Closer Still

I have noticed that the barrier separating genuine human interaction with those concerning machines has been gradually eroding over the years. At one time, the concept of a thinking, talking machine that a human could truly interact with was a very distant and exotic thing. With the invention of the robotic baby harp seal Paro, humanity continues to build upon an ever more intimate dialogue with the machinery it manufactures. The Austin Public Library has some choice resources available that may inspire individuals interested in furthering this convergence.

Media:
NPR Report
CNN Report
The great robot race [videorecording]

Books:
Robotics : a reference guide to the new technology
Loving the machine : the art and science of Japanese robots
Robots : from science fiction to technological revolution
The singularity is near : when humans transcend biology
123 robotics experiments for the evil genius
God in the machine : what robots teach us about humanity and God
Digital people : from bionic humans to androids

Electronic Books:
Open-source robotics and process control cookbook [electronic resource] : designing and building robust, dependable real-time systems

Comedy at the Library

George Carlin, who died Sunday had just been selected for the 2008 Kennedy Center Mark Twain Prize for American Humor. The award has been given to eleven comedians who have made us look at American culture and human behavior with an unflinching eye. Both Carlin and Twain used humor to expose the hypocrisy of human behavior.

“Everyone driving slower than you is an idiot, everyone driving faster than you is a maniac”.
George Carlin, Wit and Humor Quotationary

“In all matters of opinion, our adversaries are insane.”
Mark Twain, Wit and Humor Quotationary

I would like to recommend some new titles in the APL collection about and by the comedians who help us to laugh at ourselves.

Comedy at the Edge: How Stand-up in the 1970s Changed America

Seriously Funny: the Rebel comedians of the 1950s and 1960s

I Killed: True Stories of the Road from American's Top Comics

When Will Jesus Bring the Pork Chops? by George Carlin

Born Standing Up: a Comic's Life by Steve Martin

The Chris Farley Show: a Biography in Three Acts

It's Good to Be King; the Seriously Funny Life of Mel Brooks

When You Are Engulfed in Flames by David Sedaris

Just a Guy: Notes from a Blue Collar Life by Bill Engvall

Lost translations

Two years ago, media specialist Rüdiger Wischenbart, participated in a panel discussion titled “The Non-English Patient” at the Frankfurt Book Fair. In this presentation, Mr. Wischenbart talked about book translations from English to other languages and vice versa, and the numbers were troubling: 55% to 60% of translations into other languages have English originals, but only 3% to 5% are translated into English.

Koïchiro Matsuura, a Japanese diplomat promoting cultural diversity, uses an example to illustrate what happens with the translation of materials: 70 percent of all books translated into Serbian have English originals. This is troubling because it is important to have a balance in the materials that are available to the public. It is great that American writers can be read in other languages, and people around the world can learn from and enjoy their works, but the American public has limited access to translations from other wonderful authors worldwide.

Organizations and authors around the world are making efforts to change this trend and help writers from other languages get their works known to English speakers. Each November we have an exhibit of translated works at Faulk Central Library, but if you don't want to wait that long, visit us today and check out some books by great authors such as:

Arundhati Roy (India)
Viktor Pelevin (Russia)
Naomi Hirahara (Japan)
Kenzaburo Oe (Japan)
Gao Xinjian (China)
Elfriede Jelinek (Austria)
Naguib Mahfouz (Egypt)
Oriana Fallaci (Italy)
Jamal Mahjoub (Sudan)
Reinaldo Arenas (Cuba)
Gioconda Belli (Nicaragua)
Octavio Paz (Mexico)

among others, enjoy your reading!

Pull out the old LPs

They’re popular again. Who would have thought that the cherished vinyl LP would be in vogue again? I know many people who have thrown out all their LPs when they replaced them with CDs and songs purchased from sites like iTunes. They’re kicking themselves now. There are a lot of folks out there that never gave them up and are happy to know their glory has come back around. Many large labels, such as Universal Music Group, are reissuing classic and contemporary records, some in small batches, but reissuing them nonetheless. Bands such as R.E.M. insist on issuing new albums in vinyl format as well as CD. There’s a new book due out in July called Old Rare New, about the joy of collecting LPs, and includes interviews with DJs, record shop owners and musicians.

