If you're lucky, you are a New England Patriots fan. Their undefeated 16 game regular season was record-setting in many ways. Tom Brady set a new record for touchdown passes thrown in a single year. Randy Moss set a record for touchdown passes caught in a single year. And, the team set a new record for total points scored in a single year. Not bad.

During the season, many Patriots fans probably read articles online or in the Boston Globe. But if that isn't enough, Pats fans with Nashua Public Library cards can gain access to numerous other magazines and newspapers from around the country through the library's EBSCO database and the Newsbank database. What follows is a sample of some of the articles you might enjoy reading. If you have any questions about how to access these articles either at the library or from home or the office, just visit the Reference Department's home page, http://www.nashualibrary.org/reference.htm, and start up an instant messaging session right their on the webpage!

From EBSCO:
"King's Corner" by Peter King
Sports Illustrated, 12/24/2007

"Spygate: the sequel" by Matt Crossman
Sporting News, 12/17/2007

"There's no stopping them now" Ryan Pagan
Sporting News, 12/17/2007

From Newbank:
"NFL INSIDER - There's plenty of credit for New England's perfect year"
Fort Worth Star-Telegram (TX) - January 1, 2008 length: 1256 words

"New England wins over even a diehard N.Y. fan"
Sacramento Bee, The (CA) - January 1, 2008 length: 663 words

Of course, if you'd like to listen to this blog entry, check back later in the day, and I'll have the podcast version available!

Go Pats!

Snow or no snow--make your way to the library tonight for the first session of Fish 2008, our annual series of fishing lectures. Lectures begin at 7 pm, but if you arrive between 6 pm and 7 pm you can enjoy angling videos, free fishing publications, fly-tying demos by members of Trout Unlimited, and more. Here's the line-up:

Thursday, January 3
6 pm: DVD: How to Surf Fish--Saltwater Fishing with Dr. Jim
Improve your catch rate along the shore. Learn to read the water to find schools and find out the best time to fish and what equipment you'll need.

7 pm: Fatal Forecast
What happens when a 90-foot wave hits two 50-foot lobster boats, 200 miles out at sea in November? Using slides from the actual storm and rescue, Michael Tougias tells the story, based on his book, Fatal Forecast. Sponsored by the Friends of the Library.

Thursday, January 10
6 pm: DVD: Encyclopedia of Saltwater Sport Fish
Learn how to catch over 40 of the most popular sport fish. Covers trolling, casting, jigging, fish identification, and bait and tackle.

7 pm: The Seacoast’s Top 10 Striped-Bass Hotspots
Author, newspaper columnist, and longtime seacoast resident Steve Hickoff will cover where to go on the New Hampshire and southern Maine coastlines for striped bass. Steve’s advice about destinations, tackle, and other issues will make your angling more efficient and enjoyable.

Thursday, January 17
6 pm: DVD: Saltwater Fly-Casting Secrets
A selection of topics from this DVD that features Billy Pate, Steve Rajeff, Jamie Dickinson, Bob Hyde and others.

7 pm: Fly Fishing in New Hampshire
Jim Norton from Trout Unlimited returns with tips on catching wild brook, rainbow, and brown trout and landlocked and Atlantic salmon in New Hampshire rivers and ponds. Highlights include netting Atlantic salmon on the Pemigewasset River and making the most of the alder-fly hatch on the Androscoggin and the hex hatch on ponds.

Thursday, January 24
6 pm: DVD: Catch Big Fish from Small Boats
Techniques and expert advice from charter captains, small boat anglers, and tournament champions. Learn about boat options, safety offshore, rods and rigs, baits and lures, and more.

7 pm: In Concert: The Wildlife Refugees
If you or someone you love is afflicted with fishin’ fever, this concert’s the cure. With tunes like “Eat, Sleep, Drink, and Go Fishin’” and “Here Fishy-Fishy,” the Wildlife Refugees’ music is the soundtrack of your next fishing trip. Sponsored by the Friends of the Library.

