All posts by Brian Herzog
Emergency Brush Drop-Off
With last week’s ice storm knocking down so many branches and trees, Chelmsford’s Office of Recycling and Waste has organized an Emergency Brush Drop-Off for Chelmsford residents. The drop-off will be:
- Date: Saturday December 20, 2008
- Time: 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m
- Who: Chelmsford residents – bring proof of Chelmsford residency
- Where: Community Tree at 163 Billerica Road
What to Bring:
Brush and branches. They may be no larger than inches in diameter and no longer than 8 feet in length. All string, bags, and other foreign material must be removed by the resident may not be left at Community Tree.
This is a free event for Chelmsford residents. For more information, call the Office of Recycling and Solid Waste at 978-250-5203.
And more winter weather is on the way! The National Weather Service has issued a Winter Storm Watch for Friday, Dec. 19th. See more Massachusetts weather information from the National Weather Service.
Be Notified of Emergencies with the Chelmsford Police Department’s CodeRED Emergency Notification System. The system will notify Town residents during emergencies (like power outages from ice storms) with information on the emergency and what steps residents can take. Sign up today!
Holiday Book Guide
The Youth Services staff of the library put together this list of books that would make nice gifts this holiday season. These books are divided up into type of book and age groups.
Following this listing, there are links to book guides from other sources around the internet to provide additional ideas.
Pop-Up Books
- ABC3D, by Marion Bataille
- The Castaway Pirates, by Ray Marshall, illustrated by Wilson Swain
- Brava Strega Nona!, by Robert Sabuda and Matthew Reinhart
Picture Books
- Little Mouse’s Big Book of Fears, by Emily Gravett
- The Little Bit Scary People, by Emily Jenkins
- That Book Woman, by Heather Henson
- Wave, by Suzy Lee
Ages 5-7
- Nicholas (series), by Goscinny & Sempe
- Keeping Score, by Linda Sue Park
- Alvin Ho Allergic to Girls, School, and Other Scary Things, by Lenore Look
- Owly (series), by Andy Runton
Ages 8-10
- Home of the Brave, by Katherine Applegate
- The Penderwicks on Gardam Street, by Jeanne Birdsall
- The Willoughbys, by Lois Lowry
- 100 Cupboards, by N. D. Wilson
Ages 10-12
- The Underneath, by Kathi Appelt
- Savvy, by Ingrid Law
- The Way We Work, by David Macaulay
- Alive: The Living Breathing Human Body Book, from DK
- Trouble, by Gary Schmidt
All Ages
- Wabi Sabi, by Mark Reibstein and Ed Young
- Our White House: Looking In, Looking Out, by 108 renowned authors
- The Gift of the Magi, by O. Henry and illustrated by P. J. Lynch
Here are a few lists from other sources on the internet, listing their top book picks for the holiday season:
Other Book Gift Guides
- From the editors of Boing Boing: Kids Books, Fiction, Non-Fiction, Comics, Graphic Novels, and Humor
- Recommendations from National Public Radio staff
- Suggestions from Book Store Owners, as interviewed on New Hampshire Public Radio
- First Lady Laura Bush’s Family Favorites
- The New York Times’ 10 Ten Best Books of 2008
One Book Chelmsford 2009 Announced
All the votes have been counted, and Chelmsford’s One Book for 2009 is:
Three Cups of Tea,
by Greg Mortenson
The astonishing, uplifting story of a real-life Indiana Jones’ campaign to build schools in the most dangerous, remote, and anti-American reaches of Asia. Inspired by a chance encounter with impoverished mountain villagers, the author is building schools to provide a balanced education in an isolated and dangerous region.
One Book events and information will be available soon, and copies of Three Cups of Tea are available through the library’s catalog. Also, here are some online resources to get Chelmsford ready to read our One Book 2009:
- Official Three Cups of Tea website
- Author Greg Mortenson’s website
- Wikipedia article on Three Cups of Tea
- Reviews: BookBrowse.com, LibraryThing.com
Thank you to everyone who voted! Keep checking our One Book webpage for information on One Book Chelmsford 2009.
Update: Exciting news! Greg Mortenson is coming to Chelmsford on Sunday, February 8th, as part of his book tour for his two children’s books based on Three Cups of Tea. Visit the One Book webpage for more information.
