I'll tell you what, it's time to talk about it! Carol Eyman, the library's Outreach and Community Services Coordinator, will be leading a book discussion to talk about some of the interesting themes, the history, the style of writing, clarifications of the plot, the author, or anything else you may want to address.

The neat part is, this is no ordinary book discussion. It will take place virtually (yes, that means online) in her new book discussion blog. If you feel a little unsure about participating, don't be nervous, Carol will start the ball rolling with a post (otherwise known as a discussion point). All you need to do to contribute to the conversation is click where it says comment at the lower right side of the post. You will be brought to a form where you enter your name and your comments. Yes, it's that simple! Clicking on the comments link will also allow you to respond to other participants discussion points. And that's how its done folks, a virtual book discussion.

In addition to the previously mentioned book discussion the library will be hosting other events and programs related to Nashua Reads Zorro that you may also find interesting including a live fencing demonstration and trip back in time to Zorro's Spain. For a complete list of events visit the library's events calendar.

A project we've been working on at the library for quite some time has finally come to fruition. Yesterday we put on display some forty new books all written in Hindi. Authors like Premchand, Vishnu Prabhakar, Mohan Rakesh, Devaki Nandan Khatri, Rajender Yadav and Shivani have been very popular among Hindi readers during the 20th and 21st centuries. Devaki Nandan Khatri’s classic/historical novel “Chandrakanta” has been so popular that a TV series was produced about it.

For now, these books are on display near the circulation desk on the main floor. After a while, they will be shelved along with other non-English books in the Foreign Language alcoves. I hope you enjoy them!

Those of us who lived through the Watergate fiasco in the 1970's will recognize the name E. Howard Hunt. A former CIA man who organized the Watergate break-in and other "dirty tricks" that ultimately brought down Richard M. Nixon's presidency, Hunt died this week at the age of 88. His obituary reads like a spy novel including such capers as the overthrow of a Guatemalan president, the oversight of a group of Cuban exiles in the Bay of Pigs fiasco and the firebombing of the Brookings Institution to distract guards while his crew burglarized the think tank.

But did you know that E. Howard Hunt was also a spy novelist? Throughout his life, he wrote more than 80 spy novels and thrillers, usually under such pseudonyms as John Baxter, Robert Dietrich, David St. John, P.S. Donoghue, Gordon Davis or David St. John. One of his leading characters, Peter Ward, and Hunt were both Washington-dwelling Brown graduates. Hunt described this character as "the secret agent with the taste and the talent for fine living" as he himself was.

If you with to read more about this intriguing man, you may wish to read Compulsive Spy: the Strange Career of E. Howard Hunt. You can also go to the E. Howard Hunt website, which introduces Hunt as "one of the most extraordinary, if controversial, men-of-action-and-letters of our time".

Novels written by Hunt include Guilty Knowledge about a potential first female president of the United States, Dragon Teeth about an ex-CIA agent sought by the Chinese and the CIA, The Berlin Ending; a Novel of Discovery, an international thriller, and The Kremlin Conspiracy about a plot to change the balance of power. Non-fiction books written by Hunt include Give Us this Day, an inside account of the Bag of Pigs disaster and its aftermath, and Economics : an Introduction to Traditional and Radical Views.

Truth can be stranger than fiction.

Established as a week-long celebration in 1926 by Dr. Carter G. Woodson, Black History Month (the observation was extended to a month in 1976) celebrates the achievements and contributions of African Americans. In recognition of Black History Month, I selected 30 books for a special display, which is located to the right of the circulation desk across from the new fiction. Limiting the display to 30 books was a challenge; we have numeruos books about various facets of black history and culture. I listed a few more below.

Freedom's Children and We Shall Not Be Moved
The first book covers the period between Emancipation and the Great Migration, when African Americans left the south in great numbers. The second book takes the reader from the Great Migration to the Million Man March. These books are fascinating not only because of the subject matter, but also because they are interactive. Both have pockets and inserts that contain replicas of primary source documents, such as pamphlets, flyers, letters, and newspaper articles. You can see the items that historians use to write history.

