Bookbag
January-February-March 1999

Table of Contents

| What's New | Library Information | Community Information | Internet Resources |Index

From the Friends

--Wanda Gregory, President

The Friends of the Library have had a very successful year thanks to all of you. Thank you for your membership and support at our programs and with our projects. We have had many interesting programs including musical performances, Scottish Dancers, and helped with the Clyde Edgerton program. As always our programs were free to the public. We had several projects that helped the library with their needs.

Watch for details about our January business meeting on January 17, 1999. We will be having some of the area school students perform.

Just a reminder, membership dues run from January to January. They are $2.00 for a yearly membership per person, couples are $4.00 and a life membership is $50.00. We invite you to join if you are not a member. With a membership you will receive announcements about our programs, newsletters and the Bookbag and you will be helping the library with your support.

Throughout the year when you need something for that "hard to buy for person" the Friends have several books for sale at the library. We have Malcolm Fowler’s They passed this way ($20.00); Heritage of Harnett County ($53.00); Colorful Heritage: Documented, an informal history of Barbecue, Bluff and Longstreet Presbyterian Churches ($30.00); and Correspondence and Documents, which pertains to the Bethune, Keahey, McLeod, McFarland, Patterson, and other related Scottish Highland families of North Carolina ($45.00).

Other gift ideas might include a donation to the Endowment Fund. The interest from the Endowment Fund is used to sponsor various programs, speakers, and performing art presentations that are offered to the public free of charge. With a $500.00 or more donation the person’s name is added to the Endowment Plaque which hangs in the library. With other donations the person’s name is included in the Endowment Book. What a great way to honor or remember someone. For more information about these items please call the Library, 910-893-3446.

Happy New Year from the Friends of the Library!!

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Anderson Creek Notes

--Georgette Dempster

Thanks to all our parents for bringing out there children for the Saturday morning craft programs. A special congratulation goes out to Master Matthew Merchant who was our lucky winner of the drawing for the pumpkin on October 17th, 1998. He is an Anderson Creek student.

A special thank-you goes out to Victoria Williams for working with the children on their craft projects. She will be looking forward to working with the children next year.

Starting in January we will also have a story hour, with Regina Gallagher. She was here during the Anderson Creek School 's Library open house. Regina will gladly share her story telling talents once a month with the children.

For further information on dates and on getting our calendar please stop by or give us a call at 910-893-9440.

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WANTED: Adult Readers

--Georgette Dempster, Anderson Creek Branch Librarian

Okay, people I have changed my genre. It’s the Holidays. Why not? Some of you avid readers will remember Ms. Rosamunde Pilcher for wonderful titles, such as The Shell Seekers, Coming Home, Voices in Summer, and Wild Mountain Thyme, just to mention a few. Now she has come out with a charming book on her Christmas Holiday. It is called Christmas with Rosamunde Pilcher, edited by Siv Buklitz. With this Scottish Lady (had to read something on Scotland, my husband wouldn't forgive me if I didn't) we spend Christmas with her family. She shares holiday recipes, traditions, in a quiet life some of us may not be able to imagine. Ms. Pilcher includes a heart-warming Christmas story that will touch each one of us in its own special way.

In between shopping, baking, wrapping, seeing Santa at the mall, we found time to read. All Through the Night, by Mary Higgins Clark is a delightful little story about an old super sleuth Alvirah who solves a double plot. She manages to clear up two gigantic problems. and the book has a happy ending. Of course at Christmas we all love happy endings.

So often we go to see the movie first. After seeing the movie we leave feeling dazzled, bewildered, enjoyed it, hated it…well you get the picture. Relic, by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child is a well-written story that goes into so much more detail then the movie. If you like archaeology, museum exhibits, modern science, Amazon expeditions, New York City, botany, put together with a Museum Beast, you will devour this novel. Second thought: everyone who thought Kiss the Girls, the movie was good, is another case of read the book. The author is James Patterson.

