Summer vacation means family trips!

Did you have the best time ever at Robot Camp?

Or, did you survive a grueling feat of endurance — days of backseat sibling bickering, everyone coated with the slick sheen of Rover slobber — only to find the Corn Palace is closed due to a freak weevil infestation?  

Whether you desire a keepsake for treasured family memories or a merit badge for survival, get your Experience Summer @  KDL Traveler Badge!

Stayed home? No fear, there’s still plenty of ways to earn your Traveler Badge:

• Read about a place that you’d like to visit
  Some suggestions:
  • Travelers for Kids
  • Teen Travelers
  • Travelers for Adults
• Make a map of your neighborhood
• Explore someplace that you have never been before – a park, a neighborhood, a museum, etc.
• Tell or write a story about a trip that you have taken
• Be creative – choose your own option!

In the words of Clark Griswold, “This is no longer a vacation. It’s a quest. It’s a quest for fun. I’m gonna have fun and you’re gonna have fun.”

For more ideas for summer fun, check out our Experience Summer @ KDL program!

Richard L. Root, former mayor of the city of Kentwood, is being recognized posthumously as the recipient of the Michigan Library Association’s inaugural Heart of a Champion award.

Richard Root served the city of Kentwood for 33 years, first as city commissioner, then as mayor.  As a strong library supporter, Richard was almost single-handedly responsible for the successful passage of a millage in 2008 to build the new Kentwood branch of KDL.  He secured the city commissioners’  support of the new library project, organized the millage campaign committee and invited citizens to his home to discuss how to galvanize voters around the exciting prospect of a new library in the community.  Richard also met with the media, businesses, groups, and individuals about the need for a new library; securing key endorsements and campaign funding. Following months of campaigning, Richard was proud to hold the victory celebration in his home after the citizens of Kentwood passed the millage by 68%. “A library is not just for reading anymore,” said Mayor Richard Root at the groundbreaking ceremony for the new Kentwood library. “It is a living and breathing arm of the community.”

For his efforts in building a new library in the City of Kentwood and for his unwavering support for the value of the public library in the Kentwood community, Richard Root has been awarded the 2012 Heart of a Champion award. After a nearly four-year battle with cancer, Richard Root died on June 8, 2012.  Efforts are currently underway to rename the Kentwood branch of KDL after Richard Root.

Author Ray Bradbury died on Tuesday in Los Angeles at the age of 91.  Many an impending homage will likely refer to him using some form of “Science Fiction writer.”  I prefer to think of him as Ray Bradbury, Brilliant Writer.  There are at least three reasons I have a special fondness for Ray Bradbury.

1. As a self-made intellectual, he wrote the 1971 essay, “How Instead of Being Educated in College, I Was Graduated From Libraries.”
2. I read somewhere that he wrote Fahrenheit 451 while feeding the timer on a public typewriter in the basement of the New York Public Library dime after dime after dime.  I didn’t fact-check that detail and I don’t want to know if it isn’t true.  It strikes a poetic wistfulness about Perseverance which I have always appreciated.
3. The last line of The Martian Chronicles.  “The Martians stared back up at them for a long, long silent time from the rippling water…”  [Pop Quiz.  Who are the Martians?  Who are any of us?  Why do I find this so profoundly moving?]

When I next see Mars as a little yellow dot in the sky, I will wish upon Ray Bradbury.  Thank you, my friend, for helping me see who we are.

A plane filled with teen girls on their way to a beauty pageant crashes on a tropical island.  A new Superbowl beer commercial?  No.  It’s the premise for Libba Bray’s screamingly funny satire, Beauty Queens, about girls going not wild, but going FIERCE!  Struggling for survival in the (not-quite) deserted island jungle makes it really hard to practice your pageant-worthy circle turns. 

My advice, do not read this book, listen to it!  Reading it can’t be half as entertaining as the author’s very astute narration.  The total package includes footnotes and commercial breaks for horrendous products generated by the nefarious Corporation. 

If you like Tina Fey as Sarah Palin better than you like Sarah Palin, you will love this book.  I’m happy to report that Miss Michigan represents (!), but did I mention that there are totally bodacious pirates?

As of February 10, 2012, Penguin Group USA will no longer sell eBooks or eAudiobooks to libraries through OverDrive. This announcement came after a series of meetings the American Library Association held with several major publishers regarding library eBook lending. On Thursday, February 9, OverDrive customers, including KDL, received this message,

“… Penguin will no longer offer additional copies of eBooks and download audiobooks for library purchase. Additionally, Penguin eBooks loaned for reading on Kindle devices will need to be downloaded to a computer then transferred to the device over USB. For library patrons, this means Penguin eBooks will no longer be available for over-the-air delivery to Kindle devices or to Kindle apps.”

Penguin titles already purchased for KDL’s Digital Collection, including the bestseller The Help, will continue to be available. However, KDL will not be able to purchase any new Penguin titles in digital formats, and existing Penguin eBooks can now only be transferred to Kindle devices via a USB cable (and cannot be sent to Kindle apps at all.)

In 2011, KDL circulated over 113,000 eBooks, a 192% increase in digital content usage over 2010.  The explosion in demand of these materials drove KDL to partner with OverDrive last fall, creating a digital collection specifically for KDL cardholders. Our Collection Development staff work diligently to stock our digital shelves, but publishers are making it more difficult to provide all of the content people want to read or listen to.