Remembering Slavery
One of the WPA projects of the 1930s sent writers throughout the United States to interview former slaves. Remembering Slavery includes transcripts of the interviews as well as information about slavery. Packaged with the book are digitally remastered sound recordings of the interviews. This resource allows you to learn about slavery from people who lived it.

Exploring Black America: A History and Guide
Admittedly, this book, published in 1975, is a bit dated. However, if you are looking for museums, monuments, and historic sites pertaining to black history, this book will point you in the right direction.

The Coming Free
I did not stock the display or the blog with books about the Civil Rights Movement because I want to highlight other aspects of black history. But, The Coming Free is worth a look. Published in 2005, this attractive volume includes events, short bios on key figures in African American history and the Civil Rights Movement, and beautiful photographs.

American Daughter
American Daughter is the autobiography of Era Bell Thompson, a former editor of Ebony magazine who grew up in North Dakota in the early twentieth century. With few black families in the state, her experience as an African American differs from those who lived in areas with a large black population. Thompson did not have the support of a black community when she encountered prejudice and, culturally, lived in a different world.

The Adventures of Amos 'N' Andy: A Social History of an American Phenomenon
Although many people dismiss it, popular culture is an important part of history. It provides insight into the way people thought and lived in the past and helps us understand the perception of social issues. This book covers the popular 30s radio show Amos 'n' Andy, in which white actors portrayed black characters. This phenomenon was neither new nor restricted to radio, as minstrel shows often included entertainers who appeared on stage in blackface. The reactions of both black and white listeners of the show--and those reactions varied greatly--offer a commentary on the issue of race in America at the time.

Of course, this list is not exhaustive. If you have an interest in history and would like to learn about the experiences of African-Americans from colonial days to the present, now is the perfect time to read about black history. To find even more books, do a subject browse for African Americans. You will find pages of subdivisions, so you can pinpoint your particular interest.

By popular demand, the library now has a discount pass to the New England Aquarium for cardholders to borrow. Present the pass at the Aquarium to receive the discounted rate of $7 per person for up to four people. (The regular fees are $17.95 for adults, $9.95 for children, and $15.95 for seniors.) The pass was generously donated to the library by the Friends of the Nashua Public Library.

To reserve a pass, call the Music, Art, and Media Department at 589-4603. Passes can also be reserved online through the Nashua Public Library web site. The New England Aquarium pass is the latest addition to our Museum Pass collection, which also includes the Museum of Science, the Museum of Fine Arts, and others. Visit our Museum Pass web page for the complete list of available passes.

The word biography comes from a Greek word meaning "life-writing". That life-writing can take the form of journals, memoirs, autobiographies or biographies. Biographies are in demand for school projects, whenever a newsworthy event occurs involving a well-known individual, and especially when a noteworthy individual dies. An account of someone's life can be fascinating reading, even if that person didn't steal a fortune, plant a bug in the Watergate hotel, marry a king or die! There can be a lot to learn from the story of someone's life.

Does the Nashua Public Library have biographies? Yes we do! You just have to expend a little effort to find them. If you look for a biography, for instance, The glass castle which is Jeanette Wall's life story, the catalog entry reads Adult biography (Lower level). Sounds like we keep them in the basement, doesn't it? We don't, they are actually very centrally located. If you take the stairs, they are just past the bathrooms on the right. There is a sign on the double door right in front of you which says East Wing Biographies with an arrow pointing to the right. If you take the elevator to the second floor, when the doors open, the East Wing is slightly to the right. There is a red sign on the door that reads East Wing meeting rooms and biographies. If you have ever gone to check out a video, you have walked right past the East Wing!

