Images of America, Images from New Mexico

You may have noticed, among the flood of bond-funded new books reaching your library's shelves, some slim books with distinctive covers featuring vintage photographs.

These books are part of the Images of America series,

 by Arcadia Publishing.

From the publisher's website:

The Images of America series chronicles the history of small towns and downtowns across the country. Each title features more than 200 vintage images, capturing often forgotten bygone times and bringing to life the people, places, and events that defined a community.

Local authors transform dusty albums and artifacts into meaningful walks down memory lane. Millions of vintage images become tiny time capsules, re-establishing memories of the formerly familiar, introducing generations to what once was, and reminding us all of what has been (and can be) in every corner of our nation. The popular series has expanded over time to preserve and celebrate additional worthy topics including local landmarks, architecture, ethnic groups, and more.

The books make fascinating browsing; flipping through any of these volumes is an exercise in "I never knew that..." For example, the book on the White Sands Missile Range features not only images of equipment and personnel around the base, but also comedian Jack Benny sitting on a rocket!

Many of the images, rarely or never before available, have been gathered from local historical societies, libraries, and individuals. The researcher for the Towns of the Sandia Mountains volume was hosted by the ABCLS East Mountain branch, and many of the authors in the series are local historians.

Here is a list of the New Mexico-related Images of America titles in the ABCLS catalog. Click through on any title to see if it is at your local branch or to request a copy.


Alamogordo
Albuquerque Deco and Pueblo
Albuquerque's Parks and Open Space
Around Hillsboro
Artesia
Aztec
Carlsband and Carlsbad Caverns
Catholics along the Rio Grande
Chimayó
Corrales
Deming
Eddy County
Forgotten Albuquerque
Fred Harvey Houses of the Southwest
Hobbs and Lea County
Holloman Air Force Base
Italians in Albuquerque
Jemez Springs
Jewish Albuquerque : 1860-1960
The Jicarilla Apache of Dulce
Las Cruces
Los Alamos and the Pajarito Plateau
Los Alamos : 1944-1947
Los Lunas
New Mexico's Rangers : The Mounted Police
Roswell
Route 66 in New Mexico
Ruidoso and Ruidoso Downs
Taos
Towns of Lincoln County
Towns of the Sandia Mountains
Truth or Consequences
White Sands Missile Range

Arcadia Publishing Images of America website

Interested in becoming a local author for the series?

Arcadia Publishing author information

Visit the Images from New Mexico LibGuide



Balloon Fiesta 2012: Blaze a Trail

This year's Balloon Fiesta started on October 6th and runs through October 14th - so if somehow you forgot about it this year (though that's hard to do with a skyline full of balloons, I25 backed up at the exit for Balloon Fiesta Park, & chase crews darting about the place), there's still time to check out some of the action! & for those of you who are struggling to make it to a Mass Ascension at 7 am, there's always...the library!  Here's a little bit of Balloon Fiesta that you can take home with you to enjoy, at least for a 3 week check-out!

The World Comes to Albuquerque: Celebrating 40 years of the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta by Kim Vesely

Albuquerque: Where the World Celebrates Ballooning by Q13-KRQE TV ; in association with Kodak Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta

Special Shape Rodeo: Kodak Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta by Jean-Michel Bertrand

Looks like Special Collections has Flying Franks, Floating Fish: The Odd October Skies of Albuquerque - A Loving Tribute to Photographing Twenty Years of the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta Special Shaped Balloons by Kim Alaburda on display, so you'll have to go there to see a copy!

For kids:

The Elephants in the Land of Enchantment by Beverly Eschberger

Pop Flop's Great Balloon Ride by Nancy Abruzzo


For general items about hot air balloons (not just about the Balloon Fiesta!), try a subject search of "Ballooning" or "Hot Air Balloons".


