The Newbery and Caldecott awards, along with the many other awards, were given out this week at the ALA Midwinter Convention. A good rundown of the winners is HERE. A librarian at the NYPL does an excellent blog on children’s literature, and her commentary on the winners and honor books is here. Personally, I think the Newbery award is the kiss of death for most children’s books, with a few notable exceptions. I used to read them religiously, but now find most of them dull and sad. Here is a very good annotated ranking of the winners by popularity from the Allen County Public Library.

The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum is back! The museum opened Monday after extensive renovations. If you’re curious to see it, we’ve got passes that let you in at a discount rate. Call to reserve yours. However, if your name is Isabella, you get in free any time.

We are accepting registrations for the February 4 performance of “Scritch Scratch: A Perfect Match” by Symphony Tales of the New Bedford Symphony Orchestra. Due to space limitations, we are keeping spaces open for Rochester residents; non-residents will go onto a waiting list and will be called as space is available. The author of Scritch Scratch will be signing books, which can be pre-ordered and purchased for $10. Call or stop by to register.

Here is an interesting post about the alternate titles for famous books. Some authors call these “working titles”, but this is a fun list. I especially like the alternate title for Jaws.

We are closed today, but that doesn’t mean the Your Intrepid Blogger can miss a Monday post!

First off, the Golden Globe awards were held last night. We don’t usually watch award shows, but here is a site from a Canadian library that lists titles that inspired Golden Globe nominees and winners: How Many Have You Read?.

To commemorate today, here is a video of Dr. King’s “I Have a Dream” speech. It is quite inspiring to watch. It’s interesting to note that Dr. King was inspired by Gandhi, who was inspired by Thoreau’s “Duty of Civil Disobedience”.

The Nonfiction book group meets this Thursday, 1/19, at 6:30 to discuss The Other Wes Moore. Also, don’t forget the yarn and pattern swap this Friday afternoon from 2-4. That plus the three story times makes us one busy little library!

Today is the first of three Fridays-the-Thirteenth in 2012. The other two will be in April and August. Here’s some information from “How Stuff Works” about “Friday the Thirteenth”: Click Here. It’s a good day to read a gothic novel, such as The Castle of Otranto, long considered the first official Gothic (and a very weird story, too). Also a good day to read The Woman in Black, by Susan Hill. Here’s the link to the Google books edition, and a movie starring Daniel Radcliffe is due to come out soon. The preview is very spooky. Watch it Here, if you dare!

Hands up, everyone who saw the first episode of Season 2 of Downton Abbey! Two hours never flew by so fast. If you are a real fan, you’ll appreciate this website: Official US Website for Downton Abbey. You can vote for your favorite characters after each episode. I’m sorry, but the scale is not low enough for Mrs. Bates, or high enough for Anna.

We have been asked about knitting classes. We are not expert enough to begin teaching people, but Universal Class has knitting lessons, along with 499 other topics. Check it out Here.

We still have “Dinner for Two” books for sale for $29.95 to benefit the Friends, who get $10 on each sale.

So far, so good on my resolution to post at least twice a week! Here’s what’s new and what’s coming up in Tri-town Library Land.

Best Buy staff will be at the Mattapoisett Library this Saturday, Jan. 7, from 11:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m. to demo and answer questions about ereaders, tablets, and smart phones. Bring your new Christmas presents to the library to learn some hints or get your questions answered. Saturday, Jan. 28, they’ll be back for more demonstrations. Also remember that you can make an appointment for one-to-one help with your devices at Plumb Library. Or any other library, for that matter. It helps to make an appointment. Staff is not always available for drop-in help.

On Friday, Jan. 20, we will be holding a yarn and pattern swap for all knitters, and crocheters. Quilters are also welcome to bring material and patterns that they’d like to share. The swap will be held from 2:00 – 4:00 p.m., and refreshments will be served. We’ve received requests for a knitting group, so we’ll be asking for recommendations as to days and times that this would work for most people.

Thanks to The Wanderer for their article on our Cafe Parlez book group. If you haven’t seen it yet, click here. January’s nonfiction title is The Other Wes Moore, by Wes Moore. and we will meet on Thursday, Jan. 19 at 6:30. Cafe Parlez is reading Ann Patchett’s Bel Canto.

We are starting to require that you have a library card in hand when you arrive to check out material. This will bring us in line with other SAILS libraries, and will make sure that you know where your library card is, so that you can access the online databases, Overdrive, Universal Class, and the Encyclopedia Britannica, all of which require a library card number. Replacement cards are free for the month of January.

That’s it for now. Don’t forget, season 2 of Downton Abbey starts this Sunday on WGHB Channel 2. We have the complete season 1 on DVD, and will be getting season 2 as soon as it’s released. Have a great weekend!

First off, I pledge to post on this blog on Mondays and Fridays at least and without fail (mostly).
Secondly, I saw this message on Neil Gaiman’s blog and can’t think of a better wish for 2012. He wants you to make mistakes. Imagine! Read it here.
The library is closed today, but we’ll resume our regular schedule tomorrow at 10:00 with “ABCs, Music and Me” starting at 10:30 for the tiny tots.

From Early Word, a blog for librarians, here’s a list of new titles coming out this week. 

New Titles

We have purchased some of these titles for the library. Others you can get from placing a hold.

Also, SAILS has noted the increase in requests for ebooks from our Overdrive account. They have purchased extra copies to help with the demand, but you should still expect to be placed on a waiting list for popular titles. If you have problems with downloading, or want to learn how, make an appointment with the library director.