Reading at Risk

NPR reported today that the Nation Endowment for the Arts had released an analysis of reading patterns in the United States. While I find the decline in voluntary reading distressing, I was troubled by the statements that

1. "Less than one-third of 13-year-olds are daily readers, a 14 percent decline from 20 years earlier. Among 17-year-olds, the percentage of non-readers doubled over a 20-year period, from nine percent in 1984 to 19 percent in 2004."

2. "On average, Americans ages 15 to 24 spend almost two hours a day watching TV, and only seven minutes of their daily leisure time on reading."

" Because these people then read less, they read less well. Because they read less well, they do more poorly in school, in the job market and in civic life."

The analysis To Read or Not to Read, examined all kinds of reading including online. The data was collected from more than 40 sources including academic, corporate and federal studies.
The entire report can be downloaded from the above link.

Stay tuned. I'm sure we will be reading?? more about this issue.

Thanksgiving

I came across some interesting statistics about Thanksgiving while browsing the Librarians' Internet Index this week. The US Census Bureau publishes "Facts for Features," a collection of statistics intended to commemorate anniversaries or observances.

Here is a sample:

272 million - The preliminary estimate of turkeys raised in the United States in 2007. That’s up 4 percent from 2006. The turkeys produced in 2005 together weighed 7.2 billion pounds and were valued at $3.2 billion.Source: USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service <http://www.nass.usda.gov/

Find out which state grows the most sweet potatoes, and a lot more about Thanksgiving at Facts for Features.

Are you interested in holiday cooking as our ancestors did it? At Thanksgiving Recipes From America's Past (Pilgrim Hall Museum (Plymouth, Massachusetts) you will find "recipes for mince pie (1832), chestnut stuffing (1891), roast turkey with truffle gravy (1905), and a variety of pies and other holiday dishes. Recipes are accompanied by vintage illustrations."

Turkey for the Holidays , the University of Illinois Extension, is more information than I could imaging "including information on turkey cooking techniques, selection, carving, side dishes, nutrition, food safety, and using leftovers. Also features interesting trivia and facts about turkey and Thanksgiving, ideas for family activities and craft projects, and related links. "

You might want to check out the library cookbook section. We just might have that recipe you are looking for!

Or try some children's craft ideas at Best-Ever Thanksgiving.

National Book Awards

The winners of the National Book Awards were announced yesterday. Click on the link for information about all of the finalists. Stop in the library to pick up a copy of a winner or finalist.

Fiction winner Tree of Smoke by Denis Johnson, "covers the Vietnam War and the U.S. intervention in Southeast Asia — and the life of a CIA agent whose career grows with the war."

"Based on more than 50,000 documents, primarily from the archives of the CIA itself, and hundreds of interviews with CIA veterans," Legacy of Ashes: The History of the CIA" by Tim Weiner won for non-fiction.





The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie received the Young People's Literature award. "Based on the author’s own experiences, this heartbreaking yet funny story chronicles the adolescence of one contemporary Native American boy as he attempts to break away from the life he seems destined to live."

Time and Materials by Robert Hass is the poetry winner

Other finalists included:

FICTION
Mischa Berlinski, Fieldwork

Lydia Davis, Varieties of Disturbance

Joshua Ferris, Then We Came to the End

Jim Shepard, Like You’d Understand, Anyway

NONFICTION
Edwidge Danticat, Brother, I’m Dying

Christopher Hitchens, God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything

Woody Holton, Unruly Americans and the Origins of the Constitution

Arnold Rampersad, Ralph Ellison: A Biography

POETRY
Linda Gregerson, Magnetic North

David Kirby, The House on Boulevard St.

Stanley Plumly, Old Heart

Ellen Bryant Voigt, Messenger: New and Selected Poems 1976-2006

YOUNG PEOPLE’S LITERATURE
Kathleen Duey, Skin Hunger: A Resurrection of Magic, Book One
M. Sindy Felin, Touching Snow

Brian Selznick, The Invention of Hugo Cabret

Sara Zarr, Story of a Girl

Library Photos!

