a little girl, I would spend hours and hours just poking through the set of encyclopedias my Mom bought for the family.  I loved to read about new places, and learn about bugs and space in particular.

Nowadays, print encyclopedias are rare, and few and far between.  It is much cheaper for encyclopedia publishers to create electronic content on the Internet, and it’s much, much faster to update content if it’s online.  The Portneuf Library subscribes to the Encyclopedia Britannica, so you can browse and enjoy encyclopedias on your computer!

Search here if you’re in the library.

Search here if you’re at home, using your 14 digit library barcode number to login.

Pocatello’s Newest ‘Claim’ To Fame?

Ever struggle in frustration with your Internet connection?  Do you envy your friends and relatives who talk about Netflix streaming and online game playing, because your connectivity just falls flat?  Well, apparently, Pocatello, Idaho, has the slowest Internet connection in a new study about Internet download speeds by Pando Networks.

Listen to the newscast here

http://tinyurl.com/3vm22fq

Sworn To Silence

Sworn To Silence
by Linda Castillo

Sworn to Silence is a gritty crime novel by Linda Castillo.  Set in Ohio’s Amish country, detective Kate Burkholder is faced with deep secrets from her past in light of gristly murders of the present.  Kate walks a delicate balance, with feet in each world – one in the Amish world she grew up in, and the other in the modern world in which she is the chief of police for her tiny town.

Linda Castillo writes a gripping, fast paced, addictive, and very dark crime novel.  You’ll begin this story and immediately be sucked in, turning each page as quickly as you possibly can, forgetting to eat or sleep or anything else!  This story, while dark and terrifying, is engaging and you will sit on the edge of your seat awaiting the unraveling of every little detail.

But beyond the fast paced crime story, Linda Castillo accurately portrays the life lived in a small Amish town.  The author obviously did extensive research to learn about the ways of Amish living, and her research paints a vivid and real life picture in which her story unfolds.  The attention to detail coupled with the excellent writing and storytelling makes this a must read book!

Check out Sworn To Silence and other mystery novels at the Portneuf Library today!

Library Resources for Travel

Well, we all know that August is the last gasp of summer… so if you’re gonna git, git while the gittin’s good, right?

The library has a lot information about our glorious country, so take a browse through our A to Z in the USA databases to explore maps, states, and more!  Find a great place right here in the USA for that last summer trip!

A to Z Maps Online

This is our A to Z Maps Online database, which is a GREAT database of maps about hurricanes, country flags, geology, and more!

Log into this database with 21234 plus your 14 digit barcode number from your library card.

A to Z the USA

This is our A to Z information database for all things USA!  Log in here to learn about our states and territories.

Use 21234 and your 14 digit library barcode number to log into this resource.

Who Were They Really? The True Stories Behind Famous Characters

Who Were They Really?
by Susan Beth Pfeffer

Who Were They Really is a collection of very brief biographies of famous literary characters.  The book’s intended audience is the young adult reader, but readers of all ages will enjoy learning more about who Peter Cottontail really was, and how he came into existence.  Susan Beth Pfeffer collects 12 characters famous from our childhoods and paints pictures of who they were and how they came into existence, or how they created their famous literary characters.  In this book, read more about Winnie the Pooh, Paddington Bear, and even Mother Goose.  Susan Beth Pfeffer writes clearly and her short biographies are enjoyable and insightful for every reader.  Learn about your favorites, and discover new characters and authors in this great book.

Check out Who Were They Really? and other great biographies today!

Top 101 Guidelines for the Digital World

In days of yesteryear, proper behavior and etiquette were made very obvious to us by our elders.  In today’s world, however, there is no Miss Manners to teach us the best way to behave in the new digital universe.  We here at the Portneuf Library found eEtiquette.com, which clearly details the best way to behave regarding mobile devices, email, social networking, and more.

For example:

* Turn off your phone in airplanes, hospitals, and near particle accelerators to avoid disrupting heavy duty electronic equipment.

* If the connection drops during a conversation, the initiator of the call should ring again.

*Holiday snapshots, party pictures, and bare-chested photos are best kept private.

