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One of the greatest services SPL offers is interlibrary loan–and I’m not referring to getting books from other Minuteman Libraries. If a book (or DVD, or CD, or music score etc.) isn’t available at any of Minuteman’s 41 libraries, our ILL librarians can probably get it for you, nevertheless. It doesn’t matter if what you want is in a library in Brattleboro, VT, or Pocatello, Idaho, they can usually find a way to get it here.

A couple of weeks ago I read an article in The Guardian about Ancient Roman humor (yeah, I know, I’m a dork). The article referred to a specific joke book written about 1600 years ago.* I wrote down the title on a request card (noting that I wanted an English translation) handed it to one of our wonderful ILL librarians, and when I came into work today it was on my desk.

ILL is a wonderful service that allows our patrons access to books and other materials  they couldn’t get any other way. So if you can’t find a book at SPL, or even in Minuteman, don’t give up!

*It turns out the best jokes from the book were quoted in the Guardian article, but here are a couple that aren’t too lame:

A scholar was traveling at sea when a huge storm came out of nowhere. His slaves were terrified. “Cheer up!” the scholar said. “I’ve freed you in my will.”

A merchant asked a customer if he wanted to sample some honey. The customer tasted a little and said, “This is wonderful.”

“It certainly is,” the merchant replied. “If a mouse hadn’t crawled into the jar and died, I’d be keeping it for myself.”

Alderman Sullivan will be holding office hours at the Central Library this Saturday, 3/21, from 9:30-11:00 am. He will be here to listen to your thoughts or concerns and to answer any questions from the community. Please feel free to stop by for a chat - he’d love to see you!

Many of you probably saw this morning’s Globe article about libraries being decertified due to budget cuts. It’s a shame: decertification means a library loses its financial assistance from the state and loses borrowing privileges from other libraries, which is a major blow to patrons in communities with small libraries (and therefore small collections).

Luckily, that’s not the case with Somerville–we’ve been approved for state aid for the next fiscal year, so not only can we continue expanding our collections, but if you want something we don’t have we can get it for you thanks to a nation-wide interlibrary loan network. So echoing last Friday’s post, think twice before buying a DVD or book from Amazon: we can probably get it for you for free.

And tell the City how much the library’s services mean to you: now is the time for local governments to make the library a priority, not a target for budget cuts.

The Boston Globe recently selected Wrentham resident Joanna McFarlane as their Most Frugal New Englander (she won the contest they sponsored) and have published 14 of her money-saving tips.  Tips #1 and #2 are library-specific:

1. Find free kids’ events: Rather than paying for entertainment, see whether your local library hosts free children’s storytime or playtime.  McFarlane takes her children, Isabella, 2, and Catherine, 6 months old, to their library’s weekly free half-hour children’s time, which includes storytelling, singing, and parachute time.
2. Take out books and movies from the library.  Cancel your Blockbuster subscription, stop making trips to Barnes & Noble, and make your local library your movie rental store and book store.    The library “is also my Blockbuster, where I get all my movies” McFarlane said.  “I was surprised they have every single movie.  It takes a little bit longer to get them than it takes via Blockbuster, but it’s completely free so it’s totally worth it.”

Smart woman.

For a list of all the free children’s events coming up at YOUR local library click here.

To browse all the free books and movies you can borrow, click here.

Or better yet, just stop by.  We’ll be here.

Are you interested in helping people learn English? Are you reliable, adaptable, welcoming, and friendly? Are you free on Tuesday evenings? You may be just the person we’re looking for!

We’re seeking volunteers for our ESL classes at the Main Library on Highland Ave.  English classes at the library are informal, fun, and popular! But they can only happen with the help of dedicated volunteers. If you want to be part of this important library program, please stop by any of our locations and fill out an application. We’ll be happy to have you!

Don’t be tempted to dismiss Jennifer Weiner as chick lit – her protagonists are indeed female, and her book covers are pink with pictures of women’s feet clad in stylish shoes, but her writing has more heft and wider appeal than most books in that genre. Her characters are realistic and unglamorous, with lives that we can relate to but different enough to keep our interest, plus she’s one of the funniest writers I’ve read.

Her first novel, Good in Bed, introduces its heroine, Cannie Shapiro, just after a breakup. One day she opens a national women’s magazine to find that her ex-boyfriend has written a column about her beginning with the words, “Loving a larger woman is an act of courage in our world.” Until now, Cannie didn’t realize that her ex-boyfriend thought of her, or their relationship, in this way. These humiliating public revelations begin a tumultuous year for Cannie, miserable but ultimately transformative.

Weiner has written several more books since then, including a book of short stories called The Guy Not Taken, and most recently Certain Girls, the long-awaited sequel to Good in Bed.

Her success has translated to the big screen as well - her second book, In Her Shoes, was made into a movie starring Cameron Diaz. Good in Bed has been floating around Hollywood as well, but hasn’t yet been made into a movie. Weiner says of the main character, “The only obstacle is that, in order to come up with someone even remotely the right size, they’d have to staple both Olsen twins to Nicole Richie.” (Have I mentioned that she’s funny?)

One of the best things about Weiner is that her writing is so consistently good - even her blog is a great read. And if you’re an aspiring writer yourself, she has some great tips on the For Writers page of her website.

All ages are invited to join us for an afternoon of creating and trading unique cards at the Central Library this Sunday from 1 to 4:30 p.m. “If you can doodle, you can do it!” says Rob Logan, whose distinctive, quirky, colorful art has (literally) been a fixture at Redbones, the popular Somerville restaurant, for 10 years. Start with a blank 9-card template, add your art, have it laminated on the spot, and cut out the cards to keep, or to trade and collect. All materials will be provided - just bring your imagination! This free workshop is brought to you by the Friends of the Somerville Public Library and Redbones’ Art in Somerville Fund. We hope we’ll see you there!

Due to carpet installation there will be no internet service on the second floor of the libraray on Tuesday March 10th and Wednesday March 11th.  It is possible that this may take longer than two days so please call the reference department [617-623-5000] to check if we have restored computer access.

…so once again, to meet information needs our patrons didn’t even know they had, here’s a list of historically significant March dates:

March 1, 1753. Sweden switches from the Julian to the Gregorian calendar. If you don’t know what that means, just think of it as daylight savings time except you set your clock back 264 hours.

March 3, 1655. A Montreal physician offers North America’s first health insurance plan, proving that the Canadians really were ahead of us on health care from day one.

March 11, 537. The Goths lay siege to Rome. The siege is called off when Consul Flavius Belisarius succeeds in convincing them that Rome is out of black eyeliner and lipstick.

March 16, 1621. Samoset, a Pemaquid Indian, visits the settlers of newfound Plymouth with cries of “Welcome, Englishmen!” He clearly didn’t know trouble when he saw it.

March 17, 1756. Because Colonial Americans don’t have enough excuses to drink, New York holds its first St. Patrick’s Day celebration at the Crown and Thistle Tavern.

March 19, 978. Fifteen-year-old King Edward of England is assassinated on the orders of his stepmother so the throne can go to her ten-year-old son Ethelred. So that’s a big “feh” to all you people who think helicopter parenting is something new.

March 24, 1837. In Canada, black men get the right to vote. Canadians can’t stop showing us up, can they? It’s like a compulsion with those people.