Creative Use of Your Library Card

image source : flickr commons

"One girl said she used a butter knife and a library card to break into vacant houses."

The New York Times published the first of two articles on the increase in youth runaways. This piece supposedly ties runaways with the current economic climate, but only one sentence out of 4 pages mentions the recession. Still, it is definitely worth a read.

On a somewhat related note, the Sociology October book displays are on National Domestic Violence Awareness Month as well as Crime Prevention Month. Be sure to check them out in the next few days.

Books on street kids/teen runaways: SOC 362.74

National Alcohol and Drug Addiction Recovery Month

September 2009 is the 20th anniversary of the Department of Health and Human Services' National Alcohol and Drug Addiction Recovery Month. Stop by the Sociology division and pick up a book or two on drugs, addiction, and recovery. Check out www.recoverymonth.gov for resources on how to help and how to get help.

Holder's can of worms

Hanging around mlk library? Start your own 'investigation' into the CIA through the books in the Social Sciences division. Peruse our display table for titles on the CIA, Department of Justice, human rights, terrorism and torture .

Here is the NYTimes take on prosecuting the CIA.

Healthy hippies! Sociology August book displays

Make sure to check out Sociology's August book displays when you stop in to MLK this month! Our great hall display focuses on Health Care Reform. Our 2nd floor lobby display highlights the 40th anniversary of Woodstock.

Sick: the untold story of America's health care crisis + the people who pay the price - Jonathan Cohn

362.1097 C678

Worried sick: a prescription for health in an overtreated America -
Nortin Hadler
362.1097 H131

Critical: what we can do about the health care crisis - Tom Daschle
362.1042 D229

The road to woodstock - Michael Land
781.6607 L271

1969: Woodstock, the moon, and Manson the turbulent end of the 1960s - Richard Stengel
973.924 N714

The hippie handbook - Chelsea Chain
305.568 C1352

Family Reunion Month Book Display

(Image Source: Washington state government)

July is observed by many as National Family Reunion Month. If you are interested learning more about your family or planning a reunion please check out the DC Public Library.

The library contains numerous books about performing genealogical research, planning family reunions and organizing reunion events. During July in the Great Hall of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Public Library we will feature these items in a book display. Also, please search the catalog for items related to family reunions, researching your family history, and relationships with your family.

Additionally, the DC Public Library provides users with access to Heritage Quest, a genealogical research databases with more than 25,000 family and local histories.

Vietnam War Architect Robert McNamara dies at 93

(Image Source: the Defense Information Systems Agency)

Robert McNamara (June 9, 1916 – July 6, 2009) died early Monday morning in his sleep at the age of 93. McNamara served as Defense Secretary for Presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson during the Vietnam War from 1961 to 1968. Following that he served as President of the World Bank from 1968 until 1981.

McNamara will always be best known for his role as the architect of the Vietnam policy in the 1960s. In his book, In Retrospect: The Tragedy and Lessons of Vietnam, he admitted that the the War, in which 58,000 Americans lost their lives was waged in error and the policy was flawed.

The DC Public Library owns wide selection of books related to the Robert McNamara. Below is a brief list of items authored by McNamara, such as:

Wilson's Ghost: Reducing the Risk of Conflict, Killing, and Catastrophe in the 21st Century. Public Affairs, 2001. 327.17 M169

Argument Without End: In Search of Answers to the Vietnam Tragedy. Public Affairs, 1999.
959.7043 M169AR

In Retrospect: The Tragedy and Lessons of Vietnam. Times Books, 1995.
959.7043 M169

Out of the Cold: New Thinking for American Foreign and Defense Policy in the 21st Century. Simon and Schuster, 1989.
327.7304 M169

Blundering into Disaster: Surviving the First Century of the Nuclear Age. Pantheon Books, 1986. 355.033 169

The Essence of Security; Reflections in Office. Harper & Row, 1968.
355.0973 M169

You can also search our databases for biographical information and articles about American defense policy during the Vietnam War.

The Social Sciences Division will have a book display during the month of July related to Robert McNamara and the Vietnam war policy. Please check it out in the East Lobby on the Second Floor.

glbt pride book displays

image source: www.flickr.com/photos/pakgwei/

cruise by the 2nd floor east lobby and peruse the sociology and religion book displays in commemoration of glbt history and the 40th anniversary of the stonewall riots. pick up a few books and a copy of President Obama's National GLBT month proclamation too!

some highlights:
locas: the maggie and hopey stories - jamie hernandez
741.5973 H557

queer 13: lesbian and gay writers recall 7th grade - ed. clifford chase
372.1826 Q3

que(e)rying religion: a critical anthology - ed. gary david comstock
200.8664 Q35

reading the l word - outing contemporary television - ed. kim akass
791.4565 R287

stonewall: the riots that started the gay revolution - david carter
306.766 C3233

transgender history - susan stryker
306.768 S928

check out http://www.capitalpride.org/ for upcoming festivities!

mas libros!

I know I know...I just posted on Friday that we received some new books... but today we got fifty more and boy do they look good!

