The world is at your fingertips @ the library

by John Hunziker
Over the past four years I have come to realize that people in our community see the library as a resource of infinite possibilities and use it in many ways.
Jay Chang stopped by the other day to share his story. I had gotten his name from Louise in the Reference area on the second floor. She had talked with Jay as she saw him in the library and passed his name to me so I gave him a call.
Jay is originally from South Korea where he studied law; he met his wife there. He spent four years in London working with a Korean language paper and then he and his wife traveled to the United States. They originally settled in California where he published a Korean newspaper in Orange County. There were over 600,000 Koreans living in Southern California in 1996.
He and his wife decided that they wanted to raise their family in a less busy part of the country and after researching areas decided on Rochester. They have lived here for 15 years and originally bought a house in Northwest Rochester. Their daughter is at Macalester College in St. Paul and their son is at Mayo High School. Jay’s original dream when they moved to Rochester had been to publish an on-line Korean language newspaper; unfortunately the internet was not as good in the 1990’s as it is today.
Needing to support themselves and their family, they opened a retail store in Miracle Mile called In Vogue. That store grew into two more over time. After 10 years they began tiring of the day-to-day stress of retail sales so they decided to sell the stores. They thought about taking the concept to the Twin Cities area but haven’t found the right location. They have found their version of the American Dream and Jay is now taking some time to find his personal meaning of life. They sold their Northwest house and have moved closer to the downtown area. Jay can easily walk the mile to the library and back home when he chooses.
Jay had thought about returning to Korea and spending time in a monastery environment to find his, “meaning of life” but finds he can do the same thing in the quiet study rooms on the second floor of the library. He brings his laptop and connects to the Wi-Fi and explores what other people have thought, whether they are Buddhist, Muslim, Jewish or various Christian philosophies. One of his favorite authors at this time is Richard Dawkins who wrote the God Delusion; Jay says that he agrees with about 90% of what Dawkins writes.
Along with his search for his own meaning of life, his personal journey, he as two goals. He still wants to publish an online magazine focused on the worldwide Korean population. He actually has a number of online blogs at this time, although they are in Korean. If they are successful he will consider English versions. Secondly he has studied for and passed in September his realtors’ tests. He spent 10 hours a day for two weeks at the library preparing for the tests as he wanted to pass the first time. He wants to be a commercial realty consultant working with people who want to invest in U.S. properties.
Jay says that with the library and our internet access, the philosophies of the world are at his finger tips.

Rochester Reads Poster

Rochester Reads 2012

The Rochester Reads committee decided to highlight the 150th Anniversary of the Civil War by selecting two books by Pulitzer Prize winning journalist/author Tony Horwitz, as well as a junior title for middle-school students, and a picture book for the pre-school-kindergarten crowd. Confederates in the Attic: dispatches from America’s unfinished Civil War (1998), and Midnight Rising: John Brown and the Raid That Sparked the Civil War (2011) are the two adult titles. Tony Horwitz will be speaking on the topic of Civil War and the origins of the conflict on Monday, April 9 at Willow Creek Auditorium at 7:00 p.m.

The junior title is The River Between Us by Richard Peck, and the picture book is B is for Battlecry by Minnesota author Patricia Bauer, who will be visiting several Rochester classrooms on April 10 as part of Rochester Reads.

In addition to the author visits, we will be hosting a kick-off event with Mayor Brede and the musical group The New Pearl Buttons  on February 13 at the library, and there will be a number of other events - lectures on the Civil War, children’s & YA events, book discussion groups - in March and April. All information will be available on the http://www.rochesterreads.org/ as events are finalized.

Rochester Reads 2012 is sponsored by:
Friends of the Rochester Public Library
Minnesota's Arts & Cultural Heritage Fund
Post-Bulletin CompanyDoubletree Hotel

and partnered with:

Adult and Family Literacy Program
Barnes & Noble Booksellers
Diversity Council
The History Center of Olmsted County
Post-Bulletin Company
Rochester Public Library
Rochester Public Schools
Rochester Community and Technical College

WWW -Dr. Amit Sood

Dr. Amit Sood will be presenting at the 11th annual Wit, Wisdom and Wine fundraising event on Saturday, January 14, 2012.

