Lunar Eclipse on You Tube

For those of you who missed the lunar eclipse last week, there are now plenty of You Tube videos capturing the experience. Though shaky, this one is pretty quick and easy on the eyes. And, captured live in Winnipeg, Canada, it's from our own Central Time Zone. Huzzah!

More than the printed page

This week we've added a new section to our website that we hope many of you will find fun and helpful.

We now have an indexed set of links to several websites created by authors of childrens, teen and adult books.

(Much thanks and kudos go to our clerks, who took the idea and researched these links. They did an excellent job!)

From our front page you can click on the choice "For Readers" in our left-hand Main Menu. From there you can look through our selected reading choices (which have always been there) and now through these websites as well.

From Seussville to Joanne Fluke's MurderSheBaked.com, there are online adventures and fun for all ages.

If there are author websites you would like to see added, there is a friendly link at the bottom of each page for you to email us your suggestion. To help us, please be as detailed as possible, and mention the category in which you think your author belongs.

The battle of the blogs

Ever wish you could plug yourself into a national election poll and see how candidates fare in the public opinion from day to day or hour to hour? Want to know what the other side is saying about your candidate?

This year you can, and without spending your entire life in front of a computer screen.

Wonkosphere, launched to cover the 2008 national election, uses patented software to track the volume, and more importantly the tone, of "buzz" in over 1,200 blogs.

Organized into pools of conservative, liberal and independent blogs, the website allows a glimpse into what each camp is writing about at the moment, and for the previous 24 hours, and whether the tone is critical or complimentary.

Friendly graphics make it easy to compare how the candidates are doing both in their own political sphere and in the others.

Wonkosphere is the latest application of a patented network text analysis technology developed at Arizona State University and licensed to Crawdad Technologies. The company is now using the program, called Listening Post (TM), to help companies keep in touch with what people are saying about them in the blogosphere.

As for Wonkosphere, it may only be a temporary event, but it does allow interested parties -- newspapers, political scholars and voters alike -- to pore through volumes of freshly-generated thought quickly and with ease.

The self-promotional buzz from Crawdad co-founder Steven Corman in a news statement: “It is a real-time scorecard for which candidate is winning the battle of the blogs.”

Technorati

Today JCPL joins the blogging elite. We're introducing this blog to Technorati, a global blog tracker.

We'll have more details later on how you can help, but if you want to help raise our ranking, and our global visibility, please check out our Technorati Profile.

JCPL takes over ... THE WORLD.

With your help, of course :)

No moon on Wednesday

At 10:26 p.m. on February 20th, residents of North America, South America, Europe, and Africa will be treated to a total lunar eclipse. The eclipse will begin around 8:43 p.m., peak at 10:26 p.m. and wrap up about 12:08 a.m.

For more information about lunar eclipses and projected dates of future eclipses, visit the NASA Lunar Eclipse website.

Pokagon State Park in Angola, Indiana will host a free lunar eclipse viewing. For more information, see their press release.

Pokagon State Park Jan-Feb 2008 activities PDF.

Are you ready to vote?

Registering to vote, making address changes and the like should be much easier this year thanks to a new website promoted by Secretary of State Todd Rokita.

www.indianavoters.com is a new electronic database that links all of Indiana's 92 county's voter registration records with the Indiana Bureau of Motor Vehicles database and the Social Security Administration database, to help verify voter registration records.

You can put in your name, county and date of birth and find the address with which you are registered with your county voter registration office, as well as contact information to change it if this is incorrect. If it is correct, you can find your polling place, driving directions, and all precincts for which you can vote in upcoming elections.

Also check out the state's Voter Information Portal, provided by Rokita's office, which is in charge of elections across the state. There are links and downloadable guides for a wide range of interests, from first-time voters to poll workers, as well as information about A.D.A. compliance, voting machines, and information for Spanish-speaking residents. Also, a 2008 calendar of important election deadlines.

Be Your Own Librarian

This week we unveiled new self-check kiosks at each library that patrons can use to check out their own materials.

We hope these kiosks, which offer touch screens and step-by-step on-screen instructions, enhance your library experience.

-- In a hurry and just want to grab a quick read over lunch? You can!
-- Just want to renew your books? Bring it with you and scan it in. If you have a renewal left, it will do it for you.
-- Want to see if the book you requested has arrived? Scan your card and the kiosk will tell you if you have any holds waiting for you at that branch.

There are some restrictions. You will not be able to check out materials that require staff to retrieve them. And the kiosks won't let you check out materials, such as reference books, that cannot be circulated.

Stop by your local library today and CHECK IT OUT!!!

Note: We owe a lot of thanks for this project and don't want to leave out the people who made this possible! This project is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act administered by the Indiana State Library. Thank you!