The Future of Reading by Tom Peters

"The future of reading is very much in doubt. In this century, reading could soar to new heights or crash and burn. Some educators and librarians fear that sustained reading for learning, for work, and for pleasure may be slowly dying out as a widespread social practice" - complete article at Library Journal

One Book NJ

It's here! The One Book New Jersey 2010 website is up and running!

Please go to the website, www.onebooknewjersey.org, to vote for your favorite titles in each of the four categories- adult, young adult,juvenile fiction (chapter book) and picture book (read to me). Click on "Vote Now."

From now through Sunday, November 15, librarians and readers of all ages are encouraged to vote for the titles best suited to be One Book New Jersey selections! You can only vote for one title per category, but you can place a vote in all four categories: Adult, Teen, Middle Grade, and Read to Me. Vote now, and spread the word! Winning selections will be announced on November 16, 2009.

One Book New Jersey 2010 marks the 8th year of the program!

Consumer Reports free through library database

Not that I want to discourage anyone from coming to the library, but did you know you can get the full text of Consumer Reports through the library system's EBSCO database? Go to www.bccls.org and click on Magazines, Newspapers and Reference Sources . At this point you will enter your library card number for access. Then choose EBSCO, then EBSCOhost web, then MasterFILE Premier. At this point enter your search terms and limit the search to Consumer Reports. If your first search term doesn't work, try another. If you don't limit to Consumer Reports you will pull up other articles as well. Click the Full Text box so all your results will have the full text of the articles. Good luck and don't be afraid to experiment and play.

Looking for that perfect quote?

Famous Quotes and Authors claims to be "the most complete and useful web resource about Famous Quotes with the best collection of famous quotations for all occasions! Browse over 25,000 quotes online from over 6,700 famous authors. It's fun to browse and I hope you'll remember at least one of these for the next occasion.

Lab Tests Online

Do you think you spend too much time looking for medical information? Lab Tests Online has answers when you're researching medical tests. To catch your interest the first story is about Michael Jackson's toxicology report. It's followed by other "Topics in the News." But the real info is on the left - one can search by tests, conditions/diseases or screenings or through a search box. Here's a quick, comprehensive and up-to-date medical test reference!

Banned Books - protect your freedom to read

Banned Books Week: Celebrating the Freedom to Read

September 26-October 3, 2009

Banned Books Week (BBW) is an annual event celebrating the freedom to read and the importance of the First Amendment. Held during the last week of September, Banned Books Week highlights the benefits of free and open access to information while drawing attention to the harms of censorship by spotlighting actual or attempted bannings of books across the United States.
Intellectual freedom—the freedom to access information and express ideas, even if the information and ideas might be considered unorthodox or unpopular—provides the foundation for Banned Books Week. BBW stresses the importance of ensuring the availability of unorthodox or unpopular viewpoints for all who wish to read and access them.
The books featured during Banned Books Week have been targets of attempted bannings. Fortunately, while some books were banned or restricted, in a majority of cases the books were not banned, all thanks to the efforts of librarians, teachers, booksellers, and members of the community to retain the books in the library collections. Imagine how many more books might be challenged—and possibly banned or restricted—if librarians, teachers, and booksellers across the country did not use Banned Books Week each year to teach the importance of our First Amendment rights and the power of literature, and to draw attention to the danger that exists when restraints are imposed on the availability of information in a free society.

Eyewitness to History

I'm a great reader of novels set in different historical periods and find this leads me back to learn more from history books and other historical resources. Today, on the Internet, I stumbled onto Eyewitness to History , a site that not only provides brief summaries of events throughout history but also provides an eyewitness account of those events. I was reading about the Battle at Gallipoli, what event do you want to try?