Tuesday, January 29, 2008

Programs To Beat The Winter Blahs

It's not quite spring, and you're tired of winter. Don't want to read another word, can't sit still for another DVD! What to do? Look no farther than your grand Central Library!

February programs for adults at Central Library offer something for everyone, from young parents to seniors. Learn to baby-proof your home or improve your child's writing skills; take advantage of the "Book a Genealogist" sessions if you would like help with your family history. Take the plunge - register for a computer class!

Central staff has been busy planning more programs for adults than ever before - click the "Programs and Events" image on the library's web page to see other programs coming up in the next few months.

Thursday, January 24, 2008

RINCON LATINO: 320 SUPERCLASICOS!


Trescientos veinte partidos son muchos. Y si los protagonistas de esos enfrentamientos son nada menos que Boca Juniors y River Plate, el recorrido se vuelve más apasionante. En este libro se detallan todos los clásicos disputados entre los dos máximos exponentes del fútbol argentino, quienes convirtieron a este choque en uno de los más importantes del mundo. Desde 1908, en aquel primer match amistoso en la Dársena Sur, hasta nuestros días, se muestran todos los eslabones de una cadena emotiva que hace vibrar a la Argentina y el mundo entero.
La tapa de este libro también causó una polémica gigantesca a causa de los jugadores mostrados. El autor reveló su verdarera intención en un sitio de web muy popular:
Mi nombre es Diego Ariel Estévez y soy el autor del libro que han estado comentando (por lo menos, la tapa): 320 superclásicos.Quiero aclararles un poco el tema para que comprendan el motivo por el cual se eligió esa imagen.La editorial se reserva el derecho de elegir la tapa, por lo que es el único ítem sobre el que no tengo total control. Continente quería que figuraran dos jugadores emblemáticos, en lo posible disputando la pelota, que fueran de la década del '80 o más recientes y que no hubiese que pagar por la foto. Complicado, ¿no? Descartando a Maradona (todas las imágenes que lo incluyan son muy onerosas) y viendo que es difícil que dos jugadores emblemáticos estén peleando por un balón (y que la foto, además, sea atractiva), se decidió incluir la de Cascini y Gallardo, que es del año 2004. Gallardo es un jugador muy reconocido por todos los hinchas de River y Cascini, pese a no haber nacido en Boca, ganó todo con ese club y se dio el lujo de convertir el penal definitorio ante el Milan, en Yokohama.Eso es todo. Sepan que no hubo ningún favoritismo ni intención de ensalzar o degradar a nadie. Simplemente que hay entretelones que la gente común, como ustedes, no conoce por no estar en la "cocina" del libro, pero que a veces es oportuno aclarar.

Wednesday, January 23, 2008

Ten Things You Need To Know About The Late Heath Ledger

The life of burgeoning acting talent, Heath Ledger came to an abrupt end this week after he was found dead in his Brooklyn apartment. The Australian-born actor accomplished much in his short life. He was also versatile, from having played a musket-toting colonial in "The Patriot" to taking on the romantic angst of Ennis Del Mar in the groundbreaking "Brokeback Mountain." Drawn from print and electronic sources at the Sacramento Public Library, here are some things that you may have not known about Ledger.

1) Ledger’s full name is Heathcliff Andrew Ledger. He was named after the main character in his mother's favorite book, Wuthering Heights.

2) Ledger’s first acting role was as Peter Pan.

3) Ledger became a state junior chess champion at the age of ten.

4) Ledger dropped out of school after the tenth grade.

5) Ledger claimed that he had “an addiction to moving.” In the words of Ledger, perhaps on account of having had to shuttle back and forth after his parents' divorce, when he was 11.

6) Ledger was offered the role of "Spiderman," but turned it down, feeling that Columbia Pictures was too interested in turning him into a “product.” The role eventually went to Tobey Maguire.

7) Throughout his career, Ledger turned down several roles, feeling that "…Australians have this independent streak," Ledger told Biography magazine's Sheryl Berk. "I want to always have the control to say no when I don't think something is right for me. I want to be able to walk away."

