Friday, April 20, 2007

Things to borrow

Inspired by my co-blogger Angela, here are a few of my favorite books, music and movies from our shelves. :)

Books
Cat's Cradle, Kurt Vonnegut
The Little Prince, Antoine de Saint-Exupery
Harry Potter series, J.K. Rowling
Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom, Cory Doctorow

Movies
50 First Dates
Chocolat
Ella Enchanted
Grand Canyon
L.A. Story
Lost in Translation
Paulie
Wonder Boys

Music
Stoned Immaculate, Music of the Doors (various)
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon Soundtrack (various)
O Brother, Where Art Thou Soundtrack (various)
U2 - Achtung Baby
REM - Document
American Blues Vol 1 (various)
Poptronica Dance (various)

Talk to me about your faves...

Thursday, April 19, 2007

Microfilm Scanner

Come meet my new friend, and the library's newest tool: a brand-new, all digital microfilm reader.

(Pictured is Sheila, our tech guru, and Emily, one of our staff members, who are making prints of an obituary from the 1800s for a patron.)

What's so exciting about a piece of technology?

Well it just opened up the use of 200 years of newspaper archives that have been lingering out of touch since our old machine stopped working, plus anything else we can borrow on microfilm from any other library in the world.

Compared to its predecessor, a huge, weighty plastic and metal contraption we nicknamed "the moose," this new unit is not only sleek and tiny, it gives us crystal-clear, high resolution images, makes text very easy to read on the screen, and can scan color slides if patrons request it.

Now on my to-do list: make pdfs of important news documents for our files.

Wednesday, April 18, 2007

Welcome readers

Check back here for links and posts about writing, libraries, Rensselaer, Indiana, World of Warcraft, other games and music and thoughts.