New Books

• Hiring, Training, and Supervising Library Shelvers by Patricia Tunstall

FYI: "How do you find good library shelvers and keep them for more than a few months? Tunstall gives practical advice to help you do just that with this thorough overview of how to hire, test, train, and retain shelvers." - from the back cover

• Writing and Publishing: The Librarian's Handbook edited by Carol Smallwood

FYI: "Have you ever considered writing or reviewing for the library community? Are you interested in publishing a book on your favorite author or hobby? Do you need to write and publish for tenure? If so, Writing and Publishing is for you. Practical how-to guidance covering fiction, poetry, children's books/magazines, self-publishing, literary agents, personal blogging, and other topics will help you..." - from the back cover

Old Friends

Old Friends

(Books from the Reference Reference Collection)

• Magill's Medical Guide: Comprehensive guide (4 volumes) to medical information written for the general reader for broad informational and educational purposes. The articles are written by subject experts.
  
  "The 960 entries in this encyclopedia describe major diseases and disorders of the human body, the basics of human anatomy and physiology, specializations in medical practice, and common surgical and nonsurgical procedures...Hundreds of photographs and medical drawings provide invaluable visual context for entries about diseases, research, surgery, and human anatomy." -from the Publisher's Note

Oh the Places, You'll Go

(Web Sites You Might Like)

Taken from RUSA's Reference & User Services Quarterly (Summer, 2009)
The following are Web sites with annotations about Global Warming:

• Massachusetts Institute of Technology. "MIT Center for Global Change Science." http://web.mit.edu/cgcs The MIT Center for Global Change Science is an interdisciplinary academic research center associated with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Technical Reports on various aspects of climate change are available.


• Pew Center on Global Climate Change. "Pew Center on Global Climate Change." http://www.pewclimate.org/ The Pew Center on Global Climate Change is a nonprofit, independent organization devoted to providing the public with information and policy solutions for global climate change. The website offers news briefs, fact sheets, summaries, of climate change actions by government and business, and even a kids' page.


• RealClimate. "Real Climate: Climate Science from Climate Scientists." http://www.realclimate.org/ This is a good place to find out what the latest controversy in climate science is and what scientists are saying about it. This site received the 2005 Science and Technology Web Award from Scientific American.

Book Recommendations From NPR

Complete Holiday Book Recommendations 2009

(November 22, 2009)

"Season's Readings: Top Picks From Indie Booksellers"

Recommended by Daniel Goldin

The Hour Between, by Sebastian Stuart, paperback, 260 pages, Alyson Books, list price: $14.95
Await Your Reply, by Dan Chaon, Hardcover, 324 pages, Ballantine Books, list price: $25
Little Bee, by Chris Cleave, Hardcover, 288 pages, Simon & Schuster, list price: $24
Blame, by Michelle Huneven, Hardcover, 304 pages, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, list price: $25
Raymond Carver: A Writer's Life, by Carol Sklenicka, Hardcover, 592 pages, Scribner, list price: $35

"Season's Readings: Top Picks From Indie Booksellers"

Recommended by Rona Brinlee

Bad Things Happen, by Harry Dolan, Hardcover, 352 pages, Amy Einhorn Books/Putnam, list price: $24.95
Going Away Shoes, by Jill McCorkle, Hardcover, 272 pages, Algonquin Books, list price: $19.95
Logicomix: An Epic Search For Truth, by Apostolos Doxiadis and Christos H. Papadimitriou, Art by Alecos Papadatos and Annie DiDonna, Hardcover, 352 pages, Boolmsbury USA, list price: $22.95
This Is Where I Leave You, by Jonathan Tropper, Hardcover, 352 pages, Dutton Adult, list price: $25.95
The Tree That Time Built, selected by Mary Ann Hoberman and Linda Winston, illustrated by Barbara Fortin, Hardcover, 224 pages, Sourcebooks Jabberwocky, list price: $19.99

"Season's Readings: Top Picks From Indie Booksellers"

Recommended by Lucia Silva


The Paris Review Interviews edited by Philip Gourevitch, Paperback, 1982 pages, Picador, list price: $65
Vanity Fair's Proust Questionnaire, edited by Graydon Carter, illustrated by Risko, Hardcover, 224 pages, Rodale Books, list price: $23.99
The Pattern In The Carpet: A Personal History With Jigsaws, by Margaret Drabble, Hardcover, 368 pages, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, list price: $25
The Contact Sheet, edited by Steve Crist, Hardcover, 192 pages, AMMO Books, list price: $39.95
Wallace Stevens: Selected Poems, by Wallace Stevens, edited by John N. Serio, Hardcover, 352, Knopf, list price: $30

"The Five Best Books To Share With Your Friends"

