Monday, April 18, 2011

2011 Pulitzer Prizes Announced

These 2011 Pulitzer prizewinning titles are available from CLAMS libraries:

FICTION: A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan

HISTORY: The Fiery Trial: Abraham Lincoln and American Slavery by Eric Foner

BIOGRAPHY: Washington : A Life by Ron Chernow

POETRY: The Best of It: New and Selected Poems by Kay Ryan

GENERAL NONFICTION: The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer by Siddhartha Mukherjee

A complete list of winners and finalists is available at www.pulitzer.org.

Sunday, April 17, 2011

Accessible Books and Periodicals for Readers with Print Disabilities

In partnership with Bookshare and OverDrive, CLAMS is currently offering a one year free subscription (usually $75) to Bookshare for individuals with a print disability. The program is known as LEAP – Library eBook Accessibility Program.

Print disability or print-impairment or is a condition related to blindness, visual impairment, specific learning disability, and certain physical disabilities (such as tremors.) Individuals diagnosed with a print disability cannot access print in the standard way.

Bookshare (www.bookshare.org) is an online library of digital books (90, 000,) magazines, and newspaper for people with qualifying disabilities. It operates under an exception to the U.S. copyright law thus dramatically increasing the accessibility of books. Bookshare members download reading material in a compressed encrypted file. They then read the material using adaptive technology, typically software that displays the text of the book on screen and/or reads the book aloud (text-to-speech), or Braille access devices. (Qualifying US students can access the Bookshare catalog for free through the support of the U.S. Department of Education and OSEP.)

To learn if you or a family member may qualify for a free LEAP subscription, log on to the OverDirve Catalog look in the upper left hand corner for “Accessible eBooks for the print-impaired - Click here.” (Just above “My HELP!”)

For additional help or questions you may phone (508-696-4211 x 15) or email the reference department: vhpl_questions@clamsnet.org.

Wednesday, April 6, 2011

"Common Threads" Poetry Discussions in April

Common Threads is a program of MassPoetry.org that seeks to have 10,000 people in the state read seven poems in the month of April, National Poetry Month. All the poets have strong connections to Massachusetts.

Michael West and Clark Myers will lead a discussion of the poems on two evenings in April at the Vineyard Haven Library. Discussions are scheduled for 7pm on Tuesday, April 19th, and 7pm on Wednesday April 27th. The seven poems and discussion questions are available at www.masspoetry.org/commonthreads

Art in the Stacks: Joan Walsh

The Friends of the Vineyard Haven Public Library are pleased to present an exhibit of acrylic paintings by artist and illustrator Joan Walsh. The exhibit will be on display during regular library hours throughout the month of April. Irish artist Joan Walsh lives on Martha's Vineyard. Her whimsical portraits of Martha's Vineyard life are an integral part of the Martha's Vineyard Artist Landscape.

Joan's commissions include works in Watercolors, Acrylics and Oils in Ireland and the U.S.A. Among her stained glass work she designed and made windows for a Novitiate in Dublin, Ireland.

"Art in the Stacks" is a new initiative of the Friends of the Library, to provide individual artists an opportunity to show their work, and for library patrons to enjoy art at the library throughout the year. The Friends are also now accepting submissions for their annual group art show in June.