The Atrium

While I am talking about the Michigan Notable Books, I really have to mention the book William G. Milliken: Michigan's Passionate Moderate by Dave Dempsey. I had read this book as well earlier in the year since I am a fan of the author Dave Dempsey.

What was great about this book was that it really enlightened one on state politics and specifically about the man William Milliken. While a Stronger Kinship gave one hope on race relations, this book gives one hope when it comes to the political sphere. It showed how one man could cross party divide and work to bring solutions to the state as a whole. I recommend this book highly for all political junkies. Good choice again Michigan Notable Books!

Also, the author Dave Dempsey had come to speak here at Grand Rapids Public Library last October. We have a podcast which you can listen to here. Just click on the link The Legacy of Milliken Moderation in Michigan's Political History, Dave Dempsey.

Posted by Martin at 11:04 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Last April I wrote a blog entry on the book "A Stronger Kinship". As you saw on the last Atrium entry this book was selected as one of the Michigan Notable books for 2006, and rightly so. Below you will find the review I had written on April 7th.

Every so often I feel compelled to suggest a book solely for its merits and not because of its relation to another topic or interest. The book A Stronger Kinship by Anna-Lisa Cox is just such a one. The author is a historian at the Newberry Library in Chicago.

A true story set in the town of Covert Michigan during the latter half of the nineteenth century, it tells the tale of one town's unique population. Building on the lives of runaway slaves, freed blacks, and aboltionist New Englanders the reader encounters a group of people who felt that one was equal regardless of color. The population of Covert was integrated at a time when America was not. What is remarkable is that to this day this community has stayed true to the original conviction of the pioneer generation. It conveys the sense that intentional community is not always impossible, and that ones morals can be lived out in ordinary life.

Posted by Martin at 10:25 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The Library of Michigan has released its list of 20 notable books for 2007. Described as a literary feast from Michigan's best storytellers, the books highlight people, places, and events throughout the state. All of the titles are available at GRPL.

Posted by Angela at 09:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Carmen, Bridget, Lena, and Tibby are back for one more summer with the pants. The newest title, Forever in Blue, comes out January 9th.

To celebrate this wildly popular series, many GRPL locations are holding a program in which you can make a pair of your jeans special, too. Just bring in a pair of your jeans, and we'll provide some bling to dress them up! Visit the Yankee Clipper library on Wednesday, Jan 3 at 3:00; the Main library on Tuesday, January 23 at 3:00; or the West Leonard library Sat, Feb 17 at 2:00.

Posted by Mary at 03:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Hearing about all those unfortunate folks stuck in the snowy western states this week got me thinking about preparing for my own upcoming travel plans. Last time I flew there was an unfortunate incident with my lotion and toothpaste. They were confiscated because I didn't follow the rules and, consequently, I arrived to my destination with dry skin and unpleasant breath. I don't want to see that happen to you.

Luckily, the government has put together this handy webpage with all sorts of travel information, including flying regulations, passport requirements for Canada and Mexico and the current wait times at their borders, and road conditions and closures. For more tips on being an expert traveler, check out some of these helpful books:

Posted by Lori at 02:49 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Did you know that on top of all the other cool things the library is doing like creating its own Wikis and having a really cool blog we all call the Atrium, we also offer podcasts of most of our guest speakers?

So if you don't feel like traveling out in the snow (this is Michigan, we are going to get snow aren't we?) , you can listen from the comfort of your own home, or wherever you carry your your MP3 player.

You can find all our podcasts here - http://www.grpl.org/yourlibrary/pods/.

New to podcasting or don't know what it is and how to use it? That's OK! We have a help section that will get you going - GRPL Podcast Help Center.

So what's next for the library? What other cool stuff should we offer? Any suggestions?

Posted by Kolene at 12:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Biography Resource Center is an amazing research tool, and it can be accessed from the GRPL Online Databases page.