New biographies are being ordered all the time. If you hear or read about a recently published biography which sounds interesting, check the catalog to see if the library has ordered it. If it hasn't been ordered, request that it be ordered. We're always happy to have suggestions for new books. We keep our newest biographies in the non-fiction, new arrivals section on the main floor. Some of our newest biographies include:
You must set forth at dawn : the memoirs of the first African to receive the Nobel prize in Literature
First lady of the air : Anne Morrow Lindbergh's role in the exciting early years of aviation
Burnt toast : an actress and a single mom shares her life, the good and the bad

Downstairs there are more biographies worth reading :
From pieces to weight : the story of 50 cent
Dark dreams : the story of Stephen King
A year by the sea - One of my personal favorites
and of course, one of Oprah's new favorites, Sidney Poitier's The measure of a man

So when someone says to you "Get a life", check out a biography! Happy reading!

If you are a student, whether secondary, homeschool, or an adult learner, then you need to read this....

The Nashua Public Library Reference Department offers free proctoring services to our local community. You are not required to have a Nashua Public Library card and it won't cost you a thing. We can help you with both online and print examinations.

Want to get a piece of the action? Here's what you need to do...

*Find out the proctoring policies of the institution you are affiliated with.

*Stop by or call the reference desk at 589-4611 and ask to speak with a librarian about proctoring an exam. Any reference librarian can provide this service for you. You will probably need to gather the name, phone number, and email address of the librarian that will proctor your exam as well as the library's mailing address for your institution.
Nashua Public Library
2 Court Street
Nashua, NH 03060

*Schedule a time to take the exam.

*The institution distributing the exam will usually send or email the exam directly to the librarian with directions to administer it. If the exam is in print, you need to ask for a self addressed envelope to be included with the exam. We will then pop it in the mail when it is completed.

*Often times students are required to show id before they take an exam so be sure to come prepared!

*Exams can be administered during our hours of operation:
Monday-Friday 9am-9pm
Saturday 9am-5:30pm
Sunday 1-5pm

Are you a trendsetter? Or do you like to keep up on the latest consumer trends? Well if so, Trendwatching.com is the website for you. Trendwatching.com is "an independent and opinionated consumer trends firm" headquartered in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. The site draws on the firm's global network of 8,000 spotters in more than 70 countries, to identify and report the newest marketing trends. Each month a free Trend Briefing is made available online, and once a year, an annual trend report in PowerPoint format is made available for sale.

February's free Trend Briefing is about a group of consumers known as TRYSUMERS. According to Trendwatching.com, "TRYSUMERS are transient, experienced consumers who are becoming more daring in how and what they consume, thanks to a myriad of societal and technological changes." January's Trend Briefing on the top 5 consumer trends for 2007 is available with other past briefings in the free Trend database section. This database also contains keyword search capability.

Related Library Books:
* Questions that sell : the powerful process for discovering what your customer really wants / Paul Cherry.
* Getting wiser to teens : more insights into marketing to teenagers / by Peter Zollo.
* Satisfaction : how every great company listens to the voice of the customer / Chris Denove and James D. Power IV.

On today's date 36 years ago, Alan Shepard (the first American in space, of course) became the first person to golf on the moon He and another astronaut on the Apollo 14 mission, Ed Mitchell, had spent over nine hours trudging the moon's surface. It was a physically difficult task but when the work was finished, Shepard pulled out two golf balls and a collapsible golf club made for the flight. Wearing thick gloves and a bulky and stiff suit, he was forced to swing the club with only one hand. Nevertheless, Shepard reported that the ball traveled "miles and "miles, which he later amended to 200 to 400 yards. Gravity did play a factor!!

Alan Shepard, who died in 1998, is one of our native sons from East Derry, New Hampshire. He was a combination of a serious career man and a fun-loving guy. Your can read more about him in the book Light this Candle: the Life and Times of Alan Shepard, America's First Spaceman by Neal Thompson. And a good website to find more information about Alan Shepard is CNN's story Alan Shepard was 'a pretty cool customer'.