Mayo SMART Program (Mayo Stress Management And Resiliency Training Program)

Stress is perceived when there is an imbalance between the demands placed on us and our ability to meet those demands while maintaining well-being.  On-going stress has a negative effect on our health, happiness, relationships, and quality of life.  Excessive stress also sometimes affects our attention, memory, judgment, and decision making.
In this workshop you will understand how our brain and mind generate undesirable stress every day, even during routine daily activities.  Based on this understanding you will learn a two step program that will empower you to better handle your stressors, and as a result enhance your physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual well-being.
The program will be taught by Dr. Amit Sood, Director of Research and Practice at the Mayo Clinic Complementary and Integrative Medicine Program.  Dr. Sood teaches this program to patients, fellow physicians, and other staff members at Mayo Clinic.  He has held several national workshops to teach this program and is conducting multiple research studies at Mayo Clinic incorporating stress management.  Dr. Sood is the author of a recently published book, Train Your Brain Engage Your Heart Transform Your Life.

Gift Certificates to the Friends Bookstore

ONLY 11 SHOPPING DAYS LEFT!
Give the gift that keeps on giving - all through the year that will delight the readers in your family and circle of friends. Gift Certificates to the Friends Bookstore come in any denomination from $5 up. And while you are at it, give them a Friends membership which gives them an additional 20% discount! Win win!

Book Review - Maximum Ride: The Angel Experiment

Book Review

Maximum Ride:  

The Angel Experiment

James Patterson

With 13 days remaining until Christmas, I’m getting a little stressed out.  I’ve done all of my shopping with one exception:  I still have to buy for the readers on my list.  And I can’t just buy any book and hope it’s good.  Nope…not me.  I can’t give a book unless I both know it’s a good book, AND know that the intended reader will identify with it in some way.  So I’ve been doing a lot of reading!

One of the recipients on my list is a 14-year-old girl who is a voracious reader.  It’s been a while since I’ve read any YA novels, so I honestly didn’t know where to start.  And then someone suggested James Patterson’s Maximum Ride series.  I was familiar with Patterson and I’d read several of his novels, but – though I was aware the series existed – I wasn’t aware that the target audience was young adult readers.  With my 14-year old friend in mind, I picked up Maximum Ride:  The Angel Experiment.

Had a I realized in advance that this series was strongly based in science fiction, I can assure you I would never have even considered reading it, even as an advance screening for a gift.  After all, I’ve often proclaimed that I’ll read anything except science fiction.  It’s just not a genre I enjoy…or so I thought.  It would seem that I should rethink my aversion to science fiction, because I thoroughly enjoyed this book and look forward to reading the remainder of the series.

Maximum Ride is a 14-year-old girl who isn’t your normal teenager.  She and her friends have been experimentally mutated by “The School” and have an avian bone structure and wings like a bird.  At first glance, they look like any other group of kids…except for the 13-foot wingspan they keep carefully concealed under a windbreaker to avoid notice.

Four years before the opening of this book, Max and her friends were secretly liberated from “The School” and have been hiding from the Erasers – creatures genetically mutated into wolf-like half-humans, created for the purpose of hunting them down and either killing them or returning them to "The School."  Max and her friends have been located by the Erasers, and now they’re on the run for their lives.  Whether they escape unscathed is something you’ll have to discover for yourself by reading the book.

As an adult, I must admit I was surprised at how much I enjoyed this book.  While the target audience is young adults (probably grade 5 and above) I found that the twists and turns made it completely enjoyable for adults to read as well.  The short chapters would be especially attractive for young readers or busy adults, as they allow the reader to pick the book up for a quick read and then put it down without investing a full half hour on a chapter.

Maximum Ride was a truly outstanding read and will definitely be in the “to open” pile for my young friend on Christmas morning.  I may even consider it for one or more of my adult reading friends.

For more information about the Maximum Ride series of books, visit the author’s website dedicated to this series by following this link.

~ Catherine H. Armstrong

Friends' Annual Meeting

2012 Friends of the Rochester Public Library Annual Meeting
Mark your calendars for the Friends of the Rochester Public Library annual meeting in the Auditorium
on Monday January 30, 2012, at 11:30 a.m. Following a delicious lunch a short business meeting will be held to elect new officers and board members.
We will celebrate a successful 2011, review our achievements and give a preview and dates for 2012 activities. Dr. Gerald Anderson, historian and mystery author, will then talk about the evolution of the mystery story genre. His talk is titled - The Mystery Story, Then and Now (and Why We All Love A Good Murder).
In order to plan for food please RSVP by January 24 to Elizabeth Ritman 282-9708, Gail Harris or Marilyn Campbell 328-2341.

