Anne Lamott in her new book Grace (Eventually) Thoughts on Faith

 We were there to celebrate some of the rare intelligence capabilities that our country can actually be proud of-those of librarians.  I see them as healers and magicians.  Librarians can tease out of inarticulate individuals enough information about what they are after to  lead them on the path of connection.  They are trail guides through the forest of shelves and aisles-you turn a person loose who has limited skills, and he’ll be walloped by the branches. But librarians match up readers with the right book:”Hey, is this one too complicated? Then why don’t you give this one a try?”

“Then came the lovely spring with a rush of blossoms and music,

Flooding the earth with flowers, and the air with melodies vernal.”  

                       Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, “The Theologian’s Tale,” Tales of a Wayside Inn, 1863-1874.

“Praise with elation, / Praise every morning / Spring’s re-creation / Of the First Day!”

                       Eleanor Farjeon, “A Morning Song (For the First Day of Spring),” The Children’s Bells (1960). 

Watch this space for more information on downloadable audio books. Sometime in the next couple of months, JJML will introduce books that can be downloaded from our website to your home computer, and then played on a personal listening device (MP3 player).

Most popular brands of MP3 players will be supported — but not iPods, sorry. (This is due to Apple’s use of proprietary digital rights management (DRM) software. The books in our collection will be protected by Windows DRM, which is not supported on the iPod.) JJML will also have a small number of MP3 players to lend to patrons, so if you don’t have your own — or have an iPod — you can use one of ours to listen to the books you download.

More info coming soon…

Just a reminder to all those people who tired of their winter coats, snow & ice.  Wednesday March 21st is the first day of spring.  Warmer weather should be right around the corner.

Did you remember to plant your peas on Saturday March 17th?

Tonight at 6:30 [March 16th] The Library will be showing “Man of the Year” the film is 1 hr. and 55 minutes.  It stars Robin Williams and has a great supporting cast of Christipher Walken, Jeff Goldblum, Laura Linney and Lewis Black.  We hope you’ll join us!  Next months movies will be-April 6th-Pursuit of Happyness, April 13th [independent film] The Great Match & April 20th The Good Shephard. 

Most people that use the library know that Libraries offer lots and lots of services besides lending books.  You can take out DVD’s and Video’s.  There is a wonderful selection of magazines.  Local and daily newspapers are here and are kept for more than a day.  Lots of wonderful and interesting programs are offered.  Computers for the public.  Wireless access for those interested. The best thing that John Jermain Library offers is a wonderful staff that really wants to help you find what you need.  Why don’t you stop by and give us a chance to help you.  [During tax time it is handy to use the photo-copier-very reasonable]

Everything you’ve always wanted to know about Daylight Saving Time can be found at www.energy.ca.gov/daylightsaving.html. It’s history and why we use it is all here as well as interesting trivia about time and links to related sites.

Keep this web site handy: www.poisonprevention.org  It contains information on how to prevent accidental poisonings and what to do if you think someone has been poisoned from a medicine or household chemical.  According to Poison Prevention. Org  “more than 2 million poisonings are reported each year to the 61 Poison Control Centers across the country.  More than 90 percent of these poisonings occur in the home.”  

The weather is starting to warm up.  The roads and sidewalks are free of snow and ice.  What a great day for a walk.  The library has some great books that give great pointers on the health benefits of walking & how to benefit physically.  We also have information on where to walk and what to look for.  Stop by we would love to help you.

April at the John Jermain Library is going to bring new Library cards.  Key ring cards are becoming so popular because of the convenience we’ve decided to join the bandwagon.  We will be replacing each Library card with a regular card and a key ring card.  We are going to start doing this when the desk is not busy.  We hope everyone will enjoy  the convenience on our new system.