Welcome

Director's Welcome
Welcome to the Franklin Public Library Blog. A place to find out what's happening at the library. We invite you to explore this site and welcome your ideas and suggestions on what you would like to see and how we can better serve you. Our success depends on your constructive feedback and we thank you for your support as we continue to explore ways to inform, excite, and enrich your library experience.

October 25, 2010

Database of the Month - Ancestry Library Edition


Everyone in the throws of a genealogy project is familiar with Ancestry.com, which is available for a subscription price to individuals.  Did you know there is also a Library Edition of Ancestry.com that is accessible for free(!) here at the Franklin Library?  Because the database does not allow for home access, you must visit the library to do your searching.  Here are some highlights of what is available inside Ancestry Library Edition:

ANCESTRY LIBRARY EDITION provides unprecedented access to family history via documents that record the lineage of individuals from North America, the U.K., Europe, Australia, and more. MAJOR CONTENT COLLECTIONS INCLUDE: U.S. collections contain hundreds of millions of records, including every-name indexed U.S. Federal Census records (1790-1930); U.S. Immigration collections, including ship lists (1820-
1960), Mexican and Canadian border crossings (1890s to 1950s), and U.S. Passport Applications (1795-1925); and vital records including the widely consulted Social Security Death Index.

Canadian collections provide nearly 60 million records, including new 1851, 1901, 1906, and 1911 Census of Canada; and vital records, such as the Drouin Collection (1621-1967), the largest and most valuable French-Canadian family history resource available.

United Kingdom collections including U.K. Census records for England, Wales, Isle of Man, Channel Islands, and Scotland—1841 to 1901, with nearly 200 million records; and parish vital records for England and Wales starting in the 1500s.

German collections including more than 8 million records from census, vital records,
emigration indexes, ship lists; and phone directories (1915-1981) with millions of
names for five of Germany's major cities.

Jewish collections developed in partnership with Jewish Gen include more than 30 individual collections covering North America, Europe, the Holocaust, and more.

Military collections deliver over 150 million records containing information often not found elsewhere; includes records from colonial to the Vietnam era.

Other worldwide collections include expanded coverage in Germany, France, Sweden, Italy, Australia, and China.


October 14, 2010

Adventures on the Web: Learning in your jammies



My sister is a preschool teacher.  Today she came from the school to the library to pick up her requested books and I happened to notice that she was wearing this comfy looking cotton outfit covered in little black and gray Halloween bats. It looked suspiciously like…p-jays.  “It was pajama day at school!” she informs me. Then I started thinking how cool it would have been if my sisters and I could have gone to school every day in our jammies instead of scratchy sweaters and noisy corduroys.  Two great things could have happened:

  1. We would have been relaxed and mellow and happy to learn and expand our minds!!!
  2. We would have made it to school on time…occasionally.

Okay, maybe not. But today, with the internet at our every whim and disposal, we CAN learn in our jammies  Here are some free websites where you can learn anything from Pythagorean theorem to ballroom dancing.

Teach yourself sign language - http://commtechlab.msu.edu/sites/aslweb/
Free online courses from the University of Washington (Shakespeare, Civil War, Greek Mythology & more - http://www.extension.washington.edu/openuw/
Links to many websites to learn math, math and more math - http://math.whatcom.ctc.edu/content/Links.phtml?cat=3
Christian Theology courses - http://worldwide-classroom.com/
CPR courses from University of Washington School of Medicine - http://depts.washington.edu/learncpr/
John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health’s wide range of health courses from Genetics to Nutrition- http://ocw.jhsph.edu/
Tell your friends you went to MIT! Good selection of courses in a variety of disciplines - http://ocw.mit.edu/index.htm
Math, Science and computer programming at Better Explained - http://betterexplained.com/
Khan Academy – enormous selection of courses in Algebra, Physics, Calculus, Statistics, History, etc - http://www.khanacademy.org/
As Promised, Ballroom Dancing! - http://www.ballroomdancers.com/

October 6, 2010

Halloween Fun at the Library

October 4, 2010

Sparky's Puppets


Saturday, October 30,2010  Sparky's Puppets presents "A Halloween Harvest" at 1 pm.  This show is suitable for ages 3 and up.  No registration is required and is funded by the Friends of the Franklin Public Library.

TEEN MOVIE

TEEN NEWS