A New Book Survey Arrived

I just love it when I find a new book survey. The other morning when I opened my Yahoo, there it was. From Yahoo News came an article about America's favorite books.
The Harris Poll surveyed about 2500 adults, ages 18 and up and from all of the different demographic groups.
The survey results showed that the Bible was number one in all groups. But there was a huge difference in the results for the number two favorite. Here's some of what the survey said:

• Men selected J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings
• Women - Margaret Mitchell's Gone With the Wind
• 18-31 year olds - J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter series
• 32-43 - Stephen King's The Stand and Dan Brown's Angels and Demons
• In the South and Mid-West - Gone With the Wind
• East - The Lord of the Rings
• West - The Stand
• The poll didn't say what the favorite book was in the North.

I had to sit and think a while about what books are my favorites. There are just so many to pick from that I found it too hard to come up with one or two, or even three. But in the long run, I did realize the Bible, the Tao Te Ching, the writings of Rumi and Kahlil Gibran, and Shel Silverstein's books are my favorites.

Have you thought about your favorite books? What would you name as your first, second and third? Now that you've read this far, how about leaving a comment with the name of your most favorite book. Thanks.

National Library Week, April 13-19...Come Visit Us

We've been busy around here: cleaning and dusting, making our book shelves straight, wiping down computers, watering plants, plumping couch pillows. All those things you do to get ready for company.
Next week is the 50th anniversary of National Library Week.
First sponsored in 1958, National Library Week is a national observance sponsored by the American Library Association (ALA) and libraries across the country each April.
It's a time to celebrate the contributions of libraries, librarians and library workers in schools, campuses and communities nationwide -- and the perfect time for you to discover how you can Join the Circle of Knowledge @ Your Library.
At our library, people of all backgrounds can come together for community meetings, lectures and programs, to do research with the assistance of a trained professional, to get a job or find homework help, or to just sit in the comfortable reading area and read the newspaper or a good book.
We're putting up our posters of Julie Andrews, spokesperson for the 2008 National Library Week celebration. We're putting up our poster with pictures of our "star" library helpers here at the Moultrie-Colquitt County Library and the Doerun Library. And we're readying the large plastic bags that say "Celebrate! National Library Week!" that we plan to distribute.
We hope you'll come visit us and see what we have for you. More than books, you know! Lots more!

"Food For Fines" During National Library Week

If you have fines on several late books, this event is for you.
During National Library Week, April 13-19, the Moultrie-Colquitt County Library and the Doerun Municipal Library will be holding "Food For Fines." That means all you have to do to reduce your library fine is bring food.
One canned or packaged food item equals 50 cents off your fine. So if you bring 4 food items, $2 will be taken off your fine! Isn't that easy??!!
The food will be given to the Colquitt County Food Bank to help all those people who so desperately need food to feed their families.
But don't let NOT having any fines to pay keep you from donating. You can still bring food items and place them in the Colquitt County Food Bank buggy. It will make you feel really good to help!

It's A Madhouse Here!

We're just too busy today to do a long-winded blog. There's so much happening at our library that we find ourselves running into each other.
We are working hard on things for next week, which is the 50th anniversary celebration of National Library Week.
And we're going into a meeting in 15 minutes for the 100-Year Celebration events, which will be held during May.
So you see, we are just too busy to do a long-winded blog today.
But I promise you one for tomorrow!!!

