Library increases diverse music selection

Joplin Public Library just got a bit more country, and a lot more rock and roll. Due to a wonderful grant, the library was able to purchase over 150 new audio CDs to increase its already widespread and diverse collection.

I will be looking at some of my personal favorite albums from the titles recently added to the library’s collection.

Bob Dylan: “Love and Theft,” “The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan,” “Bringing It All Back Home,” “Blonde on Blonde.” What is there to possibly say about Bob Dylan? Everyone knows who he is, and whether you love him or hate him, there is no denying his importance in the second-half of twentieth century popular culture. While the Beatles were singing three-chord love songs, Dylan was digging deeper, mining society and his own personal psyche with timeless songs filled with lyrical poetry the likes of which had never been heard before. Including the above-mentioned career highlights, the library now owns more than ten albums by this eternal troubadour.

Motorhead: “Ace of Spades,” “No Sleep ‘til Hammersmith.” Motorhead has been loud, brash, rude, and “in yer face” for more than thirty years now. Always working just outside the mainstream of pop culture, they nonetheless have built up a huge cult following throughout their career. Of their remarkably consistent recorded output, these two albums rank amongst the best. In fact, if “Ace of Spades” had been the only song the group had ever recorded, they still would have gone down in heavy metal history. But they were able to back that classic track up with long-time Motorhead standards as “We are the Road Crew” and “Jailbait.” The live “No Sleep ‘til Hammersmith” perfectly captures the manic metal energy of the band’s first lineup, and features numerous tracks from the just-released “Ace of Spades” plus earlier cuts. The album remains one of the most thrilling live recordings of all time.

Nick Drake: “Five Leaves Left,” “Bryter Layter,” “Pink Moon.” By the time Nick Drake died of an overdose of antidepressants at the age of 26, his recorded legacy was small by any standards. Just three albums of heart-rending, beautifully bleak folk-pop were all he had left the world. Unappreciated in his own time, it was only after his death that his reputation began to grow. The three albums listed above went on to inspire a generation of similarly morose young singer songwriters, from Elliott Smith to R.E.M.’s Peter Buck and Robert Smith of The Cure. Decades of earnest imitation have done nothing to dull the power of Drake’s haunted melodies and aching lyrics, however, and these three albums remain essential rainy-day listening.

David Bowie: “The Man Who Sold the World,” “Hunky Dory,” “Ziggy Stardust,” “Low.” Bowie during his 1970’s prime was a thrill and a wonder. He changed personas and musical sounds more often than most people change their clothes. In many ways, he was able to anticipate popular taste and seemingly was always one step ahead of the rest of popular music. Once taste had caught up with him, he was onto something else. During the 70’s, Bowie jumped from hard-rock to folk to glam to electronic to soul to disco, finally emerging in the 80’s as a respected veteran showman. The albums listed above are my personal favorites of Bowie, but they are only the best of an altogether classic run of albums, of which the library now owns seven of note.

Some other artists whose albums the library recently purchased include Prince, Roxy Music, Willie Nelson, Nine Inch Nails, Miles Davis, Jefferson Airplane, Brian Eno, Gary Numan, Lady Gaga, Aretha Franklin, Run-DMC, PJ Harvey, and The Cure (amongst MANY others). A library patron may check out four CDs at a time, and they loan for a period of one week.

Film About Dealing with Death Full of Life

Now that we’re inching our way out of winter, are you in the mood for a feel-good movie about life, death, and relationships? If so, “Departures” might be for you. This sweet, meditative movie, the 2009 winner of an Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, will have you smiling through your tears.

Early in the story, musician Daigo Kobayashi realizes that he’s a man of big dreams but modest talent. In quick order, he loses his orchestra job, sells his cello and moves back to his hometown.

He’s looking for a change — and employment. He finds both when an ad entitled “working with departures” piques his interest.

He’s surprised when he’s offered the job during the interview. He’s even more surprised when he learns that he’ll be working as an encoffiner, someone who prepares a body for burial or cremation.

His new boss explains that the ad had a typo; it should have read “the departed” instead of “departures.”

Daigo accepts the position but hides its true nature from his wife and friends, fearing their disgust. As he becomes more familiar with the job, however, he begins to appreciate its beauty and necessity. He and his boss provide a service that benefits the families as well as the deceased.

“The rite of encoffinment is to prepare the deceased for a peaceful departure,” Daigo tells a grieving family. They are invited to watch as he gently and respectfully positions the body, cleans it, and dresses it. There is profound sadness on their faces, but also fascination; they find comfort in the ritual.

He takes pride in what he does and realizes he’s good at it. When his wife discovers his secret and tells him to get a “normal” job, he replies, “Normal? Everyone dies. I’ll die, and so will you. Death is normal.”

Daigo’s close proximity to death and the family dramas that result from it — parents blame each other for a child’s untimely death, relatives debate whether a cross-dresser should be presented as a male or a female — set him on a journey to reconnecting with his past.

Key to that journey is his rediscovery of a rock wrapped in sheet music. Daigo later explains the significance of giving someone a rock.

It’s a “stone letter,” he tells his wife. “Long ago, before writing, you’d send someone a stone that suited the way you were feeling. From its weight and touch, they’d know how you felt.”

Toward the end of the movie, Daigo’s past returns in a major way, and he performs the encoffining ritual for someone he hasn’t seen in many years. As he prepares the body, past and present meet, and a fuzzy, forgotten face comes back into focus. The moment is powerful and moving.

“Departures” is a meditation on life and death, but it’s far from sorrowful. There is plenty of laughter.

Daigo’s first day on the job is filled with indignity; let’s just say there’s a giant diaper involved. His extreme reaction when encountering his first corpse — that of a woman who’s been dead for two weeks — is hilarious but wholly understandable. And during his first solo run as an encoffiner, he makes a startling discovery while bathing the body.

