Category Archives: Library Advocacy

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Follow Me!

A segment of a social network

A segment of a social network (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Social media is everywhere.  Companies, celebrities and authors have Facebook and Twitter pages to keep in touch with their fans and promote their products.  Non profit organizations use social media as an inexpensive way to spread the word about their missions. 

MHS Library is no exception.  We are on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and now Tumblr.  Each social network has it’s own culture and every person has their preference as to which one they prefer to use.  That’s why I try to post on all four as often as possible.  Our Facebook and Twitter accounts (as well as this blog) are linked, so whatever is posted on one gets cross posted to the others. 

Libraries are not just about books; they are about information and the newest, fastest way to share information is through social media.  News about the library and MHS, quotes about books and reading, research tips, notices of author events and contests, cool images … all these things and more are shared through our social media platforms. 

How many of these social networks do you belong to?  Next time you log in, be sure to follow MHS Library as we find our way through the sea of information out there in cyberspace.  I promise not to lead you astray!

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D is for Discard, T is for Tree

We have been weeding so much this year that we decided to put some of our discarded books to good use and build a Christmas tree out of them.  First, you start with a sturdy base of reference books.

 

tree 003

Mrs. Jones and a student building the base of the tree

  As the tree gets taller, you have to start using smaller books.  We tried to use mostly red and green books to keep a festive mood.

tree 004

Getting taller and taller …

 

Fortunately, we have the PERFECT picture book for the top of the tree!  S if for Star : a Christmas alphabet by Cynthia Reynolds (E Rey). What’s a holiday tree without a star on top?

Me and the finished tree

Me and the finished tree

It still needs some lights and ornaments but for now it looks pretty good, if we do say so ourselves.

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The Nation’s Library

A 2x3 segment panoramic view of the Great Hall...

A 2x3 segment panoramic view of the Great Hall of the Library of Congress in Washington D.C., United States. Français : Vue panoramique du Grand Hall de la Bibliothèque du Congrès à Washington, États-Unis. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The Library of Congress was founded 212 years ago today, on April 24, 1800.   The library began as a reference library for Congress.  After the original book collection was destroyed by fire in 1814, Thomas Jefferson offered his own personal library to replace it.  With this as its core, the Library of Congress grew into a national library.  The copyright law of 1870 required all copyright applicants to send two copies of their work to the LOC.  Today, the LOC has over144 million items, including books, manuscripts, maps, films, sound recordings, films and legal documents.

For more library fun, try these books or check out our “Cool Libraries” board on Pinterest :

The Grimm Legacy by Polly Shulman (FIC Shulman) — New York high school student Elizabeth gets an after-school job as a page at the “New-York Circulating Material Repository,” and when she gains coveted access to its Grimm Collection of magical objects, she and the other pages are drawn into a series of frightening adventures involving mythical creatures and stolen goods.

This book is overdue! : how librarians and cybrarians can save us all by Marilyn Johnson (021.2 Joh) — Showcases the work of librarians in a variety of fields to examine how, in the early twenty-first century, they still serve as educators, archivists, and curators despite the abundance of digital information available to the general population.

Here lies the librarian by Richard Peck (FIC Peck) — Fourteen-year-old Eleanor “Peewee” McGrath, a tomboy and automobile enthusiast, discovers new possibilities for her future after the 1914 arrival in her small Indiana town of four young librarians.

Our libraries by Dana Y. Wu (027.073 Wu) — This book explores the history of libraries in the U.S., including the Library of Congress; describes the services of libraries; and discusses how libraries are changing in the information age.

 

 

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April is the Cruelest Month

 

Poetry

Poetry (Photo credit: Kimli)

National Poetry Month begins this Sunday, April 1st.  Get inspired by browsing our National Poetry Month board on Pinterest.  How many ways can YOU incorporate poetry into your life this April?

  • Read a poem
  • Write a poem
  • Create art out of a poem
  • Recite a poem to family or friends
  • Celebrate Poem in Your Pocket Day (April 26)
  • Attend an Open Mic night
     
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Pinned

Pinterest

Pinterest (Photo credit: stevegarfield)

Have you seen Pinterest?  It’s a virtual bulletin board where you can “pin” pictures and videos you find on the Internet.  Check out the MHS Library Pinterest boards to see what we’re interested in!  So far I have created boards for Cool Libraries, The Hunger Games, From Page to Screen (books that have been made into movies) and a Virtual Library Cat (because every library should have a cat).  What else should we be pinning?

Remember, everything you pin to your Pinterest boards still belongs to the copyright holder.  Always give credit where credit is due!  Collecting great ideas to share with others is wonderful, but please don’t use any images in a project or on your own webpage without getting permission and/or properly citing the source.

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Teen Tech Week

It’s Teen Tech Week, so be prepared to “Geek Out” @ the library!  If you’re not sure what to do to celebrate Teen Tech Week, you’re in luck: this week, for the first time ever, MoHi will be holding ASB elections online!  Come to the library before school, during lunch or after school and VOTE for next year’s ASB officers. 

Not sure how to vote online?  Don’t worry — there will be ASB students here to help you out. 

There are plenty of other ways to “geek out” in the library:  Try out a Playaway (audio book player) or check out our online databases when you need to do research.  Check out the books in our “Living Online” resource list for stories about online life.  Check out our Facebook page or our new Pinterest page (which will be coming soon!).

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Super Spring Events @ Ontario City Library

Cover of "Inkheart"

Cover of Inkheart

There are some great events coming up this spring at the Ontario City Library.  Start planning now!  Call 909-395-2225 for more information on any of these events.  All events take place at the Ovitt Family Community Library (main library), 215 East C Street, Ontario unless otherwise noted.

