Nothing Right

I was going to recommend this book of short stories even before I got to 'Or else', which is a story about a compulsive liar who takes a new girlfriend to his family's house in Telluride. This is a good story, but I'm mainly recommending it because it's cool to see Telluride from the writer's descriptions. The characters go to bars and restaurants and you can mostly guess where they are, and the description of the drive from Arizona is pretty accurate. So that's how the outside world sees us!

-Amy

This American Life ~ Human Resources

Human Resources The true story of little-known rooms in the New York City Board of Education building. Teachers are told to report there instead of their classrooms. No reason is usually given. When they arrive, they find they've been put on some kind of probationary status, and they must report every day until the matter is cleared up. They call it the Rubber Room. Average length of stay? Months, sometimes years. Plus other stories of the uneasy interaction between humans and their institutions.

The Rubber Room story was produced by Joe Richman and the good people at Radio Diaries.

Note: we're doing the Rubber Room story with some filmmakers who are making a feature-length documentary about the Rubber Room. Learn more here.

Act One. Rubber Room. We hear from New York City school teachers about a secret room in the New York City Board of Education building. Teachers are told to report there, and when they arrive, they find out they're under investigation for something. They have to wait in this room all day, every day, until the matter is cleared up. They call this bureaucratic purgatory "the rubber room." Some teachers have been stuck in it for years. This story was produced by Joe Richman, Samara Freemark, and Anayansi Diaz Cortes of Radio Diaries. We first heard about the rubber room from a documentary by Jeremy Garrett. There's a trailer at rubberroommovie.com. Jeremy's looking for funding to finish the film, and a distributor.

Act Two. The Plan. American cities have gone through a massive wave of gentrification in the last few decades. To some people, it's not a natural ebb and flow of the real estate market, but a plot, by rich, mainly white people, to take over the neighborhoods of poor, mainly black people. This American Life producer Jon Jeter reports on how, in neighborhoods all over the country, the plot has a name, "The Plan," and most people you talk to know about it.

Act Three. Almost Human Resources
Reporter Charles Siebert talks with Ira about retirement homes for Chimpanzees. Yes, retirement homes for Chimpanzees. There are thousands of aging chimps in the US: retired chimp actors, ex-research subjects, abandoned pets. They can't be put back in the wild since they don't know how to survive there. Charles Siebert visited many of the facilities where they're housed, often in rooms, with TV's and 3 meals a day. He's writing a book about his experiences called Humanzee.

Check our catalog for more on This American Life.

~ Faith

My Library Year ~ Ten I liked

Looking for a good read? Here are 10 books Barry Osborne connected with during his year off from buying books. Click on a title to request through WPL.

1. "Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao," by Junot Díaz

2. "Freethinkers, a History of American Secularism," by Susan Jacoby

3. "The Gay Talese Reader: Portraits & Encounters," by Gay Talese

4. "How to Rig an Election: Confessions of a Republican Operative," by Allen Raymond with Ian Spiegelman

5. "It's a Good Life, if You Don't Weaken," by Seth

6. "Life You Save May Be Your Own: an American Pilgrimage," by Paul Elie

7. "Ministry of Fear," by Graham Greene

8. "Suspicions of Mr. Whicher: A Shocking Murder and the Undoing of a Great Victorian Detective," by Kate Summerscale

