So, all we Harry Potter fans were so excited for November to roll around. I mean, if the cold weather is going to blow in, a good movie might as well come in with it. But then the movie studio goes and drops the bombshell announcement that it's postponing the release date until JULY! AND it's not even because it's still in production. No, they're in post production. The reason is so it can be released for the "big summer movie season." Do they not realize holiday releases and movie seasons are pretty large, too? I suppose the "good news" for some fans is that the Twilight movie, based on the book of the same name, is being released in December (and rumors have it being released on the original HP date). But, really, I'm not sure if they compare. (Link)

Posted by Mary at 05:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The American Library Association recently received a $1 million grant to study how games improve literacy and enhance problem solving skills. The funds will allow library gaming experts across the country to monitor how people use games. The results will help to develop a tool kit libraries can use to design special programs.

GRPL offers gaming events for teens. Check our calendar for the next Wii gaming event location.

To get an idea about how libraries use games, watch this video:

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

I recently read an article about a recent study from the University of Virginia which suggests that flowers are loosing their scent because of air pollution. Airborne chemicals have altered flowers' scent molecules, thereby destroying their natural aromas. Can you imagine our world filled with beautiful, yet scentless flowers? I don't even want to try! Additionally, many of the fragrances in our daily use products, like perfumes, personal care, and home care get their scents from nature's flowers and plants. (Even those which are artificial begin with the real thing.)

According to the University of Virginia study, during the 19th century, pollinating insects could detect a plant by its scent from up to 4,000 feet away, today that number has decreased to 700 feet. If what this study suggests is happening on a large scale, not only would future generations be deprived of natural flower and plant fragrances, but our crops and other plants would also be impacted.

There's already concern about the loss of millions of bees due to Colony Collapse Disorder, what will happen if the remaining bees cannot pollinate our crops and plants?

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

Are you wondering what the latest news is about Great Lake levels this year? Whether the dredging of the St. Clair River really did cause a huge drainage hole emptying them out, or what type of invasive aquatic species are the newest threat to our fishing industry?

Answers to these questions and more can be found at the Great Lakes Information Network (GLIN), maintained by the Great Lakes Commission. There's all kinds of information on these sites. For example, if you want to know ...

Which beaches are safe for swimming go to Beachcast.com.

What's going on with lake levels, read this article in the Muskegon Chronicle.

And what's up with our own Lake Michigan, check GLIN.

There is so much fascinating, current, and historical information at these sites on Michigan's most unique resource, that you'll want to bookmark it for weekly reference.

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

Older Americans Month is observed in May. The theme this year is Working Together for Strong, Healthy and Supportive Communities.

The Grand Rapids area is very fortunate to have several local supportive organizations, such as the Area Agency on Aging, Gerontology Network, and Senior Neighbors, to help us and our families navigate the aging process.

Lifelong learning also contributes to strong, healthy and supportive communities. One group you may not know about is the Grand Rapids Community College's Older Learning Center which has been “nationally recognized by AARP
for the breadth of their services to adults over age 50.”

Other colleges offering a venue for continuing education opportunities include the Aquinas College's Emeritus Program and the Calvin College Academy for Lifelong Learning, both targeting the 50 and older age group.

Check out these organizations and remember, your local library can provide a variety of resources to help you in your quest for lifelong learning!

Posted by Jane at 03:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

According to an article in yesterday's Rapid Growth, Comprenew Environmental is putting collection sites for small appliances around town from April 19-22. Spokesperson Lynell Shooks says they will “...recycle anything operated by a cord or battery, except major appliances.”

For more information, click here. (Thanks to Johanna on G-RAD for the heads up!)

Posted by Marianne at 04:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Around 25 percent of our honey bees died in the Colony Collapse Disorder of recent years. Loss of these valuable insects can have a profound ecological implication to our planet and drastically affect pollination-dependent crops. According to the North America Pollinator Protection program, nearly 80 percent of the world's crops require pollination.

San Fransisco State University is promoting the Great Sunflower Project, and needs your help. They want you to plant sunflowers, observe and document the behavior of the bees that visit the blooms, and report back to them your findings. They'll even send you a free packet of sunflower seeds for your efforts!

Although Great Sunflower Project participants don't have to know anything about bees or sunflowers, it's still a good idea to read a bit about them, and you can find lots of helpful resources at GRPL.

