Healthy and Helpful

If you've held on this far through the winter without a sniffle, you might think it's all behind you, but according to the Centers for Disease Control, February has been the highest month for flu activity for the past several years!

Now might be time to look at some JCPL resources and recommended links for staying healthy. Through our digital collection of databases, you can check out Facts on File's Health Reference Center. All you need to access these sites at home is your JCPL card and a four digit PIN number. If you don't have a number, call your local library today and we can set one up for you over the phone.

In February you can also stop in at the library and get free and low-cost health screenings for blood pressure, cholesterol and vision. There are different programs offered at each location. Check out our monthly events calendar for more information.

The National Institutes of Health has recently announced NIH Senior Health, a site aimed at older Americans that features larger print options, a print contrast control for easier reading, and each page comes with the option to have the text on the screen read to you.

You can also check out a wide variety of health topics at the NIH's Medline Plus site all year long.

***

On an unrelated but timely note, the state of Indiana also sends us this helpful link this week to the Better Business Bureau's charity check website. Click on the special button for tips and information about those charities registered and working in the aftermath of the earthquake in Haiti. Now you can check before you give.

That time of year again

Once again the Rensselaer Library will be offering AARP-sponsored Tax Assistance appointments free to low and middle income taxpayers,with special attention to those 60 and older.

You can now call the library to schedule an appointment. The appointments will only be scheduled on Thursday, Friday and Saturday: each of those days from 9:15am to noon, Thursday and Friday also from 1-5 p.m. All appointments are one hour, except the 9:15am appointments, which are 45 minutes.

Call now, as appointment slots fill up quickly. Appointments will begin on Saturday January 30 and will run through Thursday April 15.

You can also check at your local library to see what tax forms are available. As with previous years we receive only a limited number and range of forms. If we don't have what you need, we should be able to get it for you online at the cost of 10 cents per page.

Happy filing!

New Year, Lots to Do

If you're lucky, or careful, by now you have probably stopped putting '09 on your correspondence and started adding in the required '10. If you're more like me, you have learned by now you can squeeze that 1 in before the zero and usually it doesn't look too bad.

Speaking of squeezing things in, there are a few more note-worthy events going on this month at the library.

The Prairie Writers Guild will be finishing up their tour of the Jasper County Public Library system this month with a stop in Rensselaer on Monday, Jan 18 at 6:30 p.m. Members were at DeMotte in November and Wheatfield in December, reading from the 2009 edition of From the Edge of the Prairie.

This book, which has been in publication since 2004, has become a place to showcase some of the best writing of the community. This year in addition to guild regulars, the works of several students are featured in its pages, as well as the poetry of Norbert Krapf, the Indiana Poet Laureate in 2008.

Books will be available for purchase, and you can get yours signed by the authors.

***

For those with an artistic bent, the DeMotte Library this month is offering an opportunity for patrons to explore the world of oil painting with an all-day (10 a.m.-4 p.m.) class on January 23. The class, which costs $55 for materials, is geared at those of all skill levels. Even if you've never picked up a brush before, you will leave at the end of the day with a finished project.

***

DeMotte is also hosting a reading program all month long. See how much your family can read and compete against other families for prizes. For more information, or to get a log book, stop in at the library and see how much time you can rack up with the written word.

***

For the younger patrons, there are programs at each location. Teens can check out DeMotte's West Room Writers; younger siblings can check out the Library Kids and Third Thursday program at Rensselaer; and Wheatfield Library is offering some unique storytimes for tots ages 3-5 next week themed around pirates and Strawberry Shortcake.

***
All of these stories can be found at our website myjcpl.org.

Whatever you decide to do with all the time in the month or the year that you have left, think on the recent buzz in the library world from New Bedford, Mass., where a patron returned a book that was 99 years overdue. The full story can be read here, but the short fact is, it is never too late to do something worth doing.