If you are interested in participating, give us a call at 770-532-3311, ext. 114 to register and let us know your preference.

Computer News

The library system offers free computer classes including Introduction to Email, Introduction to the Internet, Advanced Email, Introduction to MS PowerPoint, Word Processing Basics and Introduction to MS Publisher. Classes are taught by trained library staff and are free to the public. Classes will be held in the computer training labs at the Blackshear Place Branch and the Gainesville Branch. For more information please click here or call 770-532-3311.

In the Gallery

July 2008

The artwork of Linda Blount will be on display in the Gainesville Branch during July. Ms. Blount grew up in Florida where she was never far from fresh and saltwater, palm trees, colorful flowers and ever-changing skies. These influences were included in some of her early landscapes in oils when her older son was a baby – some forty years ago. As time marched on, she moved to North Carolina, then to Gainesville in 1999.

Linda gravitated to watercolor which has been her favorite medium for many years. Her paintings help people feel a connection between themselves and the subject. The fluid movement of watercolor on paper is exciting, surprising and simply magic - whether it is a landscape, seascape, still life, or a scene of people strolling through the city streets.

Linda has trained with a variety of teachers including Nina Fritz, Bill Robinson, Joe Robinson, and several of the wonderful teachers at the Quinlan Arts Center. She has received awards including first place at the gallery in Flowery Branch, and Honorable Mention at the Quinlan Members Show and the Quinlan Art League.

Presently some of her paintings are displayed at Peach State Bank, Corner Cottage, and Common Grounds Restaurant. She has exhibited at Art in the Square in Gainesville, Flowery Branch festivals, and the Atlanta Boat Show. As a member of the Flowery Branch Artisans, she participated in painting a 60-foot mural in Hall County Library’s new Spout Springs Branch in Flowery Branch.

Her current memberships include the Quinlan Visual Arts Center, the Art League of Gainesville, and the Artisans of Flowery Branch. You can get more information about her art on her website www.lindablount.com.

This Month in Youth Services

The next pajama storytime will be held at 6:30 pm at the Gainesville Branch on July 7, the Blackshear Place Branch on July 8 and at the Spout Springs Branch on July 16. Everyone is welcome. Children may wear their jammies and bring their favorite bedtime buddy. For more information, check the link above, go to the library website, or call 770-532-3311, ext.151.

There will be a mini-session of Preschool storytimes and Baby Steps infant lapsits in August at the Blackshear Place, Gainesville, and Spout Springs branches. For more information, check the links above, go to the library website, call 770-532-3311, ext. 129, or pick up a flyer in any library branch.

Children and teens can still register for Summer Reading Program which ends July 25. There will also be three more activity programs in July for children and teens. For more information, check the link above or call 770-532-3311, ext. 129.

Reading Patch Club for independent readers in elementary school and Jump Start Reading Club for children who cannot read on their own are on hiatus for the summer. Children who did not finish reading for a patch may finish over the summer and receive their patch in the fall when the clubs start up again on the day after Labor Day.

For more information about any of the library’s family programming, call 770-532-3311, ext. 129.

New titles for children and teens

Rabbit Pie: The Perfect Recipe for Bedtime by Linda Bailey

Mama Rabbit has a recipe for tending to her six little ones and getting them ready for bed. (EFC)

Atomic Ace and the Robot Rampage! by Jeff Weigel

As the son of superhero Atomic Ace, a boy is eager for adventures of his own until a horde of robots descends upon his school and he learns that his powers are not yet strong enough to save even himself. (EFC)

The Big One-Oh by Dean Pitchford

Determined not to be weird all his life like his neighbor, Charley Maplewood decides to throw himself a tenth birthday party, complete with a “house of horrors” theme, but first he will have to make some friends to invite. (JFC)

Camel Rider by Prue Mason

Two expatriates living in a Middle Eastern country, twelve-year-old Adam from Australia and Walid from Bangladesh, must rely on one another when war breaks out and they find themselves in the desert, both trying to reach the same city with no water, little food, and no common language. (JFC)

The Land of the Silver Apples by Nancy Farmer

After escaping from the Sea of Trolls, the apprentice bard Jack plunges into a new series of adventures, traveling underground to Elfland and uncovering the truth about his little sister Lucy. (YAF)

Book of a Thousand Days by Shannon Hale

Fifteen-year-old Dashti, sworn to obey her sixteen-year-old mistress, the lady Saren, shares Saren’s years of punishment locked in a tower, then brings her safely to the lands of her true love, where both must hide who they are by working as kitchen maids. (YAF)

This Month in Adult Services

New titles in the adult area:

Mistress of the Revolution by Catherine Deflors

The story of Gabrielle de Monserrat, an impoverished noblewoman caught in the intrigue of the falling court of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette.