Halloween in Chelmsford 2008
According to the Town of Chelmsford website, trick or treating in Chelmsford this year will be:
Also on Friday at the library, children (infants to school aged) are invited to join us for a special storytime and Halloween parade on Friday, October 31 at 10:00am. We will tell stories and have a parade followed by a snack. Wear your costumes!
In addition to having fun on Halloween, here are a few websites with tips on being safe:
- Halloween Safety Game from Halloween Magazine
- Halloween Safety Alert from the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission
- Halloween Safety Tips from the National Safety Council
- Food & Costume Safety from the US Food and Drug Administration
- Halloween Safety Quiz from Hershey’s
New Games Table at the Library
The library isn’t just for checking out books, movies, music, or for searching for information on the internet. It’s now a place to come to play chess, checkers, Scrabble, and more.
Through a donation from patrons, the Chelmsford Library has a new games table for playing board games. It sits by a window on the lower level, between the public computers and the Young Adult area. It is open to everyone to use, and game pieces can be checked out at the Reference Desk.
The table is in the Queen Anne style, pub height, and has 5 wooden game boards built in:
- Chess
- Checkers
- Scrabble
- Backgammon
- Monopoly
Other materials, such as a deck of cards and an Official Scrabble Dictionary, are also available in the library.
This table was purchased with memorial funds donated to the library by the family and friends of the late Patrick R. McCabe Sr., a long-time library patron.
Classic Horror Film Extravaganza
As part of our ongoing migration from videocassette to DVD, we recently acquired a slew (slain?) of classic horror films, just in time for all your Halloween needs. These run the gamut from Vincent Price classics like The Abominable Dr. Phibes, The Tingler and Witchfinder General (better known in the United States as The Conqueror Worm) to early 1970’s faves like Sssssss starring Strother Martin and the made-for-television The Night Stalker, starring Darren McGavin.
Here are the other titles we just received:
Curse of the Demon
A forgotten classic directed by Jacques Torneur of Cat People fame, and starring Dana Andrews. Here’s a detailed review of the DVD via The DVD Journal: Curse of the Demon/Night of the Demon Review
Dracula Has Risen From the Grave
Horror of Dracula
These are a couple of Hammer films, starring Christopher Lee as Dracula, that epitomize the heyday of 1960’s British horror.
Dracula’s Daughter ; Son of Dracula
A double-feature from Universal Pictures, who gave us the original Frankenstein and Dracula. Dracula’s Daughter is from 1936, while Son of Dracula is from 1943, and stars Lon Chaney, Jr.
Burnt Offerings
The Legend of Hell House
Village of the Damned
A trio of intelligent dread-provoking thrillers starring Oliver Reed, Roddy McDowall, and George Sanders, respectively. And let’s hear it for Karen Black!
Carnival of Souls
The edition we have is from the Criterion Collection, so it contains both the original theatrical version and the extended director’s cut, as well as many extras and commentaries.
Stephen King’s It
A mini-series from 1990 of King’s book, it won an Emmy. It has a scary clown…need I say more?
For some fun related reading, check out Television Horror Movie Hosts. Those of you who remember Kaiser Broadcasting on channel 56 in Boston, might also remember the Ghoul, who merits a chapter in the book.
Here are some more horror film books in our collection:
Double Feature Creature Attack
Bright Darkness: The Lost Art of the Supernatural Horror Film
Hollywood’s Stephen King
Cult Horror Films
Hollywood Horror: From Gothic to Cosmic
Town Selectmen Public Input Session
The Chelmsford Board of Selectmen is holding a Public Input Session on Wednesday, October 8th. The session is open to everyone, and will be held at 7:00 p.m. at the Chelmsford Senior Center.
Come and let the Board know your ideas and thoughts about the Town, and about the issues facing Chelmsford today and in the future.
More Information
- About the Chelmsford Board of Selectmen
- Chelmsford Senior Center contact information and map/directions
Introducing Tricia Horan, Youth Services Librarian
The Chelmsford Library has a new Librarian for Youth Services, Patricia Horan. Tricia provided a brief biography as a way to introduce herself:
As an undergraduate I studied English and Art History at Rutgers University where I earned my B.A. in 2004. In August of 2005 I completed my M.L.S. at Simmons College with concentrated coursework in programming and collection development for children and young adults. For the past three years I was the Head of Youth Services at the Oliver Wolcott Library in Litchfield, Connecticut. The OWL is a community library in a rural town of approximately 9,000 people. Due to its small staff size I was solely responsible for everything related to youth services and wore several other hats—doing additional work with adults, outreach and technology.
