Caption Contest - Book Review

Since I returned from my travels, there's been a dearth of comments. I miss interacting with readers. Or knowing I have readers... This picture is begging for a caption. If you want to go one step further, a brief book description would be great. Why? Because this was the image that accompanied a review in the New York Times Book Review recently. Did I want to read the book based on the review? Not really. Does the picture potentially persuade me otherwise? Absolutely!

Happy New Year, and I hope for comments soon.

Academic Team Win

The Saint Stephen's Academic Team came in first place at the Academic Team competition last night! They competed against 15 other Manatee County high school teams, and we're so proud of the students' performance. Here are some of the questions that the students answered correctly.

Identify respectively the verbal phrases in the following four sentences as gerund, participle, or infinitive. 1. To carry on was her goal. 2. Carrying on was what she had been taught. 3. The people carrying on the most were in trouble. 4. They should have known better than to carry on.

Which one of the following four statements is possible concerning the movement of an electron from the fourth major energy level to the second. 1. It would absorb energy in the form of ultraviolet lig.ht. 2. It would emit energy in the form of ultraviolet light. 3. It would absorb energy in the form of visible light. 4. It would emit energy in the form of visible light.

From the following descriptions, identify respectively the four people associated with Julius Caesar. 1. son-in-law and fellow triumvir of Julius 2. daughter of Caesar and Cornelia 3. uncle of Caesar who fought on the side of the assembly in the first Civil War 4. grand-nephew and heir of Julius Caesar.

And here's one of the questions that no team even attempted to answer. (They lose points if they guess incorrectly.)

To two significant digits calculate respectively in hertz the first three harmonics of a 1.0-meter long pipe that is closed at one end.

If you see members of the Academic Team around school, congratulate them on a great meet. It also goes to show that even in a digital age where facts are easily available, there's value to quick knowledge retrieval.

How Librarians Organize Libraries

It's still surprising to me how many people ask for books by the the color or image on the cover.

Yes, I'm a visual learner too, but that's not our organization system.

Enjoy this sketch from The Two Ronnies on the subject.

Anchorage Library Video

This just fuels my obsession with Alaska. Yes, this obsession was fueled entirely by Northern Exposure, which I watched 19 years after it's debut.

Trivia on the reasons I started watching. 1. The 1st season DVD was available in the library. 2. I remembered that there was a moose in the opening credits from back when it was on television. 3. The back of the box mentioned Columbia University, and I was missing living in Morningside Heights.




RuthAnn's store was not a library. Cicily needed a community space beyond The Brick.

Kindle Renewal Ethics

I'm torn on this. Libraries are by nature a shared resource. As someone who has single-handedly paid for a library foundation in late fines, this is awfully convenient. Also, Manatee Library now supports Overdrive for kindles.
http://librarianbyday.net/2011/10/26/how-to-extend-the-due-date-of-your-library-ebook-on-the-kindle/

Just a friendly tip from your friendly online librarian.

It is pretty easy to “extend” the due date of the library ebook you check out to your kindle, just turn your wireless connection off until you’re done with it. This will allow you to keep reading the book until you’re done. The title won’t expire until you reactivate your wireless connection.

Can’t remember to turn your wireless off or just don’t want to keep it off all the time? Consider that handy email notice telling you that you have three days left that you get from Amazon (not your local library), you know the one that includes a link to buy it from Amazon, the signal to turn your wireless off if you aren’t done reading the book. When you’re done, turn your wireless connection back and on the book will “expire” as usual.

Is it important that there are not yet renewal options available for the kindle? What if the book hasn't been requested by anyone else? Your thoughts?

Interim Quest (IQ) Excitement

Our students are fortunate to have a week of focused study after May exams. They choose subjects of interest, and they spend the week immersed in learning about them. Choices include global textiles, cooking, a service-learning trip to the Dominican Republic, playwriting, etc.

This year, I've been selected as the female chaperon for the trip to China. We'll start in Beijing, and then we'll spend most of a week in Guilin, visiting our sister school. Expect lots of updates on this site. Thank you, Saint Stephen's!