Mercer County Library Blog

We live in extraordinary times, where new technologies continue to dramatically change our way of life.  We have witnessed several waves of innovation since the first large scale disruption - the dawn of the industrial age in the eighteenth century. Each one brings new possibilities and opportunities to reset the trajectory of human progress. A quest to understand the functioning of living systems has been going on for hundreds of years. Recent breakthroughs in molecular biology and genetics have provided profound insights which not only elucidate the evolution of life, but also provide the knowledge to improve lives. The complexity of living systems is truly astonishing. Each human body has trillions of cells and within each cell, millions of molecular events orchestrate biological functions with exquisite precision. Advances in gene technology have given us tools to understand how this is accomplished and how we can harness the information to overcome challenges which have previo...

As a society, we’ve come a long way in our acceptance and understanding of LGBTQ2+ people. This is partly reflected in that acronym. It has grown from LGB, which stands for lesbian, gay and bisexual, to embrace a broader array of gender and sexual identities. It was later expanded to LGBTQ, which adds transgender and queer or questioning to the acronym. You may also see it written as LGBTQIA, which includes intersex and asexual. One of the most current acronyms you may find is LGBTQ2+. This stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer or questioning, and two-spirits. Two-spirits is a term used by some Indigenous people to describe someone who identifies as having both a masculine and feminine spirit. The + is meant to represent inclusivity of any other identities, such as non-binary, pansexual, intersex or asexual. According to the Williams Institute at UCLA, almost 5% of the population identifies as lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender and 29% of those individuals are raisin...

The blank page is considered by some writers to be the most challenging part of writing, but I disagree. For me, and I believe for many, the scariest part is submitting my work for publication. With so many publishers and magazines, big and small, how does a writer discover places that are right for their work? I’m a librarian with previous experience in book publishing and a fiction writer published in literary magazines; below I’ve gathered resources to help you in submitting your work to the magazines, publishers, and agents that fit you. Finding Literary Magazines If you write short forms – stories, poetry, essays – you probably want to find literary magazines to publish your work. How do you know which journals would be a good fit? My number one recommendation is to think of the contemporary authors you most admire and the ones that you think your work most resembles. Check out their books from the library and look at the acknowledgements page: most collections will credit the ...

After reading part one of this two-part Beatles post, you can be forgiven for thinking the Beatles succeeded in the US despite Capitol Records’ inexplicable attempts to torpedo them. Recall: At first, Capitol ignored them, refusing to release their records in the US in 1962 and -63, despite the fact that, in the UK, sales of Beatles’ albums and singles increased with every release. Then, when Capitol finally did deign to release Beatles material, they butchered, attenuated, and watered down their output—a prime example of the latter sabotage being what the suits at Capitol did to the album Help!, as I recounted earlier . In 1964, few expected the Beatles phenomenon to last; one of the most frequently-asked questions “the boys” had to answer in 1963 and -64 was a variant of “What will you do for a living when this Beatlemania thing inevitably blows over in, like, a month?” By early 1965, this question had become such a cliché that it is parodied in the movie Help! with the followin...

Libraries are usually known for their books, even though they have many other resources. One of the resources we have here at the Mercer County Library System is our music collection. We have physical CDs and access to digital music through hoopla and Freegal. In honor of our generous music collection, I thought I would do a career retrospective of my favorite popstar, Lady Gaga. This multi-talented artist has been kicking around the music scene since the mid-aughts and we here at MCLS have all of her albums and have made them all available to you, the borrowing public. I’ll be looking at albums, The Fame , The Fame Monster , Born this Way , Artpop , Joanne , and Chromatica . I will not be covering Cheek to Cheek , a collection of jazz standards with Tony Bennett or the A Star is Born soundtrack. I think both of these albums are great, but they are not really representative of Gaga’s work. All of the albums I am discussing here are available physically and digitally, unless otherwis...

In the beginning of March, we had an early taste of spring with some beautiful weather and I was R.E.A.D.Y. to get outside and start doing some in-person programs! The virtual programs on GoToMeeting and YouTube have been a nice alternative when in-person programming was not an option and the library system will continue to offer them, but I really missed seeing the kids at my branch! The main reason I love my job as a youth services librarian so much is because of those kids. Seeing more and more families returning to the library over the past several weeks for outdoor programs has been a breath of fresh air (pun intended). There is nothing quite like reading a book or singing a song and seeing the kids’ faces light up. However, during my first outdoor story time, I was a big ball of nerves. Even though I have been a youth services librarian for over 16 years, this was a whole new world for me. There were many new things to keep in mind like worrying if the weather was going to coope...

Not to sound cheesy, but did you know May is American Cheese Month? I have to admit, when I first learned that, I was a bit puzzled. A whole month dedicated to American cheese? I know many love the processed cheese, but it’s definitely not my favorite. After some investigation, I discovered that American Cheese Month is so much more than 31 days celebrating only one type of cheese. According to the American Cheese Society, “American Cheese Month is a grassroots celebration of North America’s delicious and diverse cheeses, and the farmers, cheesemakers, retailers, cheesemongers, and chefs who bring them to your table.” Cheese has a fascinating history, dating as far back as 10,000 years. Ancient cultures all over the world developed their own methods of making cheeses and these techniques eventually spread to early America, where the passion for cheese has endured to this day. Whether you are a casual cheese lover or an artisan cheese connoisseur, celebrate American Cheese Month with o...

Recently, it seems as if everyone has decided to write an autobiography or biography about either themselves, or a person of interest and importance. The biography shelves at the library have more choices than ever before and there are interesting reads for just about every age group. Choose from a range of rock stars and celebrities to political figures, as well as people of historical importance who have spurred major changes in the world. There are amazing and inspiring stories for all. The biographies written for our youngest audience are illustrated and open the door to some of the most influential characters in history. In the past, biographies have been a dry recollection of facts. I remember being assigned projects where I would have to research a particular person's life story and have to do a report or presentation. The only biographies I read were boring. This is not the case anymore! Biographies are often filled with details that were previously unknown. The readers ar...

On January 20, 2021, President Joe Biden's Inauguration Day, the twenty-two year old poet Amanda Gorman was invited to read her poem "The Hill We Climb". In a calm and clear voice, the former National Youth Poet Laureate connected millions of people's hearts through those powerful lines: "When day comes, we ask ourselves, where can we find light in this never-ending shade? The loss we carry. A sea we must wade. We braved the belly of the beast. We’ve learned that quiet isn’t always peace, and the norms and notions of what “just” is isn’t always justice. And yet the dawn is ours before we knew it. ... ..." When a poem is recited in front of a worldwide audience through television and the internet, it is a high-profile example of a 21st-century “occasional poem”. When it gives hope to all, unites people from left and right, and has the power to heal different kinds of wounds, it is truly as what the great German poet Goethe declared - "Occasional Poetr...