Meeting Speaker: Dr. Gerald Anderson
We are delighted that Dr. Gerald Anderson will be our guest speaker for the Annual Meeting on Monday January 30th, 2012. Dr. Anderson received his BA at Concordia College Moorhead, Minnesota with majors in History and Political Science, MA from North Dakota State University, Fargo and his Ph.D. from the University of Iowa, Iowa City.
He recently retired after 22 years as Associate Professor of History from the North Dakota State University in Fargo, ND. He has had other extensive teaching experience at Waldorf College, Forest City, Iowa; Drake University, Des Moines, Iowa; Iowa Wesleyan College, Mount Pleasant, Iowa; Austin Community College, Austin, Minnesota and more.
He has received numerous National and International Funded Grants, and Academic Teaching Honors. He is listed in the Who’s Who in America— Midwest Edition from 1978 to the present. Dr. Anderson has had many articles published, but most pertinent for the purposes of his talk are his published mystery novels that are set in Minnesota. The latest one published in 2011 by North Star Press is entitled Murder in Bemidji or Paul’s Bloody Trousers.
The title of his talk is The Mystery Story, Then and Now (and Why We All Love a Good Murder). He intends to speak in a general way about the evolution of the mystery story genre from Edgar Allan Poe to Wilkie Collins and Dostoyevsky. Dr. Anderson will mention the golden age of mysteries such as Agatha Christie and Dorothy Sayers and then some general comments about today’s mystery writers and finish with comment on his books and how he writes them.

Book Review - Alvin Ho: Allergic to Girls, School, and Other Scary Things

Book Review

Alvin Ho:  Allergic to Girls, School, 

and Other Scary Things

Lenore Look

I absolutely love the holidays.  I love the giving of gifts, and my favorite gift to give is a really good book.  I love the idea of choosing exactly the “right” story to appeal to the recipient’s personality, and I love the idea of that person paging through the book and identifying with the characters.  So, for me, choosing a book as a gift is a fairly detailed process and sometimes requires hours of my time to select just the right one.

This year, the difficult reader on my list is my 7 year old nephew.  I wanted to find a book that he could read quietly to himself (he’s reading at a 3^rd grade level in 1^st grade!), but one that would also be fun for his folks to read with him if they wanted some quality family time.  I think I hit the jackpot with Alvin Ho:  Allergic to Girls, School and Other Scary Things.

I chose this book strictly based upon the title.  What could be more fun than a 1^st grade boy who’s allergic to girls and school?  There must be a story in there and, with any luck, it would be a story that would give the reader a chuckle.  If my own 7 year old’s belly laughs are any indication, this book will definitely appeal to my nephew and likely any other 1^st through 3^rd grade boy on your holiday list.

Alvin Ho is simply adorable!  He’s an Asian-American child who is quite literally afraid of everything.  When he goes to school, he becomes so terrified of the teacher and other students that he simply can’t speak.  Kids will love the lists he makes regarding how to make friends, and the trouble he gets into as he turns to his older brother, Calvin, for advice.

Parents, on the other hand, will love the moral lessons he’s taught as each of his schemes to overcome his fears blows up on him.  There are important lessons on “How to be a gentleman,” the importance of avoiding peer pressure, and even understanding the difference between “borrowing” and “stealing.”   

Without a doubt, Alvin Ho is priceless and is sure to bring more than a few giggles to young readers and their parents.

This title is the first in a series of Alvin Ho books available in digital and traditional format through the library.

For more information on this book or the author, visit the Random House website dedicated to this author and her books by following this link.

~ Catherine H. Armstrong

Gift membership

SANTA IS BUSY! Be an ELF
(An Extraordinary Friend of the Library!)
Give a Gift Membership for that special reader in your life: family, friends, strangers even (e.g. an annonymous donation could be given to a local family that would help them throughout the year)!

A gift of membership at the Friends of the Rochester Public Library will delight friends and family throughout the year while providing important financial support to the Library. Share your passion for lifelong learning and reading!

You may give a gift Membership from $10 (see below):
Book Collector      $100 and over             
      Book Lover           $50 - $99                     

      Book Reader         $20 - $49                   

      Bookworm*          $10 - $19     (*students and seniors)         

For information about the Friends go to our website http://www.rochesterpubliclibrary.org/friends
Or visit the Friends Bookstore or Library  for our membership brochures

We also have gift cards in any denomination from $5 to help with your holiday shopping!

Please note your current email address on your renewal form to receive furture events or special offers just for Members.

