Victory Garden

Victory gardens, also called war gardens or food gardens for defense, were vegetable, fruit and herb gardens planted at private residences and public parks in United States, United Kingdom, Canada and Germany during World War I and World War II to reduce the pressure on the public food supply brought on by the war effort. In addition to indirectly aiding the war effort these gardens were also considered a civil "morale booster" — in that gardeners could feel empowered by their contribution of labor and rewarded by the produce grown. This made victory gardens become a part of daily life on the home front.

Victory gardens were planted in backyards and on apartment-building rooftops, with the occasional vacant lot "commandeered for the war effort!" and put to use as a cornfield or a squash patch. During World War II, sections of lawn were publicly plowed for plots in Hyde Park, London to publicize the movement. In New York City, the lawns around vacant "Riverside" were devoted to victory gardens, as were portions of San Francisco's Golden Gate Park.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victory_garden

One of the most popular garden vegetable's to grow is tomatoes. There are lots of different varieties of tomatoes to select from. Some of the most popular are sweet Grape tomatoes, better boy, beefmaster or beefsteak, yellow, red fluted, small striped, black, brandywine pink, san marzano, wild everglades, and triangle.

Fruits and Vegetables to consider for planting are arugula, broccoli, cabbage, carrots, figs, garlic, grapes, okra, Onion, peppers, and romaine lettuce.

To have a fully rounded garden you should include herbs. Some of the most common herbs are basil, chamomile, cilantro, Cuban oregano, lemon balm, lobelia, marjoram, parsley, rosemary, and thyme.

Now that you have worked hard in designing and planting your Victory Garden you have to protect the vegetables from the little critters with empty stomachs. You have to build a perimeter barrier with predator attracting plants to lessen damage to actual garden crop. Some plants to consider are borage, cosmos, marigolds, morning glory, nasturtium, petunias, and zinnia.

To get started on your victory garden come to the Brentwood Public Library and visit our garden section to get started.

Some titles to get you started:

The Victory Garden Companion:                    BW-AD Non-Fiction 635 WEISHAN
The Victory Garden Alphabet Book:             BW-J Non-Fiction J635 PAL 
Success with Small Space Gardening:          BW-NEW 635.967 CLARKE
Community Gardening:                                     BW-AD Non-Fiction 635.0917 COMMUNITY
Basic Gardening Skills:                                       BW-AD Non-Fiction 635 Hunter
Gardening with Good Bugs:                             BW-AD Non-Fiction 595.7163 HODGSON
Vegetable Gardening:                                        BW-AD Non-Fiction 635 Bradley

The Fast Track to Getting Hired!

Job & Career Accelerator

LearningExpress Job & Career Accelerator integrates everything patrons need to conduct a successful job serch, all in one easy-to-use application. It takes the guess work out of the job search by providing step-by-step guidance, expert advice, and interactive tools that allow patrons to:

1.      Access and explore careers - Identify occupations that match work-related interests and explore over 1,000 detailed occupation profiles.

2.      Find jobs and internships - Search job opportunities from over 5 million up-to-date listings, covering all major online job boards and even local websites.

3.      Create professional resumes and cover letters - Create documents that stand out using powerful resume and cover letter builders featuring over 120 model resumes, step-by-step personalized guidance, expert advice, and more.

4.      Master interviewing skills - Get ready for the interview and make a great impression with detailed interview guidance, sample questions, expert tips, and more.

5.      Track job search progress - Create and manage tasks, set alerts and reminders, and monitor progress, all from the My Accelerator dashboard.

Power Resume Builder

Features over 120 model resumes, step-by-step personal guidance, full-formatting functionality and style templates that make creating a professional resume easier than ever.

Occupation Matcher

Matches occupations based on work-related interests and current education and experience levels.

Occupation Profiles

Provides a wealth of information including a general overview, average salaries and projected growth, typical tasks and activities, and more.

Job & Intern Searches

Searches available job and internship opportunities from a database of over 5 million jobs covering all major job boards, online classified ads, corporate and recruitment sites and more.

At Brentwood Public Library all you need is your library card to access the resources to help you with your job search.

QR Codes are here to stay!

QR Codes are now becoming mainstream!

First a definition of QR codes, a QR code is a specific matric barcode (two dimensional code) readable by dedicated QR barcode readers and camera/smart phones. The code consists of black modules arranged in a square pattern on a white background. The information encoded can be text, URL or other data.

