Hyde Highlights

All of us on the library staff are happy to see everyone back on campus!  Please come by and see what's new in the library.  We are putting new books out every day and we have made more improvements to our welcome desk.  Also, student art work is being hung in the foyer this week.  Can you identify all the portraits?  See who you recognize!

Stop by our interactive poetry display during the month of April and add your poetic creations to our magnetic board! 

Also, here's a link to 30 poets/30 days, a cool blog featuring a previously unpublished poem each day of the month.

We know you spend a lot of time reading -- reading for class assignments, picking up the sports section of the newspaper, keeping up with characters in your favorite book series, reading magazines, reading online, etc.  We know many of you are avid readers and read several books simultaneously.  When we found out that Parents Magazine and the International Reading Association were sponsoring a reading contest, we couldn't resist signing MUS up to participate.  All you have to do is keep track of the time you spend reading until May 31, for school and for your personal enjoyment, and tell your parents so they can log in your minutes.  Every time you are logged in for 60 minutes of reading, your name goes into a drawing for Barnes & Noble gift cards.  If MUS wins the entire contest, we will receive $5,000 for our library.  Ask your parents to sign up you up and log in your hours at this link.  Let's find out how much time you really do spend reading.  We're guessing it will be an impressive number!

The Library staff is celebrating the holiday season and sharing warm wishes for a successful exam week with our students.  Every morning during exam week, students get a boost of energy from pastries, hot chocolate, and Dunkin' Donuts coffee served up before the exam by the library staff.  Happy holidays to all!

On Wednesday we celebrated Teen Read Week with cupcakes for everyone.

Mr. Reese also conducted a rollicking Harry Potter trivia contest for a large group of very enthusiastic lower school Potter fans!

Thursday was cake day during OP, supplemented by dozens of delicious cookies provided by MUS moms.

Cake, cookies, and scenes from Harry Potter -- a great way to spend a rainy OP during Teen Read Week!

Join us for food, prizes, and fun October 19-23!

Read Beyond Reality

Teen Read Week is off to a rousing start!  Thanks to Mr. Reese for a very challenging Harry Potter trivia contest for upper school students and to all the MUS moms who donated cookies on Tuesday!

On Wednesday, Mr. Reese will hold another Harry Potter trivia contest for lower school students and there will be cupcakes for everyone.

There will be more prizes, contests, and candy all week, so be sure to stop by the library soon.

It's not just for students -- faculty and staff are welcome to join in the fun!

Stop by our Banned Books Week display at the front of our new welcome desk to see if some of your favorite books are in "jail" because they have been banned at some time in the U.S.  It is often the most memorable and lasting books that are banned by people who want to control your access to ideas.  Can you imagine not having the right to read a masterpiece such as To Kill A Mockingbird?

During the month of October, we have free access to the ebook edition of Burn This Book: PEN Writers Speak Out on the Power of the Word, edited by Toni Morrison.

"Published in conjunction with the PEN American Center, Burn This Book explores the meaning of censorship, and the power of literature to inform the way we see the world, and ourselves. Contributors including Toni Morrison, Salman Rushdie, Orhan Pamuk, David Grossman, Nadine Gordimer and other literary heavyweights, discuss the importance of writing from various views, both political and social. They illustrate the need for freedom of speech and human rights, and they emphasize the target writers become in a tyranny."  (from publisher's description) 

You can access this ebook beginning Oct. 1 through your NetLibrary account that you have created at school.   Use the link below to log in and then click on the "ebook of the month" box.  You can also create your NetLibrary account at this link, but you must create it on campus.

http://www.netlibrary.com/Login.aspx

Here's more interesting information on banned and challenged books:

This link takes you to a map of book bans and challenges in the U.S. from 2007-2009.  Click on the blue balloons to read about a book banned or challenged in each location:

http://bannedbooksweek.org/Mapofbookcensorship.html

Here's a list of frequently banned or challenged classics:

 http://www.ala.org/ala/issuesadvocacy/banned/frequentlychallenged/challengedclassics/reasonsbanned/index.cfm

The 100 most frequently challenged books from 1990-2000 are listed here:

http://www.ala.org/ala/issuesadvocacy/banned/frequentlychallenged/challengedbydecade/1990_2000.cfm

While you were patiently waiting...

Our installers were working hard!

The first phase of our library renovation is now complete and functioning.  We're all happy with the results! 

The first phase of renovations for the venerable Joseph Hyde Library has now begun!  A few weeks ago, our original circulation desk and work area was demolished to make room for a larger, more functional and friendly circulation desk.  Our impressive new circulation desk will be installed in the next few weeks, so please excuse our temporary construction area.

The demolition:

The time has come to say good-bye to a relic of the past -- the obsolete card catalog:

Are you looking for something fun and entertaining to read this summer in your spare time?

The Class of 2009 came up with a list of their all-time favorite books.  There are 99 books on the list in order of popularity, so you're sure to find something to match your interests here: