I Want to Be a ___ When I Grow Up

Ever wonder what it might be like to be any of the professions that children say they want to be? Explore our resources to get the inside scoop on the following popular career choices. Titles marked with an * can be found in our Young Adult or Adult sections:

Actor/Actress

*Acting A to Z: The Young Person's Guide to a Stage or Screen Career by Katherine Mayfield

Break a Leg!: The Kids' Book of Acting and Stagecraft by Lise Friedman

Cool Scripts & Acting: How to Stage Your Very Own Show by Karen Latchana Kenney

Kids Take the Stage: Helping Young People Discover the Creative Outlet of Theater by Lenka Peterson

*Opportunities in Acting Careers by Dick Moore

Astronaut

All about Astronauts by Miriam Gross

Astronauts at Work by Deborah A. Shearer

What Do Astronauts Do? by Carmen Bredeson

Ballerina

The Ballet Book: The Young Performer's Guide to Classical Dance by Debra Bowes

*The Ballet Companion: A Dancer's Guide to the Technique, Traditions, and Joys of Ballet by Eliza Gaynor Minden

Ballet School by Naia Bray-Moffatt

*The Pointe Book: Shoes, Training & Technique by Janice Barringer

The Young Dancer by Darcey Bussell

Doctor

*Becoming a Doctor: From Student to Specialist: Doctor-Writers Share their Experience by Lee Gutkind

*On Becoming a Doctor: Everything You Need to Know about Medical School, Residency, Specialization, and Practice by Tania Heller

What Does a Doctor Do? by Felicia Lowenstein

Firefighter

*Becoming a Firefighter by LearningExpress

A Day in the Life of a Firefighter by Linda Hayward

Firefighter by Philip Abraham

Firefighter by John Riddle

What Does a Firefighter Do? by Erin Schmidt

Police Officer

*Career Opportunities in Law Enforcement, Security, and Protective Services by Susan Echaore-McDavid

Police Officers by Charnan Simon

What Does a Police Officer Do? by Felicia Lowenstein

Teacher

Teachers by Melanie Mitchell

*The Truth about Teaching: What I Wish the Veterans Had Told Me by Coleen Armstrong

*U.S. News & World Report Ultimate Guide to Becoming a Teacher by Ben Wildavsky

What Does a Teacher Do? by Felicia Lowenstein

Veterinarian

A Day in the Life of a Veterinarian by Mary Bowman-Kruhm

Pets at the Vet by Alyse Sweeney

Veterinarian by John Riddle

As always, please visit the Youth Services desk and ask a librarian if you want help finding books or resources about certain careers!

Posted by ws (formerly wk)

Learn a new language

Did you know we have a fun, fast and easy language learning program called Mango Languages? The best part is it is free for Santa Clara City Library patrons. You can access it anywhere there is internet with your library card. How do you do it?

From the library's home page:

• Click on the Research/Resources tab


• Select Electronic Resources from the pull down menu


• Click on the Mango Languages link
  
• Mango has two versions: Mango Basic and Mango Complete

Perfect for a beginner, Mango Basic teaches everyday greetings, gratitudes, goodbyes and helpful phrases in a short period of time. The courses, which require only two to five hours to complete, are available in 22 foreign languages and 14 ESL, English as a Second Language courses.

Mango Complete offers a 100-lesson course that digs much deeper and is designed to provide a more complete understanding of the entire language and culture. It is available in nine foreign languages and three ESL courses. Foreign language courses include Chinese, French, German, Greek, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese, Russian and Spanish. ESL courses include Polish, Spanish and Portuguese.

To learn more about Mango and get a short preview, visit Mango's website or even better get started on the courses here.

posted by jh

Beautiful Flowers from Citti's at the Library

Citti's Flowers joined in the Adult Summer Reading fun with a presentation on flower arranging today. They are also supplying the library with flower arrangements once a week during July. Order flowers from their website and join them in supporting Santa Clara City Library.