Fact, Fiction, or Fantasy, that is what you will be asking yourself. Children of the Night by Dan Simmons is one of these amazing books. Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein was a shocking horror story. People couldn't get over that a mere woman wrote it. Now, look what modern science can do regarding transplants. When this book was written so long ago, was it pure fact, fiction, or fantasy? Dan Simmons leads us into the open with a new theory on blood, blood diseases, mutating organs, absorption into our own immune systems with an old world thought of our famous Dracula. Our heroine, Dr. Kate Newman, a visiting hematologist from the good old USA enters into the darkest part of Romania to help battle rare blood diseases. Being a female with a motherly instinct she falls in love with a Romanian bay boy, adopts him, and this is when the fun begins. From the dark forest of Transylvania, super human beings, vampires and things that do more than bump in the night, come to destroy her, take her child, and her medical work. You'll be glad to know it has a happy ending, sort of. Personally, I would like to know more about the medical research behind this book.

This concludes my reads of the 1998 year, and here's hoping you and yours will have a joyous and prosperous 1999 and remember you can always find it at the library.

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If you own a car or truck that you feel has a safety defect, and then you next stop should be Hotline at the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration of the U.S. Department of Transportation. The DOT Auto Safety Hotline specializes in gathering information about safety problems in motor vehicles and equipment and is your chance to help identify these problems that sometimes lead to recalls. The Hotline can be dialed toll free at 1-888-327-4236.

This number and others like it are available through our on-line catalog by dialing 910-893-2401, or by coming into any one of our six locations. The Community Information Module is growing daily. Stop by and check it out!

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Primary Search provides the full text of over 55 magazines for young readers and abstracts and indexing for over 120 magazines. Primary Search is updated monthly and also includes Funk & Wagnalls New World Encyclopedia, the World Almanac for Kids, the World Almanac of the USA and Essential Documents of American History.

The Serials Directory provides the most up-to-date and accurate bibliographic information as well as current pricing structures for popular serials. Contains listings for over 150,000 U.S. and international titles, including 8,000 newspapers. Also includes data from over 87,000 publishers worldwide, including e-mail and Internet addresses

ERIC provides citation and abstract information from over 750 educational journals and related documents from the Educational Resource Information Center and educational symposium report literature dating back to1967.

Health Source Plus provides abstracts and indexing for over 520 consumer health, nutrition and professional periodicals. Over 240 periodicals are covered in full text as well as nearly 1,000 health pamphlets. Also included is USP DI Volume II, Advice for the Patient which provides patient-oriented drug information in lay language and 17 health books published by the People's Medical Society. Click here for a complete title list.

Academic Search FullTEXT Elite provides abstracts and indexing for 3,000 scholarly journals covering the social sciences, humanities, education and more. Also offers full text for over 1,200 journals with many dating back to 1990. Includes coverage of over 1,700 peer-reviewed journals.

MasterFILE Premier provides abstracts and indexing for over 2,700 periodicals, plus searchable full text for nearly 1,800 active periodicals. Subjects covered include general reference, business, health, multi-cultural and more. Click here for a complete title list.

Newspaper Source provides abstracts and indexing for the following newspapers (cover to cover): The New York Times, Wall Street Journal (Eastern and Western editions), Christian Science Monitor and USA Today. Coverage includes everything except obituaries (exclusive of famous people), sports tables, ads/classifieds, stock prices, and weather.

Funk & Wagnalls New World Encyclopedia provides over 25,000 informative segments of the encyclopedia. Offers student and adult users abstract information for each topic. In addition, full text for each topic may be accessed by double clicking on the topic from the display

EBSCO Animals Provides in-depth information on a variety of topics relating to animals. The database consists of indexing, abstracts, and full text records describing the nature and habitat of familiar animals.

Hoover's Company Capsules Provides basic information on more than 10,000 public and private companies. The data consists of addresses, phone and fax numbers, names of key officers, sales and employment figures and stock symbols.

Hoover's Company Profiles provides in-depth profiles of 2,600 public and private companies in the US and around the world. Each profile provides summary of operations, history, list of officers, products, key competitors and up to ten years of financial data. This database also includes Hoover's Company Capsules, which provides basic information on more than 10,000 public and private companies.

Business Source Elite provides comprehensive access to abstracts and indexing for over 1,400 titles, including The Wall Street Journal, plus searchable full text for over 850 business periodicals. Click here for a complete title list.

