Goshen Public Library & Historical Society | 203 Main St Goshen, NY 10924 | Phone: 845.294.6606 | Fax: 845.294.7158 | RCLS Member"Craft--an occupation, trade, or pursuit requiring manual dexterity or the application of artistic skill." This is a very formal definition of an activity which can bring hours of enjoyment to you and your children during the long winter months ahead. The current knitting craze is a perfect example of the continued popularity of crafts and other art and needlework activities.
Crafts are an integral part of the library's programs for children. We try to choose activities which involve demonstrating a new skill for the children to master, whether it be as complicated as our recent Greek Folk Art program or as simple as teaching a preschooler to handle a glue stick properly. These are skills which will stay with a child throughout his life and which will help broaden the scope of his capabilities and interests.
As a parent you can incorporate craft activities into your daily child care routine. A simple shoe box filled with crayons, glue, safety scissors and construction paper can occupy a child's hands and imagination during a long snowy afternoon. For ideas and instructions for simple craft activities, the library is a wonderful resource. Our craft books are located in the nonfiction areas and have a 745.5 Dewey Decimal number. Browse through both the children's and adult's sections; you'll be sure to find something to spark your creative fires. It’s not too late to add some homemade items to your holiday gift lists, too. We have many books that offer ideas for Christmas, Hanukkah and Kwanzaa; remember, a gift from your child’s hands is often more precious and appreciated than something bought in a store. Here are some of my favorite recently published children's craft and art books:
These are just a few of the wide assortment of titles available at the library to keep you and your children busy and productive as we welcome in this winter season.
Crafts are an integral part of the library's programs for children. We try to choose activities which involve demonstrating a new skill for the children to master, whether it be as complicated as our recent Greek Folk Art program or as simple as teaching a preschooler to handle a glue stick properly. These are skills which will stay with a child throughout his life and which will help broaden the scope of his capabilities and interests.
As a parent you can incorporate craft activities into your daily child care routine. A simple shoe box filled with crayons, glue, safety scissors and construction paper can occupy a child's hands and imagination during a long snowy afternoon. For ideas and instructions for simple craft activities, the library is a wonderful resource. Our craft books are located in the nonfiction areas and have a 745.5 Dewey Decimal number. Browse through both the children's and adult's sections; you'll be sure to find something to spark your creative fires. It’s not too late to add some homemade items to your holiday gift lists, too. We have many books that offer ideas for Christmas, Hanukkah and Kwanzaa; remember, a gift from your child’s hands is often more precious and appreciated than something bought in a store. Here are some of my favorite recently published children's craft and art books:
- Cartooning by Art Roche
- Cool Painted Stuff by Lisa Wagner
- Cool Rubber Stamp Art by Pam Price
- Kit’s Friendship Fun by Jennifer Hirsch
- The Kids’ Guide to Digital Photography by Jenni Bidner
- Kids Knit by Sarah Bradberry
These are just a few of the wide assortment of titles available at the library to keep you and your children busy and productive as we welcome in this winter season.
At this year's NYLA conference there was a session held by the School Media Specialists section which centered on Internet Safety. In this session, we happened upon a topic that has been growing in the media for the past few years, though faster in some circles than others: Blogs.
"What's a blog?" you may be asking. That's about what I thought the first time I heard of them. At the time I knew some people who had them--these all fell under the realm of the on-line diary sort of blog, which is short for web log. So I hopped over to visit one or two, didn't see the point, and off I went. A couple of months later the notion struck me to just try it out, and the addiction began.
Blogs, like many other mediums, have taken a strong foothold in places. Some people swear by them; others don't trust them. E-mail was probably once in such a position. I was slow on the uptake with that format as well, but grew to love it; now I mostly bypass it altogether with IM, or Instant Messaging. In the workplace, IM is often viewed as goofing off, and yet as a techie, I've used to gain invaluable help quite often throughout my budding career. According to the latest studies, IM is outpacing and replacing e-mail for many.
