According to the study:

• The average eBook user reads almost ten more books a year than non-eBook users
• 42 percent of those who read digital content say they now spend more time reading than they did before, whether it's in bed or on the go
• Women are reading more than men 

Since only 29 percent of Americans currently own an eReader or tablet, those figures are sure to grow!

And because the Wallkill Public Library supports reading in all formats, we'll soon be loaning out a Kindle and a Nook! Keep a lookout for more information!

The new library catalog is still in the process of being fine-tuned, and we appreciate your continued patience. We understand certain technical glitches coupled with the novelty of the Enterprise system have caused some frustration, but eventually it's hoped the catalog will be as intuitive as possible.

Some of the advantages of the new catalog include:

• The ability to choose any RCLS library as your pickup location for ordered materials
• The option to suspend your Holds when going on vacation without losing your place in the queue
• Seamless navigation between searching for materials and placing holds or creating wish lists
• The availability of current best-seller lists for browsing

Don't hesitate to ask at the circulation desk for more information or help!  

It can be a daunting task putting your experience in writing, knowing that that piece of paper will be the first impression you make on a potential employer.

With the Resume Builder, you can create a professional resume that outlines your qualifications and highlights your skills and accomplishments.

Enter your information (with more than 1,000 brainstorming phrases to help you get started), choose a design, and let the Resume Builder expertly format your resume for you. When you're finished, you'll receive your resume as a word document, so you can print and mail it. You'll also be able to e-mail copies of your resume directly to employers and schools.

This is just one of many critical tools offered to degree- and job-seekers via the Ulster County InfoPortal, where you'll find the Gale Testing and Education Reference Center as well as a host of other great resources! 

Another study was in the news last week questioning whether technology is making us stupid.  I don't own a "Smartphone," only a dumb, cheap cell phone, so I can't talk to it like they do on those commercials and ask ridiculous questions like "Is it raining?"  I still am capable of looking out the window to figure that out on my own. (I prefer to hang on to my last remaining brain cells.) Yet, I have to wonder about my dependency on technology as I couldn't tell you anyone's phone number anymore since they are programmed into my phone;  I Google questions all of the time way before I have taken a few moments to ponder them;  and I go through serious withdrawal when my Internet goes down and I can't access my e-mail.  Even though I text "like a Grandma," according my 13-year-old, I have also become rather dependent on that form of quick communication, as well.  Access to technology has made me lazier, but that downward slide started with the advent of the hand-held calculator (yes, I was alive for that!) which has made me so dependent I can't add anything with more than three digits (and forget about division)! 

            Advancements in methods to access, store, distribute and calculate information are nothing new, they are just happening at a faster rate than ever before.  I have to figure that those guys who spent so much time carving information onto the clay tablets thousands of years ago would have been pretty impressed with Gutenberg for creating the printing press.  Think of the time that was saved!  That's the category I put it in - time saving (you may call it laziness, if you like), but I would rather spend my time creating ideas and programs then wasting it trying to find stuff or ending up in long conversations with people that I just wanted to leave a brief message for.  What I worry about, however, is obsession. I can still live without my cell phone for a day if I happen leave it on the dining room table.  Can you?

An image sticks in my mind from this past Mother's Day.  As my family dined on the Newburgh riverfront on that gorgeous day, talking and laughing with Mom and enjoying being together, I happened to glance over at the table beside ours.  There sat a young mom furiously typing into her Smartphone while her 5-year-old daughter sat beside her watching a movie on a DVD player.  When her husband sat down, he reached for his cell phone and starting swiping and typing.  It was almost surreal.  No one was talking, no one was communicating - at least not with the family members at the table.  It went on like that until the waiter arrived and continued until the food was placed before them.  All I could think of were those wasted moments of spending time together.  I looked back to my mom who is 88-years-old and wondered how many more Mother's Days we would be blessed to celebrate together, and I was glad to be there with her, present in every sense, my cell phone turned off, in my purse under the table.  Technology may be making me lazier, but it hasn't made me stupid, yet.

Mary Lou Carolan

Director