Happy New Year East Hampton!

New Year's at Noon
Who says libraries don't draw crowds anymore?

Over 100 local residents today left us with little doubt that if we want to welcome the New Year, the best time to so is noon at the library!

Our 7th annual New Year's at Noon celebration featured oh so edible or made to be noisy crafts, plus group sing-alongs, dancing, and of course -- our signature balloon drop. Par-taay!

ICONN Resources for Students

Graphics for Presentations and Papers




Need a chart or photograph to make your paper or presentation all the more powerful? Take it up a notch by exploring the Associated Press (AP) Multimedia Archive found at iCONN.org. The database allows you to search and browse AP images as far back as 1860 -- then download, email, or print them to use in your assignments. You’re sure to find a picture worth a thousand words (which you will still have to write) among the 3.5 million images in this archive.

About iCONN
iCONN is part of the Connecticut Education Network. It provides all students, faculty and residents with online access to essential library and information resources. It is administered by the Connecticut State Library in conjunction with the Department of Higher Education. Through iCONN, a core level of information resources including secured access to licensed databases is available to every citizen in Connecticut.

Take That, Google!

Clusty: a Different Way to Search the Web
If you've ever grown tired of slogging through pages and pages of Google hits, take Clusty out for a test-drive. Clusty searches for the information you are looking for and delivers the results in ordered groups, or clusters. The clusters help you see the information by topic and often reveal the relationships between results. If you would like to find useful information before suffering a mouse-related wrist injury, Clusty's a 'robusty' choice for sure.

Hello, Baby!

If You're Happy and You Know It... Wiggle and Giggle!
Did you know the the library offers regular programs for babies throughout the year?

Wiggle and Giggle programs are scheduled Mondays and Fridays and begin at 10 a.m. in the Community Room. Programs last about an hour, and are intended for babies 24 months and under, accompanied by a parent or guardian. The programs typically include a short story followed by structured/unstructured play and socializing. Toys are provided. Staff member Rae Strickland leads the programs.

Come when you can. No registration is required.

History Lessons

Teddy Roosevelt: 'Steward of the People'
A former president of the United States will charge up the hill this January to visit East Hampton.

Well, it’s actually Ted Zalewski who will portray Theodore “Teddy” Roosevelt, our 26th president.

Zalewski, an historical interpreter of Theodore Roosevelt, combines education, history, drama and fun in his acclaimed presentation Teddy Roosevelt: Mind, Body and Spirit. Highlights of TR's life as cowboy, soldier, naturalist, historian, father and statesman help us understand a man who won the Noble Prize, inspired the Teddy bear and, and who at age 42, became the youngest person to serve as President. Zalewski also uses Roosevelt’s own words to illustrate Roosevelt's personality and leadership style.

Mr. Zalewski has performed as 'TR' at the National Theater, the Museum of American Political Life, and prestigious universities around the country.

This must-see, one-man show takes place at 2 p.m. Saturday, January 26, at the East Hampton Public Library. For seating purposes, please phone the library to register at 267-6621 or register online.

MySpace, YourSpace...

And the OurSpace We Find in Between...
It has no windows and doors. You don't need a car, bike, skateboard, or your feet to get there. It's a branch of the library that didn't cost any money to build but is a work in progress. It's open 24-7 and is part of our friendly mission to connect with youth/teens/young adults in our community.

Join us on our EHPL MySpace realist page -- no begging, just happy to make new friends. View pics, blogs posts, check out events, search the catalog, send us a message about what the library can do for you.

Great American Novelists

The Year of Cormac McCarthy
Anyone who has confronted a high school summer reading list has heard of Cormac McCarthy, author of the bestselling novel All the Pretty Horses, first in a series. McCarthy is perhaps one of America's greatest living novelists. He also had a banner year in the way of public recognition.

In March 2007, Oprah selected McCarthy's The Road for her book club. In April 2007, the same novel was awarded a Pulitzer Prize. In November the Coen Brother's released No Country for Old Men, a film based on McCarthy's 2003 novel of the same name. The film was nominated for the Golden Palm Award at the Cannes Film Festival and last week, received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Motion Picture Drama.

Most of McCarthy's novels are available at the library (try our quick search box, right) with several in more than one format. Also catch David Kushner's interview with the reclusive McCarthy, in this month's holiday issue of Rolling Stone Magazine.

WW II: Liberation Trilogy

The Series Continues
Wars are often compared to intersections because after one is over, the civilizations involved go off in different directions. The new directions ultimately cause all of us to change. The war in this book is WWII, the book's author is Rick Atkinson, and the book is second in the author's Liberation Trilogy.

The Day of Battle, The War in Sicily and Italy, 1943-1944 is a hard-to-put-down book about WW II's Mediterranean Campaign; i.e., battles in Sicily and Italy. Rick Atkinson -- a Washington Post guy with a Pulitzer for Army at Dawn (North Africa Campaign)-- has unearthed and reveals details about building combat effectiveness, misjudgments, and offers us an eerie awareness of the price paid along the way. Atkinson also makes a convincing case that the Mediterranean Campaign played a decisive role in breaking German power.

Holiday Parties for Little People

Merry Five, Four, Three, Two, One
Santa Pays a Visit
Thursday, December 13th brought us our first major snowstorm. By Friday morning, very little kept our community's littlest folks from enjoying the library's 2007 Holiday Party. Of course, nothing interfered with Santa using his sleigh and go-to reindeer to pay a visit to East Hampton. A good time was had by all.