Does this apply to blogs? Yes and no. Again, it will depend on who you are, what you're looking for, and how you're finding it. Given the emergence of numerous Blog search engines, I think it's clear that they're becoming more and more mainstream in all areas: Personal, News, Health, and Photo.
Next week we will continue our discussion of this emerging technology and it’s relevance to the public library.
"What's a blog?" you may be asking. That's about what I thought the first time I heard of them. At the time I knew some people who had them--these all fell under the realm of the on-line diary sort of blog, which is short for web log. So I hopped over to visit one or two, didn't see the point, and off I went. A couple of months later the notion struck me to just try it out, and the addiction began.
Blogs, like many other mediums, have taken a strong foothold in places. Some people swear by them; others don't trust them. E-mail was probably once in such a position. I was slow on the uptake with that format as well, but grew to love it; now I mostly bypass it altogether with IM, or Instant Messaging. In the workplace, IM is often viewed as goofing off, and yet as a techie, I've used to gain invaluable help quite often throughout my budding career. According to the latest studies, IM is outpacing and replacing e-mail for many.
Does this apply to blogs? Yes and no. Again, it will depend on who you are, what you're looking for, and how you're finding it. Given the emergence of numerous Blog search engines, I think it's clear that they're becoming more and more mainstream in all areas: Personal, News, Health, and Photo.
Next week we will continue our discussion of this emerging technology and it’s relevance to the public library.
Happy Birthday, Hans Christian Anderson
Ages 3 and up
Tuesday, November 15
4-5pm
(Register Tuesday, Nov. 8 by phone)
In 1919 Children's Book Week was created to encourage and promote the enjoyment of books and reading for children. Franklin K. Mathiews, chief librarian of the Boy Scouts of America, proposed a national campaign "to ensure that children received proper reading guidance." Not coincidentally, the dates chosen always fall in November just before the start of the traditional holiday shopping season. This is not surprising since the original sponsors of this yearly event were the national publishers and booksellers associations. In 1944 the Children's Book Council was formed to take over the administration of this annual celebration and it has been going strong ever since. This year’s dates are Nov. 13-19.
As publishing for children has increased over the years and the focus of sales has shifted from institutions such as libraries to the mass market of bookstores, it is important for librarians, teachers and parents to promote books and stories to children in a non-commercial way. With this in mind, the library is hosting a program to celebrate the 200th birthday of one of the premier storytellers for children–Hans Christian Anderson. He was Denmark’s most famous author and wrote as many as 350 stories including The Emporer’s New Clothes, Thumbelina and The Ugly Duckling. To honor this immortal writer of best loved children’s stories we will present a program of stories, a film and a birthday treat.(See above) For further information about this program, stop in for a flyer or call 294-6606 x14.
Calling all teens
Stop in on Thursdays or Fridays to welcome out new Teen Librarian, Jennifer Feigelman. Jennifer is just finishing her library degree and is currently on a newly formed American Library Association committee to choose the best graphic novels of the year. She will be conducting all of our teen programs including TAG which will meet on Friday, Nov. 11 from 3:15 -4:30. She would love to meet both old and new members. For more details call 294-6606 X15.
Ages 3 and up
Tuesday, November 15
4-5pm
(Register Tuesday, Nov. 8 by phone)
In 1919 Children's Book Week was created to encourage and promote the enjoyment of books and reading for children. Franklin K. Mathiews, chief librarian of the Boy Scouts of America, proposed a national campaign "to ensure that children received proper reading guidance." Not coincidentally, the dates chosen always fall in November just before the start of the traditional holiday shopping season. This is not surprising since the original sponsors of this yearly event were the national publishers and booksellers associations. In 1944 the Children's Book Council was formed to take over the administration of this annual celebration and it has been going strong ever since. This year’s dates are Nov. 13-19.
