Well, back to business

Hello again.
Nothing ground-breaking today but just wanted to let everyone know that the Library is back to normal (relatively lol).  That is to say that our shiny new floor and circulation desk are open for business.

What this means to the Reference Department is that we are back to our normal setup.  What is our normal setup? some of you may ask. 

• Well our main reference desk is the big blue desk in the Reading Room with the Non-fiction and the YA section.  Our extension here is ext. 312
• Our other desk is located in the Local History and Genealogy Room which is out beyond the Audio-Visual room.  The Local history phone extension is ext. 325.  Just turn to the right when you come in and go on past the AV section.  I wanted to touch on this because many people still do not know that we are back there and sometimes it gets lonely.

So please come on out to the library to take a look and enjoy our new rotunda floor and circulation desk.  We will continue to strive to provide the great service to our patrons that you have come to know us for.
Have a great day,
Tim Pawlak

Comic Book Workshop at the Library!!

Hey all you fans of Comics/Manga/Graphic Novels.  Look what's coming to the Massillon Public Library.

On Tuesday, September 25th from 5:30-7:30pm, Dan Gorman, a comic book illustrator will be coming in and leading a workshop on comic books.  Dan is an established comic book illustrator who is currently working on the art for the "Femforce" comics.  He also works with Upperdeck for their series of "Avengers: the Beginning" trading cards.

Dan will be exhibiting some of his artwork for the workshop as well as teaching how to create your very own comic books.  What's cooler than that?  Even for those who don't like to draw, it will be a cool learning experience and a window into the world of comic book making.

So come on down and check out this program.  If you have any questions, please contact Angel Vaughn @ 330-832-9831 ext. 321

Hope to see you there.

Tim Pawlak

Learn a New Language at Your Library

Ever want to learn a new language?
In today's world, it really pays to be bilingual.  So what better way to learn a new language than with this free software provided to our patrons called Mango Languages.  Think of it as Rosetta Stone©  Software but without the cost.  It shares the intuitive nature in that instead of memorization drills, it teaches you in a way that is more conversational than lecture.

All you have to do to get started is to go to the Library's website and click on the Research tab.  Then click on the "Alphabetical List of Databases" link and click on Mango Languages (about half way down the page).
It will give you a page that looks like this:

On the right hand side of the page, you can create a new profile and once you do that, the world of Mango Languages is at your fingertips.
Mango Languages boasts an ever-growing list of languages (45 right now) that you can learn from Spanish (both Spain and Latin America) and French to Hebrew and Hindi.  You can even learn to speak Pirate if you like. Arrrg!!!

Most of the languages offer both beginners courses as well as intermediate courses for those who are farther along.
And Mango Languages is not just for English speakers wanting to learn another language, it also offers 15 ESL (English as a Second Language) courses for those who want to learn to speak and understand English.  

So give it a try, you got nothing to lose and you will be able to expand your Linguistic horizons with Mango Languages, brought to you by your friends here at the Massillon Public Library.
So Hasta luego, Au revoir,  Auf wiedersehen, Ciao, Sayonara, Do svidaniya and so long.
Til next time,
Tim Pawlak

Update: Did I mention that Mango Languages also has a translation feature as well?  It is your one stop shop for language learning.

We're Back!

Hello all and welcome back to the Reference Blog.  It has been a while since the blog has been updated.  This is due to a changeover in blogger.  I will now be writing the blog.

Allow me to introduce myself.  My name is Tim Pawlak and I am a Reference assistant as well as working with our Outreach Program.

In the coming weeks, I am going to be regularly updating the blog by shining a light on some of the databases that we have here at the Massillon Public Library.  I know that many already know the databases that we have here but some who are new to the library may not so I just wanted to bring everyone up to speed.

The first recourse that I will be talking about is our language learning software called Mango Languages.  I will also be talking about the MUZZY language learning system for kids.  This will be coming in the next week or so.

Happy reading,
Tim Pawlak