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On May 3, 1978, the first unsolicited bulk email, or "spam", was sent by a Digital Equipment Corporation marketing representative to every ARPANET address on the west coast of the United States. ARPANET was a Department of Defense network, and the predecessor of the internet. Although it was not referred to as "spam" at the time, this event preceded the arrival of trillions of spam messages in email inboxes around the world. You can read more current articles about spam on the website CNET. The link to this site is also available through MPL's website.
If you would like to read more about the historical aspects of this infamous computer concept, try reading Brian McWilliams Spam Kings.

Washington Park Library
2121 N. Sherman Blvd.
June 21-25, 2010
1:00pm-5:00pm

Members of Upsilon Mu Omega are joining with the Milwaukee Public Library to sponsor the AKA Money Camp for Kids. Middle school students can participate in such diverse activities as financial workshops and field trips that allow them to see the inner workings of local Milwaukee businesses. The week will culminate with the campers developing presentation skills and presenting projects. After graduating from the AKA Money Camp, students will be encouraged to open or add to their own savings account.

You can find a camp application at your neighborhood library or by clicking here. More information about the program can be found here or by calling Erica Teague at (414) 803-2618. Registration ends May 30.

Do you love Anime and Manga? Or are you facinated with Japanese culture? Join us for J.A.M. (Japanese Anime and Manga) once a month at the Center Street library! The next J.A.M. session will be on May 26 from 5:30 p.m. until 6:30 p.m. You can talk about your favorite Anime movies and episodes, discuss your favorite manga series, or hang out and draw in the style of Japanese animation. So come on in if you would like to meet other fans, win prizes, and celebrate Japanese animation, comics and culture.

Have questions about city, county, state or federal government services?
Stop in the Central Library's rotunda on Wednesday, May 12 from 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.

This is your one-stop place to ask the experts. Topics covered include:

• Federal Taxes
• Home Buying

• Low-Income Housing
• Foreclosure Prevention
• Police & Fire Safety
• Veteran Benefits
• Social Security Benefits
• Workplace Safety
• Job Seeker Resources
• Congressional Offices & Liaisons
• Consumer Protection
• Senior & Caregiver Resources
• Postage Stamps
• And much more!

From Archery to Zumba, there are many activities to inspire you to get moving. Why not celebrate National Physical Fitness & Sports Month by exploring a new hobby with resources at the Milwaukee Public Library ? From the general (1001 Ways to Get in Shape) to the specific (Bellydance) , from the ridiculous (Catflexing) to the sublime (Keep Climbing: How I Beat Cancer and Reached the Top of the World), the library has books and videos on just about every physical activitiy imaginable.

Attention OverDrive users! You now have the option to choose the lending period for your digital media checkouts.

When you log in to your account, you will be able to set your own default lending period on a format-by-format basis. However, if you do not set any lending period, the default for all formats will continue to be 7 days.

Here are the new lending period options:

For Adobe EPUB eBooks, Adobe PDF eBooks, OverDrive WMA Audiobooks, OverDrive MP3 Audiobooks:
7 days or 14 days

For OverDrive WMA Music, OverDrive WMV Video:
3 days, 5 days, 7 days, or 14 days

The 2010 Annual Freedom Scholarship Essay Contest is now being offered to District 6 college-bound students to give them a chance to pay for their education in exchange for their statement on what the concept of "freedom" means to them.

A major objective of this contest is to help recent high school graduates in the Milwaukee area appreciate the sacrifice that African-American men and women have made, and to recognize their duty to continue the legacy of freedom through their activism and vigilance. Two five-hundred dollar scholarships will be awarded.

Use the following links to learn more about the Freedom Scholarship and to download an application:

In late 2009, MPL applied for and received an LSTA grant to digitize 2,900 photographs from the Historic Photo Collection. These photos deal with Milwaukee's historic business and industry.

Since January of 2010, work has been moving forward in the addition of these photos to Milwaukee Historic Photos, MPL's largest and most extensive digital collection. The collection began the year with 1,176 records and is now up to 2,284 records. That is an addition of 1,108 records to date which puts the project over one third of its way to completion.

Photos in new areas that have been added include:
Airports
Banks
Beer Gardens
Breweries
Conventions
Garages
Theaters

Also included have been Business & Industry letters A, B, and C.

Throughout the rest of 2010 the remaining 1,792 photos will be added to the collection so make sure to keep checking back for new additions.

Summer weather is here! When you go out to enjoy the sun, take along one of these great reads and then join the discussion at one of MPL's branch libraries.