8) Ledger took on the 2002 role “Four Feathers,” because he felt the script was “deep, deep, deep.” It’s the story of a British officer who abdicates his command before a battle and is considered a coward for doing so.

9) Entertainment Weekly called one of Ledger’s last films “I’m Not There,” the best film of the year: “a biopic, an essay, a folk-rock opera, and a dream, all rolled into the headiest musical ever made. It's also the year's most daring vision, though the obsessive head-tickling sprawl of Todd Haynes' sublime meditation on the music and mystery of Bob Dylan wouldn't amount to a hill of guitar picks if the film weren't also so intimate and reverent and moving.”

10) Ledger was a father. His daughter, Matilda, is two-years-old.

For more information on Ledger, we recommend looking at the Biography Resource Center and EBSCOHost, both of which require your library card number and PIN for access. For a list of movies by Ledger, do an author search, including last name first, first name last: Ledger, Heath.

Tuesday, January 22, 2008

Stars of Children's Literature

"It's so beautiful," said Isabelle. "It looks like the whole city is made out of stars."

The best children’s books of 2007 were announced last week. The John Newbery and Randolph Caldecott Medals always provoke a flurry of excitement in the library world; the former given for the most outstanding contribution to children’s literature and the latter awarded to the most distinguished picture book. This year The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick, being a heavy competitor for both medals, took home the 2008 Caldecott. Read it and you’ll see why as a glimpse of 1930s Paris unfolds through detailed and fantastic drawings inside a charming plot.

Good Masters! Sweet Ladies! Voices from a Medieval Village by Laura Amy Schlitz won the 2008 Newbery Medal. This is the second consecutive year that the Newbery was bestowed upon a librarian. Last year Susan Patron earned it with The Higher Power of Lucky.

In addition, three Newbery Honor Books and four Caldecott Honor Books were named. The Newbery Honors are Elijah of Buxton, The Wednesday Wars, and Feathers. The Caldecott Honors are Henry’s Freedom Box: A True Story from the Underground Railroad, First the Egg, The Wall: Growing Up Behind the Iron Curtain, and Knuffle Bunny Too: A Case of Mistaken Identity.

The awards are sponsored by the American Library Association (ALA), and all books are judged by librarians and other children’s literature experts. For a list of all ALA Youth Media Awards for 2008 (and some great catch-up reading) click here.

Monday, January 21, 2008

Review: "The Devil in the White City"

"The Devil in the White City" by Erik Larson. Crown Publishers, 2003.

Sick fascination - this meticulously documented narrative of the creation of the "White City" for Chicago's Columbian expo in the early 1890s is told in tandem with the gruesome story of H. Holmes, a serial killer that managed to dispatch as many as 20 women and children in the span of a couple of years within a few blocks of the fair without detection! He cremated them, then hired someone to clean the bones and reassemble the skeletons, which he sold to medical schools. Not until years later, when a distraught mom hired the Pinkerton detective agency (now operating as Securitas) to find her missing children, did the full story emerge and become sensationalized in the press.

The story of the fair and the depraved sociopath is so compellingly told that I couldn't put the book down until I reached the very last words. The parallel stories progress relentlessly and with graphic description. We come to know the major players, both good and evil, perpetrators and victims, as if they were alive today. No forensic TV series could have told it any better!

An unexpected side entertainment was discovering the luminaries associated with the fair: Buffalo Bill, Annie Oakley, Thomas Edison, Walt Disney, Frank Lloyd Wright, Pullman and others; as well as the number of products still available today that debuted then: shredded wheat, the Ferris wheel, neoclassical public buildings, alternating current.

Tuesday, January 15, 2008

Try This @ Home: Morningstar Library Edition

Morningstar logo
The real estate market has tanked, American Express is concerned about defaults, the state budget is facing deficits, banks are hustling to mitigate risky loans.

An aphorism that was making the rounds a few years ago states, "Libraries will get you through times of no money better than money will get you through times of no libraries." If the wise placement of your money is something you want to control better, you may be interested in learning about our newest database: Morningstar Library Edition. If you have an IRA, 401-k, or even just a savings account, you are an investor, and Morningstar has something for you.

