CLP Teens Talk Music

Six teens at the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh recently talked to us about the whens, whys, and hows of their music listening habits. Watch the video here and leave your own thoughts in the comments (or stop by the library and check out the hundreds of CDs we have available, from Lil Wayne to Kimya Dawson)!

~Joseph
Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh, Main

The Mattress Factory Art Museum comes to CLP-East Liberty

Come join us for an afternoon of Found Object Puppet Making!  Representatives from the Mattress Factory Museum will be on hand with supplies and suggestions while you make a puppet to take home out of various recycled and found objects.

Open to all ages 4 and up.  We would love to see lots of teens.

Saturday, June 7, 2008  

1:00 PM - 2:30 PM

This event is FREE.

REGISTRATION IS REQUIRED. Please call us at 412-363-8232 or email at eastliberty@carnegielibrary.org.

CLP-East Liberty is located at 130 S. Whitfield Street.  

G. Moulton / CLP-East Liberty

Filmmakers at Pittsburgh Center for the Arts and Filmmakers classes

Check out http://pittsburgharts.org/medialab/ (for teens and adults) for classes held at the Media Arts Lab.

About the Annie Seamans Media Arts Lab:

It is a state-of-the-art media production facility dedicated to the promotion of Media Literacy. The Lab is located in the Scaife Building at the Pittsburgh Center for the Arts.

1047 Shady Ave.
Pittsburgh, PA 15232
412-361-0455 x326

and http://www.pghfilmmakers.org/education/classschedules.html (for ages 17+) for classes held at Pittsburgh Filmmakers

Do something new this summer!

G Moulton @ CLP-East Liberty

Like Fantasy Fiction?

If you like fantasy fiction and like talking about it, come to CLP-Beechview’s book discussion on Monday, May 12 at 5:30 p.m. We’ll talk about “The Book of Three” by Lloyd Alexander but our participants love talking about any fantasy book.  In “The Book of Three,” Taran, an assistant pig-keeper, goes in search of an oracle pig. He’s joined by an interesting crew of creatures, who fight with him against evil horned riders taking over Prydain. We’re at 1910 Broadway Avenue.  http://www.carnegielibrary.org/locations/beechview/. If you have any questions, all 563-2900 and ask for Tina.

                                                                                         Tina

                                                                                         Teen Librarian, CLP-Beechview

SAGDA Meeting Minutes - 05/03/08

The Carnegie Pittsburgh’s Teen Sexual and Gender Diversity Alliance (find us on Facebook! search “SAGDA”) was back in session on Saturday, with some new members. We talked about stuff. Want to know what? Read on…

First thing on the agenda was checking in with teens who celebrated the Day of Silence, to see how it went. CAPA had one of the sparsest years yet, because people thought 1) it cost money to participate and 2) it was only for “gay kids.” Of course, the answer to both of those questions is “No!” The Day of Silence is free for students in the school to participate, and it’s for anyone who is interested in protesting the many ways in which students are silenced from being themselves, due to bullying and harassment.

Allderdice, on the other hand, had more people than expected, despite having no posters. Like CAPA students were a little confused about who was allowed to participate (yes, it’s for EVERYBODY!). They also thought that they had to put duct tape over their mouths (ouch!), though all you really need to do is hand out cards with a statement explaining why you aren’t speaking. Another interesting aspect limiting interest in the Day of Silence is the belief that the Day of Silence puts teens “back into the closet.” The organizers hope that by bringing attention to harassment and the silence that people already experience in the closet of their choice, that more and more people are going to have space to start fully communicating themselves to their friends, family, and schoolmates.

North Allegheny surprised people with a small but enthusiastic Day of Silence, which spread through word of mouth. People wore all black in mourning.

So how can SAGDA help promote the Day of Silence? Perhaps by making some buttons. Let’s think about it.

Off the topic of the Day of Silence, SAGDA has a budget! We need to come up with events or other projects to spend our money on. Please submit your suggestions to the comments.