The smell of vinyl, the artwork on the album cover and liner notes, the act of dropping the needle on the record, these are all reasons why the vinyl fan never abandoned the record. Even the hunt in search for that obscure album is exciting for fans of the LP. There are thousands of shops and websites to start, or continue, your search for that album. The iPod is great and has done great things for the music industry, but nothing can replace the warmth and fullness of the music you get from a record.

The Austin Public Library has a great collection of LPs, available at the Carver, Terrazas, and Central branches. When you do a search in the catalog make sure you select “Vinyl Record” as the material format. Just today I found a couple of great records, Greatest Dance Hits and Salt ‘N Pepa’s Hot Cool Vicious album…can’t wait to get home and groove down.

4 out of 5 librarians agree...

How often have you found comfort in a statistic? Those lovely figures and charts that accompany an article or advertisement automatically add some credibility. After all, numbers don't lie, right? Unfortunately, statistics can easily be manipulated to show just part of the story. Darrell Huff's 1950s classic How to Lie with Statistics offers insight into this dastardly trickery to give you the edge. Biased samples, deceptive graphs, and scientifically insignificant results are just a few of the techniques Huff reveals in an affable, straightforward way. Given the original publication date, you may find the dated examples amusing. Nevertheless, the concepts are relevant and understanding them is essential to being an informed consumer.

APL has other related titles available for check out as well as a new Finding Statistics Research Guide, which provides reliable resources.

Damned Lies and Statistics: Untangling Numbers from the Media, Politicians, and Activists

More Damned Lies and Statistics: How Numbers Confuse Public Issues

Chance, Luck, and Statistics

Statistics You Can't Trust: A Friendly Guide to Clear Thinking about Statistics in Everyday Life

The Data Game [Electronic Resource]: Controversies in Social Science Statistics

Zines in the library!

What’s self-made, self-published, and shuns the traditional path of publishing? A zebra? Nope. Zines! And the Austin Public Library has begun a collection. Birthed from the punk aesthetic of the late 1970s, the zine quickly became a malleable format allowing individuals to create and spread ideas and art without having to participate in the traditional publishing world. While we librarians are typically fans of the publishing world, some criticism can justifiably be lodged its way, notably that of the publishing world as gatekeeper of what information finds its way into the world. The zine skirts that step. Self-created and self-distributed, the zine migrates through the world, copied and delivered by readers with the occasional help of the postal service. Whether it is a political manifesto or a personal rant, the zine’s author simply needs ideas, some creativity, and a copier.

The Austin Public Library’s zine collection is housed on the second floor of the Faulk Central Library. The zines are non-circulating items and are cataloged under the call number “zine.” Next time you are at the Faulk Central Library take a look. The creativity and diversity between each is incredible.

A quick tip of the hat to the Austin Public Library youth services division which offered a system-wide zine-making program last year.

Coming Around

Not too long ago libraries were undergoing a bit of an identity crisis. Many librarians were taking a look around and seeing how people were overwhelmingly drawn to large chain bookstores and not giving the local public library a second look. Library administrators set out to unravel the enigma of dwindling usage in favor of for profit venues. There was talk of how the local public library needed to conform to the model of the large chain bookstores by, among other things, serving coffee and pastries. Some changes were instituted. However, the characteristics distinguishing the local public library from a large, chain bookstore were never abandoned: highly specialized personal service, access to information and entertainment in a wide variety of formats, access to the internet, computers, and commonly used software, as well as classes to instruct interested individuals in their use. Ironically, it seems as though circumstances have come full circle. The launching of the new Borders’ concept store in Ann Arbor, MI recently revealed a startling number of similarities between what Borders is aiming to do and what the local public library already is doing, and has been doing for some time. Click on the link below to read a Library Journal editorial on this new development. Click on the other links to see how the Austin Public Library’s mission of exemplary public service continues to manifest itself.

Library Journal Editorial:
http://www.libraryjournal.com/article/CA6539333.html

Ask a Librarian:
http://vrlplus.cb.docutek.com/apl/vrl_entry.asp

Computer Classes:
http://www.ci.austin.tx.us/library/training.htm

Youth Services:
http://www.ci.austin.tx.us/library/kids.htm

Super Smash Bros Brawl Tournament @ APL Summer ’08:
http://www.ci.austin.tx.us/library/news/nr20080616.htm

Paraska-what?

What do Margaret Thatcher, Fidel Castro, Black Sabbath’s debut album, Lemony Snicket’s last book, Hurricane Charley, the Uruguayan Rugby team’s infamous crash in the Andes, the Olsen twins and Tupak Shakur all have in common? They all happened, were born or died on a Friday the 13^th.