Links:

Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta homepage

Daily Event Schedule

Albuquerque Balloon Museum

Star Wars Reads Day

Today is Star Wars Reads Day!  We are huge fans here at the blog & hope you will take advantage of the 488 items that are available in our catalog (using a keyword search) to celebrate all things Star Wars today!  We've got you covered in a plethora of formats (eBooks & eAudio; books on CD; graphic novels & print;  DVDs if you don't feel like reading), for ages ranging from J Easy books to novels for grownups.  Here are some mostly new & definitely noteworthy items that might be of interest to Star Wars fans, young & old (because, as NPR has noted, a whole new generation is getting in on the action)...

For kids:

LEGO Star Wars Character Encyclopedia written by Hannah Dolan et al.

 Star Wars: The Secret Life of Droids written by Jason Fry

The Jedi Path: A Manual for Students of the Force text and annotations written by Daniel Wallace

The Star Wars Crafts Book by Bonnie Burton

The Star Wars Cook Book: Wookiee Cookies and Other Galactic Recipes by Robin Davis


For teens:

 Star Wars: The Old Republic - The Lost Suns by Alexander Freed et al.


For the mature fan (because do we really feel grown-up about Star Wars?):

Darth Vader and Son by Jeffrey Brown

Star Wars Millennium Falcon: Modified YT-1300 Corellian Freighter - Owner's Workshop Manual by Ryder Windham

Star Wars, Fate of the Jedi: Apocalypse by Troy Denning


Staff also recommend the New Jedi Order series & Star Wars books by Karen Traviss.


Links:

Star Wars Universe (an ABC Library LibGuide)

The Darth Vader Balloon at the Balloon Fiesta! With stormtroopers!

Stars Wars Reads Day on StarWars.com: Activity kits!  Find an event near you!

Plagiarism in Writing

A movie came out recently called The Words, starring Bradley Cooper and Jeremy Irons.  It is about an author so desperate to be published that he takes another man's manuscript and has it published as his own.  Watching this movie lead me to wonder what other writers have been accused of plagiarism.

The charge of plagiarizing is a very serious one.  Taking another writer's words and passing them off as your own is theft and high schools and universities suspend and expel students caught plagiarizing their papers.  Punishment can be equally harsh for novels, biographies and memoirs that are published and found to be plagiarized.  Kaavya Viswanathan, who was accused of stealing passages of her book How Opal Mehta Got Kissed, Got Wild, and Got a Life from other authors, was dropped from her two book publishing contract and forced to give back a half million dollar advance.  Viswanathan is a recent example of an author accused of plagiarism.  Here is a short list of other authors accused of plagiarism:

Alex Haley's book Roots, which traced his ancestors back to Africans captured and sold into slavery, was said to have portions copied from his book The African by Harold Courlander.  Haley has said the plagiarism was unintentional, but offered an apology and settled a lawsuit brought by Courlander.

The book The Wild Blue by historian Stephen Ambrose contained passages of the book Wings of Morning by historian Thomas Childers.  After Ambrose apologized, investigations into his other books showed more of his writings contained passages very similar to other authors' works. 

In 1998 James A. Mackay published a biography of Alexander Graham Bell which author Robert V. Bruce said was taken from his book called Alexander Graham Bell and the Conquest of Solitude, which had won a Pulitzer Prize in 1973.  Mackay's book was removed from publication, but in 1999 he was again accused of plagiarizing his biography of John Paul Jones, founder of the US Navy.  Once again he had stolen his work from a Pulitzer Prize winning biography by Samuel Eliot Morison.

Doris Kearns Goodwin has had several books come under question, including The Fitzgeralds and the Kennedys.  She is said to have settled with another writer before that book was published because of a miscommunication of citing sources.  (Not citing sources correctly can be called plagiarism.)

Quentin Rowan's spy thriller, Assassin of Secrets, is said to be just copied sections of other authors' books.  The publisher Little, Brown, and Company pulled the book from shelves and offered refunds to customers who had already bought copies.  Rowan later admitted to copying and pasting paragraphs from novels he liked into work he called his own in a piece he wrote called, "Confessions of a Plagiarist."  He says he did this not just for Assassin of Secrets, but for other writings he had published as his own original work. 

