Telephone Changes Help Us Serve You Better

Our phones have been getting busier and busier. On the Telephone Reference side, we know it's frustrating for you, the caller, to be made to hold "for the next available librarian." Likewise, on the Circulation Help side, because there was no ability to queue callers, you often heard "If you are getting this message during normal business hours ... " and were required to call back later to talk to library staff.

This morning, we merged those two vital services. Telephone Reference, and Circulation Help now have only one phone number. Callers now will choose "help with your library card", or "all other questions." We hope that, by making that simple change, callers to Telephone Reference won't have to wait as long, and callers to Circulation Help will be able to hold for assistance.

The number to remember is: 916-264-2920.

Please let us know how it's working for you!

(Baby's photo is used with permission under the Creative Commons license granted by the photographer.)

Read and Ride at the State Fair

We're now into the last few days of the California State Fair at Cal Expo. If you are planning to attend between now and Labor Day, be sure to stop by the library and pick up some Read and Ride forms, or go to the Read and Ride web page to see the rules and print your own forms.

Read three books, get three free rides - it's as simple as that! Sacramento Public Library is one of the partners of this program, which has been successfully run for the last several years. There is a limit of one form per child per day (8th grade and below), but a new form, listing three different books, can be presented each time you attend the fair for additional free rides.

And if you should pick up your Read and Ride forms at Central Library, plan to visit the Sacramento Room to see a fun exhibit of historical State Fair posters, post cards, and other memorabilia that have never been displayed before! Big Fun!

RINCóN LATINO: Actividades de la Semana

Se llevarán las actividades siguientes en el sucursal Central para la semana 25 de agosto al 31 de agosto. Toda actividad es gratis y estará en inglés. Llame 916-264-2920 para más información o registrarse:

Infantes hasta 18 meses

• viernes, 22 de agosto @ 10am, Hora de cuentos para bebes
  Participa en una experiencia interactiva para los bebes hasta 18 meses y sus padres. Esta actividad está deseñado para desarrollar la alfabetización por el leer compartido, canciones, juegos y el movimiento. Se toma lugar en el Kid's Place (piso inferior).

Jovenes 13- 18 años

• martes, 26 de agosto @ 5:30pm,
  Esta semana nos encomtramos en la calle con una pelicula de baile de 2008. Protagonizada por Robert Hoffman, Briana Evigan, y Telisha Shaw. Tiene la classifcación PG-13.

Clases de la Computadora

• miercoles, 27 de agosto @ 10:15 am, Más Allá de lo Básico
  Este clase está llena

Programas para Adultos

• jueves, 28 de agosto @ 10am, Cita con la Genealogista
  Le interesa aprender más de su familia o necesita ayuda? Genealogistas voluntarias en el sucursal Central, cuarto piso, están disponibles para ayudarle con una sesión gratis de 30 minutos. Llame para registrarse.

RINCON LATINO : BAJOFONDO

Bajofondo es un grupo de músicos provenientes de Argentina y Uruguay mezclando los géneros musicales del tango, salsa, hip-hop, electónica y rap creando un nuevo y apasionante género conocido como "Tango Fusión" o "Electrotango." Los integrantes son los siguientes : el premiado y internaciolmente conocido Gustavo Santaolalla (Brokeback Mountain) ,Juan Campodonico, Luciano Supervielle, Martín Ferres, Javier Casalla, Gabriel Casacuberta,Verónica Loza, y Adrian Sosa. Recientemente , Bajofondo se entrontraba de gira en los Estados Unidos son fueron recibidos entusiásticamente en ciudades como Los Angeles, San Francisco, Miami y Nueva York. El video arriba muestra la mezcla de una composición de la famosa cantautora uruguaya Lágrima Ríos con el timboteo del Hip-Hop. ¡Disfrútenlo y resérvenlo ahora!

RINCóN LATINO: Actividades de la Semana

Se llevarán las actividades siguientes en el sucursal Central para la semana 18 de agosto al 24 de agosto. Toda actividad es gratis y estará en inglés. Llame 916-264-2920 para más información o registrarse:

Infantes hasta 18 meses

• viernes, 22 de agosto @ 10am, Hora de cuentos para bebes
  
  Participa en una experiencia interactiva para los bebes hasta 18 meses y sus padres. Esta actividad está deseñado para desarrollar la alfabetización por el leer compartido, canciones, juegos y el movimiento. Se toma lugar en el Kid's Place (piso inferior).

Jovenes 13- 18 años

• martes, 19 de agosto @ 5:30pm Locura de la película
  
  Les invitamos a los jovenes y sus acompañantes a disfrutar de juegos, una merienda y una película buena. Esta semana miramos el clásico con Rodney Dangerfield y Robert Downey, Jr., en lo cual el Dangerfield va al colegio con su hijo. Tiene la clasificación PG-13.

