Screen-Free Week is coming – can you go a week without screens?

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Today’s post is by Children’s Librarian Lauren:

“Have I told you all about the time that I got sucked into a hole through a handheld device?” So goes a lyric on the Arctic Monkeys’ technologically ambivalent album Tranquility Base Hotel and Casino. This line repeats in my head every time I find an hour of my life has been lost to compulsively scrolling through Instagram or following clickbait articles. So much of our lives is mediated through screens, and the side effects aren’t always as light as lost time and an earworm. Night-time screen use has been linked to insomnia, and studies are linking excessive social media use to anxiety and depression.

For kids too young for Snapchat, studies have tied screen use to developmental delays. The American Association of Pediatrics recommends no screen time for kids under 18 months and 1 hour max for kids under 5 years old. The more time toddlers spend silently watching screens, the less time they spend talking, playing, moving, and learning. Likewise, the more time parents and caregivers spend with screens, the less time we have to facilitate those crucial experiences for our kids.

To combat the negative effects of screen-based entertainment, some folks came up with Screen-Free Week, an annual week of unplugging and re-discovering the joys of real life fun. From Monday, April 29 to Sunday, May 5, families and individuals will be closeting the iPads and shutting off the backseat DVD players. Sound like something your family could try? Here’s some ideas on how to amuse yourselves while the screens are away:

Be bored! Boredom provides kids with an opportunity to get creative. Lin-Manuel Miranda – the creator of Hamilton and one of the most creative folks around – fondly recalls being left to his own non-screen devices. If you’re not up to writing an award-winning musical, though, provide your family with open-ended materials like art supplies, the contents of the junk drawer, and your backyard. Here are a few ideas to get you started:

Clash your clans in a fantasy book! Look in the kids section for the blue sticker with a unicorn. Magic Tree House and Percy Jackson are classics that work as family read-alouds, or check out a new book like The Cryptid Catcher. We also love us some Neil Gaiman, especially Coraline, a delightfully creepy tale that begins with a super-bored girl who, to put it mildly, finds a way to amuse herself.

Go outside for a walk! This is one of the best times of year to hang out around the canal trail, when birds who migrated south are coming back and starting to make nests for the spring. You can see turtles, beavers, and snakes at Lock 12, and in the last couple weeks I saw diving kingfishers, big herons, and colorful wood ducks in the new section of trail north of West Main Street. Sleeping Giant State Park is still closed from tornado damage, but nearby Brooksvale Park has salamanders, frogs, and even farm animals, as well as easy hiking trails. The library has free maps of local trails, as well as wildlife guides for kids and adults to borrow.

Take advantage of the spring birds & blooms that are popping up all over this time of year, as close as your own back yard! Ask little kids to point out colors, compare sizes, and count petals on flowers. Explain pollination and photosynthesis to big kids – or, better yet, let them explain it to you. See how many different kinds of birds you can spot.

Take a break from Allrecipes and Epicurious, and follow a recipe from a book! Whether tacos or teiglach are more your speed, you can find a ton of family-friendly recipes in cookbooks designed especially for kids. Some cookbooks specialize in classics and others offer a history of food. Wherever your interests lie, head to the 641s for your cooking needs.

After you’ve cleaned up the kitchen and the kids are busy writing their own history-based raps, you might have a few minutes during Screen-Free Week for some adults-only reading:

Will you be participating in screen-free week from April 29 to May 5?

Magnificent Magazines @CPL

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Today’s post comes to us from Cheshire Library’s Deputy Director, Deb Rutter:

Magazines are popular with our readers at  Cheshire Library and there are more ways than ever to access them!

Prefer traditional paper? The last decade or so has been tough on print magazines.  Favorites such as Newsweek, Glamour, Cooking Light, Vegetarian Times, Redbook, and the Ladies’ Home Journal have ceased publication or switched to a newsstand-only or digital-only format.  Others have reduced the number of issues per year.  But even with the decline in print magazines, there are still great new titles popping up.  We’ve just added 3 new magazines to our collection: Cowboys and Indians, which highlights the life and style of the modern American West, The Magnolia Journal, created by popular HGTV hosts Chip and Joanna Gaines, and Pioneer Woman, created by author and TV personality Ree Drummond.  We have over 130 other magazine titles on the lower level adjacent to our new quiet reading area.   Enjoy reading the latest issue of your favorites in the library in our new quiet reading lounge, or check out previous issues to take home.

