Come and help us celebrate the first ever Teen Tech Week, March 4-March 10, 2007.

This celebration is a national initiative sponsored by YALSA, the Young Adult Library Services division of the American Library Association (ALA). This week will be dedicated to teens and their use of technology in our libraries. According to the Teen Week Chair, Linda Braun, "[b]y developing Teen Tech Week, YALSA demonstrates the important role technology plays in teen life and the need for librarians to integrate the ways teens use technology into their programs and services.”

We will recognize Teen Tech Week with a display titled "Technology Then and Now" near the teen room, "Top 10 gadgets" and "Top 10 websites" posters created by the Teen Advisory Group, and a Guitar Hero program on Thursday March 8th at 4pm. No registration is required for this program, although finger stretching prior to playing is recommended. Don't have a clue what Guitar Hero is? Check out the wikipedia description.

Here's some technology related resources worth checking out...

Websites:
Nashua Public Library's Myspace

Downloadable Audiobooks

Live Homework Help

Books @ Your Library:
Digital Photo Madness: 50 Weird & Wacky Things To Do With Your Digital Camera

Break Into The Game Industry: How To Get A Job Making Video Games

The Musician's Guide To The Internet

The Little Itunes Book

Did you know there are 4 computer consulting firms and/or software development firms in New Hampshire that have fewer than a 100 employees yet take in over $500,000 in sales annually? I do.

How do I know this? By using the library's Reference USA database. Just login to the database from wherever your are, (you don't have to be at the library,) and run a custom search in their U.S. Businesses database. In the example I give above, I selected four critieria: location, number of employees, annual sales volume, and industry codes. I didn't even need to know the industry codes ahead time since I could look them up in the database.

So what are the 4 businesses that met my criteria? Here they are:
Appropriate Solutions Inc in Peterborough, NH
Crystal Desk in Hampstead, NH
Hiawatha Island Software Co in Concord, NH
Logical Systems PC Consulting in Merrimack, NH

Interested in learning more about ReferenceUSA? Come visit with a libraian at the Reference Desk, or just give us a call from home or the office. Our phone number is 603-589-4611.

Spring ahead, fall back. This phrase is part of our conventions and customs similar to "30 days has September, April June....." and "beware the Ides of March".

Next Sunday (March 11) at 2 a.m. we will be changing to Daylight Saving Time. Beginning this year, Daylight Saving Time (note the correct term is Daylight Saving Time, not Daylight Savings Time) is extended one month and begins for most of the United States at 2 a.m. on the second Sunday in March and ends at 2 a.m. on the first Sunday of November. The new start and stop dates were set in the Energy Policy Act of 2005.

For several months each year, daylight saving time affects vast numbers of people throughout the world. DST impacts several domains including agricultural practices, street crime, the reporting of sports scores, traffic accidents, the inheritance rights of twins, and voter turnout. Dr. David Prerau recently wrote a book about DST,
Seize the Daylight: The Curious and Contentious Story of Daylight Saving Time. In this informative, entertaining and often funny book, Dr. Prerau relates how since Ben Franklin's era to today, DST has led to intriguing stories of colorful personalities and serious technical issues, debatable costs and benefits, and conflicts between interest groups and government policy makers. Dr. Prerau includes how Benjamin Franklin conceived of the concept. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle endorsed it. Winston Churchill campaigned for it. Kaiser Wilhelm first employed it. Woodrow Wilson and Franklin Roosevelt went to war with it, and more recently the United States fought an energy crisis with it.

An excellent comprehensive website about DST is the California Energy Commission's Saving Time, Saving Energy. And if you are interested in finding out more about timekeeping, see the National Institute of Standards and Technology's Walk through Time.

Or you may wish to check out some of the other books we have about time measurement including:
Time's Pendulum : the Quest to Capture Time-- From Sundials to Atomic Clocks by Jo Ellen Barnett,

Time : its Origin, its Enigma, its History by Alexander Waugh,

Time Telling through the Ages by Harry C. Brearley.

So please remember to set those clocks ahead next Sunday morning (March 11). You do not wish to arrive an embarrassing hour late for that Sunday morning engagement!

March is Women's History Month, and, in celebration, we have set up a display to the right of the circulation desk across from the new fiction. This observance is relatively new. In fact, it is younger than I am (not much younger, though). In 1978, the Education Task Force of the Sonoma County (CA) Commission on the Status of Women initiated a "Women's History Week” during March. The response to the program was positive and prompted schools throughout the state to plan Women's History Week celebrations. The idea spread to the East a year later when a member of one of the planning groups attended the Women’s History Institutes at Sarah Lawrence College. In 1981, Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT) and Rep. Barbara Mikulski (D-MD) co-sponsored a Joint Congressional Resolution to declare a national Women's History Week. The next few years saw school systems across the country develop curriculums for Women's History Week. Educators considered it "an effective means to achieving equity goals within classrooms." The National Women's History Project petitioned Congress in 1987 to expand the week to a month, and since that year, the National Women's History Month Resolution has passed in both the House and Senate.

