New Map Database

The Terrebonne Parish Library now subscribes to a cool, new database.

A to Z Maps Online, a product of World Trade Press, is a huge database of maps from all around the world (all royalty-free), including weather maps, fishing maps (of our area), topographic maps and some historical maps and aerial photos of important cities. But there's even more than that.

A to Z Maps Online explains that it:

"...is the worlds largest subscription-based database of proprietary, royalty-free world, continent, country, and state maps. Included in the 4,000+ maps are: political maps, physical maps, outline maps, population maps, precipitation maps, climate maps, and other thematic maps. New maps are added to the collection every month."

To use this FREE service, just click on the above link (a link on the library's website should be up soon), and enter your library card number in the box on the upper right. Then, pick what kind of map you want to look at in the menu on the left. OR, just click on on one of the maps to the right! It's fun just to browse and see what's in there!

If you have any questions, e-mail the reference department and let us know.

Hurricane Season: Be Ready!

On June 1st begins Hurricane Season 2009. We all learned a tough lesson last year as Hurricane Gustav decided to make this area his target and sent many of us packing in a general evacuation.

Well, until November 30th, we're under the threat of hurricanes again, and it might be a good idea to read up on just how we can make ourselves more ready and thus safer this year.

Preparedness Links

Terrebonne Readiness and Assistance Coalition

Louisiana Governor's Office: Get a Game Plan

National Hurricane Center's "Be Prepared" Website

Louisiana Department of Transportation Contraflow Maps--Must be printed in "landscape."

The Department of Health and Human Services Hurricane Preparedness Tips

Hurricane Supply Checklist

The Red Cross Hurricane Evacuation Supply Checklist

Weather Monitoring

The National Weather Service's Hurricane Center

Stormpulse Hurricane tracking

NOAA Hurricane Tracking Chart--Print and use.

International Guitar Month

April is International Guitar Month! That's right: we're halfway through the month of the instrument of Jimi Hendrix, B.B. King, Jimmy Page, Andres Segovia and Matteo Carcassi.

So what can you do? How about buying a guitar? The Houma-Thibodaux area has many great music stores with new and used guitars available and most offer lessons.

If you already own a guitar, learn to play by checking out a book about guitar playing from the Terrebonne Parish Library System!

There are also many great online sources for guitar players:

Online guitar chord chart--Even has links that play the chord when you click it so you can hear how it sounds.

Freeguitarvideos.com has neat online guitar lessons complete with detailed video explanations of what they're teaching you. Clear views of the teachers' hands.

Free guitar lessons for beginners by about.com.

Need to tune a guitar? Here's an online tuner that makes life a lot easier for guitarists. Just select your desired tuning (standard, drop D, double drop D) and pluck away.

If you want more information about the library's resources for musicians of all stripes, call or email the Reference Department. The phone number is 985-876-1733. You can also contact us via online chat! You can find the "Instant Librarian" chat box on the front page of our website.

Database of the Week: ReferenceUSA

You need to find the phone number to the headquarters of the business whose product just broke on you...Or maybe you're curious about a high school friend's whereabouts; is he still in Louisiana?...Or perhaps you or someone you know is a salesperson looking for sales leads...Or maybe you're just curious about who lives within a mile of you...

ReferenceUSA is a database the Terrebonne Parish Library System subscribes to to make it easier for our patrons to find telephone numbers for businesses and residences all over the United States. You can find a convenient link to the database on our website or at the website of the Louisiana Library Conection/Consortium, a collaborative service of individual parish libraries and the State Library of Louisiana.

Click here to take a look at a handy user's guide to the ReferenceUSA Business module.

Lions Club Eyeglass Recycling

Do you have some old eyeglasses? Maybe your prescription has changed or they're just not quite your style anymore? Don't throw them away!



From now until April 24th, you can bring your old glasses to any branch of the Terrebonne Parish Library System and drop them off and we'll make sure they get into the hands of the Lions Club International. The Lions Club collects and reuses prescription glasses for charity. Children's glasses are especially needed, according to the Lions Club, so consider whether that pair of eyeglasses collecting dust for sentimental reasons might do more good on the face of a child squinting at the blackboard somewhere.

For more information, contact the Terrebonne Parish Library at 985-876-5158. Or email us. You can read more about the Lions Club eyeglass recycling program here:

"Lions Recycle For Sight"

Lung Cancer/COPD Awareness Month

Ever been around somebody smoking a cigarette? Don't they smell terrible? They don't look so hot, either. Well, November is LUNG CANCER AWARENESS MONTH and COPD AWARENESS MONTH, so you might take the opportunity to tap your friend on the shoulder and say, "Hey! You don't just look and smell bad, but you're killing yourself and possibly me!" Then, direct them to this blog so that they might explore the following links:

Lung Cancer

The National Cancer Institute's Lung Cancer Page--has so much good, solid information laid out so neatly that it makes you feel like a medical professional just to look at it. Includes an amazing Dictionary of Cancer Terms.