Covering both stocks and mutual funds, Morningstar provides analysis, company reports, interactive stock charts, valuation ratios, and 10-year financial statements. It also includes an extensive help and education section for beginning and experienced investors. You can find it on the library's Database Page in the business section.

Online subscriptions, or "databases," provided by Sacramento Public Library make a wide range of information available free to anyone who walks into our branches and to patrons with computers at home. These subscriptions range from full-text magazine and newspaper articles to biographies, from auto repair to census records. Here's the full list of our current subscriptions. All but a couple are available to our cardholders from their home computers - all that is required is a current library card and a PIN.

Thursday, January 10, 2008

The Man in Black and Folsom: The 40th Anniversary

On January 13, 1968, Johnny Cash visited the California State Prison at Folsom. The engagement was true art - a moment in time where a performer reached out to society's outcasts and what he received in return was adulation and confirmation of that title we know so well, the 'man in black.' Forty years later, his legend is solid, truly due in no small part to his time at the Folsom Pen.

The Central Library holds several items on Cash and the Folsom concert. The standard text for the event is Michael Streissgruth's Johnny Cash at Folsom Prison : the making of a masterpiece. For items - books, videos - about Johnny Cash, use the Subject Heading, "Cash, Johnny." For items - cds, books - by Johnny Cash, do an Author search, entering last name first, first name last: "Cash, Johnny."

You might also check out the Sacramento Bee and Sacramento Union on microfilm. The Central Library has both issues. Look at the rolls from January 1968 for stories on the event. Oh, time to go -- I hear that train a comin'....

Thanks, flickr!

Telecuento (that’s Story Phone to you)

Para telecuento, un programa telefónica de cuentos para niños, grabé el domingo pasado, el Gato del Mago. El libro cuenta de un gato que al principio no quiere ser gato, pero después de varios cambios, le conviene ser su mismo. Me divertí mucho usar sonidos para ilustrar los cambios- conejo, marinero, mono- aunque chillar como un mono en voz alto atrajo unas miradas perplejas de mis compañeros de trabajo. Para escucharlo, el numero de teléfono es: 916-264-2987 o 1866-241-7490. Tambien hay cuentos en inglés al numero 916-441-1234.

For telecuento, a children's telephone story program, I recorded this past Sunday el Gato del Mago (the Magician's Cat). The picture book tells of a cat who wishes to be something other than himself, but after several changes decides being himself is the best. I enjoyed using a lot of sounds to illustrate the changes- rabbit, sailor, monkey- although screeching like a monkey drew bemused looks from my co-workers. If you want to listen to the Spanish language story, the phone number is: 916-264-2987 or 1866-241-7490. There are also other English language stories at 916-441-1234.

Tuesday, January 8, 2008

RINCON LATINO : DAVID BISBAL

David Bisbal (Almería, 5 de junio de 1979) se dedica profesionalmente a la música desde los 18 años, aunque su debut discográfico en solitario llegó en 2002, con el álbum “Corazón Latino”. Desde entonces, David Bisbal ha vendido más de 3 millones de discos en España y América, consiguiendo 30 Discos de Platino y 15 de Oro. “Corazón latino” y su segundo disco “Bulería” (2004) atesoran cada uno de ellos un IFPI Platinium Award, la certificación de haber superado la venta de 1 millón de copias en territorio europeo.

Disfruten de esta entrevista presentada por Estudio Billboard y la experimentada Leila Cobos esta noche a las 22:00 hrs en V-me.



This Resolute Time of Year

I don’t think I’ll ever understand New Year’s resolutions.

It’s cold, all I want to do is curl up in a ball in front of my fireplace/space heater and catch up on the Grey's Anatomy episodes I intended to watch weeks ago while eating those delicious cookies that, for some stupid reason, are only sold six weeks out of the year. But will anyone leave me in peace? Of course not. Custom dictates that at the beginning of every year we must clean, exercise, and get our financial acts together. This wouldn’t be so hard if we had Day-After-Thanksgiving resolutions in which we promised not to buy the things which will clutter our homes, destroy our credit scores and wreck havoc on our thighs. But no one points that out in time. Now it's time to be pointed in the direction of books which will show you how to be free.

