The Board of Trustees and the staff of the John Jermain Memorial Library invite the public to a series of presentations with the four architectural firms currently under consideration for the One Library/Two Building plan. These events will take place in the library’s third floor rotunda and are scheduled as follows:

• Saturday, May 3rd, 10:00 a.m. : Croxton Collaborative
• Saturday, May 3rd, 1:00 p.m. : Farewell Mills Gatsch (FMG)
• Monday, May 5th, 2:00 p.m. : Herbert S. Newman and Partners
• Monday, May 5th, 5:00 p.m. : Drummey Rosane Anderson (DRA)

Each session will consist of a presentation by the firm, and an open question-and-answer session with the public, followed by a period for the Board to question the firms. The public portions of these events will run approximately an hour and a half and will be videotaped and made available for anyone not able to attend. Proposals from each of these firms are available in the Library Director’s office. Please stop by to view them, and please share your thoughts and dreams for the future of your library. For additional information  call Catherine Creedon at 631 725.0049 extension 23.

JJML invites you to join the Academy of American Poets in celebrating the first national Poem in Your Pocket Day. The idea is simple: select a poem then carry it with you (poem in your pocket) and unfold it with family, friends and coworkers throughout the day.

For the past five years, New Yorkers have been unfolding poems on Poem In Your Pocket Day and reading them in parks, libraries, schools, workplaces and bookstores. Organize your own Poem In Your Pocket Day event during National Poetry Month, or visit http://poets.org/page.php/prmID/406 for ways to celebrate this April 17th.

Room to Read, a non-profit organization that donates libraries to communities in developing nations, is the inspiration and life-work of former Microsoft executive John Wood, who delivered the keynote address at the Public Library Association Conference in Minneapolis, MN on March 25, 2008. I was fortunate enough to be in attendance as Mr. Wood brought his energy, intellect, humor and passion to an audience of over 2,000 librarians.

In addition to donating libraries, Room to Read also builds schools, publishes children’s books in the native languages of developing countries and provides scholarships to girls in nations where they would not normally have the chance to receive an education due to lack of funds and cultural preferences. Founded on the belief that “World Change Starts with Educated Children” - and that education is the key to breaking the cycle of poverty, Room to Read has established over 5,100 libraries in the developing world since its inception in 2000.

Mr. Wood was inspired to leave his job at Microsoft after a vacation spent trekking in Nepal where he had the opportunity to visit a local school whose library’s only books were popular soft-cover fiction titles in English left behind by other hikers. His promise to return with more appropriate books for the schools’ students, was met with a certain degree of skepticism, as the local teachers had heard this many times before; but return he did, with Yak-loads of books. The joy he saw on the faces of the students as they eagerly accepted his donation convinced Mr. Wood to quit his job at Microsoft and found an organization that could address this problem on a larger level.

His transformation from Microsoft Executive to proselytizer-and-chief of a pioneering non-profit organization is documented in Mr. Wood’s memoir Leaving Microsoft to Change the World. I picked up a copy at the conference, and found it informative, inspiring, and surprisingly entertaining. As I write this JJML has ordered a copy, which should be on our shelves in a short time. Had I known about this book when I was compiling my Staff Picks list for April, it would definitely would have been on the list. I recommend both the book and the charity as worthy of your time and money.

You can find out more about Room to Read at http://www.roomtoread.org.

This is absolutely fascinating. Project Song from National Public Radio (NPR), is an intimate look at how song writers go about the business of creating words and music in real time. Hosted by Bob Boilen of NPR’s All Songs Considered, Project Song invites musicians to spend two days in the NPR recording studio during which they are asked to write and record a new composition. NPR provides inspiration in the form of words and pictures to stimulate the musicians’ imaginations, and asks them to pick one photo and one phrase as “themes” for the song they will create. Then they get out of the way as they, and we, watch the process unfold.

So far Boilen has worked with three musicians Stephen Merritt of the group Magnetic Fields, Nellie McKay, and the duo of Laura Burhenn and John Davis, who comprise Georgie James, and the results have been both enlightening and, to my ear, very pleasing. The fascinating thing for me is to contemplate the fact that in no other era would it have been possible to observe artists at work in this very personal way.

NPR’s Project Song website has videos of each of the musicians at work, as well as the story of each session as it was presented on public radio’s All Things Considered, and a recording (with video) of the completed song. If you enjoy popular music, this is a don’t miss web experience.

The purpose of The Amphibian Ark Global Campaign: “2008 Year of the Frog”  is to disseminate information about the amphibian extinction crisis.  To learn more about this important issue visit http://www.amphibianark.org/yearofthefrog.htm . Amphibian Ark’s stated purpose “is to generate public awareness and understanding of the amphibian extinction crisis which represents the greatest species conservation challenge in the history of humanity.”

