New Titles in the Reference Collection

While the Reference Department doesn't add nearly as many titles every year as the other collections, we try to find interesting, authoritative resources to help library users answer basic or bizarre questions. Here are just some of the titles just coming in!

The Kingfisher Encyclopedia of Life: Minutes, Months, Millennia - How Long is a Life on Earth?
Did you know that an ocean quahog, a hard clam that lives in the Atlantic Ocean, can live 250 to 500 years? An American flamingo can live to 50 years old, but a porcupine only lives 5-7 years. There are fungi colonies that are believed to be more than 2000 years old, and the Great Barrier Reef is more than 10,000 years old! This heavily-illustrated book looks at the average life spans of plants, animals, and microorganisms around the world.  (Ref 508.03 B223)

The Graphic Designer's Business Survival Guide
Being a really good graphic designer is just the start of what you need to go into business. From creating a business plan, to knowing when you should hire someone to do your bookkeeping, to managing your time and building your reputation, this book covers many of the basics a graphic designer would need. Marketing, time sheets, how to deal when things go bad, and other aspects of small business are all discussed here. (Ref 741.60 D228)

Real Ghosts, Restless Spirits, and Haunted Places, 2nd edition
 Helpful and threatening, human or animal, this book gives the details of many paranormal experiences around the world. Churches, cemeteries, highways, castles, apartments, restaurants, trains, stores, and inns are all scenes of visitations. (Ref 133.1 St33)

1001 Ideas That Changed the Way We Think
When you think of the history of ideas, things like "I Think, Therefore I Am" come to mind. While the background of that idea is in this new reference book, you'll also find things like the origins of the newspaper (first stone or metal tablets in 131 BCE Rome that were public notices of important events, then after the Gutenberg press was invented, in 1605 the first modern newspaper appeared in Germany), a brief history of angels, the possibilities offered by the theory of genetic determinism, and many, many more. Organized by time period when the idea arose, you can use the category index to help you find the origins of things like reggae music, fatalism, ageism, Kwanzaa, Prohibition, etc. (Ref 153.4 A15)
 

 

Looking for Magazine Sponsors!

It's the time of year where we look over the magazine titles the library receives and try to figure out if our budget will cover everything. As a district center, we are required to subscribe to a certain number of titles. However, budget cuts from state and local sources mean that it's tough for us to reach that standard on our own. That's where you can step in!

We are looking for people to "sponsor" their favorite magazine title at the library. What does this mean? All you have to do is donate the amount of the subscription price for your favorite magazine title. We take care of the subscribing! There are titles that cost as little as $9 a year (like Philadelphia or Motor Trend magazines). Most of the titles are under $30, although there are a few that are much more pricey. National Geographic costs us $34 a year; Entertainment Weekly costs $60; and Sports Illustrated goes for $89.

We also know that a lot of people aren't aware of just how many different subjects our magazine collection covers. The titles on the display stand near the public computers are just a few of the current titles; we don't have enough space to display them all! You can find our entire current collection in the Magazine Room, near the back of the Reference Department. Kids' magazines are in the Children's Department, with titles for younger children near the Children's Desk and titles for teens in the Young Adult section in the back of the room.

New titles added within the last year include Autism Spectrum Quarterly, Gluten-Free Living, Motorcyclist, Yoga, More Magazine, and Wired Magazine. There are classics like Highlights for Children, Good Housekeeping, Money Magazine, Popular Science, and one of the few remaining weekly news magazines, Time. Conservationists, animal lovers, movie buffs, financial geeks, gardeners, hunters, cooks, celebrity watchers, sports fans, amateur astronomers, ... we have magazines for you and many others!

If you are interested in becoming a Magazine Sponsor, just stop by the Circulation Desk next time you're in the library. Pick a title, donate the amount for that subscription, and leave your name and address (so we can thank you in a future library newsletter!). Every sponsor brings us that much closer to meeting the standards for district centers in Pennsylvania, and helps us bring reading material to a wide variety of library users!