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President Obama has proclaimed October as National Information Literacy Awareness Month. In our time of twenty-four hour television news and Internet content, the skills necessary to find and evaluate authoritative information is more critical than ever before. The MPL home page is a good place to start for finding credible information. So if you find yourself overwhelmed by information overload, contact your local Milwaukee Public Library for tips on how to separate the facts from the fiction.

OverDrive eBooks can be downloaded and viewed on mobile devices such as the Sony Reader, Barnes & Noble 'nook' and the iPhone/iPod Touch. The initial collection of OverDrive eBooks contains over 200 titles.

Would you like to learn Spanish, French, Japanese, German, Mandarin Chinese, Italian, or English as a second language for Spanish speakers? Thanks to your local public library, now you can. Mango Languages database will debut in all Milwaukee County Federated libraries (including all city of Milwaukee public libraries) on January 1, 2010.

Mango Languages offers online language instruction with a conversational focus on several languages and English-language learning in native languages. Users can save their progress and return later by submitting an email address and password. You'll be able to access the database remotely.

On January 1, 2010, click on the MPL website's Recommended Links to access Mango Languages.

On February 10, 1992, American author Alex Haley died at the age of 70. Haley was best known for Roots: The Saga of an American Family, which, combining fact and fiction, described the history of his family beginning in mid-18th century Africa. Haley's fame grew after an eight-part dramatization of the book appeared on television in 1977. That same year, he received the Spingarn Medal, awarded annually by the NAACP for the highest achievement by an American of African descent. If you're inspired to research your own family tree, the Milwaukee Public Library has many books, as well as websites highlighted under Genealogy at the MPL home page's Recommended Links.

Looking for a new job? Wanting to change careers? About to finish school and wondering what to do next?

The WISCareers database is here to help you. It is a fun and easy tool that lets you explore your career development options.

Through WISCareers you can investigate more than 700 occupations and 4,000 schools of interest by taking on-line assessments and inventories. Information on careers includes job requirements, education path, salaries, outlook, and more.

You can also find financial aid, scholarship, and budgeting information, or research potential employers or apprenticeships throughout Wisconsin and the U.S.

This database also features a Resume Maker and a Cover Letter Writer that can help all job seekers.

Access WISCareers by going to MPL's Web site, select Research Resources, then All Library Databases. You can also access WISCareers from home with your City of Milwaukee library card.

On March 30th the server which provides access to CountyCat, the online catalog, will be replaced. In order to facilitate this server migration, all CountyCat functions, including searches, requests, and authentication for downloading via Overdrive, will be unavailable for the entire day.

MPL libraries will still be open normal hours on Tuesday, March 30th. You are welcome to visit and check out materials in person (you will need your library card). Internet services will also be available as usual.

There will be some negative service impacts including:
No new library card registration.
Remote access to databases requiring authentication will not available. However, databases indicating Badgerlink funding will be remotely available. Unfortunately, other paid databases will not be available.

As always, library staff will be available to help in any way they can.

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

As the summer heat slogs on and the population of Milwaukee moves outside, those pesky critters known as mosquitoes appear to make our lives miserable. These insects from the Culicidae family are not only annoying, but are also disease vectors. Fortunately, you can learn more about mosquitoes and how to control them through the Badgerlink databases with a valid library card! Simply plug in your search terms in the "Search Databases" box at the top of the screen. Not only will results appear in the center of the screen, but you can limit your search to different databases by clicking on the links on the left hand side of the screen. You can find scientific articles about mosquitoes, or look for hints on how to control them. There are even links to databases to help your children learn about mosquitoes. Of course, if you would rather avoid mosquitoes all together and hang out in the comfort of air conditioning with a good book, check out Andrew Spielman's Mosquito: a natural history of our most persistent and deadly foe.

Milwaukee Public Library has just purchased the online version of the well-known directory, Foundations in Wisconsin. Published annually by Marquette University's Raynor Library, it is the only directory of its kind which covers every active grant making foundation in the state of Wisconsin.

