Athenaeum | Library Blog

Native Tongue or not

jantonuccio — Mon, 14 May 2012 14:29:42 +0000

Do you want to learn a foreign language in a fun, interactive way and for FREE? We've got two programs that can assist with your other-language speaking and reading skills. Whether you want to speak casually with friends or need to brush up before traveling, choose from either Rocket Languages or Mango languages.

There are many options for starting the process of learning with Mango Languages. Log in to the Ohio Web Library with your library card. Be sure to type your card number, starting with a capital letter "P," exactly as it appears on your card. Choose either basic (simple skills for polite conversation) or complete (in depth comprehensive language and grammar). You will need javascript and adobe flash player updates, and working sound. Mango is easy to understand, with features such as a keyboard guide on the screen so you know which keys you need, and flashing arrows when you need to navigate to the next screen. Shown here is an example for basic greeting in German. The word is spelled out and it is spoken (with the option of hearing it repeated). It also tells you the literal meaning to give depth to your understanding. Additions of new, related words are introduced, but not so many that you feel overwhelmed. There are also options for recording your own voice to compare with the instructor.

Rocket Languages allow you to learn multiple languages as well, including American Sign Language. All you need is your library card number (the number on the back of your card, INCLUDING the capital "P", then a space, then you type in the numbers). You can choose your language from the list, and begin your lesson. American Sign Language has video options so you can visualize along with spelled-out directions. For the other languages, there are audio lessons as well as brief cultural lessons, with an option to record yourself to compare with the proper pronunciation. As you progress through the lessons, you can track your rating.

Learning a language doesn't have to seem like an impossibility, nor does it have to capitalize on your free time or wallet. Both of these sites are accessible and free through the Athens County Public Libraries website. As always, please do not hesitate to ask if you need help! :)

Get ready to learn, aprender, lernen, imparare, etc.!....

What rain makes

jantonuccio — Thu, 10 May 2012 17:11:13 +0000

"Like a gardener, I believe that what goes down must come up." - Lynwood L. Giacomini

"Flowers have an expression of countenance as much as men or animals. Some seem to smile, some have a sad expression, some are pensive and diffident, others again are plain, honest and upright." - Henry Ward Beecher

"We cannot command Nature except by obeying her." - Francis Bacon

"The soil, in return for her service, keeps the tree tied to her; the sky asks nothing and leaves it free." - Rabindranath Tagore

"Deep in their roots, all flowers keep the light." - Theodore Roethke

"Nature never did betray the heart that loved her." - William Wordsworth

"Look deep, deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better." - Albert Einstein

"Rivers and rocks and trees have always been talking to us, but we've forgotten how to listen." - Michael Roads

Job Search Help

jantonuccio — Tue, 08 May 2012 09:12:58 +0000

It can be a full-time job to search for a job. But it doesn't have to feel like you are running into a brick wall. We've added a few user-friendly features to our website that can ease your job-searching woes.

On the front page, there are a few links which can provide help in a few ways. These two links are located right under the digital downloads banner on the front page. Click here on this link (left), and it takes you to a page dedicated to Ohio jobs (brought to you by Ohio.gov and the Department of Jobs and Family Services). Here you can scroll down and find several links and helps for job searching and resume help. At the bottom of the page are two more links : one to the State Library of Ohio's Learning Express Library to build, update, sharpen and broaden your skills, a skillbuilding link, and another to a site which matches your skills to jobs. The Learning Express Library also has a feature called JobandCareerAccelerator which gives you insight into how your unique skills line-up with existing jobs (can also be reached this way, under Research Resources, and then clicking on "Employment Resources and Adult Learning" once you are directed to a new page).

These two features require you to create a simple username and login password after using your library card number (located on the back of your library card), and a bit of time to fill out surveys, which give you a broad assessement of jobs to which your skills could apply. Have you been a stay-at-home or single parent? Have you volunteered? Do you have hobbies that can prove your capabilities and stamina? You can translate the skills you gained through these experiences into business terms. Highlighting your managing and organizational skills, along with your commitment and creativity means you are good at operations, marketing, development -- all good things prospective employers like to see.

Another helpful link is the Athens County 211, powered by United Appeal of Athens County. This is a community resource directory, which connects you with more employment resources, support groups, municipal and community services, donations and volunteering, health care, and much more.

With public computers at the library, you can print your resume (20 cents a page, or special resume paper for 50 cents a page), or set up an email and send it to a prospective employer. Through all the processes for applying for jobs or insurance or volunteering or anything at all, please know that you can always walk through the doors of your public library and we will happily do our best to assist you!