Paraskavedekatriaphobia is the fear of Friday the 13^th. English, French and Portuguese speaking countries consider this a day of bad luck. Millions of people suffer from this fear and avoid travel, making business transactions, or even leaving the house on this day. Traffic incidents increase on Friday the 13^th. Are you afraid of Friday the 13th? This year, we only have one, but next year there are three, the most occurrence in any one year!

But why do millions of people fear this day? There is no explanation other than superstition. Events in the past may offer small explanation, such as the 13 disciples at the last supper, leading to the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, which apparently happened on a Friday. The British H.M.S. Friday set sail on a Friday with Captain Friday at the helm, the ship was never seen again. Eve tempted Adam with the forbidden fruit on a Friday. A witches coven has 13. The Knights Templar catastrophe happened on a Friday the 13th. And of course, we know the story of the Apollo 13.

Be safe out there and don't fear the number, many bad things can happen on any day of the week. For instance, Mondays are my least favorite day.

13 : the story of the world's most popular superstition
by Nathaniel Lachenmeyer

The Encyclopedia of Superstitions
by Richard Webster

Ready for some satire?

The word “dictionary” generally brings to mind the idea of looking for an academic definition of a word or concept; however, this is not always the case. One famous dictionary, in particular, seeks not to define words per se, but to make us think about life in a very comic way: The Devil’s Dictionary.

The Devil’s Dictionary is the work of Ambrose Bierce, a journalist who, after running out of ideas, started writing comical or cynical definitions based on the entries of the Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary. He kept publishing these definitions as part of his columns in newspapers and magazines until he decided to compile them all in one book originally titled “Cynic's Word Book.” Throughout the years, Bierce added more and more definitions to this book and republished it in 1911 with the title “Devil’s Dictionary.”

But, let’s stop talking about this interesting book and let’s take a look at some of Bierce’s definitions that amazingly still feel very current:

Economy: purchasing the barrel of whisky that you do not need for the price of the cow that you cannot afford.

Friendship: a ship big enough to carry two in fair weather, but only one in foul.

Future: that period of time in which our affairs prosper, our friends are true and our happiness is assured.

Gymnast: a man who puts his brains into his muscles.

Patience: A minor form of despair, disguised as a virtue.

Tail: the part of an animal’s spine that has transcended its natural limitations to set up an independent existence in a world of its own.

Austin Public Library owns different editions of this dictionary and other works by Bierce that you can check out at any time:

Devil’s Dictionary. 1st Us edition

Unabridged Devil’s Dictionary

The Devil's advocate : an Ambrose Bierce reader

The collected writings of Ambrose Bierce

A sole survivor: bits of autobiography

You can also enjoy this book on line by clicking here

For more information on this interesting writer, you can visit the Ambrose Bierce Project.

Using Your Databases

Many of the databases that Austin Public Library subscribes to offer information found nowhere on the Web, and most can be accessed from any computer with Internet access.

To search the databases, click on the yellow E-books Articles and Databases rectangle under the branch photo on the Library's homepage, or click Databases on the Findit toolbar.

For an alphabetical list of the databases, click on the link in the yellow sidebar that says A-Z list of databases. Or use the subject listings on the right of the page to select a database.

When you click on the name of a database, you’ll be given a screen that asks you to type in your APL library card number. Once you do, you’ll be taken to the database you chose.

Most Popular Databases
Austin American-Statesman – Articles back to 1996.
eLibrary Curriculum Edition – Perfect for K-12 students.
Factiva - More than 14,000 sources from 159 countries in 22 languages.
MasterFILE Premier – More than 1,900 full-text magazines, incuding Consumer Reports

ReferenceUSA – Search for US businesses by type and geographic area.

June’s Featured Database
Oxford Reference Online offers over 130 language and subject dictionaries.

In search of Lost clues

The season finale of Lost left fans desperate to fill the void before the next season begins. Take this time to follow up on all those infuriating clues! It is well known that many of the characters on the show are named after philosophers and scientists. Use APL's Oxford Reference Online database to do some quick research or click the names below to see a list of related titles in our catalog (links to the characters are in parentheses). Leave us a comment if you find anything interesting!

John Locke (John Locke) – English philosopher, a founder of empiricism and political liberalism.

