Questions that is. The Reference Department helped patrons with quite an array of topics during the last month. Surprisingly, only one inquiry was about the earthquake in Japan. School assignments were at the top of the list and kept us very busy. Occupations seemed to be the main theme behind the assignments, though topics ranged from the Mayan culture to nanotechnology. Our available databases and print collection came quite in handy. Many of our patrons have been very happy to use both of our automotive repair databases: Alldata Online and Chilton Online Auto Repair, both of which can be found at http://www.massillonlibrary.org/research. Typing a few strokes on the keyboard and almost magically you have instructions and illustrations at your fingertips. Online genealogy resources and our local history files are very popular. We were able to find a detailed map of Massillon using our database Sandborn Fire Insurance Maps, http://dmc.ohiolink.edu/oplinmap.htm. Another question came in regarding the history of East Greenville Methodist Church and we were able to find the answers in the Newspaper Archive database, http://access.newspaperarchive.com/Default.aspx. Finding information on the Massillon Women's Club was as easy as looking in our files, complied over the years by our faithful volunteers. We always look forward to interesting questions and challenges, so keep them coming!
Friday, April 15, 2011
Keep Them Coming!
Questions that is. The Reference Department helped patrons with quite an array of topics during the last month. Surprisingly, only one inquiry was about the earthquake in Japan. School assignments were at the top of the list and kept us very busy. Occupations seemed to be the main theme behind the assignments, though topics ranged from the Mayan culture to nanotechnology. Our available databases and print collection came quite in handy. Many of our patrons have been very happy to use both of our automotive repair databases: Alldata Online and Chilton Online Auto Repair, both of which can be found at http://www.massillonlibrary.org/research. Typing a few strokes on the keyboard and almost magically you have instructions and illustrations at your fingertips. Online genealogy resources and our local history files are very popular. We were able to find a detailed map of Massillon using our database Sandborn Fire Insurance Maps, http://dmc.ohiolink.edu/oplinmap.htm. Another question came in regarding the history of East Greenville Methodist Church and we were able to find the answers in the Newspaper Archive database, http://access.newspaperarchive.com/Default.aspx. Finding information on the Massillon Women's Club was as easy as looking in our files, complied over the years by our faithful volunteers. We always look forward to interesting questions and challenges, so keep them coming!
Monday, March 21, 2011
March Madness
The Reference Department at the Massillon Public Library continues to be a very interesting place! We have even been called miracle workers by some. We often are approached with small clues about books or movies and set to the task of discovering the title. Most of the time we are successful. Let’s play the game: it’s a movie about an underdog team winning the game and it is fairly new. The answer is Miracle. Let’s try another clue for a book: the topic is addiction, the author’s name starts with the letter ”U” and the book and the author were on the Dr. Phil show. The answer was Healing the Addicted Brain by Dr. Harold Urschel. That answer was found by Googling the Dr. Phil Show. How about a children's book about a baker who ran out of ingredients? Alas, we found Mr. Snitzel's Cookies by Jane Flory, found by using Oplinlist.
Often, we help patrons get connected. A gentleman came in and explained that his elderly sister was in a nursing home and had recorded some of her thoughts in a diary or journal. However, she had written it in shorthand. Discovering a shorthand book on our shelves, we found that it was not very helpful due to variations of the text. Another patron sitting at a table nearby had overheard his request and came over and offered the services of her daughter who had excelled in shorthand when she was in school. Two weeks later we found out that the patron's daughter had contacted her old shorthand teacher and she agreed to help translate the journal.
Sometimes, Massillon history is the hottest topic on our agenda. We have had questions on the architect Herman Albrecht, the jazz musician Bob Wilbur, the MIA soldier Ronald Stanton as well as other Massillonians like James Lathrop. Recently, a retired coach of Chris Speilman requested information for a Columbus radio station so that he could send a note of congratulation to his former student.
Another patron looking for the obituaries of Horace Gillom and his children was helped by the use of Newspaper Archive. This database was also able to answer some questions for another patron inquiring about the murder of two baby girls in the Massillon Hospital in 1947. You can find this database on our web site at http://www.massillonlibrary.org/research.
