Melvil Dewey's Birthday!

It's Melvil Dewey's birthday! He was born December 10th, 1851 in New York. That means, if he was still alive, he'd be 162 years old today! In 1874, Melvil Dewey earned his bachelor's degree and in 1877, he earned his master's. But he's famous for something you, as a library goer, use all the time-- the Dewey Decimal System! The Dewey Decimal System is a library classification system that uses a three-digit number for main classes (such as "Earth Science," or "Dogs") followed by decimals as expansions for more detail (such as "Volcanoes" or "Golden Retrievers"). We, as librarians, assign a Dewey Decimal number to every book so that it can be located in the library and then returned to its proper place. This system is used in 200,000 libraries in at least 135 countries around the world!

Melvil Dewey is also known for other, less popular, library-related innovations: (1) the idea of the state library controlling the school and public libraries within that state, (2) the creation of hanging vertical files, and (3) The Library Journal, which we librarians still use in our profession today. As far as his personality, it's said that Melvil Dewey was "difficult" to deal with, establishing a pattern of making enemies, although he had a handful of friends throughout is life and also got married twice. Melvil Dewey died on December 26th, 1931 in Lake Placid, Florida.

Here is The Dewey Decimal Rap, which features a modern Melvil character himself, who explains the Dewey Decimal System for you!


For more, try checking out a book on Melville Dewey. Here are two you can reserve right now:

Melvil Dewey: Library Genius by Jill Sherman

Irrepressible Reformer: A Biography of Melvil Dewey by Wayne A. Wiegand

National Library Week!

Yay! It's National Library Week! Come to the library sometime soon and celebrate with us librarians!

The week draws attention to the important role of libraries and library workers. With your (free) library card, you can get access to hundreds of books, dvds, video games, CDs, downloads, and activities at your library--all at no cost! The library is a community place that welcomes everybody!

This year's National Library Week theme is "Communities matter @ your library" and this year's honorary chair is Caroline Kennedy.

Some important dates to recognize this week:

• Tuesday, April 16 – National Library Workers Day. NLWD is a day for library staff, users, administrators and friends groups to recognize the valuable contributions made by all library workers. Tell everyone what makes a library employee special to you by submitting your favorite worker’s name and why they are wonderful to the NLWD site.

• Wednesday, April 17 – National Bookmobile Day. This day celebrates our nation’s bookmobiles and the library professionals who provide this essential service to their communities. Show your support for bookmobiles by thanking staff or writing a letter to your library.

• Thursday, April 18 – Support Teen Literature Day. This celebration raises awareness among the general public that young adult literature is a vibrant, growing genre with much to offer today's teens. Support Teen Literature Day also highlights some award-winning teen authors and books. (Did you know there are six book awards just for teen books? Why not learn about the Alex, Edwards, Morris, Nonfiction, Odyssey, and Printz awards?)

For up-to-the-minute information on National Library Week, follow the #nlw13 tag on Twitter or come into the library!

It's Come Again... Library Card Sign Up Month.

Once again, September starts official Library Card Sign Up Month, and this year marks its 25th year!

Especially with the school year starting, if you don't already have one, now is the time to go to your library and sign up for a card. You'll be granted access to a whole bunch of free materials, activities, and resources to help you this school year.

Here are some examples:

1. Free computer and internet access every day, plus (in most cases) a few free prints a day too.

2. Hundreds of books, DVDs, CDs, and video games to take home and enjoy.

3. Classes all week long, like crafts, story times, lessons, workshops, family movies, game nights, concerts, and magic shows.

4. Help with your homework through the use of Live-brary, where you can get tutoring through BrainFuse and do research with our library-card-holder-only Online Resources.

5. TONS of free audiobooks and e-books to download onto your devices.

...And us! A lovely set of friendly librarians who are happy to help you with whatever you're looking for!

Stop into your library this month with some ID to get your library card! For more information, call or visit your library online!

25 Most Beautiful Public Libraries in the World

That's the Amsterdam Public Library pictured above.

I know I do these kinds of posts pretty frequently, but if you're any kind of library-lover at all, I hope you appreciate these beauties as much as I do. Flavorwire is the latest to post beautiful, international libraries. However, this batch is especially good (and nearer and dearer to my heart) because they're all public libraries! Have you been to any of the ones that they've listed? I've been to three of them.

Read their article here: The 25 Most Beautiful Public Libraries in the World

More Beautiful Libraries from Around the World

A few months ago I made a post called 10 of the Most Beautiful Libraries and Bookshops to Visit on Your Travels. Well, library-lovers, today we can admire more of these international beauties. This time we'll look by continent, thanks to MentalFloss.com.

First, they've listed 15 Spectacular Libraries in Europe. This list includes 1 library in Ireland, 2 in England, 1 in France, 1 in Spain, 1 in Portugal, 2 in the Netherlands, 1 in Switzerland, 3 in Austria, 1 in Germany, and 2 in the Czech Republic. Take a look at the link above and just scroll through the pictures. Is your library this beautiful? Have you ever been to any of these landmarks?