Thursday, January 31
6 pm: DVD: Rods, Reels, and Rigs
In-depth instructions from professional captains and experienced anglers covering the spectrum of saltwater tackle and rigs.

7 pm: Salmon Fishing on Cape Breton Island
Angus Boezeman returns to the library, this time to let us in on the joys of salmon fishing on scenic Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia.
7 pm, NPL Theater

Borrow It From Us
Did you know that the library has extensive collections of DVDs, videos, and books about fishing? Look them up in our catalog and check them out when you come to the next fishing lecture.

I was quite surprised when I heard about ABC News' and Fox News Channel's intentions to limit participation in this past weekend's debates. This has been done before. In my research for the update to The Nashua Experience, which will be published later this year, I read about the infamous Bush-Reagan debate in 1980. This was the debate in which Ronald Reagan said, "I am paying for this microphone, Mr. Green." The circumstances surrounding this debate garnered national attention. George HW Bush had won the Iowa caucus, and Reagan was about to change his campaign strategy. Previously, he did not want to debate because he thought it would divide the party. Upon hearing the suggestion that Reagan should have a one-on-one debate with Bush, The Telegraph offered to both sponsor and underwrite the event. The excluded candidates protested, and some even filed complaints with the Federal Election Commission. The FEC decided that the paper could sponsor, but not pay for, the event. Reagan's campaign stepped in. Bush accepted. The debate was on.

The other candidates continued to protest. Letters poured in to The Telegraph. Many argued that The Telegraph had no right to proclaim Bush and Reagan the front runners; that was the voters' job. On the day of the debate, Ronald Reagan invited the other Republican candidates to participate. He did not advise The Telegraph or the Bush campaign of the plan. Jon Breen--not Green as Reagan had exclaimed--did not want to change the format, nor did Bush, who had agreed to abide by the paper's wishes. The agitated Breen threatened to turn of the microphone, and Reagan proclaimed "I am paying for this microphone, Mr. Green."

After the debate, readers continued to protest the paper's handling of the event. The editors of The Telegraph wrote that they had been used by the Reagan campaign, but praised the tactics nonetheless. They worked, after all. Today's Telegraph editors, however, seem to have learned from that debacle, as some have called it. When the final debates before the 2008 primary were announced, the paper published an editorial suggesting that all of the candidates should participate in the debates. While some argue that the less popular candidates either dilute the debates or will simply be ignored by the moderator, the writer of the editorial questioned, "Here we are just days away from the first-in-the-nation primary – with the eyes of the entire world upon us – and two major networks have taken it upon themselves to decide who is and who is not a legitimate candidate worthy of our consideration?"* What do you think?

*"Invite all candidates to weekend debates." The Telegraph http://www.nashuatelegraph.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080103/OPINION01/450749263 (January 3, 2008).

Back in the 1950's when Sputnik ruled space and Apollo moon landings were just a dream, when my biggest worries were poison ivy and the odd rabid skunk, kids like me read fantastic stories by the masters-- Isaac Asimov, Arthur C. Clarke and Robert A. Heinlein-- in pulp magazines with lurid covers.

Now Sputnik is a footnote, Apollo toils on ‘Battlestar Galactica’, and terrorism is a given, but ‘I, Robot’, ‘2001: A Space Odyssey’, and ‘The Moon is a Harsh Mistress’ still matter, and kids still read to stretch their imaginations. And fantasy and science fiction have new life on the Internet.

Jim Baen-- the publisher who brought us Honor Harrington, John Ringo, old pros like David Drake and Andre Norton, and fat novels with multi-novel CDs in the back-- is no longer with us, but Jim Baen's Universe is thriving in cyberspace. This website looks and feels like the great science fiction magazines of yesteryear, but with new stories and artwork by the best pros in the genre, as well as talented newcomers.

You can link to Jim Baen's Universe here. To take advantage of Nashua Public Library’s complimentary membership at Jim Baen's Universe, login with:
User ID: NashuaPublic
Password: nashua911

Fogies like me who like real books can look for 'The Best of Jim Baen's Universe' on the New Fiction display at Nashua Public Library, or reserve it through the website.