Because of the economy, more and more of our patrons are trying to fix their cars themselves rather than incurring the cost of a mechanic. To help them in their endeavors, we have two databases: Alldata is a resource that can only be used inside the library and the recently added Chilton Online Auto Repair which can be accessed from home, using a Massillon Public Library card. Again, you can find these databases on our web site at http://www.massillonlibrary.org/research. .
Interesting questions such as the current time in Australia, where would a person find books about growing up poor, or perhaps locations of babysitting classes in Stark County have popped up recently. “Wrong title” searches are very common - we are given a title that is not quite right and it does not show up in our databases. Google is our dear friend in these cases and we set out on the hunt. So, keep your questions coming and we'll keep digging until we can find an answer for you!
Often, we help patrons get connected. A gentleman came in and explained that his elderly sister was in a nursing home and had recorded some of her thoughts in a diary or journal. However, she had written it in shorthand. Discovering a shorthand book on our shelves, we found that it was not very helpful due to variations of the text. Another patron sitting at a table nearby had overheard his request and came over and offered the services of her daughter who had excelled in shorthand when she was in school. Two weeks later we found out that the patron's daughter had contacted her old shorthand teacher and she agreed to help translate the journal.
Sometimes, Massillon history is the hottest topic on our agenda. We have had questions on the architect Herman Albrecht, the jazz musician Bob Wilbur, the MIA soldier Ronald Stanton as well as other Massillonians like James Lathrop. Recently, a retired coach of Chris Speilman requested information for a Columbus radio station so that he could send a note of congratulation to his former student.
Another patron looking for the obituaries of Horace Gillom and his children was helped by the use of Newspaper Archive. This database was also able to answer some questions for another patron inquiring about the murder of two baby girls in the Massillon Hospital in 1947. You can find this database on our web site at http://www.massillonlibrary.org/research.
Because of the economy, more and more of our patrons are trying to fix their cars themselves rather than incurring the cost of a mechanic. To help them in their endeavors, we have two databases: Alldata is a resource that can only be used inside the library and the recently added Chilton Online Auto Repair which can be accessed from home, using a Massillon Public Library card. Again, you can find these databases on our web site at http://www.massillonlibrary.org/research. .
Interesting questions such as the current time in Australia, where would a person find books about growing up poor, or perhaps locations of babysitting classes in Stark County have popped up recently. “Wrong title” searches are very common - we are given a title that is not quite right and it does not show up in our databases. Google is our dear friend in these cases and we set out on the hunt. So, keep your questions coming and we'll keep digging until we can find an answer for you!
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
Give Your Brain a Boost
In a recent article in The New Yorker, Malcolm Gladwell quotes James Flynn, a renowned scientist, as saying "The mind is much more like a muscle than we've ever realized… It needs to get cognitive exercise". Learning a foreign language is one way to flex those brain muscles. Now you can take your brain to the gym with help from the Massillon Public Library. We have a fun, fast and easy language learning program called Mango Languages. The best part is that it's free for Massillon Public Library patrons and you can access it anywhere there is internet with your library card.
Mango is an easy and effective way to learn to speak a foreign language. Mango is available in two versions:
Mango Basic:
Perfect for a foreign language beginner, Mango Basic teaches everyday greetings, gratitudes, goodbyes and helpful phrases in a short period of time. The courses, which require only two to five hours of time to complete, are currently available in 34 foreign languages and 15 English as a Second Language (ESL) courses.
Mango Complete:
Mango Complete offers a 100-lesson course that digs much deeper and is designed to provide a more complete understanding of the entire language and culture. It is available in 31 foreign language and 14 ESL courses. Foreign language courses include Chinese, French, German, Greek, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese, Russian and Spanish. ESL courses include Polish, Spanish and Portuguese.
To learn more about Mango you can visit us at http://www.massillonlibrary.org/mango and get started on boosting your brain!
In a recent article in The New Yorker, Malcolm Gladwell quotes James Flynn, a renowned scientist, as saying "The mind is much more like a muscle than we've ever realized… It needs to get cognitive exercise". Learning a foreign language is one way to flex those brain muscles. Now you can take your brain to the gym with help from the Massillon Public Library. We have a fun, fast and easy language learning program called Mango Languages. The best part is that it's free for Massillon Public Library patrons and you can access it anywhere there is internet with your library card.