Ani-Manga Club — Do you watch anime?  Read Manga?  Cosplay?  Play Video Games?  Listen to J-POP/ROCK?  If so, join the Ani-Manga club and discuss anime/manga while creating cool crafts and unique foods.  Fridays, March 9, April 13, May 11 — 4:00 – 5:30 pm

The Hunger Games — Try your skills!  We have our own version of The Hunger Games based on the book by Suzanne Collins.  Wednesday, March 28 – 3:30 – 5:30 pm

Teen Karaoke Night — Calling all teens?  Are you a Glee-k? Do you like to secretly sing or sing in public?  Join us and sing some tunes at the library.  Feel free to bring your friends.  Pre-registration required.  Wednesday, March 21 — 6:00 – 7:30 pm

Teen Open Mic Night — Join us for our annual Open Mic Night where you can read your own original poetry or something previously published.  Wednesday, April 11 — 5:00 – 6:30 pm

Teen Book Fest 2012 — Our second annual event will feature bestselling authors, including Jay Asher (author of 13 Reasons Why).  All ages are welcome although teens are given preferred seating.  Books available for purchase and signing at the event.  Ontario Senior Center, 225 East B Street, Ontario — Saturday, May 5 — 1:00 – 4:00 pm

Cornelia Funke — Help us welcome the bestselling author of Dragonrider, Inkheart & Reckless.  Cornelia will be joining us for a fun-filled evening of fantasy, adventure, and ingenious conversation.  Books available for purchase at the event.  Wednesday, May 9 — 5:00 – 7:00 pm

May the Force Be With You — Celebrate Star Wars in a family environment.  Games, crafts, contests, and entertainment will be held throughout the day with plenty of fun photo opportunities.  Tuesday, May 22 — 4:00 – 8:00 pm

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News From Around the World

English: World map. SVG

Image via Wikipedia

Did you know that our subscription to Grolier Online includes links to newspapers and news agencies for countries around the world?  From Afghanistan to Zimbabwe, you can keep up on all the latest news.  Many of the sites are in English, but many are in the native languages of the various countries.  You can read the news in:

  • Afrikaans
  • Albanian
  • Arabic
  • Armenian
  • Assamese
  • Azerbaijani
  • Belarusian
  • Bengali
  • Bosnian
  • Bulgarian
  • Catalan
  • Croatian
  • Chinese
  • Creole
  • Czech
  • Danish
  • Dari
  • Divehi
  • Dutch
  • English
  • Estonian
  • Farsi
  • French
  • Finnish
  • Georgian
  • German
  • Greek
  • Gujarati
  • Hindi
  • Hungarian
  • Icelandic
  • Indonesian
  • Italian
  • Japanese
  • Kannada
  • Kazakh
  • Khmer
  • Korean
  • Latvian
  • Lithuanian
  • Macedonian
  • Malay
  • Malayalam
  • Maltese
  • Marathi
  • Mongolian
  • Montenegrin
  • Norwegian
  • Oriya
  • Pashto
  • Persian
  • Polish
  • Portuguese
  • Punjabi
  • Romanian
  • Russian
  • Serbian
  • Slovak
  • Slovenian
  • Somali
  • Spanish
  • Swahili
  • Swedish
  • Tajik
  • Tamil
  • Telugu
  • Thai
  • Tongan
  • Turkish
  • Turkmen
  • Ukrainian
  • Uzbek
  • Vietnamese

Just visit www.mohigh.com, click on Databases, then on Grolier.  See the circulation desk for the username and password.  Once you are logged in, click on World Newspapers to get started.  Happy reading!

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Looking Ahead to 2012

Cover of "A Child Called "It": ...

Cover via Amazon

Welcome back from Thanksgiving Break!  I hope you all enjoyed your week off!

The library is still in the midst of activism research paper madness, but things are starting to slow down a little bit as students finish the data gathering process and begin actually writing their papers.  The end of the semester is in just 3 weeks — can you believe it?!

When we come back from Winter Break it will be January and I wanted to give you a heads up about an exciting event that will be taking place on January 25, 2012 at Chaffey High School.  Dave Pelzer, the author of A Child Called “It” , The Lost Boy and A Man Named Dave, will be speaking at Gardiner W. Spring Auditorium on the Chaffey High campus from 6:30 – 7:30 pm.  Best of all, admission is FREE!  This event is presented by the Ontario City Library. 

If you are a fan of Mr. Pelzer’s work, mark your calendar now so you won’t forget!  Once again:

Dave Pelzer, author of A Child Called “It”

Wednesday, January 25, 2012

6:30 – 7:30 pm

Chaffey High School / Gardiner W. Spring Auditorium

1245 N. Euclid Ave.

Ontario, CA

FREE ADMISSION!!!

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Just Breathe

As you may have guessed, the library has been very busy the last week or two.  We are in the midst of the sophomore English research paper, which means we are jam-packed with students all day long.  One day we had 14 classes in the library!  It’s been hard enough to stop and take a deep breath, let alone write blog posts!

Unfortunately, when we have classes in doing research, we have to be closed to other students because the library just isn’t big enough (and we don’t have enough staff) to accomodate everyone.  This means we’ve basically only been open before and after school (and the occasional lunch period) for two weeks — and the madness will continue after we get back from Thanksgiving break.  I know it’s rough, but we have to give priority to the classes that are signed up for research time, since our primary mission is to support the curriculum and help students do their very best in school. 

We are quickly approaching the end of 1st semester (!) so things are going to be even crazier as we close in on Winter Break.  Just remember: everyone else is just as stressed out as you are, so cut them some slack!  I try to remember this when I reach the end of a long and get asked the SAME question for the 300th time. :)

Good luck as you finish up those projects and study for final exams.  They’ll be here before you know it!