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Google adds a little Javascript magic to their Advanced Search page, which now dynamically builds your query using operators like OR, -, and quotes around exact phrases. [via]

Libraries of Central Africa
Author Barbara Conaty profiles library developments in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Angola, Malawi, and Zambia. Of the Kinshasa Municipal Library in the Congo, she writes: “In a city where 9 million people make their home, there is just one public library, the municipal library of the Funa district. Headed by Professor Tete (right), who also teaches cataloguing at the University of Kinshasa, this library was established with the assistance of the French government in the late 1990s as an early bid for normalcy after the civil strife of Mobutu’s overthrow.”…
I Love Libraries

Read entire article at I Love Libraries.

A great blog post from Anand Dhillon:

50 reasons to read more
Librarians need no excuse to read more, but our patrons, funding agencies, and skeptical acquaintances might derive some benefit from this list. “15. Experience other people’s adventures: From climbing Mount Everest to building a multibillion-dollar corporation, you can experience part of these feats by reading about them.”…
Anand Dhillon, June 4

Click on the above link to look at all 50 reasons to read more!

Friendship, loyalty, love, changing times and personal growth, Meg Waite Clayton throws five young women together in a Palo Alto park while watching their children play. These five form a friendship among the turbulent sixties; a time of launching spaceships, the Women’s Movement and Vietnam. Finding acceptance and strength from each other, the five form a writer’s group and begin to express themselves through their friendship and their writing. Criticizing each other’s writing, development of character and dialogue, the five women echo the changes they see around them.

Ally has a secret that may be a factor in her successive miscarriages. Intellectual Brett has scars from her past and never is without her white gloves. Frankie is a timid newcomer from Chicago and Kath a Kentucky debutante. Linda is a remarkable athlete. All encounter life’s heartbreak and joys; infidelity, illness, frustration, failure and success. Each woman confronts life singly, but ultimately with the support of a redefined and flawed family that offers support and celebration during the loneliest of times.

I have heard throughout my reading career that romance novels have the highest circulation numbers of all genres in library systems throughout the United States. However, after running the statistics for our library’s romance section, I have found that the numbers do not support that. So as the library makes decisions about where the money is spent, maybe we are spending too much on romance.

MSNBC and the Today show, along with iVillage are taking a poll, do you read romance novels?

* Participate

TODAY’s Question
Do you read romance novels?
1. Yes, yes, yes! Bodice-rippers are my ultimate escape.
2. No way. I don’t touch those books.
3. Sometimes, while on vacation or at the beach.

Vote to see results.

TODAY’s Question
Do you read romance novels? * 8592 responses
Yes, yes, yes! Bodice-rippers are my ultimate escape.
48%
No way. I don’t touch those books.
30%
Sometimes, while on vacation or at the beach.
23%
Not a scientific survey. Click to learn more. Results may not total 100% due to rounding.

Take part in their survey and vote here, or leave your comment.

Summer is the time for barbeques, days of leisure and reading on the porch. During your leisure time, consider an important, stress saving, life strategy. No one wants to think about this but this could save you much heartache and many, many hours of frustration. If you, or someone in your family, dies or experiences a major medical crisis, would you or the survivors have any idea how to access your money? Would they have any idea where your accounts are?

For most of us, the answer is no. Even after many years of prodding, my parents did not have their information anywhere that was accessible. My father fell causing a spiral break in his femur. Added to his Alzheimer’s, this was a major crisis. Five days later, my heartbroken mother suffered a stroke. My dad was left unable to understand and my mother was left without a voice. Doctors took the family aside issuing a mandate since their power of attorney declaration had been to each other; the medical professionals needed someone to step up, make decisions and take responsibility for their medical and financial care. We would have to go to court for an assessment and a judgment immediately. The heaviest of all burdens was placed squarely on my weak and sagging shoulders. And I had no idea where to start. I pledged never to do this to my children and I am writing this so you won’t either.

You will need a master document. This will ease the pain for anyone who loves you, and for you if taking care of family members. I can guarantee this will be time well spent.
Gather together your medical information and insurance, including medication you may be on, forms and cards, addresses and phone numbers for insurance. Make an updated will, a living trust a medical directive or DNR (Do Not Resuscitate), attorney name and address and any power of attorney information. Get a copy of your life insurance information, long term care insurance, car and property insurance and titles or directions to exactly where that might be found. Create a paper with all account information, numbers, passwords, names of banking institutions and a list of bills paid monthly to help someone who might have to pay them. List doctors, pharmacy and even veterinary information, on this paper. List all accounts you have open, credit cards, your retirement account, even your library card. Include your social security information. Include information on any service you pay for; the lawn guy, snow removal, water softener delivery, the Schwann man or any other services that may have access to your home. Don’t forget military information, discharge papers and the service number for veterans. Include marriage or divorce papers and birth certificates. Put in spare keys for both your house and your vehicles. Make a complete list of all assets. Organize all the information about any benefits your survivors should get: what are you paying for now that was intended to get into their hands? Use your imagination; what would someone need to know to take care of everything that you take care of?

