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2009 Flu Shots and Resources

It’s flu season again. And this year, in addition to the seasonal flu, the government is also making available resources to help combat the H1N1 flu.

Flu Shots
The Chelmsford Board of Health is sponsoring a seasonal flu shot clinic. The shots will be given at:

Chelmsford Senior Center
Route 40, North Chelmsford
Thursday, Nov. 12, 2009
2:00 pm – 4:30 pm
– More information [pdf] –

Another list of area flu shots is available on the Massachusetts Public Flu Clinic Finder website:

• Flu shots in Chelmsford
• Flu shots in Lowell
• See other towns

General Information
A lot of resources exist to answer questions and provide tips on how to stay healthy this flu season. Here are some of the most useful:

• http://www.flu.gov – official Federal resource
• http://www.mass.gov/flu – official State resource
• Fall 2009 – Flu Guidance for Schools [doc] – MA Dept. of Public Health
• H1N1 Fact Sheet [pdf] – MA Dept. of Public Health
• More resources from Chelmsford Public Schools

Basic Tips to Stay Healthy
And as always, remember to practice these three simple tips this season:

1. Cover your cough
2. Wash your hands
3. Stay home if you’re sick

New England Quilt Museum Passes

The library now has passes to the New England Quilt Museum!

Our pass admits 4 people free of charge to the museum, which is located at 18 Shattuck Street in Lowell (map and directions).

All of our museum passes are provided by Friends of the Library. They can be reserved through our museum pass webpage or by calling the Reference Desk at 978-256-5521 x211.

Education Resources at the Library

We’ve made some changed to the education-related resources at the library:

• New Section for EDU Books
  To make college directories and test study guides easier to find, we pulled them out of the normal non-fiction shelves and places them in a special section. These new shelves are located by the Teen Services Desk on the lower level, and are marked in the catalog by the call numbers EDU.

  Also on these shelves you will find financial aid information, FAFSA forms and worksheets, and college catalogs.

• New database: Testing & Education Reference Center
  This database replaces the Learning Express Library, and offers high school, college information, tools, practice tests and study guides, as well as application builders, and profiles of colleges.

  This database is also create for career and employment research. It has many practice test for career and proficiency exams, an online resume builder, a career research library, self-assessment test, and much more.

  The Testing & Education Reference Center, can be used from home or in the library – to get started, visit http://www.chelmsfordlibrary.org/reference/databases_alpha.html#TERC

For help with these education resources, please contact the Reference Desk at askus@mvlc.org or 978-256-5521 x211.

Check Out Our Museum Passes

The Chelmsford Library has discount passes to 16 different area museums, parks, zoos and other attractions. If you’re looking for something to do this weekend or this summer, these passes offer a great way to explore the area economically.

All of the passes available through the Library are paid for by the Friends of the Chelmsford Library group. As such, they are available to all Chelmsford residents and any member of the Friends, regardless of residency. If you don’t live in Chelmsford but would like to use our passes, you can join the Friends group to get access.

To view or reserve a pass, first click on the Museum Passes link from our homepage. From there, available passes are viewable By Date or By Museum, and you drill down to the right pass on the right day just by clicking.

To request a pass, click the green “Request Pass” button and log in your your library card number and your PIN (usually, the last four digits of your telephone number). When requesting, you can choose to be receive a reminder email 24 or 48 hours before your reservation. Make sure you see the reservation confirmation screen before ending the process.

Reserved passes can be picked up in person at the Circulation Desk the day before or the day of the reservation, using the library card they were reserved under.

For questions about making or canceling a reservation, or about the museums themselves, please contact the Reference Desk.

2009 Fuel Economy Guide

The US Department of Environmental Protection released their 2009 Fuel Economy Guide, and it is available both online and in print at the library.

The Guide is designed to inform consumers about how cars compare based on their fuel economy, to help car buyers make more energy- and cost-conscious buying decisions. It also provides an overview of the different types of alternative-fuel vehicles available (natural gas, hybrids, flex-fuel, etc), and gives driving tips to improve fuel efficiency.

To see the fuel economy ratings for 2009 and past years, you can:

• Explore online fuel ratings on the FuelEconomy.gov website
• Download a PDF version from the FuelEconomy.gov website
• Visit the library and pick up a copy. They are available next to the newspapers, and reference copies of the 2009 Guide and past years (in addition to other automobile information) are near the Reference Desk

More information about the Guide and EPA fuel economy rating information is available on their website, http://www.fueleconomy.gov.