A big thank you to Citti's for a popular presentation, more than 125 people have signed up. If you missed out sign up for eNotify from our homepage and get notices of library programs and computer classes in your email as soon as they are announced.

posted by mb

Flopsy, Mopsy, Cotton-tail, and Peter*

Once upon a time, there was a woman named Beatrix Potter. She was born as Helen Beatrix Potter on July 28, 1866 in the town of South Kensington, London, and some of her best friends were her pets, including two rabbits. She was from a wealthy family who chose to give her some education at home, rather than send her to school. Bored, she often drew pictures of her rabbits. This led to her eventual creation of her illustrated children's picture books, beginning with The Tale of Peter Rabbit in 1902.

Today, her books are considered classics for their beautiful illustrations, sweet stories, and talking animals. Bonus: the books in their original size are small enough for even the smallest hands.

Let's celebrate Beatrix Potter's birthday on July 28 (1866) by revisiting her classic works or by reading them for the first time.

The Tale of Peter Rabbit

The Tale of Squirrel Nutkin

The Tale of Benjamin Bunny

The Tale of Two Bad Mice

The Tale of Mrs. Tittlemouse

Learn about Beatrix Potter

Books marked with an * can be found in the Adult section.

Beatrix Potter by John Malam

Beatrix Potter by Alexandra Wallner

*Beatrix Potter, A Life in Nature by Linda Lear

*The Magic Years of Beatrix Potter by Margaret Lane

My Dear Noel: The Story of a Letter from Beatrix Potter by Jane Johnson

*The Tale of Beatrix Potter: A Biography by Margaret Lane

Please visit the Youth Services desk and ask a librarian if you want help finding any Beatrix Potter books or resources!

Posted by ws (formerly wk). *Blog post title is part of the first line of The Tale of Peter Rabbit: "Once upon a time there were four little Rabbits, and their names were –Flopsy, Mopsy, Cotton-tail, and Peter."

Your Life in 60 Seconds or Less

A number of months ago I heard that Smith Magazine had asked people to create a six-word memoir to encapsulate who they were. The idea was intriguing, but being a wordy type, I couldn't imagine being able to do it myself (not that I was asked to). The closest I could come up with was, "Too many words could go here." Which, in retrospect, sounds rather thought provoking, as if I had so many life experiences that they couldn't be summed up within six words. Actually, the meaning was a little less self-important. I just meant I was indecisive on how to say "spent life eating chips on couch."

For people such as myself, brevity is not the soul of our wit (sorry Polonius, but then again, it wasn't yours either). We like an excruciatingly long sentence (with inventive grammar) that bends and bows under its own gargantuan structure until it just about fails... just about. We like Charles Dickens just to see how he can fill a page without using a period. To us verbose sorts, an idea described in 140 characters would be about as anemic and frail as one of those supermodels from the early 1990s. (I'd hate to give away the joke, but that last sentence really requires your counting skills to be fully appreciated.)

Now I find myself faced with the challenge of having to create a sixty second video as part of an application process. I. Am. Doomed. You might be thinking, "Oh, sixty seconds is plenty of time to talk about something. Easy-peasy." You'd be surprised how wrong you are. Try speaking off the cuff about a subject for sixty seconds. I'll time you. Ready? Go... (tick tock, tick tock)

Done yet? Did you hear all those little speech ticks? The "umm"s and tounge clicky sounds? Did you notice how you stalled a lot or lost focus and went down a tangential path? How confident are you that you have proved whatever point you were trying to make? It's frustrating, isn't it? That was a lot of questions marks, wasn't it?

Using a minimal amounts of words to maximum effect (written or spoken) is an art. I suppose it always has been. But now instead of being a character trait of the endlessly chill or totally zen, it's just a reality of our hyperfast existence. If you can't communicate what you want in a text message, you are unreasonably taxing someone's time. Leave out the flowery descriptions and get to the point. Don't get me wrong, I see the merit to that approach.