9. "Verne Sankey: America's First Public Enemy," by Timothy Bjorkman

10. "Zazie in the Metro," by Raymond Queneau

~Faith

My library year - The Denver Post

A warm evening last winter found me at the 16th Street Barnes & Noble covetously eyeballing a paperback copy of Mark Twain's "Letters from the Earth." I was looking for a nightcap of sorts after witnessing Hal Holbrook's cantankerous take on "Mark Twain Tonight" at the Temple Buell Theater. At $13.95, the book appealed to me like many books do and I was primed to take it home as a memento of Holbrook's performance. Instead I left empty handed, somewhat content to check out a copy of the same book through the public library. It was a quiet turning point for me. Just a few weeks into my self-imposed vow to not buy books for an entire year, I was already gaining new habits, already reaping rewards. There are several reasons I stopped buying books in 2008. With a young child at home, a car payment and student loans, saving money was becoming more important to me than owning "Zazie in the Metro" or "Tamerlane: Sword of Islam." As a librarian I also saw a limit on book buying as an opportunity to enrich my professional life by experiencing the library more fully as a patron. Finally, part of me just wanted to see if I could do it. I came close. By the end of the 12 months I had bought just four books completely out of pocket — I did purchase others with gift certificates — not bad for someone who normally buys about 50 a year. Better, I had checked out 82 library books over the course of a year. Of those books I determined that I would have most likely purchased 45. By taking each book's list price and what it sold for on Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble online, I calculated an average cost for each title. From that I determined those 45 books would have cost me an average of $16.48 each, or $741.80 over the 12 months. Possibly more impressive is what the Denver Public Library claims as my monthly return on investment for using the library. The "Library Value Calculator" on the library's web page (denver library.org/about) allows users to calculate their monthly return on investment as taxpayers and overall value they receive from the library. I borrowed roughly seven books a month in 2008, about six from the library system itself and one the staff obtained for me through regional interlibrary loans. The seven books amounted to a monthly return on investment of $27.66 for every one of my tax dollars that went toward the library's budget, a return that would make even Bernie Madoff envious.. The value calculator also reports that the actual dollar value I received each month for my seven books was $115 (using the library's average of $16.83 per book). When multiplied to represent an entire year, my seven books a month added up to an annual value of $1,380. What I learned about myself as a consumer and reader, however, was more valuable. Though a lifelong library user, I had fallen into a pattern of using it to supplement my purchased reading materials. In doing so I inadvertently tied my reading habits to my spending habits. As a fan of obscure titles and subjects, I rarely doled out cash for best-selling or award-winning titles, almost to the point of avoiding them entirely. This cut me off from some highly enjoyable and rewarding reading experiences such as Junot Diaz's Pulitzer Prize-winning "The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao." As my mind-set started to shift from one of shopping to one of borrowing, I noticed that the types of books and voices I encountered expanded. This was not achieved without some growing pains, however. One of my greatest obstacles in relying upon the library was inconvenience. I rarely have much time to visit the library when it is open. To succeed, I learned to rely upon the library's web page for virtual browsing, and most importantly for placing reserves. After several months I noticed myself turning to the library's Internet site to search for titles before going to the likes of amazon .com. This was a major shift. Another shift involved the way I got my hands on new and popular titles, which, as a borrower, required more patience than I was used to. Early in the year I waited 37 days for a reserve copy of Allen Raymond's "How to Rig an Election: Confessions of a Republican Operative," after seeing Raymond interviewed on "The Daily Show with John Stewart." Despite my predilection for instant media gratification, an amazing thing happened when I read the book — I discovered it remained topical and interesting despite my more than month-long wait. Still, I picked up a few secrets along the way to get ahead of the curve and shorten my wait period. For instance, browsing Amazon's featured books list for unreleased titles provided a head start. By placing a hold on a hotly anticipated book before its release date I decreased the wait time for my library copy. Similarly, items from The New York Times Sunday Book Review often appear online on Saturday afternoon, giving me a nearly 24 hour head start to place a hold over my fellow library users. I found myself dozens deep on the wait list when I reserved Thomas Friedman's eagerly awaited "Hot, Flat and Crowded: Why We Need a Green Revolution — and How It Can Renew America," prior to its release. And yet, because I reserved early, I helped the library anticipate demand for the title and I was able to check out my copy less than a week after its release. Once my e-mail inbox started to fill with a steady stream of reserve notices I made more time on my lunch breaks to pick up books. Although I spent little physical time at the library, daily use of its website and regular visits to pick up reserved titles became natural parts of my routine. Oddly enough, after I got into the swing of things with the library I discovered that just as there are binge shoppers, there are also binge borrowers. And I was one of them. Soon I was pointing and clicking and reserving more books than I could have ever hoped to buy or, as it turned out, read. Perhaps compulsive behavior cannot be eradicated, merely altered. Whatever the outcome of this development, my library year ended more than a month ago and I continue to faithfully reserve and check out books, though I have yet to buy one in the new year.