We offer our special thanks to parents (who provided refreshments) and to Dennis Griswold, a local resident/business owner, Friend of Lake Pocotopaug, and the best Santa surrogate ever!

New Years at Noon
Begins 11 a.m. sharp on Monday, December 31
Celebrate the coming of New Year 2008 at the library! Open to lapsit-aged children (12 to 24 months) and preschool children, this event is formatted to provide you and your kids with a great way to celebrate and to connect with each other. Older siblings are most certainly welcomed. Contact the Children's Services staff at 267-6621 for more information.

Library Launches Movies and Music Blog

The holiday season is officially and well underway. In the harried days between now and the new year, we'll be wishing you many happy returns when you visit the library to borrow great books, films and music to add maximum happy to your holidays.

Music Rocks and Movies Roll @ your library
During this holiday season, we'll be turning up the volume on library services by ramping up a new blog devoted to movies and music. We'll provide you with quick links to latest titles added to our movie and music collections and make recommendations on all too easy to miss titles you might also enjoy. We'll add to our service recipe reading suggestions tied to your viewing and listening interests. We'll also chat about new films, still in theatrical release, before they make it to our DVD shelves.

Official launch date of our Movies & Music Blog was December 1st.

Green Living

Green Giving
If you' re looking for ways to "give green" this season, try Green Living's 25 great consumer-less gift ideas. Some of the suggestions point to the greatest gifts we have to give each other: our time, our talents, and our friendship. Other suggestions focus on giving gifts that aren't things.

Happy holidays!

Resources for the College Bound

Connecticut Student Financial Assistance
If you are planning to attend college in Connecticut and want to learn more about financial aid, your best resource is the financial aid office at the college you wish to attend.

You may also learn about public and private sources of college grants, scholarships and loans on the web. Call or email the Education and Employment Information Center for a comprehensive list of financial aid websites.

Our state's Department of Higher Education also recommends the following web sites.

CTMentor
CT Student Loan Foundation
Check out the comment from Mariana Evica "the loan geek" at CSLF!
CT Higher Education Trust
Federal Student Aid Information Center
CT Higher Education Supplemental Loan Authority
CT Talent Assistance Cooperative/Educational Opportunity Center
CT Department of Higher Education Student Financial Aid Page
FastWeb
Financial Aid Information Page
Federal Student Aid on the Web

Your Federal Libraries

Under the Information Superdome
Did you know that our country has four federal libraries supported by your tax dollars? All four libraries are located in the Washington D.C. area and house a plethora of materials on their respective topics, both very old and cutting edge. All of these institutions are considered to be some of the leading libraries in their field. Check out their websites, explore, then visit them early and often!

National Agricultural Library
This library houses one of the world's largest and most accessible agricultural information collections and serves as the nexus for a national network of state land grant and USDA field libraries.

National Library of Medicine
This library is the world's largest medical library. The Library collects materials and provides information and research services in all areas of biomedicine and health care. The NLM supports Medline Plus, a comprehensive medical information database.

Library of Congress
This library is the nation's oldest federal cultural institution and serves as the research arm of Congress. It is also the largest library in the world, with millions of books, recordings, photographs, maps, and manuscripts in its collections.

National Library of Education
This library is the world's largest federally funded library devoted solely to education and is the federal government's main resource center for education information.

Poet of the Month

December's Featured Poet
Walt Whitman (1819-1892), was a mystic and upbeat pitchman for the unfolding of the United States as a Great Poem. He was, like the nation itself, nearly broken by the loss of life, human suffering, and the devastation of families resulting from our Civil War. He exhausted himself visiting the sick and dying in D.C. area field hospitals — as described in the “Drum-Taps” section of Leaves of Grass, from which this comes:

By the Bivouac's Fitful Flame

By the bivouac's fitful flame,

A procession winding around me, solemn and sweet and

slow — but first I note,

The tents of the sleeping army, the fields' and the woods'

dim outline,

The darkness lit by spots of kindled fire, the silence,

Like a phantom far or near an occasional figure moving,

The shrubs and trees (as I lift my eyes they seem to be

stealthily watching me),

While wind in procession thoughts, O tender and wondrous

thoughts,

Of life and death, of home and the past and loved, and of

those that are far away;

A solemn and slow procession there as I sit on the ground,

By the bivouac's fitful flame.

Further Reading: Walt Whitman, Leaves of Grass; James E. Miller Jr., A Critical Guide to Leaves of Grass, Francis Murphy (Ed.), The complete poems / Walt Whitman.

Coming in January: Elizabeth Bishop

Content developed by local resident and poet Leland Jamieson

The Girls Have Their Say

Daring Do's
Last summer's Dangerous Book for Boys became a not so surprising bestseller by celebrating what many may have considered (before reading the book) old-fashioned activities for boys.

The Daring Book for Girls talks back by celebrating what many may consider (before reading the book) old-fashioned activites for girls. The twist is this book also takes time to showcase more modern-girl ideas.

Both of these books are available at the library and offer a wealth of ideas on constructive play for boys, girls, or both. Use the books alone or together but both are great, parent-friendly guides with news worth sharing.