In the near future, we will be adding several ebooks to the reference collection of the Pottsville Free Public Library. These ebooks will be available through the library's catalog, and will be available to use on any computer by anyone with a Pottsville Library card. Subjects include science experiments for students; several encyclopedias dealing with poisons, phobias, alcoholism, and drug abuse; and histories of Afghanistan and Egypt. Stay tuned for more details!
Also coming this fall, an updated index to obituaries in the local newspapers. We're up to 143,000 names from the Pottsville Republican, nearly 20,000 more than last year! Look for the updated index on the library's genealogy page in September or October.
The Library's 100th anniversary is being celebrated in a few ways. Don't forget to mark your calendars for Saturday, November 5, when we will host the "Inspired by a Book" exhibit, and a presentation by Sally Wiener Grotta about Pennsylvania artisans.
It seems like we've been getting lots of little snow storms, rather than one or two big storms, in addition to the really cold weather. Makes you glad you don't live closer to Philadelphia or New York! Here are some of the newer books we've added to our collection related to the climate:
The View From Lazy Point: A natural year in an unnatural world, by Carl Safina (508 Sa17)
The Climate War: True believers, power brokers, and the fight to save the earth, by Eric Pooley (363.738 P789)
Eaarth: Making a life on a tough new planet, by Bill McKibben (363.738 M21)
(No, I didn't spell it wrong; the cover really has the planet's name spelled with two A's.)
How to Cool the Planet: geoengineering and the audacious quest to fix Earth's climate, by Jeff Goodell (551.6 G61)
(Okay, so "cooling" may not be a popular topic after the bitter cold we've had.)
Diet for a Hot Planet: The climate crisis at the end of your fork and what you can do about it, by Anna Lappe (338.19 L318)
With all the hype surrounding the Amazon Kindle, the Barnes and Noble Nook, and the Sony e-Reader, it's obvious that e-books are here to stay. But what if you don't have the cash to drop on a reader or the books themselves?
What if we told you that you could read "Drawings and Studies by Michelangelo", "Essential Computer Skills for Working Women", "Little Women", "Dracula", and hundreds of thousands of other books for free, from your computer? Most of the websites below offer multiple formats, versions for mobile phones, and versions that are easier for Text to Speech software. You can even find some free audio books on these sites.
Here are some of the best we've found so far: E-Books Directory -- "A daily growing list of freely downloadable ebooks, documents and lecture notes found all over the internet." Promote your own e-book, add comments to others, or just browse the directory. Some topics, like Children's Books, include audio books as well as standard e-books.
Online Books Page -- "Listing over 900,000 free books on the web." This site pulls together e-books from other websites to give you a single point to find titles. Includes prize winning books like Newbery Books and winners of the Nobel Prize in Literature or Pulitzer Prize in Letters; a section on books banned through the ages; and a celebration of women writers. Also includes a single point to find professional and academic journals with freely accessible archives online.
POWER Library's netLibrary allows you to read books both new and old on your computer screen. From the main POWER Library page, just click on the resource you want to use. Home users will need to type in your Pottsville library card number in order to use these databases.
Project Gutenberg -- 33,000 free books and counting from the first producer of free electronic books (e-books).
Read Easily -- This site provides books in formats where you can control the size of the text and color for those who need high-contrast pages, and the books are easily read by Text to Speech software for those who are blind or visually impaired.
For more sites that have free e-books, visit the Texas State Library and Archive Commission's Library Development blog post, "Free E-Books Are Here!" (Nov. 3, 2010)
Do you use the Pottsville Free Public Library to access federal government resources? If so, the Federal Depository Library Program (FDLP) wants to hear your opinion!
The 16-question survey focuses on depository access, services, and collections. Results of the survey will contribute to the extensive efforts by the Government Printing Office (GPO) to address the value of FDLP membership.
The survey will be administered using Survey Monkey and it will run through the end of December. Access the survey at <http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/HSLCRRB> . All answers are kept confidential.
The Pottsville Free Public Library has been a member of the FDLP since 1967, and we provide access to both United States and Pennsylvania agency publications in print and online.
Some people already know about the genealogy resources we have here at the Pottsville Free Public Library. But we thought we'd point out some of the newer additions in case you haven't visited our genealogy page at www.pottsvillelibrary.org/genie.htm in a while.
We recently uploaded a revised, enlarged Pottsville Republican obituary list. This list is now close to 125,000 names! We have also updated our obituary list for the Shenandoah Evening Herald newspaper. It's not nearly as large, but might still be useful for some.
