Are you planning a vacation for your family this year? Have you been to the library to pick up some books to assist you? Despite the many search engines and travel sites available at your fingertips on the Internet, most savvy travelers will use a combination of print and on line resources. One of the aims of today's public library is to satisfy the recreational needs and interests of our patrons. Books, magazines and DVD's to help you do your holiday planning abound and the demand has not declined for them. There are two main divisions in our travel section: guidebooks and travel literature. The guidebooks are volumes dedicated to to specific places all over the world, from cities, provinces, and countries to entire continents. Publishers of series such as Rough Guides, Fodor's, Lonely Planet, and Sierra Club produce new and revised titles annually, which include maps and phrasebooks. These guides offer information on many topics; how to get there, accommodation, what to see and give more context to complete the picture of the destination and what to expect. Most of the titles have a related website, which provides up to minute information and interactive blogs. You can read what other travellers experienced last week at the hotel you may be considering. My personal favourite is the Frommer's site.
Travel literature is written on a more personal level and is the author's reflections on the journey and the experiences along the way – and not always good ones! Herodotus (c.484 BC) was one of the first writers who included accounts of his travels around the Mediterranean and the Black Sea in his “Histories” which is still a popular and entertaining read today as a Penguin translation. Early explorers such as Marco Polo and Columbus inspired future generations of travelers to record their journeys. The unfortunate John Franklin, has always been a popular especially with Canadian readers, and then there are the many “Brits”, who went everywhere in the 19th Century. We have some classic works by Gerald Durrell, Ranulph Fiennes, and Freya Stark. More contemporary titles include “Apples are from Kazakhstan: the land that disappeared “ by Christopher Robbins and “Once in a lifetime trips: the world's 50 most extraordinary and memorable travel experiences” by Chris Santella. Our Travel collection also includes many DVD's to add some visuals to the trip. Rick Steves and Michael Palin share some fabulous adventures as they lead us around the continents. Whether it is your trip to Florida, your honeymoon cruise, or you plan to tramp across the ice of Antarctica, be sure to check the library's catalogue and make the best of your trip with good planning and organization! Big Screen Tuesday is back next week – July 14, at 7pm. This week's film will appeal to the fans of Dragonball and is rated PG. Check the library website for more information. In the Rosberg Gallery this month we have the Parkway Artists Guild with a variety of works by several local artists.