Challenge to Pelican Public Library Patrons

This is a great link that I discovered through LIS News. Many other bloggers have posted it, and I just had a chance to check it out. This marketing tool was developed by The Chelmsford (MA) Library. It gives patrons to see what they get out of their public library. It provides an estimate of what these free library services could cost.

The Chelmsford Library encourages people to use it and pass it on.

For those of you who were curious, the value of my library use is 8987.80.

Cool new links

As some of you may know, I read a lot of blog. Most of them are library related, others are just plain fun. The two links below came to me through the Infoblog.


Govtrak
This is one of those really neat resources every voter should use. You can search for bills as they make their way through the governmental system. You can search by politician's name, bill number, or subject. You can also look at committee assignments and voting records. If you like to know what your Congress person is doing, this is the easiest way to find out what they are doing with their day.

GOOG411
Some of you already know how I feel about Google. But this is really cool. Everyone needs 411 at some point, the fact that it is free is the best idea. The video is kind of neat and really shows how the product works. I haven't tried it yet, but I have it in my phone, just in case.

Christmas in library land

This is one of my favorite days in library land.

I will post more later, but I want to personally congratulate Mo Willems on his award. He was awarded the Theodor Seuss Geisel Award for 2008. I have read all of Mo's books and fell that he deserved this award. Piggie and Elephant books define this award. They are great for beginning readers and for a couple of thirty something librarians to read out loud as a readers theater in the middle of a Barnes and Noble in Fargo North Dakota.

If you haven't read them, it is a good time to check them out.

I love the Internet as much as the next person

But let's face it, I love books more. I am glad to see that the Internet isn't having the impact that most people thought it would. I can't say that I am shocked. At the end of a long day, I would much rather curl up with a book and fall asleep. You can do that with your computer or laptop, but it isn't the same. The book goes anywhere you want, you can't do that with a computer.

Sure people will say "give it time," or "look what is happening to cds." It isn't the same. Penguin Chief Executive and Chairman John Makinson pointed out, "There is a lot going on in the music publishing industry that is not going on in the book industry. Consumers don't want albums they want tracks and in publishing people want books not chapters."

Which made me think, "how weird would it be to read a book one chapter at a time." Instead of just turning the page you would have to open another file, or worse have to get up out of bed and go in search of the next chapter. I have a hard enough time waiting for authors to put out the next book in a series, I couldn't handle waiting for the next chapter.

Curl up with that book, don't worry they will write more.