Recommended by Glen Weldon

Conquest of the Useless by Werner Herzog, Hardcover, 306 pages, Ecco Books/Harper Collins Press, list price: $24.99
Asterios Polyp,edited by David Mazzucchelli, Hardcover, 344 pages, Pantheon, list price: $24.99
The Collected Stories of Lydia Davis, by Lydia Davis, Hardcover, 733 pages, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, list price: $30
The Supergirls, by Mike Madrid, Paperback, Exterminating Angel Press, list price: $16.95
Everything Matters!, by Ron Currie Jr., Hardcover, 302 pages, Viking/Penguin, list price: $25.95

"Big And Beautiful: Best Gift Books of 2009"

Recommended by John McAlley

Norman Rockwell: Behind The Camera, by Ron Schick, Hardcover, 224 pages, Little, Brown, and Co., list price: $40
The TOON Treasury of Classic Children's Comics, edited by Art Spiegelman and Francoise Mouly, Hardcover, 352 pages, Abrams ComicArts, list price: $40
A New Literary History of America edited by Greil Marcus and Werner Sollors, Hardcover, 1128 pages, Harvard University Press, list price: $49.95
Painting Today, edited by Tony Godfrey, Hardcover, 448 pages, Phaidon Press, list price: $75
The Sartorialist by Scott Schuman, Paperback, 512 pages, Penguin, list price: $25
Charley Harper: An Illustrated Life, by Charley Harper and Todd Oldham, Hardcover, 424 pages, AMMO Books, list price: $49.95
The TOON Treasury of Classic Children's Comics, edited by Art Spiegelman and Francoise Mouly, Hardcover, 352 pages, Abrams ComicArts, list price: $40
Science: The Definitive Visual Guide, by Adam Hart-Davis, Hardcover, 512 pages, DK Adult, list price: $50
Photo-wisdom: Master Photographers And Their Art, by Lewis Blackwell, Hardcover, 216 pages, Chronicle Books, list price: $50
Q&A's from Vanity Fair's Proust Questionnaire by Graydon Carter, Illustrated by Risko, Hardcover, 224 pages, Rodale Books, list price: $23.99
Looking In: Robert Frank's The Americans edited by Sarah Greenough, Hardcover, 528 pages, Steidl, list price: $75

"The 10 Best Cookbooks of 2009"

Recommended by T. Susan Chang



The Pleasures of Cooking for One by Judith Jones, Hardcover, 288 pages, Knopf, list price: $27.95
Asian Dumplings: Mastering Gyoza, Spring Rolls, Samosas, and More, by Andrea Nguyen, Hardcover, 240 pages, Ten Speed Press, list price: $30
Clean Food: A Seasonal Guide to Eating Close to the Source with More Than 200 Recipes for a Healthy and Sustainable You by Terry Walters, Hardcover, 304 pages, Sterling Epicure, list price: $30
Gourmet Today: More Than 1000 All-New Recipes for the Contemporary Kitchen, by Ruth Reichl, Hardcover, 1024 pages, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, list price: $40
Stir: Mixing It Up In The Italian Tradition by Barbara Lynch, Hardcover, 352 pages, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, list price: $35
Mastering the Art of Chinese Cooking, by Eileen Yin-Fei Lo, Hardcover, 384 pages, Chronicle Books, list price: $50
Savory Baking by Mary Cech, Paperback, 168 pages, Chronicle Books, list price: $24.95
Peter Reinhart's Artisan Breads Every Day, by Peter Reinhart, Hardcover, 224 pages, Ten Speed Press, list price: $30
The Craft of Baking by Karen DeMasco and Mindy Fox, Hardcover, 256 pages, Clarkson Potter, list price: $35
Rose's Heavenly Cakes, by Rose Levy Beranbaum, Hardcover, 512 pages, Wiley, list price: $39.95

"Picks To Warm A Winter's Night"

Recommended by Alan Cheuse



American Fantastic Tales edited by Peter Straub, Hardcover, 1500 pages, Library of America, list price: $70
Becoming Americans: Four Centuries of Immigrant Writing, edited by Ilan Stavans, Hardcover, 850 pages, Library of America, list price: $40
The Complete Stories of J.G. Ballard by J.G. Ballard, Hardcover, 1216 pages, W.W. Norton & Co., list price: $35
Manhood for Amateurs: The Pleasures and Regrets of a Husband, Father, and Son, by Michael Chabon, Hardcover, 320 pages, Harper, list price: $25.99
City Boy: My Life in New York During the 1960s and '70s by Edmund White, Hardcover, 304 pages, Bloomsbury USA, list price: $26
Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson, Illustrated by John Lawrence, Hardcover, 272 pages, Candlewick, list price: $24.99

"A World Of Novels: Picks For Best Foreign Fiction"

Recommended by Jess Crispin

Season of Ash: A Novel In Three Acts, by Jorge Volpi (Translated from Spanish by Alfred Mac Adam), Paperback, 464 pages, Open Letter, list price: $15.95
There Once Lived A Woman Who Tried To Kill Her
Neighbor's Baby, by Ludmilla Petrushevskaya (Translated from Russian by Keith Gessen and Anna Summers), Paperback, 224 pages, Penguin, list price: $15
The Armies, by Evelio Rosero (Translated from Spanish by Anne McLean), Paperback, 208 pages, New Directions, list price: $14.95
The Confessions of Noa Weber, by Gail Hareven (Translated from Hebrew by Dalya Bilu), Paperback, 330 pages, Melville House, list price: $16.95
The Twin, by Gerbrand Bakker (Translated from Dutch by David Colmer), Hardcover, 250 pages, Archipelago, list price: $25