Haagen Daz, makers of extraordinary ice cream, also has a green project to help the honey bees. They've designed an awesome interactive honey bee display with a feature that lets you "Create and Send a Bee," in which you design a digital honey bee and send it to family and friends. Find out about it here.

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

Parenting Awareness Month is observed during the month of March. There is a great resource in town for guidance in parenting, the Child and Family Resource Council, whose focus is “protecting children, supporting families, and strengthening our community.”

Child care is of great concern to working parents. Another wonderful local resource, Kent Regional 4C (Community Coordinated Child Care) helps parents in choosing quality child care.

Check out any of the Grand Rapids Public Libraries for books on various aspects of parenting. Some of the new titles include:

• Great Kids: Helping Your Baby and Child Develop the Ten Essential Qualities for a Happy, Healthy Life
  by Stanley I. Greenspan
• Parenting a Defiant Child: A Sanity-Saving Guide to Finally Stopping the Bad Behavior
  by Philip and Nancy Hall
• Parenting Without Fear: Letting Go of Worry and Focusing on What Really Matters
  by Paul J. Donahue
• Screamfree Parenting: The Revolutionary Approach to Raising Your Kids Without Losing Your Cool
  by Hal Edward Runkel

Also, check out the Parents and Teachers Resources page put together by GRPL's Youth Services Department.

Posted by Jane at 09:06 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

If you're waiting for a refund from your federal tax return, did you know that you can check your status online at the handy IRS Where's My Refund? website, or call the IRS at 1-800-829-1954?

You can also use the site to make sure your mailing address is up to date. The IRS can't send you a check if they don't have your address. And you don't want to miss out on the extra Economic Stimulus Package check this year, do you?

According to the IRS, eligible taxpayers must file a 2007 tax return in order to receive this extra rebate, and they are going to start sending out the checks in May. So, if you haven't filed your returns yet, get started now. You've only got about six weeks before the April 15 deadline, but with the free e-filing available to almost all taxpayers, and free forms available at the library, what are you waiting for?

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

In 1983, Argentine performance/installation artist Marta Minujin and her assistants spent 17 days in a public park building a full-scale model of the Greek Parthenon.

Made entirely of books wrapped in plastic and displayed on a scaffold, The Parthenon of Books/Homage to Democracy represented the books that had been banned in Argentina for their controversial content by its military rulers. The country had just held its first democratic election in a decade. The art stood for about three weeks, where upon the public was allowed to dismantle it and keep the books.

You can read The New York Times article about Marta and other Latin American artists here.

Posted by Marcia at 08:46 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Whether you're Dewey Decimal challenged or obsessive enough to use Dewey to classify your personal collection, you'll probably appreciate the innovative libraries I've included in this blog entry.

The Library Hotel in New York is a concept hotel with a 6,000 book collection that's housed throughout the building. Each of its 60 rooms, divided among 10 floors, is dedicated to one of the ten Dewey decimal classifications. The Dewey Decimal system (000 through 999) is used in most public libraries to classify materials into ten main subject categories. In addition to the typical hotel amenities, the hotel also has a poetry garden, a writer's den, and an outdoor terrace with a city skyline view.

In Kenya rural villages get access to library services via camel. Take a look:

Posted by Angela at 04:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Well, if you haven't heard by now, next year on February 17, 2009, analog broadcasts of television will cease to exist and everything will turn digital. Maybe you have digital capabilities on your television already or through your cable service, but if you're like me and you rely on the old bunny ears to get your weekly fix of The Office then you'll need to buy a converter.

When I heard that I'd need to spend money on a converter I was pretty disappointed. However, I just found out that the government has set up a program to provide assistance for purchasing a converter. By simply filling out an application you can receive a forty dollar coupon to apply towards the purchase of a converter. And if you don't want to bother, well, there's always a large selection of television programs available at GRPL, and by the way, they're free.

For more information on these coupons or on whether you may need a converter, visit www.dtv2009.gov.

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

A week ago today Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales released his new search engine, Wikia, to the public. Here at GRPL we're always looking for new and better resources to help patrons find the information they need, so I played around a bit with Wikia just to see what it offers and it looks promising.

