Monday, December 28, 2015

What are your favorite websites, blogs, and/or resources for reviews?

Generally speaking, my first choice for reviews is School Library Journal (SLJ). This is for a couple of reasons. First of all, we subscribe to the journal so it nicely arrives in my mailbox each month. How easy is that?! Secondly, I like using SLJ because its reviews are readily available to YOU, our readers, on our website. (Since we switched over to the Encore catalog, Booklist reviews are also often included.) There are a couple of ways that you can get to these reviews from our catalog.

Let's use the book "Calvin: A Novel" by Martinne Leavitt as an example.

The first way is by clicking on the book jacket image in Search Results.  This will bring you to a list of Information Available. As you see, you can read a summary, author notes, reviews, or download a cover image.

The second way is by scrolling down to the bottom of the Search Results.  Just below the list of libraries are Extras, which include Reviews, Biography, and Annotations.

While you are way down here at the bottom of the page, you will see that there is a section entitled You Might Also Like, which includes incredibly enough other titles and authors you might also like.

Another resource that I simply LOVE is NoveList Plus, which is found on our homepage. If you access this from home, you have to enter a valid Burlington Public Library library card number. However, anyone can use the database on any of our public computers here in the library. This gem of a database has EVERYTHING you could want and more about authors, series, and read-alikes. What I love most about it is that all titles have a link back to our catalog. I could talk about this database for hours. But I won't.

Another favorite website of mine is teenreads, just because I like it.

So, I ask, what are your favorite websites, blogs, and/or resources for reviews?


Monday, December 21, 2015

A few days late but still funny and relevant.

Never underestimate the power of the Force and the Library!
Posted by Baker & Taylor Children's and Teen Services on Friday, December 18, 2015

Saturday, December 19, 2015

Welcome to Burlington Public Library's Tweens to Teens Blog

The end of the year is traditionally a time for reflection, so I'd like to share some good news and memories from 2015 here at the Burlington Public Library.

This year has been very exciting for us here at the library as we have made great strides towards our expansion beginning in the spring of 2016. In terms of tween and teen services, we have created two new distinct areas in the remodeled building. The teen section will be a separate room with a teen-specific collection of materials, seating for both study and relaxing, and computers. We will be creating a middle school library collection geared specifically towards readers in grades five through eight, which will be located just outside the teen section. It will also have comfortable seating and computers.

We discovered that:
1. Peeps do not like to get dressed.
2. It can be very very very cold in the library at midnight.
3. Super Hero CosPlay is pretty darn hysterical.
4. Our resident ghost Jared may have left the building.
5. Coloring is very relaxing.
6. The 1978 Star Wars Holiday Special makes no sense.

We unmasked the power of reading in our very successful summer reading program, due largely in part to the planning efforts of the Teen Advisory Council (TAC), open to anyone in grades six to twelve. New members are always welcome!

Finally, the end of the year is also when School Library Journal looks back at the best books of the year. Check out the Best Books of 2015 and see if you agree with their selections. We may not own all of the books selected, but you can always get a copy sent here through inter-library loan.


School Library Journal's Best of 2015 https://t.co/phmwLOEtTg Download the PDF: https://t.co/phmwLOEtTg
Posted by School Library Journal on Saturday, December 19, 2015



That's all for now. Peace out, Butterscouts.
-Miss Sara