Everything Matters! by: Currie, Ron, Jr. 2009/07 ISBN:0670020923 / 9780670020928 In infancy, Junior Thibodeaux is encoded with a prophesy: a comet will obliterate life on Earth in 36 years. Alone in this knowledge, he comes of age in rural Maine grappling with the question: Does anything I do matter?
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It does, but not in ways he imagines. Written from the perspective of Jr.’s loved ones and from the omniscient 2nd person point of view of a voice in his head (that tells him things he cannot possibly know), this is a lot of questions added in. Is the world worth saving? Is anyone worth saving, especially yourself? Does the end matter as much as getting there? Certain to start many conversations about family, growing up, free will and the many worlds interpretation of our universe.
The Hennen’s American Public Library Ratings (HAPLR) is a widely recognized annual report, that ranks and assesses public libraries across the nation. Basically, it is a “report card” for libraries in the United States. For over the past ten years, one quarter of ALL top ten libraries were in Ohio.
The HAPLR Index rates public libraries in 15 different categories, focusing on circulation, staffing, materials, reference services, etc. The report then divides the libraries into population categories and the top ten libraries are ranked in each category. AVON LAKE PUBLIC LIBRARY IS RANKED 8TH IN ITS CATEGORY NATIONALLY!!
We thank you, our patrons, for your great support of the Library. In turn, the staff will continue to honor their “commitment to excellence” in serving the community.
In the current “Hard Times,” libraries have become resource centers for finding employment, finding ways to save money and finding affordable entertainment. Avon Lake Public Library is no exception. Our Reference department has been busy teaching computer skills, helping with resumes and developing programs to prepare job seekers for success. We answer lots of questions about social services and help patrons find do-it-yourself directions for those tasks they used to hire out. The Library is busy with new patrons who tell us they used to buy books and music and go out to movies, but now they are discovering the riches of the Library for affordable entertainment as well as a source of reliable information.
Finding that our patrons are asking different kinds of questions and facing different kinds of challenges, our staff has been working to find and share new information sources to meet the new needs and interests of our patrons. To that end, we’ve created theSurviving Hard Times Guideto help our patrons find information on all kinds of things to help get us through the recession and on to brighter days.
Check the guide out to find job help, unemployment and health care information, local social service agencies, help with mortgages and utilities and programs to assist veterans and seniors. The Guide emphasizes resources to be found in Lorain County and Northeast Ohio though some are statewide or national in scope and some are available in libraries all over the country. We’ll keep adding resources as we become aware of them, whether those are online programs, books, agencies, whatever will help. As you ask us for information – at the desk, by phone (440.933.7710) or email (refdeskATavonlakeDOTlibDOTohDOTus) – we’ll continue to learn what our patrons need, search for the information and share it through the Guide. If you know of resources that you think should be included (non-commercial only, please), email us and write “Surviving Hard Times Guide” in the subject line.
We hope this Guide is a boon to the community right now and we look forward to singing together “Hard Times Come Again No More”.
Summer reading for me is mostly — about reading! There has been a lot of ink spilled and pixels pummeled about the death of print as a medium for decades, this book is a thoughtful entry into the debate. The more some things change, such as technology and society, the more obvious that people and their brains don’t change that much.
From publisher’s comments: “Striphas’s provocative analysis offers a counternarrative to those who either triumphantly declare the end of printed books or deeply mourn their passing. With wit and brilliant insight, he isolates the invisible processes through which books have come to mediate our social interactions and influence our habits of consumption, integrating themselves into our routines and intellects like never before.”
Although Caitlin Decter is blind, she can effortlessly surf the Internet by following its complex paths clearly in her mind. When she receives an implant to restore her sight, instead of seeing reality, the landscape of the World Wide Web explodes into her consciousness.
Payback: Debt and the Shadow Side of Wealth ByAtwood, Margaret Collected here, the Massey Lectures from legendary novelist Margaret Atwood investigate the highly topical subject of debt. She doesn’t talk about high finance or managing money; instead, she goes far deeper to explore debt as an ancient and central motif in religion, literature, and the structure of human societies. By looking at how debt has informed our thinking from preliterate times to the present day, from the stories we tell of revenge and sin to the way we order social relationships, Atwood argues that the idea of what we owe may well be built into the human imagination as one of its most dynamic metaphors. Her final lecture addresses the notion of a debt to nature and the need to find new ways of interacting with the natural world before it is too late.
The beloved actor–and #1 bestselling author–writes about the personal philosophy that has carried him through his darkest hours, and speaks with others who have emerged from difficult periods with optimism to spare.
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