Programas para Adultos

• jueves, 21 de agosto @ 10am, Cita con la Genealogista
  
  Le interesa aprender más de su familia o necesita ayuda? Genealogistas voluntarias en el sucursal Central, cuarto piso, están disponibles para ayudarle con una sesión gratis de 30 minutos. Llame para registrarse.

Clases de la Computadora

• miercoles, 20 de agosto @ 10:15am, Los Básicos del Email
  Este clase está llena.

Olympic Flashback

When I was younger I just knew I would be like Mary Lou Retton and score a perfect 10 at the Olympics. Later I thought I could do one of those rich-people events where they ride on horses in pretty clothing. Today I realize the only possible way I could win Olympic gold is if a series of unfortunate events were to happen to befall everyone competing with me.



See, there's still hope for the rest of us. Sign me up for the 2010 curling team!

RINCON LATINO : "EL INFINITO EN LA PALMA DE LA MANO"

La autora nicaragüense Gioconda Belli ha escrito una nueva novela breve titulada "El Infinito en la Palma de la Mano." La novela relata una historia alternativa si el mito más poderoso en la historia humana hubiese ocurido en otra manera. Me refiero al mito bíblico de la pareja más antigua en la historia escrita : Eva y Adán.

Belli describe en forma narativa el motivo de Eva en comerse la manzana la cual conlleva una condena abismal para el futuro de la humanidad. ¿Por qué una manzana? ¿Por qué una pareja compuesta de sexos complimentarios? ¿ Por qué el sexo?
¿Por qué éste mito forma la base de nuestras relaciones , de nustros países?

A Hero for All Centuries: Bernard Cornwell's Richard Sharpe

O'er the hills and o'er the main
Through Flanders, Portugal and Spain.
King George commands and we obey
Over the hills and far away.

-a traditonal English tune from the early 1700s

Literature is inherintly democratizing.

Simply put, reading feeds us knowledge. Knowledge engenders opportunity. Jack London, Henry Miller, and Joseph Conrad are the leavening power of libraries, personified.

To know libraries, to love libraries, is to understand what this means. So, as I read Bernard Cornwell's Sharpe series, I'm reminded of how life is not always so open; advancement takes effort.

Richard Sharpe is a soldier in the Duke of Wellington's army during the Napoleonic Wars (1803-1815). Officerhood at this time was the near exclusive province of the aristocracy. Only 10 percent of officers during this period are known to have risen 'from the ranks' to being an officer.

Enter Sharpe. He's not an aristocrat, yet his deeds on the battlefield and his ability win the trust of his men, are enough to merit him the rank of Lieutenant. This makes for delicious class conflict as we go through the series and see Sharpe and his 95th Rifles from India to Spain to Portugal and France, 24 novels in all...and all available at the Sacramento Public Library.

Not to be upstaged are the moving-picture versions of the series. It's a great compilation and the capable English actor, Sean Bean, plays Sharpe quite fittingly. You may access a list of SPL's holdings of the DVDs by clicking here: DVD Sharpes.

So, why should we be interested in the exlpoits of Lieutenant Sharpe? While he's brave, bold, and well-liked, his rise to officerdom is predicated on hard work. He's that underdog that we all love to see do well. Based on this, Sharpe's journey has value. Effort has value because effort is democratizing. Just like libraries.

RINCON LATINO : "EL PODER DE UNA SONRISA"

El nuevo libro de la presentadora mexicana Karla Martínez titulado "El Poder De Una Sonrisa" es uno de los bestsellers de 2008. En su libro relata sus experiencias en una competencia de belleza, su ingreso en una universidad estadounidense, como hizo nuevas amistades, sobreponerse en una crisis familiar ... hasta como logró ser una de las más impactantes personajes de los medios hispanohablantes. ¿Y la sonrisa?

Karla descubrió después de un tiempo que su mejor arma para enfrentar tanto desafío era su propia sonrisa. Este libro es para gente de un espíritu joven pese a la edad ... es para aquellos lectores que no se sientan aplasmados por las circunstancias adversas. O mejor dicho para aquellos que quieran aprender como vencer todo aquello que parece invensible.

How Sacramento Got Back on Track? The Answer's in "Sacramento Stories"

The Sacramento Public Library's on a journey of exploration. Its vessel is "California of the Past" and its quarry is the oodles of stories that it's finding throughout our fair city. The latest comes from a familiar name to many of us: Anne Rudin. Rudin served as mayor of Sacramento from 1983 to 1992.