We also discussed the story of the pregnant man, as well as how transgender rights organizations have been distancing themselves from the story. The group more or less agree that these organizations should be supporting this man in the decisions he’s making about his body. Fear of a public backlash seems to be against the principles that transgender rights organizations should uphold.

If you have an interesting article you want to share, bring it to our next meeting, which is Saturday, May 17th @ 2:00 PM, on the second floor of Kiva Han.

Notable upcoming dates:

Youth Invasion is Saturday, May 10th @ the Andy Warhol Museum
Pittsburgh PrideFest is Sunday, June 22nd @ Liberty Ave., Downtown

We may be having tables at both of these events, so if you have any ideas of what we should do, post a comment!

Joseph
Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh, Main - Teen

“Poison” By Chris Wooding

Poison is a two hundred seventy-three page novel by Chris Wooding, a highly acclaimed, award-winning author who, in my opinion, did a superb  job with this novel!

This novel’s protagonist, Poison, is a sarcastic, stubborn, but mostly determined, sixteen year old of a gloomy place called the Black Marshes in which the citizens who hide there waste away and never venture into more of their realm, the Realm of Man, fearing that the dreaded phaeries, who invaded their realm centuries before, would find and kill them.  The only one courageous and adventurous enough to embark on a journey of a lifetime through the Black Marshes, into several realms, and who ultimately gains longlasting friends along the way is Poison, herself, when the Phaery Lord kidnaps her 2 year old sister.

I like the book because it is extremely imaginative and unique; there are plot twists every step of the way and the different Realms and their Lords are highly believable despite their incredibility.  This is a must read!

Review by Kizuwanda Raines, 13 years old.

Submitted by LeeAnn

North Side Library Groundbreaking

You’ve been waiting and now there’s news about the NEW North Side Library.  Groundbreaking is Friday, May 9 at 9 a.m. The site is 1210 Federal St. (just north of North). Hope to see you there!

Barb

Mt. Washington and Allegheny Regional Libraries

“I’m Looking for a History Book…”

It’s that time of the year when you, Schenley High School students, are asked to read a book featuring American history. You can read fiction or non-fiction, and you can read about any aspect of American history you choose. There are just two considerations to make when choosing your book:

1. it has to be 150 pages
2. ideally, it’s going to be about something you’re interested in!

Sound like a difficult assignment? When hundreds of your classmates are all searching for the same thing, it definitely can be. Thankfully, we offer a few ways to uncover the books that will be fun and informative.

Non-fiction

You can find many books on history through our LibraryThing catalog, where we’ve been inputting new books for the last year and a half (please make sure you click on the link to our suggested style). Through a few searches, you’ll get a good feel for what we have available. Searches such as American history, United States history, and US History will give you a good idea of what’s available, though if you don’t find exactly what you’re looking for, try a search for just plain history, where you might find a book that’s slipped through the cracks (you might also want to take a look at often-overlooked memoirs). If you find a book you like, click on the link that says, “Find this in the catalog!” That will tell you what libraries have it, and whether you should expect to see it on the shelves.

If you’re looking to expand your selection, you can browse around our catalog for all subjects starting with United States — History. This will connect you to the whole gamut of literature the library has to offer (from the most academic to the very basic) and help you focus on a specific time period.

Fiction

Searching our LibraryThing catalog for historical will show you the latest fiction taking place in history (though keep in mind they aren’t limited to America). We also offer a service called Novelist, which is one of the best tools available for you to search out fiction.

Browsing through historical fiction is as easy as checking the box marked “Teens” and searching for “historical fiction.”

Since that includes historical fiction from all over the world, you might want to try a couple of other searches, including “historical fiction and america” or “historical fiction and united states.” However, to get the full range of what Novelist offers, try searching for historical fiction and a specific event.

Other libraries may have already done the work for you, including great suggestions from the Plymouth District Library, the Beaverton City Library, and the Madison Public Library.

