We recently upgraded our the calendar of events feature on our website so that all events can be viewed at once, instead of having to switch back and forth between different calendars for adults, young adults and children. Now when you click on any calendar link on our website you will be taken to a cleanly designed, yet eye-pleasing page on which you can see everything that’s scheduled for the current month. You can also look ahead, to future months, or backward to see what you’ve missed. (Although, right now, you can only go back to mid-June, when we started to put this new calendar together.) It is also possible with two clicks to switch from the “All Events” view to a different view that only shows age-appropriate events. For example, you can just see events for kids, or just events for adults, etc. This calendar also has features for the staff, that will make our work-lives a little easier, or at least we’ll be a little better informed!

You can check it out right now by clicking here –> Calendar of Events

We are refining some formatting problems with the report but will be sending it to the bindery next week.  The full report and appendices will be on our webpage but not until mid-July.  Eric Cohen, our webmaster and all around computer genius is going on vacation so we must await his return before loading the document.  Once the physical copies are available, you can come to the library and ask to see it.  We will have one available at the Circulation Desks.  In my office will be the report, appendices and miscellanea.  Please feel free to come ask to see it.  We project that it will be available to you in paper and web format by July 10.

Some of our friends from Biloxi are visiting Sag Harbor this week.  They all deserve our respect for what they are still dealing with down South.  I had absolutely no idea how bad things still are down there.  New Orleans citizens’ were grateful to the American Library Association for being the first major conference to visit NO since Katrina;  we all felt embarrassed by their thanks.  It is truly unbelievable to me the lack of assistance people are receiving.  I spoke with a woman who lost everything - her house disappeared.  All that remained of her family’s belongings was a tube of lipstick found in a ditch.  There is nothing in parts of the coast - no trees, no buildings, no evidence that there were ever communities there.   I just want to humbly thank New Orleans for being so good to us while we were down there.  One of the conference speakers was Cooper Anderson.  He encouraged librarians, as the keepers of memory in this country, to go home and tell everyone we know not to forget what happened and is still happening to our fellow citizens down South.  I encourage everyone to visit New Orleans and bring some help and hope to that city as well as all of the other cities and parishes so devastated by this terrible event. 

As announced in the May-June issue of the JJML newsletter, the next session of computer classes will be offered in August. The exact courses to be offered will be announced in the July-August newsletter which will be mailed to all residents of the Sag Harbor School District during the first week of July. As always, there will be an official day on which registration opens. For this session that day will be Tuesday, July 18th at 10:00 am. You may register in person here at the library or by phone. Call 725-0049, ext. 37 on or after July 18, 2006 at 10:00 am. No registrations will be accepted before that time. Around the time the newsletter is mailed, we will also post a list of the courses being offered here, and on our website.

UPDATE:
The courses being offered in the summer session are:

1. Computer 101 (4 sessions)
2. Computer 102 (5 sessions)
3. All About Blogging (5 sessions)
4. Protectiing Your Computer (1 session)

More information is available in the July-August newsletter and on our website.

Well, tonight I head to New Orleans. This is the annual ALA conference, which features a multitude of programs, committee meetings, and opportunities to speak with vendors about new products. It is with a sense of trepidation that I go, as a friend of mine told me that the trip from the airport to New Orleans itself shows the incredible devastation - cars are still in trees, whole neighborhoods look no different than they did a few days after the terrible hurricane. Many of us are volunteering to help rebuild/reorganize New Orleans' public library branches. I am expecting this to be a very sobering conference experience. We are actually the first conference to be held in New Orleans since the storm; every other scheduled conference organization cancelled. Apparently one can hear the refrain "the librarians are coming" from the people left in New Orleans who so desperately need tourists and conference attendees to bring much-needed money to the city.

The Library receives monthly announcements of upcoming Civil Service examinations.  They can be found in the Reference Room on the second floor. More detailed information about Civil Service jobs and examinations can be found at http://www.suffolkcountyny.gov/civilservice.

Come to the Library and check out the latest books on resume writing, interview techniques and  job hunting.  Here are some of the great books you'll find:  Same-Day Resume,  Gallery of Best Resumes, Gallery of Best Resumes for People Without a Four-Year Degree, Get Hired Now!, Perfect Phrases for the Perfect Interview, Next-Day Interview, 101 Smart Questions to Ask on Your Interview, 301 Smart Answers to Tough Interview Questions,  Sweaty Palms: The Neglected Art of Being Interviewed, Conquering Today's Changing Job Market and Soaring On Your Strengths.

Check out the Suffolk County One-Stop Employment Center in Hauppauge.  They offer free job search services including: use of phones, fax machines and copiers, assistance with resume preparation, career counseling, job placement assistance and much more. For more information call 853-6600 in Hauppauge or our Reference Desk at 725-0049 x 26.

The Library is an information center. We have daily papers & weekly local papers. We have a wide selection of magazines. We have books on tape and CD. We have videos and dvds. We have computers and wireless computers space. We offer a wide range of programs. We are part of the Suffolk Library System so if we don't have what you are looking for we can probably get it. Come in and let us help you!

We would love to offer a reading group for the gentlemen in our community. There has been interest from our patrons. We have no one willing to be the leader. I am more than willing to support any one willing to give it a try. I can get books from the Library System. They provide a list of titles that have been voted most wanted to read.  I can set up using the library space. I just need someone who would be comfortable leading the group. The two groups we have going are very popular and each have developed a loyal following. If interested please call Pat 725-0049 ext. 27 I guarantee you will be glad you did.