Literary Reference Center

From time to time I will be featuring an online database which can be accessed at the library or at home by all Waltham residents with a valid MLN library card. I hope you saw a recent post featuring the History Reference Center and have had a chance to try it.

Another great database is the Literary Reference Center. This database will be of use to anyone doing literary research. It includes biographies, criticisms and reviews . A particularly useful feature is the research guide with a “step by step” guide on how to write a research paper. If you encounter any difficulties or have any questions while using this database, please call the reference desk at 781-314-3425. Any reference librarian will be happy to help you.

posted by Paula

Veterans Day, November 11th, honors the country’s servicemen. The Waltham Room now has a display remembering one such veteran, Dr. Douglas E. Butman. He spent his entire career as a physician here in Waltham before his retirement in 1987. He served in World War II as a Navy medical officer and was involved in the D-Day effort.

Earlier this year, a kind donor gave the Archives papers based on a diary kept by his grandfather, Dr. Richard D. Anderson, who had served alongside Dr. Butman. The display has a map of the United Kingdom showing some of the locales in Scotland, Wales, and England where “Doug” was stationed, with excerpts from the papers explaining his work.

posted by Jan

November is National Novel Writing Month

Do you have a novel inside of you that is just waiting to be written? Are you tired of spending exorbitant sums of money for classes that you can ill afford? Do you enjoy writing with other people? If you answered yes to any one of these questions, check out www.nanowrimo.org

By exploring this website and enrolling, you will be taking up the challenge of basically writing every day for the month of November until you have a grand total of 50,000 words. You can meet up with fellow NanoWrimos at cafes and libraries in the area.

If you need help getting started, one of our Reference Librarians will be happy to get you materials on writing.  We have alot of great resources for you.

Give it a try! Get out your pen or your computer and get going!  

Submitted by Louise

With the election being less than a week away, we can all expect to be inundated with political ads from both presidential candidates. If you can’t get enough of our current candidates, check here and here. However, for a real treat, go to livingroomcandidate.org and check out campaign ads dating back to 1952.

Based solely on the ads alone (ignoring the politics), some of my favorites include:

posted by Todd

Along with many other Red Sox die hards, I am operating at work today despite being sleep deprived and a little disappointed.  I say only a little disappointed, because I’m so glad that in the end the Red Sox were able to make a series of the ALCS and not just roll over, and the truth is they just ran up against a better team.  (And two World Series wins in the last four years does ease the pain).  Furthermore, even though Tampa Bay had better pitching, and the Red Sox hitting wasn’t what it once was, the real blame goes to my co-worker, Bela.  She admitted to me, today, that game 7 of the ALCS was the first post season game she had watched in its entirety.  Clearly she’s a jinx!  She does feel very bad, though.

For those of you who want to drown your sorrows, we have a lot of options for feeling better about the Red Sox.  Relive the 2004 and 2007 seasons with any number of books.  There were several that came out, after the 86 year drought, some better than others.  My favorite post 2004 books are Reversing the Curse by Dan Shaughnessy, A Tale of Two Cities by Tony Massarotti, and Mind Game: How the Boston Red Sox got Smart, won a World Series, and Created a New Blueprint for Winning by the writers of Baseball Prospectus.  My favorite post 2007 book is Red Sox Rule by Michael Holley.  (read my review)  To read about post season heroes from 2004 and 2007, there are always players’ autobiographies, such as Deep Drive by Mike Lowell and Rob Bradford and Big Papi by David Ortiz and Tony Massarotti. I suppose you could also read Idiot by Johnny Damon, but I wouldn’t. This has nothing to do with the fact that he defected to the New York Yankees. The book, frankly, isn’t very good.  For your viewing pleasure, I recommend the NESN produced DVDs, Faith Rewarded (the 2004 teams), and Champions Again (2007).  We also own the MLB produced DVDs of the respective World Series wins, but the NESN productions are a lot more fun.  Online, relive the Boston Globe’s coverage of the 2004 and 2007 Red Sox.

If you want to feel better, be sure and read any books about Red Sox history prior to 2004.  You’ll remember how much pain our local nine used to cause, and you’ll appreciate everything they have done the last four years, even if it means coming one victory away from the World Series.  Recommended titles are The Greatest Game : the Yankees, the Red Sox, and the Playoff of ’78 by Richard Bradley, Red Sox Century by Glenn Stout, and Shut Out by Howard Bryant.  If you can stomach it, get the DVD Cowboy Up about the 2003  team, and yell at Grady Little all over again for leaving Pedro in too long.