The foundation profiles include contact information, total assets, grants paid, and areas of interest. The online version cannot be used remotely. Results may be printed or saved.

The online database Foundations in Wisconsin is linked on our webpage under the categories of "Grant Resources" and "Library Databases."

Have you ever gone to Milwaukee Public Library's catalog, CountyCat, and noticed at the top that it says Milwaukee County Federated Library System? If so, you may have wondered what this system is and how it differs from the Milwaukee Public Library. The whole idea behind library systems is that through working together and sharing services and materials all of the libraries that are part of the system can better serve their users. For example, if you are a resident of Milwaukee you have access to materials and services of 27 libraries, rather than just the 13 Milwaukee libraries. This is because the public libraries in Milwaukee and the other public libraries in Milwaukee County are part of the Milwaukee County Federated Library System (also known as MCFLS).

If you use library databases you also may have noticed that some of them are available only in the library while others offer remote access. Being part of MCFLS helps lower the cost of these databases, but the Milwaukee Public Library and the other Milwaukee County public libraries still have to pay for their own databases. This means when you try to use the library's databases you are limited to what your municipality has purchased access to. Take a look at Free Subscription Databases by Residence to find out the available resources paid for by your library.

For more information, check out the MCFLS Website, MPL Facts, Figures, and Policies and Library History.

MPL has great news for researchers, genealogists, house historians, and developers! You can now access Wisconsin Sanborn fire insurance atlases online.

The Sanborn Map Company was the primary publisher of American fire insurance maps for nearly 100 years. Fire insurance maps detail buildings and their construction materials and were used to assess potential risk from fire and other hazards. But today these maps are a great source of historical and genealogical data.

This ProQuest database contains Sanborn maps for more than 250 communities in Wisconsin. You can access this database from home with your City of Milwaukee library card, and the maps can be printed. This online collection for Milwaukee County is a great supplement to the print collection of Sanborn atlases in Central Library!

If you are unfamiliar with using the maps, be sure to check out the Help file and Frequently Asked Questions pages to get started.

Did you know that Access NewspaperARCHIVE of Badgerlink recently updated their website? Besides being the largest online newspaper archive, NewspaperARCHIVE is easier to use with new search tabs and one click access to newspaper articles detailing historic events. The tabs at the top of the screen include the capability to browse and "Ask a librarian" as well as search. The search capability is also expanded with the ability to conduct a name search. You can access a variety of news articles covering famous historic events as they happened by clicking the links on the front page. Coverage includes all of the United States and some select countries.

Interested in learning Farsi? How about Tamil or Tagalog? Learning another language is easier than ever with Mango Languages, a database providing online language instruction with a conversational focus.

City of Milwaukee library cardholders now have accesss to the following languages through Mango's Language Learning Center: Arabic(Levantine), Mandarin Chinese, Croatian, Czech, Dari, Dutch, Farsi, French, German, Greek, Hebrew, Hindi, Irish, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Pashto, Brazilian Portuguese, Russian, Slovak, Latin American Spanish, Tagalog, Tamil, Thai, Turkish, Ukrainian, Urdu, and Vietnamese.

Mango's Language Learning Center also features several English as a Second Language (ESL) courses, including ESL for Egyptian Arabic, Cantonese and Mandarin Chinese, Greek, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Latin American Spanish, Turkish, and Vietnamese and more.

Creating a new account with Mango Languages is required to access the additional content. City of Milwaukee library cardholders can create their account here. Or by clicking on the "All Library Databases" portion of the Milwaukee Public Library's website.

Milwaukee residents can enjoy a six month trial of the database Access Video powered by Films on Demand. This database provides streaming for educational videos on various topics. Teachers, do it your selfers, and those of you who are just plain curious can enjoy content on the topics of Home & Family, Health & Wellness, Career Planning & Resources, Trades & Technical Skills, Science, Math & Technology, Social Sciences, History, Language, Speech & Literature, Visual & Performing Arts, Business & Economics, Archival Films & Newsreels, Crime & Law. To find the link to this database, you can click on the categories of Education, Library Databases, Library Databases for Remote Use and Movies Radio & TV. Make sure you try it soon because the trial expires September 16th, 2011.