All that’s left is going back to our catalog and making sure we have the book you’re looking for.

150 Pages?

When you are looking at an item in the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh’s online catalog, pay careful attention. You’ll be able to see how many pages it is so that you don’t waste time on anything less than 150 pages. For example, the record for Fallen Angels, by Walter Dean Myers, you’ll notice that’s 309 pages full of Vietnam War fiction.

When you’re searching Novelist, you can use the “Advanced Search” link to only search for books that will meet your requirements.

Good luck, Schenley, and happy searching. Remember, you can always stop by the library and get help from any of our librarians.

~Joseph
Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh, Main - Teen

Tags: databases, searching, reader’s advisory, school assignments

Jen’s Meme

Books mentioned in this meme.

                         

Which book do you irrationally cringe away from reading, despite seeing only positive reviews? Honestly?
I’ll probably be chastised for admitting this, but the rest of the Harry Potter series.  I read the first three books and then burned out.  While I enjoyed them at the time, it wasn’t enough to continue.  I think my interest wanes too quickly for anything beyond trilogies.

If you could bring three characters to life for a social event (afternoon tea, a night of clubbing, perhaps a world cruise), who would they be and what would the event be?

A day in NYC: First, I would like to spend the day frolicking around with Hunter Braque from So Yesterday; it would be fascinating to hang out with the guy who decides what’s cool.  Then I would listen to some live music with Nick and Norah from Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist.  After that, I would conclude my evening clubbing with Edward, the hottest vampire ever, from Twilight. 

(Borrowing shamelessly from the Thursday Next series by Jasper Fforde): you are told you can’t die until you read the most boring novel on the planet. While this immortality is great for awhile, eventually you realize it’s past time to die. Which book would you expect to get you a nice grave?
It would be a tie between the three G’s (a.k.a. the worst required reading from my high school days):  The Good Earth, The Grapes of Wrath and Great Expectations.

Come on, we’ve all been there. Which book have you pretended, or at least hinted, that you’ve read, when in fact you’ve been nowhere near it?
Once again, the Harry Potter series.  And it’s not that I pretended to read it, I just didn’t volunteer that I didn’t finish it when people talk about it.

As an addition to the last question, has there been a book that you really thought you had read, only to realize when you read a review about it/go to ‘reread’ it that you haven’t? Which book?
Nope.  How about this one though:  “Has there ever been a book that you thought you haven’t read, but when you start it, it turns out that you did?”  While this has never happened to me, it often happens to our customers who usually only read from our Bestsellers table, which is always populated with the works of Danielle Steel, James Patterson, Nora Roberts, etc.  Typically, these customers wish that our computers kept track of everything they’ve ever checked out.

You’re interviewing for the post of Official Book Advisor to some VIP (who’s not a big reader). What’s the first book you’d recommend and why? (If you feel like you’d have to know the person, go ahead and personalize the VIP.)
If I were the official book advisor to a not-to-be-named war monger who doesn’t read, I would first recommend Johnny Got His Gun by Dalton Trumbo because it’s written in a straightforward way that doesn’t require higher level thinking skills and the subject matter packs a powerful punch.  I gave this book to my cousin who was considering enlisting and now he’s in trade school instead - I like to think I played a small role in this decision.

A good fairy comes and grants you one wish: you will have perfect reading comprehension in the foreign language of your choice. Which language do you go with? 
I would pick Arabic to read the Koran in its original form so I could better decipher world events.  I just finished Terrorist by John Updike, so that’s probably influencing this choice.

A mischievous fairy comes and says that you must choose one book that you will reread once a year for the rest of your life (you can read other books as well). Which book would you pick?

Probably Seedfolks by Paul Fleischman because while it’s an uplifting story, it’s short.  I don’t like to reread books because there are too many out there that I want to read.  I’ve never been a sentimentalist about anything, including books.

 Jen - CLP, West End