Laura's letter

A message from our director, laura isenstein

As the Director of the San Antonio Public Library, I want to welcome you to YOUR Library – Bienvenidos a Su Biblioteca!

When is the last time you visited your library?

Do you know that the services of the San Antonio Public Library are free? It does not cost you a penny to get a library card. A San Antonio Public Library card makes it possible for you to borrow books, videos, books on tape, E-Books and compact disks from your library.

Our collections are designed to serve everyone from very young children to senior citizens. We have resources in English, Spanish and other languages.

Have you ever attended a library program? They are free and presented at all library branches and the Central Library. We have story hours and craft programs for children.

We join the community in celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month, Black History Month, Día de Los Muertos, Fiesta, etc.

Have you tried "surfing the Web?" All San Antonio Public Library facilities have multiple computers available for you to access the Internet. Let our staff help you search for the information you need. If you don’t have a computer at home, you and your children can come to the library and use computers not only to surf the Internet but also to write papers, create resumes, send email….

You can find a listing of our locations and hours on our web site at www.sanantonio.gov/library or pick up a Library Location guide at your neighborhood or Central Library.

Come visit your library and find something of interest for you and your family.

DEWEY AND THE ALIEN

The Dewey Decimal System can be confusing and hard to remember, especially for youngsters. What does 394.26 mean and why is a book on Thanksgiving there? This cartoon, titled Dewey and the Alien, is a clever story that will help you remember the major classifications (100's, 200's, 300's. etc.) and what's in them.

Click here to view the comic Dewey and the Alien.

Turkey links

All Recipes - Recipes organized by specific holidays and types of food. Includes an ingredient search engine.

An American Thanksgiving - Features stories, crafts, games and songs.

Ben & Jerry’s Happy Thanksgiving - Good links to Native American info, ice cream recipes, a flavor list, even a section on Pilgrim clothing.

Bountiful Thanksgiving - Clipart and historical documents and provides additional Thanksgiving links.

The First Thanksgiving - Educational site explaining the history and traditions of Thanksgiving.

Central Children’s Department Gets New Computers

The Children’s Department at the Central Library has recently added an Internet/CD-ROM center for children ages 12 and younger who are accompanied by a parent or adult caregiver. The center consists of three terminals with Internet access and two terminals with CD-ROM games. Sign-up is for thirty-minute sessions with a maximum of three sessions per day.

The Internet terminals default to the San Antonio Public Library Kids’ Page which guides children to age appropriate sites to meet a variety of interests. For example, under "Homework Help" children may visit such sites as KidsQuest with access to full text magazine articles, or they may wish to explore a specific topic, such as the Constitution of the United States, or astronomy. "Fun Sites" include the Crayola homepage, PBS Kids, and Sports Illustrated for Kids.

The CD-ROM terminals provide fun and educational games for children. Preschoolers especially like "Curious George Early Learning Adventure" and "Dr. Seuss Kindergarten." Two of the "Magic Schoolbus" games are very popular with older children. There are also several titles in the "Reader Rabbit" series, and "Kids Spanish!," a language learning game.

The Internet/CD-ROM center provides an excellent opportunity for children and parents to explore the library’s electronic resources for children.

New Electronic Resources!

eBooks
Come in and check out our eBooks. Literally! San Antonio Public Library is engaged in a pilot program that provides 14 handheld eBook readers for checkout, each equipped with about 15 titles. These titles are by authors such as Stephen King, Mary Higgins Clark, and Frank McCourt. Central Library will have 8 available and Brook Hollow, Carver, Cortez and Great Northwest branches will have 2 each. These are free of charge but will only be checked out to patrons with a valid library card and a photo ID, and patrons under 18 will be required to have a parent or guardian sign a form. There are no renewals and the readers can only be returned to the location where they were checked out.

Also available is our new online book access called netLibrary. Although you must go into a library to register, once you have, you have access to more than 3,500 titles! These are both fiction and non-fiction titles and can be read from a library computer or at a home computer.

Check out the following article on SAPL's e-Books that appeared in the Express-News, Library Turns New Page

Name the Newsletter

Please help us name this newsletter! If you have any ideas for a catchy title, please e-mail them to BSchorlemer@sanantonio.gov. Your creative efforts will be seen by all the subscribers to this newsletter, and we will of course give you credit. After all, this newsletter is for you and we'd like your input.

Turkey Trivia

Benjamin Franklin was displeased when the bald eagle was chosen over his proposed "original native" turkey as a national symbol. He said the turkey is a more respectable bird and a true original native of America.

Turkeys originated in North and Central America, and evidence indicates that they have been around for over 10 million years.

In Mexico, the turkey was considered a sacrificial bird. As a tribute, Montezuma received 365,000 turkeys per year from his subjects.

Only male turkeys (toms) gobble; the females (hens) make a clicking noise. The gobble is a seasonal call during the spring and fall, and the hens are attracted for mating when a tom gobbles.

Until they reached the age of 8, all little Pilgrims -- girls AND boys -- wore dresses.

Trivia was taken from the following websites: Wood Bridge Chips and Ben & Jerry's Thanksgiving Page.