Reference on the 3rd Floor?

While the fourth floor is your go-to spot for reference questions about taxes, history, population stats or whatever you need answered, the third floor also has our own reference materials. Ours are just a little bit more fun.

Behind the information desk are reference books about great reads for teens, guides to mysteries, historical fiction, and sci-fi, Videohound and Leonard Maltin film books to help you find that particular movie you're looking for, and so many more. Stop by the desk the next time you're searching for something to read. These books cannot be checked out, but you can pull up a comfy chair and leaf through the pages until a title catches your eye. Then we can find it in the catalog for you, and suggest other titles you might like as well!

My favorite reference book at the 3rd floor desk isn't a guide to any particular genre- it's What's Next: Books in a Series. This book lets you look up any author by last name- let's use Janet Evanovich because she's my favorite. Go to the E section, find Evanovich, and there you'll find all of the titles in each of the series she has written in the order that they go in. This book is really helpful for when you find a book you like on the shelf and you read on the back that it's the second in a trilogy. Wanna know what comes first and last? Ask to see the What's Next book!

What happens when you're at home and a series question arises? Never fear! Because What's Next is also conviently located online. From our website click on Great Reads, then scroll all the way down to Internet Sites for Fiction Lovers, then scroll all the way down to What's Next: A Searchable Database of Novels in Series. Just click on that, and when the site comes up just put in your author's last name (you don't need anything else) and click search. Your authors name will come up with a + sign next to it--click on the + to see the individual series and the titles.

The directions may sound slightly confusing at first but go check out the website and you'll understand what I'm describing. If you're having difficulty working the site, or want to know more about our 3rd floor reference books, just ask one of us for help! We'd be happy to show you.

"Natural" Selection by Roberta

Darwin thought of natural selection as akin to the way farmer's combine strains of grain to create a better crop, or breed sheep to achieve thicker fleeces. Library staff use the word selection when we talk about choosing books for the library's collection. Were you ever curious how we pick what is on the shelves?

Our collection development policy sets guidelines for everything the library owns. Ours is written with an eye to offering the community current, popular, reliable and easily accessible information and entertainment, is reviewed and updated by the library staff and Board of Trustees every two years, and covers books, magazines, music, movies, CD-ROMs and electronic resources.

I select fiction, science fiction and audiobooks (I love all three) for the adult collections, and my first step is usually reading reviews in magazines like Booklist, Library Journal and Publisher's Weekly, as well as the New York Times and Chicago Tribune book review sections. I also look at Audiofile, Locus (a great SF and fantasy magazine), and four different audiobook catalogs. Online, I visit Amazon's Forthcoming lists, LJ's Prepub Alert (a great preview of bestsellers about three to four months away), and Give 'Em What They Want, which looks at books featured on TV, made into movies, featured on Oprah, etc.

Some authors come to us automatically in enough quantity to fill our patron holds and have copies on the shelf for the passerby; these are the Grishams, Pattersons, and Evanoviches (I originally wrote Higgins Clarkses, but really looked funny). I try to order books at least six weeks before they are published, and whatever I order gets entered into the catalog right away, so you can place your hold before the book comes out.

Of course, we happily receive patron suggestions. If you can't find the new Bentley Little book in the catalog, or an audiobook of the latest Philippa Gregory, let us know! Call (847-376-2840), email (readers2@dppl.org), stop by the desk; we want to know what our patrons want. People tell me about books they heard about on C-Span, on the golf course or from their carpool partner.

Our "natural" selection process keeps our collection rich and varied, popular and individual, timely and classic. It's a fairly scientific process, but allows for happy accident too. Frankly, I think Darwin would be proud.

P. S. I'm really excited about Ender in Exile coming out! What books are you looking forward to? How did you hear about them?

Hobby or Obsession?

There's a fine line between a hobby and an obsession.

Am I the only person who has ever started a small project and had it grow until it began to consume all of your time and space? For example, once upon a time my youngest sister invited me to a party where rubber stamps and other craft supplies were offered. We made some cute greeting cards and of course I bought a few supplies so that my sister could get free stuff. Then I decided to make Halloween cards, so I had to go to Michael's to buy more supplies, and then I discovered Archiver's in Niles and now I have enough stuff to open my own shop. However, I don't make that many cards because I have so many paper crafting supplies stashed in boxes that I can't find what I need to make a simple thank you note!

Knitting? Don't get me started. What began as an innocent project, to give me something to keep my hands busy while watching mindless television, has ballooned into bags full of yarn and rarely used "accessories" that looked so great in the store. My husband, sisters, nieces, and even the brother-in-laws know that they're going to get a scarf each year. (I tell them I don't care what they do with it, just take it!) Even my cat has a scarf. (It's just a little wider so that he can actually lay on it.)

Gardening? Okay, I really don't want to go there.

Hobbies and crafts are so popular that they are now covered in what I like to call "niche" mysteries. The titles below are just a small sample of the many mysteries available that feature hobbies, sometimes known as obsessions.

Corpus de Crossword - Nero Blanc (crossword puzzles)
Invitation to Murder - Elizabeth Bright (card-making)
Bound for Murder - Laura Childs (scrapbooking)
The Cracked Pot - Melissa Glazer (ceramics)
Death by Cashmere - Sally Goldenbaum (knitting)
The Unkindest Cut - Honor Hartman (bridge games)
Hooked on Murder - Betty Hechtman (crocheting)
Sinister Sudoku - Kaye Morgan (sudoku puzzles)
A Pour Way to Dye - Tim Myers (soapmaking)
At Wick's End - Tim Myers (candlemaking)
Stamped Out - Terri Thayer (rubber stamping)
Wild Goose Chase - Terri Thayer (quilting)
Weeding Out Trouble - Heather S. Webber (gardening)

So what's your obsessive hobby? And don't try to tell me you don't have at least one.

Linda Knorr - Readers' Services