Job Hunting Assistance ... Online! ... Free!

Did you know that you can get resume and cover letter assistance online, for free? Western Mass. library-card holders can access "electronic books" via netLibrary.

I found 35 books about "resumes - employment" in netLibrary. They include

• The Resume Kit, by Richard H. Beatty (Wiley, c2000)


• High Impact resumes and Letters by Ronald Krannich (Impact Publications, c1998)


• 201 Winning Cover Letters For $100,000+ Jobs Cover Letters That Can Change Your Life!, by Wendy S. Enelow (Impact Publications, c1998)

And once you get an interview, take a look at The Complete Idiot's Guide to the Perfect Interview, by by Marc Dorio (Alpha Books, c2000)!

all free, @ your library

Vacationing with Grandchildren

This is a rare treat: a (non-librarian) friend sent me her list of web sites & asked me to share with other librarians & anyone else interested in ...

Where to vacation with your grandchildren.

This list provides links to web sites & book suggestions of where you might travel with your grandchildren.

She notes, for instance, the Amtrak web site, which offers a discount for those over 62 and "kids." Friend also notes the Taking the Kids web site, created & maintained by Eileen Ogintz, who writes the Taking the Kids newspaper column.

She notes a few books, as well, including the Best Hikes with Kids series (link to books available in western Mass. libraries)


My friend said it took her a while to compile and she hopes it helps others. Thanks, Friend!

Personal Finance Advice

The Personal Finance Advice blog recently wrote a column about The Many Ways Your Library Can Save You Money, which is absolutely true!

The list several items beyond books which you can borrow, such as books on tape, videos, and CDs. They remind readers that the library also offers magazines (they say most libraries don't lend magazines, but my local public liraries *do* lend them), free Internet access, and entertainment for children (such as story hours).

The "similar posts" list on the right of the post offers more ideas to save money at the library.

Nice to see libraries promoted in this way!

More Reading Ideas

A friend just wrote to ask if there were any lists of authors, "you know, like allmusic does for music?"

Why, yes, Friend, there is! Only it's not on the free web, it's ... in your library. Friend has many library cards in the DC metro area, but I focused on resources available to him at the *awesome* Montgomery County Public Libraries (MCPL). Here's what I wrote him:

Take a look at MCPL "Books and Literature" page to see all the library databases you can search with your library card.

I especially recommend the Literary Resource Center. Type in the name of any of your authors & you'll get TONS of information in separate tabs -- biographies, literary criticism, bibliographies, "additional resources", and timeline.

Start with the biographical info, and look for links to an encyclopedia called Contemporary Authors or Contemporary Literary Criticism. For Eudora Welty, you'll see
- Introduction
- Biographical Information
- Major Works
- Critical Reception
- Principal Writings by the Author
- Further Readings about the Author
- Critical Essays about the Author's Works

The first few sections will give you a nice overview and ideas of what to start with.

--------
You might also want to check out Books in Print -- which is Amazon on steroids, but without the personal entries. You'll find all sorts of books there as well as reviews from Library Journal, Choice (an academic library review service) and Publisher's Weekly.

A very cool tool is called Fiction Connection, provided to the library by Books in Print -- or you can click directly on the link to Fiction Connection in the Montgomery County list o' "books & literature" databases.

You can browse "tag clouds" of genres (there's even one for southern fiction, tho' I think it's more current than Faulkner et al), topic, setting, location, and time period. It looks really really cool.

happy reading!

Is there a publisher geared to the XYZ market?

I got an email from a non-library friend wanting to know if there is a prominent publisher for the young adult market -- she knows someone who might want to publish someone, and she's trying to help.

As usual, I didn't answer the question directly but I did refer her to two other sources which would be useful.

One is the Literary Market Place (aka LMP) -- it comes out every year and is a directory of publishers in the US. You can find detailed info about various publishers, and in the middle somewhere is a huge directory of US Publishers by Type of Publication. Look for Children's Books & find GOBS & GOBS of them. Then refer to the detailed info. for publishers to see if they'd publish what's called "Young Adult" literature (for teens & tweens). The entry for Blooming Tree Press, for instance, gives you the page number for the main entry -- which then gives you contact info, email addresses & web sites, # of titles published per year, and a short blurb about what they publish.

There's also something called the Writer's Market, which has essays & suggestions on how to get published, as well as a directory of publishers. In the back is a subject index, which refers you to publishers that address "Children's / Juvenile" books. You get more info. in the directory -- like editor's names, how much royalty they pay, and a few recent titles.

Most public libraries have both of these books. Happy writing!