* Only upload images of which your mother would approve.

* Ignoring a friend request is okay.  Forming selective connections makes each one more meaningful.

* Don’t leave out all the vowels and punctuation in a text.

* Refrain from using elaborate abbreviations.

Check out 101 Guidelines for the Digital World for all 101 guidelines.  : )

Local History!

Have you ever done any of the walking tours in downtown Pocatello?  There are brochures available at the Old Town Pocatello office, and they’re totally free!  What a great way to learn more about our local history, or to show off our area to visiting guests!

The brochure is produced by the Historic Preservation Commission and the Pocatello Convention & Visitors Bureau, this brochure includes intriguing historic pictures of the featured buildings. A second brochure highlighting the east side of the district is also available at the Old Town Pocatello office.

Or, if you’d like, you can see the brochure in PDF format now (the file is over 1 MB in size so it may take too long for slow connections; to save the brochure on your computer, click here with the right-hand mouse button and select “Save Target As” from the menu).

For more information, visit these sites below!

Old Town Pocatello

Pocatello History

City of Pocatello’s Webpage

City of Chubbuck’s Webpage

Pocatello Information

What So Proudly We Hailed

What So Proudly We Hailed
by James Howard

What would you do if the country was plunged into chaos, and nothing worked the way it should?  This is the story of what happens when America suffers a horrible attack on the nation’s power grids, crippling the US and sending her countrymen into complete civil disorder.  Money is no good, and bartering takes over.  But what do you have to trade?  Vigilantes and local militia set up camps and run neighborhoods, but who controls them?  The only solution in Jason Ribault’s mind for his family, is to take to the Carolina coast.  Jason and his family shore up on their small cabin boat and snug into the Low Country’s barrier islands to wait out the danger and the terror of what becomes of America when her government completely topples and loses control.

This book is particularly frightening, because the scenario, and even bits of the scenario, are completely plausible.  Something like this might happen any day… are you ready?

Get sucked into the amazing page turner today, and start really thinking about the value of what is to become tomorrow!

What So Proudly We Hailed

LAN Gaming Party!

The Sweet Relief of Missing Children

Things you pay for your library has for free

Today’s libraries offer more than just books to read, including the Portneuf Library!  Recently, an investing information website wrote about 13 things you pay for that your library offers for free.  This is good advice, especially in today’s economy!  So much of what we buy we can borrow, and pinch pennies for a rainy day or to pay towards debt.

Some freebies for borrowing mentioned in the article:

• Free books – check out your favorite fiction and non fiction books!
• Free magazines and newspapers – we even keep older issues, even of those great crafting magazines!
• Free databases – archives of online articles for any research or recreational reading.
• Free auto repair info – Chilton guides and Auto Repair databases are right here!

Featured Database – BIR Entertainment

This week’s featured database is BIR Entertainment!  BIR Entertainment is one of our Ebsco databases.

BIR Entertainment provides information on about 450,000 music titles and 200,000 DVD/video titles, with more being added regularly. Provides searching by artist, performer, or specific genre.

Use your 14 digit barcode ID to log into the Ebsco databases from home.

BIR Entertainment

All Ebsco Databases

Vote to fund Brooklyn’s Playground!

Have you heard of the Brooklyn’s Playground project?  The parents of a local child, Brooklyn, are heading a huge effort to build an all inclusive playground in the Pocatello area.  They are passionate about this project because their dear daughter has spina biffida.  Their latest fundraising effort needs your help!  They have an entry in the Pepsi Refresh projects, and they need your vote to earn the sponsorship from Pepsi.  Please vote for Brooklyn’s Playground

here!http://www.refresheverything.com/brooklynsplayground

To learn more about Brooklyn’s Playground, and how you can help, visit their website here.

http://www.brooklynsplayground.org/

Virals

Virals
By Kathy Reichs

Ever watch the show Bones? Have you ever read any of Kathy Reichs’ books that the TV show Bones was based on? Well, Kathy Reichs started writing young adult fiction, her debut YA novel being Virals. Virals follows the common themes prevelant in today’s YA fiction of otherworld creatures in today’s society.  Virals centers around the story of a group of teens who rescue their favorite wolf pup from a research laboratory, and the mystery they must solve to answer the questions about the mystery they uncover.  The teens, while rescuing their beloved pup, are exposed to a virus that permanently alters their DNA giving them werewolf like abilities.  These new abilities the teens have cause them to struggle to get along amongst the normal people of society, but at the same time, the same abilities help them to uncover the mystery they find about the research station near their homes.