Why is women's history important? Women's history gives us a more complete understanding of America's past. Women after all, comprise half of the country's population. Long before the 19th Amendment, which gave women the right to vote, women's efforts and experiences affected political, cultural, and social history.

You can learn more about Women's History Month by visiting the National Women's History Project's website. The next time you are at the library, be sure to take a look at the Women's History Month display. All of these books are in circulation; however, you don’t have to limit yourself to these titles. Search the catalog for even more books about women’s history, issues, and notable women. Doing a search for “women biography” returns hundres of results! That’s a few too many to scroll through, but if you have a particular subject in mind, add it to the search. You’re bound to find stories about women sportswriters, war correspondents, athletes, activists, politicians, professionals, entertainers, reformers, and much more.

Source:

"History of National Women's History Month." National Women's History Project. http://www.nwhp.org/whm/history.php (accessed March 1, 2007).

As a snow lover, I'll admit to being disappointed in the weak winter we've had. Perhaps that's why I've recently been fantasizing about fun things to do when the weather starts to improve. So many great choices here in New England. Hiking, museum visits, seafood by the ocean, ice cream warding off the heat.... Of course, I'll get some help from the library to make it all happen.

For starters, I'll be signing up for a museum pass to the Peabody Essex Museum. The library's pass allows free access to everything but the Yin Yu Tang house. The Yin Yu Tang house was brought to America from China and reassembled in Salem; tickets are an additional $4 per person. It's an inexpensive but fascinating day trip. When the weather gets warmer, it'll be time to head to the New England Aquarium, where library museum passes give you a discounted rate of $7 per adult. Check out our full line of museum passes at http://www.nashualibrary.org/mpIntro.htm. You can reserve online or by calling the Music, Art, and Media Department at (603) 589-4603.

On the more rustic side, I'll be planning a hiking trip. I'll check out one of the trail guides found in the nonfiction section at 917.4204, such as the Appalachian Mountain Club's "Southern New Hampshire trail guide : hiking trails in southern New Hampshire" or Michael Lanza's "Foghorn outdoors: New Hampshire hiking." I'll also have a look at "The best in tent camping, New England : a guide for car campers who hate RVs, concrete slabs, and loud portable stereos" by Lafe Low to find a good camping area.

A trip up the coast of Maine would also be fun. I'll have a look in "Nature walks along the seacoast : Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Maine" by Julia Older and Steve Sherman for some more outdoors ideas. Then the old standby of travel guides, "Fodor's Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire," can help me find a restaurant to stop at along the way. (Gotta satisfy that seafood craving.)

If we're not going to have a good snowy winter, let the summer come!

Questions about legal matters account for many of the reference questions which are asked on a day to day basis. Legal information is often difficult to find, and when found, it can be difficult to understand. Reference librarians are not lawyers, and unfortunately, most times we cannot give a definitive answer to any legal question.

The library has a collection of books acquired in response to some commonly asked questions. Neighbor law is a resource for questions involving boundary disputes, fences, noise and second-hand smoke. It provides practical advice and information about researching the law online. Personal injury law advice is contained in How to win your personal injury claim which will explain which cases can be handled without legal representation and which cases can't. It also provides examples of documentation and an accident claim worksheet. Nolo's encyclopedia of everyday law is a catch-all book covering legal issues as diverse as adoption, estate planning and criminal law. Other legal books which might prove helpful include: Represent yourself in court, Stand up to the IRS, Every tenant's legal guide and Divorce and money : everything you need to know.

Websites can also be an invaluable source of accurate and useful legal information. The state of New Hampshire website is divided into a number of sections, one of these is the judicial branch. Here on this page are links to the Self help center which contains forms, fees, alternatives to court and links to other frequently requested areas of legal information. The Frequently Asked Questions include answers to questions like "Do I need a lawyer to go to court?" and "Why can't the people who work at the courthouse give me legal advice?". The state also provides a link to New Hampshire legal assistance which provides free and low cost legal help for senior citizens and low-income families. The information concerning eligibility for this help can be found here.

Several other websites might be of assistance when you are seeking legal information:

New Hampshire Revised Statues Annotated
New Hampshire law library
New Hampshire Motor vehicle laws

If all of this help is not enough, and you find that you need to hire a lawyer, try Martindale-Hubbell. This website will help you to locate a lawyer by name, by firm, by area of expertise or by location. It will also provide you with peer review ratings for those lawyers who have them, and will explain what the ratings mean.