Our library has several materials about space missions and astronauts. We also, of course, have a large variety of materials about golf including such new selections as:

The Greatest Game Ever Played [DVD}, which is "based on the 1913 U.S. Open golf championship-at which two equally sympathetic young men, both of whom grew up economically and socially disadvantaged, go club to club in one of the most exciting and dramatic athletic events of the 20th century",

Golf Magazine Private Lessons : the Best of the Best Iinstruction edited by]David Dusek,

The Art of Putting : the Revolutionary Feel-based System for Improving Your Score by Stan Utley with Matthew Rudy,

An Idiot for All Seasons by David Feherty, a collection of hilarious columns from Golf Magazine.

So swing away, but perhaps not "miles and miles" as you could in space.

Many people are interested in family history and genealogy. We receive calls, e-mails, and visits not only from Nashua Public Library cardholders, but also from people across the country whose ancestors were born, lived, or died in Nashua. They use numerous resources, including old issues of The Nashua Telegraph, the directories and histories in the Hunt Room, and genealogy databases such as Ancestry.com to trace their lineage. In some cases, people find ancestors who lived during the colonial period, and they know from which country or countries their family originates. But, what would happen if their ancestors were slaves? Because slaves were considered property, they were often listed in their owners' records by age and gender only. Many did not even have last names. Can the descendants of slaves discover their families' country of origin?

According to the PBS series African American Lives, it is, in fact, possible. This series follows host Henry Louis Gates, Jr., Chair of Harvard’s African and African American Studies Department at Harvard, as he searches for his ancestors and those of 8 other prominent African Americans. Many of the guests had known that they are descended from slaves, but did not know much about their ancestors who lived under the peculiar institution. It was not often discussed in their families, nor was the desire to discover their African roots. Whoopi Goldberg, one of the participants, states, “I don’t think they ever thought that there was any reason to figure out where we had come from.”* Others reported that slavery was an embarrassment to their families or too painful to discuss. This group, which includes Oprah Winfrey, Chris Tucker, and Quincy Jones, among others, was eager, delighted, and moved to learn about their roots, despite knowing that their relatives were subjected to the horrors of slavery.

In some cases, Gates, with the assistance of genealogists and historians, was successful in tracing his guests’ roots; in others, he reached dead ends. Filling in the branches of the family tree prior to the Civil War was especially challenging. The detectives had to be more creative and make some assumptions, often looking for slave owners who shared the last names of the guests’ ancestors. Watching the process unfold was very interesting, as the expertise of historians, genealogists, and geneticists provided information that was seemingly lost. The guests (and this viewer) were amazed to learn that DNA testing could tell them the percentage of African, European, Native American, and Asian blood they had. Gates was surprised that his lineage is actually 50% African and 50% European. Yet another DNA test determined that Chris Tucker descended from Angola, and Oprah's ancestors hailed from the country that is now Liberia.

This fascinating program grabbed my interest as I flipped through the channel listings last week, and you can watch it too. The DVD is available in the Music, Arts, and Media Department. For more information about the series, guests, or science used, you can visit the series' website.

If you are inspired to trace your own African American ancestry, we have some books that pertain specifically to African American genealogy, such as African American Genealogical Sourcebook, Afro-American Genealogy Sourcebook, Slave Genealogy: A Research Guide with Case Studies, and Black Family Research: Records of Post-Civil War Federal Agencies at the National Archives.

*Goldberg, Whoopi, quoted in African American Lives http://www.pbs.org/wnet/aalives/index.html (accessed February 10, 2007).

Looking for photos of Nashua in the olden days? The library's Hunt Room local history collection includes hundreds of photos of Nashua dating back to the 1800s. About 400 of these photos have been copied, numbered, and indexed for easy access. The rest are organized in folders by topic.

If you're interested, stop by the Reference Desk and ask to see the collection. The 400 that have been indexed are available for browsing in binders. To find what you're looking for quickly, check the subject index. It will give you the number of each photo showing a particular subject.