The food of a younger land : a portrait of American food : before the national highway system, before chain restaurants, and before frozen food, when the nation's food was seasonal, regional, and traditional : from the lost WPA files - Mark Kurlansky
394.1209 F686

Catching fire : how cooking made us human - Richard Wrangham
394.12 W941

What we leave behind - DerrickJensen
304.28 J54

Faces from the land : twenty years of Powwow tradition - Ben Marra
394 M358

Democracy in print: the best of the progressive magazine 1909-2009 - Matthew Rothschild, ed.
320.573 D383

weekend reads

just a few of the new books in the sociology division

garden in a small space...
The self sufficient-ish bible: an eco-living guide for the 21st century -
Andy and Dave Hamilton
363.7 H217

read with a child...
Rhe book whisperer - Donalyn Miller
372.6 M647

find the perfect cufflinks...
Rhe handbook of style: a man's guide to looking good - Esquire magazine
391. 1 H326

and for all you alliteration lovers...
The towering world of Jimmy Choo: a glamorous story of power, profits, and the pursuit of the perfect shoe - Lauren Goldstein Crowe
391.413 C953

Memorial Day Book Display

Source: U.S. Veterans Administration

May 25th is Memorial Day. Formerly known as Decoration Day, it commemorates U.S. men and women who died while in the military service. Initially, enacted to honor Union soldiers of the American Civil War it was expanded after World War I to include American casualties of any war or military action.

The Social Sciences Division, has prepared an interesting book display to honor American military service men and women. The books include biographies, histories of the branches of the military, personal wartime accounts from World War II to the conflict in Iraq and works about women and minorities in the armed forces.

Please check out the book display on the 2nd floor of the East Lobby of the Martin Luther King Public Library.

For additional information about Memorial Day and local events please visit these websites:

Origins of Memorial Day

http://www1.va.gov/opa/feature/celebrate/docs/memday.pdf

National Memorial Day Concert, May 24, 2009

http://www.pbs.org/memorialdayconcert/concert/

National Memorial Day Parade, May 25, 2009

http://www.nationalmemorialdayparade.com/

new soc books!

One big happy family - ed. Rebecca Walker
306.8509 O58

Sex, science, and stem cells: inside the right wing assault on reason - Rep. Diane Degette
363.9609 D317

Family properties: race, real estate, and the exploitation of black urban america - Beryl Satter
363.5999 S253

Flat broke in the free market: how globalization fleeced working people - Jon Jeter
306.3 J58

and shout-out to my dear friend Carey's fancy aunt....

Class with the countess - Countess LuAnn de Lesseps
395 L638

These are just 5 out of hundreds of new titles. Check them out before I do!

Asian Pacific Islander Heritage Month Book Display

In celebration of Asian Pacific Islander Heritage Month, the Social Sciences Division has a book display in the Great Hall of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Public Library 901 G Street, NW Washington, DC 20001 related to the Asian/Pacific Islander experience in the United States, culture and biographies. Please stop by, to check out these books.

Also the social sciences librarian recently compiled a select bibliography of adult and children's materials on Asian and Pacific Islander history and culture. Also search our catalog: http://citycat.dclibrary.org/uhtbin/cgisirsi.exe/x/x/0/49 for books and other materials related to Asian/Pacific Islander Heritage.

Also check out these additional resources on the Internet:

Mayor Fenty's Asian and Pacific Islander American Heritage Month Celebration and Events http://newsroom.dc.gov/show.aspx/agency/apia/section/2/release/16833


Asian-Pacific American Heritage Month: Lighting the Past, Present and the Future
http://asianpacificheritage.gov/

Asian Pacific American Film, Inc.
http://www.apafilm.org/

Encyclopedia Smithsonian- Asian Pacific American History and Culture
http://www.si.edu/Encyclopedia_SI/History_and_Culture/AsianPacificAmerican_History.htm

Japan-America Society of Washington DC
http://www.us-japan.org/dc/

Library of Congress-Asian Division
http://www.loc.gov/rr/asian/

Our Story in History Bibliography Asian Pacific American History
http://americanhistory.si.edu/ourstoryinhistory/bibliography/searchresults.cfm?list=Asian

New books!

Tons of new books in Sociology this week.
Here is a smattering:

Mop Men is is dedicated to "Matt Dougherty."

I hope they don't mean my dad.

Too many books on genocide...

April is Genocide Prevention Month and April 2009 also marks the 15th anniversary of the genocide in Rwanda.

Voice of America has an informative blurb on the efforts taking place world-wide to bring awareness to the violence of the past and end all present and future genocide. Check out www.genocidepreventionmonth.org to learn about actions and events happening in your area and around the world.

Here at MLK Jr. Memorial Library we put up a display! An earth shattering idea- we know. The display is sitting outside the Art/History reading room and holds books on Rwanda, Darfur, Armenia, Bosnia, the Holocaust, and Cambodia. Grab a book on an area that interests you most, peruse the UN Declaration of Human Rights, or just pick up a flier on "30 things you can do during Genocide Prevention Month."

Two new titles received today were added to the table:

Mahmood Mamdani's latest- Saviors and Survivors: Darfur, Politics and the War on Terror and Gerard Prunier's Africa's World War.