Events for the Week of January 20…

Please note that the library will be closed on Monday (1/20) in honor of Martin Luther King Jr.  Things going on at the library during the remainder of the week include:

• Little Ones’ Storytime on Wednesday (1/22) at 10:30
• STAR Reader on Wednesday at 3:00
• Covered California Information Table sets up on Wednesday at 4:30
• STAR Reader on Thursday (1/23) at 3:00
• Fun w/ Tablets program kicks off on Thursday at 4:00
• Drop in Computer Lab on Friday (1/24) at 3:30
• Arroyo Book Club meets on Saturday (1/25) at 3:00

You can always check the Branch Page (http://www.lapl.org/branches/arroyo-seco) on the LAPL website for upcoming events or check out the Master Calendar (http://www.lapl.org/whats-on/calendar) where you can search for something specific across multiple branches.

When You Catch an Adjective, Kill It

When You Catch an Adjective, Kill It by Ben Yagoda takes a lighthearted look at English parts of speech.  This is a surprisingly informative (& readable) book.  The author takes each part of speech one by one and goes off a bit stream of consciousnessly on it taking care to tuck in plenty of factual information.  All in all a book I enjoyed & would recommend to others. 

Requesting Your Photos…

In celebration of our 100^th anniversary at our location on 6145 N. Figueroa I am creating a display of photographs & I want yours.  Send me a picture of your favorite person, place, and/or thing in Highland Park and I will add it to my display.  Include a caption if you wish.  Stop by over the course of January & February and take a look at the display as it grows.

Send your picture to me at ayosco@lapl.org, tweet it to me @ArroyoSeo5, or just bring it to the library and give it to the librarian.  Please be sure it is a picture you are willing to see displayed to the general public.

Trivia of the Week...

This week’s question is what does the term rak’a refer to?

Fun w/ Tablets…

We are announcing the launch of a new programming series entitled Fun w/ Tablets.  The program will take place weekly on Thursday (beginning on 1/23) from 4:00 to 5:00.  Each Thursday we will get the Tablets set up for you to play with.  We will set an activity prompt to provide some guidance to your play.  These activities will cover the gamut of things you can do with a tablet computer.  One week we might focus on straight up drawing while the next we look at taking and editing photos and the next we play around with creating intelligent graphs.  There are a lot of possibilities and we welcome your suggestions of things we ought to try to get people to do.

The Fun w/ Tablets program is open to people of all ages and the senior citizen is as welcome as the pre-schooler who is as welcome as anyone else.  Please do plan to join us.  

TOW (& Answer)...

This week’s question was what does Little Rock Nine reference?  The Little Rock Nine refers to the nine high school students who successfully integrated Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas in 1957.  The nine students were Minijean Brown, Elizabeth Eckford, Ernest Green, Jefferson Thomas, Carlotta Walls, Thelma Mothershed, Terrance Roberts, Melba Pattillo, and Gloria Ray.

Read more about them in the source of this week’s question: The Encyclopedia of African-American Heritage  by Susan Altman.  This information was found on p. 146-147.  The book was published by Facts on File in 1997. 

Events for the Week of January 13…

Things going on at the library during the week include:

• Teen event (make yourself a cute, fuzzy, tiny creature) on Tuesday (1/14) at 4:00
• Little Ones’ Storytime on Wednesday (1/15) at 10:30
• STAR Reader on Wednesday at 3:00
• STAR Reader on Thursday (1/16) at 3:00
• Drop in Computer Lab on Friday (1/17) at 3:30
• Library Web Tools & the Internet Class on Saturday (1/18) at 2:00
• Showing of the Movie made from this month’s book club book also on Saturday at 2:00

You can always check the Branch Page (http://www.lapl.org/branches/arroyo-seco) on the LAPL website for upcoming events or check out the Master Calendar (http://www.lapl.org/whats-on/calendar) where you can search for something specific across multiple branches.

