This week’s film for Big Screen Tuesday is based on the book “Greg Heffley's Journal or Diary of a Wimpy Kid: A Novel in Cartoons”, the 2007 New York Times bestseller by Jeff Kinney. The comedy follows the life and adventures of a wise cracking Grade 7 student over the course of the school year. The movie stars Zachary Gordon, Robert Capron and Rachel West. It is rated PG and will be shown at 7pm in the LaMarsh Room. The original book has morphed into a series of now 4 titles with a fifth slated for publication this year. All are hugely popular with our young tween readers and available to reserve online or at any of our libraries.

If you drive a car model from 2003 on,with a CDPlayer, or have a CD player with MP3 capability indoors, perhaps you may be interested in trying some of our new MP3 CDs. One of our suppliers “Recorded Books” has been providing us with a free MP3 copy of titles we purchase as a CD Book. The difference is that instead of juggling 5 to 12 discs at a time, MP3 CDs are compressed compact discs ... multiple compact discs have been compressed onto 1 or 2 discs. This makes it much easier for borrowers to listen to their favourite story, in the car. The only catch is you will need a newer model CD player. This small collection is housed at the Community Centre Branch but all our libraries can access these new titles through a phone call or placing a reserve on the MP3 CD title they may wish to listen to. Contact us if you have any questions about our newest format.

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The Niagara Falls Public Library is open as per our summer schedule and all systems are fine! We have received several calls and emails this week because the Niagara Falls Public Library in Niagara Falls, NEW YORK has had to close its doors for nearly a week now, since during this extended “heat wave” unfortunately, their air conditioning system has given up and the heat is oppressive! This is not the first time I have been called in error, to comment to the press or other researchers on Niagara Falls New York affairs. Our Reference staff are often contacted with Niagara Falls, N Y questions. Believe it or not, many people do not seem to realize there are 2 City’s of Niagara Falls! We were aware of the predicament of our sister Library, because we subscribe to the web content monitoring service offered by the Goggle search engine. On a daily basis, we receive updates called “Alerts” whenever the Goggle Search Engine finds a new occurrence of “Niagara Falls Public Library “ within its data base. Of course, it cannot discriminate whether it is Niagara Falls, Ontario or New York, so we need to filter out what really is relevant or not. The search engine only matches the results to the terms we have chosen, and just as important to remember, to content found in their proprietary database. You might wonder that I do not add Ontario to my terms, to limit the results – my experience is that I do not get all results, unless the whole series of words is found. More relevant results are produced using the simplest search and then I have to choose what is appropriate. Such are the vagaries and limitations of the Internet and search engines and more importantly why the Internet in and of itself will never likely “replace” the neighbourhood Public Library. Although Internet service is offered free to our community, at all library locations, many, many of our users require the assistance of trained staff to wade through the masses of results or information they retrieve in simple searching. Besides, we like to know what is going on at our “twin” library!...

Its hot outside, but it is cool in the Library, and there is lots going on. Staff at all locations have been busy with the onslaught of young readers, now that Summer Reading Club program is in full swing. Some of our most active readers strive to be the first to reach the target of ten books read, and I can see that we are already close, just over a week in! There is still time to join, and read the required number of books in time for the “Finishers’ Party at the end of August. The “Kids’ Book Clubs” are for anyone 3 to 11 years of age. Big Screen Tuesday July 13 offers a treat for thriller and mystery fans. Based on the gripping book of the same name “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” this is the 2009 film adaptation by the Swedish director Neils Arden Oplev. This is the first of three titles of the Millennium Trilogy by the late Swedish author and journalist Stieg Larsson which were all published following his death in 2004. The books became bestsellers in Europe and now in more than 29 countries including...

Recently, Chief Librarian Monika Seymour and Manager of Adult Reference & Information Services, Andrew Porteus, attended a book launch at Brock University. While this type of activity is not unusual for librarians, the book itself is quite remarkable. The book, Covering Niagara: Studies in Local Popular Culture, edited by Brock University professors Joan Nicks and Barry Grant, grew out of a grant received by the Popular Culture Niagara group at Brock University. They held an initial conference in 2002, and a second meeting in 2006. Andrew Porteus submitted a paper on the art & poetry of early Niagara Falls. The culmination of 8 years of research and work now is the publication of Covering Niagara. (Andrew also created the index for this book). Each of the book's 15 chapters deals with a specific aspect of popular culture...

Kid’s Book Club: Summer 2010 opens this Saturday at all 4 Library locations. We have 3 reading clubs to keep your kids reading all summer and to maintain their literacy levels while enjoying some time off school. Ready to Read is for kids age 3-6. Our theme is “Sniff out a Good Book: Smells like Reading!” Play a game, take the books out and when you return the books, the kids can play a nose matching game and win wonderful prizes. We have a great party for finishers at the end of the summer with our entertainer “Music with Brian.” For ages 6-11, we have our Rockin’ Readers program entitled “Put Your Nose is a Good Book: PICK ME!” Choose your category from our giant nostrils! What will you get? Will you choose a funny book, adventure or scary? Lots of great prizes this summer and every child in both programs, gets to take home a FREE book of their choice when they finish the program. You just have to read 10 books! Finishers can join us for “Popcorn and a Movie” day at the end of the Rockin’ Readers program. Blow me away; both programs cost only $2.00 for an entire summer of nosy fun! For our Teen readers, age 12 and up, try our Slammin’ Readers Book Club. Just read, fill in the ballot and you can win prizes in our weekly draw donated from local attractions and businesses. Thanks again Niagara Square Shopping Mall for your great gift certificates! This program is free. We would also like to thank our other sponsors, McDonald’s and Zappi’s for their generous support of literacy in this community. A complete list of our wonderful sponsors is displayed at each of our 4 Libraries. Kids Book Club, Summer 2010, opens this Saturday, June 26th! ...