Thank you for your support!

Book Review - The Black Echo

Book Review

The Black Echo

(Harry Bosch Series - Book #1)

Michael Connelly

Michael Connelly is one of those authors whose name keeps creeping up on me.  He’s a prolific writer and has published more than two-dozen novels in the last twenty years.  Until last week, I’d never read anything by Connelly, mostly because he came highly recommended by the two men in my life whose reading preferences couldn’t be more different than my own.  But, after more than a little prodding, I gave in and decided to give Connelly a try.  After all, what could it really hurt?  If I didn’t like him, then I could simply quit reading and move onto something else.  If, however, I found something compelling in his writing, then maybe I’d have a new favorite author.  The answer would be in the reading.

Black Echo is the first in the Harry Bosch series of novels based upon a homicide detective who has been demoted to the most undesirable homicide beat in his department because he’s not part of the “family” and doesn’t play by the rules.  He’s narrowly escaped one Internal Affairs investigation, and that department is still chomping at the bit to find anything at all that will allow them to bring him down, and they are relentless in their harassment and pursuit.

The premise of this book surrounds the suspicious drug overdose death of a Vietnam Veteran and the seemingly (at first) unrelated bank vault robbery a year prior.  Harry Bosch is teamed up with FBI agent Eleanor Wish as the two work together to solve both crimes while attempting to understand how they were related.

This book has more twists and turns than the average mystery/action/suspense/thriller novel and I found myself not only holding my breath while turning the pages, but repeatedly thinking what an excellent movie this book would make.  Just when I thought I had everything figured out, I was thrown yet another curve ball and then another that left me with my jaw dropping and shaking my head at myself for never suspecting the final outcome.

The verdict, then?  I loved it and wish I hadn’t been so hard-headed and resistant to giving Michael Connelly a try.  I will definitely read more in this series to see where this character goes, and it might even make my Christmas Gift List for those few hard-to-please readers on my list.

For more information on the Harry Bosch series of books by Michael Connelly, or more information about this author specifically, visit the author’s website at www.michaelconnelly.com.

~ Catherine H. Armstrong

Book review - Second Reading

Every year my Christmas wish reading list is LONG!
This year it is definitely NOT a short list either: WOW, there are so many wonderful books that have been recently published, and of course I am waiting for a number of TBP (to be published) to go on my TBR (to be read) pile! This book by Jonathan Yardley (Second Reading) is definitely on it, as I need to mark up my own copy, with my agreements, disagreements, further recommendations, and just general comments! This book is a series of book reviews from his column of books that he reread over the course of two years. I understand how difficult it is to find time to read books, let alone reread them, but I do have a handful that I always go back to (e.g. Tolkien has been read about every five years! At the end of each reading I write my comments in a book journal and enjoy the progression of my thoughts.).  We are not the same people who read some of these books as a teenager or early (busy) adult. It can be very worthwhile and enjoyable to reread these classics. Second Reading is composed of many books that you have already read, that you really should give another go at reading, re-reading, or just comparing your thoughts to his. I love his columns, second only to Michael Dirda, both superb book reviewers.

I was intrigued by his review of Rebecca by Daphne DuMurier, having also just reread it when I was sorting my bookshelves. It has such a classic opening line. This time, I was certainly much older on rereading it, not relating to the naivity or the acceptable social polish/manners of a different time. BUT then of course I discovered that I hadn't seen the film (well there are several, but it is the Laurence Olivier that everyone raves about). So there I was off to the Library for the dvd (Second Reading is also available at the Library!) Excellent, especially with a cup of Earl Grey tea, on a snowy afternoon. I highly recommend this, especially in the throes of Christmas shopping. And the story isn't over. I also mentioned his thought provoking analysis at one of my book clubs, where we always try to read at least one classic a year. Several people sheepishly revealed they had not read it, and viola! We ordered the BOOK GROUP IN A BOOK BAG from the Library!

Olmsted County Journal Article on RPL

This was a lovely article that appeared recently in the Olmsted County Journal. And it gives you some idea why the Friends do all they can to support the Library - including our book sales (tomorrow!)