Which Word? The Power of Speech

jantonuccio — Fri, 04 May 2012 08:46:45 +0000

Have you ever said a word over and over again, until it sounds weird, and wrong? Go ahead and try it now, here's a good one: pancake. As you are saying it loud, you hear your voice and your mouth begins to grow tired of the same formation. The sounds start to run into eachother and then, the word is rendered silly. Pancake. Pancake. Pancake? Pancake?!

It has been said that the British poet Matthew Arnold toured America in 1883. He was offered a plate of pancakes, which he passed on to his wife, and commented, "Do try one, my dear. They're not nearly as nasty as they look." Ah, but what if he said "tasty"??

Meaning for words can be found in dictionaries, but meaning is mainly contextual. A child can say, "I'm starving!!", and the child's parent will correct them, saying, "You are not starving, you are quite healthily fed. Think of all the children in _______ country that really are starving." This is a pretty common conversation that could have a variety of context. Examples: the child might have been too busy to finish lunch properly; the child might be going through a growth spurt; the child might be really impatient knowing dinner is going to take forever before it is served because said parent is busy putting away the groceries and hasn't even started dinner yet.

Let's go back to "pancake". What pops into your mind comes from your relationship with pancakes. How you like them best, variety of ingredients, whether you love/hate them, if they really do make good frisbees when left out for hours on the counter...

Socrates said, "To know, is to know that you know nothing. That is the meaning of true knowledge." In other words, things aren't always what they seem on the surface, you know? ;)

Think about it. We all have our own truth, and we use words that mean truth to us, and expect others to understand that. You can say a word, or a sentence, and expect a response. And someone will give you a response with their own version of truth.

But there are layers, context that is important to peel away to have deeper understanding. It is as though we are all walking around with onionheads.

With that in mind, it is important to take the time to understand your own truth, and another's truth. Otherwise you might miss vital meaning.

Patrons walk into the library either wanting to be left alone and knowing exactly what it is that they are looking for, or they know they need help. "Do you have...?" or "Tell me where...." are the most common beginnings of sentences, and it is crucial for both the question-asker and the answer-giver to take the time to understand one another. Word choice is very important and so is meaning. "Books about cooking" can open up a myriad of possibilities, in many different directions. If the answer-giver assumed "cookbooks", but the question-asker meant "history of cooking", then the convesations has to start all over. The end goal, of course, is two smiling, thankful people, both knowing that the mission was accomplished -- that understanding was acheived.

And this goes for everyday conversation as well. And that doesn't even touch on what is NOT being said in body language or behavior. Multiple layers.

All this deciphering takes time and patience. And practice.

Maya Angelou said, "Words mean more than what is set down on paper. It takes the human voice to infuse them with deeper meaning."

In other words, choose words you must, so choose wisely. :)

Staff Recommendations

jantonuccio — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 19:30:51 +0000

This month's prompt: a book that received a lot of hype and you thought deserved it, or, a book that received a lot of hype and you DIDN'T think deserved it and you found something similar that is far better.

Lorinda - Nelsonville Public Library

I generally don't read vampire books. But being a history buff, I tried Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter and actually thought it was quite interesting. Although it is fiction, it is almost like a biography on Lincoln. I was shocked that I enjoyed it and read it all in 4 days!!! I recommend to anyone who likes history but doesn't want it to be boring! (Two other titles by the same author, Pride, Prejudice and Zombies and Unholy Night.)

Laura- Nelsonville Public Library

I put off reading the Harry Potter series because I tend to avoid things that are wildly popular, figuring that I have better taste than that. I'd started the first book but didn't get hooked right away, so I tried again the summer before the 7th book came out. I think the series deserves every bit of the hype because it got so many people to read who may never have had much interest in reading before (what other books have prompted midnight release parties at libraries and bookstores?). Also, the story explores common themes (good vs. evil, love vs. hate) and at its heart, is about a boy who comes of age with the support of his friends, who become his family. What's not to love??

I was sorry I had waited so long to read the series, but grateful that I didn't have to wait for the next books to be released. That was one advantage to scoffing at it for so long.

