From the Main Library

The Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch program helps you make the most sustainable choices in seafood to help keep our oceans healthy. You can pick up your very own wallet-sized copy of the Pocket Guide at the Main Library's community information area. Also, if you have a smartphone, you can also download the free Seafood Watch App for Android and iPhones - you can share restaurants with others that have downloaded the app, and also use an interactive Sushi Guide that lists seafood by the by the Japanese name as well as the common market name. 

"Bombogenesis."  Did you run across this word last week?  I heard that word on the radio and wanted to know
right away what it meant.  Turns out it's a weather word. 

Remember how the East Coast started January with the "polar vortex" while we basked in our freakishly warm weather?  Well, after the polar vortex had gone away, in came "bombogenesis."  According to AccuWeather.com -- a website that I really like -- "bombogenesis" describes a storm that usually forms over water.  Cold and warm air clash, causing the storm to intensify rapidly.  In a bombogenesis the atmospheric pressure at the center of the storm must drop 24 millibars in 24 hours.  Drops like a bomb. Weather experts also call this kind of storm an "extratropical surface cyclone." 

But back to this nifty new word.

If you've been to the library you know we have a LOT of books, and if you've been to the reference desk you know that we can usually guide you directly to the area for a topic you're interested in or to a specific book. This is possible not because librarians know everything, but because we know how to use the Dewey Decimal System. 

The first thing to know about Dewey is that it uses numbers to represent subjects. Almost any subject you can think of has a corresponding Dewey number. We use Dewey to organize nonfiction materials at all of the Oakland Public Libraries. Other sections (like fiction, biography, and test prep) are arranged alphabetically.

Each book in the nonfiction section has its own Dewey call number, which makes it easy to find the area for a topic or to find a specific item. You can browse all the cookbooks or all the sheet music, but you can also go straight to the book you want.

Dewey numbers are formed one digit at a time, starting from the left.

The T