Downloadable magazines are a great option as you can read them on your tablet, phone or computer.  We have two magazine platforms available to our CPL cardholders, RBdigital and Overdrive/Libby (non-CPL cardholders, check with your local library to find out what digital platforms are available there).  RBdigital features 34 magazine titles, including The Economist (which we do not offer in paper format), Eating Well, Discover, Better Homes and Gardens,  and more.  One of my personal favorites is National Geographic, which includes additional video content and is absolutely glorious on an IPad—so glorious that one of my neighbors purchased an IPad after seeing the National Geographic on mine!  You can “subscribe” to as many magazines as you would like and receive an email notifying you when the newest issue is ready to be read or downloaded to your device of choice.  It really doesn’t get much easier. Overdrive/Libby offers about 50 magazine titles including Cosmopolitan, Car & Driver, Esquire, and TV Guide.  There is some overlap in content between the 2 platforms, (for example, you can access Newsweek and Popular Science through both platforms) but the subscription feature is available only through RBdigital.

Are we missing some of your favorites?  Email us and let us know what they are.  No promises, but we may be able to add some of them to our collection!

Earth Day and the Environment

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Today’s post is by Bill, Head of Adult Services.

The first Earth Day was celebrated on April 22, 1970, with the intention of bringing awareness to environmental issues.  The first Earth Day events drew millions of participants across the U.S. and around the world.  This was the scene in New York City. Since 1970, celebrations have grown, with Earth Day becoming a global event in 1990.

2019 marks the 10th year that Cheshire Public Library has commemorated Earth Day by offering programs on the environment, outdoor activities, gardening, wildlife and more.  This year we offer six programs in April, among them, speakers who are highly esteemed in their fields – from butterflies to birds to “gardening as if the world depends on us.”

The library is a vital place for citizens to become educated and informed about environmental issues, from fracking, to plastic bags and straws, to carbon emissions, so that that they may approach their elected representatives with their concerns.  The environmental impact of plastic straws is a topic that has been in the news a lot recently: The Last Plastic Straw website, Shoreline Town to Consider Banning Plastic Bags, Straws, State of Connecticut Research Report ‘Banning Plastic Straws.

Rachel Carson’s book, Silent Spring, published in 1962 and available in multiple formats at Cheshire Library,  expressed her passionate concern with the future of the planet and all life on Earth, and inspired the modern environmental movement.  In addition, CPL also offers many other materials for those interested in learning more about taking care of our environment:

 

We’ll end this post with an audio link to Before the Deluge by Jackson Browne.  The song was released 45 years ago and remains relevant today.

 

Freshen Up That Resume!

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stock-photo-resume-forms-with-phone-on-table-job-interview-concept-1030784911Spring is the traditionally time we clean things  out around the house.  Why not apply the same  idea to your resume? It may be past time you went in there and spruced things up a bit. Fortunately for you, the library is a valuable resource for more than just  the latest thriller novels and that movie you couldn’t make it to the theater to see. We also pride ourselves on being a fantastic resource for the every day job hunter!

Included below are a couple of tips and tricks to updating your resume, polishing its look, and making it stand out to a new prospective employer.

  • First off, make sure you’re succinct and to the point, do the hiring managers job for them if possible. No matter how well written, your resume won’t get a thorough reading the first time through. Generally a resume gets scanned for 25 seconds. Scanning is more difficult if it is hard to read, poorly organized or exceeds two pages.
  • It’s best to use clear type and headings to lead the viewer’s eye through the page, stick to classic fonts, such as Times New Roman, Arial, or other easy to read, classic fonts.
  • Tailor your resume to the job you’re applying for! Do some light trimming if you feel certain jobs aren’t relevant, or include achievements you feel would help you stand out.

    – Example: You’re applying for a job in sales and you’ve helped your town sell tickets to raffles every year. This achievement will highlight that you’re experienced in sales, and also interested in helping your community.

– Example: You had a job at Target back in 2005, and now you’re applying for a job in graphic design in 2019. You can leave Target off the list if you feel it’s no longer relevant.

Using Active Language –

  • Your resume should be written using active language without extraneous words. This means using power words, such as “achieved”, “earned”, “completed” or “accomplished”. If your resume is too long or seems hard to read, you might consider making sentences shorter or ideas more concise.For example, you may have a job description that reads: – “During my time at Freedom Inc, I ran multiple team-based projects and helped each team member with various tasks associated with each project.”This example could be shortened and strengthened in the following way: –  “Led multiple team-based projects and effectively coordinated group tasks.”