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--Cathey Clifton

The Harnett County Library acquires a number of books and other materials through tax-exempt gifts. Such gifts can be given as a memorial to someone who is deceased or as a tribute to a living person you wish to honor. These gifts are noted with a nameplate, listing the person to be memorialized or honored and the person making the donation.

In Memory of Dorothy McDonald Thomas

    By the Family of the late Arnold and Mayo Collins

Donations by the following patrons:

Pet Memorials

--Cathey Clifton

The library is continuing to receive many memorials in honor of family friends. When you donate to this fund in your pet's name, the money will be used to purchase a book about animals and their care. A bookplate will be placed in the book with your pet's name,

You can also contribute to this fund on behalf of a friend who has lost a pet. A card will be sent to the owner acknowledging that you have made this kind gesture.

Contact the Harnett County Library (910-893-3446) if you are interested in this program.

Dr. Hagler & Staff of the Lillington Veterinary Clinic and others placed the following memorials in the Harnett County Public Library in the past quarter.

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Reading on the Roll

(Books-On-Tape Reviews)

Singing in the Comeback Choir by Bebe Moore Campbell is the story of Maxine McCoy. She is the producer of a popular television talk show, married to a man she loves, and pregnant with their much-wanted first child.

Although dealing with her husband's past infidelity and her show's slipping ratings, Maxine is grateful that she has successfully escaped her impoverished childhood in Philadelphia. But her security is shattered when the grandmother who reared her suffers a mild stroke. Once a successful singer, grandmother Lindy refuses to give up smoking, drinking, o her dilapidated home. Maxine flies home to wrestle with her grandmother and her own past. (8 tapes)

Oops! By John Lutz is another Alo Nudger mystery. He may be hapless, but he is likeable. In this tenth adventure, Nudger is charmed by a very young, pixie of a colleague named Lacy Tumulty into taking a chase she is too busy to handle. The client wants to prove that his daughter was murdered. As far as the police are concerned, the daughter tripped on some stairs, fell, fractured her skull and died. Seems like an open and shut case until an unknown assailant beats Lacy and even his "girl" is in danger. This mystery is fun and suspenseful. (5 tapes)

Robin Cook's Toxin is the story of a surgeon whose daughter dies after eating a hamburger loaded with deadly bacteria. He vows to learn the truth behind filthy slaughterhouses and corrupt corporations. (8 tapes)

The Wild Baron is a Regency romance full of mystery, magic and passion. Catherine Coulter has written another wonderfully delightful tale. Rohan Carrington, Baron Mountvale, is bewildered. He has received a letter stating that his late younger brother George ruined a young lady. How could this be possible? George was more than a serious scholar--he was a prude. Enter the "ruined" young lady, Susannah, who now claims that she wasn't ruined; she was, rather, George's legal wife. Left with a three-year-old daughter, very little money, a younger brother and a wastrel father, she also tells Rohan that she and her daughter are in danger. When Rohan and Susannah team up, they find themselves on the trail of a legendary treasure shomehow connected to MacBeth, eleventh century king of Scotland. (9 tapes)

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Library Computing

Our web page has relocated to http://www.harnett.org/library/default.htm. This change allows all of the county web pages to live on the same server.

The next time you need an answer to a question but cannot get into the library, try our web page. It has a mini-library right there ready to use. Check out Internet Resources on our web page. Many hours went into researching the links found there. We use it as another reference tool. Recently it was used to find information on World Religions and Scriptures http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Plains/4330/ and the salary of accountants in the District of Columbia http://stats.bls.gov/ocohome.htm. Do not forget to look, ya hear.J

With computer prices being lower than ever, I know there are many homes with brand new computers this Christmas. Here are a few tips:

Do not believe everything on the web. Anyone can put anything they like out there. Information is only as reliable as the source.

