Mercer County Library Blog

Did you know that March is Social Work Month? First celebrated in 1963, it is meant to build public support for the profession and raise awareness of all the wonderful things that social workers do. Every year, the National Association of Social Workers (NASW), the main professional organization for the field, picks a theme for Social Work Month that represents the current climate. This year they have designated the theme as “ Social Workers Uplift. Defend. Transform.” This captures the many different ways that social workers help people and improve their communities. Qualification to be a Social Worker What makes someone a social worker? Social worker is a professional title that designates anyone who has received a degree in the field. There are three levels of social work degrees: Bachelor of Social Work (BSW)/Bachelor of Arts in Social Work (BASW), Master of Social Work (MSW), and Doctor of Social Work (DSW). Social work education focuses on how different systems (social experi...

We are fortunate enough to be alive at a time in which all the information we could ever dream of learning is at our fingertips. I’ve always lived in a world with instant access to the internet; I could always Ask Jeeves or even text ChaCha when I was away from my computer, and got my first iPhone just before starting high school. I cannot imagine living in a world without the ability to pull up a video of my favorite Real Housewives fight whenever I want to see it. (Mine is the Amsterdam fight from Beverly Hills. If you know, you know.) Or worse, growing up without Real Housewives at all… I shudder at the thought. Those who forget history… Instant access to information does not mean instant access to reliable information, though; the spread of misinformation is as old as time itself. With each technological advancement, more opportunities for misinformation arise: in the 1480s, Dominican friars used the recently-invented printing press to spread a wildly successful, Pope-approve...

Consumer Reports Online Edition was added to Mercer County Library System’s list of resources this past fall and runs the gamut of products readers have come to expect from the print magazine, while also offering new and interactive ways to find the best deals on the highest rated products. This patron-requested resource is now available to you both in-branch and on the go. The online edition is organized by categories: Cars, Home & Garden, Appliances, Electronics, Babies, Digital Security, Deals, and More+. I’m using Consumer Reports Online Edition to help family members shop for a new laptop. Performing a search brings up the Laptops & Chromebooks page with tabs for Overview, Ratings & Reliability, Recommend, and Buying Guide. The family member I’m helping is currently using a mid-size, 15in laptop. They prefer a laptop of comparable size, but with a larger, solid-state drive as they plan to mainly store their files locally. The laptop should have the capability to...

Is this for real? If you’ve heard or read something that seems slightly suspicious, or if you just want to be more confident about what you are reading, I have some suggestions to help you verify claims. How To Verify Something From Social Media I don’t have to tell you that there are some questionable and bizarre claims posted to social media. If you find yourself scratching your head, you’ve already taken the most important step: pause for a moment and take a deep breath before you react. A simple thing you can do is an internet search with the basics of the claim, and include “fact check” in your search string. You can also look specifically for news stories – maybe someone has already investigated it. As an example, imagine I was browsing a social media site, and I read that a velociraptor has just tested positive for rabies. I might turn to a search engine and type in “velociraptor rabies fact check” or “velociraptor rabies news.” If this velociraptor fake news were a real soc...

February is National Library Lovers Month, and the perfect opportunity for all library lovers to celebrate, explore, connect, and share their love of the library! At Mercer County Library System, there’s a lot to love. From the range of programs offered, to the services and accommodations available, to the vast collection of books and media—there’s something for everyone! I thought I’d take a moment and spread some library love by highlighting a few of my favorite resources and offerings available at MCLS! Take a look… Headspace - Headspace offers science-backed meditation and mindfulness techniques online so you can experience the benefits of meditation anytime, anywhere. I found the website and app very easy to navigate, and it offers hundreds of meditations and exercises for sleep, focus, and movement. MCLS patrons can experience Headspace for free by signing up with their library card! Job Interview Practice & Resume Review - Prepare for an upcoming job interview by virtua...

