Toys for Tots (and Teens, too!)

Thanks to the generosity of the public and our employees, last year San Antonio Public Library's involvement in Toys for Tots collected 68 boxes of toys for local children and teens in unfortunate circumstances, contributing to the local program's most successful year ever. Many positive comments were received from contributors last year, noting appreciation for our community involvement, and for offering safe and convenient sites. So we're again opening our doors and inviting everyone to open their hearts.

November 20 to December 20, all SAPL locations will begin accepting donations of new, unwrapped toys for local children and teens in unfortunate family circumstances. The items are then distributed by authorized area agencies throughout the year.

Questions about the program can be directed to Andrew Gordon at (210) 207-2629.

Planes, Trains and Automobiles

Traveling this Thanksgiving? The library can help orient your map and make the holidays less hectic. Here are some tips for traveling safely and sanely that you may want to consider:

Prepare mentally for the journey by enjoying travel writing. Bill Bryson captures the road-trip beautifully in The Lost Continent: Travels in Small Town America. Ward off the bad experiences by checking out The Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbook : Travel by Joshua Piven. Hopefully you won't have to stop a runaway train or camel, but the basic strategies for packing may come in handy. If you’re seeking further comic relief, make sure you bring along some amusing paperbacks. Download some humorous audiobooks or video titles from the library's Overdrive Collection to your player.

Don't forget to take good care of your body. Being cooped up is not much fun, so break up the miles with a couple of quick stretches. Check out our yoga and fitness books and magazines for some pointers. Taking little breaks along the way is important for your sanity, and will leave your body feeling more refreshed. Make sure you have plenty of fluids and healthy snacks along the way.

Orient yourself: have all the directions and travel regulations before you go. The library has access to maps, both in print and online. If you're traveling by plane, know the baggage restrictions and have a map of the terminal in case you have to dash during your connection. If you plan on taking public transportation or a taxi when you arrive, get the routes ahead of time and a city map to make your arrival go more smoothly.

Now you've survived the journey and are at the door. There's just one more thing to endure - the family. Good luck!

Follow Up: One Laptop per Child

The One Laptop Per Child organization profiled in the Bookmarks! March 2007 issue has begun production of its groundbreaking laptop for children in developing countries. The first units are scheduled to be delivered to Uruguay. Orders from other countries are pending as they want to see how it works on the large-scale setting in Uruguay.

In the meantime, Give 1 Get 1, a charitable project run by OLPC, provides an opportunity for people to buy one of these revolutionary devices for personal use and one for donating to a child in a developing country. OLPC hopes that this will help spur small-scale laptop deployments to encourage larger, national investing in children.

Internet + Libraries = ?

In a follow-up to their 2005 report Perceptions of Libraries and Information Resources, the Online Computer Library Center (OCLC) has recently released a report on online social networking and its impact on libraries. Sharing, Privacy and Trust in Our Networked World explores how Internet users have gone from being "information consumers" to "information producers."

In contrast to the 2005 report where library users were asked about their perceptions of libraries — long story short, libraries = books — the 2007 report turns the focus inward, polling library directors about their views on social networking phenomena and what the library's role is in this new environment.

Some of the more interesting findings of the report include:

• Web users read more. Users of social networks in particular read more than other Web users.
• 37% of the U.S. public are active on social networking sites.
• Almost 40% of social network users log in daily (sometimes multiple times a day).

Despite the contrasting opinions of library directors and library users regarding the role of libraries in the social network sphere, the authors of the report recommend to “Open the library doors, invite mass participation by users and relax the rules of privacy. It will be messy. The rules of the new social Web are messy. The rules of the new social library will be equally messy. But mass participation and a little chaos often create the most exciting venues for collaboration, creativity, community building—and transformation.”

Individual sections of the report are available for immediate download. To download the entire report, registration is required, but doing so will entitle you to email notifications of future OCLC publications.

FEATURED Staff Recommendation

The SAN ANTONIO PUBLIC LIBRARY Staff Loves To Read!

Elma Nieto-Rodriguez (Central Library) gets comfortable with the Latino Collection.

Favorite Children's Book
The Story of Ferdinand by Munro Leaf

Favorite Authors
Ray Bradbury, Agatha Christie, Paulo Coelho

Fun Listens (Books on CD)
The Dirty Girls Social Club by Alisa Valdes-Rodriguez, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J. K. Rowling, The End by Lemony Snicket

Favorite Reads
The Giver by Lynn Hall, The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood, And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie, Bless Me, Ultima by Rudolfo Anaya, Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquivel, The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho

Currently Reading
Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time by Mark Haddon

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