More Cyberspace Places to Visit

If you're a Robert A Heinlein fan, check out this site.

If you love Margaret Weis or R.A Salvatore, look for their biographies here.

And did you know that:

William Gibson coined the term cyberspace in his 1984 novel 'Neuromancer'?

See you around the library!

Newsbank has revamped their look.

On Monday, January 7, Newsbank, the company we use for electronic access to the Nashua Telegraph, the Union Leader, and many other newspapers and magazines from across the country, changed their search interface.

You can still search with keywords and date, as before. But you may want to refine your search even further. There are several ways to do this:

• Word count—When creating your initial search, you can now limit it so that you only get articles within a certain word count. This allows you to weed out short articles if you're looking for substance, or weed out long articles if you're going for brevity.
• Author
• Caption
• Headline
• Source

There is more flexibility in the search interface, too. If you've already used the three standard search boxes (say, for keywords, date, and author) but want to include more search criteria (say, word count or source), you can now add more rows of search boxes.

Below the search boxes, there are three tabs that you can also use to limit your search up front. One tab is for location. You can choose to search publications from a specific state or a region (New England, middle Atlantic, and so on). The second tab, Source Types, lets you indicate whether you want to look at newspapers, magazines, academic journals, newswires, or online sources. For each selection, you can click to see the available titles and date ranges. The third tab, Source List, lets you select specific news titles from an alphabetical list.

If you prefer to just do a simple keyword search, you can narrow the search results list later. When your search results come up, Newsbank will show the article title, word count, and the approximate number of pages the article would be when printed out. It will also show your keyword, or search term, in context so that you can quickly see whether the article is on topic. To the left of the search results list, you'll see a list of ways to refine the results. Under the heading "View Results," there will be links that allow you to winnow down the list of results by:

• Year—For each year, the number of articles available is displayed in parentheses. This can help you quickly see what years the story or topic was big in the news.
• Resource type—if you are only interested in magazine articles, you can click “magazines” and eliminate newspaper articles from your list.
• Location—Use this if you want to focus on news from a particular state.
• Source title—If you only want articles from the Nashua Telegraph or the Boston Globe, you can use this to focus your results on those newspapers.

Once you narrow your results to a particular year, location, etc., a dropdown menu appears above the results, and you can select a different year or location from the list to look at those results.

When you’ve found a useful article, you can print it or email it. If you're using bibliographic citation software such as EndNote, ProCite, or RefWorks, Newsbank can also export its article citations to that software for you.

Newsbank and other databases are available within the library, and most are also available from outside the library. Just go to the Nashua Public Library's main database page, www.nashua.lib.nh.us/IbrowseAdultAlpha.htm, click on the database you’re interested in, and type in the last 5 digits of your Nashua Public Library card number. Give us a call at the Reference Desk (603-589-4611) if you have any questions.

Have you ever browsed the State of New Hampshire's website? If not, you should. The answers to a lot of day-to-day questions can be found here. The website is divided into three categories, executive, legislative and judicial. This blog is about the Judicial Branch. The New Hampshire Judicial System has developed a new book which should make the New Hampshire Court system more user friendly. This book, Your guide to the New Hampshire Courts , is currently available to be read on the Judicial System website. It was produced with the assistance of the New Hampshire Bar Association, and will soon be available for use by state residents in print.

When dealing with any judicial system, questions arise that can be difficult to answer. This book should begin to provide the answers. It contains a map which will help to locate courts in the state. It also details the structure of the courts and the work done in each kind of court. For instance, did you know that:
New Hampshire Superior Courts are the only courts in New Hampshire where jury trials are
held
New Hampshire has a Supreme Court which hears appeals from all other courts
New Hampshire Probate Courts not only deal with estates and trusts, but also with name
changes and involuntary commitments
New Hampshire has a special court called Family Division which deals with all family
matters
New Hampshire District Court handles all traffic violations

If you have wondered about the rights of the crime victim or of the accused, the information is in this book. Also, there is a discussion of mediation, a way to settle differences without going to court. In the legal resources for the public section, you learn about the State Law Library in Concord which provides free internet access to the public as well as assistance with legal research. LexisNexis can be used for free on the public computers at the State Law Library.