Be aware of scams. One of the most popular is a virus scare. Most of the e-mail notices about viruses are hoaxes. Check them out at a reliable virus sight to make sure it is valid before spreading rumors.

http://www.nai.com/services/support/hoax/hoax.asp

Forward, forward, forward, forward, forward. Have you ever gotten a message that you had to scroll past several pages of forwarded e-mail addresses before you got to the message? This really eats up bandwidth and passes on all of those e-mail addresses. Watch out for that forward button on e-mail. If it was forward to you by someone who forwarded it from a forward, boy is that confusing. The bottom line is, if there is a message you would like to send ‘forward’ might not be the answer. Try cut and paste.

I know a lot of people are afraid to put their credit card number out there. This is a matter of choice. You can now shop at many well-known stores on the web.

• http://www.egghead.com/store/ent/eggs_portal.browse
• http://www.wal-mart.com/
• http://www.sears.com/

Another solution: Terri told me her Dad had was to get a credit card with a low limit ($200) to use on the web, then if someone gets your number, they do not have your Platinum card number with a $25,000 limit. Personally, I trust a secure (secure is the key word) web site more than the mail order person on the phone.

Our card catalog is not on the web yet; we are working on it. In the mean time you can access it by dialing directly in. If you have Windows 95/98 use HyperTerminal. The number to dial using your modem is 910-893-2401. Full instructions are on our web page http://www.harnett.org/library/hopac.htm. If you see something you like feel free to use your library card and put it on hold. But please call or e-mail me at jfrye@ncsl.dcr.state.nc.us so we know to pull the book.  Or we can put it on hold for you. If you do not see what you want in our catalog let us know and we may borrow it from another library or purchase it. Keep surfin’!

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From the Children’s Corner

Here's To Starting A New Year at the Library! 1999.

A New Year is upon us, and very soon, a new century will come!

What will that mean to our children, I wonder, besides their learning to write a whole new system of dating?

But whatever the new century does bring the Harnett County Library will be here to help the next generation. We have received a great many new books for children, both fiction and nonfiction, which deal with a wide variety of subjects; how to get a job, the peoples of Africa, the dangers of various types of drugs, and the lesser-known heroes and heroines of the past.

In addition to our regular storytimes; which take place at 11:00 on Tuesdays at Erwin Library, 11:00 on Wednesdays at the Harnett Library, and 10:30 on Thursdays at the Angier Library, I will be instituting a "work and play" program every second Friday for the homeschooled children of the area.

I will again be planning an evening story hour for the entire family, to take place at seven o'clock, January 14th or 21st. [Whichever works best for you]

Happy New Year, and I hope to see you take in the library!

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Food For Thought: Congratulations Jr. Friends Of The Library!!!!

--Rachel Godwin, President

For the last couple weeks of November the Jr. Friends of the Library collected food for a Food Drive. The Food Drive was one of the many community service projects that the Jr. Friends do each year.

The Food Drive this year was the most successful yet!!! They collected over 40 bags and three large boxes of canned food and other non-perishable food items. The food will go to the Food Pantry at the Harnett County Department of Social Services.

The Jr. Friends collected the food using many different methods. Some of them you might want to try yourself. One tactic was hanging bags on the doors of houses with notes saying what it is for, why, and when you are going to pick the bags up. Another successful last idea we had was to let cans be used as fine money to pay off any fines you had at the library.

The food will be used for emergency situations for the people in Harnett County. Examples of emergencies are if homes have burned down, temporarily out of work and if food stamps were lost in the mail. No tax dollars are used for the pantry so all the food is from donations.

If another club or individuals would like to help out please contact April Collins at the Department of Social Services at (910) 893-7500.

If you want to know more about the Jr. Friends of the Library please contact Jackie Frye the club leader at (910) 893-3446.

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Family history is one of the most popular leisure-time activities in the United States. People search for their ancestors because they are curious about their cultural heritage or they want to pass a sense of family and belonging to younger generations.

Everyone has their own special reasons. Traditionally, finding your family history involved lots of research trips and letter-writing. Then, you had to painstakingly draw your family trees or fill out pre-made forms that didn't quite fit your family's shape. Now, however, computer technology has made family history much faster and easier: CD-ROMs, online web pages, microfilm and books at the Harnett County Public Library will help you to contact people researching the same family as you.