Biography readers will not be strangers to Walter Isaacson’s string of well-researched and well-written biographies of unique figures, some alive and some departed. There’s Leonardo DaVinci , Benjamin Franklin , Albert Einstein , Steve Jobs , Jennifer Doudna and, now, Elon Musk . There are many commonalities between these figures. The main one is: science. There is also the commonality that all of the biographies are available through the Mercer County Library System in multiple formats. Initially, one might look at the names above and see a diversity of interests and that each one is or was an innovator in some capacity. Then again, one might think of each icon in a more obvious fashion. For example, think of Leonardo DaVinci and the Mona Lisa may be the first thing that comes to mind. However, one then might neglect DaVinci’s intense study of anatomy and engineering, among an array of other subjects. Likewise, when considering Benjamin Franklin, one might think of his part of the ...

A fun way to ring in the new year is to try something you’ve never tried before. Here's several books, magazines, and resources to start fresh! New Jersey Off The Beaten Path ISBN : 9781493070503 Call Number: NJ 917.49 NEW 2023 Catalog:  Quick Link Covering the entirety of New Jersey and doling out its sights and sounds in sizable portions, this up-to-date series offers "new perspectives on timeless destinations and introduce(s) you to those you never knew existed". From The Aviation Hall of Fame and Museum of NJ (pg 20) up in Teteboro all the way to the recently renovated Lucy the Elephant (pg 118) in Margate. Certain locations MCLS offers museum passes for are also covered by this title such as Morven Museum and Garden (pg 78) and Battleship New Jersey (pg 154). Speaking of, you can find our Museum Passes via our website under Services. Each branch offers their own unique set of passes: MCLS Museum Passes Pass Name Branches where Available Aca...

Greetings! The spooky season is officially in full swing, which means there are ghosts, ghouls, and goblins lurking behind every corner! While the prospect of werewolves howling, witches cackling, and zombies growling may send chills down your spine, I can offer you an escape: the library. Well, at least, the virtual library, where the things you’ll find lurking behind every corner are far more benign. I am talking about the hidden haunts in our online resources - learning tools that you likely would not expect from the seemingly mundane “database.” These online resources are available for free with your MCLS library card, and can be accessed from anywhere with an Internet connection. Throughout my travels in the land of online resources, I have discovered many spellbinding features and tools, five of which I would like to share with you. Keep reading to unveil some of these hidden haunts! American Sign Language , Pronunciator Pronunciator is one of our language-learning online reso...

"The greatest thing by far is to be a master of metaphor.” - Aristotle in Poetics “Similes and metaphors are both figures of speech that are used to make a comparison between two things that are not alike. The difference is that similes make the comparison by saying that something is  like  something else but metaphors make the comparison by saying that something  is  something else. A  simile  says that one thing "is like" or "is as … as" another thing. A  metaphor  says that one thing "is" another thing. Metaphors do not use the words "like" or "as" in their comparisons.” - Britannica’s Ask the Editor Page There was a time, long ago, when I didn’t have much respect for the simile. To me, it was just something heard in English class when your teacher introduced you to the concept with something along the lines of, “ He is fast like a cheetah. ” Such examples are hardly inspiring. I...

I spend a lot of time thinking about art. The more I learn, the less I seem to know. In some philosophies, I think that makes me a wise person. Loaded today in the film projector of my mind is a visit we took to a local museum when I was in middle school. As the tour was winding up, my class formed a circle around three metal blocks that were stacked on top of each other near the museum entrance. The resounding opinion was, and I’m censoring myself here, “That is not art.” To our surprise, a man emerged from the fog of our war on aesthetics and promptly yelled at us. He was, or so he claimed, the person who had sculpted the blocks, and he scolded us for knowing nothing about art. I think about that experience a lot. On one hand, it was highly entertaining. On the other, it speaks to an ongoing issue about the nature of art and who, exactly, it’s for. You, MCL Blog reader, may have some notions or hesitations about art yourself. For this blog post, and you...