Posted on 02/22/2009 by Barry Osborne, Denver Post research librarian. He can be reached at 303-954-1443 or bosborne@denverpost.com.

~ Faith

The Poet's Guide to Life: the wisdom of Rilke

I have never understood how a genuine, elementary, thoroughly true love can remain unrequited; since such a love is nothing but the urgent and blessed appeal for another person to be beautiful, abundant, great, intense, unforgettable, nothing but the surging commitment for him to amount to something.

And tell me, who would be in a position to refuse this appeal when it is directed at him. When it elects him from among millions where he might have lived obscured by his fate or unattainable in the midst of fame. No one can seize, take and contain within himself such love. It is so absolutely intended, to be passed, onward beyond the individual and needs the beloved only for the ultimate charge that will propel its future orbiting among the stars.

Request Now.

~Faith

Happens Every Day

A catchy-title to a gripping memoir; read the NPR review here:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=101968700

Check it out!

--Sarah

Absorbing Grief

I picked up this book to read a few sentences and could not put it down. Robin Romm has written a memoir of the last three weeks of her mother's life, of being with her mother her final days in her battle with cancer. The writing is clean and descriptive, bringing us into her most personal moments during this wrenching time. She makes no apologies for her anger, it is what was there for her. This is not a book about dealing with death, healing or accepting it. This is about her relationship to her mother and what dying and death stole from them. It is ultimately about owning your life, acknowledging that events will change you forever, and knowing you may never heal. It is not tender, but it is real and it is beautiful.

put on yer walkin shoes...

"Just what kind of a writer is Rebecca Solnit? It’s not an easy question to answer, given the effortless way she crosses the borders of disciplines and genres. Her irrepressible curiosity has led her to investigate and reflect on a diverse range of subjects: landscapes both rural and urban, politics, the environment, indigenous people, technology, gender, art, and photography." -- Peter Terzian, Columbia Journalism Review, July/August 2007.

Bipedalism, female connoisseurs of William Wordsworth's legs, the 1965 march from Selma to Montgomery -- these are some of the images that inform the essays in this fabulous collection. Wanderlust is far too dense to read at once: check it out, read a chapter or two, and save the rest for later. Android.

I can't sleep because of this book!

The Piano Teacher by Janice Y. K. Lee is just too wonderful. It makes me neglect my graduate school work, stay up until 2AM and generally ignore my family. Check out this YouTube video for a great review.

Click here to place a hold in our catalog.

-Sarah

PAYBACK

From novelist Margaret Atwood comes this look at DEBT, as an idea in human society. So don't read this looking for tips on finance, but rather the metaphor of "owing"
Interesting. Check it out.
--Sarah

Sounds nice

This title and cover photo are a little edgier than the actual content of this book. However, there is a lot to be said about this fascinating, very well written book. The author literally leads us on a journey through a day as experienced by our body. The most surprising discovery for me was how intensely rhythmic we are as creatures. I think we all have an inkling of this phenomenon, and the research is quite stunning. The writing is enlightening as well as entertaining, it exposes us to the miracles of our bodies that modern science has shed light on. I recommend this as an entertaining read to reacquaint yourself with that miracle that is you. Check it out. M

WPL Event ~ Learn To Crochet for Kids

Learn To Crochet for Kids

Wilkinson Public Library
March 10, 2009 @ 3:30 pm

Teach Your Child How to Crochet
Children are fascinated by crocheting. Seeing a single string being transformed into something with form and beauty is almost magic. If your child shows an interest in this relatively easy and useful craft, why not teach them!

Children will profit by learning to crochet as it develops fine motor skills and hand-eye coordination. If your child can use scissors well they probably can handle a crochet hook.