RPL is one of the busiest in the State!
By Bill Lisser
bill@olmstedcountyjournal.com
Have you been in a public library lately? Ever wonder how the Internet and its instant access to information has affected the library?
I asked Audrey Betcher, Director of the Rochester Public Library that question.
“We don’t get the easy questions anymore,” Betcher said. “The Public Library is the number one place people go for Internet access. Research tells us that in Rochester 30 percent of them are looking for employment.” The Internet has changed how they do business.
Public Libraries today are a resource center offering many services to the community. The Rochester Public Library is one of the busiest libraries in the State of Minnesota. The number of visitors walking through the doors reached 550,000 in 2010.
“The library is conveniently located,” Betcher said. “Having as many people as we do downtown in Rochester, we are ideally located.”
People visit the library for many different reasons. Checking out books is still popular but there are CD’s, DVD’s, videos and electronic books that can be checked out. According to Betcher, “Electronic books represent three percent of the items checked out for the year.” When you consider the library checked out 1,613,740 items in 2010, that three percent represents a large number.
“We know we need to grow and change as the community grows and changes,” said Betcher. In economic hard times, library usage increases.
Betcher has been employed at the library since 1996 and has been the Director since 2000. Her enthusiasm for her job and helping people shows in her attitude. When asked what keeps her excited about her job she said, “It’s when you put information someone needs into their hands. We realize how important good information is to making life decisions.”
Community services go far beyond just checking out material. There are programs for children of all different ages based on development, young adult programs, and adult programs that help meet the needs of people of all ages. There are special programs offered to reach people with barriers to visiting the library.
Parents may take advantage of daycare packs available to help educate children on a variety of subjects. For example, if the parent wanted to work on a cooking project with kids you could check out a cooking pack. Each pack is loaded with a variety of tools to help kids learn. There are books, puzzles, and puppets to help make it an easier process for the parents.
There are also programs for children who have limited reading ability. Children may visit the library and read to therapy dogs. The nonjudgmental environment provided by the dogs enables the child to relax and be more comfortable reading. In this age of computers, the more comfortable a person is in using the computer may help make their life easier. So, there are the Little Tike’s PC’s used to introduce toddlers to the computer. Picture books to school support are all part of the library’s community service.
Computers are spread throughout the building for visitors to use and to help make life easier for employees of the library. There are computers for toddlers to play games and begin their development of using computers. There are computers in the young adult and adult areas as well.
“The young adult area is designed to get kids reading. It is not where they would go to do their homework,” Betcher said. However, there is a program developed for homework help. Students may connect one-on-one with a homework tutor. They have to indicate their grade, subject they need help with and preferred language, English or Spanish, and within five minutes they will be connected with a tutor. Three nights per week there are volunteers in the library. There is a youth advisory board that decides on the kids programs. The kids are self selected to the board and range in age from 13 to 18.
The services offered do not all lie within the walls of the building.
There are many other services offered to the community that require the library to reach out to individuals and groups. The Bookmobile reaches communities in Olmsted County not served by a library. Within the city there are deliveries to people who have barriers preventing them from getting to the library. These include nursing homes and prison. Volunteers deliver to people who are homebound in their residence.
For book groups looking for help, “Book Groups in a Bag” are available to check out. The bags contain 10 copies of a book and questions to make it easy for the groups. Betcher said, “Many groups book for an entire year.”
There is an adaptive workstation for those individuals with low vision and it is attached to a Braille printer.
If you want to do some research, there is a digital microfilm reader. People could research archives and find pictures and stories of interest. They can then take a picture and send the information to other people. Digital archives also include past city directories.
Among the other services offered by the library, a display area can be found where kids may bring in items they are collecting and display them. Three meeting rooms are available to the community for rent. The rooms offer a neutral gathering place for groups to hold events. There are study rooms for people who need a quiet area and you can bring your own computer to use and connect to the Internet through Wi-Fi. Browsing the collection of items at the library you will find things you won’t see other places. “International films, we are the place to go,” said Betcher. The library hosts a free showing of an international film each month in the auditorium.
If you are looking for a resource it is made easy with the Social Media of your choice. You can call, e-mail, IM or text if you aren’t able to make it to the building. You may go to Facebook or Twitter also. Can’t find what you are looking for? Just go to “Ask the Librarian.” Ask the Librarian is a 24/7 service provided by a consortium of people. If you are looking for something at 2 A.M. you may still get your answer because of the whole consortium of people located in different time zones. According to Betcher, “the library world does cooperation better than anybody.”
How do they keep track of over one and half million items checked out last year? The old card catalog system was thrown out years ago. There is an automated system that checks material in and sorts it. When you drop your material in the drive up window there is an automated process of checking in the material and sorting it. If someone is on the waiting list for the material it is identified so the individual may be notified. “We had to be able to do routine tasks simpler or we wouldn’t have enough people,” said Betcher. The goal is to have material back on the shelf within 24 hours.
The library depends on community support in many ways. Volunteers and charitable giving is very important. Annual volunteer hours are approximately 17,000 hours. During the Race Exhibit the number of voluntary hours increased to 20,500 hours. Charitable donations of material reached $250,000 in 2010. The Friends of the Library Book Store also contributed $52,000. The book store is operated 100 percent by volunteers and all proceeds return to the library budget.
“I appreciate being in a community that values us,” said Betcher.
The library is currently hosting an exhibit, “Homeless is My Address Not My Name.” The project began in 2008 with collecting basic stories and portraits of homeless people at an event called Project Homeless Connect Minneapolis. The event was a one-stop-shop resource fair attended by over 1,500 homeless individuals. People share their story with a trained interviewer. Following the interview, individuals may have their portrait taken and photos printed while they wait. The photos are on display through December. Different photos are on display at the Government Center and Rochester Community and Technical College.
The Rochester Public Library is a member of SELCO, the combined holdings of member libraries in Southeast Minnesota and another group of libraries that represents the entire state. As part of the advantages of being a member of these groups, cardholders in Rochester may use their card to check out material at other libraries.
And remember those past due fines? They still exist! One of the most popular services of the library is an e-mail notifying people two days before the checked out item is due. But don’t worry; the library doesn’t depend on the late fees to function. The money collected from overdue fines represents only a very small amount of the library budget; two percent. The library is funded by city and county property taxes.