If you feel that you would like to represent yourself in court, if the need should arise, the Judicial Branch website has a Self-help Center which will get you started. Those who feel that they would fare better with the assistance of a legal professional can obtain low-cost legal help through the New Hampshire Bar Association or New Hampshire Legal Services - Legal Assistance, Information and Support

Don't hesitate to make use of this online book and the Judicial Branch website. Valuable information regarding your legal rights can be found there, and you never know when you might need it.

Now that the festivities of the new year have passed, its time to welcome a new season...tax season. Here at the library we want to help ease your pain by providing you with some of the most popular tax forms. We have a display of forms, free for the taking in front of reference desk.

If you need a form that isn't in this display you can download tax forms for free from www.irs.gov or you can stop at the reference desk and ask us to print it for you. The library does charge $.10 per page to print.

If you have additional questions you may want to call the local IRS office at (603) 594-8370 or stop by at 410 Amherst Street. AARP volunteers will once again provide tax assistance here at the library beginning in February. Stay tuned for more details.

Our inventory is always changing so stop in or give us a call to see if we have a particular form.

Here's the most current list of forms we have:

1040 (form and instructions)
Scheds A & B
Sched. C
Sched. C-EZ
Sched. D
Sched. E
1040A
Sched. 3 (form and instructions)
1040EZ
8829 (form and instructions)
Publ. 17
MA Non-Resident
MA Resident

I recently read in Publisher's Weekly magazine from January 3, 2008 that Jon Scieszka has been named the country's first national ambassador of children's books. I have long been a fan of Mr. Scieszka since I first became familiar with his ever-so-popular book The True Story of the Three Little Pigs published in 1989. This two year appointment as ambassador is a collaboration between the Library of Congress and the Children's Book Council and is modeled after the Children's Laureate position in the U.K.

I think Scieszka is most deserving of this position and will be able to set the stage for the continuation of this august role. He is funny, smart, and articulate and most importantly, kids love to read his books. I was also pleased to read that Mr. Scieszka plans to make his platform "Reaching Reluctant Readers". His attitude of letting kids read whatever it is they want to read, regardless of whether it is considered great literature or not and to "stop demonizing TV and online as the enemy" is a step in the right direction in my humble opinion. Scieszka founded his own initiative in 2001 called "Guys Read" which is available from his website, www.guysread.com. From this site guys (and girls) can get a listing of good books recommended by Scieszka himself.

It will be interesting to see the energy that Mr. Scieszka brings to his new position and what new initiatives may develop during his appointment. The future of reading seems bleak when looking over the statistics discussed in the NEA's recently released study, "To Read or Not to Read". But I think Scieszka has his finger on the pulse of our young readers and I am optimistic when he says "I'm speaking to that knucklehead in the back of the classroom, because that knucklehead was me." Go for it, Jon!!

If you watched the Democratic candidate presidential debate last night, you probably noticed that the issues of race and gender had largely been put to rest by Barak Obama and Hilary Clinton. While this surprised some of the political pundits, it probably shouldn't have, given some of the recent speeches both candidates had given. Take a look and a listen to some of Clinton's and Obama's recent comments included in this MSNBC video clip:

If you would like to read more about race in politics, or about presidential speeches and speaking styles, why don't you take a look at these books and CDs:

Race and Politics
A bound man : why we are excited about Obama and why he can't win / Shelby Steele.
Running on race : racial politics in presidential campaigns, 1960-2000 / Jeremy D. Mayer.

Presidential Speeches and Speaking Styles
Presidential voices : speaking styles from George Washington to George W. Bush / Allan Metcalf.
Great speeches of the 20th century, Volume one: Presidential addresses [sound recording].
Abraham Lincoln : speeches and writings.

