File your federal taxes online and securely for free!
It's tax season, and we are offering free tax help at Main (and other locations), as in prior years. This year, the IRS is also providing some help in the form of software called Free File, which lets you prepare and e-file your federal return for free if your income is under $58,000/year. If your income is higher, you can still use free fillable forms online. Join the 33 million Americans who have used this service and saved money!
What do you know about Shirley Temple, Sid Caesar and other Hollywood stars?
Hollywood lost two of its notables this week.
Shirley Temple, America's Darling, died Monday, February 10, at the age of 85. She was one of the most popular child actors, beginning her career at the age of 3; by the time she was 10 she was a box office sensation. She sang, she danced, she charmed. Her box office power has been credited with saving 20th Century Fox from bankruptcy during the Great Depression.
On Wednesday we learned of the death of pioneering TV comic Sid Caesar at 91. He was best known for the
brilliant Your Show of Shows which aired in the early 1950s. He also appeared in films like Grease and It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World.
Research the most sustainable seafood options with the free Seafood Watch Pocket Guide, available at 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.
New Words and How to Find 'Em
"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. What sources do
A little bit about how the library uses the Dewey Decimal System to organize ALL HUMAN KNOWLEDGE!
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
Super Bowl Sunday is this Sunday. Get ready with some selected reads and films about this major sporting event!
Super Bowl Sunday is coming up! It's this Sunday, February 2. The library has a number of titles to get you ready for the big day. Read about the social customs surrounding Sunday with this book, "Sunday : a history of the first day from Babylonia to the Super Bowl". Or if you're concerned about the future of football in America, you might enjoy "More than a game : the
OpenOakland offers a variety of open access tools for accessing local government information. Check out the following tools for details!
OpenOakland, a civic innovation organization that is part of the Code for America Brigade program, brings together coders, designers, journalists, community members, and city staff to collaborate on solutions to improve how local government serves Oakland residents. They've developed the following tools:
Discover the beauty "secrets" of French women from bestselling author Mireille Guiliano.
As a book reviewer for the library world’s trade publication Library Journal (LJ), I review a lot of lifestyle and personal grooming titles. In the past few years, there’s been a flurry of publications on the “beauty secrets” of French women. If current popular thought is correct, the French surpass their American counterparts in physique, confidence, style and a certain je na so quoi. Style mavens demanded to know exactly what was behind the French feminine mystique. How do French women indulge in decadent desserts, buttery-rich cuisine, robust wines--- and stay slim? Mireille Guiliano provided some insightful answers in her worldwide bestseller French Women Don’t Get Fat. Several
Get the latest fuel economy data from the EPA and DOE, for 2014 model year cars.
Every year, the Department of Energy (DOE) and the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) publish an annual report featuring fuel economy data for new model year cars, SUVs, and light trucks. You can find printed copies of this guide at the Reference Desk. You can also check out the cooresponding fuel economy website, www.fueleconomy.gov. You can find fuel economy data for cars back to 1984, and you can even do side-by-side comparisons for different cars. The site also includes fuel-saving tips and gas price calculators.
Introducing the Main Library blog
Welcome to the Oakland Public Library’s newest blog, “From the Main Library.” Reference librarians will be blogging in this space about the Main Library’s resources, programs, and collections. We’ll also be sharing tips on research so you can get the most out of what your library has to offer. (It’ll be all “The Desk Set” meets “Party Girl” with a little “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” thrown in for fun.)
Statistics show that in public libraries the number of reference questions asked by our patrons have declined since the dawn of the internet -- though many days we wonder where this statistic comes from. Our reference librarians have observed, though, that the questions you ask us are getting harder. Once you’ve Googled the living daylights out of your difficult questions you