Posted in Features on December 7th, 2011

Second Saturday Sale

2^nd Saturday Holiday Book Sale

December 10, 2011

Gift-quality books will be for sale in the Rochester Public Library foyer from 10 AM to 1 PM on Saturday, December 10.  Take advantage of the Friends’ Bookstore’s phenomenal prices to complete your Christmas shopping. 

All proceeds benefit the Rochester Public Library. 

Free gift wrapping

Save the Date - Paula McLain

Be An ELF*

An ELF is an EXTRAORDINARY LIBRARY FRIEND!!

Tis the season to consider giving thoughtful gifts, that can keep giving throughout the year!

A Friends' membership not only gives  a 20% discount in our Bookstore, every shopping day of the year, but also gives early entry into our special book sales throughout the year.
We also have gift cards in any denomination from $5 to help with your holiday shopping!
We have many literary activities that are great fun throughout the year, from morning coffees to author visits to teas and treasure hunts. You never know what we will think up next! There are many volunteer opportunities in both the Bookstore and the Library too.

Thank you for your support!

From the Director

The Rochester Public Library recently received two workplace recognition honors for wellness and workplace flexibility, and I wanted to share the good news with you.
We received a bronze award at the 2011 Workforce Wellness Conference on September 28, 2011, in Rochester.
Wellness Works, a coalition of small and large organizations, confers the award on employers who have invested in and are excelling at offering varying levels of worksite wellness services. The library was one of seven workplaces that received either a bronze, silver or gold award. The award is based on fulfilling various criteria. Since we established a Wellness Committee in December, 2010, the committee organized a community supported agriculture program with a local farm for fresh vegetable delivery for the 2011growing season, recommended changes that were adopted by the library board for healthy options in public and staff vending machines, and organized a program by a dietician on healthy lunch time alternatives for a general staff meeting.
On October 20th the library received an Alfred P. Sloan Award for Business Excellence in Workplace Flexibility. The ceremony, part of the Rochester Area Chamber of Commerce Annual Member Event, took place at the Rochester Event Center. The Rochester Area Chamber of Commerce encourages organizations to submit nominations. The award recognizes model employers for innovative and effective practices that make work better for both the employer and the employee. The award is given to employers who rank in the top 5% nationally. The Sloan Awards are part of When Work Works, a research-based initiative to highlight how effective and flexible workplaces can yield positive business results and help employees succeed at work and at home.
For the award we highlighted information on our telecommuting and job sharing policies and the Wellness Committee. The Library was also a champion of a city-wide Flexible Work Arrangement policy that was approved by city council on October 17th. The policy creates a process for employees to request flex time, compressed work weeks, phased retirement and other options to promote flexibility and win/win situations for the city and employee. We strive for a culture of flexibility.
We not only want the library to be a great place for the community, but we also want to be a great place to work.
Audrey Betcher, Rochester Public Library Director