The American Cancer Society has chapters all over America with support and information for victims of the disease.

Medline Plus is the user-friendly interface of the National Library of Medicine.

And what if you DO get diagnosed? Cancer.net has a find an oncologist database that helps you find a doctor who can treat it.

COPD

What, exactly, IS COPD? Once again, the National Library of Medicine can help.

The American Lung Association's COPD Center has great information about the disease.

The Mayo Clinic's COPD page is very easy to use and well-organized.

About.com's COPD page is run by a registered nurse with respiratory therapy expertise...and a useful and informative blog.

This article from Medline tells us the number one cause of COPD: smoking.

Resources for Veterans

Today is Veterans' Day, when America honors all those who have served the country in the military. The Terrebonne Parish Library Reference Department has put together some links to information that veterans and their families might find useful.

The U.S. Department of Veteran's Affairs is dedicated to providing quality care and service for America's former servicemen.

VA Home Loan Guaranty Services provides home loan and mortgage information to veterans.

Housing and Urban Development has many housing programs for veterans worth looking into.

Mental health resources for returning veterans can be found at the website of SAMHSA, the Substance Abuse & Mental Health Services Administration.

The Louisiana Department of Veterans Affairs tries its best to help veterans--especially those returning from service overseas--find the help and services they need.

The National World War Two Memorial has message boards, a registry and an e-store for veterans of the watershed conflagration.

The Korean War Memorial homepage has information about the monument and the war it commemorates.

The Vietnam Memorial Wall page has information about the memorial and a tool to search for names on the face of the monument.

American Diabetes Month

Around here, a lot of folks get diabetes and it makes many of them sick. Genetics, poor diet and lifestyle make south Louisianians of all stripes sitting ducks for the malady. Diabetes, on a personal note, lead to the death of my father. For the most part, however, the kind of diabetes that Americans get is adult-onset and is preventable. The key to knowing how to prevent it is knowledge, and the Internet is chock full of good anti-diabetes information.

The American Diabetes Association has information for laypeople, doctors and even the newly diagnosed, telling people how to avoid the disease or how to manage it if they have it.

Medline Plus, a service of the National Library of Medicine, is a top-notch source of information on all health topics, but has especially good information on diabetes.

The National Diabetes Information Clearinghouse (NDIC) is a service of the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, a sub-group of the National Institutes of Health.

The Center for Disease Control's Diabetes Public Health Resource has up-to-the-minute information on diabetes prevention and treatment.


The Mayo Clinic Diabetes Center has a useful question-and-answer section.

Nutrition.gov is the government's website telling us what scientific research says is a good idea to eat--and not to eat.

So that could get you started. Also, be sure to check out the library's card catalog to see what we have in the system about diabetes.

I do hate to be dramatic, but it might just save your life.

Where to Vote and Sample Ballot 11/4/2008

So you want to vote next Tuesday and you might not be sure where to go or what's going to be on the ballot here in Terrebonne Parish? Okay, let's take a look.

First, you'll need to find out what precinct you live in. The ballot will vary slightly in each. To find out exactly which precinct you live in and which polling place you should use, try going here: LOUISIANA SECRETARY OF STATE POLLING LOCATOR. Just type in your name or address, and it will tell you which precinct is yours. Be sure to follow the data entry instructions at the bottom of the form. A bit of a hassle, I know, but isn't democracy worth it?

After you have your precinct number, you can look at a sample ballot for your precinct in Terrebonne Parish here: TERREBONNE PARISH SAMPLE BALLOT PAGE. Click on your precinct number in the long list of numbers on the page. Voila'! You're an informed voter!

If you have any questions, call the Terrebonne Parish Library Information Service at 985-876-5158 ext. 201 or the Terrebonne Parish Registrar of voters at 985-873-6533.

Louisiana Constitutional Amendments & Genealogy Link Reminder

Part One

Every time the State of Louisiana has an election with its confusingly-worded constitutional amendments, the good folks at the Public Affairs Research Council of Louisiana, Inc. publish nifty voter guides that put it all in plain English so that we who didn't go to law school can figure out just what it is they're asking us to vote on.

Best of all, the guides are in handy PDF form so that you can download them, print them, and even hand them out if you want to. Take a look at the 2008 amendments. And VOTE!



Part Two

Even though the website seems to have sat fallow for a good while, there are still some great links featured on the website of the State Library of Louisiana. Especially useful to Louisiana genealogists is the page with "Online Genealogy Sources." As you look through them, you'll notice many are Louisiana-specific and that even those that aren't can be useful to Louisianians who know how to "work it."

If you're interested in your family history, be sure to visit the Reference and Genealogy Department on the second floor of the Main Library in Houma.