Here's the 2007 Teen's Top Ten Reads

I just found out what the Teens' Top Ten books for 2007 are!
More than 6,000 teen readers across the country chose New Moon by Stephenie Meyer as their favorite book in the annual Teen's Top Ten. The online vote took place during Teen Read Week, October 14-20, 2007, with the second entry in Meyer's popular vampire romance series winning easily.
The 2007 Teen's Top Ten is:

• New Moon by Stephenie Meyer
• Just Listen by Sarah Dessen
• How to Ruin a Summer Vacation by Simone Elkeles
• Maximum Ride: School's Out - Forever by James Patterson
• Firegirl by Tony Abbott
• All Hallows Eve (13 Stories) by Vivian Vande Velde
• Life As We Knew It by Susan Beth Pfeffer
• River Secrets by Shannon Hale
• Bad Kitty by Michele Jaffe
• Road of the Dead by Kevin Brooks

Teen's Top Ten is a "teen choice" list, where teens nominate and choose their favorite books of the previous year! Nominators are members of teen book groups in five school and public libraries around the country -the 2007 nominees were chosen by book groups in Connecticut, Kansas, New Jersey, New Hampshire, and Utah, selected for their experience in discussing books.

Readers aged twelve to eighteen can vote online anytime during the Teen Read Week for their favorite books. Teens read as many titles as they can so they can make informed decisions about their favotire books when they vote. Teens can tell their books groups, youth organizations and any other groups they belong to to vote. The more teens who participate, the more accurately the winning list will reflect the reading tastes of teens all over the country.

For more information about the Teens' Top Ten books, visit the American Library Association's website at http:www.ala.org and type Young Adult Library Services Association in the search box.

This Library Is In Moultrie, Georgia

An email from someone the other day asked where this library is located. I replied, "We're located in Moultrie, Georgia." "Well, where's that?" they asked. So we went through the long process of roadmapping them from their place to our place.
All that information made me think of another email I received from a friend. She said, "You know you're in Georgia in July when. . .

• The birds have to use potholders to pull worms out of the ground.
• The best parking place is determined by shade instead of distance.
• Hot water now comes from both taps.
• You can make sun tea instantly.
• You learn that a seat belt buckle makes a pretty good branding iron.
• The temperature drops below 95 and you feel a little chilly.
• You discover that in July it takes only two fingers to steer your car.
• You discover that you can get sunburned through your car window.
• You actually burn your hand opening the car door.
• You break into a sweat the instant you step outside at 7:30 a.m.
• Your biggest bicycle wreck fear is, "What if I get knocked out, end up on the pavement and cook to death?"
• You realize that asphalt has a liquid state.
• The potatoes cook underground, so all you have to do is pull one out and add butter, salt and pepper.
• Farmers feed their chickens crushed ice to keep them from laying boiled eggs.
• The cows are giving evaporated milk.

Ah, but what a place to call home! Georgia! And July is right around the corner!

Do You Know About The Extinction Timeline?

My coworker sent me an email the other day that was more than interesting. It was downright scary. It was an extinction timeline with dates from 1950 to 2050, and some of the things that will be extinct within the next 50 years will blow your mind away!
For instance, the timeline said that hope became extinct in 2001. Now, I have to disagree with that, but everyone has their own opinion.
And the timeline said that in 2007, letter writing became extinct. Well, not really as far as I'm concerned, but then I like to write.
By 2012 dial-up email will be extinct, as well as saying thank you. (Thank you is pretty much gone now.) And right behind those, in 2013 fax machines will be extinct. Then in 2016, the computer mouse will be all gone, as well as tech-based search in 2018 along with DVDs.
But the thing that got a lot of us working here at the library worried about was that in 2019 libraries are supposed to become extinct!
A few other things I noted that would be gone by 2050 were copyright, spelling and blogging, desktop computers, spam, Microsoft, and peace and quiet. How about that last one?
By 2049 physical newspapers will be extinct. And so will Google!
These were only some of the things to become extinct by 2050. It's a real eye-opener, huh?
If you're interested in seeing more, check out http://www.futuretrendsbook.com/.
I'm going to have to go back to the one about libraries and do some research. I've heard that future libraries will not only have books, movies and computers, but they will have restaurants, coffee shops and bookstores where literary items are sold. They will be like grand malls to shop in.
I could do that, couldn't you?
(Source: Creative Commons Attribution, http://www.futuretrendsbook.com/)