Book Review: Ransom Riggs

Ransom Riggs Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children (2011)Are you tired of vampires and werewolves?
Do you also love the "odd little book"?
If you love Lemony Snickett or John Connolly or Adam Gopnick (teen fiction series) this is book is definitely for you. It is quirky fantasy/adventure story combined with unique photography, which made the book utterly fascinating, charming and intriguing, especially for a debut novel. The complex/detailed vintage photographs added an unusual level of immersion with the story, with the reader visualising what Jacob is experiencing. The descriptive writing is so evocative that the unusual photographs interspersed numerously throughout the text, while not crucial to the story, certainly provide an additional element of realism (and surrealism!). Especially knowing that they are actual photos. Wouldn’t you love to make up your own story with these? (NB However, they are difficult to read/view on the Kindle.) The detailed prose creates a rich and magical otherworld of peculiar children and monsters that precariously co-exists with our human world which is all too realistically at war.
In the novel, Jacob Portman is an average, seemingly normal teenager, wanting an adventurous life, as described by his colourful, larger than life grandfather throughout his childhood. Jacob is not popular or overly smart and has one best (and only) friend. But with his grandfather death and the horrific monster that plagues his nightmares, Jacob’s world crashes around him. Then on his 16^th birthday a book from his grandfather sets him on a voyage of discovery to an orphanage on a small isolated island in Wales. Once there, Jacob understands more than he ever could have believed about his grandfather and himself. His world is now separated into "Before and After". He stumbles into time loops and uncovers his peculiar talent that transforms his previous reality. Jacob's dark adventure turns from creepy to scary, then to a poignant coming of age. It also foreshadows a sequel!

excerpts:　
"My grandfather was the only member of his family to escape Poland before the Second World War broke out. He was twelve years old when his parents sent him into the arms of strangers, putting their youngest son on a train to Britain with nothing more than a suitcase and the clothes on his back. It was a one-way ticket. He never saw his mother or father again, or his older brothers, his cousins, his aunts and uncles. Each one would be dead before his sixteenth birthday, killed by the monsters he had so narrowly escaped. But these weren’t the kind of monsters that had tentacles and rotting skin, the kind a seven year old might be able to wrap his mind around – they were monsters with human faces, in crisp uniforms, marching in lockstep, so banal you don’t recognize them for what they are until it’s too late."
"I gathered up what scrawny courage I had and waded through waist-high weeds to the porch, all broken tile and rotting wood, to peek through a cracked window. All I could make out through the smeared glass were the outlines of furniture, so I knocked on the door and stood back to wait in eerie silence, tracing the shape of Miss Peregrine's letter in my pocket. I'd taken it along in case I needed to prove who I was, but as a minute ticked by, then two, it seemed less and less likely that I would need it."

Book Review - Explosive Eighteen

Book Review

Explosive Eighteen

Janet Evanovich

Janet Evanovich must be the only author I know who can continue to write the same book eighteen times over and still bring something fresh to the pages and tickle the funny bone of the reader.  Explosive Eighteen is a prime example.

If you've read any or all of the previous seventeen books in this series, then this book will seem familiar to you.  Hmmm...maybe so familiar that you'll swear you've read it before.  In fact, you have.  Seventeen other times.  But to be honest, it's still funny and it's still worth the time invested to read.

The book opens with Stephanie Plum "escaping" from her vacation to Hawaii.  We don't know what caused her to flee, but we're led along for a while with a few clues:  a ring line tan on her left finger, and the two men in her life also returning from Hawaii - both battered and bruised, presumably each by the other's fist.  Discovering what happened is enough to keep the reader turning the pages until it's much too late to turn back.

As with the previous books, Grandma Mazur is still attending funerals and she never fails to come packing her favorite weapon; Lula continues to keep Cluck-in-a-Bucket in business;  Stephanie's mother's alcohol consumption appears to be increasing with each new fiasco that Stephanie falls into; and, I almost forgot...Yes, Lula and Stephanie get to blow something up, this time with an illegal rocket launcher.  Oh, and an avid reader mustn't forget Ranger and Morelli!  The two men continue to wage a silent battle for Stephanie's attentions; however, with each new book, the "clear" winner becomes less and less clear.

And yet with all of this sameness, we keep reading.  Why?  Because the books are fun and complete escapism.  Because deep down we're secretly delighted with the goofball antics of Stephanie Plum.  And because most of us have picked our favorite hero and are willing to stick it out to the end to finally see Stephanie choose Ranger over Morelli...or Morelli over Ranger...or just take them both and call it a day.  

