Celebrate National Library Week: April 14th-20th, 2013

WHEREAS, libraries are the heart of their communities, campuses and schools;

WHEREAS; librarians work to meet the changing needs of their communities, including providing resources for everyone and bringing services outside of library walls;

WHEREAS, libraries and librarians bring together community members to enrich and shape the community and address local issues;

WHEREAS, librarians are trained, tech-savvy professionals, providing technology training and access to downloadable content like e-books;

WHEREAS, libraries offer programs to meet community needs, providing residents with resume writing classes, 24/7 homework help and financial planning services to teens applying for student loans to older adults planning their retirement;

WHEREAS, libraries continuously grow and evolve in how they provide for the needs of every member of their communities;

WHEREAS, libraries, librarians, library workers and supporters across America are celebrating National Library Week.

NOW, THEREFORE, be it resolved that I proclaim National Library Week, April 14-20, 2013. I encourage all residents to visit the library this week to take advantage of the wonderful library resources available @ your library.

Communities matter @ your library.

The Lizzie Bennet Diaries is a modern adaptation of Jane Austen’s beloved classic, Pride and Prejudice, told through a vlog web series on YouTube. The series just wrapped up with its 100th episode last Thursday, bringing tears to many a fan’s eye. But for those that have not heard about LBD, you get to watch straight through without having to wait for new episodes!

LBD does a marvelous job of bringing some of the antiquated occurrences into a modern light. For example, the lady Bennets are not going to be kicked out of their house once the father dies due to primogeniture, but instead they face the possibility of foreclosure, with the three sisters taking on student debts. Kitty has been relegated to a cat, and Mary is a cousin rather than a sister. Lydia, while still…energetic, has much more character development, and her own story.

In fact, this series does an amazing job at cross-multimedia. There are multiple video spin-offs for the series (Lydia’s videos, Charlotte’s sister Maria has a set of videos, Mr. Collins’ company’s videos, and Mr. Darcy’s company’s videos), but also nearly every character has and regularly uses Twitter, Tumblr, and Facebook, while others use Pinterest, LinkedIn and OKCupid. I daresay it’s a modern masterpiece.

For those that are still wailing about the ending of The Lizzie Bennet Diaries, fear not! For there is hope: Not only is LBD coming out on DVD, but the creators are going to continue their cross-media storytelling with Austen’s unfinished work, Sanditon. There’s also a rumor that the Sanditon series will then transition over into yet another novel! Perhaps Mondays and Thursdays won’t be so depressing after all.

Still looking for something to do before Sanditon comes out? Well, you can always read Sanditon, or read and watch Pride and Prejudice!

The ampersand is a logogram (a character that represents a word) that dates back to the 1st centry C.E. In Roman cursive, the ampersand is “Et,” which is Latin for “and” (“Et tu, Brute?” = “And you, Brutus?”, “et al” = “and all”).

So how did “et” become the modern ampersand? Well, anyone that has dealt with cursive will attest that handwriting can and often is stylized to the point of illegibility.

As time went on, it became more and more stylized–and so it goes (or, et ita fit)! The word “ampersand” itself is thought to come from “& per se and” (“and per se and”).

Want to know more about etymology (the history of words)? Try any of these books.

The Davenport Public Libraries will be closed Friday, March 28th and Sunday, March 30th for the holiday. However, all locations will still open their normal hours, 9:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., on Saturday, March 29th.

Thank you, and have a great Spring!

Most everyone is familiar with the idea of a birthstone or birthday stone: A gemstone popularly associated with an aspect of your birthday. But did you know there are many different birthstone origins?

Here is the list of modern birthstones, which most of us will find familiar:

January: Garnet
February: Amethyst
March: Aquamarine
April: Diamond
May: Emerald
June: Pearl, Moonstone
July: Ruby
August: Peridot
September: Sapphire
October: Opal, Tourmaline
November: Yellow Topaz, Citrine
December: Turquoise, Tanzanite

Birthstones appear to date back as far as 3,000 B.C.E. in both Babylon and the Indian subcontinent, and they’ve only expanded from there. So let’s just say your birthday is in March. That would mean your birthstone could be: Aquamarine, Bloodstone, Jade, Amethyst, Sapphire, Ruby, Diamond, Jasper, Topaz, or Opal! This includes the modern birthstone, the planetary stone, traditional birthstone, Ayurvedic (traditional Indian medicine), sun sign (of which there are several, as there are two sun signs per month, and each sign has a couple stones), Arabic, Hebrew, Roman, Polish, mystical, Italian, Russian, talismanic, and ancient Hindu. Whew! Good thing some of those overlap.

Oh, and don’t forget that the day of your birth has its own stone as well:

Sunday: Topaz, Diamond
Monday: Pearl, Crystal
Tuesday: Ruby, Emerald
Wednesday: Amethyst, Lodestone
Thursday: Sapphire, Carnelian
Friday: Emerald, Cat’s Eye
Saturday: Turquoise, Diamond

So basically, just about any gemstone you like can be attributed to just about any birthday. Now how to convince Mr. Trivia of that on trivia night…?

Want to know more about birthstones and their origins? Our Reference librarians would be happy to help: 563.326.7832.

Freedom of Information (FOI) Day is an annual event on or near March 16, the birthday of James Madison, who is widely regarded as the Father of the Constitution and as the foremost advocate for openness in government. Each year, the James Madison Award and the Eileen Cooke State & Local Madison Award are presented by the American Library Association Washington (DC) Office on Freedom of Information Day to recognize those individuals or groups that have championed, protected, and promoted public access to government information and the public’s right to know.

For more information on Freedom of Information Day or President James Madison, our librarians are more than happy to help. Call 563-326-7832 or visit our website.

March 14th is the U.S. House of Representatives-approved Pi Day! Pi (π) is the mathematical constant that is the ratio of a circle’s circumference to its diameter, and is approximately equal to 3.14–hence the date March 14th (3.14)!

You can celebrate Pi Day by checking out one of our many books on the subject. Rather read something a little less technical? Try “Sir Cumference and the Dragon of Pi: A Math Adventure” by Cindy Neuschwander:

When Sir Cumference drinks a potion which turns him into a dragon, his son Radius searches for the magic number known as pi which will restore him to his former shape.

Pi is not to be confused with the protagonist of Life of Pi.

Pi Day is also not to be confused with Pie Day, which is January 23rd. You know what? Go ahead and confuse them, because…pie.

Mmm…pie.

From InternationalWomensDay.com:

International Women’s Day (8 March) is a global day celebrating the economic, political and social achievements of women past, present and future.

Check out this event by perusing IWD.com, or following the hashtags #womensday and #iwd on Twitter.

March has also been declared Women’s History Month in the United States. So be sure to celebrate the lovely women in your life and the heroines of the past this month! The library has many books and DVDs on the subject to get you started.