For 3 years now we have made Walt Disney World in Florida our top vacation destination. My first time at Disney was 25 years ago, in 1982 just before they built Epcot. To say things have changed at the land of the mouse would be an understatement! By the spring of 2004, Disney was no longer just for kids. “BUT” we sure felt like kids! I fell in love with the amusement parks all over again.

Planning is a must when visiting Walt Disney World. We start by determining which park we are going to visit each day and then choosing which restaurant we would like to relax and kick back at. There is some outstanding food to be found if you venture away from the parks. If you’re into steak, the Yachtsman Steakhouseis the best. Not into steaks? Another great place to eat is Portobello Yacht Club, they serve the best pasta & pizza dishes around. If you just want to catch some sports action, go to the ESPN Bar
We always find time to get in some resort hopping. It is a nice break from the fast pace of the parks.Looking for "Hidden Mickey" is always treat.

This time we stayed at the Contemporary Resort and booked the Magic Kingdom view. A view of a life time I would say! We were able to watch the Wishes Fireworks from the privacy of our own balcony. The rooms have recently been renovated and certainly have a new feel.We’ve already made plans for our next trip to Disney.

The library has several books on Walt Disney World and Walt Disney himself. Here are a few books that I recommend :

Disney on a dime

Walt Disney world & Orlando for dummies

Walt Disney World for couples

The Unofficial guide to Walt Disney World & EPCOT

Fodor's ... Walt Disney World resort, Universal Orlando, and Central Florida

Hidden Mickey

Rita Aero's Walt Disney World for adults and families, too!

Walt Disney

Disney's world

Famous financiers and innovators

The hand behind the mouse

Recently I read an article in the New York Times titled All We Are Saying about their selections for the buzzwords that are the "tattoos, scars and medals" differentiating 2007 from other years. Being a NY Times Sunday crossword puzzle addict from way back, the article prompted me to search for additional interesting information and websites about buzzwords and words in general. So this blog will tell you a bit about my current fixation.

First of all, what exactly is a buzzword? According to MerriamWebster.com, the word "buzzword" was coined iin 1946 and is "an important-sounding usually technical word or phrase often of little meaning used chiefly to impress laymen or "a voguish word or phrase —called also buzz phrase". Synonyms for buzzword include fuzzword, jargon, lingo, mediaspeak, catch phrase and phraseology. Anatoly Liberman has written an interesting article The Origins of Buzzwords. Here are some example of defining 2007 buzzwords from the above NY Times article:

bacn - Impersonal e-mail messages that are nearly as annoying as spam but that you have chosen to receive such as alerts, newsletters and automated reminders.

drama-price - to lower the price of a house to attract the attention of buyers.

e-mail bankruptcy - what you’re declaring when you choose to delete or ignore a very large number of e-mail messages after falling behind in processing them. This often includes sending a boilerplate message explaining that old messages will never receive a personal, specific response. Popularized by the Stanford law professor Lawrence Lessig.

global weirding - an increase in severe or unusual environmental activity often attributed to global warming. This includes freakish weather and new animal migration patterns.

mom job - also termed a mommy makeover, a package of cosmetic surgery procedures that will reduce such visible effects of childbirth as stretch marks or sagging.

multi-dad - said of a woman who has children by more than one man, first popularized in Britain.

Do you have any suggestions yet for 2008 buzzwords? A Sans Francisco Chronicle editorial Buzzword 2008: 'Change' is the theme of the season suggests the word "change". According to the editorial, the " beauty of 'change' as a political buzzword is its malleability". To Barak Obama , it is a synonym for hope; Hillary Clinton, "rushing to tap its power", uses it as a synonym for preparation for action; John Edwards invokes it for his populist ideals. On the Republican side, John McCain uses change as a code-word for principle. The editorial concludes that "change is entirely up to the candidate to describe and voters to interpret". Pete Blackshaw, executive vice president of strategic services for Nielsen Online includes moptimization - as in to clean up (the increasingly common brand practice of attempting to clean up negative search results against general or specific brand-related queries) and wombagging - protecting your brand from negative or undesirable word of mouth (WOM) in his blog The Official 2008 Web 2.0 Buzzword Forecast.