I think Twilight is a good story but not particularly well-written. I didn't finish the series because it became too predictable for my taste. And now love triangles are so overused that it's pretty disheartening. So, the series I recommend to everyone now is Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld. It's a far cry from vampire romance, but still a pretty fanciful story, taking place during an alternate version of WWI. The female protagonist is serving in the British Air Corps disguised as a boy, and she doesn't compromise her dreams for any guy, even if he's the recently-orphaned heir to Austria-Hungarian empire...a prince in disguise! It's a terrific story and one that I push into patrons' hands whenever I can. The followups to Leviathan are Behemoth and Goliath. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

Heather - Athens Public Library

Steig Larsson's Millenium Series The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, The Girl who Played with Fire, and The Girl who Kicked a Hornet's Nest

I was hesitant to read this series because of the amount of violence and the maltreatment of women that I knew was in the book (the Swedish title is: Men Who Hate Women). But I knew several people who really liked the books, and my husband couldn't put them down (and we usually have a similar tastes) so I gave it a try. I started the book three times before I got through the third chapter! But once I got going, I, too, couldn't put it down and flew through all three books. I was really intrigued by the two main characters, Lisbeth Salander, the emotionally damaged girl with the dragon tattoo, and Mikael Blomkvist, the affable journalist/detective in the book. The first book has a real mystery: discovering what happened to a teenaged girl who disappeared 36 years earlier. The others are more about Lisbeth and Mikael and not so much a mystery.

I am glad that I read them, if for no other reason than I now know what all the broo-ha-ha is about. I have gone on to watch the Swedish and American films (mostly as a compare and contrast exercise), but the violence and hatred against women of many of the characters is disturbing (I skimmed paragraphs and closed my eyes during parts of the movies). The book is balanced with many "good" characters: men and women who treat others with respect, and are horrified by the actions of the "bad" characters. The violence is supposedly justified by the author (who died before the books were published) because he was haunted by witnessing a gang rape when he was young. He also spent his career as a journalist exposing white supremacists and other hate groups in Sweden. While the books did not give me nightmares, I never want to visit Sweden.

Jenaye - Athens Public Library

I, too, am going to go with vampires (because they seem to be all the hype these days, no?)

I confess I read Stephenie Meyer's Twilight Series, mainly because I was curious about this mom of three who cranked out books in the wee hours of the night. Being a mom myself, and knowing that I, too, couldn't find the time to write in the daytime, the fact that she pulled this off AND got them published intrigued me. While I did not like the content or the story line, you could certainly feel her urgency as a writer to get the story out. I think it was a good start for her, because the next book she wrote, The Host, I actually can say I enjoyed reading. Because it was an interesting idea, and instead of fantasy, this leaned into science fiction. The characters seemed deeper and the plot-line was more mature and thoughtful. This seemed to be the book where Meyer settled herself into a writer after the intensity of her debut. Supposedly she might write two more, The Soul and The Seeker. I'd like to read them just to witness how deeply she can immerse herself into the writing process.

Literal listening

jantonuccio — Sat, 28 Apr 2012 18:24:39 +0000

This came in just today. Come check it out!

Almost summer

jantonuccio — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 18:36:51 +0000

Space should not be the final frontier

jantonuccio — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 09:17:48 +0000

Have you ever heard of National Brain Day? It is a day set aside for everyone to retreat into the quiet, to step aside from responsibility, to take a required break. ! No, such a day does not exist, but does it sound ridiculous, or do you secretly wish such a Day was mandated?

And why shouldn't it? Yesterday marked the 42nd celebration of Earth Day. John Muir said, "When one tugs at a single thing in nature, he finds it attached to the rest of the world." This refers to our planet being in danger of abuse, and urging everyone to treat it kindly. And so it is true with our brain. When multiple things tug at our brains -- all that responsibility and stress and demand upon our faculties and functions, it effects the rest of our world -- who is standing right next to us, who hears our woes at the end of the day, what habits we flee to to deal with that day-to-day stress.

And stress we have. Because to exist in our world today means we are susceptible to demand at any moment, any time of the day. If you have a cell phone, anyone can call you or text you any time of day. Same with email, or Facebook, or Twitter. This social media that takes up our time and forces us to stare at a screen have replaced yesterday's interactive front porches. Richard Thomas wrote an essay in 1975 titled "From Porch to Patio" about family-home architecture changing: "The porch served many important social functions in addition to advertising the availability of its inhabitants." He notes that the rising use of the automobile made architecture retreat to the styling of the backyard patio. “In communities with high rates of mobility, one did not often want to know his neighbor. The constant turn-over of neighbors worked against the long-term relationships which are essential to a sense of belonging.”

