PLAYAWAYS ARE HERE!

The library offers a variety of formats for the reading and listening enjoyment of its patrons, from paperback to hardcover, CD to DVD, largeprint, graphic novels and more. On my February 8th blog I mentioned downloadable audio books from OverDrive as another new format libraries are offering. OverDrive is a great resource and many have used it, but it requires you to download a title to your PC and ultimately your MP3 player. For those who do not want to do this but still want the benefit of listening to a title on an easy-to-use player the library now offers Playaways.

A Playaway is a simple and immediate way to enjoy an audio book. Its portability allows you to enjoy a title on-the-go.

After checking out a Playaway with your library card, all you have to do is press play to start listening immediately – there is no need for you to have a separate MP3 player, and it comes with earbuds and a battery to make it play.

· Each Playaway contains an entire book, for example one playaway we own has the title “Atonement”, and another “No Country for Old Men”.
· A Playaway weighs only 2 ounces and can easily fit in a pocket for portability.
· They come with an automatic bookmark function that remembers where you left off.

Through a contribution of the Friends of the Chili Public Library the library has purchased 14 playaway titles and have 6 more on the way. There are 277 playaway titles in the Monroe County Library System. Come to the library and try it out. Playaways are loaned for 3 weeks.

Children’s Stories Read To You By The Screen Actors Guild

Visit the website of the Chili Public Library www.chililibrary.org/ and with your children listen to Melissa Gilbert reading the book “My Rotten Redheaded Older Brother”. See Elijah Wood reading the children’s book “Me and My Cat”, Al Gore reading “Brave Irene”, or Amanda Bynes reading “The Night I followed the Dog”. The Screen Actors Guild Foundation brings you these three stories and more from Storyline Online, an on-line streaming video program featuring SAG members reading children’s books aloud!

Story time programs for children of all ages are popularly attended at the Chili Public Library. What better way to connect with your child and introduce them to the joy of reading then through story time. To access this feature from the Chili Public Library website, select ‘Children’, then select “Storyline Online”. For each online story there is an activity guide you can download.

Here is a comment from a mother of four with two children under 6 on using this website: “This site is wonderful especially on those nights when I am too tired after work or it is too late to read. The kids love it, it is interactive and enjoyable for both them and myself”.

The Most Trustworthy, Up-To-Date Health Information for the Rochester Area

Put the phrase ‘Treatment of Animal Bites’ into Google and you will get 1,910,000 results. Now the challenge is to choose which result is best for you. The first thing you should ask yourself is how trustworthy is the information? The website I selected from the list looked reputable though on the website there was an ad to win a spa getaway that gave me pause.

For the most trustworthy, up-to-date health information for the Rochester region, the database Clic-on-Health is the answer. It is freely available from our website. Just go there and select the Clic-on Health logo. CLIC-on-Health is a project that brings together libraries, health organizations and associations, healthcare delivery systems, and educational institutions in order to provide all the people of the greater Rochester area with the high-quality healthcare information and resources they need to make wise lifestyle and healthcare choices. The project features a web portal with information specific to Rochester health care – a “one-stop-shopping” site for health information.

I tried my search again but this time in Clic-on-Health and that led me to several reputable sources. For example there was an overview about animal bites from the American Academy of Family Physicians, as well as the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons.

One of the best features of Clic-On-Health is the’ Rochester Area Services’ feature. By selecting this feature you can quickly find the local organization that best can assist you. For example by typing in “Long Term Care” 17 area services in Monroe County were given, each with telephone numbers, addresses, and service description. There is much more to the Clic-On-Health website. Give it a try.

The Chili Express Newsletter

Each month the Chili Public Library creates a newsletter called ‘The Chili Express’. In the Express you will find what’s new and exciting at the library, along with a list of new acquisitions added to the community’s collection. The newsletter also includes a calendar of events for the upcoming month.

You can sign up to have this newsletter sent directly to your e-mail address. To subscribe to the newsletter, go to the Town of Chili website:
· Move your mouse over ‘Interact’ in the menu at the top of the window
· Click on ‘Signup for Newsletter’ in the menu
· You will then be provided with a list of available newsletters to choose from, such as the Library, Recreation Department, Senior Center, and the Town
· Click the ‘Subscribe’ button next to a newsletter to subscribe
· You will be asked to provide your name and valid email address

Be the first to see what programs the library will be providing children, teens and adults. Sign up today!