I am thrilled to begin my career as a Youth Services Specialist at the Chelmsford Public Library. After working in a small town, I am excited to work in a large library that serves an expansive and diverse community. The best part of my new position is that I get to spend my mornings working with little ones in the Children’s Room and in the afternoons I’ll be available to work with teens. Working with teens in a library environment was the reason I went to library school and being able to do that on a daily basis is a dream come true.
The Library is very happy to have Tricia as part of the team. Stop by the Children’s Room or Young Adult area to introduce yourself, and give Tricia suggestions for books or programs you’re interested in.
Language Learning Resources
As many patrons have been finding out, our subscription to the Rosetta Stone Language Learning database runs out at the end of August. Rosetta Stone will no longer be available through libraries, but there are other language resources that are available to you:
Books & Videos
The Chelmsford Library has a large collection of both books and videos to help patrons learn English or other languages. Most books are downstairs, the videos will be upstairs, and they will all be shelved according to the Dewey Decimal System. Here’s the Dewey numbers for some of the popular languages:
420-429 – English
430-438 – German
443-448 – French
453-458 – Italian
463-468 – Spanish
469 – Portuguese
491.73 – Russian
492 – Arabic
495.1 – Chinese
Also, “Early Reader” books are located in the Childrens Room, for those looking to practice or build their English reading skills.
Conversation Circles
Three different conversation circles meet at the library, to give patrons a supportive forum for practicing their English, French or Spanish. These circles are run by library volunteers are are not classes, but instead are groups of learners that meet to help each other improve their language skills.
- English Conversation Circle (beginners) meets every Tuesday at 9:30 a.m.
- English Conversation Circle (advanced) meets every Tuesday at 3:00 p.m.
- French Conversation Circle meets the second Thursday of the month at 7:00 p.m.
- Spanish Conversation Circle meets the first Wednesday of the month at 7:00 p.m.
Please check the Library event calendar for changes or cancellations.
Resources from the Boston Public Library
All residents of Massachusetts are entitled to the resources offered through the Boston Public Library. You can sign up for a library card in person at any of the BPL branches, or get an eCard online to use their online resources.
To learn a language online, the BPL offers the Auralog – Tell Me More database (similar to Rosetta Stone). After creating an account, patrons have access to multimedia activities to learn grammar and vocabulary for both oral and written communication for the German, American English, Dutch, Spanish, Spanish (Latin American), French, and Italian.
languages.
In addition, the BPL offers other online language resources, such as dictionaries and general reference, and also a large collection of books and videos.
Internet Resources
There are many websites designed to aid in learning languages. Some are free and some charge a fee, and offer both individual practice as well as foster social connections to collaborate with other people learning the same language.
Two of the options are Live Mocha and Mango Languages. Live Mocha is a free service for learning a variety of languages, and uses visual tools to teach vocabulary and grammar. There is also an opportunity (which is optional) to connect with other people also learning a language. Mango Languages offers a free introduction, but does charge for extended or advanced lessons. It offers a learning interface based on side-by-side translations, phonetic pronunciation guides, and narrated lessons.
Read a review of popular language learning websites.
For help with any of the resources listed above, please contact the Reference Desk.
Bruce Freeman Rail Trail
In case you haven’t heard, a bike trail is being built through Chelmsford.
The construction in Chelmsford is part of Phase One of the Bruce Freeman Rail Trail, which will ultimately go through the communities of Lowell, Chelmsford, Westford, Carlisle, Acton, Concord, Sudbury and Framingham. Phase One starts at the Lowell/Chelmsford line near Cross Point, and will follow the old rail line through Chelmsford Center to the the intersection of Routes 27 and 225 in Westford.
Construction information and trail maps are available on the Friends of the Bruce Freeman Rail Trail website. They also have planning information for the rest of the trail, and a link to the MassHighway project website which reports on construction status. This Friends group has been working on the trail with State and Local officials for many years, and is always open to new members.
A recent Boston Globe article outlined some of the issues surrounding the trail. There have also been many articles in the Chelmsford Independent and the newspapers of other communities along the line. And to see exactly where the trail will go, there is an interactive map available that overlays the trail route on street maps and aerial photography.
Phase One of the trail is scheduled to be completed in August 2009. Visit the Friends of the Bruce Freeman Rail Trail website for more information.