In our modern times and our constant "connectivity", how is this taking a toll on our ability to socially relate, or even, give our brain enough processing time to intelligently relate?

In his 2008 Atlantic article "Is Google making us stupid?", Nicholas Carr writes, "And what the Net seems to be doing is chipping away my capacity for concentration and contemplation. My mind now expects to take in information the way the Net distributes it: in a swiftly moving stream of particles... many say they’re having similar experiences. The more they use the Web, the more they have to fight to stay focused on long pieces of writing."

And think of how this affects conversation.

So, Brain Day is needed, don't you think? Think of a cow, how it stands still and slowly chews its food over and over.

Carlo Petrini, founder of the Slow Food movement, wrote these thoughts that apply to the need for giving our mind a rest, a slow day. "The quest for slowness, which begins as a simple rebellion against the impoverishment of taste in our lives, makes it possible to rediscover taste. By living slowly, you understand other things, too; by slowing down in comparison to the world, you soon come into contact with what the world regards as its "dumps" of knowledge, which have been deemed slow and therefore marginalized.... You reassess the elements of consumer culture, and in rural knowledge, you discover surprisingly simple solutions to problems which speed has made complex and apparently insoluble."

A. S. Byatt's character comments in A Biographer's Tale, "I have often wondered what happened to my own generation, that we seem to absorb so pitifully little." We can absorb much here on our Earth, but let's take the time to chew and reflect upon what is really important, and savor what makes us intelligent and thoughtful people, a people that appreciate the small and slow things of life.

Susan Cain, author of Quiet: the Power of Introverts in a World that can't stop talking, said in a recent interview, "It’s never a good idea to organize society in a way that depletes the energy of half the population.... This also leads to a lot of wrongheaded notions that affect introverts and extroverts alike. Here’s just one example: Most schools and workplaces now organize workers and students into groups, believing that creativity and productivity comes from a gregarious place. This is nonsense, of course. From Darwin to Picasso to Dr. Seuss, our greatest thinkers have often worked in solitude..."

Whether introvert or extrovert, be encouraged to give yourself the time to give your brain a rest and unplug from the constant buzz, and see what happens!

Two weeks: the heartbeat

jantonuccio — Fri, 20 Apr 2012 18:07:49 +0000

These past two weeks have been... enlightening. The first week, we celebrated the existence of libraries. The second week we extended gratefulness to volunteers.

Why is this enlightening?

Because the two are so very connected, it sometimes feels like the pulse in the heart of community.

Explanation: Here in our neck of the woods, our libraries act as community centers. Mind, they do not replace actual community centers that are established in the area, but much as, say, the farmer's market or grocery store is a place where you will be guaranteed to run into someone you know, thus is the library.

Often reiterated is the importance of a library as a center of information and learning, but it is also a place where you can be loud and quiet at the same time; or educated and satiated at the same time. You can see someone in the glorious golden years of their life or see a young child discovering picture books for the first time. It is like a garden growing, an ecosystem, a vibrant functioning deep-rooted organism that is necessary for survival on this planet. (I'm getting a little carried away, but you get my drift.)

But the patrons are the loamy delightful soil in why our doors remain open. If not for the need for space to stretch and learn and relax and search and grow and rest and read and communicate, we wouldn't exist. We delight in the delight of our patrons.

Yet also to feed this organism, to keep it going, people need to lovingly maintain and nurture what is there. We have a healthy army of volunteers that regularly come to help us out: whether internally with the books and straightening or helping with crafty projects; or externally with the gardens. And we treasure each and every one of them. And it is worth having a week set aside nationally to celebrate them, but we also try to celebrate them every day. Because we are interconnected, symbiotic.

So, thus ends this lesson on enlightenment.

Thank you patrons. Thank you volunteers.

National Volunteer Week - Thank you Volunteers!

jantonuccio — Mon, 16 Apr 2012 10:07:14 +0000

"With every hour and every act, our lives are made richer, our communities are drawn closer, and our country is forged stronger by the dedication and generous spirit of volunteers." - President Barack Obama

"In American society today, we need to have volunteerism. I truly believe that it is the glue that will hold us together..." - Senator Barbara Mikulski

"Our mission is nothing less than to spark a renewed sense of obligation, a new sense of duty, a new season of service..." -- President Bill Clinton

"...everyday acts of compassion and purpose that move millions to make change in their communities, our Nation has always been at its best when individuals have come together to realize a common vision." - President Barack Obama