Beyond Google

I’ve been listening to The World is Flat (thanks Rita!) and right now the author is talking about Google. Anyone at anytime anywhere can find anything, he claims. So not true! We have patrons coming into the library who are completely frustrated by Google. How often do we search and find thousands of hits, but none of them have the information we want? And if we are lucky enough to find it in a reasonable amount of time, how do we know how good the information is?

Like most people, I turn to Google often to find quick answers to simple questions. But I’ve learned that it has it’s limitations. For information beyond the fast and easy, I need to search inside databases, speak with experts, and ask for help. Very often the answers are out there, but they are part of the “hidden web” that search engines never uncover. That’s where we come in.

One of the perks of my job as a librarian is helping people find just what they need. The author seems to think we keep information locked in a cavernous vault somewhere, but that was never true. Nothing means more than to connect our patrons with the information they need. So when Google doesn’t work for you, call us!

RIDING WITH RITA

I recently moved out of the neighborhood, which instantly converted my seven-minute commute to the Melville building to thirty minutes. My plan for dealing with this was to catch up on some of the books I have been meaning to read by listening to Audiobooks in my car.

I am happy to report, that I have already “read” several books, and have not minded one minute of the commute, which is often in traffic. Occasionally I sit in the car after I‘ve reached my destination to listen to just a few more sentences. I look forward to my drive to the library, and when the day is done, I can’t wait to get behind the wheel to rejoin the work in progress.

So I thought I would share with you some of the books I have enjoyed so far. These books are available on CD at the library, and many titles can be downloaded to your computer and MP3 player from our homepage. You can search our entire Audiobook and e-Audiobook collection from the library homepage, and you can request and reserve them from there as well.

My choices so far have all been non-fiction. It’s a matter of personal preference, and most of the books I read are of that genre. Here are few to get started:

The City of Falling Angels by John Berendt This is a book about the city of Venice. It unfolds through the recounting of the fire that destroyed the Fenice Opera House in 1996. If you have never been there, you will want to go after listening to this book. He also wrote Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, which similarly brings the city of Savannah to life.

The World is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty–First Century by Thomas L. Friedman Why is the world flat? That is the author’s metaphor for the technological, economic and political changes that have led to globalization. Instant information, universally available is the agent of change, and the author is saying we had better get with it or the parade will pass us by. This book helps to explain the far reaching consequences of the information revolution. A must listen!

And my very favorite (so far)

Eat Pray Love: One Woman’s Search for Everything Across Italy, India and Indonesia by Elizabeth Gilbert This is a memoir read by the author herself. Why do I love this book? Ok, she had a dreadful divorce, and a bad love affair, but afterwards she takes a whole year to travel – four months each in Rome (eat), India (pray), and Bali (love). Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

So if you are driving or taking the railroad, walking on the treadmill or doing just about anything, you can enjoy listening to a good book. I’ll be back with some more great listens!

Rita Gross
Reference Melville

Buying books and living within a budget!

The New Yorker magazine issue, dated November 13, 2006, has a great article “Downpaging” by Ian Frazier. Mr. Frazier writes about buying less and borrowing more novels  (from your local public Library); thereby spending less and saving more.  He quotes Mitch Gelman an accountant from West Hempstead who advises his clients to “Get a library card!” and Ben Bernanke Chair of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve who says “… And you know what you never see any of the big-bucks guys do? Buy novels. They learned their lesson, disciplined themselves when they were young. The super-ultra-wealthy never touch the modern novel, thus racking up more than six hundred extra dollars per year….”. Mr. Frazier also writes about people like you and me who love to read (several novels at one time) but who have successfully weaned themselves off buying books.

Now I am not suggesting that you stop reading (or even stop buying books), heaven forbid. But borrow more than you buy!

Something to ponder.  

Rediscovering Thanksgiving

Exactly twenty five years ago this month I embarked on an adventure of my lifetime. I decided to suspend my studies at the Jagiellonian University in Krakow and visit the United States for the first time. It has been a great experience so far and I’m happy to say that a quarter of a century later my adventure continues.

It just so happened that I arrived at JFK only a couple of days before Thanksgiving of 1981 having absolutely no idea what the big turkey cookout was all about. If you remember, Thanksgiving is not celebrated in Europe…

Over the years I managed to acquire some knowledge about the holiday and enjoyed all festivities of Thanksgiving in its full splendor. And just about now, as I begun to take this holiday for granted, I was fortunate to come across a great book “Mayflower: A Story of Courage, Community, and War” by Nathaniel Philbrick.

Reading this book allowed me to rediscover the accounts of the Plymouth colony and the early American history all over again. William Bradford and his companions come to life. This book, like a good suspense novel took me through hardships and victories of the early settlers. At the end it reinforced my appreciation for the pioneering spirit and the skill of survival of early inhabitants of this great country.

I’m sure that this year’s Thanksgiving will be even more meaningful to me and I hope the same for you.

Alicja Feitzinger, Assistant Director

Keychain coolness

We’re getting new Library cards in January!  Your choice – you can have both the credit card size, and/or  those cute little ones available to hang on your keychain along with all those other ones from favorite stores.  No more hunting through your wallet to dig out your Library card – now it can dangle along side your keys.  Watch for more information here.

Toys For Tots

The library has collection boxes out now in both our Dix Hills and Melville buildings for the U.S. Marine’s annual Toys For Tots drive. The boxes will be picked up December 1st, so please make a donation soon.

Become a Literacy Tutor!

Working in the Library makes it easy to take reading and writing for granted. But there are many people right here on Long Island who cannot easily do either one. They might have recently arrived here from another country or just never learned to read. You can help!

Currently, Literacy Suffolk, Inc. has 7 students in this community who need to be matched up with a tutor. Many meet right here in the Library.  To learn more about becoming a literacy tutor, plan to attend an introductory session on Wednesday, January 17th at 2:30 p.m. in the Dix Hills building.  Please join us!

For information about Literacy Suffolk go to http://www.literacysuffolk.org/index.cfm to learn about tutor trainings and how to become a volunteer. 

How-to website

 Do you want to perform the perfect golf swing?  Or find out what the correct method is to apply three shades of eyeshadow?    Check out the website  videojug.com  for brief video clips on a variety of topics.

Take us with you on AirPAC

The Library catalog is now available on your cell phone, Treo, and other mobile devices, so you can check your account or look through our collection anywhere accessible by wireless networks. Use it to place a hold and check due dates during a long commute. Search the catalog while in a bookstore before buying that best seller – it’s probably available here. Want to see if we’ve got a hot new movie? You can check for it on the go.
Bookmark us at http://hhhl.suffolk.lib.ny.us/pda/index.htm.