Love Books and Libraries? If you do, you will enjoy a visit (or two, or more) to Library Thing (http://www.librarything.com). Library Thing is an ingenious website that lets you catalog your own books on the Internet. You can also label them with “tags” that are representative of some aspect of the book, and/or meaningful to you. Once you’ve done that, other users of the website can find books you’ve cataloged based on the “tags” you’ve given them. For example, if you cataloged The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown with the words “art,” “Jesus,” and “Mary,” “conspiracy” and “crime fiction,” anyone searching at Library Thing on any of those words, and especially on all of them, would find the book you had cataloged. In that way, readers can share books they love with other readers with similar interests.

And the fun doesn’t stop there. Once you’ve cataloged a few books, you can then ask Library Thing to show you the collections of other readers with similar tastes on the theory that if you both read a lot of the same books, you will also be interested in other books that person or persons have read that you have not.

Library Thing also lets you rate books on a 1-5 star rating scale, and, if you’re so inclined, write reviews of books you like, or of ones you don’t. And there’s more, but I’ll let you discover the additional features for yourself. Best of all, though, is that you can use all the features of Library Thing, and catalog up to 200 books free. To expand your catalog beyond 200 books will cost you anywhere from $6.00 to $20.00 a year. You decide how much you’re willing to pay. $10.00/per year is the recommended fee, and, of course, they’ll gladly accept more than $20.00/per year if you’re inclined to pay more.

Highly recommended by librarians and book lovers everywhere. Check it out.

Earlier this week , Library Director Catherine Creedon presented “Needle in a Haystack,” an hour-long class on finding what you’re looking for on the Internet (which can be a daunting prospect even for experienced web surfers). This well attended class was a big hit and will be repeated in March. (Check the Library’s online calendar, or JJML newsletter for the exact date. Update: Catherine’s class will be repeated on Wednesday, April 9th, and a new Part II — about using online reference tools, such as JJML’s Virtual Reference Library will be presented on Wednesday, April 30th. Both classes run from 8:45 to 9:45 a.m.

Sometimes, though, you just find something wonderful on the Internet simply through serendipity…I went here, I clicked there, and boom, there it was. Just such a thing happened to me today, and I thought, I’ve just found a needle in a haystack! So in honor of Catherine’s class, and just because I thought you all should have a chance to see it, I’m posting the short film I found on YouTube here. It’s called Love in a Backwards World. Enjoy!

Recently on National Public Radio I heard part of a story about a book called Not Quite What I Was Planning: Six-Word Memoirs By Famous and Obscure Writers by the editors of the on-line magazine, Smith. To introduce the topic, Smith’s editors quoted a possibly apocryphal story about Ernest Hemingway, who, when asked to write a story in six words came back with, “For Sale: baby shoes, never used.”

Several famous and semi-famous people have written their own six-word memoirs on the Smith website including author Joyce Carol Oates who wrote, “revenge is living well without you,” comic author Harvey Pekar, “fight, work, persevere — gain slight noteriety,” and Chef Mario Battali, “brought it to a boil often.” You can click on the links above to read more six-word memoirs or listen to the original NPR broadcast.

We (JJML) have ordered the book, so it will be availble here, but some of us were also inspired to write our own six-word memoirs. Here’s mine: “three great children: my great accomplishment.” Library Director (and author) Catherine Creedon wrote three:

1. Six words?  No: Too many stories.
2. Actually, all the mistakes paid off.
3. Once upon a time…. Happily everafter.

Now we’re throwing this great idea open to you. What’s your six-word memoir? Click on “Comment” and share your six-word biography with other JJML patrons.

Lots of people use the quiet months of the winter to go away.  If you find you can’t -it doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try another alternative.  Take some books out from the Library.  If you always wanted to go to Italy. Treat yourself to a weekend in Italy without the packing and long lines and customs.  You can get an Italian cookbook and try some different recipes.  Get an Italian language tape or book and practice your Italian even with simple phrases.  Borrow a couple of DVD’s something Italian or something that puts you in the Italian frame of mind.  Under the Tuscan Sun, The Italian Job or the Da Vinci code. are some that might entertain.  There also dvd’s about traveling around different cities or countries-if we don’t have it we can borrow it.  There is alot to be said for traveling without leaving the comfort of your own bed.  Now if you are going away we can help find information on any destination and we would love to help. Ciao!

Won’t you join our club?  Starting March 1st until April 15th The Library is having a Reading Club for the Grown-ups.  Why should the kids have all the fun?  Everyone gets a prize!  There will be weekly drawings, you add your name for each book you read.  If you read Five books in the Six weeks you get a prize.  Can it get better than this-Read what you like and get a prize for doing it. Call the library for details.  We hope you join us!