Resources
* Excellent! “How-To CrochetEwith illustrations and free patterns from Lion Brands

* Another great “how-to"

* Fun site for teaching kids, with great graphics

* Crocheting for Charity: Artists helping sick and needy children

~Faith

Five More Five-Star Libraries Share Best Practices

Five More Five-Star Libraries Share Best Practices

What do Arlington Heights, IL; Schaumburg, IL; Telluride, Co; Perry, OH; and Fleming, CO, all have in common? They are all home to five-star libraries according to the new LJ Index of Public Library Service. Here, those star libraries join their peers in sharing Models You Can Use in your libraries, too. - Library Journal, 2/25/2009

~ Faith

Wilkinson Public Library ~ A Five Star Library

Starred Libraries by State
Ray Lyons & Keith Curry Lance
Library Journal ~ 2/15/2009

San Miguel County Public Library District #1, Telluride, CO: Never Complacent

When you work in an isolated mountain town, it’s easy to get complacent and make excuses for mediocrity. In Telluride, we never let that happen. We only hire people with passion for libraries and live by the mantra “hire for attitude, train for skill.” We bring in bright young people who’ve come here to ski and light their intellectual fire. Out of 22 FTE’s, we have four MLS’s and three more of our staff are in library school with support from PLA Grow Your Own scholarships.

One of those students has been named an ALA Emerging Leader. Are we worried we’ll lose our budding leaders? In Telluride, where people come and go with the seasons, there’s a strong chance we will. But we’ll have contributed to the profession and in the meantime, the energy and intellect make the library buzz. In the words of a regular patron, “The library has never been more alive.” —Barbara Brattin, Library Director

~ Faith

Herbal teas for health and healing

Rose-hip tea for coughs and colds, lemon balm tea for headaches and anxiety.
Learn which tea is best for sleep, digestion and more.
Check it out today!
--Sarah

Local Public Access Channels Struggling for Fair Access

The following is an excerpt from Democracy Now.

AT&T Accused of Discriminating Against Local Public Access Channels, Deadline for Public Comment Expires Tonight

Community media groups are accusing the telecom giant AT&T of discriminating against local public access channels across the nation, and the deadline for public comment is midnight tonight. The dispute centers around how AT&T delivers public television stations to customers. Instead of putting the stations on individual channels, AT&T has bundled community stations onto a generic channel that can only be navigated through a complex and lengthy process. Public television advocates say AT&T is imposing unfair restrictions that will severely restrict audiences.

Community media groups are accusing the telecom giant AT&T of discriminating against local public access channels across the nation, and the deadline for public comment is midnight tonight. The dispute centers around how AT&T delivers public television stations to customers. Instead of putting the stations on individual channels, AT&T has bundled community stations onto a generic channel that can only be navigated through a complex and lengthy process. Public television advocates say AT&T is imposing unfair restrictions that will severely restrict audiences.

The groups have filed a regulatory challenge against AT&T with the Federal Communications Commission. And a House Appropriations subcommittee has also asked the FCC to look into the allegations. A public comment period ends at midnight eastern time tonight.

I’m joined now by three guests who have been active in seeking fair access for community media.

Joining me from Chicago is Barbara Popovic. She’s Executive Director of Chicago Access Corporation–CAN TV.

Joining me on the telephone from Palo Alto, California is Annie Folger. She’s Executive Director of Midpeninsula Community Media Center, serving the Bay Area. And on the line from Sacramento is Sue Buske. She’s president of the Buske Group, a Sacramento-based telecommunications consulting firm. Sue is also the former head of the National Federation of Local Cable Programmers, now known as the Alliance for Community Media.

We asked representatives of AT&T to appear on the broadcast but they did not respond to our request.

Barbara Popovic, Executive Director of Chicago Access Corporation–CAN TV–in Chicago.

Annie Folger, Executive Director of Midpeninsula Community Media Center in Palo Alto, California.