BRC gives full-text coverage of the people most often requested in biographical reference sources, such as Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama. This expansive reference resource integrates more than 1.4 million biographies from numerous sources, including: Current Biography, Newsmakers, Contemporary Black Biography, Notable Black Women, Contemporary Authors, and the Encyclopedia of World Biography. Although we have these reference sources in print, BRC can be accessed from any of GRPL computers or from your home computer.

There is no question-using Biography Resource Center will give you current and reliable research information.

Posted by Martin at 10:38 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

A technology that continues to grow in popularity is electronic books. That's books which are formatted for listening to or reading on your computer or a portable electronic device. If you have a portable electronic reader -- like a PDA or eReader -- ebooks are convenient for light travel. They're also great for a waiting room or to listen to while commuting to your next destination.

Although some book lovers bemoan the fact that electronic books will never replace the traditional bound book, many others have been converted.

If you'd like to explore the wonderful world of electronic books, you can give them a test drive by checking out these links:

Register for our audio and ebooks program here:
GRPL

If you've already registered for our program, click here to check the catalog:
NetLibrary

Posted by Angela at 12:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Google has created an easy-to-use patent search engine.

Google Patent Search covers the entire collection of patents made available by the USPTO--from patents issued in the 1790s through those issued in the middle of 2006. You can do a simple keyword search or more advanced searches like a patentee name or patent number.

A fun feature is that the homepage will display interesting patent examples every time you load it--last time I loaded it, the patents for underwear, the computer, and the Ouija board popped up.

This link has been added to the GRPL Federal Government Links page.

Posted by Lori at 11:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Can't find the right gift for that special someone who has everything?

Why not give a gift that's tasty, creative and hand crafted. Homemade gifts are a great way to express your love and show your creativity. You can get started here:

Posted by Angela at 10:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Never underestimate the power of our newly developed GRPLpedia. It's a great place to find books on baking and links to recipes online.

My personal favorite is a Martha Stewart recipe: Oatmeal Toffee Cookies. I add 1/2 cup of nuts and an extra egg to the recipe. They are divine.

Posted by Marianne at 11:40 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

On December 10th, five Nobel Prizes were awarded in Stockholm, Sweden and the Nobel Peace Prize was presented in Oslo, Norway (forever confusing trivia buffs as to where the ceremony takes place).

This year's Peace Prize recipient, Bengali banker Muhammed Yunus, has been fighting poverty by granting small unsecured loans to over 6.6 million borrowers through his Grameen Bank since 1976. By empowering the poor to rise above debt and impoverishment, Yunus sees the link between poverty and terrorist recruitment and that "we must address the root causes of terrorism to end it for all time, I believe putting resources into improving the lives of poor people is a better strategy than spending it on guns."

As for the other Nobel Prize winners:

Literature - Orhan Pamuk, Turkish novelist "who in the quest for the melancholic soul of his native city (Istanbul) has discovered new symbols for the clash and interlacing of cultures"

Physics - John C. Mather of NASA and George F. Smoot of UC Berkeley "for their discovery of the blackbody form and anisotropy of the cosmic microwave background radiation"

Chemistry - Roger D. Kornberg of Stanford University "for his studies of the molecular basis of eukaryotic transcription"

Economics - Edmund S. Phelps of Columbia University "for his analysis of intertemporal tradeoffs in macroeconomic policy"

Medicine - Andrew Z. Fire of Stanford University and Craig C. Mello of the University of Massachusetts Medical School for "their discovery of RNA interference - gene silencing by double-stranded RNA"

Posted by Matt at 09:15 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

If you are cold, tea will warm you. If you are too heated, it will cool you. If you are depressed, it will cheer you. If you are excited, it will calm you. --William Gladstone, 1865

It's time to get those teapots whistling! For more information on this famous drink, check out these books:

Posted by Marianne at 06:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

There has been a lot of talk about Green buildings in West Michigan and a lot of movement towards these environmentally sustainable homes and buildings right here in Grand Rapids.