But it's also a lot less fun to communicate like that. In the business world, sure. Short, concise, to the point. Perfect. But in our real lives, it seems a shame to parse our communications down to the bone so intensely. The beauty of words is that they are one of the few free commodities in life. So why be stingy or lazy with them? Some things need the flowery descriptions. To bastardize another Shakespeare quote, would a rose by any description read as sweet? No. It wouldn't.
posted by jw

Finding living people

Sometimes you want to track down someone you knew in the past and reconnect. When researching family history, it helps to find living people who may have information about relatives that you have been unable to find. Where can someone find them?

Librarians use obvious resources like search engines and our subscription electronic resources RefUSA. Here you can find businesses, healthcare people and individuals who have their information in phonebooks throughout the country. With a Santa Clara City library card you can search remotely or in the library. Other favorites are 411.com, Zabasearch.com, and Intelius.com. Other sources can be found on Cyndi's List. Some family history researchers post messages on message boards. Read more on FamilySearch-Research Wiki.

Don't forget Facebook.com, LinkedIn.com , and MySpace.com. Facebook has over 400 million active subscribers.

posted by mb

Summer Reading Club Prizes!

Tomorrow, July 17, is the last day to register for summer reading.

Children and Teens who are registered in the 2010 Summer Reading Program and who have earned their prize may pick up their gift books and/or Borders gift certificates in the Cedar Room, beginning on Monday, August 2 and continuing through Saturday, August 28.

Bring your completed reading logs to the Cedar room at the following times:

Mondays and Tuesdays, 10:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. AND 2:00 p.m. - 7:00 p.m.
Wednesdays through Fridays, 10:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. AND 2:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.
Saturdays, 10:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. AND 2:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m.
Sundays, 1:00 p.m.-4:00 p.m.

Brand new books for those who completed the program were purchased with funds donated by the Santa Clara City Library Foundation and Friends and the Mission City Community Fund. Each eligible child will be able to choose a gift book to keep and enjoy. Eligible teens will be receiving gift cards, also through the generosity of the Foundation and Friends.

Thanks for attending our summer activities and events! Watch for our fall program schedule beginning September 14.

posted by ws (formerly wk)

Sign Up Now for Adult Summer Reading

Saturday, July 17, is the last day for signing up for Summer Reading. Sign up here and read five books and you will win a prize. Your name will be put in a drawing for larger prizes as well. It's easy, it's fun, sign up now.


Join us for Citti's Flower Arranging program on Monday, July 26 from 5:00 to 6:00 p.m. in the Cedar Room. Want to learn more about beautiful, drought resistant California native plants, come to Alrie Middlebrook's presentation on Tuesday, July 27 at 6:30 p.m. in the Redwood Room. Read her book or visit her website.


posted by mb

CareerTransitions

CareerTransitions is a new electronic resource available via the library's website. You can use CareerTransitions to discover your interests, explore careers, prepare your resume, improve your chances of obtaining a job, and find current job openings. To use CareerTransitions go to our Electronic Resources page and select it from the QuickList drop-down menu. Once you are on the CareerTransitions home page, begin by creating your own personal account.

You can then begin with the job trait assessment module, Discover My Interests, and work through each of the five modules. If you prefer, you can just jump right in and use a single module. If for example you would like to find current job openings, go right to the Find Jobs module.

If you would like to explore our other electronic resources for the job seeker, please - go to the Jobs and Careers section of our Electronic Resources page. Here you will find Brainfuse, Learning Express Library, and other resources.

If you need assistance writing your resume, you can receive advice from Brainfuse tutors online. Visit the Adult Learning Center section of Brainfuse to communicate with a tutor.

Learning Express Library is another resource which can help in your job search. The Job Search & Workplace Skills Learning Center offers online courses for learning job searching techniques, writing resumes and cover letters, and learning how to prepare for a job interview.