If you are a fan of Milwaukee Public Library's Mango Laguages database, or if you are looking for a fun and portable way to learn a foreign language, the library now offers Mango Languages in a convenient USB drive. The USB drives are available in French, German, Italian, Japanese, Mandarin Chinese and Spanish. This interactive language instruction program uses Mango's Intuitive Language Construction and native speakers to teach vocabulary, grammar, pronunciation, and cultural nuances to first time language students. The USB drives are available for a three week loan period. Check the catalog for availability

Also, don't forget the Mango database, with 29 languages!

The National Archives released 1940 Census records today. A name index does not yet exist, but Ancestry.com and FamilySearch plan to index the census. Visit the National Archives Start Your 1940 Census Research page for helpful search tips.

The U.S. Census is organized by enumeration district (ED), an area that can be canvassed by one enumerator (census taker). Enumeration district maps show their boundaries. If you have 1940 addresses for your family members, you can search for the census enumeration districts they lived at that time at Steve Morse's useful 1940 Census ED Finder.

If you only have names of people you are trying to find in the 1940 Census, city directories and telephone books for Milwaukee and some suburban directories from that era are available in the Frank P. Zeidler Humanities Room, (414) 286-3061, at the Central Library.

A Humanities librarian offers a brief introduction to library genealogy resources. This free Researching Your Family Tree class meets at 2:30 p.m., every third Monday of the month in the Central Library Krikelas Room, 2nd Floor. The next program will be on April 16th, 2012.

Submitted by Van Lingle Mungo

Today marks the start of Money Smart Week, a public awareness initiative aimed at building financial knowledge for all ages. Throughout the week Milwaukee Public Library will offer programs and resources to encourage healthy personal financial practices.

Managing Your Investments: Making Value Line and Morningstar Work for You

Smart investing starts now! Learn how you can use stock and mutual fund research tools Value Line and Morningstar to help manage your investments and inform future investment decisions. This program will be held at three Milwaukee Public Library locations. No registration is required.

Monday, April 23rd, 6-7 p.m.
Washington Park Library, 2121 N. Sherman Blvd.

Tuesday, April 24th, 6-7 p.m.
Central Library, 814 W. Wisconsin Ave. Meeting Room 1

Wednesday, April 25th, 6-7 p.m.
East Library, 1910 E. North Ave, Meeting Room

Value Line and Morningstar are subscription databases available inside all City of Milwaukee libraries and remotely to City of Milwaukee library card holders.

Wouldn't it be nice to have your own personal financial planner to show you how to spend your money, where to find savings, and maybe even find a way to create a nest egg? Goof-Proof Personal Finance can teach you how to take control of your financial future without the expense of a financial planner. Goof-Proof Personal Finance is free through Milwaukee Public Library's LearningExpress database. Learn how to take control of your financial future with 44 manageable and easy-to-understand lessons. Some of the topic covered in the lessons include:

* Monitoring spending habits and getting organized for saving
* Managing bills and gaining control of large debts
* Securing home equity loans and mortgages, plus refinancing strategies
* Investing for the future and understanding retirement plans
* Budgeting, saving, and spending wisely on a wedding
* Financing a college tuition and learning about education savings plans

The LearningExpress Library database is available for use through City of Milwaukee libraries and and by remote access to City of Milwaukee library cardholders.

Are you craving rhubarb? MPL's Historic Recipe File contains 17 recipes using this love it or hate it crop. If you're looking to use up your harvest or don't know what to do with rhubarb from your neighbor or CSA, try some new (old!) recipes. You might want to try rhubarb tea or bread or cake or cobbler or torte or cheesecake or flameri.
Bebop-A-Reebop Rhubarb!