For example, the new Grand Rapids Art Museum building will be the first LEED-certified "green" art museum in the world! Having a LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification means that the building is a host for energy-efficient lighting, heating and cooling systems and recycling systems for water and paper supplies. There are different levels of LEED certification, the highest being gold. Although LEED certification is not given until after a building is completed, the new Art Museum will probably have a silver rating when it is completed. Some of the things that the museum is doing to achieve LEED certification is interesting. For example, when they demolished the existing buildings on the site, the majority of the material was recycled. The material that had to be put in a landfill, went to a landfill within 50 miles of the area, to insure that there wouldn't be excess emissions from the trucks bringing it there. Some other green features of the new Art Museum include a cistern that will collect rain water and snow melt and be used to flush toilets and for other non-human consumption purposes, an exterior reflecting pool and water wall that will help to cool the building in the summer, and solar panels that will produce energy for the building.

This weekend the greenest homes in the Cherry Hill Historic District are being unveiled. The James Avenue Condominiums remodeled by Bazzani at 215-217 James Ave SE is holding an open house after the completion of its LEED certified building. On Saturday, December 9th from 3-6pm you can get a tour of the new homes and enjoy a beverage and snack, and see these amazing new energy efficient home.

For more information on Green Architecture, see our Wiki at http://www.grpl.org/wiki/index.php/Green_Architecture

Posted by Kolene at 11:40 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Tis the season for parties and merry-making! And what's a party without music?

According to an article in the December 2006 issue of Arthritis Today, if you suffer from chronic pain, listening to music for one hour per day each week may reduce pain levels by 20 percent. You can test this theory now by checking out some of our great holiday music. And let us know how this works and if you find a type of music that works especially well.

Oh, here's an extra tidbit I'll bet you didn't think about: How are your meds gonna interact with Uncle Arthur's killer eggnog? Your doctor and pharmacist are the ones to ask, but GRPL has many excellent books on medications. And the Wellness GRPLpedia is also chock full of fascinating health tips for the holidays:

So visit the GRPL for great music and other holiday materials!

Posted by Lisa at 08:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Does the thought of going away to college and eating that dreaded dorm food make your stomach turn? Have no fear! Many colleges are getting old family recipes and making them for the college students. Though not a huge phenomenon yet, some colleges are holding taste tests for family recipes and adding them to their menus. Students, especially those who have contributed family recipes, couldn't be happier!

What dish of your family's would you like to take with to college if you could?

Posted by Mary at 09:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

On Tuesday, Google announced that they would no longer be accepting questions to Google Answers.

Questions submitted to Google Answers cost $2.50 and were answered by experts in finding hard to locate facts. Some of the questions are very obscure, like Why do pigeons have such strange feet?, How do I peel a butternut squash?, and What is the rarest wood in the world?.

Another site that answers obscure questions and archives them is The Straight Dope, and started as a newspaper column in 1973. Its archives are searchable online and and is still being added to.

While we don't archive our questions and answers, we have a similar service, AskUs. AskUs Email Reference is a free service designed to answer specific questions with brief answers. By visiting the site, you can fill out a form and ask our expert librarians questions. Go ahead! Give it a try!

Posted by Kolene at 07:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Well, now that all of the voting hype has settled and Thanksgiving is over, it's time to sit back, relax and focus your attention on some great photos from our Day of the Dead program that took place on Saturday, November, 4 here at the Main Library.

In honor of the Day of the Dead, which was celebrated on November 2, we had an afternoon of fun storytelling from Carmen Vera Rojas. An audio recording of El Festival de las Calaveras (The Festival of Bones) is available on our podcast page here.

There were plenty of crafts. Local artist Alynn Guerra was on hand to show off her print-making talents.

And yummy refreshments were enjoyed by young and old alike. By 5pm the hot chocolate was gone, traces of Pan de Muertos (Day of the Dead bread) were evident from the few bits of sugar sprinkles left on the tray, and tissue paper and feathers littered the floor after much enthusiastic crafting!

Posted by Kelly at 04:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)