Reichs is a fabulous author that writes a fast paced and engaging story, and this novel is no different than her Bones books.  The book draws you in and keeps you wrapped up and wanting to turn every page to follow the adventures of the kids in the story.  The book is well written and fast paced, yet sprinkled with a hefty dose of the science behind what happened to the kids.  The science is clearly written and is a great flourish to the storyline.

Overall, this is a great book for young adult and adult readers alike.  Come in and check out Virals today!

FREE Young Adult Audiobooks!!!!

Free!  Yes, FREE!  SYNC offers FREE audiobook downloads of Young Adult audiobooks and Summer Reading Classics this summer! Watch for a new pair of audiobooks each week from 6/23/11 – 8/17/11.

What is SYNC?

• SYNC is a program that develops the audience of teen/YA audiobook listeners
• Two complete digital audiobooks–a current Young Adult title paired thematically with a Classic or assigned Summer Reading title–are available FREE each week to listeners ages 13+.
• A dedicated SYNC group on audiobookcommunity.com is the hub of the delivery of the downloads, editorial content, and user engagement. The audiobook titles were selected to inspire follow-up listening.

Download Details

• Downloads are in MP3 format, hosted by OverDrive, and are Mac and Windows compatible.
• Downloads will operate through OverDrive’s Media Console.
• Most listening devices are supported. Check here for the full list.
• Starting June 23, each SYNC audiobook will be available for download fora period of 7 days (only). Go to the SYNC group on Audiobook Community to get the download links for each title within the seven-day period.

Upstairs Girls

Upstairs Girls: Prostitution in the American West
By Michael Rutter

Upstairs Girls demystifies the stereotype of the “hooker with a heart of gold” so popularized by film and media in the twentieth century.  We’ve all seen the western movies showing the fancy dance hall girls, but that necessarily wasn’t always the case.

Author and historian Michael Rutter brings forth historical documentation describing and explaining the real truth of the prostitution profession in the Wild West.  Broken into three parts, Rutter details the truth behind the varied levels of prostitution, as well as the Dance Hall Girls and the Purity Movement as  correlations to prostitution, and finishes with biographies of popular western prostitutes.  Rutter explains how women found themselves in the situation of choosing the “Sisterhood,” as well as the different classifications of prostitution in the old west.  Not every woman was able to work her way into a fancy brothel with beautiful dresses and fine furnishings, and Rutter illustrates all conditions, no matter how horrific, including the Chinese sex trade so often overlooked by popular media.

In addition to learning about the history of prostitution in the Wild West, enjoy biographies of many famous wild women, from Calamity Jane to Fannie Silks to Ah Toy.  Read about your favorites, and discover new women to admire.  Many rose to positions of significant power from their wits alone, like Ah Toy.  Ah was put into the Chinese sex trade as a young woman, but using her sharp mind, she fought her way to the best position of power a woman could, even in the face of Chinese persecution.  She even took cases to court, a rarity even for prestigious white women of her time!  Read Ah Toy’s story in this fun book, and many more!

Check out Upstairs Girls and other great books about the Wild West today!

The Badge

The Badge
By Jack Webb

So, you remember the show Dragnet, right?  Well this book, written by the same Jack Webb, highlights many of the stories featured on Dragnet that were not appropriate for the television audience.  These stories were classified as too violent or too sensational for TV, so Jack Webb documented them here.  But, this book is more than just the hidden stories behind the famous TV show and its episodes.  This book goes into the elaborate inner workings of the LA Police Department.  Webb explains, in detail, what each rank of officer does, and what his daily work life was like.  Webb also explains a significant amount of LA history, as well, showing for the reader how the common icons of today’s LA came about.  The book is rich with the stories, and even richer in painting the portrait of the giant metropolis of LA.  The caveat? The book was written in the fifties, and published in 1958.  Thus, this book is truly a window back in time, showing us what life was really like living in the beginnings of the urban sprawl that is now Southern California.  Webb’s book is a testimonial to the underbelly of the squeaky clean image of the 1950s, and is a real eye opener to read.