Hopefully, you will never need most of this information. Happy reading!

It's about that time again to make your predictions for the 2007 men's and women's NCAA tournament champions. This Sunday the brackets will be announced for both the men's and women's college basketball tournament. Will the Florida Gators and the Maryland Terrapins have repeat victories or will there be a major upset? If you love to participate in the tournament madness but haven't been following the season so far, don't worry the men's team stats and the women's team stats are available for browsing so you can make an educated selection this year. Once you've done your research download a men's or women's bracket to keep track of your picks.

Good luck!

If basketball is your thing then you might want to check out some of our books in the Adult Non-fiction 796.32 and the Children's Room JUV 796.32 call number area of the library.

Recently suffering from an obtuse medical problem, I suddenly entered the world of pill-taking and pharmacology. My research began with the philology of the word pharmaceutical. It comes from the Greek words pharmacon meaning drug and logos meaning science. Pharmacology is the study of how substances interact with living organisms to produce a change in function. A medication is a licensed drug taken to cure, prevent or reduce symptoms of an illness or medical condition.

Medications are divided into two groups: Over-the-counter (OTC) and .Prescription Only medicines (POM). Over-the-counter medications are available without special restrictions while Prescription Only medicines (POM) must be prescribed by a physician. An OTC medication is generally considered to be safe enough that the substance will not cause harm as long as the person follows instructions. The 1951 Durham-Humphrey amendment to the original Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act of 1938 requires that drugs that cannot be used safely without professional supervision be dispensed only by prescription. Such drugs may be deemed unsafe for nonprescription use because they are habit-forming or toxic, have too great a potential for harmful effects, or are for medical conditions that cannot be readily self-diagnosed. Medications are typically produced by pharmaceutical companies and are often patented. Those that are not patented are called generic drugs.

I found that in our current world of rushed medical appointments, it is rare for a physician to relate all the properties of a medication. So where to go? There are several excellent websites and also terrific books at our library to provide the information you need.

The Drugs & Supplements section of MedlinePlus.gov will furnish the following information about your medication:

* Why is this medication prescribed?
* How should this medicine be used?
* Other uses for this medicine
* What special precautions should I follow?
* What special dietary instructions should I follow?
* What should I do if I forget a dose?
* What side effects can this medication cause?
* What storage conditions are needed for this medicine?
* In case of emergency/overdose
* What other information should I know?
* Brand names.

The Nashua Public Library "Ibrowse Databases > Ibrowse > Health & Medicine > Drug Information contains several links to other pharmaceutical information sites:

Drugs.com - powered by three independent leading medical-information suppliers: Physicians’ Desk Reference, Cerner Multum and Thomson Micromedex. Drug.com's resources include a pill identifier, a drug interactions checker, and an index that is searchable by drug name or condition.

Electronic Orange Book - from the United States Food and Drug Administration, the Orange Book identifies drugs that have been approved by the FDA along with their approval dates. Search by name, active ingredient, applicant holder, and applicant number.

RxList: The Internet Drug Index - from the sponsors of WebMD, find drug information, side effects, drug interactions and more...

Some of the books about medications that you can reference or borrow from the Nashua Public Library include:

Worst pills, best pills: a consumer's guide to avoiding drug-induced death or illness by Sidney M. Wolfe ... [et al.].

Complete guide to prescription and non-prescription drugs by H. Winter Griffith, revised by Steven W. Moore.

The Merck index " an encyclopedia of chemicals and drugs".

PDR Pocket Guide to Prescription Drugs.

PDR guide to drug interactions, side effects, and indications.

Physicians' desk reference for nonprescription drugs.

The internet is a vast source of information. We can find phone numbers, driving directions, local businesses, and much more. Beyond the basics, we can use the internet for educational and cultural purposes. Many libraries (including NPL), archives, museums, and historical societies are undertaking digitization projects, which allow people from all over the world to view some of their holdings. Some organizations, such as ours, might post historical photos or books to their websites; others may create online exhibits. We can look at interesting and historic materials from the comfort of our homes. This is especially beneficial to the intellectually curious and to students who cannot physically make the trip to places such as the Library of Congress or the Countway Library of Medicine, which is currently featuring The Stethoscope Sorority: Stories from the Archives for Women in Medicine. As March is Women's History Month, this exhibit is especially timely.

The Countway Library, which is the library for the Harvard University School of Medicine, created the Archives for Women in Medicine in 2000 "to capture and preserve the untold history of the many women who have helped change the face of medicine in the United States. This exhibition highlights materials from the AWM that illustrate women’s experiences as mentors, pioneering researchers, healers, and strong voices speaking out for their beliefs. Using their own words, the exhibition presents stories from some of the women of the AWM and the people who have helped contribute to their successes." The collection is a great resource for anyone interested in women’s history or the history of medicine.