Another website that I noticed was the Merriam-Webster's Word of the Year 2007. Merriam-Webster selected the word w00t. "W00t" is an interjection "expressing joy (it could be after a triumph, or for no reason at all); similar in use to the word 'yay'". The word first became popular in competitive online gaming forums and is part of what is known as l33t ("leet," or "elite") speak—a computer hacker language in which numbers and symbols are combined to look like letters. Although the double "o" in the word is usually represented by double zeroes, the exclamation is also known to be an acronym for "we owned the other team", again stemming from the gaming community. Merriam-Webster rounds out its Top 10 List with facebook, conundrum, quixotic, blamestorm, sardoodledom, apathetic, Pecksniffian, hypocrite and charlatan. You probably will notice the majority of these words are not unique at all.

Business Buzzword Bingo! is a fun game that can be played at business meetings but can be adapted to any situation of your choice. You may have seen IBM poking fun at itself in a commercial about its employees playing buzzword bingo at a meeting. Some other fun websites about words are Word Use 7.5 Euphemisms, WordSpy, WordGames, WordPlays and Wordie.

IIf you are interested in playing some word games, here are some items that we have at our library:

Word wars [videorecording] : tiles and tribulations on the Scrabble game circuit / Discovery Times and Seventh Art Releasing present an E-Wolf production ; produced by Eric Chaikin ; directed by Eric Chaikin and Julian Petrillo.

The Oxford guide to word games by Tony Augarde.

The play of words : fun & games for language lovers by Richard Lederer.

Get thee to a punnery by Richard Lederer

An Almanac of words at play compiled by Willard R. Espy.

Another almanac of words at play compiled by Willard R. Espy.

The joy of lex : how to have fun with 860,341,500 words by Gyles Brandreth

More games for the superintelligent by James F. Fixx.

Last weekend, my husband and I forayed into the world of baby furniture shopping. I have to admit, it was overwhelming. We walked into a store and saw before our eyes a plethora of cribs, dressers, cradles, and changing tables. Where do we begin? What do we really need? Fortunately for first-time parents, you can get help right here at the library.

The seventh edition of Baby bargains : secrets to saving 20% to 50% on baby furniture, equipment, clothes, toys, maternity wear and much, much more! by Denise & Alan Fields is on order for the parenting shelf in the back of the children's room. This book offers advice and reviews on various products for not only the baby, but also for the mother-to-be. The authors, who are consumer advocates, rely on their own experiences as well as those of thousands of other parents. They point you in the direction of high quality products at reasonable (relatively speaking) prices. Because Baby Bargains is already listed in the online catalog, you can place a request for this book from the comfort of your own home. Once you are on the library's home page, click on the red box that reads "My Account."

Enter the last five digits of your library card and your pin, which is usually the last four digits of your phone number. Click on the "login button." This will bring you to your record. On the top of the screen, click on the "search" tab to search for your book. Once you see the entry, click on the "request item" button. The library will notify you once the book is available.

If you don't want to wait for the newer edition, take a look at the sixth edition, which was published in 2005. As of today, it is checked out and due on January 24. I promise to return it on time! In the meantime, you might want to peruse the Baby Bargains website, which includes bonus materials, news, and updates that you will not find in the book.

We also own The girlfriends' guide to baby gear : what to buy, what to borrow, and what to blow off! by Vicki Iovine with Peg Rosen. This book is also checked out, so you will have to put a request on it as well. Of course, you can always take a look at Consumer Reports. We keep the circulating copies in the Stearns Room, and we recently moved the reference copies behind the reference desk. If you can't find the issue or topic of choice, try searching the EBSCO databases. Consumer Reports is indexed in MasterFILE Premier (under General Magazine Resources) from to 1985 to present and available full text from 1991 to present with a three-month delay. These resources should at least help you narrow down your options.