Free of what, you may ask. Take your pick. One can be debt-free, wrinkle-free, clutter free and/or cellulite-free. Because you don’t want to wear A-line skirts year round, some of you may have resolved to work on the latter. And, since a call to Suze Orman asking if you can afford liposuction would likely end in a big, “Denied!” you’ll have to stick to affordable fitness videos. The Firm has several series of fitness videos to choose from, along with Denise Austin and Richard Simmons. A word of advice---don’t just borrow these videos; actually follow along with the exercises. What’s the point of checking these out if the only one who watches them is your husband while he lies on the couch eating popcorn? --Tabin, YS Librarian

Friday, January 4, 2008

El horario para el día de hoy

Por el tiempo de lluvia y viento, muchas ramas de la biblioteca han perdido la electricidad hoy el 04 de enero, 2008. Desde el 10:52am, incluyen las ramas:
  • Elk Grove
  • Galt
  • Franklin
  • Arden
  • Rio Linda
  • Arcade
  • North Natomas
  • Orangevale

No abren hoy las ramas:
  • Courtland
  • Walnut Grove
  • Isleton

Puede llamar el 916-264-2920 o 916-264-2789 antes de salir la casa para información más actualizado.

Branch Hours for the day


Because of the weather, many branches have lost power today the 4th of Jan. As of 10:52am this includes the following:
  • Elk Grove
  • Galt
  • Franklin
  • Arden
  • Rio Linda
  • Arcade
  • North Natomas
  • Orangevale

The following branches are closed:
  • Courtland
  • Walnut Grove
  • Isleton

Call 916-264-2920 or 916-264-2789 before leaving the house to see if the branch you want to visit has power.

Thursday, January 3, 2008

Floor to Floor

Greetings from warm and sunny Jamaica! I am visiting family and being shown around the island. Today I was introduced to the managing librarian of the Science Library at the University of the West Indies, and we compared notes on the differences between university and public libraries.

But what I really want to share today is this photo of the floor in the Miami airport terminal. Recognize the style? Although the floor is white, I was struck by the similarity to the floor in our own Central Library Galleria! I don't know if it was the same artist, but I intend to try and find out.

Election Literature at the Central Library...

With the February 5th election fast approaching, the Central Library has official voter guides and registration forms on 1st, 2nd and 3rd floors. Please note that the voter guide contains an insert or supplement. Also note that, vis-à-vis registration forms, citizens must have their form postmarked no later than January 22nd to be eligible to vote in the February 5th election. For important dates on the direct primary and presidential election, plus online voter registration, click here.

In the next week or so, we anticipate Central receiving Easyvoter guides from the League of Women Voters, which come in multiple languages. For voter information in a language other than English, please refer to http://www.easyvoter.org/site/evguide/.

Ahhhhh...the Marin Headlands. What a great state we live in! Show you care. Vote.

Wednesday, January 2, 2008

RINCON LATINO: VIVA VOZ Y LAS ELECCIONES 2008!

Precandidatos de ambos partidos estadounidenses se presentaron en el estado de Iowa para oficialmente lanzar sus campañas de candidatura a la presidencia de nuestro país. Durante esta semana en V-me, el programa de Viva Voz presentará varios reportajes y entrevistas de todos los precandidatos de 2008. A cambio de años anteriores, los precandidatos se alejaron del uso de insultos y las falsedades, y en lugar sólo le pidieron a la ciudadanía que votasen por ellos.


Muchos no saben que en los sucursales de nuestra biblioteca se encontrasen formularios de registración para votar. Lo necesario es ser ciudadano de los Estados Unidos presentado algún comprobante de ciudadanía como el pasaporte, cartilla de residencia y comprobante de domicilio actual. Sí no encuentran dicho formulario por favor preguntan a uno de nuestros asistentes para asistirle.





MUESTRA DEL

FORMULARIO DE REGISTRACION

PARA VOTAR