Because most writers read so many books it can be hard to find the line where inspiration becomes copying.  Ideas are taken from everywhere, and writing that is based on or expanded on someone else's ideas that already exist is not plagiarism.  Just because something is similar does not necessarily mean that the writer has taken it from another writer.  It seems like there is no end to YA vampire series, but they do not contain the same passages or characters.  Romance writers often write similar plots, but in most instances (there are a few exceptions), the author's work is original.  (Romance author Janet Dailey has admitted to stealing passages from Nora Robert's works.)  The advice has always been to write from your heart, which can be difficult in academic writing or journalism, but is really the best way to find your own voice. 

 

Here are some library books to help you source writing for school or research:

MLA Handbook for Writer's of Research Papers by Joseph Gibaldi

The Facts on File Guide to Style by Martin H. Manser

Writing Research Papers: A Complete Guide by James D. Lester

The Elements of Style by William Strunk Jr. and E.B. White  (Also available in ebook format!)

The Complete Guide to Referencing and Avoiding Plagiarism by Colin Neville (Ebook)


 

Books with Style

I am a dedicated follower of fashion, despite the fact that I don't rock a lot of personal glamour myself.  But I can dream about being a style maven, right?  Here are a few books that help me live the dream:

Schiaparelli & Prada: Impossible Conversations by Andrew Bolton and Harold Koda

This is a gorgeous book, the catalog from an exhibit that just ended in August at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.  Elsa Schiaparelli was a designer in the early decades the the 20th century, perhaps best remembered these days for getting Wallis Simpson, future Duchess of Windsor, kitted up in a dress with a lobster painted on the front - a motif inspired by the Surrealists, including Dalí.  Don't miss these "conversations" between Schiap & Prada on ugly chic, the exotic body, waist up/waist down, & more!

Jean Paul Goude with texts by Edgar Morin, George Lois, & Jean-Paul Gaultier

This beautiful & sometimes explicit collection is not for the faint of heart!  A selection of photos & images by Goude, "designer, illustrator, filmmaker, even choreographer". Goude has made commercials for Kodak & for 10 years was in charge of Galeries Lafayette's advertising campaign, but I especially enjoy the images of his "muse", Grace Jones.

Coco Chanel: The Legend & The Life by Justine Picardie

I don't think you can have a proper fashion biography without a lot of pictures, & this book is satisfyingly chockablock with photographs & drawings. Full disclosure: I haven't read it yet, but with chapter headings such as "Mademoiselle is at home", "The Little Black Dress", & "Through a Glass, Darkly", this book is calling to me. I'm even more won over by the blurb: "...this beautifully constructed portrait gives a fresh & penetrating look at how Coco Chanel made herself into her own most powerful creation".

Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty by Andrew Bolton

Another Metropolitan Museum of Art exhibition catalog! Alexander McQueen, a British fashion designer who died in 2010, left behind a stunning design legacy, as reflected in this catalog.  McQueen's creative vision was informed by one of his favorite quotes, "Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind" (also tattooed on his arm), & he was not afraid to shock with his collections. His style includes the use of kimono style, references to Julia Margaret Cameron's photography, & touches from nature (antlers & shells).  Don't miss page 132.  It just makes me happy.

Daphne Guinness by Valerie Steele & Daphne Guinness

I picked up this book because it came up in a search of the catalog on "fashion", not knowing a thing about Daphne Guinness.  Turns out she's a granddaughter of one of the fierce Mitford sisters!  A friend of Alexander McQueen! & a fashion icon, who not only collects couture but is a "designer, editor, model, muse, & stylist" [from the inside cover]. In this book she displays her personal style in a wide variety of photographs, from family photos to shots by Mario Testino.  Vogue editors, photographers, & fashion designers (Valentino & Philip Treacy, to name but two) declaim her style sense with admiration, if not downright awe.  Pick up this book for the hats alone, & stay with it because she is such a character.  & enjoy the metal gauntlet gloves she designed herself.

