Library News

The Keene Public Library will celebrate the end of Suzanne Collins’ Hunger Games trilogy this month with special games during next week's Open Play Games, the library's weekly game event held each Thursday afternoon.  On Thursday, August 26, fans can play the Hunger Games board game.

The library has purchased several copies of Mockingjay to meet the demand.  The library and the Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA), a division of the American Library Association (ALA), can help parents, librarians and educators keep the attention of teens hooked on Katniss and Peeta with a list of similarly themed teen books.

"Hunger Games has proven popular with teens, which is evidenced by its appearance on YALSA’s Teens’ Top Ten list," said Kim Patton, YALSA president." Popular titles such as these draw teens into reading for pleasure, which is critical because studies show that teens who read for leisure score higher on standardized tests than those who don’t."

Teens and their parents can find similar titles to "Mockingjay" in the 2011 nominations for YALSA’s Popular Paperbacks for Young Adults (PPYA) booklist, particularly the What If… themed list, which highlights titles featuring alternative history and worlds, steampunk, apocalyptic fiction and cyberpunk, among other settings. The What If nominations list includes the following titles:

Arakawa, Hiromu. Fullmetal Alchemist, Vol 1. Ills. by Hiromu Arakawa.

Barry, Max. Jennifer Government.

Bodeen, S.A. The Compound

Caletti, Deb. Fortunes of Indigo Skye.

Christopher, John. The White Mountains (The Tripods #1).

Collins, Suzanne. The Hunger Games.

Dashner, James. The Maze Runner.

DuPrau, Jeanne. The Diamond of Darkhold.

Each year, YALSA’s PPYA committee compiles themed reading lists with the goal of encouraging young adults to read for pleasure by presenting them with popular or topical paperback books with teen appeal. The fully annotated list of 2011 nominations, as well as other PPYA themed lists, can be found at www.ala.org/yalsa/booklists/poppaper. The final 2011 lists will be announced at ALA’s 2011 Midwinter Meeting in San Diego, Jan. 7–11.

Patton noted that the Hunger Games trilogy is the latest example of addictive teen books that get teens hooked on reading. "Whatever the next big teen hit is, it will be like this one: a well told tale that speaks to teens on their level, grabs their interest, and doesn’t let go."

For more than 50 years, YALSA has been the world leader in selecting books, films and audiobooks for teens. For more information about YALSA or for lists of recommended reading, viewing and listening, go to www.ala.org/yalsa/booklists, or contact the YALSA office by phone, (800) 545-2433, ext. 4390, or e-mail, yalsa@ala.org

Librarians in our nation’s 123,000 libraries make a difference in the lives of millions of people every day.  If a librarian has made a difference in your life, now is the chance to tell your story.

The Carnegie Corporation of New York/New York Times I Love My Librarian Award encourages library users to recognize the accomplishments of librarians in public, school, college, community college, and university libraries for their efforts to improve the lives of people in their community.

Nominations will be open through September 20. 

Up to 10 librarians in public, school and college, community college and university libraries will be selected to win $5,000 and will be honored at a ceremony and reception in New York, hosted by The New York Times. In addition, a plaque will be given to each award winner’s library. Winners will be announced in December 2010.

Each nominee must be a librarian with a master’s degree from a program accredited by the ALA in library and information studies or a master’s degree with a specialty in school library media from an educational unit accredited by the National Council for the Accreditation of Teacher Education.  Nominees must be currently working in the United States in a public library, a library at an accredited two- or four-year college or university or at an accredited K-12 school.

For more information and to nominate a librarian, visit www.ilovelibraries.org/ilovemylibrarian.

The award is supported by Carnegie Corporation of New York and The New York Times.

It is administered by The American Library Association (ALA), the oldest and largest library association in the world, and The Campaign for America’s Libraries, ALA’s public awareness campaign about the value of libraries and librarians.

On June 14th, The Keene Public Library and The Historical Society of Cheshire County joined The Library of Congress, The Smithsonian, and The Eastman House as well as the national libraries of many foreign countries by becoming the 43rd member of Flickr Commons.  Flickr Commons is a group of institutions scanning and uploading historical photos that are in the public domain.  Works in the public domain are not covered by intellectual copyright and are openly available to everyone.The Keene Public Library has over 700 historical photos of Keene and Cheshire County.  For the past several years, volunteer Bob Borden has been scanning, enhancing, and uploading the photos to the Keene Public Library’s Flickr site: www.flickr.com/photos/keenepubliclibrary/sets/.  Recently, Bob has begun scanning public domain photographs from the Historical Society of Cheshire County. The Society's collection of J.A. French's photographs from the 1860s to 1880s is almost completely scanned and available for viewing at the Library's Flickr site.The Flickr Commons’ goal is to increase access to publicly-held photography collections.  Flickr Commons is also a way to let the public contribute information and knowledge. The public is invited to add comments, provide further information, and to tag the photos with key words.The Commons started in 2008 in partnership with the Library of Congress.For more information, about the Library's Flickr site and it's collection of historical photographs, please contact Reference and Collection Development Librarian, BJ Wahl at 603-352-0157.