April  2011
Issue No. 3
ECRL Newsletter Logo 

E-Connect 


National Library Week

Libraries are places for new beginnings. Whether you are getting your first library card, learning new computer skills or planning a trip, the library is the place where your story begins. This National Library Week (April 10-16), join East Central Regional Library along with libraries and librarians from across the nation in this year's theme - Create your own story @ your library�.

First sponsored in 1958, National Library Week is a national observance sponsored by the American Library Association and libraries across the country each April. Many school libraries also celebrate the month of April as School Library Month, sponsored by the American Association of School Librarians, a division of ALA, with the same theme as National Library Week. 

East Central Libraries offer life enrichment and learning from cradle to grave.  In 2010 ECRL branches had 621,723 visitors and checked out over a million books, DVDs, and CDs. 111,225 public computer uses were logged, besides thousands more wireless Internet uses.

Every day people of all ages come to the 14 ECRL branch libraries to read, study, or just hang out. Little ones come to storytimes, teens play video games, book groups meet, and families attend concerts or plays sponsored by the library. For residents of the East Central Region, every week is library week.

Barbara Misselt, ECRL Director

Did you know?

Learn more about East Central Regional Library and Minnesota Library Services.....

 

AskMN (The Librarian is In)

www.askmn.org

AskMN is an online service for information and research help available to all Minnesota residents and students 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. AskMN is a cooperative service of Minnesota libraries.

 

What Is AskMN? (www.askmn.org/about)

AskMN is a live interactive chat service that allows you to converse with a librarian in real time. A librarian is available 24/7 to answer questions and direct you to various websites if needed. A normal session lasts 5-20 minutes. It can take several minutes for the librarian to search and send you an answer.

 

The librarian may ask you questions to get a better understanding of what you need. He or she may offer to follow up by email if your question requires further in-depth research or assistance. The librarian will then have the opportunity to refer you to print and local resources, as well as subject specialists who may not be available during the live session. Follow-up replies by email can be expected within 72 hours.

 

Can Anyone Use This Service? (www.askmn.org/about)

This service is intended to answer questions from Minnesota residents and students only. If you are outside of Minnesota and you want to ask a question, you will need to enter the barcode number on the back of your Minnesota public library card.

  

Internet Site of the Month: 

www.irs.gov

Internal Revenue Service

 

Download forms and instructions as well as file electronically on the site of the Internal Revenue Service. 

 

Trivia Question of the Month:

 

What toll-free number can be called if you have a question about your U.S. Individual Income Tax Return (Form 1040)? 

 

Answer to last month's trivia question 

1900-1934, supplemented by about 2700 pre-1900 records 

Featured Arts & Cultural Heritage Events

(see our Events Calendar for all ECRL events)

             

Golden Age of Radio

Join us on Saturday, April 30 at 3:00 pm at the Richard G. Hardy Performing Arts Center at the Cambridge-Isanti High School for the "Golden Age of Radio."  Experience the radio soundtrack to the 1930s and 40s plus stories, photos and more.  You will step back in time with acclaimed vocalist, Prudence Johnson and celebrated pianist, Dan Chouinard, to the days when radio was king! 

 

Rose Ensemble         Legacy Logo

 

Rose Ensemble

Founded in 1996 and based in Saint Paul, Minnesota, The Rose Ensemble reawakens the ancient with vocal music that strives to stir the emotions, challenge the mind and lift the spirit.  They will be performing in Finlayson and Milaca in May.  The dates/times of the programs are as follows:

 

The Last Queen of Hawai'i: 

Music From the Soul of the Hawaiian Saga

Thursday, May 12 at 7:00 pm  

East Central School Auditorium in Finlayson

 

Friday, May 13 at 7:00 pm

Milaca High School Dahlager Theater in Milaca

 

New York Times Best-Selling Author,

Chris Cleave

 

Join us on Tuesday, May 9 at 7:00 pm at the Richard G. Hardy Performing Arts Center at the Cambridge-Isanti High School to listen to New York Times bestselling author, Chris Cleave.  Mr. Cleave is the author of Little Bee, the Cambridge Community Wide Read title for 2011.  This will be Cleave's first stop on his nationwide book tour. The tour is sponsored with the help of his publisher, Simon & Schuster. 

 

Download the updated pdf version of the Legacy Event Calendar listing April, May and June events along with the Meet the Author tour brochure. All events are funded in part or in whole from Minnesota's Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund. 

 

ECRL's Mission
  
Connecting and strengthening communities
through the power of knowledge.

 

*East Central Regional Library is funded by the counties of Aitkin, Chisago, Isanti, Kanabec, Mille Lacs and Pine counties. 

ECRL also receives state and federal funds.  

 

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Author of the Month
 Cormac McCarthy
 
All the Pretty Horses
  
"All the Pretty Horses" won the 1992 National Book Award, and "The Road" won the 2007 Pulitzer Prize, but "Blood Meridian" is widely considered McCarthy's masterpiece. 
Adult Non-Fiction Titles

Search for any of these items in the ECRL Online Catalog and place a hold!


*American Veda:  From Emerson and the Beatles to Yoga and Meditation - How Indian Spirituality Changed the West by Philip Goldberg
  
*Fitness Illustrated:  Your Personalized Guide to Shapping Up, Staying Fit and Eating Right by Brian Sharkey
  
*Greek Revival:  Cooking for Life by Patricia Moore-Pastides
*Moby-Duck:  The True Story of 28,800 Bath Toys Lost at Sea and of the Beachcombers, Oceanographers, Environmentalists, and Fools, Including the Author, Who Went in Search of Them by Donovan Hohn
  
*Stolen World:  a Tale of Reptiles, Smugglers and Skulduggery by Jennie Erin Smith
  
*The Winter of Our Disconnect:  How Three Totally wired Teenagers (and a Mother Slept with her iPhone) Pulled the Plug on Technology and Lived to Tell the Tale by Susan Maushart  

 

Upcoming New Adult DVD Titles
SOON to appear in Evergreen, our Online catalog.  Watch for them!
  
  • Braving Iraq
  • God in America
  • Liberty:  The American Revolution
  • Secrets of the Dead:  Silver Pharaoh
  • Unforgettable:  The Korean War

Hot Topic This Month

Kids, Teens & BULLYING  

 

 

Picture books

*Bootsie Barker Bites by Barbara Bottner

*Just Kidding by Trudy Ludwig

*Recess Queen by Alexis O'Neill

*Wings by Christopher Myers

 

Middle School

*Jake Drake, Bullybuster by Andrew Clements

*Liberation of Gabriel King by K. L. Going

*Secret Identity by Wendelin Van Draanen

*We Want You to Know:  Kids Talk About Bullying by Deborah Ellis

 

Middle & High School

*Absolutely True Diary of a Part-time Indian by Sherman Alexie

 

*By the Time You Read This, I'll Be Dead by Julie Anne peters

*Freak by Marcella Pixley

*Schooled by Gordon Korman

 

Websites For Kids & Teens

 

 

Kids Against Bullying  

Teens Against Bullying