The children’s department is busiest during science fair season, with budding scientists and their parents seeking the explanations behind things like surface tension or buoyancy. The science fair project books, located in the 507.8 section, disappear very quickly and families are often left scrambling to find the information they need. Luckily there are other places to find those experiments and the resources to explain the science behind them.
Once a week I receive a phone call from a parent or a nervous student wondering when the library will host the next SAT prep course. If I don’t get the phone call, I will get a visit from one or two frazzled students looking for GRE study books at the library. There is one convenient, free and 24-hour resource I always rely on to please everyone: Testing And Education Reference Center.
For years my friends and I lived vicariously through our single friend, Tina, who had more dating disasters than anyone. The pinnacle of her dating disasters was the time her boss set her up with another company employee from the IT department. His idea of a romantic dinner consisted of fish sticks, macaroni and cheese (from a box) and cut up apples for dessert. It will come as no surprise they had nothing to talk about. Who wouldn’t have faked a headache?
One of my favorite things to do as a librarian is recommend books. I enjoyed it when Evelyn, a former volunteer, would frequently ask me for recommendations. Her tastes differ from mine so it was always a challenge. One day I made a recommendation for a title that contained a slightly tasteless scene that put her off and she started asking others for recommendations. I was crushed. I should have used Novelist.
I’ll admit it: I’m a lazy runner. To overcome my hatred of running, I often seek out ways to stay motivated. Sometimes I pretend I’m in a race or that I’m running from zombies. Other times I write haiku in my head. Music helps, but I’ve gotten tired of the songs on my iPod. I can only listen to Gangnum Style so many times before I feel like I’m running away from (not with) the music.
If you’ve considered researching your own family history, the genealogy collection at the Bellevue library is a good place to start. The collection contains general how-to guides, county records, surname guides, ship passenger lists and more. Most of these books are from the Eastside Genealogical Society collection.
I have one e-reader and two kids, which can be a problem. We all want to read, but our books are sometimes trapped on one device. And, while we have an amazing amount of hard copy books, there is something about the e-reader that makes the kids come running when they see it.
As a teen librarian, one of the things I’ve tried hard to battle is the authority of friends and peers as fact sources. I’ve heard some doozies, ranging from Little Golden Books being the “first ever published” versions of Grimm’s Fairy Tales, to “POW-MIA was a famous Native American.” (In that case it was pronounced as pow-meeah.)
As a kid, math was never my strongest subject. It was terrifying, mystifying and it always got the best of me. Now I’m faced with the same dilemma as my son starts to get math homework that needs a little help. I don’t want to make him cry over math. Diagramming sentences, maybe, but not math. Luckily, there is plenty of math help available from your local library.
