The View From Circulation - What's Trending, Unique, & Informational

Reading soothes, entertains, humors, educates, thrills, and through them we travel to foreign places, and the past. Through reading we learn to empathize, relate, draw parallels with the human condition, and most of all widen our perception of the world around us. Different from the visual media-based culture that is encompassing our lives, books provide us a mechanism to combine our previous perceptions and knowledge with new ideas and character stories easing us into expanding those ideas and perceptions. Alternatively, the visual media-based outlets spend a lot of time and money figuring out how to “market” to you to keep you watching. The wonderful, but sometimes overwhelming, pleasure of working behind the circulation desk is seeing so many books that have the ability to expand my world view, challenge me, and even sometimes "touch a nerve". Through reading each of us can walk away gaining something different from the same book. The National Book Foundation su...

How many of us have come into our libraries and asked,"Can you tell me how to find a book that was recommended to me and I heard everyone is reading.".   Subsequently you are disappointed when told there are 50+ people already waiting for one of the copies available in the network.   Perhaps you are about to embark on that long awaited and much needed vacation and want to take a great read. You come into the library and can't think of anything based on author or title and don't know what to pick. The library is a great place to just browse and choose one or multiple books off the shelves, take them home, and not worry if they grab our interest because we can just put it down and read the next one. However, in our hurried world, we often have little patience to spend reading the first 50 pages of a book to see if we like it. Also, our free time is so valuable we are hesitant to make a selection other than based on recommendations.  "Please, just ...

Duxbury Library not only carries your summer reading enjoyment,  but is also your  one-stop unplug activity hub. During the past year we have been acquiring activity kits based on a variety of interests and for all ages. Discovery activities include Tide Pool Discovery Kit perfect for beach exploration , croquet in your back yard, or our assortment of robotic and science technology kits in our children's library.  We have a number of robotic kits. Come in and check out all of our education toys, such as,  Sphero - A Round Robot you can control wirelessly through your digital device (for ages 8 and up), See it in action . Another popular item is  Dash   is a robot which responds to voice, navigates objects, dances, and sings (for ages 6 and up).    See it in action. Start up a game of croquet or pickleball with our sports kits that have everything you need. Fun hobby kits include: arts and crafts like learn to crochet,...

This week brings us into July with beach trips, road trips, camping trips, and enjoying our national parks. Looking for books set in your destinations (or to daydream)? Through the month of July and August we are selecting favorites and displaying them in the "Reader's Challenge" bookshelf across from the circulation desk. Authors Nancy Thayer and Elin Hildebrand will transport you to Nantucket.  Traveling to Maine? Enjoy mysteries by Linda Greenlaw (America's famous woman Swordfishing captain). The variety of displayed selections will transport you all over the United States and will change throughout the summer. Looking for ebooks to download set throughout the United Status check out this list "The Most Famous Book Set in the United States" published by Business Insider. Does your selection have a hold list? Don't forget Duxbury library code holders can check out books in the Sails Library Network and Minuteman Library Network. ...

The June Library Reads newsletter Top 10 Books Librarians Love   mentions a number of new releases by popular authors, such as, B.A. Paris , Anthony Horowitz,  and the sequel to Fredrik Bachman's Beartown. Working behind the circulation desk we are often asked for reading recommendations. We have "Patron Picks" and "Staff Picks" that are readily available for check out and we change out these selections regularly. What are we reading? Probably no different that what you are reading - our best sources are our patron recommendations. With an endless stream of books new and old being passed through our hands on a given day we are always on the lookout for repetitive checkouts and transit items. Unfortunately, our online "hottest holds" often has books that are on order and not available for release. Elin Hildebrand 's latest "The Perfect Couple" has been on order and available for holds since February and has been on our "ho...

Lazy days of summer bring long daylight hours to sit outside, soak up the sun, and read. The television and computers are switched off and we awaken our imagination, knowledge, and dreams. Do you have a favorite author you like to read over the summer? Maybe you enjoy reading old classics or eagerly anticipate the "Hot Summer Reads" Duxbury Free Library orders each year from a list of favorites identified throughout the year. The beginning of summer also brings "Summer Reading Lists": from schools, newspapers/magazines, and bloggers. I pour through the reading lists marking the ones that interest me, never worrying about the time it will actually take to read them all. I've gathered a number of lists that have made it into my inbox. Access to the "Duxbury Free Library Hot Summer Reading" list will be available all summer on my blog and highlighted just right of the blog post. Are you a patron of the Duxbury Library? Credit yourself w...

This time of year many of us our planning or preparing for summer vacation travels. Whether you are exploring the many vacations spots in the United States or around the world, brushing up or learning a language before a foreign country visit, or researching the history and culture of a place, you can find resources at the Duxbury Library. Recently returned from a trip to France, I checked out the many travel books about the area. My favorites were the Rick Steve s' and Lonely Planet guides and World Travel Adapter that was a useful in charging both my phone and camera at the same time. a unique travel book called "Sundays in Paris.". Families will enjoy the DK Eyewitness travel books and there are a number of children's books on traveling to popular destinations. I also checked out the Do you prefer ebooks? You can login to Hoopla or Overdrive and access many travel resources. Want to learn a little of the language of where you are visiting? We ha...