The Stethoscope Sorority: Stories from the Archives of Women in Medicine is the online version of a display that was exhibited at Countway from March to September 2006. The website offers introductory information and explanatory captions that place the items in context. When you visit this site, you will see digitized images of photographs, telegrams, letters, and other objects. Clicking on the images will enlarge them. Not only will you be able to read letters and telegrams--some written close to 90 years ago--you will also notice details such as the creases and tears in the paper. The documents and other tangible items help us understand the expereinces and struggles of women in medicine and thier contributions to the field. This and other online exhibits* are fantastic resources becuase they make history more relatable.

*This search is an example of the women's history exhibits available on the web; however, I cannot vouch for the quality of all of the millions of results returned in this Google search. Remember, you should always evaluate websites when you are looking for information.

Today we celebrate the birthday of Abigail Powers Fillmore, the first wife of President Millard Fillmore. Born March 13, 1798, Abigail Fillmore is not nearly as well known as some of her fellow first ladies, such as Eleanor Roosevelt, Abigail Adams, or Jackie Kennedy. So why should we care about her? Well, one of her accomplishments was the establishment of a library at the White House. She noticed that the White House was lacking in books, and so, at her urging, Congress appropriated $250 for a White House library. The first lady was also an early proponent of public libraries. It was Abigail, a teacher, who inspired Millard to join the town library early in his career. You can read more about Abigail (and other first ladies) in the Biography Resource Center database, at http://www.nashua.lib.nh.us/IbrowseAdultAlpha.htm.

More famously, Laura Welch Bush is a former school librarian. For those interested in the life of the current first lady, the Nashua Public Library offers:

Laura Bush : an intimate portrait of the first lady, by Ronald Kessler.
George and Laura : portrait of an American marriage, by Christopher Andersen.
Laura Welch Bush, First Lady, by Tanya Lee Stone (for children).

Her mother-in-law, Barbara Bush, was heavily involved in literacy efforts, as the title of one of our children's books makes clear:

Barbara Bush : first lady of literacy, by June Behrens.

More on Barbara Bush can be found in:

Reflections: Life After the White House by Barbara Bush.
Barbara Bush : a memoir, by Barbara Bush.
Barbara Bush : a biography, by Pamela Kilian.
Barbara Bush, first lady, by Rose Blue and Corinne J. Naden. (for children)

There are many other books on the first ladies in the library's collection. You might also be interested in the White House's own web site about the first ladies, found at http://www.whitehouse.gov/history/firstladies/.

My vacation is rapidly approaching, so I've spent some time thinking about past vacations. I've come to the conclusion that vacations, like kids, come in stages. Like stages with kids, some stages of vacations are more fun than others. As I said, this is just me. By now, you can tell that this is not a serious nor an educational blog, but see if any of this sounds familiar to you.

When your kids are really little, there may be a temptation to avoid all the hassle and stay home, or in my case, to only travel to visit the grandparents. The fact that we had no money to spend on vacations made the whole thing pretty simple. Also, they had their own stock of toys and duplicates of things like cribs and playpens. As the kids got older, we began to travel, pretty much to Disney World and other child-friendly places. Vacations were a lot more fun, but they still had their moments! Traveling was difficult, because while the places were friendly, after a few hours, the kids were not! And I always lost the coin-toss and had to sit on the plane with the child who could not entertain himself.

Vacations with older kids can be fun for parents. The kids are great to be with, their attention span is long and they can deal well with all types of situations. Not so much fun for kids though! I was so suprised to find that I was irritating and difficult to be with for long periods of time. College was another story! They wanted to go on vacation, but not with us. Anyway, there was that money issue again. Whatever made them think that anyone could afford college and spring break!

This next, but by no means last stage was most interesting and educational. Adult children, just starting out in the world of work with little vacation time or money, will go on a family vacation. They will go just about anywhere, enjoy themselves, and even thank you for the opportunity. But the best stage so far was when an adult child called and said, "Mom, I'm going to the Cape for a short vacation. I don't want to go alone so come with me. My treat!"