Next, there are 11 Fabulous Libraries in South America. This includes 2 in Brazil, 1 in Chile, 3 in Peru, 1 in Costa Rica, and 4 in Columbia. Click the link above and look at how beautiful these structures are both inside and out. I would love to sit down in any of these, but especially the EPM Library in Colombia. That one looks so cozy.

Lastly, and closest to home, they've looked at 10 Amazing North American Libraries. These have 2 located in Canada, 2 in Mexico, and 6 in the USA. Click the link above and see if you've been to any of these famous libraries. I've been to the Central Library of Vancouver, Canada and the Stephen A. Schwarzman Library, USA.

These all look so beautiful! What's the nicest library you've ever been to?

Merrylands Central Library

Ask me where I've disappeared to. Go head, ask.

I've been away in Australia!

While I was gone, I had the pleasure of visiting a few area libraries, including the Merrylands Central Library, which is a regular, not-too-fancy library slapped in the middle of suburbia, about a half-hour outside of Sydney.

Here I am at the library's MASSIVE entrance, looking super excited to get inside and see what a library on the other side of the world looks like!

I learned that the Merrylands Central Library is part of a library system called the Holroyd Council, which operates the Merrylands Central as well as two other branch libraries.

Inside, the library resembles a combination of a big city library and a small town library, with lots of open space and natural light, but book collections that are substantially smaller than an American library's counterpart.

Here I am in the children's nonfiction section, taking a look at the collection.

If you find libraries on the other side of the world (literally) as interesting as I do, take a look at BootsNAll's list, "10 of the Most Beautiful Libraries and Bookshops to Visit on Your Travels" and make an effort of visit one of THOSE libraries.

Or why not visit the Holroyd City Library website and marvel at the similarities and differences between American libraries and Australian libraries right from home?

10 of the Most Beautiful Libraries and Bookshops to Visit on Your Travels

You may or may not be a seasoned traveller, but world-wide, "libraries are often distinguished architectural landmarks and can provide deeper insights not only into a country's literature, but also its culture and history as a whole," (according to Bootsnall.com). Plus, libraries are almost always free and open to the public. So why not take a visit in your travels?

BootsNAll has compiled "10 of the Most Beautiful Libraries and Bookshops to Visit on Your Travels" to keep an eye out for as you go.

Have you been to any of these? You can start by taking a look at them online.

Vancouver Public Library (Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada)

Royal Danish Library (Copenhagen, Denmark)

Austrian National Library (Vienna, Austria)

National Library Singapore (Singapore, Singapore)

Law Library of the University of Zurich (Zurich, Switzerland)

Great Court and Reading Room, British Museum (London, United Kingdom)

Philological Library of the Free University (Berlin, Germany)

Lello Bookshop (Porto, Portugal)

Bibliothèque Nacionale de France (Paris, France)

Biblioteca Nacional de España (Madrid, Spain)

I've been to so many of the cities listed above, but only one of the libraries! I wish I could go back in time; these look so beautiful.

Happy travels!

Library Card Sign Up Month 2011

Can you believe it's already September! Not only is this the last official month of summer but it's also officially Library Card Sign-Up Month.

A library card can grant you access to tons of free materials and activities! For example:

1. Free computer and internet access every day (this especially comes in handy after a hurricane).
2. Hundreds of books, DVDs, CDs, and video games to take home and enjoy.
3. Classes all week long, like crafts, story times, lessons, workshops, family movies, game nights, and magic shows.
4. Help with your homework through the use of Live-brary, where you can get tutoring through BrainFuse and do research with our library-card-holder-only Online Resources.
5. TONS of free audiobooks and e-books to download onto your devices.

...And a whole slue of lovely librarians to help you with whatever you're looking for (like me, for example).

Stop into your library with some ID to get a card, and you'll have access to lots of cool and useful things for free. For more information, call or visit your library online!

Celebrity Home Libraries

To the left... Oprah's home library.

The Accredited Online Colleges blog has compiled photos of 20 beautiful celebrity libraries. Aside from Oprah, the list includes famous names like Rod Stewart, Diane Keaton, Woody Allen, Ralph Lauren, and Sting.

Now if only we could see inside the books!

Take a look and a swoon at these libraries of the rich and famous. Maybe you'll be motivated to create or modify your own (less elaborate and less expensive) home library.

Happy Library Card Sign-Up Month!

Happy September! Did you know it's now officially Library Card Sign-up month? If you don't have one yet, now's the time! Want to know why? Here are a few things you can do:

1. Access the computers (and the printer) at the library.
2. Check out books, movies, music, games, and other materials.
3. Sign up for all kinds of cool FREE programs and activities.
4. Get personal homework help or do research from the comfort of your home.

Come in, get a card, and find out how you can do all of these things. For more information call or visit your library's website!

And for more on what you can do with a library card check out the American Library Association's "52 Ways to use your library card."

Ever wanted to be a librarian?

If you've ever wanted to be a librarian (or even if you haven't), try your hand at this fun librarian game. Help Lydia the Librarian find books for the kids before they get upset and leave! You've got a few seconds to remember where all the books are, then try your best to be the Lightning Librarian! The better your memory the better you’ll do!

Click here to give it a try!

Library 101!

This is a video project all about libraries! I love it! Library 101...are you in?