Once you find what you want, the photos can be reproduced for a fee.

We have also embarked on a project to improve access to the collection. Through the efforts of the Reference Department and Simmons College graduate student Donna Albino, our historical photos will be scanned and a digital copy of each photo will eventually be made available for electronic searching. In addition to creating digital copies, we are adding more photos to the subject index, recording descriptions of each one. Once the project is completed, this information will make it easier to search the library's entire photo collection to locate the type of photo you want. Over time, we will be making the photos available for searching via the library's web site, www.nashualibrary.org. Currently, we have nearly a hundred photos available for browsing on our web site at http://www.nashualibrary.org/HistoricalPhotos/index.htm.

Valentine's Day is a day dedicated to romance. A day when relationships can be made or broken just by the choice, or lack, of a card or a gift. What's the history behind this day? I turned to two books for some answers. One is a book called Celebrations, an older book which discusses a variety of celebrations. Celebrations gives three possible stories behind Valentine's Day. It could be "a Christianized version of the Feast of Lupercalia which was celebrated during the third century in honor of the god Lupercus who protected Roman shepherds from wolves". It could also be in honor of "Valentine, the young Christian priest who was imprisoned for secretly marrying lovers after marriage was outlawed during the reign of emperor Claudius". Another story tells of Valentine being beheaded on February 14 for curing his jailer's daughter of blindness or perhaps beheaded for sending the jailer's daughter love notes signed "from your Valentine". None of these stories would seem to inspire a day dedicated to lovers.

The second book is a reference book titled The folklore of world holidays. This book supports the story of a "martyred priest named Valentine (or possibly two priests, both named Valentine) who died between A.D.270 and A.D. 273". It also discusses some interesting past Valentine traditions. Did you know that : "birds chose their mates on February 14; in Great Britain, girls ate a hard-boiled egg with the yolk replaced with salt to dream of their future husband; in Europe, American servicemen spread the custom of sending valentines on February 14 ; and, in Italy it was popular to announce engagements on Valentine's Day.

Flowers, cards and candy are recognized as Valentine's Day traditions. About.com has some statistics showing what we spend our money on for Valentine's Day. One of those statistics concerns candy. Thirty-six million heart shaped boxes of candy were sold last Valentine's Day. That must have spread a lot of happiness! Heart-shaped boxes of candy may soon be past history! If you like M&Ms, you can now special order them with your choice of color, message and in 8 different flavors. If you are a fan of conversation hearts, those small candy hearts with the sayings on them, Necco candy has a website which shows the new sayings for 2007 as well as being loaded with candy heart trivia!

So, whether you like candy, flowers, hearts or Red Sox tickets, hope someone says "I love you" to you today!

Don't worry about it! If you're a slow reader like me and you have trouble finishing books within the allotted 3 week library lending period you need to pay attention.

There's something for everyone at the library and for people like you and me who occasionally want to have a book for as long as it takes to finish, there is the book sale. This book sale is sponsored by the Friends of the Nashua Public Library. You may have heard of or even visited the bi-annual blowout booksale in the spring and fall, but that's not what I'm referring to. I'm talking about the on going book sale located on shelves just to the left of the library exit doors. Books are always being added to the sale so if you don't find something to fit your taste the first time, be sure to check back.

Check out some of the deals your apt to find...
Hardcovers for $2.00
Trade Paperbacks for $1.00
Mass Market Paperbacks for $.50
Children's books for $.25 or 5 for $1.00
Audiocassettes for $1.00
Media (dvd, cd, lp, vhs) for $.50-3.00 or as marked

So grab a cup of coffee from our coffee cart located in the library lobby and find your next reading treasure!

The library now has access to a wide range of investing resources that come with our print subscription to Standard & Poor's "The Outlook". To access the online resources, you must be at the library, and you will need to have a reference librarian sign you in.