Discovering Digital Media for Kids

As the checkout statistics prove, eBooks and eAudiobooks are overwhelmingly popular.  However, many people don't realize that we have a large selection of children's and young adult eBooks and eAudiobooks.  To get to any of the resources detailed below, look for the eBooks and eAudiobooks links on the library homepage.

eAudiobooks from One Click Digital
One Click Digital makes it possible to search by target audience, limiting search results by Beginning Reader (17 titles), Children's (347 titles), or Yound Adult (501 titles).  These titles can be downloaded to a home computer and transferred to a device or you can use the new Android or iPhone/iPad/iPod Touch apps to checkout and download to a mobile device.  The best thing about One Click Digital is that most titles can be checked out by multiple people at the same time, meaning there is never a waitlist!
Titles of note in One Click Digital are American Girl books, the Ranger's Apprentice series, the Sisters Grimm series, Meg Cabot books, titles from Anthony Horowitz, and student guides for many of Shakespeare's plays.

eBooks from Ebrary
Ebrary provides mostly non-fiction titles, with many academic sources and study guides available.  This resource is best suited for high school students and titles can be downloaded to a home computer or to an Android or iPhone/iPad/iPod Touch app.  Most of these resources can be checked out by multiple people at the same time.

eBooks and eAudiobooks from Overdrive
Overdrive provides both eBooks and eAudiobooks for children and young adults, though finding them is a little tricky.  The best way to access children's titles is to do an advanced search.  In the advanced search mode, using the subject dropdown menu, results can be restricted to Juvenile Fiction (2075 titles), Juvenile Literature (100 titles), Young Adult Fiction (1761 titles), Young Adult Literature (32 titles), and Young Adult Non-fiction (83 titles).  Also in the advanced search is the option to restrict results to particular award winners, including Caldecott and Newbury Medal and Honor books, Michael L. Printz Award and Honors books for teens, and several other children's and YA awards.  Overdrive titles can be downloaded to a home computer and transferred to many devices or checked out and downloaded via an Android or iPhone/iPad/iPod Touch app.

Preserving Your Garden's Produce

More and more people are turning to gardening and growing their own fruits, herbs and vegetables.  If you are lucky enough to have a garden and enjoy working in it, then all summer you have probably been eating vegestables straight out of the ground and fruit straight off the tree, but now it is that time of year when we think about bringing in the last of our produce from gardens and orchards.  I myself don't have a garden, but lately my friends and neighbors have been pushing their extra wealth of fresh produce on me, which I have been happily accepting.  I've received peaches, apples, tomatoes, and cucumbers to name a few, and while eating them straight from my friends' gardens is wonderful, I have been contemplating how I might stretch the bounty for several more months.  It's the time for putting up freshly grown food to enjoy all winter. 

Luckily the library has lots of books for helping with these tasks, since preserving and canning fresh foods is not something I do on a regular basis.  I'm only just learning how to freeze certain foods, and the library has books to help me with that too.  Great websites that offer tips and recipes for preserving foods are www.mealtime.org and sustainablepantry.com, but to me, nothing beats having an actual book I can hold in my hand and refer to when I get lost. 

Some great books on storing foods to check out at the library:

The Preservation Kitchen: The Craft of Making and Cooking With Pickles, Preserves, and Aigre-Doux by Paul Virant

Food in Jars: Preserving in Small Batches Year-Round by Marisa McClellan

Canning For a New Generation: Bold, Fresh Flavors For the Modern Pantry by Liana Krisoff

Preserving Summer's Bounty: A Quick and Easy Guide to Freezing, Canning, Preserving, and Drying What You Grow edited by Susan McClure

Can I Freeze It?: How To Use the Most Versatile Appliance in Your Kitchen by Susie Theodorou