The Plague of Doves by Louise Erdrich

“Erdrich's 13th novel, a multigenerational tour de force of sin, redemption, murder and vengeance, finds its roots in the 1911 slaughter of a farming family near Pluto, N.Dak. The family's infant daughter is spared, and a posse forms, incorrectly blames three Indians and lynches them.”

The Importance of Being Kennedy by Laurie Graham

A fanciful imagining peek at the life of the Kennedy clan in the early to mid 20^th century through the eyes of their fictional Irish nanny, Nora Brennan, who has charge of the nine children of Joseph and Rose.

A Remarkable Mother by Jimmy Carter

This is President Carter’s touching homage to his beloved late mother, Lillian. Learn more about this fascinating woman – Peace Corp volunteer, registered nurse, farmer, Dodger fan, and champion of the underdog.

Green This! Greening Your Cleaning by Deirdre Imus

Learn how cleaning your home in an environmentally friendly way can also be safer and more cost effective.

We Would Have Played for Nothing: Baseball Stars of the 1950s and 1960s Talk about the Game They Loved by Fay Vincent

The story of great ballplayers who played for the love of the game before multimillion dollar contracts and endorsements were a motivating factor, in their own words.

SCRAP-A-PALOOZA!!

How would you like to scrap for 15 hours one weekend? This will be like going to a retreat but going home to sleep. Join fellow ‘scrappers’ at the Blackshear Place Library for 15 hours of scrappin’ fun for only $15. Start Friday, July 11^th 4pm-Midnight. Leave all of your stuff behind and come back Saturday, July 12 from 10am -5pm. There will be a limited number of tables so sign up early. Those prepaying will be given priority for a whole table, as space is limited. Cost includes drinks and snacks for both days and your table registration. Supplies and premade kits will be available for sale.

Book Club at Blackshear Place

The Blackshear Place Branch will hold the next meeting of their new Book Club on Tuesday, July 8 at 6 p.m. The group will be discussing Blue Bottle Club by Penelope Stokes. For more information, contact Janine Cline at 770-532-3311 ext. 155.

Free Jewelry Making Class

Due to popular demand, our free jewelry-making classes are now meeting twice a month. Classes will meet this month on Thursday, July 10^th and Thursday, July 24^th at 6:00 p.m.

Classes include basic instructions, designs, and techniques. Come and learn how to make one-of-a-kind jewelry, whether for self-expression, a fashion statement, or as a unique gift with a personal touch. So join the fun and dazzle friends and family with personally designed creations.

Supplies can be purchased for a minimal fee, or you can bring your own. Join us in the Gainesville Branch’s meeting room, located at 127 Main Street NW. Classes are free but space is limited so please call 770-532-3311 ext. 114 to reserve a space today.

Paint and Decoupage Class

Join us on Thursday, July 31^st at 6:00 p.m. in the Meeting Room of the Gainesville Branch as we learn how to paint and decoupage a terra cotta flower pot. This class will instruct participants on the basics of preparation, application, and finishing, while at the same time creating a beautiful addition for the garden. Once the basics are learned, it will be easy to turn ordinary household items and even junk-shop finds into an eye-catching collectibles or personalized gifts with these techniques.

Classes are free to the public. Supplies can be purchased for a minimal fee or you can bring your own. Space is limited, so give us a call 770-532-3311 ext. 114 to register.

Donate a Book for a Loved One

Donating a book to the library in honor or memory of a loved one is a great way to show affection. Titles of suggested book donations are listed on the library’s Amazon.com Wish List. For the price of a book, anyone can help the library keep the most current materials available. To view the list, see the library website and follow the link to amazon.com. Book donors may request that a commemorative plate be placed inside the front cover of the book in recognition of a loved one or to honor a special occasion. The Hall County Library System is a non-profit government agency and a charitable 501(C) (3) organization; therefore, all donations are tax deductible. The library is pleased to announce that it has now received 200 plus books through this program.

From the Director

Dear Patron,

I subscribe to Governing magazine electronically and usually read it shortly after the monthly is released. If you are not familiar with the magazine, it is probably the best publication currently out that addresses the most crucial issues facing state and local government. The June issue featured an article entitled Revolution in the Stacks: to appeal to a new generation some libraries are positioning themselves as places to create content, by Christopher Swope; pshew, but that is one long Library 2.0 subtitle.

Every new generation of librarians feel they are on the most cutting side of service. Many have yet to fund change so they fail to understand why institutional change can be slow. They have yet to learn that a measured response is much better than being a leader of the pack. They are frequently not held responsible when change is not successful so they risk nothing.

I have seen a lot of change in 30 years as a practicing librarian. Most of what gets passed off as new customer service ideas is just old ideas repackaged as new. Most of the real change comes in how to provide service with new formats. Just think of the challenges in how to store cassette, CD and long playing record versus book. If you ever handled ultrafiche - which put the Bible on a piece of film the size of your thumb - you begin to understand the interplay of lighting, electricity, equipment and patron use with the introduction of a new format. Unfortunately most of us cannot change library space at whimsy.