Once you have this master document prepared, make sure everyone has a copy. Please, carefully rack your brain and give someone your power of attorney. This will save you unending grief and lots of legal expenses. Without a power of attorney, a guardian will be named by the court to act in your best interests. However, everything they do will need to be presented to a judge, resulting in attorney fees and court costs to say nothing of the inconvenience. Without direction, how will they know what you might have wanted? Create an ongoing conversation with those you distribute this information to, they will be uncomfortable, but not nearly as uncomfortable when responsibility for another’s life and business is forced upon them with no supporting information. Update this document yearly, or when major changes take place. It will get easier each time.

Your library has many sources that may help you. Check out the financial and legal sections of the library.

From the Library Journal

Library of the Year 2008: Laramie County Library System, WY—The Impact Library

Laramie County Library System, WY

By John N. Berry III — Library Journal, 6/15/2008

Impact! It is not just strong, effective publicity or the fine new building or even a staff built around its ability to connect with the people, although all of those things add to the impact of Wyoming’s Laramie County Library System (LCLS) on the city (Cheyenne) and county it serves. It isn’t just the latest technology bringing cutting-edge access to information and entertainment to library users or a host of partnerships to respond to county needs. The library is much more than all that to the 85,384 independent people who live in Laramie County.

Read the entire article here.

June 6, 2008

NOTE: Please help me get the word out that Neat New Stuff continues to exist. It’s become apparent that many of my subscribers did not understand that I was only discontinuing the weekly mailing, not NeatNew itself. Thanks!

All sites are working at the time I post them. If any are not working at the time you click on them, keep trying; their server may be unable to handle the sudden rush of traffic I’ve sent to it.

20 Civil Liberties Laws Every American Should Know
http://www.criminaljusticedegreesguide.com/library/20-civil-liberties-laws-
every-american-should-know.html
Understanding what your rights are is the first step toward protecting them. Here are explanations and resources on 20 important civil liberties people may not know they have.

2008 Eppy Awards
http://royal.reliaserve.com/eppy/winners2008.html
Editor and Publisher and Mediaweek choose the best journalistic achievements on media-affiliated web sites, both for overall and specific issue and event coverage(the I-35 Bridge Collapse, Diabetes, Hurricane Katrina recovery, etc.)

The Commonwealth Fund: Health Policy, Health Reform, and Performance Improvement
http://www.commonwealthfund.org/
The Commonwealth Fund gathers news and information and conducts original research on U.S. health issues including health care quality, health insurance, underserved populations, care of the elderly, etc. It offers a variety of charts, surveys, and other publications, including the currently featured assessment of how states’ child health systems compare on overall performance, access, quality, costs, equity, and potential to lead healthy lives. It also tracks innovative ideas in health policy.

Freerangekids
http://freerangekids.wordpress.com/
A site devoted to giving kids “the freedom we had” when we were growing up. Offers a blog, news items, an ideas file, and a place to share recollections of our own free-ranging childhood.

Fruit and Veggie Guru
http://www.fruitandveggieguru.com/
Aims to provide answers to all your questions on healthy fruits and veggies, including how can I get my kid to eat them. Provides recipes and info on health, organic produce, and specific fruits and veggies.

Fuel Economy
http://www.fueleconomy.gov/
The federal government offers information on your own car’s gas mileage and energy impact rating, where to find the lowest gasoline prices, and tips on improving your mileage.

Global Food Crisis
http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/GlobalFoodCrisis?Readform
ReliefWeb provides news, resources, statistics, key documents, and FAQs about the current global food crisis.

In Praise of Men
http://marylaine.com/myword/praise.html
With Father’s Day approaching, I’d like to point you to an old column of mine honoring men’s virtues.

Omgili: Find Out What People Are Saying
http://www.omgili.com/
Searches more than 100,000 forums, newsgroups, and mailing lists.

Rockabye Baby! Tranform your favorite rock music into baby music
http://www.rockabyebabymusic.com/web/page.asp
Why wait? Warp your children now with charming, music-box-like instrumental renditions of your favorite music, be it the Beatles or Nine Inch Nails, Bob Marley or Smashing Pumpkins, rock and roll Christmas classics or U2, and others.

Stickk.com: Put a contract out on yourself
http://stickk.com/
A site that helps you meet your goals or deadlines by allowing you to make the commitment in public and have someone monitor your progress.

TweetScan – Real Time Twitter Search
http://tweetscan.com/
One answer to “why use Twitter” is that standard news and weather sites may fail to keep you informed during emergencies. This search engine tracks breaking news on Twitter. See how Twitter broke the story of the Colorado tornadoes <http://www.poynter.org/column.asp?id=31&aid=143981> and and the China earthquake story <http://www.poynter.org/column.asp?id=31&aid=143270>.

Scholastic Report: Kids Still Read for Fun—Teens, Less So
By John A. Sellers
A new report released today from Scholastic corroborates the findings of the company’s 2006 report on children’s reading habits, finding that pleasure reading in children begins to decline at age eight and continues to do so into the teen years. The study found that a majority of children (68%) think it is “extremely” or “very” important to read for pleasure, and “like” or “love” doing so. However, that number decreases with age: 82% percent of children ages five to eight “like” or “love” reading, compared to 55% for children ages 15 to 17. It also found that although children can readily envision a future in which reading and technology are increasingly intertwined, nearly two thirds prefer to read physical books, rather than on a computer screen or digital device. Additionally, a large majority of children recognize the importance of reading for their future goals, with 90% of respondents agreeing that they “need to be a strong reader to get into a good college.” Read on »