Something Fun

Comics

If you're a comic book fan, an art fan, or just someone looking for something to do, check out this website: http://www.coverbrowser.com/.

The site provides cover images to hundreds of comics, from 1950s era Dick Tracy to present day collections of manga.

My personal favorites are for the comic called Mystery in Space that ran from 1951 to 1966. These covers reveal a fixation on Mars, feature a hobo/hitcher who hopes for "Jupiter City or Bust," show a giant scarecrow warning visitors from approaching Earth, & envision the Earth as a cube.

So, check it out. I think all, young or old, will find something of more than moderate amusement.

Music

Pandora is probably one of the best free music sites on the Internet. The site does not allow downloading of music, so don't get your hopes up.

What Pandora does is allows music-lovers to create song or artist-themed "radio stations" that regularly refresh to a new song, very likely a great song you've never heard before. The site allows a listener to give a thumbs up ("I like it") or thumbs down ("Ew!") so that the next song will be more like a song you like or less similar to a song you do not. Also, the site provides links to more information about an artist, a song, or an album.

Also, Pandora permits users to create dozens of radio stations on their accounts (you will have to create an account, but, from my experience, you can use your email address as a user id & your email password as your Pandora password). You can switch from your Rufus Thomas station to your Billie Holiday station to your Ryan Adams station with a simple click, the same way (almost) that you'd change stations in the car.

For more information about Pandora, click here.

Books

If you are an avid reader or book-lover, a great source for sharing your passion for books & learning of other's passions is the social-networking site LibraryThing.

The site allows users to create a list of the top 200 books (adding more than 200 book is available for a fee) he/she would recommend to other readers. The site also connects users with readers having similar interests in styles, genres, or authors, all of which opens up readers to books he/she may never have been aware of.

More importantly, LibraryThing has the potential of connecting individuals which similar tastes to each other, allowing users of the site to build relationships and literary knowledge from all across the globe. Also, users can sign up for discussion groups focusing on a variety of literary genres, age groups, and literacy issues.

The site currently has close to 240,000 readers who have added over 2.2 unique titles to their personal catalogs/libraries. So, you stand an excellent chance of learning more about books or locating someone with whom you'd want to discuss books.

This site is free, but you will need to create a username & password. My recommendation, as always, is to re-use a username & password you have used on another site.

For more about LibraryThing, click here.

========================================================

If you'd like more information about any of these websites, or if you have suggestions of other fun websites like these, email me at playne@bpl.lib.me.us and/or post your suggestion to the blog.

Noise in the Bangor Public Library

In the comments to the recent LibQual survey, some library patrons voiced a frustration with the noise level at the library. Many people come to the library for quiet research or reading, finding instead that they are sitting nearby to someone engaging in a loud cell phone conversation or a group of people who don’t know the meaning of “inside voices.” People who get upset with the noise level not only are agitated with the perpetrators of the disruption, but also at the perceived library staff approval of a noisy library.

Addressing this issue is a sensitive and complex undertaking. One needs to strike a balance between the needs and personality of one individual with those same traits in others, while at the same time attempting to be a fair judge of what are normal & acceptable behaviors & expectations.

But, before tackling any issues of public decorum, first some informal historical perspective on libraries & our culture. Libraries traditionally have been places of tranquil quietude, spaces venerably reserved for scholarship, reflection, relaxation, and escape. Librarians customarily have been regarded as the protectors of this peace, using everything from a frown to lists of rules to the occasional “Shh!” in the pursuit of silence.

Times & libraries have changed, though. Computers are in the library. Many people walk around with cell phones in their pocket or purse or book bag, ready to ring at any moment.

Because of these and other factors, libraries have become much more social settings. The person ten years ago who sat quietly next to you in the library reading a magazine now could have a cell phone to answer. While you are using a public computer to produce your resume, the person next to you could be listening to loud music on headphones while playing an online video game. [An irony of this is that we are often becoming closer to others in the physical space around us while we work on computers to go far away mentally from that same physical space].

Today, noise is everywhere. Many of our public spaces (banks, malls, restaurants) are inundated with a constant hum of a radio or a television. A walk down the street or even sitting on your own lawn often has the background noise of a passing car’s radio or a television from a nearby apartment or home.

Believe me, I understand the frustration. You don’t want to have to go far outinto the woods or far from land to escape humanity’s constant activity. You want some place where silence is held in reverence. You want the library to be that place.

We at Bangor Public Library want the library to be that place, too. We, however, know this desire has inherent limitations. Knowing the prevalence of noise in our society, one must understand the difficulty in making the library exempt from the cultural norm.

Also, placing upon librarians’ the role of noise arbiter is a precarious endeavor. We are informed by & participants in the same culture of constant sound as our library customers. One librarian’s idea noise is another librarian’s perception of a normal volume level. The same variance of interpretation also exists among the hundreds of people who visit the library daily.

This gray area makes being proactive or preemptive in monitoring the sound levels at the library a difficult proposition. For this reason, the library does not have a formal written policy for relegating behavior while in the library. Not having a policy allows library patrons the feel of a socially open environment in the library. Not having a policy also frees library staff from feeling we must be actively monitoring all behavior.

Now, are we saying if you don’t like the noise that that’s just too bad? That’s it’s something you’re just going to have to deal with? Are we exonerating ourselves from any responsibility for the behaviors that occur in the building? The answer to each of these is no, certainly not.

If you feel uncomfortable at the library, it is possible the library staff is not aware of the disturbance. We understand that our library patrons may not feel at ease in asking those around them to be quieter while in the building. In this case, please do not hesitate to approach a staff member with your concern. Staff members have the right & obligation to ask someone to lower his/her voice or otherwise modify behavior if another patron makes us aware of behavior that endangers the ability of others to use the library.

We strive to make the Bangor Public Library a welcoming, safe learning & leisure atmosphere. Please let the library staff know if more can be done to make this aim more suitable to your needs.

Blogger, Google, the Bangor Public Library Blog & You

A few people have asked why the blog is set up using Blogger, a Google operated blog publishing service. Further, people have wondered they will not be able to leave comments because they do not have Google accounts. Below, I have addressed a few of these concerns.

This blog is using Blogger for publication for a number of reasons. For one, Blogger is -- one of the greatest of all things -- free.

There are many other blog publishers, but many of the others require the placement of advertisements on all blogs created. Blogger allows ads to be placed on blogs, but does not demand all bloggers do so.

Blogger is also relatively easy to use & modify by blog authors. I am not a computer novice, but I'm also not an expert. I wanted to open up this type of forum for our library patrons, but did not want to be limited by an interface that demanded more time of me, making it more prohibitive of my time at work.

Still, Blogger is not a perfect system. Since it is owned by Google, users of Blogger are required to create a Google account. However, from my experience, the account only requires a user name & password. No one is required to leave a real name, email address, or other identifying information to create an account with Blogger.

You will also not be asked to change your email or any other accounts to a Google account just so you could leave comments on this blog. If limitations or demands of this sort were required, I would not have chosen this publishing service.

I am new to using blogs. I am attempting to make this as accessible as possible, knowing that it may not be at this time. I look to amend whatever is needed to better serve our library patrons. If you have any difficulty in using this blog to communicate with the Bangor Public Library, please feel free to email me directly at playne@bpl.lib.me.us.