Calling All Readers, Calling All Readers...

Hi All,

Just want to get back to some grass roots librarianship today. So, you've been reading a really, really great book by XYZ - and you want to find books with similar themes and topics to this one.

Where you you go?

Never fear, Novelist Plus is here! Click here for a link to the database. Alternatively, you can visit the library website by clicking on this link and then clicking on the 'Reference' tab. Click on the Literature tab. Novelist Plus is the fifth entry in the list under Literature. (Just remember to have your valid Farmingdale PL library card handy since you'll need to enter the barcode to gain access to the database.)

So, what exactly is Novelist Plus? Well, Novelist Plus (hereafter denoted 'NP') is an online database that all Farmingdale Public Library patrons have free access to. Specifically Novelist Plus lets users search among hundreds of thousands of popular fiction (made up) and non-fiction (real topics) to get summaries of books. Users can retriever author read-alikes, book lists, book discussion guides and more!

Users can also search by author, title, book series title and more. Advanced searching lets users search by genre, Dewey Decimal Classification number and by review.

One very new feature that Novelist has recently added is a section of reviews by readers. These reviews come from a website called Goodreads. Note that Goodreads has thousands upon thousands of reviews of well, thousands upon thousands of books.

You can visit Goodreads.com by clicking on this link.

Hope this entry helps you find books that you really, really want to read!

Regards,
Stu

D is For...

Hi All,

Do you realize how few fruits and vegetables begin with the letter 'D'? Ugh...it took me a good few minutes to get the name of this fruit...'dates'. Yeah, that's the fruit!

Seriously, has anyone heard of durian, dragon fruit, drupe, dewberry or dyeberry? Yep - me neither. Thankfully one of the other librarians pointed me in the right direction with respect to fruit names that begin with the letter 'd'. So, I'm going to talk all about dates today.

You might remember that dates are talked about a lot in the bible - click here for a link to a brief discussion of dates and the bible.

This link comes from Purdue University and talks about the history, background, soil, food uses and more of dates - interesting, but definitely for folks who already know a bit about dates.

If this blog entry is making you hungry for dates - click here to buy them online. I'm not endorsing this site - I'm just saying that this is one of many sites where you can buy dates.

I bet you didn't think that there are many recipes with dates...you'd be wrong. Click on this link from AllRecipes.com for some date filled recipes. Some of the better sounding recipes on the site include date cookies, date rolls, sticky date pudding and date nut bread....yum!

Click here for a link where you can buy some more Medjool dates - again, it is one of many sites on the web where you can buy them!!!

Click here for a link to pictures of dates - lookin' good!

Enjoy the dates - who would have thunk it - a whole blog entry on dates? Go figure.
Enjoy,
Stu

It's For the Birds!

Hi All,

Birds - they are everywhere we look: in trees, on telephone pole wires, the roofs of houses and sitting on fences. And they come in so many different colors and shapes and sizes.

They are just so darn colorful and adorable and when they sing....and chirp. How could you do anything else other than look at photos of birds - or go birdwatching.

From time to time, I'll probably do some more entries regarding birds and birdwatching and bird related activities. Its becoming an interest of mine recently and the blog lets me write a bit about this newly found interest.

So...here are a bunch of websites related to bird watching. Note that you could type in the phrase 'bird watching' in Google and you'll find links to many, many different websites. Or...you could just use some of these excellent links:

BirdWatcher'sDigest.com - comprehensive site with info on bird identification, bird feeding, bird conservation, links to their newsletter, a really good photo gallery and a section on optics!

Birdwatching.com - a more 'sedate' website than BWD mentioned above...has birding FAQ's, birding tips, bird's stories, software and links to optics. Similar, but different than first birding site - but still worth a visit.

One of the premier website for birdwatching comes from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology - click here for the link. The site deals with exploring and conserving nature...in particular there is a bird guide, a link to birding basics, and links for how viewers can get involved with birding.

This is really one of the seminal - and I don't use that word often - websites for and about birding - you don't want to miss it!

Regards and happy birding!
Stu

How To Start Your Own Book Discussion Group

Hi All,

So the fall is here and winter is slowly approaching. Now is a great time for readers and book-lovers alike to get ready for this foul weather by starting a book discussion group.

And while for many people reading can be a solitary endeavor, many other folks like to read and talk about the book with other people. Enter book discussion groups and you have the making of a beautiful relationship - reading books and talking about them in a collegial, adult, pleasant environment. What could be better than that?

A good book discussion group has the following characteristics:
1. A book that all members are willing to try to read.

2. The book - unless all members agree - probably should not be a huge, esoteric, difficult-to-read tome.

3. A good book discussion group usually - notice I said 'usually' - has a moderator. While this isn't always the case, I've found that free form book discussion groups tend to run off the topic of the book.

4. The moderator should have a few general questions to get the discussion started.

5. Finally - and readers would be wise not to underestimate this point - bringing food (coffee, tea, crumb cake, cookies, etc) will help increase attendance to a book discussion group.

Click on this link from ReadingGroupGuides.com - an interesting website that discusses 'How to Start a Book Discussion Group', 'Choosing What to Read for a Book Discussion Group' and more.
The site also has a blog and an interesting newsletter link.

Click on this link from the Amherst town Library - in New Hampshire - that has a veritable treasure trove of book discussion group links. Included in these links are sections' from Amazon.com Reading Group Guides, BookBrowse.com, a link to Reading Group Choices.com, and a link to SparkNotes (similar idea to Cliffs Notes - summaries of some of the worlds' great titles).

Click on this link for a great list of books to read so that you can get your book discussion group off to a great start. The titles are on book discussion groups' choices - your satisfaction and appreciation of the books in the list might vary....Also note that you can type in the phrase 'book discussion group title list' into Google and you'll find many, many different lists from different book discussion groups and the books that they feel are good for a discussion.

Finally, readers might want to visit this link from About.com entitled, 'How to Lead a Book Discussion Group'. Reading this article might give you insight on how to make a more interesting and educational book discussion group experience.

Enjoy the links and enjoy the books! Have a great time!
Stu

Questions, Questions, Questions...

Hi All,

Just a quick question about the blog...I've been publishing this using Google's product called 'Blogger'.

There are other blog software tools available on the web and I was thinking - and I emphasize the ''thinking' part - of migrating to another platform.

Does anybody have any thoughts on the matter? Does anybody care?

FYI, I was thinking of moving to Wordpress - a good website and blog tool...click here for the link to Wordpress.com

Thoughts, comments, etc can be emailed to me at mailto:fdaleref@nassaulibrary.org

Thanks in advance,

Stu