Of the many projects and goals she envisioned, perhaps the most satisfying was the establishment of a modern lightrail system for Sacramento. Last month, Rudin came into the Central Library and told us the story of How Sacramento Got Back On Track. To hear and see what the ex-mayor had to say...

RINCóN LATINO: Actividades de la Semana

Se llevarán las actividades siguientes en el sucursal Central para la semana 11 de agosto al 17 de agosto. Toda actividad es gratis y estará en inglés. Llame 916-264-2920 para más información o registrarse:

Infantes hasta 18 meses

• viernes, 15 de agosto @ 10am, Hora de cuentos para bebes
  Participa en una experiencia interactiva para los bebes hasta 18 meses y sus padres. Esta actividad está deseñado para desarrollar la alfabetización por el leer compartido, canciones, juegos y el movimiento. Se toma lugar en el Kid's Place (piso inferior).

Programas para Adultos

• martes, 12 de agosto @ 10am, Cita con la Genealogista
  Le interesa aprender más de su familia o necesita ayuda? Genealogistas voluntarias en el sucursal Central, cuarto piso, están disponibles para ayudarle con una sesión gratis de 30 minutos. Llame para registrarse.
  

Clases de la Computadora

• miercoles, 13 de agosto @ 10:15am, Introducción al Internet
  Este clase está llena.

Right Under My Nose, the Database that Knows...Litfinder

"Turning and turning in the widening gyre the falcon cannot hear the falconer..." These words are hanging around my head like a damp towel. I know the line, I can remember reading the words in a cloistered section of the Milwaukee Public Library, but I just can't remember who wrote them. Cummings, Eliot, hmmmmm. It's frustrating and I just can't seem to shake away the cobwebs.

Just when I thought there was no hope, it happened. Litfinder happened. I pay my taxes. Those moneys go to funding my local public library. The people at said library use those funds to purchase databases and indexes to answer troubling questions like this: who wrote the words: "Turning and turning in the widening gyre the falcon cannot hear the falconer..."

So, here's the deal with Litfinder: Not only can I enter the few keywords that I can remember from the poem and find out the title, but I can also get the full-text. No joke. And it's not just for poems; essays, primary sources, monologues and oodles more. It's all free and I can do this from the warmth and familiarity of my own home.

My library card and PIN is all it takes.

W.B. Yeats wrote The Second Coming in 1920.

RINCON LATINO : LA ULTIMA LECCION

Muchos profesores en Estados Unidos dan clases tituladas "La última lección". En éstas, se les pide que visualicen su muerte y reflexionen sobre lo que es más importante para ellos.
A Randy Pausch, profesor en la Universidad Carnegie Mellon, se le pidió que diera su última lección. Él no necesitó imaginar nada, pues le acababan de diagnosticar un cáncer terminal. Su lección era sobre la importancia de superar obstáculos y aprovechar cada momento: era acerca de vivir.

Para muchos las lecturas de éste brillante prefesor sirvió ( y todavía sirven) para alentarse a si mismos a destacar en algún aspecto de sus vidas. Aunque éste hombre ya no vive entre nosotros...sus lecturas y enseñanzas aún tienen una fuerte fuerza de vida.

What Evil Lurks in the Hearts of Men? The Office of Privacy Protection Knows

On July 23, in the Central Library's Sacramento Room, Debra Castanon of the California Office of Privacy Protection gave an educational talk on identitfy theft and ways to avoid falling into a crime ring that's caused dread for millions of Americans.

Perhaps the most chilling tip of the night related to debit cards. Castanon admonished patrons to never let their debit card out their site, lest the magnetic footprint on the card's strip be stolen. It happens: just click. She went on to discuss everything from securing your mailbox to emphasizing the need to acquire 'diamond-cut' paper shredders, as - given enough time - the remains of simple north-south shredders can be easily pieced back together by criminals.

Castanon when on to discuss a number of other areas to be vigilant about. She also distributed a number of information sheets on fraud awareness to attendees. Click here for the electronic versions of the forms.

Overall, the visit was solid: informative, smart and choc-full-o' reasons to act with thoughtful pause next time you're consuming, dear consumer.