Here are some of the features/resources that you know can access:

• S&P Portfolios, for example, the PowerPicks Portfolio 2007, a 17-page PDF document.
• Stock, bond and mutual fund screener tools
• S&P Stars available in real-time: "Rising, Falling and New Stars", 5-Stars, 4-Stars, etc.
• Stock Picks and Pans
• Fund Spotlight
• Sub-industry reviews
• "Learn About Stocks", the interactive learning center for information on stocks

Feel free to also take a look at the free content on The Outlook's website, http://www.outlook.standardandpoors.com. And don't forget about the library's other databases and recommended websites for finance and investing.

Those of us who have raised teenagers will remember when they got their first driver's license. Emotions spanned from the joy of giving up carpooling to the fear of your child's safety. Last week the New York Times contained an article by Jane Brody, who writes an informative weekly Personal Health column for the Times, about teenage driving.titled For Teenagers, the Car Is the Danger Zone (you can read this article in the February 6, 2007 edition of the NY Times or you can access it online through our library's Newsbank database). This article contained several sobering statistics including the fact that automobile crashes are the leading cause of death for 16- to 20-year-olds. There are about 5,500 teenage drivers or passengers dying each year. Add to this the fact that about 450,000 adolescents are injured in automobile crashes and approximately 27,000 with injuries severe enough to require hospitalization.

The American Academy of Pediatrics offers several recommendations including safety first when you select a teenager’s vehicle and a driver contract for your teen to sign committing to such things as obeying auto laws and speed limits, driving only when free of alcohol and drugs, wearing a seat belt for each car occupant, never using a cell phone when driving and keeping both hands on the wheel. The Academy also suggests specific penalties for violations: and strict restrictions for the first six months including a ban on teenage passengers and no driving after 9 p.m., since inexperienced drivers cause more than their share of accidents

You may wsih to talke a look at such books as Crashproof Your Kids: Make Your Teen a Safer, Smarter Driver by Timothy C. Smith and Teens & Alcohol by Gail Snyder.

Some pertinent websites of interest include Safe Teen Driving Blog, Minnesota's StarTribune.com's article Could Teen Driving be Safer? and Teendriving.com.

As you may have seen advertised, today is the day to buy a new car. Hearing a commercial with a modernized rendition of "Hail to the Chief" for the twentieth time (in one day, nonetheless), my husband and I began to wonder how, exactly, Presidents' Day became the unofficial “Buy a New Car Day.” I found an interesting article on the National Archives website. Titled "By George, IT IS Washington's Birthday!", it originally appeared in Prologue Magazine in 2004. In the article, author C.L. Arblebide, a historian and storyteller specializing in federal holiday history, discusses the transformation of the holiday from an unofficial celebration of George Washington's birthday on February 22 to Presidents' Day on the third Monday of February.

In 1968, Congress proposed a bill that would institute uniform Monday holidays in order to foster family togetherness and, probably more important to government and business leaders, "improve commercial and industrial production by minimizing midweek holiday interruptions of production schedules and reducing employee absenteeism before and after midweek holidays." This bill stirred up controversy; many did not want to move the holidays. One of its proponents was Rep. Robert McClory, a Republican from Illinois. He wanted to change the name of the holiday to Presidents' Day to honor Abraham Lincoln, whose birthday was earlier in the month. The choice of the third Monday in February meant that the holiday could fall close to Lincoln's birthday and never on Washington’s, and when the law was implemented in 1971, the holiday fell three days after Lincoln's birthday. Although the Monday holiday law passed, the name change did not. The federal holiday remained George Washington's Birthday, although some states observed Lincoln's birthday as well.

