The San Marino Public Library has once again partnered up with the Metropolitan Cooperative Library System (MCLS) and the UCLA Athletic Department to offer children of all ages a chance to participate in another fantastic reading program, Reading Days with UCLA. To participate children need to come into the Public Library and pick up a reading log. The reading log will be used to keep track of the 10 books children need to read to complete the program. Once the reading log is completed, bring it back to the library and receive a pass, good up to 4 people, for a UCLA sporting event. Events include women and men's soccer and women's volleyball games. This reading program is designed to encourage good reading habits among children and will run from Monday, September 15th - Saturday, November 15th.
Monday, September 15, 2003
The Library has a new electronic resource that can be used from home computers or inside the library. Current Biography Illustrated contains excellent biographical information about all kinds of well-known people, including politicians, writers, actors, scientists, sports stars, and other people in the news. Each entry is about 2 to 3 pages, and they are very readable, almost like a magazine article, and yet, very fact-filled. They cover the childhood and younger years of the person, and then describe important events and achievements in their adult life. There is often a brief interview that reveals a more personal side of the person, and there are usually one or more photos as well.
If you have Internet access, go to the San Marino Public Library's web site at sanmarinopl.org and click on "SMILES", then click on the button that says "Current Biography- Outside Library." Type in your library card barcode in the white box, and you're ready to go. When you are in the library building, you don't have to do this last step. You can search by the person's name, of course, but you can also search by birthday, profession, country of origin, gender, and other criteria. Get biographies of all of the people who were born on July 1, or biographies of famous mathematicians. The usual way to search is by an individual's name, such as Bill Gates or Katherine Hepburn. Just type the name in where it says "search for" and then click on "start." When you get your results, you can print the biography or email it anywhere in the world.
Current Biography Illustrated is a great resource for students and for adults. The biographies are very interesting, fun to read, and not just for scholars. This product is very easy to use, but should you need help, call or ask at the reference desk.
Back in February, a busted steam pipe flooded the library basement and forced us to shuffle our large print books in with the rest of the collection. That was terrible because if a person suffered from low eyesight, he or she could never find the odd large print book among the many regular ones.
Not to worry though, because that problem has been solved. During our closed week at the end of August, one of our tasks was to tease out those large print books from their hiding places and re-consolidate that collection.
Now, fans of 16-point type can gather along the back wall behind the fiction section to browse the large print collection once more. Both fiction and non-fiction large print books are there, together again, all in one place.
Most people have heard of the Newbery Award for Best Children's Book, and the Caldecott Medal awarded to illustrators of picture books, but there is also the Michael L. Printz Award for Excellence in Young Adult Literature.
The Printz Award, established in 2000, is relatively new. It is awarded annually for a book that exemplifies literary excellence in young adult literature. Three books are given Honor Awards as well. The award is named for a Topeka, Kansas school librarian who was a long-time active member of the Young Adult Library Services Association and a tireless advocate of quality literature for teenagers.
This year's Printz Award Winner is Postcards from No Man's Land by Aidan Chambers. Postcards from No Man's Land tells the story of seventeen-year-old backpacker, Jacob Todd, who has come to Amsterdam as part of a trip to honor his grandfather, a soldier who died in a nearby town in World War II. He meets Geertrui, a Dutch woman who had cared for his wounded grandfather. Her teenage World War II story is interwoven with Jacob's own unfolding coming of age story. The alternating narratives of their two stories intertwine, merging into a memorable voyage of discovery.
The three Honor Award books named for 2003 are Hole in My Life by Jack Gantos, My Heartbeat by Garret Freymann-Weyr, and The House of the Scorpion by Nancy Farmer. All four of the titles mentioned are available in the Young Adult section of the library.