If you are at some point in your family vacation stages, especially with April vacation coming soon, the library has books with suggestions for you :

Backpacking with babies and small children by Goldie Silverman
Fun places to go with children in New England by Diane Bair
Mainely kids : a guide to family fun in Southern Maine by Crystal Ward Kent
Bicycling with kids in DownEast Maine by Roger Turner
Around Boston with kids by Lisa Oppenheimer
The family fun guide to Las Vegas by Connie Emerson

A fellow librarian handed me an article this morning from this past Sunday's Boston Globe titled, "Come for the xbox, stay for the books". A few hours later as I was browsing the most recent issue of School Library Journal and I came upon an article titled, "Standing Room Only." They got me thinking. Both articles were addressing the hooks we librarians use to get teens into the library. I started contemplating all the services we offer at our library such as a room just for teens housing computers with Internet access and video game programs. Then I thought about the affect this has had on the library environment. While some may view the noises emitted from the teen room as a disturbance, I see it as a sign that we are doing something right. We're reaching an underserved population and building a relationship with teens that will create life long library users. We're demonstrating our commitment to the community at large. When we have 12 kids waiting to use a computer, while the noise can sometimes distracting, it's a distraction I'm willing to work with if it means we're engaging one of the toughest to reach populations.

For those of you who may think teens have free reign of our fine establishment, I do want make you aware of our Teen Room Code of Conduct created to help keep the peace, and make our library an environment suitable to all ages.

Teen Room Code of Conduct
While in the library you must be occupied with a library related activity and not just 'hanging out'.

Examples of acceptable library behavior:
*reading *doing homework *quietly playing a game *using a computer

Keep the noise level down. No shouting.

Follow the posted computer use guidelines.

Food and drink are only allowed in the library lobby and new book area.

No roughhousing. No swearing. No throwing objects.

No writing on and/or defacing library property.

Violation of these guidelines may result in a loss of privileges and/or expulsion from the library.

Between the Scooter Libby trial and the firing of U.S. attorneys in the Justice Department, it seems Karl Rove's name has been in the news a lot recently. Well, if you are interested in learning more about the man, try reading or viewing the following library items:

Bush's brain : how Karl Rove made George W. Bush presidential / James Moore and Slater Wayne.
Call Number: 973.931 M

Boy genius : Karl Rove, the brains behind the remarkable political triumph of George W. Bush / Lou Dubose, Jan Reid, and Carl M. Cannon.
Call Number: 973.931 D

Bush's brain [videorecording]/ Tartan Films ; directed and produced by Joseph Mealey, Michael Shoob.
Call Number: MAM DVD 973.931 B
(This DVD can be found on the lower level of the library in the Music, Art and Media department.)

As you probably know, today, March 17th, is Saint Patrick’s Day honoring Ireland's patron saint, St. Patrick. We now associate Saint Patrick's Day with everything Irish such as anything green and gold, shamrocks and luck. In Ireland the day is a religious occasion. In the United States, however, St. Patrick's Day celebrations are secular. They date back as far as 1737 when Boston held its first St. Patrick's Day parade. President Truman attended the New York City parade in 1948, a proud moment for the many Irish whose ancestors fought prejudice before finding acceptance in America. In addition to parades, we celebrate with such traditions as the wearing of the green and drinking green beer. Because many Americans celebrate their Irish lineage on St. Patrick’s Day, Congress in 1995 named March as Irish-American Heritage Month. Each year, the U.S. president also issues an Irish-American Heritage Month proclamation.

Who was St. Patrick? The boy who became St. Patrick was born either Magonus Sucatus or Maewyn Succat in the Roman Empire in Great Britain between 370 and 390 AD. His name was changed to Patricius (Patrick) either after his baptism or after he became a priest. Far from being a saint, the future priest considered himself a pagan until the age of sixteen when he was kidnapped and sold into slavery in Ireland. He remained in captivity for six years during which time he worked as a shepherd and began to have religious visions. During one of the visions, Patrick saw a rescue ship and he fled to France. Becoming a priest, he established monasteries across Ireland and set up schools and churches that aided him in his conversion of the Irish country to Christianity. His mission in Ireland lasted for thirty years. He died on March 17 in the year 461. You can read more about his life story at such websites as the Catholic Forum's Patron Saints Index or the Catholic Encyclopedia.

Check out some of the materials about St. Patrick at the Nashua Public Library including:

Patrick [videorecording] / narrated by Liam Neeson; voice of Patrick by Gabriel Byrne; commentary by Frank McCourt;

The life of St. Patrick and his place in history by John B. Bury;

St. Patrick of Ireland : a biography by Philip Freeman;

The book of saints by Nino Ricci (Reference).

You may also wish to visit websites about St. Patrick's Day including:

The History Channel's Saint Patrick's Day;

cb.move.com's Saint Patrick's Day;

or some recipes and crafts at Kaboose's St. Patrick's Day.

When Irish eyes are smiling...

