Emma Lazaeus: Voice of Liberty, Voice of Conscience

Special Exhibition: Friday, July 8 - August 19, 2011. Emma Lazarus wrote the immortal words that grace a bronze plaque in the Statue of Liberty Museum. Her poem, "The New Colossus," speaks to all immigrants who seek a new life in America. Learn about this courageous woman, a poet, critic, advocate for the poor, early feminist, and champion of immigrants and refugees, by visiting the Brentwood Public Library for a guided tour of this special exhibition during regular library hours from Friday, July 8 through August 19, 2011.

The Voice of Conscience Unveiling Ceremony will be Friday, July 8, 2:00-5:00PM.

A Very Senior Prom featuring The Moonlight Serenaders Swing Band

MUSIC THROUGH THE YEARS A VERY SENIOR PROM featuring THE MOONLIGHT SERENADERS SWING BAND – Friday, June 10, 2011 7:00PM-8:30PM in the Brentwood Public Library Auditorium.  

The library would like you to recreate that magical evening from our teen years with a prom for our seniors. Bring your spouse, friends, or come stag. There will be music from the Moonlight Sereenaders Swing Band for dancing. The four musicians and vocalist will perform songs from the ‘30’s, ‘40’s, and ‘50’s. Enjoy a wonderful evening of music and dancing!

Emma Lazarus

Emma Lazarus (July 22, 1849 – November 19, 1887) was an American Jewish poet born in New York City. She is best known for "The New Colossus", a sonnet written in 1883; its lines appear on a bronze plaque in the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty in 1912. The sonnet was solicited by William Maxwell Evarts as a donation to an auction, conducted by the "Art Loan Fund Exhibition in Aid of the Bartholdi Pedestal Fund for the Statue of Liberty" to raise funds to build the pedestal.
She was honored by the Office of the Manhattan Borough President in March of 2008 and was included in a map of historical sites related or dedicated to important women.

Literary career
Her most famous work is "The New Colossus", which is inscribed on the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty.

The New Colossus
Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command

The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.
"Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she
With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

Emma Lazarus, 1883

 Click on link below to follow literary works:

• "Epistle" of Joshua Ibn Vives of Allorqui, An
• 1492
• Acceptance (from Epochs)

·   Youth And Death
http://www.readbookonline.net/books/Lazarus/159/

Composting for your garden!

Compost - is plant matter that has been decomposed and recycled as a fertilizer and soil amendment. Compost is a key ingredient in organic farming. At its most essential, the process of composting requires simply piling up waste outdoors and waiting a year or more. Modern, methodical composting is a multi-step, closely monitored process with measured inputs of water, air and carbon- and nitrogen-rich materials. The decomposition process is aided by shredding the plant matter, adding water and ensuring proper aeration by regularly turning the mixture. Worms and fungi further break up the material. Aerobic bacteria manage the chemical process by converting the inputs into heat, carbon dioxide and ammonium. The ammonium is further converted by bacteria into plant-nourishing nitrites and nitrates through the process of nitrification.
         Compost can be rich in nutrients. It is used in gardens, landscaping, horticulture, and agriculture. The compost itself is beneficial for the land in many ways, including as a soil conditioner, a fertilizer, addition of vital humus or humic acids, and as a natural pesticide for soil. In ecosystems, compost is useful for erosion control, land and stream reclamation, wetland construction, and as landfill cover.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compost

Some useful links to get you started in building your own compost pile bin:http://www.co.pierce.wa.us/pc/services/home/environ/waste/recycle/compost/compostbins.htm
http://www.edf.org/article.cfm?ContentID=2030
http://www.calrecycle.ca.gov/publications/Organics/44295054.pdf

Books to check out at the Brentwood Public Library for composting:
Composting-an easy household guide:  BW-AD Non-Fiction 631.875 SCOTT
Backyard composting:                            BW-AD Non-Fiction 631.875 BAC
Let it rot:                                                 BW-AD Non-Fiction 631.975 CAMPBEL
Secrets to great soil:                               BW-AD Non-Fiction 635.0489 STELL

Some useful links on what to add to you newly created compost bin:http://www.plantea.com/compost-materials.htm http://www.howtocompost.org/
http://www.composting101.com/
http://www.wikihow.com/Compost
http://www.gardenguides.com/2143-guide-composting.html

For additional resources for your composting project please visit the Brentwood Public Library and browse our garden section.  Below are call numbers where books are located.

The nonstop garden:                    BW-AD Non-Fiction 712.6 COHEN
Understanding garden design:     BW-AD Non-Fiction 712.2 NAGEL
Nature's garden:                           BW-AD Non-Fiction 641.303 THAYER
The garden organic guide:           BW-AD Non-Fiction 631.875 PEARS OS
The family kitchen garden:          BW-AD Non-Fiction 635 LIEBREI
The wild garden:                          BW-AD Non-Fiction 635.9676 ROBINSO
The new low maint garden:         BW-AD Non-Fiction 635 EASTON

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.