Jean-Jacques Rousseau (Danielle Rousseau) – French philosopher, writer, and political theorist, inspired the leaders of the French Revolution and the Romantic generation.

Mikhail Bakunin (Mikhail Bakunin) – chief propagator of 19th-century anarchism, a prominent Russian revolutionary agitator, and a prolific political writer.

Anthony Ashley Cooper (Anthony Cooper) – British moral philosopher and aesthetician. Instructed by his guardian John Locke in the classical languages.

Edmund Burke (Juliet Burke) – British man of letters and Whig politician. Burke wrote on the issues of political emancipation and moderation, notably with respect to Roman Catholics and the American colonies.

David Hume (Desmond Hume) – Scottish philosopher, economist, and historian. He rejected the possibility of certainty in knowledge and claimed that all the data of reason stem from experience.

Michael Faraday (Daniel Faraday) – English physicist and chemist whose many experiments contributed greatly to the understanding of electromagnetism.

Jeremy Bentham (Jeremy Bentham – spoiler alert!) – English philosopher and jurist, the first major proponent of utilitarianism.

Summer is here

While still officially a couple of weeks away, the soaring temperature says otherwise: summer is here. Whether you prefer to retreat to the air conditioned confines or play outside, the Austin Public Library has a plethora of resources to make your summer a blast.

The following books are great introductions and guides to the variety of natural resources and activities throughout Austin.

Splash across Texas!: The Definitive Guide to Swimming in Central Texas

Barton Springs Eternal: the Soul of a City

60 hikes within 60 miles, San Antonio & Austin, Including the Hill Country

Mountain Biking Texas

If shelter and air conditioning is more your style, take a gander at some of the reader’s advisory services available through the Austin Public Library.

Good Reads
Recommended book lists compiled by APL librarians and others.

Adult Summer Reading Program
Compile a list of your summer reads and potentially win prizes.

APL Book Clubs
A wide array of selections at book clubs throughout the Austin Public Library.

Are You a Native?

On this day in 1924 the United States Congress passed a law granting citizenship to all American Indians. The irony is overwhelming. The Austin Public Library has a generous collection of items devoted to the most authentic of Americans. Below is a sampling of titles to pique your interest.

Books:

Making the white man's Indian : native Americans and Hollywood movies

Standing Bear is a person : the true story of a Native American's quest for justice

Losing a lost tribe : Native Americans, DNA, and the Mormon Church

100 Native Americans who shaped American history

The Native Americans of the Texas Edwards Plateau, 1582-1799

Foreigners in their native land : historical roots of the Mexican Americans

Indians of the Southwest : traditions, history, legends, and life

Great speeches by Native Americans

Exterminate them : written accounts of the murder, rape, and slavery of Native Americans during the California gold rush, 1848-1868

Native Americans : an encyclopedia of history, culture, and peoples

Killing the white man's Indian : reinventing Native Americans at the end of the twentieth century

Red earth, white lies : Native Americans and the myth of scientific fact

If you poison us : uranium and Native Americans

The dancing healers : a doctor's journey of healing with native Americans

The Native Americans : ethnology and backgrounds of the North American Indians

In the hands of the Great Spirit : the 20,000-year history of American Indians

American Indians in World War I : at home and at war

Between two fires : American Indians in the Civil War

Video Recordings:

Native Americans [videorecording]

A History of Native Americans [videorecording]

The Native Americans [videorecording]

Black Indians [videorecording] : an American story

Indians of the Southwest [videorecording] : the legacy of the American Indians

Sound Recordings:

Sacred spirit II [sound recording] : more chants and dances of the native Americans

Music for the Native Americans [sound recording]

Music of the Native American Indians [sound recording] : Navajo, Cherokee--

Best Book in the English Language (according to the British)

The Man Booker Prize is "awarded to the best full-length novel written in English by a citizen of the UK, the Commonwealth, Eire, Pakistan or South Africa." American and other authors are excluded from eligibility, even if they write in English. This year the Prize is celebrating its 40th anniversary with a contest for the best Booker title. The shortlist for the 40th anniversary Best of the Bookers contest consists of six titles chosen by a three-member panel. Soon after the announcement, British bookmakers released their odds on who they believe will win, with Salman Rushdie favored to take the title. Now the public, including you, will be able to vote for "the greatest Booker prize winner of all time" at the Man Booker Prize website. Results will be announced July 10.

