learn to crochet @ your library

A 4-week series of crochet classes will be held during February for anyone wanting to learn the basics of crochet. Students of all ages are welcome!

Classes will be from 3:30-4:30pm on Mondays beginning February 6th.

Yarn will be provided, but participants need to bring a G size crochet hook to class (available at Pyramid Office Supplies downtown).

Pre-registration is required, as space is limited. Please email Karen Seghers at kseghers@manchesterlibrary.info to register, or call the library at 734-428-8045.

Photo credit: taliesin from morguefile.com

2012 Oscar Nominees!

If you enjoy seeing movies, odds are good that you’ve seen at least a few of this year’s nominees for the 84th Academy Awards.

Only a few of these have been released on DVD, most are still being shown in local theaters. Click the cover or title for more information about library availability.

The nominees for Best Picture are:

The Artist

The Descendants

        Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close

 The Help

Hugo 

Midnight in Paris

Moneyball

The Tree of Life

War Horse

Many of these movies were based on books, including The Help, War Horse, Moneyball, Hugo, and Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close.

For a full list of this year’s nominees for all categories (best actor, best actress, and so on), read Oscars 2012: And the nominees are… at EW.com.

2012 Family Science Workshops

Manchester District Library is proud to offer the 2012 Family Science Program Workshop Series – Vital Signs: How Health Works, presented by the UM Museum of Natural History.

This year’s three fun, family workshops tie in with a temporary exhibition at the Museum called Evolution and Health (February 2012-January 2013). The workshops will focus on showing families what doctors mean when they talk about health, and how factors in our daily lives may affect our health. Workshops are designed for children ages 6-11 accompanied by an adult.

Workshop 1 • Sat. Feb. 4, 11am
How YOU work: What are you made of and what do your vital signs mean?

We will explore what makes you who you are. We’ll look at the building blocks that make our bodies (cells and DNA), figure out what the numbers doctors talk about really tell us, and see how it all works together.

Workshop 2 • Sat. Feb. 18, 11am
Germs, parasites and allergies: Oh my! What makes us sick and what makes us well?

We will look at some of the things that make us sick, and find out what our bodies do to protect themselves.

Workshop 3 • Sat. Feb. 18, 11am
Build the $6 million you: Making the most of your health.

We will learn what we can do to improve and maintain our health. We’ll examine how our environment, healthy eating, and exercise influence our health and well-being.

Please pre-register for each of the workshops listed above by calling the library at 734-428-8045, or emailing kdimond@manchesterlibrary.info.

Cap your workshop experience by attending Health Discovery Day, Saturday March 24, 9am to 5pm at the UM Museum of Natural History.

SOPA Strike

Several websites (including Wikipedia and WordPress) are planning to go on strike on Wednesday, Jan. 18 to show their opposition to the on-line piracy bills now being processed through the House and Senate. SOPA stands for “Stop Online Piracy Act,” and refers to legislation introduced in the House this winter that is aimed at cutting down on file sharing, illegal downloads, and other online piracy. The strike will take down a variety of web sites for at least 12 hours.

• For a list of participating sites, visit Strike Against SOPA at sopastrike.com.
• For a history of recent copyright legislation acts with links to the current bills, visit ALA’s Copyright Legislation page at http://www.ala.org/advocacy/copyright/copyrightlegislation.
• For a quick guide to library-related concerns about SOPA and PIPA, see this comparison chart produced by the American Library Association:  http://www.districtdispatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/ALA_pipasopaopen_ref_guide.pdf

January Family History Guild

The next regular meeting of the Family History Guild will be on Tuesday, Jan. 17th. The topic is Naturalization Papers and Information on “Declarations of Intent.”

All researchers are welcome! No pre-registration is required. If you have questions, contact Heather Sturm at 734-428-8045 x202.

The full schedule of meetings and topics may be viewed here.