Mango is an easy and effective way to learn to speak a foreign language. Mango is available in two versions:
Mango Basic:
Perfect for a foreign language beginner, Mango Basic teaches everyday greetings, gratitudes, goodbyes and helpful phrases in a short period of time. The courses, which require only two to five hours of time to complete, are currently available in 34 foreign languages and 15 English as a Second Language (ESL) courses.
Mango Complete:
Mango Complete offers a 100-lesson course that digs much deeper and is designed to provide a more complete understanding of the entire language and culture. It is available in 31 foreign language and 14 ESL courses. Foreign language courses include Chinese, French, German, Greek, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese, Russian and Spanish. ESL courses include Polish, Spanish and Portuguese.
To learn more about Mango you can visit us at http://www.massillonlibrary.org/mango and get started on boosting your brain!
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
Honoring our Past
Questions have been pouring in about Martin Luther King. One of the most interesting features we found is on the University of Virgina's Miller Center of Public Affairs web site http://millercenter.org/. In honor of Martin Luther King Day, the first installment of the new Presidential Recordings Series, a collaboration of the University of Virginia Press, its e-imprint, Rotunda, and the University's Miller Center of Public Affairs is the Lyndon B. Johnson Digital Edition that includes several conversations with and about King. The title includes hundreds of hours of presidential tapes covering everything from the War on Poverty to the Civil Rights Movement to the Vietnam War.
Each conversation is fully transcribed and annotated and accompanied by its audio file. The edition includes photos and video galleries, a linked timeline, and searching ability. Miller Center scholars are in the process of transcribing and annotating the secret White House tapes recorded by every president from Franklin Roosevelt to Richard Nixon. The press is offering a free trial of the edition through January 27. After that, users can sign up on the site for a free 48-hour trial.
As part of the University of Virginia's week-long commemoration of the life and legacy of Martin Luther King, the Miller Center is hosting a program exploring King's private conversations and public communications tomorrow, Wednesday, at 11 a.m. The program will highlight the relationship between King and President Lyndon B. Johnson that emerges in secret tapes recorded by Johnson. This event takes place at the Miller Center and will be webcast live at http://millercenter.org/.
Each conversation is fully transcribed and annotated and accompanied by its audio file. The edition includes photos and video galleries, a linked timeline, and searching ability. Miller Center scholars are in the process of transcribing and annotating the secret White House tapes recorded by every president from Franklin Roosevelt to Richard Nixon. The press is offering a free trial of the edition through January 27. After that, users can sign up on the site for a free 48-hour trial.
As part of the University of Virginia's week-long commemoration of the life and legacy of Martin Luther King, the Miller Center is hosting a program exploring King's private conversations and public communications tomorrow, Wednesday, at 11 a.m. The program will highlight the relationship between King and President Lyndon B. Johnson that emerges in secret tapes recorded by Johnson. This event takes place at the Miller Center and will be webcast live at http://millercenter.org/.
Excerpt from Shelf Awareness, Daily Enlightenment for the Book Trade
Saturday, December 4, 2010
Harness the Power of the Web
Did you know thousands of titles are at your fingertips from home or anywhere? You can learn how to browse, checkout and download digital books and more from the Massillon Library Web Site. We offer eBooks, audio books, music and video through the Ohio e-Book Project (OEP). As of September 2010, over 34,000 library patrons like you have enjoyed the Ohio e-Book Project holdings. The OEP is a consortium of 37 libraries that pool their resources to collectively purchase downloadable audio books and eBooks for use by library patrons right from their home computers and portable devices.
Let's take a closer look. What is an eBook you may ask? An eBook is made of text and images. It's a digital book, magazine or graphic novel that can read on a computer or portable device. How about an audio book? An audio book is a book you listen to. It's a recorded reading by a narrator or cast of actors and can also be enjoyed on a computer or portable device.
All you need to get started is an internet connection and a Massillon Library card. First start by checking to see if your device is supported by going to our web site http://www.massillonlibrary.org/, open the Books and Reading tab, click on Digital Books and then click on the Overdrive icon. Unfortunately not all devices are supported. We are here to help and would love to show you more. You can call us at 330-832-9831 ext. 327 or stop in our Computer Center and setup an appointment to see a demonstration.
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