If you would prefer using books rather than electronic resources, we have books on creating resumes, job hunting, and interviewing. You will find these books under the call number 650.14 on the second floor. If you need assistance locating these books, please - ask library staff at the Reference Desk or Information Desk.

Posted by MLG

Learn to Tweet on Thursday for free

Join us for the Twitter for Beginners computer class this Thursday, July 15, 2010 from 10:15 a.m. -11:45 a.m. in the Technology Center at Central Park Library.

Twitter is a social networking service that allows users to send and read short 140 character messages posted on a profile page. Typically, 4 billion messages or tweets are sent in a 3 month period. Usage spikes during prominent events. 2,940 tweets were sent every second for the 30 second period following Japan scoring against Cameroon in the 2010 FIFA World Cup on June 14.

Read more in the Wikipedia article. Stuart Grooby will be our guest teacher explaining the basics, assisting with signing up and answering your questions. Sign up when you visit the library or call (408) 615-2900. We would love to have you join us.

posted by mb

Get Crafty and Cookin' This Summer!

Parents and kids, we don't need to tell you that school's out for the summer, right? Hopefully you've been finding things to do to stay busy. Just in case, why not tap into your creative side and try some ideas from our craft or cookbooks? Don't worry, we'll also provide some craft and cooking ideas for adults and teens! Titles in the teen or adult section are marked with an *.

Cooking or Baking

*Bake Me a Cake: Fun and Easy Treats for Kids: A Hands-Free Step-by-Step Guide by Megan Brenn-White

*Cook's Country Best Grilling Recipes: More Than 100 Regional Favorites, Tested and Perfected for the Outdoor Cook by America's Test Kitchen

*The Craft of Baking: Cakes, Cookies, & Other Sweets with Ideas for Inventing Your Own by Karen DeMasco & Mindy Fox

*Eat Fresh Food: Awesome Recipes for Teen Chefs by Rozanne Gold

Green Eggs and Ham Cookbook: Recipes Inspired by Dr. Seuss! by Georgeanne Brennan

Grilled Pizza Sandwich and Other Vegetarian Recipes by Kristi Johnson

The Kid's Cookbook: A Great Book for Kids Who Love to Cook by Abigail Johnson Dodge

Kids' Fun & Healthy Cookbook by Nicola Graimes

Mastering the Art of French Cooking by Julia Child

Wrap-n-Bake Egg Rolls: and Other Chinese Dishes by Nick Fauchald

Eco-friendly Crafts

Crafts from Junk by Violaine Lamérand

Earth-Friendly Crafts: Clever Ways to Reuse Everyday Items by Kathy Ross

*Eco-Craft: Recycle, Recraft, Restyle by Susan Wasinger

Make It! by Jane Bull

General Arts and Crafts

Bedroom Makeover Crafts by Kathy Ross

Crafts for Kids Who Are Learning about Insects by Kathy Ross

Easy Origami by Mary Meinking

Fairy World Crafts by Kathy Ross

The Kids' Multicultural Craft Book: 35 Crafts from around the World by Roberta Gould

Make Your Own Playdough, Paint, and Other Craft Materials: Easy Recipes to Use with Young Children by Patricia Caskey

*Stick It! 99 D.I.Y. Duct Tape Projects by T.L. Bonaddio

The Super Duper Art & Craft Activity Book: Over 75 Indoor and Outdoor Projects for Kids! by Lynn Gordon

Jewelry

Bead Girl: Sparkly Projects from Tiaras to Toe Rings by Mikyla Bruder

*Dangles and Bangles: 25 Funky Accessories to Make and Wear by Sherri Haab

Friendship Bracelets by Camilla Gryski

*Friendship Bracelets All Grown Up by Jo Packham

Hemp Jewelry by Judy Ann Sadler

*Junk Jewelry: 25 Extraordinary Designs to Create from Ordinary Objects by Jane Eldershaw