You may have noticed these black-and-white squares showing up in subway ads or in pages of magazines, coffee cups, on buildings in NYC, posters, storefront window displays, TV advertisements, business cards, websites, and yes even libraries. Thanks to our growing addiction to our smartphones, you'll likely be seeing more of them. When accessed with your smart phone, a QR code takes you to a landing page where you usually find special promotional content.

Here's how the QR codes work:

First, you must download a QR scanning application for your smartphone. If you have an Android based OS smart phone you can follow this link Android QR Code App. If you have a smart phone with a different OS you can follow this link for the top supported mobile phones QR Codes for other mobile phones. Another popular site is RedLaser  which are available for Android, iPhone, BlackBerry and Symbian phones. When you see a QR code on a poster or billboard, open the scanning app and use the phone's camera to focus the code on your screen. The application will recognize the code and automatically open up the link, video or image in your phone's browser. You just need an internet connection to access the content.

Generating your own QR code:

There are a lot of sites that are available for generating your own QR codes. Some of the more popular sites are ZXing, KAYWA, and QR-Stuff. You can get started generating QR codes relatively cheap for under  eighty dollars. You can purchase QR labels and printers fairly cheap at Newegg. Once at Newegg website, in the search box just type in “QR codes”.

Brands and companies are increasingly taking advantage of this relatively low-cost marketing tool. A recent issue of Wired magazine included an ad by watchmaker Tag Heuer that contained a QR code that led users to images of its latest collection of timepieces. Magazine ads have used QR codes to promote everything from hair-care products to sheepskin boots to diamonds.

Measuring success

Like internet ads, QR codes can help companies measure how many people are using the code and at what time. By having easily traceable analytics, marketing firms can view results and know if their QR code campaign is successful. While some consumers know how to use their phone cameras to scan, many do not. Libraries are gearing up to offer 1on1 training for QR codes as they provide computer training for their patrons. I feel QR codes are here to stay and will revolutionize the way companies and libraries market their services.

Tax time again and no forms are being mailed from IRS

Its tax time again and currently about 70% of Americans file their taxes electronically. The IRS is no longer mailing out tax forms unless specifically requested by households. However, if you follow this link to the Brentwood Adult Reference Website you will be able to download all federal and NYS tax forms https://sites.google.com/site/adultreferenceservices/brentwood-community-resources.

In addition, hundreds of the most popular federal tax forms and publications are available for download from http://www.irs.gov/ for sight impaired individuals. These products range from talking tax forms to Braille formats, and is accessible using screen reading software, refreshable Braille displays and voice recognition software. Click on the links below to download these forms and publications:

Download Accessible Tax Forms (Braille and Text Formats)
Download Accessible Tax Publications (Braille and Text Formats)
Download Accessible Talking Tax Forms
Download Tax Instructions (Large Print Format)
Download Tax Publications (Large Print Format)

The IRS also offers customer service assistance for persons who are deaf or who have hearing disabilities. People with TTY equipment can call 800-829-4059, which is a toll-free number, for assistance.
People who are unable to complete their tax return because of a physical disability may get assistance from an IRS office, or through the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance Program (VITA) sponsored by the IRS. Taxpayers can find a nearby location by calling 1-800-906-9887 or checking the partial list on the IRS’s website.

Is there a Hardware Key Logger in your Public Library?

I came across an interesting article at Sophos. Key logger's have been found in public libraries in Manchester, England. This innocent looking USB key captures all keyboard activity. This means any email, banking account, social networking, or any other passwords entered at keyboard will be logged into this USB key. At an opportune time the perpetrator will sit down at the workstation and unsuspectingly remove the USB into his/her pocket. Know your computer hardware and prevent identity theft.

Amazing Libraries from Around the World

Salt Lake City Public Library – Salt Lake City (UT), USA
With music playing on every floor, an art gallery, a firm “no censorship” policy on their computers with Internet access, and a cafe serving coffee and sandwiches, this is not the library I grew up getting shushed at.
Photo: Pedro Szekely

Strahov Theological Hall – Prague, Czech Republic
The ornately decorated library in the Strahov Monastery contains 18,000 religious texts, including many editions of the Bible in numerous languages.
Photo: Rafael Ferreira

Biblioteca España – Medellin, Colombia
Built on a hilltop in Santo Domingo — an area that was heavily affected by violence and drug trafficking in the 1980s and 1990s — Biblioteca España was built as part of an initiative to enhance urban development and to provide more opportunity to the city’s poorest residents.
Photo: danjeffayelles

Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library – New Haven (CT), USA
A gift from the Beinecke family to Yale University in 1963, this windowless building has walls made of translucent marble, specifically designed to preserve the rare books and manuscripts inside, including one of the 48 remaining Gutenberg Bibles.
Photo: KAALpurush

National Library of Belarus – Minsk, Belarus
The newly designed National Library of Belarus houses over 8 million items and has the only public observation deck in Minsk.
Photo: Giancarlo Rosso

Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library – Toronto (ON), Canada
The University of Toronto’s Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library has the largest collection of rare books and manuscripts available to the public in Canada, including an extensive collection of Lewis Carroll first editions, biographical material, and photography.
Photo: Andrew Louis

Seattle Central Library 
The Seattle Central Library was built in 2004 to be an inviting and functional public space. Its “Book Spiral” displays the library’s entire non-fiction collection in one continuously winding run, enabling library-goers to peruse the 4-level section without being interrupted by stairs.
Photo: Stephen J. Friedman, MD

Danish Royal Library – Copenhagen Denmark

TU Delft Library – Delft, The Netherlands
The Delft University of Technology library was designed by architectural firm Mecanoo to be a “triangle of grass and glass.” The building is topped off by a large metal cone, which houses four reading rooms accessible by spiral staircase.
Photo: Stephanie Braconnier

Halmstad Library – Halmstad, Sweden
The design of the Halmstad Library was inspired by the surrounding trees and features wall-to-wall windows with views of parkland visible from virtually anywhere in the building.
Photo: ET Photo

Vasconcelos Library – Mexico City, Mexico
Also known as the Megabiblioteca, the  Vasconcelos Library had to be closed for almost two years in 2007 due to major architectural defects. Now open again to the public, the library houses 500,000 volumes, a music room, a 500+ seat auditorium, and a botanical garden.
Photo: Omar

Vancouver Public Library – Vancouver Canada
The central branch of the Vancouver Public Library System is a nine-story glass building surrounded by a glass-covered walkway and Coliseum-esque colonnade complete with social space, reading areas, and study rooms.
Photo: Darren Stone

British Library – London, England
One of the largest libraries in the world, the British Library holds over 150 million items from countries all over the world — 100 million of which are also available digitally. Notable works include the Magna Carta, Captain Cook’s journal, and the only surviving medieval manuscript of Beowulf.
Photo: Steve Cadman

Photos courtesy of:
http://matadornetwork.com/trips/photo-essay-amazing-libraries-around-the-world

Library Thing

About LibraryThing - LibraryThing is an online service to help people catalog their books easily. You can access your catalog from anywhere—even on your mobile phone. Because everyone catalogs together, LibraryThing also connects people with the same books, comes up with suggestions for what to read next, and so forth.

What software does it require?
None. If you can read this, you can use LibraryThing.

What does it cost?
A free account allows you to catalog up to 200 books. A paid account allows you to catalog any number of books. Paid personal accounts cost $10 for a year or $25 for a lifetime. (See here for organizational accounts.) I conservatively predict the revenue will enable me to recline all day on an enormous pile of gold.

What information do I need to give up?
 None. Setting up an account requires only a user name and a password. You can also edit your profile to make yours a "private" account. With a private account, nobody else can see what books you have.

What else does LibraryThing do?
LibraryThing is a full-powered cataloging application, searching the Library of Congress, all five national Amazon sites, and more than 690 world libraries. You can edit your information, search and sort it, "tag" books with your own subjects, or use the Library of Congress and Dewey systems to organize your collection.

If you want it, LibraryThing is also an amazing social space, often described as "MySpace for books" or "Facebook for books." You can check out other people's libraries, see who has the most similar library to yours, swap reading suggestions and so forth. LibraryThing also makes book recommendations based on the collective intelligence of the other libraries.

Who is behind LibraryThing?
 LibraryThing was created by Tim Spalding, a web developer and web publisher based in Portland, Maine. Tim also runs www.isidore-of-seville.com and www.ancientlibrary.com. Since becoming a "real" business in May 2006, LibraryThing now employs a number of talented people. More about the rest of the team on the Press info page.

Where does LibraryThing get its information? LibraryThing uses Amazon and libraries that provide open access to their collections with the Z39.50 protocol. The protocol is used by a variety of desktop programs, notably bibliographic software like EndNote. LibraryThing appears to be the first mainstream web use.

To join Library Thing follow screen shots below: