Libraries Saved Me

By Cathy B.  I am not sure if this is relevant to today’s issues, but in the 1950s and 1960s, during a tumultuous childhood and adolescence, three libraries and two librarians came to my rescue. The first was the Lowell Public Library in Lowell, Mass., where a favorite uncle was the adult librarian. He brought … Read more

A Volunteer’s Perspective

By Ariene G.  As I listened to Mozart’s Symphony #40, I realized that the library is like a musical theme repeated throughout my life. It began when I was a little girl, at my local Chicago library, and I eagerly joined the summer reading group. Fast forward to Penn. State University, where I was a student and a clerk in … Read more

19th Century Nitty-Gritty: Dating Advice from the Age of Little Women

By Melissa Rayner

There’s a reason books like Pride and Prejudice, Jane Eyre, and A Room with a View have proudly stood the test of time. There’s something magical about the courtship process, something so timelessly romantic that we’re still hooked on these classic tomes more than a century later.

Ladies, do you long to be wooed? Find yourself wishing you could find your very own Mr. Darcy? Heck, would you even settle for Heathcliff?

Gents, are you pursuing someone who rebuffs your attempts at every turn? Close to giving up on the one your heart desires, because nothing ever turns out in your favor?

Oh, ye, who are love-lorn, unrequited in your affections, or otherwise lacking in the love department, take heed! We need only look at the nineteenth century to solve all your woes. So, come hither, and let’s look to the age of courtship, old-fashioned values, and “mellifluous song.”

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L-o-v-e the Library

By T.D.  I have very few memories of my mom taking me to the downtown library back home in Virginia. She says she used to take me there when I was in preschool, but after that, I don’t really recall spending time in any library. In high school, the library was there, but I only … Read more

Going Deep on Current Issues

By Judy Galens 

What does autumn bring? For many, the season means visits to cider mills, the return of jacket weather, and spectacular treetop displays of red, orange, and yellow. For sports fans, it’s weekend afternoons of football and evenings of post-season baseball. For all of us, in even-numbered years at least, the fall season also means the peak of political campaign season: a seemingly endless supply of junk mail, the intrusion of dinnertime robo-calls, and inescapable television and radio campaign ads.

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New Titles Added to the InfoTrac Collections in August and September 2014

The titles below have been recently added and can be located in the product using Basic or Advanced Search forms. Titles can be found via Browse Publications within two weeks. For complete coverage information please see the product title lists.

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Carolyn

By Chris H.  My name is Chris and I have worked at the Hagaman Memorial Library for the past 20 years. I have many library stories to share and could write pages and pages filled with memories. One story I’ll share is about the children’s librarian, Carolyn, who worked at the library for about 30 … Read more

Did You Know: Yo-Ho-Ho and a bottle of rum

Did you know…that in the early mid-seventeenth century when the French, English and Dutch were becoming established in the Caribbean, privateers, more widely known as buccaneers, become invaluable military forces in times of war in an age when permanent navies did not exist. They were merchants granted with “letters of marque and reprisal” authorizing their attacks on Spanish shipping and ports. They delivered the captured ships and in return they would be allowed to share the spoils…early days of piracy on the open seas! Read all about it in Gale’s World History in Context. Check it out or call your rep for more information.

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A Part of Us

By G.T. I always enjoyed going to the library as a young girl with my grandmother. The quietness and respect in libraries was always magical for me. We moved from place to place in California; over 20 due to my parent’s divorce, starting a new life, remarrying, flipping houses, starting college, out on my own … Read more