Although the next Presidential election is still over a year and a half away, some campaigns are already in full swing. One of the most active candidates is Hillary Clinton, who has a legitimate chance of winning the Democratic Party's nomination for President. A Clinton victory would give the United States its first female president; however, she is not the first woman to have run for this office. Believe it or not, Victoria C. Woodhull ran for President as the Equal Rights Party's nominee in 1872, long before women had the right to vote. For more information about Woodhull, you can take a look at the Biography Resource Center database, or check out Other powers : the age of suffrage, spiritualism, and the scandalous Victoria Woodhull by Barbara Goldsmith, which is part of our Women's History Month display.

In the 135 years since Woodhull ran, many women have appeared on the ballot. Some, such as Sen. Margaret Chase Smith (R-ME), have even hailed from New England. When a colleague nominated her in 1964, Smith became the first woman to have her name placed in nomination at a major party convention. Other female candidates include Rep. Shirley Chisholm (D-NY), who won 151.25 delegates in 1972, Elizabeth Dole, who ran in 2000, and Carol Moseley Braun, who ran in the 2004 election. The Center for American Women in Politics at Rutgers University lists interesting facts about women who have run for President and other offices on their website. You can also find information about women who have run for President of countries around the world on the Worldwide Guide to Women in Leadership website. If you prefer to read more on this topic, browse our catalog using the subject "women in politics."

It was in the spring of 1841 that Edgar Allen Poe published "The Murders in the Rue Morgue," often credited as the first detective story. Today, mysteries and detective stories are among the most popular books in the Nashua Public Library collection.

To make it easier for readers to find their favorite mysteries, we have a separate section just for these books. As you enter the library, look to the left. Just past the teen room, you'll see a set of bookshelves with the hardcover mysteries for adults. Right nearby are the paperback mysteries.

In this section you'll find favorite writers such as Agatha Christie, Alexander McCall Smith (under "M", not "S"), Martha Grimes, Anne Perry, and Janet Evanovich. The stories range from "cozy" mysteries like Nancy Atherton's "Aunt Dimity" series (Aunt Dimity and the Duke is a treasure), to hardboiled private eye crime stories like Sue Grafton's alphabet series (starting with A is for Alibi).

My personal favorite is Dorothy L. Sayers, whose literate and sensitive mysteries such as Gaudy Night have become classics of the genre. Other NPL staffers prefer writers such as Ruth Rendell and Elizabeth Peters (you'll find more of her books under the pseudonym "Barbara Michaels"). Of course, you'll find many different favorites depending on whom you ask.

One thing's for sure, some mystery authors are so popular that we have special "Hot Copies" of their books. (Read all about Hot Copies here if you're unfamiliar with them.) Looking for a good read? Here are some of the hot new mysteries in our collection:

• Robert Parker's High Profile comes on the heels of last year's popular Hundred Dollar Baby.
• Elizabeth George, What Came Before He Shot Her
• Martha Grimes, Dust: A Richard Jury Novel
• Janet Evanovich, Plum Lovin'

Did we miss one of your favorites? Leave us a note!

I'm currently reading, The Memory Keeper's Daughter, which during last nights reading passage was discussing the decision to choose a baby name before birth or to wait a few weeks to discover the baby's personality. It got me thinking. Choosing a name for another individual is a lot of responsibility. A name can have lasting effects on a person's mental health (as some reading this may know). It's never as easy as picking a name you like and assigning it to a new life. No, first you have to decide do you want to honor someone in your family and create a namesake or choose a name that has its own identity. Do you want to go traditional or trendy? Once you've made these choices its time to move on to scrutinizing the name you like. Does it rhyme with anything obscene, is it shared by any notorious persons? It's probably in your best interest to think of any way possible that this child's friends (or enemies) may twist this name around to make fun of him or her.

So you've taken all of this into consideration, selected a name that you think will be perfect, and think you're done. Not so fast, now you need to decide if you want to tell family and friends before the birth. You know this is going to open the door to everyone else's opinion and quite possibly bring you back to square one.

To help you out with this process we have lots of baby name books here at the library on the parenting shelf and in the adult non-fiction areas available for you to check out...

Beyond Jennifer & Jason, Madison & Montana : what to name your baby now / Linda Rosenkrantz and Pamela Redmond Satran

Baby names for the new generation / Pamela Samuelson and Albry Montalbano

The baby name wizard : a magical method for finding the perfect names for your baby / Laura Wattenberg

The baby name survey book : what people think about your baby's name / Bruce Lansky & Barry Sinrod

The complete idiot's guide to baby names / by Sonia Weiss

According to the US Social Security Office here's a list of the most popular baby names of 2005.

Want to learn about the subprime mortgage crisis, try looking up any of these articles in our Business Resource Center database. Just enter the title of each article into the Find box and click on the Search button.