If you've read the previous books and enjoy the series, then chances are good you'll enjoy this new installment as well.  If you've never read any of the Stephanie Plum series, then I would strongly encourage you to stop in at the library and pick them up.  The series is easily titled to help you choose them in order, so start with One for the Money, then Two for the Dough and just keep reading from there.  And remember, they're always more fun when read in order!

For more information about this book, or any of the Stephanie Plum Books by Janet Evanovich, visit the author's website at www.evanovich.com.

~ Catherine H. Armstrong

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Literary December

December is Read a New Book Month
December 6^th Encyclopedia Britannica published.

December 3rd, 4th Holiday Book and Bake Sale, Auditorium RPL

other dates of note:
December 6^th Sinterklaus
December 21^st Winter Solstice
December 25^th Christmas

When I discovered libraries, it was like having Christmas every day. Jean Fritz.I do love secondhand books that open to the page some previous owner read oftenest. Helen Hanff

Books are the carriers of civilization. Without books, history is silent, literature dumb, science crippled, thought and speculation at a standstill. Barbara W Tuchman


On December 6^th in 1768 that the first edition of the Encyclopedia Britannica was published. It's the oldest English-language encyclopedia still in print. It was co-founded by two Scottish men: the printer and bookseller Colin Macfarquhar, and the engraver Andrew Bell. The first edition was titled "Encyclopadia Britannica, or, A dictionary of arts and sciences, compiled upon a new plan." They were inspired to produce an encyclopedia in the spirit of the Scottish Enlightenment, to celebrate scientific and intellectual ideas. Scotland was one of the most literate nations in Europe, with a literacy rate of about 75 percent.
When Macfarquhar died, Andrew Bell took over the entire operation. Bell was quite the character in Edinburgh. He was less than five feet tall, but he proudly rode the tallest horse in the city, which he had to mount and dismount with a ladder, while people cheered for him. And he had an enormous nose, and sometimes when people stared at it, he would pull out his even-larger papier-mache nose, and put it on.
Bell illustrated 160 plates for the first edition of the Britannica, including illustrations of female pelvises and fetuses for the "Midwifery" entry, which shocked King George III so much that he demanded they be ripped out of every copy of the encyclopedia.
Today, the Encyclopedia Britannica employs 100 full-time editors and more than 4,000 contributors.

Book Review- Skeletons at the Feast

Skeletons at the Feast is a novel by Vermont Author Chris Bohjalian (2008). I purchased several  of his books while I was in one of my favourite bookstores: Rivendell in Montpelier, Vt this autumn. I read his Night Strangers (2011) first as it was an ebook from our library (Rochester) and reviewed that earlier. I was intrigued enough to continue through his repertoire, and delighted I did.
This well written historical novel is absolutely fascinating, extremely well researched and based on a WWII Prussian diary (1920-1945). Both the diary and the novel detail the brutal last days of the war when many Poles, Germans fled through the Nazi Germany they barely knew ahead of the Russian Army, hoping to reach Allied lines.
The characters include 18 year old Anna Emmerich a sheltered daughter of Prussian aristocrats and her younger innocent brother Theo. There is also 20 year old Scottish POW Callum Finella, who was forced labor on their remote sugar beet farm.  Another important character is Wehrmacht corporal (of many names, many taken from German officers whom he killed, assuming their identities), who is in reality Uri Singer, a jew who escaped his fate in Auschwitz and is hiding in plain sight.  In a parallel storyline, Jeanne and Cecille are French Jewish prisoners on a forced death march to another concentration camp.
These descriptions are unforegttably haunting, depicting harrowing treacherous times of man's inhumanity to man. Very clearly no one wins in war, yet we are all susceptible to the hope that lies in the novel.  Plan ahead - I don't know how you will put this book down at night; I read straight through. I am still asking questions about personal responsibility, moral questions and justice vs revenge.

This is a beautiful, moving tribute to his friends and neighbours, their lives and ours interwined. There are so many aspects of history we never learn, so  many personal stories that give you the realism you can't (hope to never) repeat. Another fascinating read on this theme is by Sparrow Author Mary Doria Russell, A Thread of Grace about the flight out of France into Italy, where 43,000 Jews were hidden during the war.
"There's a saying in Hebrew... 'No matter how dark the tapestry God weaves for us, there's always a thread of grace.' "   Both novels are more than 'holocaust literature' and deserve a wide audience. Let's hope history doesn't repeat itself.
HWM Nov 2011