Goodbye to 2009

The Library will be closed on Thursday Dec 31, 2009 and Friday Jan 1, 2010.

Happy New Years! See you on January 11th...

Season's Readings!

The library will be closed Thursday the 24th through Saturday the 26th. Your MacDonald Public Library Family would like to wish you and yours a very safe and happy holiday season!


After the holidays if you're looking to create special memories with family and friends remember you can come to the library and check out a Museum Pass. For the third consecutive year Macy's is sponsoring the Museum Pass Program. The passes are good for free admittance for two or four people to participating local museums like the Anton Art Center, Arts & Scraps, Cranbook Institute of Science, Ford Rouge Factory Tour, the Howell Nature Center, and more.

Enjoy your family & friends over the holidays & Seasons Readings!

Databytes from my desk to yours...

This compendium of the top 10 of the top 10 for 2009 from Lifehacker is definitely worth a look. It covers a range of information from top Windows 7 and Firefox 3.5 features to tips & tricks MacGyver would be proud of, and covers the top ten computer hardware fixes and upgrades, to how to make the perfect cuppa Joe. Lists like this always offer the opportunity to discover something that has been featured over the course of this past year that may have been overlooked. Perhaps you too will find a gem listed.


Today the 8th challenge SMS text messaging in IPL's 15 things program was released:



Check it out even if you didn't take the challenge- worst case scenario, you'll learn something.

... all the way from the North Pole

He’s coming all the way from the North Pole on Saturday, December 19, 2009 from 1:00 to 2:30 pm to spread some holiday cheer, so bring the little ones to the library for a special storytime with Santa. Santa will hear the children’s holiday wishes after the storytime. Moms, Dads, Grandmas and Grandpas are encouraged to bring their cameras to capture this moment and remember this wonderful time of the year. Registration is not required for this event.

Winter officially begins on Monday December 21st, and with the first real snowfall of the season looming overhead everyone needs warm scarves and hats. Interested crafters are invited to join fellow crafters for Sit’n Knit every Monday morning at 10:00 am. This is a BYOP (Bring Your Own Project) gathering of local knitting and crocheting enthusiasts who meet weekly to knit or crochet. This is a drop in event and new participants always welcome.

As the holidays approach keep in mind that MacDonald Public Library has partnered with the Clinton Macomb Public Library, Lenox Township Library, Mount Clemens, Roseville, and St. Clair Shores Public Libraries to offer a wide variety of downloadable audio books, movies, and music just in time for your holiday travels or entertainment needs. You can access this collection by visiting our website @ slc.lib.overdrive.com. To download music, movies or videos to your computer, IPOD, or mobile devise all you need is a library card issued by one of the participating libraries.

Seasons Readings!

50 FREE Web Design Classes

I love this time of year! The blogsphere is full of the best of the best lists, and wonderful free things. This past week I ran accross this little nugget: 50 Free Online Classes for Web Design.

These Free classes cover a wide range of topics:

• Computer and computing basics
• Programming languages (HTML, XML, Java, Flash)
• Content development and much, much, more.

If you're interested just learning about or taking an online class in web desing, then clicking on the link above will not cost you anything but a few moments of your time.

Everything You Wanted to Know About 2.0 ( A 15 things Challenge)

IPL is doing a 15 things challenge to keep you up to date on the latest FREE technologies and how you might best use them for business or personal needs. This challenge runs through April 17, 2010 and has currently covered the following:

• Blogs
• Microblogging
• Social Networking
• Wikis
• Virtual Worlds
• Podcasting
  

This week the challenge covers the topic of

• Videos

If you'd like to learn more about these technologies, a program like this is a really terrific way to learn a new skill or brush up on an old one. 8 additional topics will be released every couple of weeks through April 17th, giving participants the opportunity to really absorb the information related to the topic.

This program will be running for the next 14 weeks or so, even if you do not feel that you have the time to catch up or participate at least check this Wiki out, is is loaded with excellent instructional information pertaining to each challenge.

We conducted a 12 things program for staff MacDonald Public Library two years ago and our program met with a great deal of success, empowering staff, and leveling the digital divide with regard to new trends and technologies. The rewards for our staff were many.

Participating in a program like this is really a no-brainer, the information is ripe for the picking and for the low low cost of FREE!

Challenge yourself to learn one new thing -what are you waiting for?

Useful Tips & Tricks

Tax Time is right around the corner and with the tax laws seemingly changing the first of every year, inevitably we all have that one little questions we are not quite sure how to answer. Luckily, the tax experts at Turbo Tax will once again be offering to call you back with One Free Tax Answer now through Jan 31, 2010.

Tis the season of buying and giving gift cards and the FTC has once again provided guidelines and strategies to help with purchasing, giving, and whom to direct any complaints to.

If you are a Google Docs user you should know that you can now download and convert all your doc types at one time to a zipped file, or portable devise:


There's another new kid on the block called Devise Driver. Why this tool is particularly useful is that it allows you to find outdated drivers on your PC (this tool is for Windows users only) and update the latest version in one easy step.