Save Your Family's Sanity---Create a Reading History

My mom asked me to pick up “the movie with the man in it.”
This would have been fine had this been that crazy Mad TV skit I saw several years ago, but she actually meant it. Our conversation went something like this:

Mom: “I need the movie with the man in it.”
Me: “Huh?”
Mom: “You know the one I’m talking about.”
Me: “No, I don’t.”
Mom: “The movie with the man that I checked out but returned too early.”
Me: “What man?”
Mom: “That one guy. You know, the guy.”
Me: “Again, what guy? Can I get a description?”
Mom: “Stop acting like you don’t know who I’m talking about.”
Me: “Who do I look like, Sylvia Browne? I’m not psychic!”
Mom: “Don’t talk to me that way! Now I want the movie with that man in it.”
Me: “Lady, the only movie without men in it is ‘The Women.’ Everything else has a man in it. It may not have the man in it, but it has men. I need more info.”
Mom: “Okay, it’s that guy who’s in a bunch of movies.”
Me: “Morgan Freeman, Tom Cruise, Johnny Depp, Denzel Washington, Will Smith, Matt Damon---”
Mom: “Matt Damon. I think that was the guy. See, you knew who I was talking about. I want that one movie with him in it.”

The sad thing is, this conversation need not have happened. By going into your library account, you can create a reading history. This allows you to save the titles of items you previously enjoyed, in case you want to check them out again. Believe me, it is much easier to request materials when you have something more to go on than “the singer that I liked has a new CD.”

BTW, the movie she wanted turned out to be The Bourne Ultimatum.

Book Bug Bingo

This year's "Catch the Reading Bug" summer reading program was a huge success, judging by the number of people of all ages who registered in our 27 Sacramento Public Library branches.

More than 12, 000 kids, teens and adults signed up to participate, keeping track of their reading activities on specially designed bingo-style cards. Each completed card entitles the reader to a chance in a drawing for a $50 Target gift certificate.

We invited adults to participate for the first time, this year, and 2,696 adults signed up. In total 1,694 pre-readers, 6,294 kids, and 1,086 teens also participated.

There are still a few days left before the program winds down. Drawings for the prizes begin August 9. If you hurry, you, too, can still catch the Reading Bug!

RINCóN LATINO: Actividades de la Semana

Se llevarán las actividades siguientes en el sucursal Central para la semana 5 de agosto al 10 de agosto. Toda actividad es gratis y estará en inglés. Llame 916-264-2920 para más información o registrarse.

Niños 5 a 12 años

• jueves, 7 de agosto @ 2:30pm, Una vez por un Jueves: Bocadillas y una película


• sabado, 9 de agosto, Club de Leer del Verano: Leemos Regarding the Bees por Kate Klise, hacemos una actividad de velas y comemos una bocadilla.

Jovenes 13-18 años

• martes, 5 de agosto @ 5:30pm, ¡Lea el libro, vea la película! Noche de película: The Taming of the Shrew por William Shakespeare. Miramos la versión moderno con Julia Stiles y Heath Ledger.

Preparación para el Colegio

• martes, 5 de agosto @ 6pm, Secretos del Examen SAT 101.
  Aprede a sacar mejor notas del examen SAT usando las estrategias de Kaplan. El taller está abierto a los estudiantes que hizo la práctica de examen el sabado anterior, padres o los que les interesa. Se llevará en el cuarto de reuniones oeste de la galeria. Presentado por Kaplan Test Prep.

Programas para Adultos

• jueves 7 de agosto @ 10am, Cita con la Genealogista
  Le interesa aprender más de su familia o necesita ayuda? Genealogistas voluntarias en el sucursal Central, cuarto piso, están disponibles para ayudarle con una sesión gratis de 30 minutos. Llame para registrarse.

Programas para Familias

• domingo, 10 de agosto @ 2pm, ¡Disfrute de una Luau!
  Celebre el fin del verano con nosotros. Venga a nuestro luau gratis y fabuloso. Estará comida, bailes, juegos y el sorteo para el primer premio del programa de leer del verano.

Giving Back

One of the things I really like about schools here in Sacramento is that they require students to participate in the community in which they live. One way students do this is by performing "community service". By donating approximately a week's worth of work to organizations in the neighborhood over the course of a school year, students make community contacts, learn about the work the organization does, and get a little OTJ experience - all in addition to the real services they perform for the organization.

Central library staff fields calls from many students in all parts of the county who want to perform their volunteer community service at their local libraries. For those libraries near middle and high schools, there is sometimes not enough work available to keep every hopeful volunteer occupied.

Now that a new school year is starting, students are again on the lookout for places where they can perform those volunteer services. Students who want to get a head start on their community service will find that the library is a great place to research local volunteer opportunities!

We have some books about "voluntarism" in general that feature teen volunteers who have made a difference in their communities, and that provide ideas and tips for finding a volunteer opportunity that fits your personality. And there are web sites that list local organizations who need help: Hands On Sacramento is one, and Volunteer Match and the City of Sacramento's Volunteer Program are others.

There is plenty of work to go around, for both students and adults. Which community will you serve?