Patron uses wireless access while waiting for the library to open, August 1, 2007.

Friends of the Library Book Sale July 28, 2007!

Margaret Marschner received Librarian of the Year Award from The New Hampshire Library Trustees Association at a reception on June 7, 2007.

Staff attends New Hampshire Library Conference, May 17, 2007 at the Mount Washington Hotel.

Mountain Aire Strings Evening of Music May 15, 2007.

Library Volunteers Honored

Conway Public Library's staff, trustees, family and friends honored 33 volunteers at a delicious dinner organized by the library staff and held at the Conway Village Fire Station on Friday May 4th. Library director, Margaret Marschner joined the library staff and trustees in thanking the volunteers for their contribution of 1823 hours of service during 2006.

The library relies on these volunteers to help with a variety of tasks from shelving books to entering data on the library website. The library counts on volunteers to cover books, repair books, audios and videos, to assist with clerical work, program planning and hosting and to augment care of the walkways and gardens. If you would like to join the library’s growing volunteer program, please call us at 447-5552 and talk to Betty.

Conway Public Library Poetry Contest Winners

For the last eleven years the Conway Public Library has held a poetry contest. This year there were a total of 157 entries in five age categories. Hearty thanks to the judges who donated their time and thought to read all entries and select the following winners:

First Place in age category 6 to 9 is Marcella Melansen for The Leaf; Runner Up is Peg Diegoli for The Docks. Age 10 to 12 First Place is Ross MacFayden for A Snowy Spring; Runner Up is David Fulton for In the Beginning. The 13 to 19 age category had the stiffest competition this year with 69 entries. First Place is Abigail Leonard with White; Runner Up is Daniel Rollnick for Cards. First Place in the 20 to 40 category is Lenny Jewell for Yard Work; Runner Up is Dina Muir for Metaphorically Speaking. In the over 40 age category First Place is Robert Demaree for The Orange Rowboat; Runner Up is awarded to Janet Kucera for Daniel.

In addition. the following poems were chosen to receive honorable mention and be included in the collection of this year’s winners, which will be catalogued and added to the library’s circulating collection. For age 6-9 with a total of 53 entries honorable mention is awarded to Monkey by Sam Sires & Cody Collins, Out of This World by Robyn Coffield, Sunset by Alec Thurston, Vampire Bat by Devon Russell, Bears by Lexey Eastman, My Dog Smokie by Devon Cole, Spring by Henry Shaw, Four Llamas by Shawn Pike, and What I See in Nature by Spencer Duchesne. The 10 to 12 category received 10 entries. Honorable mention is awarded to Predator by Cody Weber, Fruit by Jessica Barefoot and The Tapping Cat by Madison Doucette. In the age 13 to 19 category (69 entries!) the honor goes to Jennifer Watts for Ode to Fire, Jenny Lyman for Feed the Meter, and Keith Ferry for Being a Kid. In the 20 to 40 group, with 7 entries, My Dear Love by Laurie Crouse, What a Waste by Brian Wilkins, and The Battle by Kim Livingston received honorable mention. !8 entries were submitted to the over 40 category. Honorable mentions are awarded to Pat Fry for Ulysses the Cat, Kathy Trimble for Dear Grandsons, Love Gramma, Dina De Nitto for The Shape of Her World, Elizabeth Lewonis for Summer Solstice, and Donna Richardson for I’ll Not Get Up.

Prizes have been generously donated by the Toy Chest, White Birch Books, the Local Bookie, McSherry’s Nursery and the Conway Public Library.

The Hills Are Alive at the Conway Public Library

Spring has finally come to the mountains. It may be late but like old wine is all the more appreciated. You can enhance your own appreciation of this awakening by attending an evening of fine music at the Conway Public Library.