There is also a link on our genealogy page for the full text of Schalck's History of Schuylkill County, Vol. 2. (Vol. 1 is more history-oriented, and does not appear to be part of the online collection.) It is part of Google Books, so you cannot print directly from the page. But you can download the volume as a PDF file to save on your home computer.
A new print addition to our collection is the Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania Coroner's Inquest Records, Vol. One, covering records from 1811 (when Schuylkill officially became a county) until 1909. Entries give the date of the inquest, where it was held, the name of the deceased, the cause of death, and the coroner. We do not yet have an everyname index to this volume yet, but there is a last name index we can work from. If you've been trying to track someone down, maybe it's time to try this option!
And of course, any time you have questions about Schuylkill County genealogy, feel free to call or email us and ask away. If we don't have what you're seeking, we may be able to direct you to the correct office or society to help you out.
The Pottsville Free Public Library has joined GoodSearch, a project that gives a small donation to specified charities every time you do a search. GoodSearch has also teamed up with Amazon, eBay, and a few other retailers so that a percentage of your purchase from these sites, through GoodSearch, will go to your selected charity.
So how do you help Pottsville Library? First, go to the Pottsville Library's website at www.pottsvillelibrary.org. Then click on the box on our home page that says "GoodSearch". This will take you to the GoodSearch home page, and Pottsville Library is the selected charity for your Internet searches. The GoodSearch home page also lists some of the online retailers they work with.
Too many steps for you? You can also download a GoodSearch toolbar from their home page. Start at the Pottsville Library's site so the library is the selected charity, then follow the directions on the GoodSearch home page to download the toolbar (just scroll down from the search box that's at the top). The toolbar also provides direct links to Amazon and eBay so that your purchases can help the library.
So what does the library get out of it? Approximately 1 cent per search, and anywhere between .5% to 30% per purchase through a participating online store. You can see how much has been raised by clicking on the "Amount Raised" button on the GoodSearch home page.
Why are we doing this? Because this year, literally every penny counts. Budget cuts at the state, county, and local level mean we will be buying fewer books, DVDs, and CDs, may mean other cuts in services and maybe even cuts in hours. We need your help, and we need it now. This is just one small way you can help your local public library.
How many presidential campaigns have made their way through Schuylkill County?
John F. Kennedy spoke in Garfield Square in Pottsville on October 28, 1960, gathering a crowd estimated at 12,000 people. His visit was followed almost immediately by the GOP Truth Squad, notable for flying in the first large-size commercial airliner ever to land at Joe Zerbey airport. Most people know about this visit, but other candidates have stumped in the county as well.
President Harry S. Truman was in Pottsville on October 21, 1952, traveling via an 18-car train and speaking at Veterans’ Memorial Stadium to a crowd of 8,000 shivering listeners.An editorial in the next day’s Pottsville Republican newspaper stated, “Schuylkill county people feel honored by the visit of President Truman last night even though a majority here cannot agree with him politically.”This was the first (and only) visit of a sitting President of the United States to Pottsville and Schuylkill County.
Richard Nixon visited Schuylkill County on October 24, 1968 to campaign. That same day, Edmund Muskie, vice presidential candidate on the ticket with Hubert Humphrey, also spoke to local voters.
Vice Presidents have also made the trip to the anthracite region.
Vice presidential candidate Lyndon B. Johnson visited Ashland, Frackville, St. Clair, and Pottsville on October 18, 1960 for the Democrats, while v. p. candidate Henry Cabot Lodge was in Pottsville and Shenandoah on November 4, 1960, campaigning for the Republican Nixon/Lodge ticket.
Vice President Dick Cheney spoke to 2,000 ticket holders at a Republican rally in Martz Hall in Pottsville on August 25, 2004.His visit was marked as much by the protests as by what he said to his supporters.
And don’t forget the former presidents campaigning for their parties.
Theodore “Teddy” Roosevelt visited Schuylkill County twice, October 26 and 28, 1914.On the 26th he “toured the county, stopping at the leading towns for five minute addresses and leaving his train in Pottsville for one hour to make an address in the Hippodrome.”His visit to Pottsville on the 28th was only a 10 minute speech given at the railroad station.
Then there was William “Bill” Clinton’s visit to the Girardville St. Patrick’s Day parade on March 29, 2008.An estimated 30,000 people were in town that day for the parade and his appearance, and it took him 2 ¼ hours to walk through the borough.He was campaigning for Hillary Clinton’s nomination as the Democratic presidential candidate.
Read more about these visits from newspaper clippings in the library’s Vertical File collection.
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