Music - A Year in Review

In July 2011 we launched our Friday night After Hours music program here at the library.  I've had a wonderful time hosting the events and  I hope you've enjoyed them as well.  For those of you who weren't able to attend the programs or are just learning about them now, I would like to offer a quick recap of our 2011 performances.


We opened the series with Craig & the Frenchman.  Craig and Philippe played acoustic guitar and sang folk songs in both English and French.  Here is an interview written about the duo prior to their concert.  In August, Caryn Lin brought her electric violin to the library and filled the space with unique sounds that delighted everyone, especially the children who got the opportunity to create their own sounds on the electric violin in front of the entire audience.

Craig Hoek and Philippe Dardour



Caryn Lin giving violin lesson to young patron

Jazz reigned in September and October.  First, Shenole Latimer educated and entertained us with his program, "What's all that Jazz About?" In October, Nelson Riveros and his band had everyone wishing they knew how to salsa when they played their intoxicating Brazilian Jazz music.

Shenole Latimer

Nelson Riveros and his Brazilian Jazz Band

In November Giovanni Padovano aka, "The Ironbound Crooner", serenaded us with his own original music and the stories behind the lyrics. Our last concert of 2011 got everyone in the holiday spirit as The Festive Flutes played one familiar holiday tune after another.

Giovanni Padovano "The Ironbound Crooner"

The Festive Flutes

We are excited to continue our Friday night After Hours Music program into 2012.  Our first concert will be on Friday, February 10th at 7:00 PM.  We're kicking off the year with a bang as we welcome  our very own Matawan Regional High School Jazz band to the library.  Please join us in supporting these aspiring musicians and I'm sure they're surprise you with their talents! 

Selected Links - a new feature!

Have you ever wanted to find good, quality information on an important topic, yet your search engine keeps turning up commercial sites or useless information?  In order to help you locate high quality results we have created a section on our website called Selected Links.  You can find Selected Links under Helpful Reference on the left-hand side of our homepage, or you can simply click here.

Selected Links is divided into four different categories:

• Health
• Legal Resources
• Business & Finance
• Seniors

If you hover over any of the four categories you’ll see a drop down menu with an assortment of excellent websites on that topic.  For example, since it is tax season you might be looking for information about New Jersey tax forms.  If you hover over Business & Finance you’ll see the State of New Jersey Department of the Treasury.  Click on this link and you’ll be taken directly to the Division of Taxation where you’ll find everything you need to know about filing your New Jersey taxes.

The internet contains tons of outstanding websites on countless different subjects but we have purposely kept Selected Links small to give you a chance to explore the links without feeling overwhelmed.  Let us know if you like this feature and we'll be happy to expand it to include many more topics and websites in an easy to use format.

It's Real on Reel: A Documentary Series

Many of the DVDs that circulate from our library entertain, but we also have a growing collection of instructional and documentary films.  Matawan Aberdeen Public Library is sharing some of these films in a series we are calling “It’s Real on Reel: A Documentary Series”.  Okay, we don’t have the reels, but films often still involve reels for theater display, so I’m sticking with the title.

Documentary is a slippery term. It used to be about depicting things as they are, or in the case of historical events, as they were, in a supposedly truthful or objective manner.  Documentaries were observational, acting as a “fly on the wall”.  Now, more and more documentary filmmaking is all about ethics, politics and an aesthetic approach, and as such it is a highly subjective or personal matter.  The films we have chosen for this series more closely fit this approach.

Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead (Monday, January 23) chronicles Joe Cross’s journey, figuratively and literally, as he adheres to a strict juice diet, while also traveling across America, speaking with Americans about diet, nutrition and health. Joe is morbidly obese and suffers from an auto-immune disease. While on his trek, he meets Phil who is even more overweight and suffers from the same auto-immune disease. The changes in both men’s lives are amazing to watch.

Inside Job (Monday, January 30) has producer/director Charles Ferguson speaking at length with journalists, politicians, and financial insiders in order to offer a clearer picture of the economic meltdown that hit America starting in 2008. Academy Award winner Matt Damon narrates this unflinching look at the deep-rooted corruption that has left millions of middle-class Americans jobless and homeless as the major corporations get bailed out while paying millions in bonuses.

Page One- Inside the New York Times (Monday, February 13) examines the transformation of the media industry at its time of greatest turmoil. Editors and publishers grapple with challenges like the Internet, small screen computers, and readers' expectations that news online should be free. Page One gives an up-close look at the vibrant cross-cubicle debates and collaborations, tenacious jockeying for on-the-record quotes, and skillful page-one pitching that produce the "daily miracle" of a great news organization.

Gasland (Monday, February 27) documents Josh Fox's cross-country odyssey to find out if the controversial process of hydraulic fracturing - or fracking - is actually safe. Fracking is personal to him since he has been offered large money for fracking rights on his land. Josh learns of things gone horribly wrong, from illness to hair loss to flammable water, and his inquiries lead him ever deeper into a web of secrets, lies, conspiracy, and contamination. Unearthing a shocking story about a practice that is understudied and inadequately regulated, GASLAND races to find answers about fracking before it's far too late.

