Holiday Season at Turner Memorial Library

Mark and Emily Turner Memorial Library has had several activities going on to help pass the winter months. Recently, Stew Libby from Stew's Downtown Sight & Sound held an information meeting in our multi-purpose room about the upcoming digital television conversion. He has offered to return in February when the changeover goes live in case anyone is still having problems. Author Dr. Mark Varnum gave a very well attended reading and signing of his book Hawk's Cross. The Turner Book Club is meeting twice monthly. The Turner Writers Group meets one Monday per month. A local bell-ringing group will be performing Christmas songs at the library in our multi-purpose room on Thursday, December 18, at 6 pm. And there will be a reception for artist Cheryl Lovely on Friday, December 19, at 6 pm in our art gallery.

For those of you who follow our library's activities in Second Life, we recently has a reading by author Mark Budman from his book My Life at First Try. We have copies of this excellent novels available at our physical library on 39 Second Street in Presque Isle as well. We also have two new virtual libraries going up in Cybrary Square, one dedicated to the music of the Big Band Era and one to help job seekers and employers access some helpful services available on the Internet.

The library will be closed on Thursday, December 25, and again on Thursday, January 1. We will also be closing at 1:00 on Wednesday, December 24.

Technology and Health Fairs

Mark and Emily Turner Memorial Library was very pleased to be able to have a booth at the University of Maine at Presque Isle Tech Fair on Friday, October 10. There were several excellent presenters in attendance. The library was able to showcase our virtual library in Second Life, which caught the attention of several people passing by. We also were able to let people know about a new link we have set up, which will be available in the Online Services section of the library's website, which links to many, many free and/or open source utilities and applications on the Internet. You can access that link below:

Free Web Utilities Reference Link

This is something we will be able to update continually with a couple of simple mouse clicks. If you have any questions or comments about the tools or sites that are listed there, please do let us know.

Our Seniors Group is next meeting on Wednesday, October 15, from noon until 2 pm. Our presenter this week will Michelle Sandelier, who is Vice President of the Clan MacKay. We thank her very much for the last-minute scheduling. The group will meet in the Multi-Purpose Room.

The library will also be having a booth along with The Aroostook Medical Center on Saturday, October 25, from 8 in the morning until 12 noon at the University of Maine at Presque Isle Health Fair. We have several wonderful prizes and give-aways lined up, with deepest thanks going to the Presque Isle Elks Club for making that possible.

For those who have inquired, we are still making plans to show the film “Quid Pro Quo” and have a discussion following that with a community educator from the Aroostook Mental Heath Center. Please watch this space for a date and time.

We are also working to bring our next featured artist into the Multi-Purpose Room and Art Gallery, hopefully in time for the holidays. Again, please watch this space for further details as we get them.

Finally, you will notice an item at the top of each blog entry now which says “Listen Now.” We are trying a new feature on our blog which translates text to audio, which can then be played straight from your computer or added to an mp3 player or iTunes. We are in hopes that this might be of some help to those who like to keep up to date on the go or who might have issues with vision. Odiogo offers this service. Again, we welcome your feedback as always.

Events!

Busy days at Mark & Emily Turner Memorial Library. We recently celebrated Banned Books Week, an annual observation of books which have been challenged or banned over the years, as a reminder of the needed diligence for intellectual freedom and access. Our thanks to WAGM-TV for visiting the display in our multi-purpose room.

Today some of our staff had the exciting opportunity to speak with some librarians live from Bogota, Colombia, through Second Life, who are interested in learning more from us about virtual librarianship. This wonderful opportunity was made possible by the US Embassy.

The library will be having a booth at a couple of upcoming events at the University of Maine in Presque Isle: The first will be on Friday, October 10, from 10-5 for the Tech Fair; the second will be on Saturday, October 25, from 8-12 for the Health Fair, and we will be joined by TAMC. The Presque Isle Elks Club has made several VERY generous donations for prizes and giveaways - especially for young people - with a health and wellness theme. We thank them deeply and hope that you will come along and visit Miss Sue and Lisa Shaw at the booth.

The Senior Club will be meeting on Wednesday, October 15th, from 12-2. As usual, lunch will be provided, and we are awaiting final confirmation on a very exciting musical performance!

We thank you all for your continued membership at the library. There is much going on behind the scenes to make this a valuable and exciting place to be. Check our website for upcoming events, and please do let us know when there is something that YOU would like to see!

Second Life

We get a lot of questions about Second Life. Here is a Second Life slideshow for those who haven't joined and want to learn more about Second Life.

Find more photos like this on Second Life Librarians

Second Life

If you have already established a free account on Second Life (SL), created your avatar, and entered into this virtual world, we hope you have visited the Mark & Emily Turner Library in SL.

A Relay for Life Donation Station to support the American Cancer Society has just been put up in our SL library. Stop by and visit and make a donation.



Relay for Life History

If you have never heard of Second Life and wish to learn more, stop into the library and we'll arrange to give you an online tour.

We have recently received two new books on Second Life:

I, Avatar by Mark Stephen Meadows

The Making of Second Life by Wagner James Au

Second Life

You may have seen the recent story on WAGM-TV about the Mark & Emily Turner Memorial Library in Second Life. If you are already in Second Life, thanks for visiting our library, and if you are new to Second Life, we encourage you to stop by for a visit.

What is Second Life?

Second Life (SL) is a 3D online virtual world created by its users. You simply create an account, create a name for yourself, and create an avatar (a computer-designed representation of yourself). Your avatar can be anything you want it to be and can look however you wish.

If you want to learn more about Second Life, need help creating an avatar, or want to take a tour of the Mark & Emily Turner Memorial Library in SL, contact Sonja Plummer-Morgan at sonjaplummer@presqueisle.lib.me.us

Second Life

What is Second Life

Wikipedia Article on Second Life

Second Life Blog

Second Life Glossary