A love letter to public libraries told in photographs

New to our Adult Non-Fiction collection, The Public Library : A Photographic Essay by Robert Dawson, is a loving tribute to the many forms that public libraries take all across the United States.

With a foreword by Bill Moyers and an afterword by Ann Patchett along with reflections by Isaac Asimov, Barbara Kingsolver, Anne Lamott, Philip Levine, Dr. Seuss, Charles Simic, Amy Tan, E.B. White and others, the book shows how strongly the presence of libraries has affected not only themselves but also those that they've known and how important they continue to be in this 'information age' where there is an ever-larger amount of information that needs to be sifted through to find the information needed.

Bill Moyer perhaps expressed it best in his foreword when he said, "when a library is open, no matter its size or shape, democracy is open, too."

Welcome MLA 2014!

     We are excited to announce that the Mississippi Library Association's annual convention is back in Vicksburg this year. MLA's mission is to "to provide professional leadership for the development, promotion, and improvement of library and information services and the profession of librarianship in order to enhance learning and ensure access to information for all." This four day conference includes workshops and vendors selling aids for use in academic, public, and school libraries. Also included are tours of historic Vicksburg. On Thursday, October 16, there will be the annual Mississippi Author Awards Dinner. These awards are given to Mississippi authors in one of three categories: fiction, non-fiction, and juvenile literature.  All of this is being held at the Vicksburg Convention Center--just down the street from our own public library. I know that as a community you will join me in showing our participants and presenters the hospitality that Mississippi is famous for! If you would like to learn more about the conference, please feel free to follow one of the links below.

Mississippi Library Association's Convention Page
http://www.misslib.org/event-856714


Vicksburg Convention Center Homepage
http://www.vccmeet.com/

Setting boundaries on technology for your family

With technology changing practically daily and younger children using that technology on a regular basis, where do parents draw the line or even know what lines need to be drawn?

Janell Burley Hofmann, writer for The Huffington Post and mother of five, ran into that problem when she gave her 13 year old son an iPhone for Christmas.  She covered her concerns that outlined the boundaries and expectations for her son in the form of a contract that she had him sign when he was given his first cell phone.  Her editor at The Huffington Post posted a copy, now known as the iRules, and it went viral.

In this book, Hofmann provides families with tools to help them reach their own balance between personal human interactions and technology.  Using her guidance on what makes up the online culture (everything from cyberbullying to sexting), parents can fashion their own iRules to fit the needs of their own families.

The book also contains a glossary of common internet terms, a listing of current popular social networking sites and a list of translations for popular abbreviations used in online chats.  All in all, it's a great reference for both the tech-savvy and the not-so-tech-savvy.

Insomniacs Be Warned!

Black Moon is a novel by Kenneth Calhoun. This is a contemporary novel about the breakdown that can occur when a society is hit with a plague. In Calhoun's United States, people are suffering from endless bouts of insomnia. First, there is the exhaustion. Next is the forgetfulness and impaired reflexes. Then, comes the irrational behavior, hallucinations--both auditory and visual. Finally, is the full-blown descent into insanity and, in most cases, suicide. Men, women, and children roam the streets dazed, confused, and muttering to themselves. They are filthy, ever-maddening creatures who scrounge food where they can. There is hope in those who are still able to sleep at night, but those few are in mortal danger. If someone with this viral insomnia finds a person asleep, then they go into a terrible rage and attack the sleeper--in some cases killing them. There are mass suicides from highway overpasses and tall buildings. Our main protagonist, Biggs, has lost his beloved wife, Carolyn. Biggs is a sleeper, but his wife has succumbed to the insomnia that is running rampant throughout the country. In a fit of confusion and despair, Carolyn wanders from their apartment and out into the chaos. During his journey to find his beloved wife, Biggs meets all sorts of characters in various states of insomnia-induced madness. There is also Lila, a high-school student who has taken to roaming the streets and subdivisions of a desert town wearing an owl mask. She, too, can sleep, but her parents sent her away when they realized that she was not safe around them. The Marine who was taking her to a military base tried to attack her when she falls asleep in the backseat of the car. She suffers minor injuries to her face, but the Marine dies, leaving her alone to roam this new chaotic world. This story starts off strong with an interesting premise, but around the center, it seems to lose steam and the ending feels rushed and a bit contrived. I can deal with the author leaving us hanging with the crumbling state of civilization, but there are loose ends that could have been resolved before bringing this book to a close. One of the main characters seems to die "off stage" (which is very annoying). Overall this is a good book, but it is a bit hard to get through in places. Some of the descriptions of the break-down of people's psyches are pretty disturbing. If you like deeply psychological accounts of dystopian futures (and not-so-futures), then this is a good book for you.