With this decision, Penguin joins the list of publishers who will not sell eBooks to libraries, along with Macmillan Publishing, Simon & Schuster, Hachette Book Group, and Brilliance Audio. Additionally, HarperCollins Publishers will sell eBooks for libraries to circulate, but they limit the availability of their titles to only 26 circulations before a “replacement” copy must be purchased.

If you wish to write to or call each publisher to convey your opinion, here is their contact information:

Penguin Group
375 Hudson Street
New York, NY 10014
(212) 366-2000
ecommerce@us.penguingroup.com

Macmillan Publishing
75 Varick Street
New York, NY 10013
(212) 226-7521
customerservice@mpsvirginia.com

Simon & Schuster
1230 Avenue of the Americas
New York, NY 10020
(212) 698-7000
http://simonandschuster.com/about/contact_us

Hachette Book Group
466 Lexington Avenue #131
New York, NY 10017
(212) 364-1100
customer.service@hbgusa.com

Brilliance Audio
1704 Eaton Drive
Grand Haven, MI 49417
(616) 846-5256
libsales@brillianceaudio.com

All branches of the Kent District Library will be closed on Monday, January 16 for the annual professional development event we call All-Staff.  While we regret any temporary inconvenience this may cause, KDL’s commitment to staff training is one of the reasons we are able to provide you with such great service.  

This is the one day out of the year that our entire KDL workforce comes together for a day of Learning, Fun, and Recognition of KDL’s Exceptional Staff.  Topics staff will be exploring include:

• Embracing a new model of classification and labeling to improve service
• Developing cost-effective programming through community partnerships
• Updating early literacy efforts to incorporate new research on child development
• Using mobile devices for more efficient information assistance 
• How we stay on top of the newest, best, and hottest books, movies, and music to recommend to you

Please remember that our “19th Branch” is always open online, with the greatest selection of eBooks, eAudiobooks, and downloadable music in the State, and visit us at any of our 18 branch locations, just not on January 16!

I just finished listening to the CD audiobook of Matched by Ally Condie, and I find myself enchanted by this delicate love story and simultaneously haunted by the doom it spells for two lovely young people.  

In a near-distant future The Society rules every aspect of life, from one’s occupation to clothing and mate selection. Always obedient, Cassia is delighted to find herself matched to her best friend Xander. But a techno glitch also gives her a glimpse of Ky Markham as her future match. That this spark of fascination becomes a budding romance isn’t a surprise. But their tender love, blooming despite the oppressive atmosphere of an authoritarian regime which is clearly trying to tighten its grip, renders the story unfortgettably suspenseful.  

Narrator Kate Simses is perfectly pitched as Cassia – quiet and subtle, but gradually stronger and more self-assured as she learns not to question her own feelings, but to question why things are as they are.

I just finished listening to the seventh book in the Ranger’s Apprentice series by John Flanagan, and I love every one of them.  The audios are brilliantly narrated by John Keating.  Embark on these great adventures with The Ruins of Gorlan, Ranger’s Apprentice Book 1. 

In a vaguely medieval England-ish land, youths are assigned their occupation at a ceremony on Choosing Day.  His hopes dashed when he is rejected by Battleschool, the diminutive fifteen-year-old Will becomes the reluctant apprentice to the mysterious (and spookily reserved) Ranger named Halt. 

Unlike many modern fantasy authors, Flanagan concentrates more on his characters than whatever whack-a-doo creatures he can conjure up.  Will is one of the most endearing, gracious, delightful young characters I’ve ever had the pleasure of knowing.  (Nearly as sweet as Taran, the Pig Keeper, from The Black Cauldron.)  But don’t tell the kids that!  Concentrate on all the cool outdoor skills he must master — Archery! Knife throwing! — and the heart-pounding suspense when he musters up the courage to employ them in the face of grave danger!

There’s hubbub afloat on the web regarding Amazon’s new Kindle Owners’ Lending Library.  Exciting news for all those folks who’ve been paying top dollar for Kindle editions?  Maybe.  Despite claiming they offer ”thousands of books to borrow for free,” Amazon remains ”dot com.”  Don’t confuse the “Kindle Owners’ Lending Library” with the unparalleled access and selection of eBooks provided to Kent District Library cardholders for free.

KDL’s eBook Collection can be checked out and enjoyed on any eReader device, including apps for Apple or Android tablets.  KDL eBooks can even be read on a Kindle.  Cardholders can check out up to 10 eBooks at a time and may replenish their selection as fast as they can read with no monthly limit.   While KDL’s digital collection is limited to resident cardholders, the cost is $0. 

Amazon’s version of a library requires folks to first, buy a Kindle, and second, to subscribe to Amazon Prime at a cost of $79/year.  Customers who achieve this level of consumer commitment to Amazon.com are then entitled to borrow one eBook at a time, once a month.  Folks who enjoy the Kindle app for Apple or Android devices are not allowed to participate in this service.    

Amazon’s Kindle owners lending library is great for those Amazon Prime subscribers who already own a Kindle.  Savvy eBook folks are wise to select an eReader device they like and then enjoy the advantages of exceptional selection, flexibility, access and unmatched value of their public library’s digital collection, such as can be found at ebooks.kdl.org.