May 12th is Limerick Day, celebrating the nonsensical verse form popularized by 19th century English author and illustrator Edward Lear in his Complete Book of Nonsense. Lear was born on May 12, 1812, the 21st of 21 children. In addition to limericks, he is known for his nonsense alphabets (e.g. A Was Once an Apple Pie), the classic poem The Owl and the Pussycat, and such neologisms as "runcible" and "crumbobblious." Lear lived a life of mediocre health and material worries, but out of his restless imagination came rhymes, drawings and stories which have entertained generations.

Starting today, May 17, teens 13-18 can sign up for the Teen Summer Reading Program. Sign up online and receive a coupon for a FREE Cousins sub.
Starting June 7, weekly drawings will be held for prizes. Log the books you read each week in order to enter the drawing. The more books you log, the more opportunities you have to win!

If you read four or more books, you earn a prize pack which includes an MPL drawstring backpack.

If you read eight or more books before August 9, you will qualify for the grand prize drawing of a $50 visa gift card! Each Milwaukee Public Library location will select a winner.

In addition, four readers that log eight or more books before August 9 will be selected at random to receive a "starter" scholarship sponsored by EdVest, Wisconsin's official college savings program as well as a profile on www.knowHow2GOWisconsin.org

The only way to win all of these (and more!) prizes is to sign up, so log on and get started today!

The new self-checkout stations (using RFID technology) are now "live" at East Library, 1910 E. North Ave.

Work continues at Central Library and libraries on the north side to implement RFID and self-checkout. MPL's south side locations will be converted when work at the north side locations is complete. Library services will not be interrupted during the conversion.

Stop in soon to try self-checkout. East Library staff members will be on hand and happy to help you.

Cousins Subs is a proud supporter of the Milwaukee Public Library and the Super Reader program. This Monday, May 17th, to kick off the Super Reader program, 10% of all sales at participating Cousins Subs between 4:00-8:00 p.m. will be donated to the Milwaukee Public Library Foundation.

In addition, children who sign up for the Super Reader program at their Neighborhood Library on Monday, May 17th will receive a coupon for a free 5" mini sub from Cousins Subs.

Show your support of the library and have a delicious sandwich! Stop in at your local Cousins Subs locations on Monday, May 17, between 4:00 - 8:00 p.m.:

4134 W Villard Ave
5333 N Port Washington Rd
4121 N 56th St
7603 W Burleigh St
6810 W State St
801 E Capitol Dr
2900 N Oakland Ave
1612 W Wisconsin Ave
3104 S 27th St
3058 E Layton Ave

Rudeness can put a real damper on your day. Nobody likes being ignored by a sales clerk, honked at by an impatient driver, or being disrespected by someone talking loudly on a cell phone. In The Civility Solution, author P.M. Forni writes about the importance of civility in today's busy world and suggests ways to deal with rudeness in more than one hundred different situations.

Join your friends and neighbors to discuss this book at the Bay View Library, 2566 S. Kinnickinnic Avenue on Wednesday, May 19 from 6:30 - 7:30 p.m.

An online library donation form is now available on CountyCat.
You can specify a library/foundation to which your donation will be sent and the amount you wish to donate. There is also a comments area to allow you to leave a short note for the library.

As always, we appreciate your generosity and support.

On May 24, 1961, Freedom Riders were arrested for trying to use a whites-only facility at the bus depot in Jackson, Mississippi. The purpose of the Freedom Riders' trip was to test the Supreme Court decision, Boynton v. Virginia. Boynton v. Virginia overturned the conviction of an African American law student cited for tresspassing in a restuarant in a bus terminal deemed "whites only".
The violent treatment the riders endured in prison, the harsh treatment by southerners, and the demands of Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., prompted Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy , to petition the Interstate Commerce Commission to comply with a ruling that desegregated buses. The cumulative effect of these events was to end the Jim Crow era in the south. To learn more about this time period, check out the many books the library has about the Freedom Riders as well as books about the Civil Rights Movement.

The novel Dracula, by Irish author Bram Stoker, first went on sale in London on May 26, 1897. It was not an immediate bestseller but has become ever more popular and its influence has been responsible for many vampiric literary and dramatic interpretations throughout the 20th and 21st centuries. The vampire has become a bit of a cult hero, as evidenced recently by the Twilight phenomenon. Readers of this series of books by Stephanie Meyer are anxiously anticipating the release this summer of the movie version of Eclipse, the third title in the saga. If you'd like to delve a bit deeper into Stoker's classic novel, check out The New Annotated Dracula.