Check out The Badge and more great crime fiction today!

Questions About the Internet?

What’s a cookie? How do I protect myself on the web? Why should I worry about updating my browsers, or trying a new one?  How did the Internet develop and grow?  And most importantly: What happens if a truck runs over my laptop?

For things you’ve always wanted to know about the web but were afraid to ask, read on at 20 Things I Learned About Browsers and the Web below.

http://www.20thingsilearned.com/en-US

Ten Reasons to Love Your Library

You love your library, right?  Technorati posted a great article detailing ten reasons why you should love your library.  How many make sense to you?

Here’s some of our favorites -

“1. You’re surrounded by some of the greatest minds in history – at your fingertips. Walk in. The sheer amount of material is enough to inspire. Any subject, any question, and idea you may want to explore – it’s all right there. And not just the latest bestsellers; you’ll find volumes there that Barnes & Noble could never carry. Ages of wisdom! For instance, on the self-help shelves, you’ll find advice from great minds from years, decades, even centuries ago. All sounds remarkably the same as recent stuff, too. Hmmm.

4. You can take books home. For free. Uh. Yeah. You knew that, right? And not only books – CDs, back issues of magazines, DVDs (the educational ones are usually free), even artwork. For years, when my children were small, we had a special picture hook in the living room for a piece of art we’d choose together in the library, and enjoy until it was due back. Rotating art. Still free.

10. Expertise. Your librarians know a lot. Try them. Research librarians are amazing resources. Ask them questions; it’ll save time and frustration, and the answers come with a smile too.”

See all ten reasons and the full article from this link, below!  And do take advantage of all your local library has to offer.  We are here for you!

Read more: http://technorati.com/lifestyle/article/ten-reasons-to-love-your-library/#ixzz1MeHJMgrE

Share Books With Overseas Troops!

We always have our hard working overseas troops at the back of our minds, and we always think of ways we can help them through their difficult job of protecting our freedoms.  One way you can help is to send books to our troops so they’ve got something to read!  Here are several ways to share books with our troops!

1. E-Books for Troops will help you share your used Kindle with our troops overseas.

2. Operation Warrior Library connects writers with military personnel.

3. Books for Soldiers mails books to troops.

4. Operation Paperback sends paperbacks overseas.

5. Books-a-Million will let you select and purchase Books for Troops in a special program.

6. Operation eBook Drop focuses on eBooks.

7. Follow this Google search to find many more options for sharing books with soldiers.

Who Had the Best Civil War Facial Hair?

Are you a Civil War buff?  Have you ever thought, “Golly, that officer has some AWESOME facial hair!”  Well, if you have, you can now vote!

The Smithsonian Museum has a GREAT online exhibit chock full of information about the Civil War, including pictures and information about Civil War officers who had some outstanding facial hair.  Click on the link below, and go vote for your favorite Civil War gentleman!

Who had the best Civil War facial hair?

And check out the rest of the Smithsonian’s 150 year commemoration of the Civil War exhibit at this link.

The Civil War at 150

Summer Math Splash

Card Games!

Happy Mother’s Day!

Happy Mother’s Day!!!!

Tomorrow is a very special day, a day when we thank the women who are our Mothers, or who have played significant roles in our lives Mothering us and helping us to grow into who we are.  So go make sure you hug your Mom physically and spiritually, and thank her for all the hard work she did to help you and care for you.  Thank those women, the teachers, the neighbors, your Grammas and Aunties, and all the other women who made an impact in your life.  We can’t do it without our families and communities!

Thank you, all you wonderful Moms!  We appreciate all you do!

Family Legacy Workshop!