On Tuesday, May 15th at 7:00PM , the Conway Library will offer an evening of music and refreshments, featuring the Mountain Aire Strings, a quartet of local musicians – Mary Dresser, Joan Lanoie and Ann Ostroski, violinists; and Sally Swenson, cellist. The quartet will offer light selections from their classical repertoire

Join the Mountain Aire Strings to musically welcome the flowers, the birds, the blossoming trees that come with the month of May. At the Conway Public Library on the 15th, there's music in the air.

Joanna Hunt Art Exhibit

May Artist of the Month

Joanna Hunt grew up in Conway and spent many happy hours at the library since her residence was next door. She works primarily in watercolors.

For the last five years, she has studied at Brookline Arts and Crafts with Wendy Hoo as well as one semester with D'Ann Brownrigg at the Lexington Arts and Crafts Society. Before that the artist studied with Susan Swinland at the Wellesley College Greenhouses.

Joanna is a member of the Weston Arts and Crafts Association, the Brookline Arts Center and the Lexington Arts and Craft Society. Her principal interests are in regional, scenic, and landscape venues. Also an accomplished photographer, her prints form the basis of her studio work. Joanna Hunt’s watercolors will be exhibited in the Ham Community Room throughout the month of May.

Beekeeping Trials and Tribulations!

Monday April 30 at 7:00pm David Sorensen of Eaton, NH, a beekeeper for over 49 years, will share his experience in beekeeping and what it takes to be an apiculturis. The program will be held in the meeting room at the library.

He will include a discussion about varroa mites, believed to be the cause of over 50% loss of bee colonies in the USA and thereby seriously impacting pollination of our food supply.

Mud Season Book Sale

Conway Public Library's Mud Season Book Sale is on Saturday April 28 from 10:00 am to 2:00 pm.

We have a terrific supply of hardcover books, paperbacks, videos and audio tapes at bargain prices! There is something for everyone. Don't miss the chance to pick from a great selection, so come early.

Proceeds from this event benefit the Friends of the Library.

Carnivale in Venice @ your library!

On Thursday, April 19th at 7 pm, Gayle Baker of Gayle Baker’s Valley Travel will take you on an armchair vacation to the Carnivale in Venice. Highlighting her presentation at the with spectacular photos of costumed Venetians, canals and narrow streets, gondolas, vaporetti and trattorias, she will help you experience the fantasy of Carnivale where everyone is masked! You’ll see the medico della peste (plague doctor), Pulcinella and Pantalone backed by St. Mark’s Square, the Palace of the Doges, and the bridge of Sighs.The scenes will enchant you; so say to all your friends, “Andiamo!” (Let’s go!). If you do, you’ll soon know the answer to Shakespeare’s question in the Merchant of Venice, “What’s new on the Rialto?”

As Gayle’s trip went from Italy to Germany she will include a very special carnival held in Cologne, Germany. The tone, the atmosphere, and the costumes are quite different but the air of “party time” is just as evident, delightful, and spontaneous.

Come; pretend you’re in a palazzo or a castle for an evening and enjoy this vicarious trip to Europe.

Voting For NH Book Awards

Check this years lists of great nominees for New Hampshire book awards for young adult and children's books.

CHILIS (The Children's Librarians of New Hampshire) a section of the New Hampshire Library Association has been sponsoring the Great Stone Face Book Award since 1983. The award is given annually to an author whose book receives the most votes from students in grades 4-6 throughout New Hampshire. Voting takes place in April during National Library Week. Check out the list of 25 titles for 2006-2007. You can even listen to Nancy Keane's Book Talks for each of the titles!

Here is the web site for past winners.
http://www.dover.lib.nh.us/Childrens%27Room/childrenpages/GSFawards.htm


The list of nominees for The Flume: NH Teen Readers' Choice has just been released. This is the newest statewide book award and is sponsored by the New Hampshire Library Association. Young adults in grades 9 - 12 will vote before April 30, 2007 for the 2006-2007 nominees.

