New website alias

I don't know about you, but I often found it a nuisance to have to type the rather cumbersome web address of our website: "http://www.hooksett.lib.nh.us". Inevitably, I would forget to type a period or forget which order the "nh" and "us" came in. Well, we've solved these issues by adding an alias to our web domain. You can now navigate to our website by simply typing "hooksettlibrary.org" in your browser's address bar. If you use Firefox as your browser, it'll automatically add the "http://" prefix. This alias even applies to our email domain extension, so if you want to reach us via email, you don't have to type "@hooksett.lib.nh.us" for the domain name, but only "@hooksettlibrary.org". Not only does this change make our web address more intuitive, it also makes us more accessible in cyberspace. We hope you like the change.

"Show us your flowers week"

The week of May 5th through May 10th is "Show us your flowers week". Join the staff and wear your flowered shirt, dress or maybe your tie. If you do not have clothing with flowers, wear one in your hair or on your lapel.

Top 10 Banned Books of 2007

Every year the American Library Association tabulates the number of books that are challenged by special interest groups for questionable and/or controversial content. The list of last year's top 10 "banned" books is out and here are the titles:

1. And Tango Makes Three by Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell
2. The Chocolate War by Rober Cormier
3. Olive's Ocean by Kevin Henkes
4. The Golden Compass by Phillip Pullman
5. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
6. The Color Purple by Alice Walker
7. TTYL by Lauren Myracle
8. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
9. It's Perfectly Normal by Robie Harris
10. The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky

Read them for yourself and see if you can guess why they were challenged.

Edible Books 2008 Photos

Check out our photos from this year's edible book contest which took place Saturday, April 12th. Kevin Lane's entry was inspired by the book "Who Moved My Cheese". Roxanne Kate's entry was based on the series "Sweet Potato Queens", Lee Ann Chase's, by "Fast Food Nation" or "Super Size Me", and Mark Glisson's, by "Toasting Tina". The votes are in with the following results in the order of highest to lowest votes:

1. "Super Size Me".
   
2. "Who Moved My Cheese".
   
3. Tied for third place: "Sweet Potato Queens" and "Toasting Tina".
   

A big "Thank You" for all who participated.

Changes at the HPL!

Design gurus Mark and Lee Ann put their heads together and rearranged the furniture in the reference section, make sure you come down and check it out! While you’re here, make sure you also take a look at our ever-expanding CD, audio book, and DVD collections!

Library Easter Egg Hunt for the Hooksett-ites

The Hooksett-ites enjoyed a special Easter Egg Hunt that we prepared for them this morning during their regular Friday visit to the library. We thought that this would be a great way to say "Thank You" for their very gracious and generous help in stuffing the Easter eggs for last month's Children's Easter Egg Hunt. Among all the 200+ eggs hidden throughout the library, Elizabeth Stewart found the surprise jumbo egg which we hid in a plant in the Children's room. By finding this prize egg, she won a collector's item in the form of a crystal egg.

New resource added to our reference site

We've added a very content rich medical reference resource to our reference tools page. It's called MedlinePlus, a U.S. Government sponsored site recommended by doctors to help consumers learn more about their health, find information for school projects, look up info on prescriptions and over-the-counter medicines, and prepare for doctor's visits. Check it out and enjoy the resources there!