Cyberspace Library Book Club

Join our Online Book Clubs by visiting our library webpage at http://www.chililibrary.org/ and clicking on the link Online Book Clubs. It is easy to sign up. Once you sign up, every day, Monday through Friday, you will receive in your email a five-minute selection from a chapter of a book. By the end of the week, you’ll have read 2-3 chapters, enough to tell you if reading the complete book is to your liking. Every Monday a new book is started. The genres available for you to join are fiction, nonfiction, teen, business, romance, good news, science fiction, mystery, horror, audio, and pre-publication.

This week’s online fiction book was Challenger Park by Stephen Harrigan. In this book he pens a novel of extraordinary power and excitement that takes readers to the heart of what it's like to be one of today's astronauts, and to experience the unimaginable joy and terror of going into space.

This week’s pre-publication book was The Killer's Wife by Bill Floyd. Floyd has written an astonishingly powerful debut novel of suspense that is told from the point of view of a serial killer's wife, who finds herself caught in the net of her husband's past.

See what new books will be in the online book club next week. Sign up and start reading.

Enter the Woman's Day Library Contest

Woman’s Day magazine along with the American Library Association is running the contest, “Has the library positively impacted your health?” If the library’s resources have helped you find a diagnosis for yourself or a loved one, or improved your physical, mental or emotional well-being, enter the contest in an essay of 700 words or less. You may be one of the four women featured in an upcoming issue of Woman’s Day. You may enter by e-mailing the essay to womansday@ala.org between Feb. 12 and May 11, 2008, noon ET. Click here to see the contest rules.

The March 4, 2008 issue featured the four winners of “The library helped me start my business”.

CHILI QUICK READS

If you are a fast reader than the Chili Quick Reads are for you! The library has a collection of popular books from bestselling authors located in our New Books section of the library. These books are set apart from the rest of our collection in that the loan period for Chili Quick Reads is one week instead of three, and the books are not renewable. At any given time we have over 100 books in the Quick Read collection. This week you will find Jonathan & Faye Kellerman’s Capital Crimes on the shelf, as well as John Grisham’s Playing for Pizza, and Catherine Coulter’s Wizards Daughter.

Downloadable Audiobooks for Your Listening Pleasure

When browsing the library collection don’t forget about our downloadable audiobooks! As a member of the Monroe County Library System, the library has access over 1,000 downloadable audiobooks you can choose from and check out with your library card. Listen to the new release Peony in Love by Lisa See or choose the classic Pride and Prejudice by Janes Austen. Learn a new language or listen to the popular biography The Diana Chronicles by Tina Brown. The library never closes with our digital library. Browse, checkout, and download these audiobooks to your PC or MP3 player anytime from anywhere in the world. Visit our library's webpage or click here to get to the downloadable audiobooks.

Tax Time Is Here

Tax time is here and the Chili Public Library has copies of popular tax forms in our lobby. To find online tax forms and information on free tax preparation in Monroe County click here for tax information.

If All of Rochester Read the Same Book

We all have the opportunity to share the same experience by taking part in Writers & Books http://www.wab.org/ “If All of Rochester Read the Same Book”. This year the selected book is Hope and Other Dangerous Pursuits by Laila Lahami.

The book is about four Moroccan Muslims who illegally cross the Strait of Gibraltar in search of a better life. We learn what led them to take this risky journey as well as the ramifications the trip has brought upon their lives. I enjoyed reading this book and hope you do too. With clearly written prose and crisp characterization this book accomplishes what good fiction is meant to do and that is build upon our view of the world by introducing us to the life experiences of others.

Latest web poll

Here are the results of the latest poll: What type of fiction books do you best like to read? If there are any other polls you would like to see just let me know.

Mysteries – 33%
Historical Fiction – 33%
Realistic Fiction – 22%
Romance – 22%
Crime 11%
Detective – 11%
Fantasy – 11%
Science Fiction – 11%
Western – 11%
Action-Adventure – 0%