Everybody’s talking about what a crazy week it has been.  When it gets like that it’s good to be reminded of some essential truths.

We’re always looking for feedback on the things we do and how they impact your experience in the Tunxis Library.
How can we improve?  Share your comments and ideas with us.
We hope you feel comfortable speaking to any of the library staff with any questions and concerns, but we also know that there’s something to be said for anonymity.
For those times, look for the suggestion box located just to the right of the Circulation desk.

You want to see if we have the book Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell.  You look it up in the library catalog and find out that it is located in STACKS with a call number of BF 637 .S38 G 533 2008. Yeah, and… Well, we’ve now added a link to each item in the library catalog that will show you on a map just where to find it.  Of course, you can always ask for help, but now it should be a little easier to find what you need on your own.  What do you think?

Sometimes you just want to take a break and lose yourself in a jigsaw puzzle.  Now you’ll find one in process on the first floor of the Tunxis Library in a quiet corner behind the reference stacks.  Pull up a chair by the window with your friends or just by yourself and put things all back together again!  Something about all that tessellation is so satisfying, isn’t it?

We know that for some of you we can never have enough audiobooks.  So, we wanted you to know that if you have a public library card from your town library there are some great downloadable reads for you to access (for free!) through the iCONN website.  You will find over 1300 nonfiction and fiction audio books that you can download to your computer and transfer for limited times to your iPod or MP3 player.
And remember that downloadable audiobooks are just one of the many features of iCONN, your free statewide information source.

Did you know that you can renew your items online? It’s easy and fast.  Look for the link to Renew Your Items from the library homepage under Useful Links or on the sidebar on any other page of the library website. Once you’ve clicked on Renew Your Items you will need to enter your Net ID number and your last name to access your account.  Please note it is your Net ID number only (Ex: 01234567) that will work here.  From there follow the steps to renew one or all of your items.

Of course, you can still call us at 860-255-3803 to renew over the phone, but here’s another option you may not have known about.

Seems like people on the subways in NYC are still reading old-fashioned books, and some pretty good books, too.
The New York Times recently did an informal survey of some of the most common books seen on the subway lines.
Peter from the blog Flashlight Worthy discusses the 21 most popular here.  If any sound appealing, almost all of them are available here at the Tunxis Library.

Need to print out your paper fast and all the computers are being occupied?  Step up to the Circulation Desk and use our Quick Stop Computer where you have 5 minutes to open up a Microsoft Word document from a flash drive, make corrections, and then print your finished paper before the timer logs you off to make way for the next busy student.
Print and Run, a new service for you here at the Tunxis Library.

A few days ago we considered whether dictionaries are obsolete in the age of Google.  Lexicographer Peter Sokolowski is proving that online dictionaries, at least, are not obsolete with his Twitter Feed. Mr. Sokolowski is the editor at large at Merriam-Webster. He tweets daily about what words are most frequently looked up at m-w.com and speculates about what is driving the interest in the “hot” word, usually an online news article.  Worth a follow as a word person or a teacher wondering about students’ vocabularies.