Christmas 2009: Fun Links

Here's a great site if someone is tough to buy for...Try Gift Finder, a nifty online service that offers suggestions based on gender, age, interests, etc. Try it! It seems to work pretty good.

Hosting a party and want to offer something season-appropriate at the bar? Drinknation.com has a healthy selection, including the "Mistletoe Martini" & "Fog Log Nog."

The Library of Congress' "Modern History: Christmas" page.

The History Channel's History of Christmas

Louisiana Links

Where y'at? How about spending Christmas in New Orleans, maybe?

Celebration in the Oaks is the big light show that fills New Orleans' City Park with Christmas wonder every year. And, of course, the neat little train. Great for families with young kids!

If you want a few days a bit further away (without going TOO far away), The Natchitoches Christmas Festival is something to think about. It gets bigger every year until it now draws in tourists from all over the mid-south.

Louisiana Greetings lets you send a Saints or LSU greeting card.

The Chabad-Lubavitch of Louisiana has some great information about Jewish Holidays.

Anyway, we hope you have a safe and Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year from the Terrebonne Parish Library System.

Happy Birthday, Melvil Dewey!

1851-1931

158 years ago today (Dec. 10, 1851), the inventor of the Dewey Decimal System was born in Adams Center, NY.

Did you know?

>The Dewey Decimal System is proprietary, meaning that somebody--the Online Computer Library Center of Dublin, Ohio--OWNS it. And, yes, they will SUE you if you use it for profit-making purposes without their permission. No kidding.

>Before Dewey came up with and standardized his system, library collection organization varied widely from place to place...and even within the SAME place! Under "location," a catalog might say something like "Third Floor, Norton Hall, Shelf Nearest the Stairs, Shelf No. 118A." Some libraries even arranged books by size and color, regardless of content. Not very efficient.

>Dewey was obsessed with efficiency, and came up with a system that allowed library users to find a book within fields and subfields of knowledge relative to one another, rather than in relation to a fixed location or shelf number.

>The "decimal" part of the Dewey Decimal System allows the system to be infinitely expandable...there is always room for something else. For instance, the system was first formally codified in 1876, before, say, airplanes. But now we find airplanes in at 629.13 or thereabouts. 629, when it was thought up, was "Other Engineering," which is exactly what aerodynamics would have been considered in Dewey's day.

Now, none of this might sound like a really big deal, but it revolutionized library organization and made your life (and mine) a lot easier when visiting your local public library.

Get to know the Dewey Decimals System...and put it to use soon!

Pearl Harbor Day 2009

Today is the 68th anniversary of the Japanese attack on the U.S. naval fleet anchored at Pearl Harbor. That day, 2400 American servicemen died in one of the most infamous sneak attacks in all of military history.

Below are some links with some information about Pearl Harbor and American involvement in the Second World War.

The National Park Service's Pearl Harbor Attack Page

The USS Arizona Monument

The Library of Congress' Pearl Harbor Page

The National D-Day Museum's Lesson Plan "A Day of Infamy: Analyzing FDR’s Pearl Harbor Speech"

Radio Days: The Bombing of Pearl Harbor--Includes captivating, authentic radio bulletins from the Day of Infamy.

Historical Photos of the Attack, Archived by the U.S. Navy

World War Two Photos in the US Archives

When Fear Was Stronger Than Justice: Executive Order 9066

Chase Giving on Facebook

Attention Facebook users:

Please vote for the Friends of the Terrebonne Parish Public Library on the Chase Giving Facebook page. Type in "Friends of the Terrebonne Public Library" in the search box and then click “GO”.

When the page comes up, click on "Vote."

You have to become a Facebook user and a fan to vote, and you're allowed to vote 20 times!

All the money raised goes to the Friends, and then back to us at the library!

PS. Please pass this along to your Facebook friends. Post it on your page in your status update, and let everyone know!

National Write a Business Plan Month 2009

December is National Write a Business Plan Month and users of the Terrebonne Parish Library System are in luck!

Among our many amazing and useful databases is the Gale Small Business Resource Center which includes "Sample Business Plans" for various types of businesses.

Also, in our Gale Virtual Reference Library , we offer the Business Plans Handbook, which, in the appendix, has a blank business plan one can cut, paste, and fill in.

The quick links at the bottom of this page are searchable; just enter terms, click, and start using Gale!

Also, don't forget the many business plan books we have in the library's collection...click here to see what our online card catalog has to offer.





Remember: writing a business plan might be your first step to financial independence.