As publishing for children has increased over the years and the focus of sales has shifted from institutions such as libraries to the mass market of bookstores, it is important for librarians, teachers and parents to promote books and stories to children in a non-commercial way. With this in mind, the library is hosting a program to celebrate the 200th birthday of one of the premier storytellers for children–Hans Christian Anderson. He was Denmark’s most famous author and wrote as many as 350 stories including The Emporer’s New Clothes, Thumbelina and The Ugly Duckling. To honor this immortal writer of best loved children’s stories we will present a program of stories, a film and a birthday treat.(See above) For further information about this program, stop in for a flyer or call 294-6606 x14.
Calling all teens
Stop in on Thursdays or Fridays to welcome out new Teen Librarian, Jennifer Feigelman. Jennifer is just finishing her library degree and is currently on a newly formed American Library Association committee to choose the best graphic novels of the year. She will be conducting all of our teen programs including TAG which will meet on Friday, Nov. 11 from 3:15 -4:30. She would love to meet both old and new members. For more details call 294-6606 X15.
In our last installment of Across the Reference Desk, we spoke a little about Classical.com, a fantastic resource that enables you, the Goshen cardholder, to access an enormous library of classical recordings right through your computer from the comfort of home. Another nice resource available through Goshen's catalogue of databases, which, like Classical.com, is geared more toward pleasure than edification, is a product called Novelist. By accessing our website at www.goshenpubliclibrary.org, and rolling your mouse over the Reference tab, then clicking the General Reference tab, the user should see a row of clickable tabs. Novelist can be found beneath the "Literature" tab, among several other databases useful for literature research.
Novelist is essentially an electronic reader's advisor, assisting the reader in finding new books by favorite authors. The database can also guide the reader to so-called readalikes--books or authors with profiles similar to those a reader already enjoys. A user can also locate new books by entering descriptive keywords of a book's plot elements. For those interested in reading a particular series in the order intended by the author, there is a series search which organizes titles by publication date. Helpful book discussion guides for a variety of reading levels and ages are also made available. For the reader (or teacher) interested in in-depth annotated bibliographies, the editors have done a great job of pulling together an array of subject-specific bibliographies for adults, young adults, and children.
As with all of the databases, justice to the power of the tool simply cannot be done in so short an article. To really get a sense of the database, log-in and give it a try. For assistance, feel free to call us at the reference desk at 294-6606.
Novelist is essentially an electronic reader's advisor, assisting the reader in finding new books by favorite authors. The database can also guide the reader to so-called readalikes--books or authors with profiles similar to those a reader already enjoys. A user can also locate new books by entering descriptive keywords of a book's plot elements. For those interested in reading a particular series in the order intended by the author, there is a series search which organizes titles by publication date. Helpful book discussion guides for a variety of reading levels and ages are also made available. For the reader (or teacher) interested in in-depth annotated bibliographies, the editors have done a great job of pulling together an array of subject-specific bibliographies for adults, young adults, and children.
As with all of the databases, justice to the power of the tool simply cannot be done in so short an article. To really get a sense of the database, log-in and give it a try. For assistance, feel free to call us at the reference desk at 294-6606.
Thus far in our string of installments highlighting the databases offered through the Goshen Library, we have paid particular attention to products generally useful for their research value. We have covered some full-text tools, including Britannica Online; Ebsco and Infotrac (both multi-disciplinary databases); and LearningExpress Library (a test preparation resource). And though some few may find the informational databases also entertaining, none of the products so far discussed could properly be said to have been assembled primarily for the purpose of entertainment. Today I would like to mention one that manages to be both edifying and entertaining: Classical.com.
By accessing our website at www.goshenpubliclibrary.org, and rolling your mouse over the Reference tab, then clicking the General Reference button, the user will be presented with a list of databases. Under the "General" tab, about halfway down the screen, a link for Classical.com can be found. Consisting of an enormous library of classical recordings, Classical.com allows one to sort through its vast catalog in some very interesting ways. Aside from the obvious (composer and title), Classical.com permits the user to access recordings by conductor; ensemble; instrument; genre; period; and label. Biographies of many composers, lengthy descriptions of major periods and associated composers, and a glossary of musical terminology are also made available.