The Ladybug Picture Book Award was established in 2003 to promote early literacy and honor the best in recent children's picture books. Nominees for 2007 were recently announced by the Center for the Book at the New Hampshire State Library.

Container Gardens

Tuesday, February 20, at 7 p.m. Kristen McDermott of Good Earth Gardening will present Container Gardens, the second in the library's series of programs on gardening.

Another floral arrangement donated by Ruthie's will be raffled off.

No registration necessary and the program is free and open to the public.

There are many container gardening resources on the web. A couple I found interesting are Container Gardening A Guide to Selected Resources from the Library of Congress Science Reference Services with print and Internet sources on the topic, and a series of Container Gardening articles from CSU/Denver County Cooperative Extension Master Gardener.

Presidents' Day

The library will be closed Monday February 19 for Presidents' Day.

Try this link to the Internet Public Library's Presidents of the US. In this resource you will find background information, election results, cabinet members, notable events, and some points of interest on each of the presidents. Links to biographies, historical documents, audio and video files, and other presidential sites are also included.

Or this for the history of Presidents' Day

Here is an article on the debate over the uniform Monday holiday.

Amber White Photo Exhibit

This is just one of the macro-photographs by Amber White on display in the Ham Community Room during the month of February.

Expanding Services with New Technologies!

Librarians from Bartlett, Center Sandwich, Chocorua, Conway, Conway School District, Effingham, Tamworth and Wolfeboro today had a chance to try out online programs and visit web sites that can be used to expand public library collections and services.

They used Web 2.0 sites to write and save documents, spreadsheets, and bookmarks. They used online photo editing and learned about online storage, web based chat you can add to you web site or blog, and voice over Internet services.

This useful workshop was presented by Bobbi Slossar, technical resource librarian, New Hampshire State Library.

Here are a couple of links to lists of Web 2.0 sites
http://www.seomoz.org/web2.0/
http://www.time.com/time/2006/50coolest/

Programs and Events

How You Can Stay Informed of Upcoming Programs and Events

The Conway Public Library offers a host of free programs, book discussions, workshops, and storytimes. There are several ways you can find out what is going on at the library.

Our recently added interactive calendar is designed to keep you up to date on library and community events and meetings taking place at the library. Check it out. Click on the link on this page.

You can receive the library’s email list of monthly events delivered right to your mailbox. Send us your email address at info@conway.lib.nh.us or give it to us during your next library visit.

Pick up a calendar or flier of upcoming programs when you visit the library.

Book Discussion January 22 - The Red Pony

The Conway Public Library Book Group will be discussing The Red Pony by John Steinbeck at 10:15 am Monday January 22. Everyone is welcome.

Searching the Internet

I subscribe to weekly news from the Librarians' Internet Index where I recently read a great article Research Beyond Google: 119 Authoritative, Invisible, and Comprehensive Resources published in October 2006 by Online Educational Database. The article contains an annotated list of authoritative websites on the invisible or deep web that are not indexed by popular search engines like Google. Take a look by clicking on the article title above!

The Librarians' Internet Index is a website featuring high-quality websites. There are over 20,000 entries, maintained by librarians and organized into 14 main topics and nearly 300 related topics. It is also a great resource.

Wahoo! Winter Story Time!

Don’t forget that 9 weeks of Winter Story Time begins Tuesday, January 9, 2007. “Wild & Wooly” will offer stories, songs and rhymes celebrating the Wild West and all the cowpokes, tribes and horses that that entails. Age appropriate materials are offered for 3 age groups on the following schedule: Babies less than 2 years old on Wednesdays at 10:30am; 2 year-olds on Tuesdays at 10:30am; and 3 and 4 year-olds on Thursdays at 10:30am. Sessions run 20 minutes, 30 minutes and 45 minutes respectively and each winds up with a free play period when new friends and play dates are made. No registration is necessary and story times are free and open to the public.

Martin Luther King Day

The library will be closed on Monday January 15, 2007 for Martin Luther King Day.