Ramadan Mubarak

Ramadan begins today.  Learn more about this Islamic month-long observance with your child by watching Mrs. Maggie latest virtual storytime!

Happy Earth Day!

To celebrate Earth Day, Mrs. Maggie has put together this video about recycling! A fun game for kids but great information for all ages!

Neat Ways to Volunteer

Looking for new ways to stay busy?

• Transcribe old documents for the Smithsonian
  It's a volunteer program done digitally for people to transcribe anything from letters to songs to scientific data.Learn more at https://transcription.si.edu.  
• Transcribe old letters and documents for the Library of Congress
  The current campaign is for the Blackwell family, a family that was devoted to universal suffrage and abolition.Learn more at https://crowd.loc.gov/

A Funny Read...

Staff Recommendation:

A funny book courtesy of Mike Rowe's mother Peggy Rowe:

About Your Father and Other Celebrities I Have Known: Ruminations and Revelations from a Desperate Mother to Her Dirty Son

 

Are you keeping a "Quarantine 2020" journal?

Are you keeping a "Quarantine 2020" journal?

If not, you should start! It’ll help you organize your thoughts during these difficult times and may help educate future generations.

Jen A. Miller of The New York Times says, "your observations matter, and jotting down your thoughts and feelings may also help you make sense of them. These are all reasons you should consider starting a coronavirus diary right now, even if you don’t think what you’re seeing, experiencing and feeling is important. It is."

The most important this is to record your thoughts in the way that is most comfortable to you.  Most people hear diary or journal and automatically think pen to paper... It doesn't have to be!  You can use whatever media you want (audio, video, photo, drawing or simply jot notes into your phone).

Wondering where to start?  Here are some tips:

• What did you do today (or this week)? How was that different than what you would do on a “normal” day/week?
• What changes have you personally experienced (physically, mentally and/or emotionally) since this crisis began
• What has been the most difficult thing for you personally about this crisis? Do you think there’s anything positive that may come from what’s happening?

Learn more by reading the full article here.

Tech Talk: hoopla

Learn how to download or stream ebooks, audiobooks, movies, TV shows and full music albums for free through hoopla using your library card!

Before you get started...

1. If you are not an OCPL cardholder, click here to register for a temporary digital card. 
2. You must be registered as an Onondaga Free Library patron AND know your PIN associate with your library card number.  If you need to change either of these, email us at info@oflibrary.org.

What you get:

• 6 downloads per month - Can be a mix of ebooks, audiobooks, music albums, movies or TV show episodes.
• hoopla has recently introduced "Bonus Borrows" - a collection of over 1,000 titles that will not go against your allotted monthly downloads.

Helpful links to help you get started:

• Getting Started Guide (PDF) 
• YouTube Tutorial: Getting Registered on hoopla
• YouTube Tutorial: Introduction to hoopla for the Web
• YouTube Tutorial: Introduction to hoopla for iOS
• YouTube Tutorial: Introduction to hoopla for Android

hoopla's Help page has some great links for learning how to access hoopla on your TV. Video tutorials are also available on hoopla's YouTube channel.

If you need more help, feel free to email us at info@oflibrary.org.

Storytime with Mrs. Maggie: Cooking

Take a Deep Breath

Start each week with mindfulness tips, relaxation exercises, DIY projects for adults and more!

Start this week off by taking a calming deep breath... And bookmark the following link to a great blog post which will help us all get through the rest of the days and weeks ahead. It is full of meditations, mindfulness resources, calming music and exercises, sleeping tips and much more! https://blog.calm.com/take-a-deep-breath