The shortlist:

Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie
Disgrace by J.M. Coetzee
The Siege of Krishnapur by J.G. Farrell
The Conservationist by Nadine Gordimer
The Ghost Road by Pat Barker
Oscar and Lucinda by Peter Carey

For your summer reading, try one of these titles, all of which will stand the test of time. The Library’s Adult Summer Reading Program begins June 9. If you would rather have more of a "beach read", place a hold on a title from the Good Read's Spy Thrillers or Recent Mysteries.

Elmore Leonard's 10 Rules of Writing

Elmore Leonard has written more than three dozen critically acclaimed books during his highly successful career, including the bestsellers The Hot Kid, Mr. Paradise, Tishomingo Blues, Be Cool, Get Shorty, and Rum Punch. Many of his books have been made into movies, including Get Shorty, Out of Sight, Jackie Brown, and 3:10 to Yuma.

He has written a new writing guide - Elmore Leonard's 10 Rules of Writing - with rules to help him remain invisible while writing and to keep the reader's interest. The book is quite entertaining with drawings depicting the rules.

1. never open a book with weather
2. avoid prologues
3. never use a verb other than said to carry dialogue
4. never use a adverb to modify "said"
5. keep your exclamation points under control
6. never use the words "suddenly"
7. use regional dialect sparingly
8. avoid detailed descriptions of characters
9. don't go into great detail describing places and things
10. try to leave out the part that readers tend to skip

Experience Leonard’s cool writing stye:

Up in Honey's Room: a Novel
Latest novel, and sequel to The Hot Kid, and as in previous novels, character and dialog dominate plot.
The Hot Kid
Carlos Webster, who inadvertently gets his start in law enforcement at age 15 when he shoots a cattle thief, wants to be the country's most famous lawman.
Mr. Paradise
Rich wth comic dialogue and cop-shop color.
Tishomingo Blues
A daredevil diver performing in Mississippi witnesses a murder by the local Dixie Mafia, and must team with a black gangsta from Detroit to save his skin.

Wildlife in Your Own Backyard

A patron contacted us recently about how she could turn her garden into a National Wildlife Habitat. I was intrigued; I have recently acquired a love of gardening and had no idea one could turn their garden into a habitat. With a few clicks of a mouse, I found all of the information she needed and passed it on to her.

Building your own National Wildlife Habitat is surprisingly easy and doesn’t even require a garden. In fact, you could have your own refuge on your apartment balcony. All you need to do is provide food and water, make a place where animals can take cover and raise young, and adhere to sustainable gardening practices. This could be as simple as setting up a birdfeeder, birdhouse, birdbath, and a couple of plants.

Once you’ve certified your refuge, there are all kinds of perks such as a yearly membership to the National Wildlife Federation (NWF), a subscription to National Wildlife magazine, a personalized certificate recognizing your habitat, and even a yard sign to proclaim your habitat to the neighborhood (additional fee is required). Besides the perks provided by the NWF, you will also experience the joys of watching living creatures hanging out in your garden. Not to mention the great service you do to the environment by helping to restore and revitalize Austin’s natural ecosystems and committing yourself to sustainable gardening practices.

Below is the website where you can find more information and apply for habitat status, as well as just a small sampling of the many great books Austin Public Library has to get your garden started:

National Wildlife Federation Website

http://www.nwf.org/habitat

Attracting birds, butterflies, and other backyard wildlife

Bird and butterfly gardens

Bringing nature home: how native plants sustain wildlife in our gardens

Gardens for birds: hummingbirds & butterflies

Garden guide for Austin & vicinity

Natural gardening for birds: the bird-friendly backyard: simple ways to create a bird haven

Natural gardening in small spaces

Texas gardening the natural way: the complete handbook

Champions League Final Today

The Champions League Final is today. What is the Champions League? It is a nine month soccer tournament contested by the best teams from just about every European country. Today’s final pits two teams owned by foreign billionaires striving for the title of “European champions.” Manchester United—owned by American billionaire Malcolm Glazer—is looking for their third Champions League trophy, while Roman Ibramovich’s Chelsea is looking for their first. Both teams boast squads filled with international superstars accustomed to the great stages of world soccer: the World Cup, the Premier League, and now the Champions League Final. A win guarantees a massive financial windfall

Today’s match will be an intriguing battle between a silky and attractive Manchester United and a burly—yet equally effective—Chelsea. The ace in the hole, might be the location: Moscow. Considering Chelsea’s owner is the richest Russian, fate and power might fall in their favor If fate conspires to bite you with the soccer bug, the Austin Public Library has a variety of books that discuss soccer’s history and its link with social and political forces around the world.