Finally, make sure you send your resumes to friends, relatives, and others you trust to proofread and edit. Another pair of eyes is important to the writing process, and having someone else read through your resume can give you a fresh perspective. Feel free to CV resume. Job interview concept. Writing a resume.stop by the library and reserve one of our new study rooms to write and research in private. All you need to do is call or visit one of our reference librarians and sign up for a slot! We also have online resources that can help you perfect your new resume, including BrainFuse’s Job – Now. This helpful site includes templates you can follow, resume assistance from live assistants, and help finding the perfect fit job for you.

Who knows, 2019 may be the perfect start to a new career, a step up in your field, or the chance to pursue new goals and challenges. Take the chance and apply for that job that you feel is out of your reach, or maybe one you never thought you’d be interested in. Don’t worry, the library has your back the whole way.

CPL has several guides for writing & polishing up your resume, both on our shelves (look under 650.14), and ebooks (via OverDrive and hoopla with your CPL card).

Fooled by Fiction – 11 Books with Surprising Plot Twists

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Ever read  book and gotten to a part where you just had to put it down for a minute and go “WHAT???”. If you’ve ever felt a little pranked by a plot twist you didn’t see coming (and even liked it!), here are 11 books that fool you into thinking one thing, then a “big reveal” changes everything …

Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard. Mare Barrow’s world is divided by blood—those with common, Red blood serve the Silver-blooded elite, who are gifted with superhuman abilities. Mare is a Red, scraping by as a thief in a poor, rural village, until a twist of fate throws her in front of the Silver court and she discovers she has an ability of her own.


The Girl with All the Gifts by M. R. Carey. Melanie knows that she is a very special girl, but she doesn’t know why. Every morning, Melanie waits in her cell to be collected for class. When they come for her, a gun is pointed at her while two of people strap her into the wheelchair. She thinks they don’t like her. She jokes that she won’t bite, but they don’t laugh… wait till you find out what’s so special about this girl.

Fool Me Once by Harlan Coben. Former special ops pilot Maya, home from the war, sees an unthinkable image captured by her nanny cam while she is at work: her two-year-old daughter playing with Maya’s husband, Joe—who was brutally murdered two weeks earlier. The provocative question at the heart of the mystery: Can you believe everything you see with your own eyes, even when you desperately want to?

The Girl Before by JP Delaney. Seizing a unique opportunity to rent a one-of-a-kind house, a damaged young woman falls in love with the enigmatic architect who designed the residence, unaware that she is following in the footsteps of a doomed former tenant.

The Couple Next Door by Shari Lapena. Anne and Marco Conti seem to have it all—a loving relationship, a wonderful home, and their beautiful baby, Cora. But one night, when they are at a dinner party next door, a terrible crime is committed. Suspicion immediately lands on the parents. What follows is the nerve-racking unraveling of a family—a chilling tale of deception, duplicity, and deadly secrets.

Shutter Island by Dennis Lehane. U.S. Marshal Teddy Daniels has come to Shutter Island, home of Ashecliffe Hospital for the Criminally Insane. Along with his partner, Chuck Aule, he sets out to find an escaped patient, a murderess named Rachel Solando, as a hurricane bears down upon them. But nothing at Ashecliffe Hospital is what it seems. And neither is Teddy Daniels.

I Let You Go by Clare Mackintosh. Jenna Gray as she moves to a ramshackle cottage on the remote Welsh coast, trying to escape the memory of the car accident that plays again and again in her mind and desperate to heal from the loss of her child & a painful past. As police try to get to the bottom of the hit-and-run accident, they are frustrated by unexpected twists in the case.

Life of Pi by Yann Martel.  A zookeeper’s son sets sail for America, but the ship sinks and young Pi finds himself in a lifeboat with a handful of remaining zoo animals. Soon it’s just Pi and a Bengal tiger named Richard Parker, lost at sea for months together. When they finally reach land, the tiger escapes, leaving Pi to relay the story of their survival at sea to authorities, who refuse to believe his tale and press him for the “truth”.

Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk. The rise of a terrorist organization, led by a waiter named Tyler Durden who enjoys spitting in people’s soup.  He starts a fighting club, where men bash each other, which quickly gains in popularity, and becomes the springboard for a movement devoted to destruction for destruction’s sake. But who is Tyler Durden?

Behind Closed Doors by B.A. Paris. Perfect socialite couple Jack and Grace seem to have it all. But why are they never apart? Why doesn’t Grace ever answer the phone? How can she cook such elaborate meals but remain so slim? And why are there bars on one of the bedroom windows?

My Sister’s Keeper by Jodi Picoult. Anna was conceived as a bone marrow match for her sister Kate, who has been battling leukemia most of her young life. As a teenager Anna begins to question her moral obligations in light of countless medical procedures and ultimately decides to fight for the right to make decisions about her own body. The ending of this emotional novel is a stunner.