>>> American Philatelic Research Library <<<

Here's a special library, and when I say "special", I mean it! Throughout my life I have been an avid stamp collector and I used to make a yearly pilgrimage to the American Philatelic Society (APS) when it was still located in State College, Pennsylvania. In addition to visiting the sales division, I made extensive use of their library services and resources while I was there. The APS has over 40,ooo members worldwide and its library over 20,000 books and 5,000 journals. The library is in fact open to the public, but only members of the APS can borrow materials. Because many members are not within driving distance (such as myself right now!), around 80% of the circulated items are done through the mail. Now, wouldn't it be great to get this collection digitized!!! Now located in Bellefonte, PA, here's a link to the website >>>> http://www.stamps.org/TheLibrary/lib_AbouttheAPRL.htm

For the marketing report and SWOT analysis I did for my class on special libraries >>> http://rapidshare.com/files/139594353/MarketingAuditSWOT.rtf.html

Last week we were on the American side of the Virgin Islands; this week we'll take a visit to the British side and the island of Tortola. The first thing I saw after disembarking the ship was their bookmobile, which I later found out after chatting with the library director that it was purchased from a library system in Ohio. The library itself is found above a supermarket in downtown Road Town. Thumbing through the titles in the reference section, one really begins to realize how lucky we are in the States where most library systems have a half-decent budget. New books were virtually nonexistant and the books that were on the shelves would have been weeded eons ago at most other libraries.

Library's website >>> http://www.bvilibrary.gov.vg

Take a virtual tour here >>> http://www.bvilibrary.gov.vg/toursmain.php

All-American Library!

OK, maybe not 100% American, although this library is located in a U.S. territory. Found in the U.S. Virgin Islands in the town of Charlotte Amalie on the island of St. Thomas, it is easy to forget you're in a place where people carry American passports and pay using the dollar. For one thing, there actually is a place on U.S. soil where people drive on the left side of the road! And glancing at the names of streets and buildings, you'd swear you were somewhere in Denmark...the library itself is located on a street named "Dronningens Gade"! The U.S. purchased the islands from Denmark back in 1917 and it's nice to see they actually left some things unchanged.

The library is named after perhaps the most famous of all Caribbean librarians, Enid M. Baa. For a bio on her, click here >>> http://www.fostpl.org/Baa.html

For the current library website, click here >>> http://www.virginislandspace.org/Division%20of%20Libraries/dlamhome.htm

My Local Library!

Well, it was my local library when I lived in Pennsylvania. The main branch of the Eastern Monroe Public Library, it was originally located on Main Street in Stroudsburg but relocated in 1996 to the corner of 611 and Chipperfield Drive. The building, which was formally occupied by Stroud's Jewelers, gave the library much needed space. It is a two-story structure and very well organized and visually appealing. I was never an avid reader when I was young (that has indeed since changed!), but this library in Stroudsburg influenced me greatly in the areas of film and music, which is why I am such a great advocate of AV today. From its original vinyl collection to its classical music collection on compact disc to the wide array of foreign films, travelogues and documentaries, I will be forever indebted to the library for making these materials available in the Poconos which was, at least at the time, a cultural wasteland. Thank you!!! http://www.monroepl.org/

If anyone has a picture of the library when it was still located at 913 Main St, please let me know!

Andrew Carnegie was here!

Well, even if Mr. Carnegie wasn't here, he is the reason the library stands today. Beginning in 1883, he funded over 2,500 libraries around the world and I am proud to say that my very first library job was in one of them! Completed in 1902, the original building houses its adult fiction collection and serves as a reading room along with the reference desk. The basement was turned into the children's library during the 1920s and other expansions were introduced over the years. In 1978, the library joined the Chester County consortium of 17 libraries; they do however still maintain their own website @ http://www.phoenixvillelibrary.org

If you're wondering, the last picture shows what happens when the computers go down during the Christmas holiday! Aaaarrgghh!

A library on the high seas!

These pictures were taken aboard the brand new Norwegian Pearl on our Caribbean cruise back in January of 2007. With approximately 2,000 volumes and books in various languages, I was quite impressed. I was disappointed however when I found out there is no designated librarian; various crew members man the desk for a few hours each day. That's me sitting at the desk and thinking, "Wow, wouldn't that be a dream job!" Cunard Lines actually do have a full-time librarian aboard the Queen Mary 2, as well as the new Queen Victoria which boasts of over 6,000 books! Gotta go and get my resume in order...

Welcome to Suwanee, GA!

I've been a librarian for exactly one month now and this is my library...the Suwanee branch of the Gwinnett County Public Library. http://www.gwinnettpl.org/AboutYourLibrary/HoursAndLocations/Branches/BranchLocationSuwanee.html

For the next few posts, I will upload pictures of libraries that I have either worked at or visited. It is summer after all, so let's take a break from all these electronic resources!

Technology Training

Recently, I was put in charge of tech training at my branch. I have since drawn up various scenarios regarding technology used on the job. The very first scenario I put together was on word processing, a crucial service offered in today's public libraries. Until recently, we did not even offer word processing and although we still do not have Microsoft Office on any of our OPACs, we do direct people to Notepad and GoogleDocs, an online word processor. You can download the original document which I used in these trainings by clicking on the following link:

https://sharepoint.gwinnettpl.org/departmentsites/Branches/Snellville/Public%20Documents/Tech%20Training/scenario%201%20-%20Word.doc

Public Domain Books!

This is my very first post. Jeez, the internet's been around for well over a decade and it took me this long to put up a webpage! In any case, the following is a list of sites that contain downloadable public domain texts.

E-Texts
Project Gutenberg http://www.gutenberg.org/
Project Gutenberg Europe http://pge.rastko.net/
Project Gutenberg of Australia http://gutenberg.net.au/
Internet Archive http://www.archive.org/
Google Books http://books.google.com/
Microsoft Books http://books.live.com/
International Children’s Library http://www.icdlbooks.org/
Gallica http://gallica.bnf.fr/ (in French)
Projekt Gutenberg http://gutenberg.spiegel.de/ (in German)
Libros Tauro http://www.librotauro.com.ar/ (in Spanish)
Liber Liber http://www.liberliber.it/ (in Italian)
Project Runeberg http://runeberg.org/ (in Swedish)