New Name for Investment Resource

Our Morningstar.com Library Edition electronic resource has been renamed. It is now Morningstar Investment Research Center. In additional to a new name it has a new interface and has added an industries section. This new section contains performance data for mutual fund categories, major stock and bond indexes, stock sectors, and industry sectors.

If you own a mutual fund, exchange-traded fund (ETF), or stock, try looking up an analyst research report for one of your investments. The reports contain Morningstar ratings of the investment's risk, return, and overall performance. They also recommend what role the investment should play in your investment portfolio.

For additional stock and mutual fund analysis, try our Value Line Research Center (VLRC) electronic resource. You can access VLRC within our Central Park Library whereas Morningstar Investment Research Center is accessible from both within our Central Park Library and Mission Library. You will find both of these electronic resources on our Research Databases Web page.

If you have a question or need assistance, come to the second floor Reference Desk or call (408)615-2900.

Learn About the Switch to Digital TV

You have one year left! By law, television stations nationwide must switch from the old

method of transmitting TV signals known as analog to the newer, digital television (DTV) on February 17, 2009. Beginning Feb. 18, 2009, those who do not own a digital set and get their programming via over-the-air antennas will no longer receive a picture. Viewers who have satellite or cable service will not need a box.

The converter boxes are expected to cost between $50 and $70 and will be available at most major electronics retail stores. Coupons for $40 off the cost of a converter are available from the National Telecommunications and Information Administration. Each household can get two coupons, just make your request at http://www.dtv2009.gov/. Feel free to come into the library for assistance finding the web site. Later this year we plan to have representative of the National Association of Broadcasters come and speak at the library. Watch for future announcements.

New Class Coming in April

New Computer Class: Using Google to search the Internet

Thursday, April 3 Noon - 2:00 pm

Learn how to use the Internet and Internet resources for schoolwork and home use. The 2 hour class is friendly and paced to your speed. The instructor, Daniel M. Russell is a research scientist at Google where he works in the area of search quality, with a focus on understanding what makes Google users happy in their use of web searches. He studies how people do their searches, trying to understand the most common traps and pathways to successful searches.

Come and bring your Internet search questions. It will be a fun 2 hour class! Hurry and Sign up at the Technology Center.

A Way With Words

Over 800 million adults worldwide do not have basic literacy skills, according to the UNESCO.

A Way with Words : Literacy Then and Now by Ruth J. Colvin, available in the library's Adult New Reader Collection, describes how she started the largest network of adult literacy providers in the world called Literacy Volunteers of America. Now known as ProLiteracy Worldwide , the organization runs adult literacy programs in 65 countries in the world. She was awarded the Congressional Medal of Freedom in 2006 for her tireless work for adult literacy.

Like Real Life... but Smaller... and in Primary Colors... Sometimes

Comics… pardon me, “graphic novels,” are not just for kids. Sure, all your favorite superheros from childhood are still alive and trying to save the world (with the exception of Captain America), but comics have become more than just that.

Take Marjane Satrapi’s Persepolis for instance. It’s the story of a young girl growing up during Iran’s Islamic Revolution. The only superpowers in this book come from the author’s ability to infuse the humor and idealism of a rebellious child coming of age in a troublesome reality with nothing more than black ink and thought bubbles. Other similarly powerful books are Alison Bechdel’s Fun Home and Rutu Modan’s Exit Wounds.

For those looking to overanalyze the mundane until it becomes epic, check out Harvey Pekar’s American Splendor or The Quitter. While he is curmudgeonly and caustic, Pekar's books are really a celebration of everyday life. Even if everyday life is sometimes boring.

Navel gazing not your thing? History gets its fair share of ink as well, though perhaps not always in the most accurate of ways. Everyone from Ronald Reagan to Emma Goldman have recently received the bio… wait for it… graphical treatment as of late.

Even if you think you left comics behind long ago as so much child’s play, it may be worth exploring this medium of storytelling again. You might just find yourself, flashlight in hand, turning page after page long into the night to see what happens next.

Silicon Valley Reads: Bo Caldwell’s Distant Land of My Father

Join the Santa Clara community in reading local author Bo Caldwell’s Distant Land of My Father, chosen for the 2008 Silicon Valley Reads program. Ms. Caldwell is returning to give a presentation at Central Park Library on Tuesday, February 26 at 7:00 p.m. in the Redwood Room. She will discuss her novel, its themes, and writing. Her story begins in exotic Shanghai in the 1930s, and is told in memoir-like style through the young narrator, Anna. The reader learns about Anna’s father’s business dealings in the city, his suffering in prison after the war, Shanghai’s politics, and the family’s emotions after she and her mother flee to California. This fascinating novel is both moving and suspenseful.

Take part in Silicon Valley Reads and come hear Bo Caldwell talk about Distant Land of My Father and her experiences as a writer! Sign up for this free event at the Reference Desk, or call (408) 615-2900. The Library thanks the Foundation & Friends of Santa Clara City Library for their generous support of this program.

Read Aloud Handbook

The American Academy of Pediatrics has stressed that reading aloud to infants and toddlers plays an important role in their brain development. The Read Aloud Handbook by Jim Trelease describes why parents and teachers should read to children; how to begin reading aloud and which books to choose and how to create an atmosphere in the home and classroom that welcomes readers. The book, available in the Juvenile and the Adult New Reader collections, lists more than 1,200 new and classic children's titles, from picture books to novels, that are perfect for reading aloud.