Research Blog : evpl, library

Astronomy Week

SuDocQueen@evpl — Fri, 23 Sep 2011 20:20:00 GMT

I learned something new today. There are two Astronomy Days a year. One in the spring and one in the fall. This fall the day is October 1st, and the week Astronomy Day falls in is designated Astronomy Week. So September 26th to October 2nd this year is Astronomy week. I thought this rather serendipitous what with the NASA satellite due to fall from the sky today.

The Astronomical League has a good website for those who want to learn more about astronomy. They also have information on Astronomy Day celebrations around the country as well as helpful information for those who would like to host an Astronomy Day celebration.

For information on stargazing closer to home, The Evansville Astronomical Society's website offers useful stargazing links, a nice calendar of local events, and interesting information on the society's history.

If you'd like to learn a little more about astronomy before you consider contacting your local society, the library has plenty of books on astronomy, the stars and planets, and how to be an amateur astronomer. If you visit Central Library this week, stop by the second floor and check-out our book display by the stairs. To celebrate the week, we have some of our astronomy books on display there for easy access.

Vacation on a budget...

SuDocQueen@evpl — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 21:38:00 GMT

Nowadays everyone’s talking about staycations. This reminded me of the wonderful vacations my parents took me on even when we had to watch every penny. How’d we do it? By visiting our National Parks and State Parks (and camping, but that’s a whole ‘nother story). Most parks have entrance fees for an entire passenger car that are cheaper than an individual ticket to Disney World.

Starting in the winter my parents would send away for scads of pamphlets and maps of parks like the Grand Canyon, the Petrified Forest, and Slide Rock State Park. Planning early is still a good idea but now it’s even easier. All you have to do is go to www.nps.gov. From there you can learn about every national park in the country. They have a great search tool on that front page. Just click on the state you’re interested in visiting and you’ll get a list of all the parks in that state. But what if you know the name of a park but not what state it’s in? No problem. Click on the “Advanced SearchTool and Map.” From there scroll below the map and you’ll see a great browser tool that will let you pick your park by name, location, preferred activity, or even topic (like mountains or volcanoes or coral reefs).

But what about state parks? Well, if there’s a site out there that pulls all state parks under one “roof” I haven’t found it yet, but putting “state parks (insert the state name of your choice)” into Google does a terrific job of pulling up each state’s website.

And, if you’re at Central Library stop by and take a look at some of the books and pamphlets the National Parks Service still puts out. We have a whole series of pamphlets on the Blue Ridge Parkway trails. Just ask one of us about Call # I 29.149. Or if you’re interested in the historic details of sites, you might want to take a look in our I 29.88 area. Those are historic structure and site reports on places like Fire Island Lighthouse, the Eleanor Roosevelt Historic Site, and Antietam National Battlefield.

Follow us on Twitter!

googler@evpl — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 18:57:00 GMT

Come Tweet with us!! EVPL is venturing into the Twitterverse, and you're invited to follow along. We currently have two Twitter accounts: one at http://twitter.com/evplinfo for information about Library programs and other informational announcements; and one at http://twitter.com/EVPLReviews for reviews of books, movies, and music.

Twitter is a free service that allows you to keep in touch with others through the exchange of small, frequent updates. When you create an account at twitter.com, you'll be able to update your own status to let your followers know what movies you've seen, where you're going on vacation, and how your daughter did in the big soccer game. You'll also be able to follow other people and institutions to get information about what's going on with them.

There are number of ways to update and receive "tweets" -- you don't have to open the twitter.com website on a PC. You can use Twitter clients similar to IM widgits (some are listed here) or even your phone.

For more information on why and how to use Twitter, try "Why Twitter Anyways?" and this excellent True Beginner's Guide to Twitter. The Library will also offer a class on social networking that will include Twitter.

Once you've gotten started, you'll be able to ask questions and send direct messages to us (and anyone else you're following, if they're also following you). It's all about communication, after all, and this is just one more avenue for doing that. So check us out, and let us know what else you might like to see in our Twitter streams!