Websites I Like…

When you are contemplating the purchase of a large ticket item (or even a not so large ticket item) you want to find out what you can about your various options before moving ahead with your purchase.  It can be tricky to find a site that will give you advice without charging you money for the information.  One site you can turn to is Consumer Search (http://www.consumersearch.com/).  This site provides the top reviewed products, information about what to look for, and the “full report”.  Includes what the item is going for at various online retail sites so you can also get an idea of price.  Worth taking a look at when you want to buy yourself a new refrigerator, leaf blower, or what have you.

OverDrive Streaming Video

OverDrive (known and loved for their e-books) also make video available to borrow and stream over your web browser.  LAPL currently has more then 2,000 titles available for check out through this service.

Find the collection by going to the library’s website (www.lapl.org), clicking into e-media and then selecting OverDrive.  Once in OverDrive Click on the Advanced Search link and then change “All Formats” to “Streaming Video” and click the search button.  You can then browse through available titles.  Select one you’re interested in and click the borrow button.  You will need your library card.  Once the item is checked out you can click on the play button from the Bookshelf page and enjoy your movie.

OverDrive Streaming Video is the January e-resource of the month.  Check it out.

Cain’s Blood

Geoffrey Girard did something a little bit different.  He published two books that tell the same story at the same time.  One, Project Cain, (already covered here) told the story from the point of view of a teenage protagonist and was a YA book.  The second, Cain’s Blood, tells the exact same story but this time from the point of view of an adult protagonist and is clearly an adult book.  I read both books, primarily because I wanted to see how different they were and just how gimmicky the whole thing was.

So the author actually does a fairly decent job of making the two books distinctly different experiences.  The scenarios, timelines, & events are all the same of course but the two different characters have very different takes on things and each is involved in parts of the story the other is unaware of.  Additionally the adult version of the book makes plain certain aspects of the story that were more glossed over in the YA version.  The entire experience then was quite interesting. 

The plot remains a bit over the top as does the authors love of outré conspiracy theories.  I would recommend this book (the adult version of the tale) to lovers of suspense who don’t mind a bit of the fantastic. 

Trivia of the Week...

This week’s question: what does Little Rock Nine reference?

Library History…

Take a look at this 64-page booklet (http://dbase1.lapl.org/webpics/calindex/documents/05/517350.pdf) published in 1928 which details a history of all of LAPL’s branches to that date.  Photos of the branches are included. Really quite fascinating.

TOW (& Answer)...

The question was who was Marshal Warren?  To quote directly from the source:

October 31, 1870, a quarrel between Policeman Dye and Marshal Warren led to a shooting affray between these two upon the public street, in which the latter was killed, and several spectators more or less wounded.  Dye was tried and acquitted.

 The question (& answer) were found on p. 84 of Thompson and West’s History of Los Angeles County, California, a truly fascinating book. The copy we have is a 1959 reprint of the original 1880 book and was published by Howell-North.

Sunday Hours Return….

This Sunday, January 12, 2014, the Arroyo Seco Library will resume its Sunday hours.  We have prepared an event filled day in celebration of this fact.  Join us for any or all of the following:

• 12:30 Ribbon Cutting Ceremony, with excellent refreshments (of course).
• 1:00 Special Reptile themed storytime.
• 1:30 Craft project … as you’ve no doubted guessed it’s a Reptile themed craft project.
• 2:00 Thor’s Reptile Family will be in to provide us with an entertaining & educational presentation about reptiles.
• 3:00 Movie showing (call branch for details).
• STAR readers will be available all day to provide fun reading sessions to kids who come by.

Please don’t ask me where the reptile theme came from...  Nevertheless it will be fun, it will be entertaining, it will be educational & EVERYONE is welcome!

Once our Sunday hours return the Arroyo Seco Library will again be open 7 days a week:

Monday & Wednesday : 10:00-8:00

Tuesday & Thursday : 12:30-8:00

Friday & Saturday : 10:00-5:30

Sunday : 1:00-5:00