The Harnett County Library is very pleased to announce to all family tree climbers that we now have the Harnett County Census records on microfilm from 1830 to 1920. While we have had the print indexes, and even printed versions of Harnett Censuses, it is helpful to have access to the microfilmed original documents. Looking at the microfilm of a community gives you not only names and ages of family members, but it tells you who their neighbors were and other pertinent information.

The library has also purchased Family Tree Maker Software for the local history collection so that you can put your family tree on the computer and share it with others. This software program makes very good charts of ancestors and descendents. You can work on your genealogy at the library and save your information on a floppy disk.

Included with the Family Tree maker software are the following CD-ROM titles: Marriage Bundle, United States Census Bundle 1607-1880, The Genealogies of Mayflower families, 1500s- 1800s. as well as the Social Security Death Index, Vols. 1-2. Also in this set of CD-ROMS is the World Family Tree, volumes 1-5.

Building your family tree is rewarding and enjoyable because you are sure to learn something new about your family's history and heritage and with all the tools that we have access to, gathering and sharing your family information has never been easier. This is a great time to start exploring your roots! While we don’t have everything you need to learn all about your ancestors, we have lots of things to get you started.

Stop by the library soon and begin your sleuthing!

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It is a wonderful feeling when families who live hundreds and even thousands of miles apart can get together. It is a continuous round of food, drink, reminiscing and merriment, to say nothing of decorations.

This past Halloween weekend (foreshadowing here) my mother, brothers and I were host to our relatives from out-of-town (Gastonia, Jacksonville, Reidsville Wilmington) and out-of-state (Alaska). I should have known we were in for an exciting weekend, when on my calendar I had three prior commitments. First, I promised sister-in-law Cathy that I would help serve dinner at the annual Boonetrail Ruritan Fair on Thursday, when the Alaska cadre were due in. Then I had planned an all-day mandatory staff meeting on Friday when they were supposed to tour Women’s Prison. And Saturday was no better—I would miss our annual Library Halloween Carnival because of dinner plans at Tom & Betsy’s house. It all worked out because my family exercises the great ability to be flexible.

As for the Ruritan Fair obligation—I am indebted to Cathy for several years to come to help her serve that delicious chicken pastry and barbecue. We bought plates this year and impressed Chris and Natalie that our "school" benefit suppers were so tasty.

On Friday morning, I hated to go to work and leave Chris and Natalie to find their own way to Raleigh. He assured me by saying, "if we can get here from Chugiak, Alaska, surely we can find Raleigh." And so they did. Armed with an old map of Raleigh and misdirection from myself and Brother Tom, they actually got to the prison, took the tour and were home before I was.

On Saturday evening, my able and more-than-willing library staff put on the best Halloween Carnival/Trick-or-Treat/Haunted House that we’ve ever done. More than 300 children and parents visited the library for fun and treats. I felt just a little guilty for not helping out, but I knew they could function just fine without me. And my family comes together more rarely than Halloween

By the time Sunday afternoon rolled around everyone was enervated. Even so, we gathered in Brother Ashley’s back yard for a real family reunion that included fried chicken, potato salad , banana pudding and decorations.

Hostess Kim always decorates house and yard for the occasion. She borrows her mother’s catering tablecloths and puts centerpieces on the tables, Tiki torches in the yard and it wouldn’t be Southern without some loud country music –Ashley’s contribution.

When our group arrived, I went out back to where my son and his girlfriend were sitting. He related to me a tale of how three of the tables were on fire when they came into the yard. It seems that Kim didn’t know that potpourri (wood chips doused in alcohol) was flammable. Her candles set the wood chips and plastic pumpkins on fire, and then it spread to the tablecloths while the teens looked on in a pyromaniacal stupor. Nothing like a little backyard barbecue for the family, eh? By the time that Curt and Brandi gathered their wits and brought a couple of cups full of water to put the fires out, the top of one table was nearly engulfed in flames. After the fires were doused, Kim was fetched and shown the damage. It took some persuasion to make her believe that this was an accident and not some unknown terrorist action. Needless to say, Kim was rather annoyed that her centerpieces were ruined. She said the worst part of the mess, besides having her décor demolished, was that she would have to tell her mama how she burnt up her favorite tablecloths.

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END