While these filmmakers’ motivations were personal, they cover topics that impact us all. All films are going to be shown on a Monday at 7:00 pm so please join us as we screen these real reels.

Jeanette Walker- Adult Services Librarian

Financial Literacy in 2012

 The new year will be here before we know it and this means resolutions.  How many of you resolve to get your finances in order year after year?  Are you planning to do this in 2012? Well, we are here to help you. This winter we will be working with the Society for Financial Awareness (SOFA) to bring you financial education seminars on a variety of topics.  SOFA is a non-profit corporation that works with companies, family businesses, and community groups to offer free educational programs to the public. Check out their website for more information about SOFA.

Since there are so many possible seminar topics, we are asking you to choose which ones you would like the experts to present.   You can choose from topics such as Getting "Fiscally Fit", College Planning, Understanding 401k Rollovers, Legal Lessons for Life, and several others.  The library is currently conducting a survey to help decide on the topics for our upcoming seminars. Click here to take the survey and be entered to win a 2.0 GB Flashdrive/MP3 player combo. The deadline to take the survey is December 22nd. Look for the upcoming seminar announcements in late January!

eReader Hour at MAPL

Questions about eReaders are quickly becoming the most popular inquiry at our library. With the holidays approaching we are pretty sure some of you will be unwrapping a new Kindle, Nook, iPad, or Kobo this winter. Your new eReader will probably come with many questions. How do I borrow free ebooks from the library? How do I turn this thing on? What's the difference between an Adobe EPUB EBook and Kindle Book? Luckily, the library has your answers. You can bring your eReader, or your eReader questions, to the library Monday nights from 7 pm to 8 pm for our eReader Hour. We can show you how to navigate your device, borrow free books from ListenNJ, transfer books from your computer, check your account, and answer any other questions you may have.

If you can't make it into the library at that time, we have many other resources that can help. You can take one of the "cheat sheets" next to the reference desk, or find an online version of them on our website by clicking the "eReader Guide" link on the left side of our home page. You can click here to go there now.

Happy reading and listening!

This post was written by our Computer Assistant, Curtis Clark.

Jersey Shore Authors

“Are you from Jersey? What exit?” Everyone knows the old joke. But as a true New Jerseyan, you know that our state is rich in natural beauty, culture and historical significance. Perhaps that’s why it attracts such a wealth of authors of both fiction and non-fiction. This month, the library is showcasing the Jersey Shore Authors. And, no, I don’t mean Snooki and the Situation. No matter what kind of book you enjoy, there’s an author that’s right for you. The queen of suspense, Mary Higgins Clark, makes her home in Spring Lake and Saddle River. She’s added two new books, I’ll Walk Alone and The Shadow of Your Smile, to her already impressive body of work. And, straight from international headlines, is the heart-wrenching story of Tinton Falls resident David Goldman, and his five-year custody battle to get his son back from Brazil. You can read about it in his book, A Father’s Love: One Man’s Unrelenting Battle to Bring His Abducted Son Home. Please visit MAPL’s display on Jersey Shore Authors, and pick up a brochure that features these titles and more titles by other great local authors.

We are thrilled to have one of these Jersey Shore residents/writers coming to the library to discuss her book, Looking Through A Keyhole: A Memoir, this Saturday, November 12th at 2pm. Come and meet Julia Spencer and her seeing eye-dog, Irene. Anyone struggling with a
life-altering condition will find her story inspiring and motivating. Hear about her fears, her hopes, and her most candid responses to her visual loss and how she prevails over adversities. There will be a Q & A, book signing and her books will be available for purchasefor $16.

To register for this event, please stop by the library or contact Jill at (732) 583-9100 or email jstafford@lmxac.org.

This post was written by Susie Benanti.

Take advantage of Overdrive Advantage!

By now most people are aware that you can checkout and download free ebooks and audiobooks from the library through ListenNJ. (Please see my post from May 31, 2011 if you would like a summary of ListenNJ). Listen NJ is a program we share with many other libraries throughout New Jersey and because the program is shared with so many, there is often a wait period for new releases and other popular titles. To decrease this wait period, the Matawan Aberdeen Public Library is purchasing additional copies of popular ebooks through a program called Overdrive Advantage. These additional copies are available only to the patrons at the Matawan Aberdeen Public Library so your wait time for these titles will be significantly reduced or nonexistant. At the same time, you also have access to all of the books available to everyone in the Libraries of Middlesex Automation Consortium.

To take advantage of the program you'll need to sign into ListenNJ with your library card as soon as you see the above yellow and orange sunburst icon. This icon lets you know which titles are part of the Advantage program, and while we don't own every title that is part of the Advantage program, we are constantly adding new titles just as we are always getting new books into the library. Hopefully you will now notice a decrease in the wait time for that ebook you've been dying to read!