Sue Buske, President of the Buske Group, a Sacramento-based telecommunications consulting firm. Former head of the National Federation of Local Cable Programmers, now known as the Alliance for Community Media.

~ Faith

This American Life

Oh, and we know what you're thinking: radio is so 80 years ago, and TV is so 50 years ago. Well, what about social networking? That's only 2 or 3 years ago, and we're all over it. Find us on MySpace and Facebook and YouTube, too. We've also got a bunch of instant messaging icons, wallpapers, and blog badges for your downloading fun over on our Showtime site. Go nuts.
Request from WPL now.
~Faith

Economic History for Everyone

Cocktail Parties are a thing of the past, but if you've been hanging out at Tommy's or the B. Dog, or just about anywhere where the brakes are off, then I am sure you've heard this months ago: We are headed toward another Great Depression. For damn sure I don't know. I am not an economist, and I am not sure if economists are Scientists, Witch-Doctors or just plain fakes, but I've talked to enough of them over the years to know that at least some of them are smarter than you or me. Here is a book that is neither timely, new, nor controversial -- hey, let Tom Friedman try to prove the earth is flat -- Here is John Kenneth Galbraith going strong (during the same year that brought us TV Dinners and Lord of the Flies) on the causes of the Great Depression -- namely, his 1954 classic The Great Crash -- 1929. This was written when the events he wrote about were no more distant (for us) than the fundraiser Live Aid (1985) -- well okay, I guess that was a long time ago -- lottsa water under the bridge. But while 1984 for most of us is a nearly forgotten novel, and more importantly the beginning of the Stock Market's Long Boom, for Galbraith's audience in 1954, the date 1929 was something else entirely -- Nightmare on Elm Street meets Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman -- and trust me, no one but no one was looking forward to the reruns. Every literature has its classics, and Economics for the Layperson is no exception. If you want to skip Adam Smith, then start with J.K. Galbraith -- you won't regret it. As always -- what you read matters -- Android

LibraryThing ~ Library e-Resource

LibraryThing

Meet the world's largest book club. Find the books that fit your tastes. For more e-Resources, check out Wilkinson Public Library's website.

~ Faith

Heritage Quest Genealogy ~ Library e-Resource

This online database is an essential collection of census & public records material for both genealogical and historical researchers, with coverage dating back to the late 1700s.

For more e-Resources, check out Wilkinson Public Library's website.

~ Faith

Rilke ~ The Poet's Guide to Life

"It has been my experience over and over again that there is hardly anything more difficult than to love someone. It is work, day labor, truly a daily chore: god knows, there is no other word for it. Young people are not being prepared for the great difficulty of love. Our conventions have tried to turn this complicated and extreme relation into something easy and effortless and created the illusion that anyone is capable of love. But this is not the case. To love is difficult, and it is more difficult than other tasks because in other conflicts nature herself urges us to pull ourselves together and gather ourselves with all our strength. But once love becomes more intense we are increasingly tempted to surrender ourselves entirely. But really, can this amount to anything beautiful: to give oneself to the other not as a whole and coherent self but by chance, piece by piece, just as it happens to come about? Can such a giving away of one's self, which so closely resembles a throwing away and tearing apart, amount to anything good, can it be happiness, joy, progress? No, it cannot ... When you give someone flowers, you arrange them beforehand, don't you? But young people in love throw themselves at one another with the impatience and haste of their passion, and they do not even notice what lack of mutual consideration characterizes this disorderly surrender. They notice it only with amazement and displeasure when they perceive the tension that arises between them owing to all of this disorder. And once discord exists between them, the situation grows more confusing with each passing day; neither of them is able to hold on to anything that is not shattered but pure and unspoiled. And amid all of the hopelessness of things breaking up, they try to maintain the illusion of their happiness (for all of this was supposed to be in the name of happiness). They hardly manage to recall what they had meant by happiness. Each of them grows increasingly unjust toward the other in his or her uncertainty. While they mean to please each other, they touch each other only impatiently and in a dominating manner. And in the effort to escape from the intolerable and unbearable condition of their confusion, they commit the greatest mistake that can be made within a relationship: they become impatient. They push themselves to reach closure by arriving at a binding decision (as they believe); they try to define once and for all their relationship whose unexpected changes made them scared so that from now on it can remain the same "forever" (as they say). This is only the final error in this long chain of interlocking mistakes. Even what is dead cannot be held on to conclusively (for it disintegrates and changes in its nature); how much less may something living and alive be treated definitively once and for all. Life means transformation, and human relations that are an extract of life are the most changeable things of all; they rise and fall from minute to minute, and for people in love there are no two moments that resemble one another within their relationship's intimacy. Nothing habitual and nothing that had already occurred before ever takes place between such individuals but only countless new, unexpected, unheard-of things. There exist relationships that must amount to a very great and almost unbearable happiness, but they can take place only between people blessed with abundance and between individuals each one of whom is rich, focused, and mindful; they can be united only by two expansive, deep, and individual worlds. Young people - this is obvious - cannot attain such a relationship. Yet if they understand their life correctly they can gradually grow into such happiness and prepare themselves for it. When they are in love they must not forget that they are beginners, bunglers of life, apprentices in love - they must learn love, and that requires (as for all learning) quiet, patience, and concentration!"

