New Blog with Useful Government Information!

That is not an oxymoron!  For shame!  We have a great new blog that highlights cool stuff from the federal government.  The publications are called government documents, or, as we 'in the know' like to call them, gov docs.  Isn't that snazzy?  Guess what the name of the blog is!  I love a site that comes right out and tells you what to expect.  It is written by Marci Behm, our gov docs expert.   And this is a big job my friend, the government produces scads of information. Stop over and check out job stuff, census stuff, energy stuff! It's a gold mine! DMPL Gov Docs. Brought to you by a librarian who picks out the best from your government, and presents it in a way that goes down easy.  Like an information lozenge.

It's Never Too Early To Think About Summer Vacation

And isn't it a lovely thought.  Sunshine, warmth, hikes in the great outdoors.  If you are inclined to travel we have an extensive collection of books on places as exotic as Morocco, as prosaic as Omaha.  I like Omaha.  The zoo is great especially the fish tunnel. Then they have the charming Old Market, not unlike our own East Village.  But old. The folks in the photo might feel right at home there. 

Books on Morocco
Books on Nebraska

Photo credit:  The Public Domain

Help! Savings & Budgeting Basics

Where does it all go? Money seems to evaporate like cheesecake in a library break room.  Tomorrow night at the Central Library from 6-7 First At Work Educational Sessions is presenting a program to assist you with the whole evaporation thing. Which comes first, the budget or the savings? I'm going with savings, but you'll have to attend the session for an answer from people who actually know what they're talking about. Here are some print sources you might find useful:

The complete idiot's guide to getting out of debt  (I'm not judging!)
Financially ever after : the couples' guide to managing money
Suze Orman's 2009 action plan

Who will cater to my every whim? Or yours?

Ever wanted your own personal delivery service?  One that would bring you doughnuts or ice cream or chips and dip at the drop of a hat?  Well, that's called a servant and unless you're up to your ears in legal tender you can't afford one.  But we can dream, can't we?  Once my sister sent me chocolate in the mail for my birthday.  I've never forgotten that and in my Pavlovian way I still watch the mailbox with great hope.  So if  there was a delivery van devoted to my needs, it would look much like this one.  You too can have a picture of a delivery service to call your own.  Just go to Moving Truck Generator.  As a bonus, they have a mess of fonts.  Fun to play with.

A Good Book from the Vampire Lady

I have not read the Twilight Trilogy by Stephenie Meyer. I have no objection to the vampire stuff, I just don't like much romance. But my sister recommended 'The Host' by this author and since she has never steered me wrong I gave it a shot. Discovery: Excellent Science Fiction! The plot is not new - aliens get into your body through the back of your neck and take over the world. Heinlein, Star Trek - you've seen it before.  (When will the government issue those nape-protectors? Too late, no doubt.) Meyer takes a fresh perspective on the plot, one that includes the possibility that humans aren't the best species ever and maybe the aliens aren't evil. This was lots of fun to read.  Who knew? Two thumbs up.  I'm pretty sure they're my thumbs. 

The Host

Again with the Healthy

Healthy eating, that is.  Or to be more specific, healthy cooking for healthy eating.  I know, you're tired of being told what to eat.  And they keep changing their minds about what is healthy.  Take apples.  According to a 2007 article in Nutrition Health Review apple peels are bustin' with flavonoids and phytochemicals that work against liver and colon cancer.  But now the media is yelling 'drop the apple! it's covered in pesticides'!!  Run!!!  So I got some organic apples. Anyway, we have some brand new healthy cooking books so you can get the latest. They'll have new recipes and suggestions.  Ones you've never seen before. Plus cookbooks are pretty. 

Super immunity foods
Superfoods for dummies
Healthy bread in five minutes a day
Sugar-free gluten-free baking and desserts

Source:  Nutrition Health Review: The Consumer's Medical Journal; 2007, Issue 99, p6-6, 1/2p as accessed through EBSCO Host

What's in Store for Your New Year

Would you like a fool-proof scientific method of predicting what your life will be like in 2010? Me too. But what we have are books on tarot cards! Just for fun! Here's some information from Britannica Concise Encyclopedia.  Tarot cards have been around since the late 14th century at least.  They may be as much as 200 years older.  But what's a century or two among friends?  They started out as garden variety cards for the playing of oh, let's say, the Medieval/Renaissance equivalent of Scat. Your basic Bicycle deck is a direct descendent of those fancy bits of pasteboard. In the18th century tarot cards took on their fortune-telling mystique.  If you want to find out what the cards are saying about you behind your back, we have Lots of books on Tarot. Who wouldn't want to know?

Source:  Britannica Concise Encyclopedia as accessed through eLibrary, one of your library's fine selection of online factual resources.

Open Library - Public Domain Books

Oooh, Open Library is a treasure trove for collage artists.  Plus people who like to read public domain books for free online. Say you're looking for pictures. This takes some dinking, but stay with me.  Type the word 'illustrations' in the search box. You want to eliminate entries that don't include the whole book, so click in the box next to scanned books only.  Then click on GO - your search may take a quite a while to run.  When the results pop up, don't click on the book's title click on READ ONLINE in blue, to the right of the title. (I wouldn't have used so many italics except that I still click on the title all the time. I don't mean to yell.) Then you get a screen that looks just like a paper book and you can flip through the pages!  So fun! Well worth the dinkage.

The Open Library

We Are Closed Today for New Year's

Happy New Year!  All six buildings of the Des Moines Public Library system are closed today.  But you knew that.  Plus, today kicks off 'California Dried Plum Digestive Health Month'.  I hate to quibble with Californians, but isn't a dried plum a prune?  Perhaps a plum by any another name doesn't sound as sweet.  Not only does the mighty dried plum contain lots of fiber, it is chockfull of polyphenols, which are antioxidants!  Make your New Year's resolution all about the dried plum. I'm sure they taste much better than prunes. 

Source:  Chase's Calendar of Events, 2010