Best of all, there is no fee for listening. As the holder of an up-to-date Goshen library card, you can listen away without paying a cent. If you'd like to download recordings to your system, however, Classical.com assesses a per-track fee. (Further information is available on their site.)
If you need help utilizing the database or have any other questions, feel free to call us here at the library (294-6606). Happy listening!
By accessing our website at www.goshenpubliclibrary.org, and rolling your mouse over the Reference tab, then clicking the General Reference button, the user will be presented with a list of databases. Under the "General" tab, about halfway down the screen, a link for Classical.com can be found. Consisting of an enormous library of classical recordings, Classical.com allows one to sort through its vast catalog in some very interesting ways. Aside from the obvious (composer and title), Classical.com permits the user to access recordings by conductor; ensemble; instrument; genre; period; and label. Biographies of many composers, lengthy descriptions of major periods and associated composers, and a glossary of musical terminology are also made available.
Best of all, there is no fee for listening. As the holder of an up-to-date Goshen library card, you can listen away without paying a cent. If you'd like to download recordings to your system, however, Classical.com assesses a per-track fee. (Further information is available on their site.)
If you need help utilizing the database or have any other questions, feel free to call us here at the library (294-6606). Happy listening!
As a new school year starts, so does a new programming year at the library. Flyers are now available with our Fall schedule and will also be sent home through the schools. Preschool registration will again be based on a lottery and will run from Tuesday, Sept. 27 through Thursday Sept. 29 from 10 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.. Self-service registration will be available in the evening. Registration for school-age programs will be by phone at our registration number, 294-8405. Pick up a flyer for further details or watch for your library newsletter in the mail.
We also have a few programs scheduled for September which do not appear in the Fall flyer. On Sunday Sept. 11 from 1:30-2:30 we will hold a Grandparent's Tea in honor of Grandparents Day. On Friday, September 16 Musical Munchkins will present free samples of their popular children's programs. There will be separate sessions for various age groups throughout the day. On Monday September 19 from 10:30-11:15 children ages 3 1/2 - 5 can come and Party Like a Pirate in honor of International Talk Like a Pirate Day. Call to register for these fun events.
New residents in the Goshen School District are encouraged to enroll their children in our programs also. Since a valid library card must be presented upon registration, you should come in before Sept. 27 to sign up for a card. Bring two forms of ID with your Goshen address; one should be a picture ID. Children who are in Kindergarten and can print their full name are eligible to receive a card.
There is often a question about the time schedule for our afterschool programs so we have backed the time up to 4:00 from 3:45. We hope this will encourage more children to attend. So in September, when you think of school, think of library, too. We have a lot to offer to you and your children.
We also have a few programs scheduled for September which do not appear in the Fall flyer. On Sunday Sept. 11 from 1:30-2:30 we will hold a Grandparent's Tea in honor of Grandparents Day. On Friday, September 16 Musical Munchkins will present free samples of their popular children's programs. There will be separate sessions for various age groups throughout the day. On Monday September 19 from 10:30-11:15 children ages 3 1/2 - 5 can come and Party Like a Pirate in honor of International Talk Like a Pirate Day. Call to register for these fun events.
New residents in the Goshen School District are encouraged to enroll their children in our programs also. Since a valid library card must be presented upon registration, you should come in before Sept. 27 to sign up for a card. Bring two forms of ID with your Goshen address; one should be a picture ID. Children who are in Kindergarten and can print their full name are eligible to receive a card.
There is often a question about the time schedule for our afterschool programs so we have backed the time up to 4:00 from 3:45. We hope this will encourage more children to attend. So in September, when you think of school, think of library, too. We have a lot to offer to you and your children.
