The partnership will directly integrate the Kindle with the thousands of already existing titles in our E-Library collection and they will work the same as they do on other e-reader devices already compatible with the service.  Kindle users will be able to browse for titles on any desktop or mobile operating system, check out a title with your library card, and then select Kindle as the delivery destination from the Overdrive e-library site. The borrowed title will then be able to be enjoyed using any Kindle device and all of Amazon’s free Kindle Reading Apps.

We will update as more information regarding the Kindle and Overdrive become available.

Source: Kindle Library Lending — What it Means for Libraries and Schools

picture of Bach, Haydn, Bizet, and the Beatles

We’re always happy when we can team up with another educational or cultural institution in the area.  For example, we’ve partnered with the Maryland Symphony to present a series of free lectures this Spring all about great composers.  From Bach to Haydn to Bizet to the Beatles, our guest experts will illuminate great musical works and the geniuses behind them.  Lectures take place the first Thursday of the month, February through May, at the Maryland Symphony office on West Washington Street.  For details, see our news page.

If you are interested in classical music, you should also know about some great online resources that we have — these are listed on our database page, under Arts and Humanities.

Grove Music Online is a gigantic encyclopedia, with detailed entries written by experts about all aspects of the history of classical music.

Music Online combines streaming audio, video, reference, and musical scores into one comprehensive resource.  It goes beyond classical music to World music, jazz, American song, and other genres.

Each newsletter recommends several newly published books, and suggests older books that you might have overlooked, too.  Each book has a detailed description explaining why it’s recommended and what you might like about it.  All the books featured in our newsletters are available from the library, and you can click a link right in the newsletter to find out which branches have the book, or to put it on hold.

We think you’ll find these newsletters are a great way to learn about books you’ll enjoy.  To see examples of each newsletter and to sign up, click here.

This year’s winners are:

Newbery Medal:  Moon over Manifest by Clare Vanderpool
[click here to find this book in our catalog]

The Publisher’s Weekly reviewer said, “Set in 1936, this memorable coming-of-age story follows 12-year-old Abilene Tucker’s unusual summer in her father’s hometown of Manifest, Kans., while he’s away on a railroad job. Having had an itinerant upbringing, Abilene is eager to connect to her father’s childhood, a goal that proves difficult. The immigrant town has become rundown, but is populated with well-developed, idiosyncratic characters and has a dynamic past involving the KKK, an influenza scare, and a bootlegging operation. Manifest’s history emerges in stories recounted by Miss Sadie (a Hungarian medium) and in news columns written in 1917 by Hattie Mae Harper, “Reporter About Town.” With new friends Lettie and Ruthanne, Abilene pieces together the past, coming to understand, as Miss Sadie says, that “maybe what you’re looking for is not so much the mark your daddy made on this town, but the mark the town made on your daddy.” Witty, bold, and curious, Abilene is as unforgettable as the other residents of Manifest, and the variety of voices allows the town’s small mysteries to bloom. Replete with historical details and surprises, Vanderpool’s debut delights, while giving insight into family and community. Ages 9-12.”

Caldecott  Medal: A Sick Day for Amos McGee, illustrated by Erin E. Stead, written by Philip C. Stead.
[click here to find this book in our catalog]

According to Publisher’s Weekly, “With quiet affection, this husband-and-wife team tells the story of a zookeeper whose devotion is repaid when he falls ill. On most days, the angular, elderly Amos rides the bus to the zoo, plays chess with the elephant (“who thought and thought before making a move”), sits quietly with the penguin, and spends time with his other animal friends. But when Amos catches a cold, the animals ride the bus to pay him a visit, each, in a charming turnabout, doing for Amos whatever he usually does for them. The elephant sets up the chessboard; the shy penguin sits on the bed, “keeping Amos’s feet warm.” Newcomer Erin Stead’s elegant woodblock prints, breathtaking in their delicacy, contribute to the story’s tranquility and draw subtle elements to viewers’ attention: the grain of the woodblocks themselves, Amos’s handsome peacock feather coverlet. Every face-Amos’s as well as the animals’-brims with personality. Philip Stead’s (Creamed Tuna Fish and Peas on Toast) narrative moves with deliberate speed, dreaming up a joyous life for the sort of man likely to be passed on the street without a thought. Ages 2-6.”

For each of these, as you can see, the reason why it’s recommended is explained, and there may be other links as well, for example to an article about the author.

As always, please contact us if you have any questions or would like help with these new features.

Happy reading!

On the snowy, slippery afternoon of December 10, 2010, we held an openhouse to showcase our e-library resources and some various devices compatible with the services, most notably the Barns&Noble Nook and the Apple iPad.  Despite the bad weather and tied up traffic through out town, there was a good turn out at the event as people came to learn about the service, tinker with the devices, and ask questions.