Now, if we could only settle on names...

A Corpse in the Koryo is a first novel, by James Church (a pseudonym). The author's previous career was, interestingly enough, as an intelligence officer.

The lead character, Inspector O, is a somewhat lowly police detective assigned to an early morning photo stakeout, somewhere in rural North Korea. After a short time, the mysterious car under observation flies by, and the inspector discovers too late that his camera battery is dead. But this scene setting is deceptive - the next view is of a secluded rooming house somewhere in Eastern Europe where our inspector is being interrogated about the scene we have just read, and he has just described. The action continues on several different levels - one the ongoing activities of Inspector O, including a murder investigation (the actual body in the Koryo), a brief interlude with a foreign lady whose ties to anyone is unclear, the inspector's complicated relationship with his father and that subplot of North Korean national identity(s), as well as the rooming house interview which interrupts other action intermittently.

His relationships with the other principal characters is especially well fleshed out - his supervisor, we feel, is his best friend; the Irish operative who interrogates him is, we sense, somehow an enemy; the people of his police force include several nepharious characters, but there is definitely a mist over the landscape... and Inspector O (and the reader) are challenged to clear it away.

There are segways of brilliant discovery that give the book an extra layer of involvement. The characters are very real life (although foreign) and the setting is definitely the communistic milieu of North Korea some time in the near past, so part of the texture of the book is the Asian environment, for intrigue and good old cops and robbers action.

I eagerly await James Church's next foray.

The 80th annual Academy Award nominations were announced yesterday.

Nominees for Best Motion Picture of the Year were Atonement, Juno, Michael Clayton, No Country for Old Men, and There Will Be Blood.

No Country for Old Men, a film by brothers Ethan and Joel Coen, had 8 nominations, including Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Supporting Actor for Javier Bardem. If you're interested in seeing more of the Coen brothers' movies, Fargo and The Big Lebowski are just two of the titles you'll find here at the library. Or, you might like to read Cormac McCarthy's book, on which the film is based.

There Will Be Blood also received 8 nominations, including Best Actor for Daniel Day-Lewis. According to the handy, searchable database on the Academy Awards web site, Oscar.com, Daniel Day-Lewis has already won for his role in "My Left Foot." He was also nominated for Best Actor for his roles in Gangs of New York and In the Name of the Father.

Michael Clayton came in with 7 nominations, including a Best Actor nomination for George Clooney.

Also taking 7 nominations was Atonement, which was based on Ian McEwan's book by the same name. We have several copies of the book, if you'd like to add your name to the waiting list.

Check back with the library as these titles are released on DVD. We have many award-winners in our collection!

The complete list of Academy Award nominations is available from the official Oscar web site, at http://www.oscar.com/nominees/.

This winter the Nashua Public Library adopted a new process for programs that require registration. We've gone paperless!

In the past you would either call or stop by the children's room or the reference desk to add your name to a paper sign up sheet to register for a program. This could sometimes be chaotic the first day registration opened to the public. So to alleviate any headaches we've streamlined the process. Now, all you have to do is...

*Visit our website (which you can do anywhere you have Internet access)

*Click on the red bar that says "Up Coming Events @ Your Library"

*Locate the program you are interested in and click on the register button (if the event you are trying to register for is full, you will see a waitlist button instead of a register button.

*This will prompt you to fill out a registration form with your name and contact information. At this point you can also add a password to your registration form (it can be anything you want, but why not make it easy and use the last 5 digits of your library barcode number).

*if you include a password with your registration you will be able to log in at a later date and view all of the events you've registered for. To do this you will again visit our website, click on "Up Coming Events @ Your Library", this time look for the "My Classes" link at the top left of the events listings. This will prompt to enter your email address and the password you created. From there you'll see a list of all programs you are registered for. You can also delete your registration from this screen as well.

This process is still relatively new, so we welcome any feedback you'd like to provide related to your experiences registering for our library programs online.

