Selections

The newsletter of the Sarasota County Library System

~ June 2008 ~ Volume 3, Issue 3

Read Selections online each month or sign up here to have it delivered to you by email.

In this Issue:

• Local Library News
• Featured Internet Sites
• Staff Picks
• National Library News
• Community Connection
• Events
• Featured Database
• Featured Stories
• Reference Questions
  of the Month
• Volunteer News
• Your Feedback

This month's issue is brought to you
by the staff of
the
Frances T. Bourne Jacaranda Library.

Featured Internet Sites:

http://www.loc.gov/rr/scitech/ tracer-bullets/tbs.html The Library of Congress Science Tracer Bullets Online contains research guides that help you locate information on science and technology. With brief introductions to topics, lists of resources and strategies for finding more in print and online, they help you to stay "on target." http://solutionsforyourlife.ufl.edu This is the site for Extension Services statewide. Extension is a partnership between state, federal and county governments to provide scientific knowledge and expertise to the public. UF/IFAS Extension encompasses thousands of Extension faculty members, scientists, educators, administrative staff and volunteers, all working to provide solutions for your life. http://bookgroupbuzz. booklistonline.com If you are a hardcore bibliophile, we recommend the Book Group Buzz blog presented by the American Library Association's Booklist Online. "Book group tips, reading lists, and lively talk of literary news from the experts" are sure to inform and enliven your book discussions. Book Group Buzz is a great destination for thoughtful postings and links to the best author websites, book club resources and reading guides.

Local Library News:

Eighth Annual Poetry and Pizza in the Park a Success! Seventeen Sarasota County students in grades 6 through 12 were honored for their poetry on the evening of Thursday, May 1 at the Eighth Annual Poetry and Pizza in the Park held at Woodmere Park in Venice. Students awarded first, second and third place for original poems received a certificate of recognition and bookstore gift cards. The event was organized by the Sarasota County Libraries’ Young Adult Librarians, some of whom were judges for the event. Students stepped up to the mike under a perfect breeze and softly fluttering streamers tied to tents to read their poems to family and friends while enjoying pizza and soft drinks. Booker Middle School, Booker High School, Cardinal Mooney, Sarasota Military Academy, Student Leadership Academy of North Port and Heron Creek Middle School in North Port were represented at this year’s event. Two Poetry and Pizza in the Park contestants placed in River Of Words’ annual contest. River of Words is a non-profit organization “dedicated to connecting kids to their…imaginations through poetry and art.” The contest is a project of U.S. Poet Laureate Robert Haas (1995-1997) and is conducted in affiliation with the Library of Congress Center for the Book.  Alex Dodson, an eighth grade student at Booker Middle School, and Jack Conlon, a 10th grade student at Sarasota Military Academy, were both recognized at The Library of Congress in Washington D. C. with other poetry winners from around the world. They are the only two student poets selected from Florida. At the conclusion of the students’ poetry reading at Poetry & Pizza in the Park, Joanna Hapner, Booker Middle School creative writing teacher and poetry advocate, invited all students and parents to recite “free form” poetry. Read the winning poems in the Planet Teen section of the website: http://www.sclibs.net/teens/pnp2008.aspx.

Selby Foundation Grant Awarded to Library System Community Health Improvement Partnership (CHIP) Centers are a free public service providing local health and wellness information. For the past few years, Jacaranda and Venice Public Libraries, Senior Friendship Center, Laurel Civic Association and the Venice YMCA have operated Centers in the Laurel/Osprey/Venice/Nokomis corridor. CHIP has aspired to establish Centers in north Sarasota County and is on the cusp of achieving that end. Thanks to a $50,000 grant from the William G. Selby and Marie Selby Foundation to the Sarasota County Library System, CHIP Centers will adopt an innovative approach to delivering health and wellness information and connecting people with tools to create a healthier community. The grant will support the purchase of 11 touch-screen interactive health information kiosks for all eight system libraries and three Sarasota County Health Department clinics. Research shows that kiosks offer several advantages over print-only information centers, including privacy/anonymity, real-time content updating and centralized access to a variety of health topics and subject matter. Searchers will choose from pre-selected headings such as diseases and conditions, healthcare coverage, smoking cessation and caregiver support. The same kiosk content will be available at the CHIP web site, http://www.chip4health.org, for home computer access. Grant coordinators expect to launch the kiosk service later this summer.

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Staff Picks:

This month the staff of the
Frances T. Bourne
Jacaranda Library share their reading picks with you.

(Click a book cover below
to search the library catalog.)