"Best Young Adult Fiction 2009"

Recommended by Jonathan Hunt



Charles And Emma: The Darwin's Leap Of Faith, by Deborah Heiligman, Hardcover, 272 pages, Henry Holt and Co., list price: $18.95
Lips Touch: Three Times, by Laini Taylor, Illustrated by Jim Di Bartolo, Hardcover, 272 pages, Scholastic Press, list price: $17.99
The Lost Conspiracy, by Francis Hardinge, 576 pages, HarperCollins Children's Books, list price: $16.99
Marcelo In The Real World, by Francisco X, Stork, Hardcover, 320 pages, Scholastic Press, list price: $17.99
When You Reach Me, by Rebecca Stead, Hardcover, 208 pages, Random House, list price: $15.99

"Under-The-Radar Gift Books"

Recommended by Librarian Nancy Pearl



Spooner, by Peter Dexter, Hardcover, 480 pages, Grand Central Publishing, list price: $26.99
When Wanders Cease To Roam: A Traveler's Journal Of Staying put, by Vivian Swift, Hardcover, 208 pages, Bloomsbury USA, list price: $20
The Good Soldiers, by David Finkel, Hardcover, 304 pages, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, list price: $26
Liar, by Justine Larbalestier, Hardcover, 384 pages, Bloomsbury USA, list price: $16.99
Going Bovine, by Libba Bray, Hardcover, 496 pages, Delacorte, list price: $17.99
In The Town All Year 'Round,by Rotraut Susanne Berner, Hardcover, 72 pages, Chronicle Books, list price: $16.99
Bubble Trouble, by Margaret Mahy, Hardcover, 32 pages, Clarion Books, list price: $16
Travels In A Thin Country: A Journey Through Chile, by Sara Wheeler, Paperback, 336 pages, Modern Library, list price: $13.95

New Book

• The Librarian's Book of Quotations compiled by Tatyana Eckstrand

Oh, the Places You'll Go

(Web Sites You Might Like)

This time of year many people experience seasonal stress. Additionally, the economy and other internal and external forces may conspire to bring about feelings of sadness or depression. The following lists of Web sites from Searcher: The Magazine for Database Professionals
include psychological tests and stress relief:

• Authentic Happiness Questionnaire Center (http://www.authentichappiness.sas.upenn.edu/questionnaires.aspx) "Martin Seligman, the founder of the Positive Psychology movement, offers 19 surveys on this site in return for free registration. Measure today's happiness and your characteristic level of satisfaction. Do you find meaning in your life? Do you have grit and perseverance? The results can serve as clues for your next life moves. This site is also available in Spanish and Chinese, traditional and simplified."


• Happier.com (http://happier.com/) "In return for free registration, take clinically validated tests and learn techniques for being happier, including gratitude, letting go of grudges, and recalling good things that happen each day. Personalized help is available for a subscription fee."


• Why Are We Happy? Why Aren't We Happy? (http://ted.com/index.php/talks/dan_gilbert_asks_why_are_we_happy.html) "In this video from TED, Harvard psychologist Dan Gilbert explains how our prefrontal cortex predicts (mostly incorrectly) what will make us happy." [this video was previously published on this blog]


• Portable Guide to Stress Relief (https://www.health.harvard.edu/PDFs/Stress_Relief_Guide.pdf) "Follow these few suggestions from Harvard Medical School to help alleviate stress. Ideas include reaching out to others, correcting negative assumptions, and physical relaxation techniques that you can practice on the go."


• The Happiness Project (http://www.happiness-project.com/) "Gretchen Rubin, former lawyer, spent a year looking for happiness by 'test-driving every principal, tip, theory, and scientific study I could find, whether from Aristotle or St. Therese or Martin Seligman or Oprah.' She writes about her findings on her blog."

Old Friends (you may not have met yet)

This month I am introducing a new regular feature to this blog in which I will highlight interesting and/or useful books from the Reference stacks. These books will not be new books, but may be new to you.

• How to Be a Perfect Stranger: The Essential Religious Etiquette Handbook edited by Stuart M. Matlins and Arthur J. Magida (3rd ed.) 2003

"We North Americans live in a remarkably diverse society, and it's increasingly common to be invited to a wedding, funeral, or other religious service of a friend, relative, or coworker whose faith is different from our own. These can be awkward situations...What will happen? What should I do? What do I wear? What do I say? What should I avoid doing, wearing, saying? Is it okay to use a video camera? How long will it last? What are the basic beliefs? Will there be there be a reception? Will there be food? Should I bring a gift? When is it okay to leave?" - from the back cover