How do the car sales fit in? According to the article:
For advertisers, the Monday holiday change was the goose that laid the golden "promotional" egg. Using Labor Day marketing as a guide, three-day weekend sales were expanded to include the new Monday holidays. Once the "Uniform Monday Holiday Law" was implemented, it took just under a decade to build a head of national promotional sales steam.
Local advertisers morphed both "Abraham Lincoln's Birthday" and "George Washington's Birthday" into the sales sound bite "President's Day," expanding the traditional three-day sales to begin before Lincoln's birth date and end after Washington's February 22 birth. In some instances, advertisers promoted the sales campaign through the entire month of February. To the unsuspecting public, the term linking both presidential birthdays seemed to explain the repositioning of the holiday between two high-profile presidential birthdays.
After a decade of local sporadic use, the catchall phrase took a national turn. By the mid-1980s, the term was appearing in a few Washington Post holiday advertisements and an occasional newspaper editorial....
Advertising had its effects on various calendar manufacturers who, determining their own spelling, began substituting Presidents' Day for the real thing.

So, the sales have nothing to do with Presidents' Day per se. They are a marketing strategy based on the three-day weekend. It is evident from the article, which you can read by clicking here, that Arblebide laments the fact that most of us associate the holiday with sales rather than with George Washington.

Source
Arbelbide, C.L. "By George, IT IS Washington's Birthday!" Prologue Magazine vol. 36, no. 4 (Winter 2004) printed on The National Archives http://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2004/winter/gw-birthday-2.html (accessed February 16, 2006).

• Savage summit : the true stories of the first five women who climbed K2, the world's most feared mountain, by Jennifer Jordan
• On the ridge between life and death : a climbing life reexamined, by David Roberts. The author looks back on his own experiences and examines the human costs of the sport.
• Where the mountain casts its shadow : the dark side of extreme adventure, by Maria Coffey. Mountaineers' loved ones give their view of the sport.
• Touching the void; the True Story of One Man's Miraculous Survival, Joe Simpson ; with a foreword by Chris Bonington. Both book and video available.
• Mountain men : a history of the remarkable climbers and determined eccentrics who first scaled the world's most famous peaks, by Mick Conefrey and Tim Jordan.

• After Everest : an autobiography, by Tenzing Norgay Sherpa, as told to Malcolm Barnes.
• Tenzing Norgay and the Sherpas of Everest, by his grandson, Tashi Tenzing (with Judy Tenzing).
• Touching my father's soul : a Sherpa's journey to the top of Everest, by Jamling Tenzing Norgay with Broughton Coburn.

• Wilderness navigation : finding your way using map, compass, altimeter & GPS, by Bob Burns and Mike Burns.
• Mountaineering : the freedom of the hills, edited by Steven M. Cox and Kris Fulsaas.

"No one is polite anymore, manners are old-fashioned!" I've heard that a lot, especially when my children were younger, and especially when the topic was a thank-you letter, or table manners. Although I vigorously defended manners, I guess I secretly hoped that they were out of style. I hate writing letters of any kind, and eating with your elbows on the table is much more comfortable. And etiquette, the word is even hard to spell! BUT..... Every so often, someone will ask a question which can only be answered by Emily Post or someone like her.

The issues today are different. Maybe you've had to consider some of them. How do you address a letter to a married couple when the wife has kept her own name? Is it all right to send an email as an invitation or to express sympathy? The same child who had table manner issues wanted to know why we couldn't invite people to her wedding with an email. Is it proper to carry on a cellphone conversation in a crowded place? Should you take young children out to dinner with you anywhere but at a fast food restaurant? How do you manage a workplace relationship, and is that even acceptable? What about those personal questions? People today ask about things that are clearly none of their business, but that doesn't slow them down at all. Is it rude to be rude to someone asking rude questions?

If all of this is too much to consider on your own, the library has books on etiquette, ???etiquette!!! which should help. Among them:

Letitia Baldrige's new manners for new times
21st -century etiquette
Miss Manners' guide to excruciatingly correct behavior
Star-spangled manners

There are also specialized etiquette books to cover specific situations and specific individuals.