~ Faith

Wilkinson Public Library ~ Calendar of Events

Download a calendar of WPL's March events.

~Faith

The Last Waltz ~ Directed by Martin Scorsese

Check out the lineup.

The Last Waltz is hailed as one of the greatest concert films ever made. The Last Waltz was a concert by the Canadian-American rock group,The Band, held on Thanksgiving Day, November 25, 1976, at Winterland Ballroom in San Francisco.The Last Waltz was advertised as the end of The Band's illustrious touring career,and the concert saw The Band joined by more than a dozen special guests, including Paul Butterfield,Eric Clapton, Neil Diamond, Bob Dylan, Ronnie Hawkins, Dr. John, Joni Mitchell, Van Morrison, Ringo Starr,Muddy Waters, Ronnie Wood and Neil Young. ~ Wikipedia

Request now.

~ Faith

Man on wire

Part heist, part magic. This film, winner of the 2009 Oscar for best documentary feature is well worth your time. Watch as Philippe Petit and his side-kicks plan his daring dream to walk between the Twin Towers in New York City, 1974.
Check it out now!
--Sarah

Wilkinson Public Library ~ E-Resources

A-Z ~ List Of Databases

Academic Search Premier

Auto Repair Reference Center

Business Source Premier

Colorado Historical Newspapers

CQ Congress Collection

CultureGrams

eLibrary

ERIC

Global Road Warrior

Health Source Consumer

HeritageQuest

History Reference Center

Hobbies and Crafts Reference Center

Knowledge Source

Legal Forms

Literary Reference Center

Mango Languages

MasterFile Premier

Novelist

Opposing Viewpoints

Points of View

PressDisplay

Science Reference Center

Student Research Center

Teen Health and Wellness

Testing Education Reference Center

~ Faith

Mango Languages ~ Library e-Resource

Our newest online resource, Mango Languages provides language learning from your own computer! This is easy-to-use program is accessible from BOTH within the library and away. It includes Spanish, ESL, German, Mandarin Chinese, and more. Mango Languages You can either create an account...(which allows you to pick up lessons where you leave off) or get started without an account.

Give it a try! To use the program from a computer outside the library, you will be prompted for a Wilkinson library card number and you link to Mango Languages from our website.

Try this link:
http://libraries.mangolanguages.com/wilkinson/start

~ Faith

1001 Books for Every Mood

This book is perfect for those times when you're craving just the right story, but can't quite articulate what it is you're looking for. The recommendations are broken down into moods, ranging from the standards like, "for a good laugh" and "to love again" to much more specific ones like, "for a shot in the arm" and "to join the circus". Spend 15 minutes with this book and your list of books to read will double.

-Amy