A teen's world isn't all video games and text messaging at least that's what I'm concluding from the success of this year's teen summer reading program. Teens in grades 6-12 could read anything that they wanted that was at least 80 pages in length (magazines, graphic novels, fiction, non-fiction).

In the most successful teen summer reading program to date, 53 teens read 291 books and raised $160.25 for the NH Carbon Challenge. In addition, we had a number of great musical performances by local teen musicians.

I'd like to thank this year's generous sponsors:
Friends of the Nashua Public Library
Hayward's Ice Cream
NH Fisher Cats Baseball
Texas Roadhouse
Chunky's Cinema
Tee Shirt Bodega

Most of all, I'd like to thank the teens of Nashua for participating in the program. I hope you had fun.

Jenn
Teen Librarian

Archives are a wonderful and fascinating thing. I found my way into the library field because of my interest in archives. I choose my graduate school based on the fact that I could earn my Masters in Library and Information Science with a, what my school called a “special option,” in archives. This meant that I was able to take some archival classes and get some good hands-on experience.

Archives are ‘the non-current records of individuals, groups, institutions, and governments that contain information of enduring value’ (Society of American Archivists). These records can include letters, papers, photographs, video, diaries, etc. Researchers can find archival repositories in many locations, including, but not limited to, government organizations, corporations, hospitals, colleges and schools, and museums.

The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) hold billions of the Federal Government’s records in multiple buildings throughout the county. Because of the vast amounts of information, it is impossible to make all of the records accessible online. But wouldn’t it be wonderful to be able to see some of the records they have! Lucky for us, NARA has developed Digital Vaults, digitizing some of the most interesting pieces of their collection for us to view in the comfort of our homes (or local libraries).

The site allows you to browse through images of records. When you find one you like, you can click on it to see more information about the document. It will also provide you with ‘tags’ which are keywords or subjects that are associated with the record. These tags will let you search the digital vault for other like documents and records. There is also a search option to let you type in your own keywords or subjects that interest you. There is a ‘back track’ feature to see all the documents you have viewed (which is really nice if you’ve been on the website for awhile!).

The Nashua Public Library has digitized some of its own photograph collection which can be viewed online here.

Check out the Digital Vaults and comment about some of the features of you like or what image you like best!

I'm going off on a tangent again! I'm sure that many people by now are aware that the discovery of Bigfoot's corpse in Georgia was actually a hoax. Some people were relieved, some people were disappointed, most people didn't care. My husband, the man I said in a previous blog would sit in a cemetery on Halloween night with a tape recorder, was thrilled and heartbroken at the same time. He was heartbroken that it wasn't really Bigfoot, because he really is out there somewhere, you know. At the same time he was thrilled because he sees it as his life's work to go out there and find Bigfoot.

All of this got me thinking about the many mysteries that surround us - mostly imagined - and the number of people who really do believe in the existence of some of these things. I'm talking about things like Bigfoot, aliens, UFOs, crop circles, X-files, religious mysteries, urban legends, and even end-of-the- world predictions! Scientists, cultural anthropologists, and researchers have actually encouraged some of these beliefs.

Television has also got a lot to answer for. People will believe really strange things if they see them on tv. Sometimes viewers don't even notice the disclaimer which should let them know that a lot of this information comes from someone's overactive imagination. Sometimes the show is even touted as an expose of concealed information that the public should know about. Remember Alien Autopsy or Area 51? (The website for Area 51 must be examined with caution, unless you want to find yourself downloading alien landing ringtones to your cell or making a donation to whatever group this represents.) There is a lot of information on there, though, for people who "want to believe". Movies should be held responsible as well. For instance, the Da Vinci code has given birth to a multitude of religious "conspiracy theories".

The "truth" is out there in a lot of books at Nashua Public Library. If you are a "true believer" or a skeptic like me, you can still enjoy the books in the zeros section. Some of us will just laugh harder than others. Here's a selection:

Mysterious monsters: fact or fiction
Monsters: evil beings, mythical beasts and all manner of imaginary terrors by David D. Gilmore
The X-files : book of the unexplained by Jane Goldman
The mystery chronicles : more real-life x-files by Joe Nickell
A guide to the end of the world by Bill McGuire
Magi : uncovering the secret society that read the birth of Jesus in the stars by Adrian Gilbert
The chalice of Magdalene by Graham Phillips
and for those of us who knew it was all make-believe anyway:
The great pretenders : true stories behind famous historical mysteries by Jan Bondeson
The museum of hoaxes by Alex Boese