AP Photo Archive

AP Photo Archive is a searchable database that contains current and archived news photos and graphics. The database provides a variety of access points for searching. Categories include Domestic News, International News, Financial News, Sports, Entertainment News and a Featured Events section that highlights the most recent AP images.

The database can be accessed by going to the library intranet via Dragon. Follow these steps:

Enter: http://dragon/library

Click on DATABASES located on the left-hand column

Click on ACCUNET/AP PHOTO ARCHIVE

New Non-Fiction Book of the Week

The Slave Ship: A Human History by Marcus Rediker

From Publishers Weekly, Starred Review: In this groundbreaking work, historian and scholar Rediker considers the relationships between the slave ship captain and his crew, between the sailors and the slaves, and among the captives themselves as they endured the violent, terror-filled and often deadly journey between the coasts of Africa and America. While he makes fresh use of those who left their mark in written records (Olaudah Equiano, James Field Stanfield, John Newton), Rediker is remarkably attentive to the experiences of the enslaved women, from whom we have no written accounts, and of the common seaman, who he says was a victim of the slave trade... and a victimizer. Regarding these vessels as a strange and potent combination of war machine, mobile prison, and factory, Rediker expands the scholarship on how the ships not only delivered millions of people to slavery, [but] prepared them for it. He engages readers in maritime detail (how ships were made, how crews were fed) and renders the archival (letters, logs and legal hearings) accessible. Painful as this powerful book often is, Rediker does not lose sight of the humanity of even the most egregious participants, from African traders to English merchants. (Oct. 8) .

New Fiction of the Week

Sofi Mendoza's Guide to Getting Lost in Mexico by Malin Alegria

From Booklist: What's the harm in a little white lie?" wonders Mexican-born, Orange County resident Sofi Mendoza, who attends a classmate's house party near Tijuana against her parents' wishes. On the 17-year-old's return, she's stopped at the border and learns the impossible: her green card is false. Barred from reentering the U.S., she takes refuge with a Mexican aunt she's never met, and while her parents fight legal battles, she gradually shifts from terror and sneering disapproval of her relatives to openhearted love and gratitude. As in Estrella's Quinceañera (2006), Alegria combines chick-lit elements with a girl's struggle to define her Mexican American identity.

The Future of Books

In case any of you are pondering the future of print books like us here in the library, I would like to share with you all the cover article from the November 26, 2007 issue of Newsweek.

The cover claims "Books Aren't Dead. (They're Just Going Digital.)" The article discussed how CEO of Amazon Jeff Bezos is releasing his newest component of Amazon.com, the Amazon Kindle. The Amazon Kindle is an electronic device for reading e-books. The Kindle is light and about the size of a paperback book. Bezos believes that it will be the next "it" tech gadget.

Surely we are all moving towards a digital environment but our question is does the introduction of this new and improved e-book reader from a technically savvy company like Amazon.com hold the fate of the printed word in it's hands? Take a look around campus, as everyone walks by with i-Pod earbuds in, imagine everyone reading books on a little handheld screen. Can't picture it? We're having a hard time too, but check out the full article in Newsweek. Like Bezos says "it's so ambitious to take something as highly evolved as a the book and improve on it. And change the way people read." It's defintely Kindled our interest.

NEA Report Finds Teens Are Reading Less for Fun

A report published by the National Endowment for the Arts in November 2007 entitled, To Read or Not To Read, analyzes reading trends for youth and adults, and readers of various education levels. Among the key findings:

Americans are reading less:

• Teens and young adults read less often and for shorter amounts of time compared with other age groups and with Americans of previous years.

• Less than one-third of 13-year-olds are daily readers, a 14 percent decline from 20 years earlier. Among 17-year-olds, the percentage of non-readers doubled over a 20-year period, from nine percent in 1984 to 19 percent in 2004.

• On average, Americans ages 15 to 24 spend almost two hours a day watching TV, and only seven minutes of their daily leisure time on reading

Source: National Endowment for the Arts website http://www.nea.gov/news

Let's get reading....proove them wrong and read for fun over the holiday break! Stop by the library and check out the Books for Fun display.....all of the books can be checked out and many more are avilable in the Fiction section....come by the library and have a look!

Nathaniel P. Hill Library Closed for Thanksgiving Break

The Nathaniel P. Hill Library will be closed for the Thanksgiving holiday break.

Open: Saturday, November 17th: 7:30AM to 11:00AM

Closed: Sunday, November 18th to Monday, November 26th

We will resume our regular hours beginning Tuesday, November 27th as follows:

Monday - Sunday: 7:30AM to 10:00PM

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

New Non-Fiction of the Week

From Publishers Weekly: In this groundbreaking biography of a central figure in the fight to end South African apartheid, O'Malley draws on every aspect of Maharaj's life and the society in which he lived in order to understand South Africa's changing racial and political context over the past 100 years. Based on extensive interviews with Maharaj, this is an often harrowing read, recounting his torture as a political prisoner and the many difficulties and setbacks suffered by underground activists within and outside of South Africa. Maharaj—a first-person narrator in most of the book—comes across as an imperfect and deeply human hero, animated by his stubborn streak to devote his entire life to the cause. (Apr.)

Fiction Book of the Week

From Publishers Weekly: A delightfully dark story of Sam Pulsifer, the accidental arsonist and murderer narrator who leads readers through a multilayered, flame-filled adventure about literature, lies, love and life. Growing up in Amherst, Mass., with an editor for a father and an English teacher for a mother, Sam was fed endless stories that fueled (literally and figuratively) the rest of his life. Thus, the blurred boundaries between fact and fiction, story and reality become the landscape for amusing and provocative adventures that begin when, at age 18, Sam accidentally torches the Emily Dickinson Homestead, killing two people. After serving 10 years, Sam tries to distance himself from his past through college, employment, marriage and fatherhood, but he eventually winds up back in his parents' home, separated from his wife and jobless. When more literary landmarks go up in flames, Sam is the likely suspect, and his determination to find the actual arsonist uncovers family secrets and more than a bit about human nature. Sam is equal parts fall guy and tour guide in this bighearted and wily jolt to the American literary legacy. (Sept.)

2007 Top Ten List of Teen Books

2007 Top Ten List of Books Voted on by Teen Book Groups
source: http://www.ala.org/ala/yalsa/teenreading/teenstopten/teenstopten.cfm

1. New Moon by Stephenie Meyer (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, 2006).
2. Just Listen by Sarah Dessen (Viking Children’s Books, 2006)
3. How to Ruin a Summer Vacation by Simone Elkeles (Flux, 2006).
4. Maximum Ride: School’s Out – Forever by James Patterson (Hachette Book Group USA/Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, 2006).
5. Firegirl by Tony Abbott (Hachette Book Group USA/Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, 2006).
6. ll Hallows Eve (13 Stories)by Vivian Vande Velde (Harcourt, 2006).
7. Life As We Knew It by Susan Beth Pfeffer (Harcourt, 2006).
8. River Secrets by Shannon Hale (Bloomsbury, 2006).
9. Bad Kitty by Michele Jaffe (HarperCollins, 2006).
10. Road of the Dead by Kevin Brooks (Chicken House, 2006).

December Kid's Read Event

The Nathaniel P. Hill Library is hosting its second Kid's Read Event, Thursday, December 6th at 6:30PM. A guest narrator will read The Latke Who Couldn't Stop Screaming: A Christmas Story by Lemony Snicket and we will have snacks and watch The Grinch Who Stole Christmas.
Photo: October 2007 Kid's Read Event