Mercer County Library Blog

It’s January, and Awards Season is officially underway. Maybe you watched the People’s Choice Awards or the Golden Globes. Maybe you’re eagerly awaiting the 2011 Academy Award Nominations. On January 10, 2011, I was lucky enough to watch the live webcast of the American Library Association’s Youth Media Awards! It was great to hear the crowd going wild as each award winner was announced. There were no acceptance speeches, though, because the award winners were BOOKS! Lots of awards were given, but I’d like to tell you about an award that was presented for the first time this year. Beginning in 2011, the Stonewall Children’s and Young Adult Literature Award is bestowed annually on English-language works for children and teens of exceptional merit relating to the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered (GLBT) experience. And the winner is… [insert drumroll here]… Almost Perfect by Brian Katcher “A young adult novel about a transgender girl – told from the perspective of the straight bo...

Have you ever copied and pasted data from a document that has a variety of different formatting styles and a plethora of bulleted and numbered paragraphs? Or the data you copied is so loaded with images and tables that you had to spent hours altering and reformatting the copied data to match the formatting of the document you are pasting in? There is a way to speed up the pasting of your data without spending any time modifying and adjusting it. Paste Options in Word can save you time and frustration. After you copy/cut a block of text and paste it into your document a Paste Options icon will appear. Ignore it and it will fade away and disappear, but if you wanted to choose specific formatting or wanted the pasted data to match the format of your existing text, Paste Options offers a quick and easy way to do just that. Here’s how Paste Options works: After you have pasted the block of text, or just a word or two, you will see the Paste Options icon at the end of the pasted item. ...

Last month, we were greeted once again by the annual year-end shopping frenzy and the almost required news stories about shoppers, shopping and shopping tips. One thing you might have heard a lot of buzz about is Groupon and similar social shopping sites. Some of these sites offer just the basics, like product and store reviews, while others act as a bargaining space where huge discounts can be had, provided enough people jump on board the same offer. Here are a few of these sites, starting with a basic one and moving to more complex options. Kaboodle . Think Facebook for the savvy shopper. Visitors to the site can browse or join for free and set-up their own profile. If you choose to just browse, there is plenty of information on the site, everything from store and product reviews to sale alerts, a wish list organizer, and bulletin boards where shoppers discuss their latest deals and hot buys. Another interesting features include lists of all kinds, so you can find the latest celebrit...

“I have a dream…” We have heard these famous words from the speech that Martin Luther King Jr. gave on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial during the 1964 March on Washington. It continues, “one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: ‘We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal.’ We celebrate Martin Luther King Jr. Day this year on January 17, 2011. Part of the legacy that he left was to teach Americans to appreciate the diversity inherent in our country. There are numerous books available to help children celebrate Martin Luther King Jr.'s vision of hope and sense of humanity. Here are some selections available from our catalog: Non-fiction picture books: Happy Birthday, Martin Luther King! By Jean Marzollo This book is a beautifully-rendered study of Martin Luther King Jr.'s life, told in simple, straightforward language for even the youngest of readers to understand. Pinckney’s scratchboard and oil pastel illustrat...

It’s January and the festivities of the Holidays are slowly fading back in memory. There’s no place for the January blues as your public library is stocked with hundreds of interesting reads that are sure to liven up the long cold days of winter stretching out ahead. This month I picked out a selection of titles for you from the 2010 Best Books Lists published by the Financial Times, Wall Street Journal, and the New York Times. Though they cover a variety of subjects ranging from the financial crisis to historical milestones to biology and disease, they share a common thread of representing outstanding writing that has made a mark on the literary landscape. Financial Times Fault Lines: How Hidden Fractures Still Threaten the World Economy by Raghuram Rajan The book, winner of the prestigious 2010 Financial Times and Goldman Sachs Book of the Year Award provides a thought provoking , brilliant analysis of the recent financial crisis. Rajan, a professor of finance at the Chicago Busines...

One of my New Year’s resolutions for 2010 was to get out of the house and MEET people, especially other mothers, who could relate to my daily life as it revolves around motherhood. The resources I found to connect to other mothers is outstanding! Take a look at some of the tools available to connect you with local moms in the online and real world: CityMommy Central Jersey CityMommy, a free online community and social networking site, has a local “chapter” for Central New Jersey. Members share photos and videos, as well as contribute to discussion topics, ranging from adoption to zoos. While CityMommy Central Jersey offers virtual support and a sounding board for general parenting topics, it’s a beneficial resource when looking into resources and services on a local level. For example, members have assisted each other in finding locally grown produce, pediatric dentists, and maternity consignment shops. MOMS Club MOMS (MOMS Offering Moms Support) is geared towards the stay-at-home-mom ...

The Magician’s Assistant , a 1997 novel by Ann Patchett, provoked a rich and layered discussion in my book club. We enjoyed the lyrical flowing style of a tale that might seem, if you only repeat the bare plot details, melodramatic and forced. Sabine who has lived all her life in Los Angeles is the widow of Parsifal, a recently deceased gay magician. Finding upon his death that her beloved husband had kept the story of his birth and early youth a deep secret, she journeys to his childhood home in Alliance Nebraska to discover her husband’s birth family and true story. In the course of her visit, Sabine learns as much about herself as Parsifal. Among the many dualities of the novel, one that intrigued me was the contrast of sophisticated, urbane west coast L.A. and small town, heartland Alliance, Nebraska. It brings to mind the journey of small town, Dorothy to the great City of Oz – only in The Magician’s Assistant , the trip is in reverse. It is the adult, sophisticated, cultured Sabi...