One wonderful thing about public libraries is all the free programs and cultural events that are available to the public on any given day, year round. From our website homepage one simply has to go to Upcoming Events @ Your Library to find a huge variety of free programs for the entire family.

For over thirty years families have been able to enjoy a quality family film every Saturday afternoon at 2:00pm in the comfort of the NPL Theater. Not too long ago the Nashua Public Library Theater was the only movie theater in town following the demise of the Brandt Cinema on Main St. and the Nashua Mall theater complex. And even though Chunky's Cinema Pub has put down roots on Coliseum Avenue, the public library theater still manages to draw a crowd.

During February, theatergoers will be able to see four fine films based on children's books. How to Eat Fried Worms, Tuck Everlasting, Hoot, and Because of Winn Dixie are the books to film that will be shown in the NPL Theater on February 2nd, 9th, 16th , and 23rd. And although the smell of popcorn doresn't permeate the air, your wallet will not be depleted when you leave the theater. A stop on the way home for hot chocolate and a donut is just a block away.

This past weekend I joined my young niece and nephew for a day of skiing at Shawnee Mountain Ski Area. Keep in mind that my niece and nephew are 6 and 3 years old respectively, so I wasn't going to be doing any double black diamond trails. Rather, I knew I'd be spending most of the time on the so-called "bunny" slope.

As you might guess, most of my day was spent helping my youngsters learn how to ski and have a good time. Fortunately, the day went really well and not too many tears were shed. Even my nephew learned how to get onto a real ski lift, (as opposed to the "magic carpet" that you use to get up the bunny slope.)

The day left me wondering, is there any other way to learn skiing than by getting on the slopes and working it out? While I do feel there is no better way than to throw on the skis and get some hands-on experience, I do think certain ski concepts could be learned from reading a book, watching a video, or just talking with someone who knows what they are doing. With that in mind, I looked through the library's collections and found these tasty morsels that you might like to check out if you are new or not so new to skiing.

Books on Ski Instruction
Ski the whole mountain : how to ski any condition at any time / by Eric and Rob Deslauriers
Breakthrough on the new skis : say goodbye to the intermediate blues / Lito Tejada-Flores.
The new guide to skiing / Marty Heckelman.
Skiing for dummies / Allen St. John ; foreword by Jonny Moseley.
Allen & Mike's really cool backcountry ski book : traveling and camping skills for a winter environment / Allen O'Bannon with illustrations by Mike Clelland.

Skiing and other Winter Sport Travel Guides
Ski North America : the ultimate travel guide / David Holyoak.
Ski magazine's guide to New England and Quebec / by the editors of Ski magazine.
Skiing and snowboarding in North America / written and researched by Tam Leach...
Snowshoe routes New England / by Diane Bair and Pamela Wright.
Winter trails. Vermont & New Hampshire : the best cross country ski & snowshoe trails / by Marty Basch.

Ski Magazines
Skiing - The library has a print subscription going back to 2004. However, you can access the issues going back to 2001 using the EBSCO database. Articles from the January 2008 issue of Skiing include "Edge Your Way into a Turn", (which presents instructions on how to ride on the edges of skis during a turn,) and "Ski Mountaineering 101". And for all the woman out there who ski, don't miss the December 2007 Supplement Issue just on women's skiing.

Ski - This magazine is available only through the EBSCO database and is available in full text back to January 2001.

Does waiting in line make you grumpy? The Nashua Public Library Children’s Room and main floor Circulation Desk now offer Self Checkout, to keep you smiling.

It’s simple:

* Scan your library card and enter your PIN using the mouse.

* An information screen identifies you by name, displays how many items are currently checked out, and whether you have Holds available for pickup or owe any fines. Rarely, this screen indicates that you cannot use self checkout and that you must go to the Circulation Desk.

* Next, scan the barcode for each item. If your item has a pocket, put a card in it.

* Click on the Finish button and your receipt will print. On-screen and voice prompts assist you through each step.

Everything is available for self checkout except DVDs and CDs, which staff must remove from security cases prior to checkout. So visit the library and check it out yourself!