We will be holding another E-library Openhouse event on Friday, January 14 from 3-5 pm at our North Pointe location (18739 Northpointe Drive in Hagerstown).  In the meantime, take a look at our e-library and tell us what you think!

The movers have worked like crazy this week to get everything out of the old building and moved into our temporary storage facility, in the former Phoenix Color printing plant on Western Maryland Parkway.

The new arrangements will take some getting used to, but we want to be sure all our customers can get the books (and audiobooks, and DVDs) they need.  If there’s something you want that’s not on the shelf at the temporary branch, just ask us to get it for you, or put it on hold when you look it up in our catalog.  Either way, it will be delivered to the branch of your choice within a day or two.

Just as a reminder of why we’re putting our customers and ourselves through all this, here’s a short video of what the new library will be like:

Looks like it’ll be pretty nice!  Detailed plans are on the website for our capital campaign.

You’ll notice some other new features, too.  Below the reviews are “Tags” — meaning keywords that help describe what the book’s about.  To the left are “Other Titles You May Like” — a list of books that are similar to this one in some way.

If you have any questions about these new features — or about finding things in our catalog, or anything else! — contact us anytime.

Deviled Veal
2 cupfuls of chopped veal, 2 cupfuls of bread crumbs, 2 or 3 hard boiled eggs chopped fine, butter the size of an egg. Season with nutmeg, cayenne pepper and salt, 2 cupfuls of milk and cream.  Mix all together and when heated thoroughly put in a pudding dish and bake a light brown. – Mrs. Frank R. Leib.

Grandmother Nebinger’s Buckeye Cake
1 lb. of sugar, 1 cupful of butter, 1 cupful of sweet milk, 6 eggs, 1 tablespoonful of soda, 1 tablespoonful of cream of tartar, 1 lb. of flour.

Doughnuts
2 cupfuls of mashed potatoes (hot), 4 tablespoonfuls of shortening, 3 cupfuls of sugar, 4 eggs, 5 teaspoonfuls of baking powder, 3 cupfuls of milk, salt, nutmeg, and lastly, flour enough to stiffen. Make a cream of potatoes, shortening, sugar, and eggs, then add milk, salt and nutmeg, flour sifted with baking powder and cook in boiling lard. And they are fine! Mrs. Adaline Cluck.

In the back of the book are some charmingly outdated tips on child-rearing, home-remedies, and so on, including this advice:

When Visiting the Sick. – Never go into the sick room when in a perspiration, nor visit any one with any infectious malady when your stomach is empty. In attending an invalid, stand where the wind passes from the door or window to the bed; never stand between the person and the fire, if there is any in the room, as the heat draws the infectious vapors toward it.

Of course, it’s easy to laugh at long-ago customs and ideas, and I’m sure some librarian 100 years from now will be chuckling over our quaint recipes and medical advice.  But it’s also nice to think about all the people who came together to create this book in support of their very new hospital, and to know that the hospital continues to thrive.  My colleague in the Western Maryland Room informs me that some recipes from this cookbook were used for the banquet celebrating the hospital’s 100th anniversary a few years ago.

• The main library page (Washington County Free Library)
• A page specifically for teens (Teens – Washington County Free Library)
• A page for WHILBR, our online history collection (Western Maryland’s Historical Library)

All of these pages feature our latest news, announcements of events, recommendations of what to read or watch, and links to fun stuff we found online.  Our friends at WHILBR are also posting some of the cool historical photos that they scan for their website. 

So, check us out on Facebook and let us know what you think!

No Choice But Seduction, by Johanna Lindsey
Reviewed by Paige M.
This is a wonderful continuation of a family saga. Lindsey does an excellent job of telling a fresh, new story while weaving in characters from previous novels.

 The Opposite of Love, by Julie Buxbaum
Reviewed by Staci C.
This book was a revelation of sorts – it was very well written.  Main character thought she was a “lost cause” but turns out she was no different than the rest of us!

 Shadow Kiss: A Vampire Academy Novel, by Richelle Mead
Reviewed by Jade G.
Shadow Kiss is an excellent book.  It is a fast-paced book that does not have any unnecessary filler parts. The ending of it is not what you expect, but that makes it all the better.  You fall more in love with the characters; the same time as them you learn new things about them and their history and family. You eat it up and cannot wait to get to the next book.

 The Mighty Queens of Freeville, by Amy Dickinson
Reviewed by Barb T.
A book about a very strong group of women and a small town.  Written with a great sense of humor.  The author is “Ask Amy” who took over for Ann Landers.