I have circulated everything from art prints to toys. This elink newsletter is actually a ‘zine so maybe I can now go as far as ‘z’ in the alphabet when it comes to formats circulated. A more complete list of formats includes 8-track, cassette and CD music; 16MM and 35MM film, on reel and in a cassette cartridge, DVD, and filmstrips; CD ROM, 5.25 inch floppies and smaller; magazines on paper, CD, online, on fiche or film; computers when DOS based was the software and the popular e-mailers were the University of Washington’s FERN or PINES. I have circulated these formats with a Newark circulation system, then Gaylord, then punch cards, and finally online. It seems like yesterday I was told how books were being replaced by media and now it is by online services. I have been through a lot of change and most of it was fun.

I started answering reference questions, letting patrons place holds and request interlibrary loans online in 1992. By then my department was managing the library’s web page. I never looked at what I was doing as anything more than my job. I have always contended that good libraries just learn to adapt and include new technology as it comes along. It is just part of looking for better ways to serve up the old in their new formats since everything is still based around the word. The click is not the fundamental unit of our language.

Each generation likes to rename everything as if it changes something. Somehow I think a rose by any other name is still a rose but I could be wrong. Library patrons have become customers and end panels are end caps, and shelving is now floor displays or dumps. But libraries have always been in the business of providing the most efficient, friendly service in a comfortable but practical environment. After all this is not my money being spent on the service but your hard earned dollars and it is not about making a buck.

Providing space to create content in a library environment is also not a new idea; at one time librarians were using clay to make content then they turned to paper, tape, film and now software as computers have been introduced. Librarians have been doing content with patrons since the Pharaohs. I was not around but will give my Egyptian counterparts their due.

I have read several trade articles recently where the mega-bookstores are fretting over not doing as well as the public libraries. I still scratch my head over how the bookstore measures success over the library. But it does seem librarians have been worried a lot lately about the large bookstores taking their trade and many are attempting to copy their delivery model while the bookstores have just been taking what is best in libraries and placing their stores in better locations. I have always felt I can do better than the megastore since I know my patron – or is it client now – if I am just given the resources to do the job. Having used libraries and bookstores my entire life I am still trying to understand why using Gardening instead of the Dewey Number 635 makes it somehow better. The next time you are in a mega bookstore see how hard it is to find a really great book on Zen, or browse the Internet and see how quickly you can become a Zen master in 50 words.

Librarians have always worried about losing the young adult reader and needing to provide new services and space to keep them coming back. This is not new. I once chased a fellow out of a library for skating about on roller blades. I know if we had made the main stairwell a roller blade park, the kids would have been there. I would have probably bought a coke and sat during lunch watching them jump on the stair rail and skate down. I just did not think this was the creative content appropriate for the location.

There are new ideas about library service and some sound like fun. If you just convince your elected officials to give this library the money, we will be Wii-ing, You Tubing and blogging with the best. But libraries are still the bastions for ideas and they are important, and if at any time you feel that is not so then try reading Azar Nafisi’s Reading Lolita in Tehran. Somewhere on this globe people still die for a good book!

Hope to catch you in the stacks reading.

Adrian Mixson, Library Director

If interested in the latest trends in Library Land try reading the article in Governing located at http://www.governing.com/articles/0806libraries.htm

Your Account

To get more information on your library account, please call the library’s Circulation Manager at 770-532-3311 ext. 110 or visit the library website and enter your account through the library's catalog. You will need your library card and pin number, which may be obtained by visiting any library branch. You may also email the Circulation Manager for additional information.

Web Picks: Cool Stuff on the Web

Travel

Everywhere

Everywhere bills itself as "the travel magazine made by you." On this site you can view and share photos and stories about travel destinations. Find photos and articles on topics such as Kenya National Park, the former home of Kurt Cobain in Seattle, and laundry on the streets of Shanghai.

Intelligent Travel

This blog "about authentic and sustainable travel" provides updates about items related to ecotourism. Topics include how to take photographs of landscapes, sea turtles in danger in Mexico, and the restoration of James Madison's Montpelier home in Virginia. From National Geographic Traveler.

Offbeat Travel

This "travel guide to offbeat places and unusual destinations world-wide, with a fresh look at old favorites" features articles on topics such as the birdmen of Beijing, Star-Spangled Baltimore, cruising Norway, and the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama. Also includes an essay on "The Function of Travel Websites and How to Evaluate Them," travel book reviews, and hotel news.

Special:

Biography of Tim Russert - Brief biography for the beloved late journalist who died suddenly on June 13, 2008.

Biography of George Carlin- Brief biography for this stand-up comedian, actor, and author, who was announced to be the winner of the Mark Twain Prize for American humor on June 18, 2008, and who died on June 22, 2008.

Editors Leslie James and Lisa MacKinney

For more information please call (770) 532-3311 ext. 134 or visit our website at http://www.hallcountylibrary.org/

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