A Review of The Library Book

I admit it. When I think about sitting down with a good book to read purely for enjoyment, I think of fiction…specifically science fiction or fantasy. So when I checked out The Library Book by Susan Orlean from the Library’s Popular Reading Collection, I was thrilled to discover how enjoyable and engrossing it was. On the surface this book tells the story of the 1986 fire of the Los Angeles Public Library main branch, one of the worst building fires in the…

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It’s All in Your Head: Psychological Thrillers and the Unreliable Narrator

You’re a liar…delusional...confused…insane! No one is EVER going to believe you! Ok, well not you per say (theoretically at least, I don’t really know you, so…), but this is a common accusation made in many of the best psychological thrillers available today. Take the box office success, The Girl on the Train, staring Emily Blunt, Rebecca Ferguson, Justin Theroux, Luke Evans, and a bunch of other names that Wikipedia lists. The movie, based on the New York Times best seller by Paula Hawkins, follows Rachel Watson, an alcoholic divorcée who is…

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What do you spend on textbooks?

March 4-8 was Open Education Week, a week when we celebrate the power of the Internet to democratize education by providing a platform on which tools for learning—everything from videos and class modules to lecture notes and entire textbooks or courses—can be made freely available to anyone wanting to learn. In spite of the fact that we have the digital technology to provide learning materials at low to no cost and that many brilliant minds all over the world are engaged…

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Microform: Nothing Micro About It

You're on your way to get your favorite focus food or drink from the vending machines in the Daily Read Café to keep your energy up for that research assignment that you're realizing you should have started a few days earlier. On the way, you weave through other students who you know are in the same boat as you, focused but stressed. When you turn the corner around the staircase, right before you see those doors that keep all the…

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February 26 is National Tell a Fairy Tale Day

Did you know that today is National Tell a Fairy Tale Day? From classic Grimm tales to modern day retellings, today is about appreciating the art of the story and how it captivates our imagination. Storytelling has been around since the dawn of man. We all love stories. They ignite feelings and emotions without having to go anywhere or do anything. They appeal to the power of our imaginations, to our curiosity, and to our desire to know more. There…

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The Power of Pleasure Reading

What if I told you there was this one little trick that could reduce feelings of stress and depression, increase feelings of relaxation, and expand your ability to cope with difficult situations? It's the simple act of reading for pleasure! When it comes to enjoyment of life and our ability to cope with the challenges we face, people who read report lower levels of stress, higher self-esteem, and greater self-acceptance and life satisfaction. Emotional and Psychological Benefits While people who…

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New Browsable Media Collection and Displays

Things are changing with the media collection! To make room for the I-Create makerspace lab, we temporarily relocated all the DVDs and other media to the Circulation Desk. Once they were downstairs, we undertook a huge project to separate all the DVD’s from their cases, so the cases could be displayed as part of the new browsable media collection.  As of February 1, a little over half of the collection has been displayed upstairs in their new home located just…

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Your Popular Reading Collection

Do you hear it; the whispers calling out to you from our shelves? Tendrils of word clouds with themes like dragons, mystery murders, battles, and more wrap around and embrace you, enticing you to read. THIS is Popular Reading! Nestled beside the Circulation desk, the library has three blue shelves full of your popular reading desires. Before we talk more about the collection, however, how about a bit of history…. For years, despite all the amazing services the Bell Library…

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