A Great Deliverance
by Elizabeth George

Missing Joseph
by Elizabeth George

With No One as Witness
by Elizabeth George

Careless in Red
by Elizabeth George

Revenge of the Wrought Iron Flamingos
by Donna Andrews

The Song of Everlasting Sorrow:
A Novel of Shanghai
by Anyi Wang

London 1945:
Life in the Debris
by Maureen Waller

The Women Who Wrote the War
by Nancy Caldwell Sorel

A Trip to the Beach
by Melinda and Robert Blanchard

The Ruins
by Scott Smith

Fancy Nancy
by Jane O'Connor

In Patagonia
by Bruce Chatwin

Mistaken Identity
by Don Van Ryn et al.

Read more about each title in this month's picks here.

National Library News:

Children's Book on Male Penguins Raising Chick Tops ALA's 2007 List of Most Challenged Books For a second consecutive year, Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell’s award-winning "And Tango Makes Three," a children’s book about two male penguins caring for an orphaned egg, tops the list of the American Library Association’s (ALA) 10 Most Challenged Books of 2007. Three books are new to the list “Olive’s Ocean,” by Kevin Henkes; “The Golden Compass,” by Philip Pullman; and “TTYL,” by Lauren Myracle. “Free access to information is a core American value that should be protected,” said Judith F. Krug, director of the ALA Office for Intellectual Freedom. “Not every book is right for each reader, but an individual’s interpretation of a book should not take away my right to select reading materials for my family or myself." For more than 15 years, the ALA Office for Intellectual Freedom (OIF) has received reports on book challenges. A challenge is defined as a formal, written complaint, filed with a library or school, requesting that materials be removed because of content or appropriateness. In 2007 the OIF received 420 reports on efforts to abolish materials from school curriculum and library bookshelves. Public libraries, schools and school libraries report challenges to OIF, but a majority of challenges go unreported. The "10 Most Challenged Books of 2007" reflect a range of themes. The list below includes the reasons reported to the OIF for challenging the titles: 1. “And Tango Makes Three” by Justin Richardson/Peter Parnell Reasons: Anti-Ethnic, Sexism, Homosexuality, Anti-Family, Religious Viewpoint, Unsuited to Age Group 2. “The Chocolate War” by Robert Cormier Reasons: Sexually Explicit, Offensive Language, Violence 3. “Olive’s Ocean” by Kevin Henkes Reasons: Sexually Explicit, Offensive Language 4. “The Golden Compass” by Philip Pullman Reasons: Religious Viewpoint 5. “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” by Mark Twain Reasons: Racism 6. “The Color Purple” by Alice Walker Reasons: Homosexuality, Sexually Explicit, Offensive Language 7. “TTYL” by Lauren Myracle Reasons: Sexually Explicit, Offensive Language, Unsuited to Age Group 8. “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings” by Maya Angelou Reasons: Sexually Explicit 9. “It’s Perfectly Normal” by Robie Harris Reasons: Sex Education, Sexually Explicit 10. “The Perks of Being A Wallflower” by Stephen Chbosky Reasons: Homosexuality, Sexually Explicit, Offensive Language, Unsuited to Age Group Off the list this year, are two books by author Toni Morrison. "The Bluest Eye" and "Beloved," both challenged for sexual content and offensive language. For more information on book challenges and censorship, please visit the ALA Office of Intellectual Freedom’s Banned Books Web site at http://www.ala.org/bbooks. The Office for Intellectual Freedom is charged with implementing ALA policies concerning the concept of intellectual freedom as embodied in the Library Bill of Rights, the Association’s basic policy on free access to libraries and library materials. The goal of the office is to educate librarians and the general public about the nature and importance of intellectual freedom in libraries.

back up to "In this Issue"

back up to "In this Issue" 

Community Connection:

Dairy Queen Partnership The Frances T. Bourne Jacaranda Public Library’s Youth Department has partnered with Dairy Queen Grill and Chill of Venice (DQ) for a special Summer Read-A-Thon incentive program. The Read-a-Thon begins on June 2 and continues until August 8 (10 weeks). When participants read five out of seven days for four weeks, they will receive a DQ certificate for a free dipped cone. Participants who read for eight weeks will receive a DQ certificate for a free Blizzard.

Newcomers Day at North Port Library New North Port residents will have an opportunity to meet their neighbors and connect with their community on Saturday, June 21 at the first Newcomer Day at North Port Library. The North Port Library is partnering with the City of North Port and the North Port Area Chamber of Commerce to welcome new residents to North Port with a morning of information all new residents can use. New residents--or even established residents--will find information about schools, health and social services, utilities, gardening, transportation, government, jobs,