OverDrive tips and tricks

If you’re new to the library’s ebook service and web site, called Download Destination, here are a few sources that might be helpful:

Library eBooks 101 Slide Show


 Step-by-Step Guides
These two documents, created by Circulation Supervisor Kathleen Dimond, are available as PDF downloads:

• Kindle Instructions for Download Destination
• How to Transfer Library eBooks from OverDrive to Your Nook

If you’d like some hands-on assistance, you’re invited to attend Library eBooks 101 here at the library — the next session is on Monday, Jan. 23 at 7pm.

About those tax forms

The library just received notification that the new Michigan tax booklets and forms will be shipped out to libraries starting on January 19th. It can take up to 10 days for the forms to arrive. Tax payers can also download forms from the Michigan Taxes website at the Department of Treasury: http://www.michigan.gov/taxes.

We’re still waiting for information about federal forms. Until we know more, federal forms are also accessible on-line at the IRS website – http://www.irs.gov/ – or by phone at 1-800-829-1040.

Magazine Sale

Circulation staff have been withdrawing back issues of the library’s magazines to make way for the new year, and the back issues are now out for sale! Back issues can be purchased for $ .25 each or 5/$1.00.

The magazines are displayed in the book sale area on the 2nd floor of the library, and will remain there through the end of January. Please place your payment in the donation box for the Friends. Proceeds of the book and magazine sales help fund the Summer Reading Program.

where to find free ebooks?

ebooks are hot hot hot!

As ebooks grow more popular, the demand on the library’s ebook catalog (currently provided through OverDrive at http://tln.lib.overdrive.com) rises. If you’re the owner of a new Nook, Kindle, or other e-reader, you may’ve noticed that a lot of the library ebooks are already checked out. So, what’s a reader to do while waiting for a hold?

There are some other good sources for free ebooks, including the following:

InkMesh – specialized search engine that searches more than 30 on-line sources for free ebooks. Search by title or author, or browse by subject heading.

Project Gutenberg – the site that started it all! Project Gutenberg pioneered the digitization of books several years ago and has been building their collection ever since. More than 30,000 free ebooks, mostly classics and public-domain works. Easy to browse using the bookshelf feature.

Baen Books – this publisher of science fiction and fantasy generously offers free downloads of several of their titles, including works by Mercedes Lackey, Fred Saberhagen, and David Weber.

The Online Books Page –the University of Pennsylvania Libraries indexes hundreds of thousands of on-line books free to read on-line. Browse by Dewey location, search by author, title, or subject, or explore special collections (ie: women writers or award winners).

eBookFling – swap the ebooks you already own with other readers nationwide. For every five books you list to loan out, you’ll get one credit towards borrowing. Works for a variety of ebook readers, including Kindle and Nook.

Lendle — similar to eBookFling, but for Kindle owners (or app users) only. Lendle allows you to share and borrow ebooks with other Kindle owners.

And don’t forget the kids! Most of these sites have categories for children’s ebooks, sometimes divided into more specific age groups (InkMesh has a list of books for 4-8 year olds, for example). Try searching for ‘children’s fiction’ to get started.

If you know of other good sources for free ebooks, you’re welcome to share them in the comments section (below). Hopefully this list will help you load your ereader with great books at minimum cost!

January Book Discussion Group Pick

For January, the book discussion group has chosen to read Finding Higher Ground: Adaptation in the Age of Warming by Amy Seidl.

From the publisher: 

An ecologist takes the uniquely positive–yet realistic–position that we can adapt and persist despite the inevitable effects of climate change.

While much of the global warming conversation rightly focuses on reducing our carbon footprint, the reality is that even if we were to immediately cease emissions, we would still face climate change into the next millennium. In Finding Higher Ground, Amy Seidl takes the uniquely positive-yet realistic-position that humans and animals can adapt and persist despite these changes.

• Listen to an interview with the author at Wisconsin Public Radio.
• Watch the author give an overview of her work in this brief video: Amy Seidl – Our Adaptive Future
• Read a review of the book from Publisher’s Weekly.

The library has borrowed additional copies of the book from other libraries for patrons to check out; you may also request a copy specifically for yourself through MeLCat, the statewide interlibrary loan database.

The Discussion Group will meet on Wed. Jan. 25 at 7pm in the lower-level conference room. Join us!