Wikia has the usual social network options -- personal profiles, media sharing, inviting friends, etc. However, it's different from other major search engines because it's also a hub for subject-specific wiki groups -- currently more than 4,700 in 70 languages. They're grouped into traditional subject categories but they also include categories like biggest, newest, most active, languages, imagination, politics and activism. Each community is filled with content written by people who are passionate about their subject. If the level of detail and information with which most Wikiapedia articles are written is an indicator, Wikia could be the beginning of a really good thing. Here are highlights of some sections I found interesting:

Books is not just about reading and writing literature. It houses wikis dedicated to specific subjects (literature, scifi/fantasy, suspense, romance, etc.) and authors. A few examples are Horatio Hornblower, Phantom of the Opera, Brian Jacques' Redwall series, and even Dr. Seuss. There are fan fiction hubs and book concordances which include plot synopsis old and new -- and Wikia claims they're "spoiler rich."

Entertainment has communities dedicated to favorite television shows like the old Flash Gordon and Hogans Heroes, to newer shows like The Bionic Woman (both series), Hannah Montana, and the Colbert Report. Movies include everything from Indiana Jones and Godzilla to the X-Files and The West Wing.

Gaming hubs are sure to be popular. There's new release announcements and detailed content on old favorites like RuneScape, Warcraft, and Guildwars.

Wales says he wants Wikia to grab a modest five percent of the search engine market, which might be a challenge since Google dominates about 60 percent of the market and the rest of the pie is split between Yahoo and Microsoft Corp. But we'll see how it all turns out. Give Wikia a try and let us know what you think.

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

Does the writers strike have you down? Are you missing the antics of Dwight and Michael? Never fear - GRPL is here to help!

TV on DVD. Start placing your holds now!

Posted by Marianne at 12:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Most of us would like to think that we won't be the victim of a crime, especially the non-violent kind like personal property theft. But it can happen to the best of us, especially if the item is pocket-size and can easily be stolen.

With the increased popularity of personal electronic devices, almost everyone carries a cellphone, laptop, PDA, or digital player on a daily basis. While the items themselves are relatively easy -- though not inexpensive -- to replace, it's the information they contain that's often invaluable and not so simple to recover (unless you keep data backups of everything -- which the average person does not). If your device contains a lot of sensitive or hard to recover information, you face the risk of loosing that information if some unscrupulous person decides that they deserve to have your property more than you do.

It's probably worth your time to consider protecting your property by registering it with a serial number tracking service. An example of such a service is SmartProtec, a free online tracking database that lists serial numbers for electronic devices. Check the web site for details. You can register the serial numbers for your cellphone, laptop, PDA, digital player and other items and attach a registration notification label to the item. If your property is lost or stolen it can easily be traced via the database.

There are also paid services that offer personal property protection, with added benefits. For example, Absolute Software and The CyberAngel make products that alert the companies when a computer that has been reported stolen logs onto the Internet. The companies use satellite tracking technology to locate the stolen computer.

Finally, always keep two or three copies of everything contained on your personal electronic devices. You can back them up to an online server (safest), CDs, or a zip drive.

Posted by Angela at 01:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

China is in the news a lot lately, from the multiple import of American goods to their ambition to be the first Asian country to put a man on the moon. As China grows in power and global influence, people want to know about its culture and people. Here is a list of books cited in The Wall Street Journal as the best to read for a firm grasp on Chinese culture, politics, and life in the largest populated country in the the world.

You can also browse the catalog for audiovisual material here, find more books on Chinese culture here, and find reviews of books written by Chinese authors here.

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

In recognition of the contributions, rich heritage and traditions of the first Americans, November is Native American Heritage Month. This year's themes are Guiding Our Destiny with Heritage and Traditions and A Native Prescription: Balancing Mind, Body & Spirit. The Library of Congress has put together a wonderful website featuring audio, video, and digital images from their archived collections on Native American history and life.

Visit the main Grand Rapids library and check out the display in honor of Native Americans located on the second floor. You can also browse through our extensive collection of Native American movies and books about history, art, literature, and biographies.

One of my favorite recent reads is a novel written by Native American author Sherman Alexie. Although written for teens, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-time Indian, will make you root for young Arnold Spirit, Jr., an outcast living on the Spokane Indian Reservation who yearns to be a cartoonist. Delightful cartoons accompany the book's text.

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

Ever wonder about state tax rates? Or where Michigan stands among the other states for sales tax and income tax rates? Well, the FTA (Federation of Tax Administrators) has a very handy site with ranking charts.

Hopefully, Michigan will soon have a new taxation plan, but just in case, don't forget to let your state representatives know how you feel by clicking here and here.

Posted by Lisa at 12:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)