Top question this week: Where are the Newspapers and Magazines?

As many of you have noticed, we've made some changes up on the palatial second floor reference area of Rochester Public Library over the President's Day weekend!

All of the new magazines, newspapers, new nonfiction items, and foreign language materials have been moved over to the rotunda area (to your immediate right as you reach the top of the second floor). Magazines have been consolidated into new spinning racks and the new non-fiction items are displayed face-out on the wall so that you will more easily be able to judge our books by their covers (although we're sure you'll judge them on their merits as well).

Now you can read the Post Bulletin, Wall Street Journal, New York Times and other newspapers and magazines while taking in the semi-breathtaking view of downtown Rochester in the sunshine.*

Nonfiction VHS tapes, books on CD, and books on cassette have moved over into the former magazine area (to your immediate left as you reach the second floor). Once you get over the immediate shock of not being able to find your favorites in their same places, let us know what you think of the new layout.

*Actual experienced sunniness may vary. Only guaranteed during the daytime on cloudless days. Tanning oil not provided by library.

Thank you for visiting us at the Healthy Living Fair!

We had a really great turn out at the Healthy Living Fair. Thanks to all the city and county employees who stopped at our booth with questions (and even checked out some items at our booth!)

For those of you who haven't got library cards yet, we hope to see you soon at the library to sign up. We had several positive comments about the new web site design and got lots of good suggestions/questions - can you get more downloadable audio books, does the library have wireless internet (Yes, we do!), and others.

We hope to see you at the library for all of those exercise videos, healthy diet books, lifestyle change books (and even chocolate cookbooks which falls in that grey area in "healthy", but definitely makes a positive statement in the "living" column!)

What's your favorite exercise activity? Tai chi, yoga, and pilates are the new trendy subjects popular at the library. Check out books, DVDs and healthy living magazines at the library.

Did you know the library has deposit collections at Rochester fire stations? Sorry, just for firefighter reading, not the public.

LIVE! Healthy Living Fair

We are in the throng of city and county employees, and a lot of our exercise and cookbooks have been popular. Lots of healthy (and slightly less-than-healthy) folks here checking out all of the exhibits at the Civic Center. Free yogurt abounds, and there are more heart shaped balloons here (perhaps because of Valentine's Day) than one generally sees.

Lots of traffic here over lunch and at least one comment that Hershey's kisses may not be completely within Health Fair guidelines.

More later...

RPL Live blogging at the Healthy Living Fair on Feb 14!

Okay, we've got this spiffy new Reference blog to compliment our spiffy new website, so now those we're going to do something we've never done before - live blogging! We'll be at the Mayo Civic Center during the Healthy Living Fair for city/county employees describing the action, live! And some of you thought libraries weren't exciting.

Okay, the deal is this: If our internet connection is alive and well for the RPL Reference Mobile Specialty Laptop, we will post some live blog entries for your digital consumption. If not, well, maybe we'll write some things down and post them later and pretend they're live.

You're saying, I don't know if I want to read a blog from the Healthy Living Fair, is there anyway I can prevent this?

YES! Stop in at our booth at the Healthy Living Fair at the Mayo Civic Center this Valentine's Day from 10:00AM to 4:00PM and keep us busy at our booth. Pepper the Reference staff with your questions about our online reference resources related to health and well being.

From the Health & Wellness Resource Center to MedlinePlus, we can show you were to get the skinny on getting skinny and other vital health issues.

Either way you win: either scintillating live blog reports or great health information from your library. Come down the the Mayo Civic Center on Valentine's Day and put us to work.

Give us the Good, Bad and the Ugly of our new website!

By the time you read this, Rochester will have unveiled its shiny new website. Along with clearer functions, a cleaner look, and a general overall better vibe, we're excited to hear what you think of it.

That old quote about how paintings are never finished, but they only stop in interesting places applies about a thousand-fold to web sites. Let us know the good, the bad and the ugly (although hopefully you'll phrase it a little more kindly than "ugly") about the new site.
We're constantly trying to improve it. Send us an email (reference@rochester.lib.mn.us), IM us (screenname: RPLmnInfo), or use one of the feedback forms on the new site to tell us what you think.

Also, we just got the book on CD of Lewis Black's Nothing's Sacred. And if you think I'm mentioning it because I both think he's hilarious and I want a picture for my post, you would be right.

"Secrets" of the Rochester Public Library

As a new librarian, I am quickly learning about some of the "secrets" here at RPL, and I am here to tell all.... Or at least two to begin with...

1. We have Graphic Novels for adults. The library has two of the most interesting compilations fom the previous year. Featuring old and new graphic novel material, The Best American Comics, edited by Anne Elizabeth Moore and guest editor Harvey Pekar, and An Anthology of Graphic Fiction, Cartoons & True Stories, edited by Ivan Brunetti. Even before comic books written for the literary set went mainstrem, RPL was there. These are two collections well worth reserving for fans of graphic fact and fiction.

2. Fantastic Online Databases Okay, the word "database" is boring. But when I can have newspaper and magazine articles about whatever topic I am interested in (say, news about the last few episodes of The Sopranos) delivered to me via e-mail, it's not such a boring word.

One of the things I have discovered is that not all of our patrons know about the fabulous online databases we subscribe to. Instead of thinking of it as an "online database", think of it as a smart way to flip through thousands of newspaper and magazine articles at one time using our (or your) computer. Think of it as "Google" without all the advertisements or "not-really-what-I'm-looking-for" links. And the best part is that you can access most of our databases from home on your computer (go to www.rochesterpubliclibrary.org, select the "research page" link and then scroll down the list for something interesting. You can get articles for your school papers from sources that your teacher will acknowledge (sorry, Wikipedia).

More secrets to come....

WELCOME! Welcome to our new Reference News Blog. Watch this space for Rochester Public Library Reference Division news and announcements of new resources and services.

TWO “NEW” FULL-TIME REFERENCE LIBRARIANS:

You will soon be seeing more of two familiar faces at the Reference Desk. Brian Lind and Susan Hansen have recently joined our staff as full-time Reference/Web librarians.

Brian has worked part-time in Circulation Services since 2002. He has since completed his Master of Library and Information Science degree from the College of Saint Catherine. Brian also does freelance writing for some local publications. You may have read his Hot/Not lists published in the Tangent section of the weekend Post-Bulletin.

Believe it or not, Susan has worked at Rochester Public Library for over 20 years! Now that her sons are in high school, she is glad to be back to a full-time library schedule.

In addition to helping library users at the Reference Desk, Brian and Susan will also be working on designing and implementing the new library homepage.

EXPRESS INTERNET STATIONS: We have added two new Express Internet stations. Sessions on the Express stations are limited to 15 minutes. If more time is needed, you may make additional reservations (up to 90 minutes per day).

COLLEGE STUDENTS: Are you a college student home on break? Please feel free to use our library to study and make use of our print, electronic, and audio/visual materials. There is a large quiet study room on the second floor and small study rooms are also available. With a current Rochester Public Library card, you can make a reservation to use our Internet computers or bring your own laptop to take advantage of our Wi-Fi hotspot. While we won’t have the kinds of scholarly or specialized materials you are used to finding in your college or university library, you may be able to access electronic books and full-text articles to supplement your research.