Lender Woes Go Beyond Subprime (cover story)
by Mara Der Hovanesian
Business Week, 3/12/2007

Subprime Anguish: Recent market events have Wall Street on notice
by John Hintze
Investment Dealers' Digest, 3/5/2007

Big Subprime Woes at CFC
by Paul Muolo
National Mortgage News, 3/5/2007

Still want more? Come to the library and read the latest issue of Standard & Poor's "The Outlook" in which the cover story "Subprime Sentiment" analyzes the current crisis and discusses opportunities amid the rubble.

To learn more about The Outlook's online resource read this earlier blog entry.

Former baseball commissioner Bowie Kuhn died last week. Some of us will remember Kuhn’s tenure as baseball’s commissioner from 1969 to 1984. According to his NY Time obituary, during this period attendance, the value of baseball's salaries, television revenue and franchise values soared, the major leagues expanded into Canada and realigned into divisional play, the World Series became a night-time spectacle, and players won the right to free agency and staged their first strikes. He fined or suspended baseball famous and infamous owners like the Yankees’ George Steinbrenner, the Oakland Athletics’ Charles O. Finley and the Atlanta Braves’ Ted Turner. Bowie Kuhn was known, admired and disliked for killing million-dollar sales of star players, fighting against the players’ union leader, Marvin Miller, and fending off threats to his job.

You can read more about this influential man in the library's Hardball: the education of a baseball commissioner by Bowie Kuhn; editorial assistant, Martin Appel. And check out more about Bowie Kuhn on the web at Baseball Almanac's Bowe Kuhn Biography or The Biz of Baseball - Bowie Kuhn - Former Commissioner (you will need to scroll down to begin the article). Or you may wish to view a somewhat opposite opinion of Bowie Kuhn's achievements in Murray Chase's New York Times column Kuhn’s Achievements Are Not All That They Seem.

You may also be interested in Curt Flood, the player who rebelled against the baseball establishment during Bowie Kuhn’s reign to make free agency a reality. Find out more about this courageous player in NPL’s Bunts: Curt Flood, Camden Yards, Pete Rose, and other reflections on baseball by George F. Will and The way it is by Curt Flood, with Richard Carter.

Bowie Kuhn played a large part in turning baseball into the "big business" it is today. Baseball season is only about a week away!

In this last week of Women's history month, it seems fitting that we should celebrate the 77th birthday of Sandra Day O'Connor. Although she will be remembered as the first female justice of the United States Supreme Court, a life in law was not O'Connor's ambition. In fact, as a child, O'Connor aspired to be a rancher. O’Connor’s mother Ida Day, a college-educated woman, wanted her daughter to experience more than the ranch on which she lived. She sent Sandra to a private girls' school in Texas. After completing high school at age sixteen, Sandra Day attended Stanford University and graduated magna cum laude in 1950. Her plan to return to ranch life changed due to the influence of one of her teachers, who was also a lawyer. O'Connor enrolled at Stanford Law School and worked on the Stanford Law Review. She graduated in 1952.

Despite her credentials, O'Connor was unable to find a job at a law firm because she was a woman. Her only offer was for a secretarial position, which she declined. O'Connor finally found work as a deputy county attorney in San Mateo, CA. When her husband was stationed in Germany in the mid-1950s, O'Connor worked as a civilian attorney for the Quartermaster Market Center. Back in Arizona, O'Connor took time off to raise her sons, but kept herself busy as a volunteer for the state bar, local zoning commission, Salvation Army, a school for minority children, and other activities. From 1965-1981, she held various positions in Arizona, from Assistant Attorney General to Superior Court Judge. In 1981, O'Connor became the first woman appointed to the United States Supreme Court, where she served until 2006. According to her biography in Contemporary Authors Online, "Although she does not consider herself a feminist, O'Connor was quoted by Merrill McLoughlin of Ladies' Home Journal as commenting: 'I am sure that but for that effort [the women's movement], I would not be serving in this job.'"

You can read more about Sandra Day O'Connor in the Biography Resource Center database and in the following books:

Sandra Day O'Connor : how the first woman on the Supreme Court became its most influential justice by Joan Biskupic Call no: BIOG Oc518 B

The majesty of the law : reflections of a Supreme Court justice by Sandra Day O'Connor ; edited by Craig Joyce Call no: 347.7326 O

Lazy B : growing up on a cattle ranch in the American southwest by Sandra Day O'Connor and H. Alan Day Call no: BIOG Oc518

We also have a video titled A Conversation on the Constitution: judicial independence in which O'Connor, along with fellow justices Stephen G. Breyer and Anthony Kennedy field questions from 50 high school students from the Philadelphia and Los Angeles areas about the significance of the judiciary and the ways that independence is protected by the Constitution. You can find it in the Music Arts and Media Department. Call no: MAM DVD 342.73 C

Source:
Contemporary Authors Online, Gale, 2007. Reproduced in Biography Resource Center. Farmington Hills, Mich.: Thomson Gale. 2007. http://galenet.galegroup.com/servlet/BioRC

Many of you may be familiar with the library's Summer Reading Programs for children and teens. This summer, however, we will also be running a Summer Reading Program for adults. While the detailed plans are still being discussed, I can tell you that there will be prizes available, thanks to the Friends of the Library, for a number of participants. So, if you are looking for an excuse to pick up a good book and enjoy reading it, the upcoming Adult Summer Reading Program will be here soon!