So, all is good for Boston sports fans, and remember there’s always next year!  Come visit us at the library while waiting for pitchers and catchers to report.

posted by Laura

Photos:
top left:Pedro Martinez 2004 World Series
middle right: 2007 Red Sox celebrating World Series win
photos from Boston.com

Yeah, you read that right, we now has about 50 Blu-ray movies in our collection. If you have a Blu-ray player or a PS3, come in and check out our collection (or reserve the movies online)!  We expect our collection to grow in the coming weeks, months, and years, so check our catalog often to see what we have.

So far, titles include:

• Batman begins
• Juno
• 21
• I am Legend
• Ratatouille
• Blade Runner

You can see the entire list of Blu-ray movies here.

posted by Todd

image from Ebsco
Just a quick post to let you all know that we subscribe to a new health database: Consumer Health Complete.  We are very excited to offer this database, which Waltham residents can access from home.  We get quite a few health related reference questions, and this database provides complete coverage.  If you want to find out more about specific health conditions, as a health consumer, you can either browse an alphabetical list, or type in the search yourself.  If you’re unsure of the spelling, the database will correct you and give you the correct spelling.  You can look up information on  variety of prescription drugs, as well.  For those using the database for school related research, there is plenty to offer, as well.  You can even browse sources, such as the AMA Complete Medical Encyclopedia.

Please browse the new database and let us know what you think!  And don’t forget, for the last few years, we’ve been subscribing to Salud Para Todas, a Spanish language health database.

posted by Laura

poster from ALA Graphics

I have been a frequent reader of Mad Magazine for years.  Often times, their movie and television parodies are more entertaining than the original products. Lately, libraries and librarians have taken a place of prominence in the letters to the editor department, and I’ve gotten a great laugh out of it.

In April, a reader from Massachusetts (I won’t say which town) wrote in to complain that his local library does not allow current issues of magazines to circulate.  Therefore, he had to wait one month to check out the latest copy of Mad.  (For the record, Mad magazine is one of the titles in which we allow the current copy to go home with you.)  He was so upset that he wrote a letter to the editor asking if they could send him a free subscription.  Instead, Mad’s editors responded, “Sorry, you don’t get a free subscription just for having your letter printed.  But if you send us a photo of yourself and the head librarian holding an issue of MAD, we’ll put it in the magazine and you’ll get a free subscription.”

The reader hasn’t sent in his letter as of the latest printing, but Joshua Quezada from Los Angeles, California figured he would take a shot and asked his head librarian to pose with him and sent the picture to the magazine.  “I had no problem going up to the head librarian of the Montebello Library.  At first, she looked at me kind of weird, I guess nobody has ever asked her to do this.  As you can see, she still took the picture with me and MAD anyway.”  Mad’s response was: “O.K. sure … we admire your pluck and moxie and your love of all things library-related.  Congratulations on your one-year subscription.”

I have no way of knowing whether MAD will honor this with all readers.  (they do give free subscriptions if you pose with a celebrity).  However, if you want to give it a shot, I won’t turn anyone down who wants to take a picture with me and MAD magazine.  (I can’t speak for the rest of my co-workers, of course)

posted by Laura

Our Lecture Hall is packed full of books, magazines, music scores, and children’s materials. The hallways leading to it are loaded with CDs, VHS tapes, audio tapes, and books on tape.  On Friday at 6:30 PM, we are having a special preview that is only open to those who are Friends of the Library. If you are not a Friend yet, you can fill out this form and hand it in at the book sale on Friday night (or you will just have to wait until the book sale formally opens on Saturday morning).

What is Twitter?  Well, Twitter is nothing more than a fantastic (and free!) Web 2.0 service.  Wikipedia describes Twitter as “a free social networking and micro-blogging service that allows its users to send and read other users’ updates (otherwise known as Tweets), which are text-based posts of up to 140 characters in length.” Many people use Twitter as a mini-blog, to let friends know what they are doing or pondering.

At the library, we are using it to notify our readers about all aspects of the library, including special events, updates about library services, selected new materials that are on our shelves, general information, and much more.  And, those who subscribe to our Twitter feed can read our Tweets as soon as we post them.  If you don’t want to join Twitter, you can always check out our Twitter Page for updates or check the library homepage where we have our three most recent Tweets posted.

posted by Todd