Essential manners for couples
The no asshole rule : building a civilized workplace
Essential manners for men

The library also has a series of books which can be used to introduce everyday manners to young children, concentrating on appropriate behaviors in situations like the playground, the classroom, and the library.
Manners series by Terri DeGezelle

The point of all of these books seems to be that having manners today makes you the kind of person that others want to be around. Good manners means being nice to everyone, including annoying strangers, even when you don't feel like it. Sounds like we have a lot of work ahead of us!

can I use my Nashua Public Library card at another New Hampshire library if I'm willing to drive there?

The quick answer is no. Unfortunately, we are not part of a consortium which means your npl card is only valid at our library.

Now, that being said we can borrow materials from other libraries both in state and out of state on your behalf, through our interlibrary loan service. The best part is we do all the hard work for you. All you have to do is place a request, wait for notification the material has arrived, and come to the library to pick it up.

Your next question may be, "how do I place a request?" You can choose from 1 of 3 options. First, you can stop by the reference desk, say hello, and complete a request in person. Second, you can give the reference desk a call at 589-4611 to place the request. Third, the latest and greatest method is to submit a request online through our website. The information will be emailed to a reference librarian who will then process the request and notify you when the material is here for you to pick up.

For other important interlibrary loan information such as, what kinds of materials you can request, how long it takes, if there is a fee involved, check the Reference Services section of the Nashua Public Library's website.

Did you know that a gastrointestinal illness believed to be norovirus broke out at Portsmouth Regional Hospital in late January affecting at least nine patients and 22 staff members? Well, it turns out you can find out about all sorts of disease outbreaks around the planet on a very cool website named HEALTHmap.

HEALTHmap, which is produced by the Children's Hospital Informatics Program (Boston) and the Harvard- MIT Division of Health Sciences & Technology, shows you where more than 50 diseases have been reported around the world. This freely available Web site integrates outbreak data ranging from news sources (such as Google News) to curated personal accounts (such as ProMED) to validated official alerts (such as World Health Organization). Through an automated text processing system, the data is aggregated by disease and displayed by location for user-friendly access to the original alert. In addition, HEALTHmap provides a jumping-off point for real-time information on emerging infectious diseases and has particular interest for public health officials and international travelers.

Here are the websites where HEALTHmap gets its news:

• ProMED Mail: Program for Monitoring Emerging Diseases.
• World Health Organization: The United Nations specialized agency for health.
• EuroSurveillance: Peer-reviewed European information on communicable disease surveillance and control.
• Google News: A commercial news aggregation service provided by Google.

And don't forget to explore the library's Health and Medicine databases and recommended websites page in iBrowse!

Would you like to receive a friendly email or telephone call notifying you that the item you have been wanting to read is waiting for you at the library? For example, you could place a hold on a New York Times bestseller such as Stephen King's new romance, Lisey's Story, Charles Frazier's new historical novel, Thirteen Moons, John Grisham's first nonfiction title, The Innocent Man, or, in anticipation of guests, Amy Sedaris' I Like You (Hospitality Under the Influence).

Select the Books & More block on our home page and then select the gray tab towards the top that says “My Account”. On the next tab enter the last five digits of the barcode on your library card and your Library PIN. Your PIN is usually the last four digits of your telephone number.

Find the item in the catalog (use the Search tab at the top of the window, find the item you would like to reserve, then place a hold by following these instructions:
1. Click on the "Request Item" button.
2. Review the information on the next window (position on the reserve list (queue) for this item and the notification method when the item has arrived). You can even add a comment if you wish, such as a period of time when you will be unable to pick up the item.
3. Click the “Request” button or if you have changed your mind, click the “Cancel” button (or “Cancel and Logout”).

You will be contacted by email (if the library has your email address on your library account) or by telephone. The item will be held for you for three business days after the date of the email or telephone call, until it is reshelved or given to the next waiting customer.

If you have an email address on your library account, you are allowed up to 20 outstanding requests at any given time. You will be allowed a maximum of two outstanding requests, however, if your account does not contain an email address.