*Wirework: An Illustrated Guide to the Art of Wire Wrapping by Dale Armstrong

Knitting, Sewing, Quilting, or Crocheting

*400 Knitting Stitches: A Complete Dictionary of Essential Stitch Patterns

*The Complete Photo Guide to Crochet by Margaret Hubert

Crochet: Fantastic Jewelry, Hats, Purses, Pillow & More by Jane Davis

Finger Knitting 1: Handknit Projects for Kids of All Ages by Katsuno Suzuki

Kids Learn to Knit by Lucinda Guy

*Knit Green: 20 Projects & Ideas for Sustainability by Joanne Seiff

*Leslie Linsley's New Weekend Quilts: 25 Quick and Easy Quilting Projects You Can Complete in a Weekend by Leslie Linsley

*Sewing Green: 25 Projects Made with Repurposed & Organic Materials: Plus Tips & Resources for Earth-Friendly Stitching by Betz White

As always, please stop by the Youth Services Desk and let us know if you'd like any help finding craft or cooking resources!

Posted by ws (formerly wk)

Santa Clara city libraries closed this weekend

Santa Clara City libraries will be closed Saturday through Monday for the holiday weekend. We open again with new hours for the coming year on Tuesday, July 6 at 10:00 a.m. Have a safe and happy July 4th weekend!



posted by mb

Celebrating Our Independence

With The Fourth of July right around the corner, let's take a moment to remember why this day is important in U.S. History. Each year, we celebrate the separation of the American colonies from Great Britain which happened on July 2, 1776. It took a couple days for congress to debate and revise the Declaration of Independence, which is why July 4 is considered the date of the official holiday. The holiday is generally associated with large celebrations all across the country.* In fact, you've probably seen some fireworks displays, watched a concert of patriotic music, dunked someone in a booth at a fair or carnival, etc.

We thought we'd give you a selection of holiday-related books and media -- fun and factual -- and local resources. Enjoy!


For Kids

The Declaration of Independence in Translation: What It Really Means by Amie Jane Leavitt

Fireworks, Picnics, and Flags by James Cross Giblin

Fourth of July Mice by Bethany Roberts

Happy 4th of July, Jenny Sweeney! by Leslie Kimelman

Hats Off For the Fourth of July! by Harriet Ziefert

Let's Go, Dear Dragon by Margaret Hillert

Looking for Uncle Louie on the Fourth of July by Kathy Whitehead

Snickerdoodle's Star-Spangled Fourth of July! by Clare Ham Grosgebauer

Star-Spangled Crafts by Kathy Ross

Three Presidents Died on the Fourth of July and Other Freaky Facts by Barbara Seuling

For Adults

4th of July, Asbury Park: A History of the Promised Land by Daniel Wolff

4th of July: A Novel by James Patterson

The Fourth of July and the Founding of America by Peter De Bolla

The Glorious Fourth: An American Holiday, An American History by Diana Karter Appelbaum

Independence Day (DVD)

Liberty: A Lake Wobegon Novel by Garrison Keillor

One Day in History: July 4, 1776 edited by Rodney P. Carlisle

Star Spangled Murder by Leslie Meier

In the Community

Santa Clara City's Annual 4th of July Celebration and All City Picnic will be held at Central Park, 909 Kiely Boulevard on Sunday, July 4, 2010 from 8 a.m. - 10 p.m. Due to the city's $20 million budget deficit, the city is asking for donations to help fund the $80,000 fireworks display this year. If you'd like to donate, please visit the donation page.

Bay Area Fireworks and Events - Visit the Abc7 News website for a listing of local July 4th events.

* Thanks to Wikipedia for some facts.

The Santa Clara City Library will be closed on Saturday, July 3rd, Sunday, July 4th, and Monday, July 5th in honor of the July 4th holiday. We will be open Tuesday, July 6th at 10:00 a.m. For our new hours, please visit our schedule.

Posted by ws (formerly wk)