Soccer in Sun and Shadow

Brilliant Orange: the Neurotic Genius of Dutch Soccer

How Soccer Explains the World

The Thinking Fan’s Guide to the World Cup

Winning At All Costs: A Scandalous History of Italian Soccer

A Season with Verona

The following two titles have been purchased by the Austin Public Library and will arrive shortly. They are both worth the wait.

Soccer Against the Enemy

The Ball is Round

Oh yeah, the match is on ESPN2 at 1:30pm.

Robert Rauschenberg

Robert Rauschenberg died recently. He was a giant of the post-modern art world and rubbed elbows with the likes of Andy Warhol, Jasper Johns, and James Rosenquist to name a few. The Austin Public Library has a number of items devoted to the life and work of one of this country’s most celebrated visual artists.

Robert Rauschenberg : combines

Robert Rauschenberg : breaking boundaries

Random order : Robert Rauschenberg and the neo-avant-garde

The New York schools of music and visual arts : John Cage, Morton Feldman, Edgard Varèse, Willem De Kooning, Jasper Johns, Robert Rauschenberg

Robert Rauschenberg

Robert Rauschenberg : work from four series : a sesquicentennial exhibition

Robert Rauschenberg, photographs

American Trilogies

You know that forlorn feeling you get when you read the last paragraph of a book that you really enjoyed? When the characters have grown as close to you as family members, or maybe even closer? To keep the story going a little longer, next time read a trilogy, and even better, a trilogy that not only captures a character, but also the American experience.

My favorite American trilogy (pus one) is the Rabbit novels by John Updike, which are a tribute to the average American guy who peaked as a high school athlete.
Rabbit, Run
Rabbit Redux
Rabbit is Rich
Rabbit at Rest

Other American trilogies that are considered masterpieces are:

Richard Ford - Frank Bascombe Trilogy
Spanning about 20 years, real estate agent Frank Bascombe’s meditation on American life tells us that life is fraught with trials and somehow we learn to cope as we go along.
The Sportswriter
Independence Day
The Lay of the Land

Cormac McCarthy – Border trilogy
Lives of two young men coming of age in the Southwest and Mexico, poised on the edge of a world about to change forever.
All the Pretty Horses
The Crossing
Cities of the Plain

Peter Mathiessen - Florida Trilogy
Account of the real life and death of renegade cane-grower Ed Watson in southwest Florida at the turn of the century. The three books have recently been condensed into one novel by the author – Shadow Country.
Killing Mr. Watson
Lost Man’s River
Bone by Bone

Reynolds Price - Mayfield Trilogy
Slow, inextricable twining of the Mayfield and Kendal families from 1903 to early 1990s.
Surface of the Earth
Source of light
Promise of Rest

Philip Roth - American Trilogy
America’s loss of innocence since 1945.
American Pastoral
I Married a Communist
The Human Stain

Is Google always good?

Nowadays, who doesn’t go to Google when a question about any topic comes to mind? The address of your friend’s house, bus schedules, yoga lessons in your area, restaurant ratings, the website of a particular organization in this country or abroad, the lyrics of your favorite songs, music videos, and news. We can go on, and on and on, about what people search with Google. Just type the words of what you are looking for and in two seconds you will get more than a million links related to your question. But, the problem with this is, how do we know the information we are getting is reliable? How can we tell the information we are reading on our screen is written by a trustworthy author or organization?

These questions are more important when looking for information on sensitive topics like health or legal help, for example. In the case of health, good sources for these questions are the organizations that advocate or specialize in particular illnesses like the American Cancer Society, and the American Diabetes Association among others. There are also websites that compile information on health diseases or symptoms that can help like Medline by the National Library or Medicine.

Legal help is the other topic that can be tricky when searching on Internet. Websites like Texas Law Help or Find Law are reliable sources when looking for lawyers or information about particular laws or rights.

Austin Public Library offers access to databases on different topics, including the ones mentioned above, that you can access from home for free with your library card or also at the library. The librarians of the Central Library have also put together a list of trustworthy resources on line that you can access from our website by going to the Research Guides section or to Recommended Web Sites. Don’t forget that librarians are also another tool you can use in your research. Visit us, Call us, e-mail us or chat with us. We will be very happy to help you!