Did you know that in January the library started offering a free bilingual storytime? Once a month on Saturday mornings parents and their young ones are invited to come and experience a storytime in both english and spanish. Your family and friends will learn basic spanish language skills and the spanish culture from listening to read-a-louds and participating in literacy activities.

This event began as a request from a bilingual parent (who is also a friend of the library) that was looking for ways to help raise her children to speak both english and spanish as well.

There are many foreign language and bilingual books available for check out in the children's room. Here are 3 suggestions for locating these materials.

First, if you are looking for stories entirely in a foreign language head directly to the foreign language alcove. Books have a number code on the spine to represent different languages. Spanish for instance will always have the number 10 on the spine.

Second, if you are looking for foreign language instruction books you'll want to head to the non-fiction stacks in the 468 call number area.

Finally, if you would like to find fiction books that are written both bilingual and entirely in a foreign language try searching the children's room catalog with the keywords "spanish fiction" (subsitute other languages for the keyword "spanish" if you desire).

Come join us where every storytime is a fiesta!

Saturdays...
March 10 @ 11:00am
April 14 @ 1:00pm
May 12 @ 11:00am
June 9 @ 11:00am

Yesterday I received a challenging reference question that pertained to property values of homes in New Hampshire. Without going into all the details, I did come across a few information resources that I would like to share with you. The first is a reference book titled State Rankings 2006, a statistical view of the 50 United States, (call number is REF 973.0728 S). Amongst the numerous statistics included for households and housing was a chart including percent change in house prices from 2001 to 2005. As it turns out, the figure for the entire state of New Hampshire was 68.8% increase (as opposed to the national figure of 55.3% increase.)

The source of the chart's data was the "House Price Index" which is published by the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight. OFHEO's mission is to promote housing and a strong national housing finance system by ensuring the safety and soundness of Fannie Mae (Federal National Mortgage Association) and Freddie Mac (Federal ree accHome Loan Mortgage Corporation).

As you may know, Fannie Mae has been in the news recently for having its charitable work and related tax deductions scrutinized by the Internal Revenue Service. You can read about this in the article "Philanthropy Fannie Mae Style" found in the April 2nd edition of Business Week. Provided you are a Nashua Public Library cardholder, you have free access to this article through the Library's EBSCO database subscription.

Just click on this link, enter the last 5 digits of your library card number, and then click on the "General Magazines Resources" link. Once you are at the search screen, type in Philanthropy Fannie Mae Style just like it is in this picture and click on 'Search'. (You can click on the picture below to see an enlarged version.)

So, if you would ever like to know how New Hampshire measures up statistically to the other 50 states in topics including agriculture, crime, economics, education, employment and much more, drop by the reference desk and ask to see State Rankings 2006. And for free access to any Business Week article since January 1997, use the llibrary's EBSCO database.

Having recently become the proud owners (or servants, depending how you look at it) of a beautiful Miniature Schnauzer puppy, we soon realized that we needed all the advice we could get. First of all I decided to check out the resources at our library and found several helpful offerings. The best one I found is The art of raising a puppy by the Monks of New Skete. According to the book's publisher HighBridge Company, the Monks of New Skete have been "involved in every facet of dog care for over 25 years: breeding and raising German Shepherds, training dogs of all breeds, and counseling dog owners on the many aspects of life with their dogs". The monks' compassion, respect, affection, and understanding of canine behavior is what makes this book unique. They include all you should now about raising a puppy from the decision to adopt a pup, the steps of selecting the appropriate breed, preparing your home, caring for your new charge and practicing basic obedience exercises.

Another book I found most helpful is Dogs behaving badly : an A to Z guide to understanding and curing behavioral problems in dogs by Nicholas H. Dodman. The book is organized in an easy-to-follow A-to-Z format and contains a wealth of information for a new puppy owner. Both my veterinarian and my groomer recommended this book.

NPL has many other books about puppy and dog training. And if you wish to find out about puppy and dog training on the web, you can find a wealth of information at Dr. P's Dog Training sponsored by the University of Wisconsin's Stevens Point and at the Library of Free Puppy Care Health and Training Articles.

Remember that "my goal in life is to be as good of a person my dog already thinks I am" - author unknown