It’s easy to see why this movie won an Academy Award. From the ballet of the encoffining ritual to the majestic landscape of northern Japan, it’s lovely to look at. The music is beautiful, too, and will linger in your mind.

But it is ultimately the story at the heart of “Departures” that makes it great. It doesn’t rely on 3-D technology, billion-dollar special effects or cameo appearances by a dozen Hollywood stars. It is simple and universal, and it sneaks up on you, packing an emotional wallop that you might not expect.

Not enough films do that these days.

Lisa E. Brown is the Administrative Assistant of the Joplin Public Library

Worldwide Newspapers Available at Library

Because you are reading this article, you are probably aware of the value newspapers bring to our lives.

The Facts on File World News Digest covers major domestic and international political, social, and economic events since 1940. The database is research oriented covering major news events, but users can also access daily news coverage.

Users can get hourly news feeds from Reuters by searching for a topic and clicking on the “Breaking News” tab. A chronological perspective on the topic is available through the News Digest articles, which are displayed by date in descending order.

To browse and read newspapers, direct links to the Web sites for international newspapers are found by clicking on “World Press Links” under the “Special Features” section (choose “More Special Features” at the bottom of the home page). You can read the Afghan Daily, the Calgary Herald, the Moscow Times, the Boston Globe and more than 200 other newspapers.

Other great features of the database include the reports, encyclopedia, almanac and curriculum tools for teachers. Users can search by date or browse top news stories by decade, country or issue.

Reports on current topics such as the 2010 midterm elections are provided in the “In-Depth Coverage” section. The “Special Features” section includes country profiles, historic documents, newsmaker profiles, photos, charts and maps, world heads of state and government leaders and more.

Infotrac Custom Newspapers is part of the Gale databases that the library receives from MOREnet. The database has full text articles from more than 1,000 local, national and international newspapers.

Coverage is from 1980 to today — or maybe tomorrow, if you are looking at an article from an international newspaper. A search for “2010 Olympics” returns articles from Canada, London, Bangor Maine, Beaumont Texas, China, New York and many other places.

Searching is easy with a prominently displayed search box and helpful information on the home page. When you display an article you can print, e-mail or download (as a text file or a MP3 file). You can translate the article into one of 11 different languages, have it read aloud to you and look up unfamiliar words in the dictionary. You can also setup RSS feeds to track topics and be alerted when a new issue of a newspaper is available.

To read a newspaper instead of searching by topic, choose the “Browse Publications” tab. You can view all the titles in alphabetical order or type in the title of the newspaper.

A search for New York Times gives two results, the newspaper and the magazine. By clicking on the title you get a description of the newspaper and the coverage. You can choose the year (1985-2010) then the day to access the articles published in that day’s edition.

Whether you want the current day’s news or to search for historic happenings, check out the library’s newspaper collections. Discover what is happening in Joplin, Kansas City and around the world.

Both of the databases are available in the library or from home with a Joplin Public Library card. To use from home, go to www.joplinpubliclibrary.org and double click “Reference.” Click on “Magazines & Newspapers” then scroll down the list.

Patty Crane is the Reference Librarian at the Joplin Public Library.

Titles for Young Readers Compelling Enough for Adults

Red Glass

By Laura Resau
(For 4th-8th grade)

Sixteen-year-old Sophia and her family are summoned to the hospital one night, where a 6-year-old Mexican boy, who they later discover is named Pablo, is recovering from dehydration. The group that Pablo was crossing the border with, including his parents, were all found dead, but the border patrol found Sophie’s stepfather’s business card in the dead man’s pocket.

Juan does not recognize the boy, but since he has no family in the USA, he comes to live Sophie, her parents, and her eccentric, great-aunt Dika — who is a refugee from the war in Bosnia. Over the course of the next year, Pablo becomes part of the family and emerges from his shell enough to help Sophie’s family make contact with his grandmother in Mexico.

In a twist of fate, Dika’s new boyfriend and his son, Angel, are planning to travel through Mexico to their native Guatemala during the summer. Dika, Sophie and Pablo ride along so that Pablo can see his family and eventually make a decision about whether he wants to stay in Mexico or return to the USA.

Sophie always considered herself an amoeba — a single-celled organism that aimlessly floats through life — and she is afraid of everything, from becoming an orphan to getting food poisoning. But it is on this summer adventure that she will have to conquer bigger fears in an effort to help her friends.

This memorable novel seamlessly blends cultures to create one breathtaking narrative. Sophie and the rest of the characters have to cross numerous borders — mentally, socially, as well as physically — and readers of all ages will fall in love with this captivating story.

Marcelo in the Real World

By Francisco X. Stork
(Young adult)

Marcelo Sandoval, a high functioning, 17-year-old with Asperger’s syndrome, is looking forward to a summer of caring for therapeutic-riding ponies at Paterson, the special school that he has attend his entire life.

But then his father, Arturo, blindsides him with a proposition: Agree to work in the “real world” (a.k.a. the mailroom of Arturo’s law firm) for the summer and Marcelo can return to Patterson for his senior year of high school, or decline and go to the mainstream high school of Arturo’s choice.

Marcelo accepts the proposal and at the law firm Marcelo meets Jasmine, his mailroom supervisor, and Wendell, the son of his father’s business partner. It is with their help that Marcelo learns important life lessons about friendship, jealously, competition, trust and anger.

However, it is through the discovery of a mysterious girl’s photograph that he learns of pain and makes a decision that will alter his life forever.

Stork does a fine job developing Marcelo into a well-rounded, believable character. While Marcelo’s condition is a chief element of the story, Stork does an amazing job exploring it without neglecting the rest of the story. His first person narrative is effective for allowing readers the opportunity to understand what is happening in Marcelo’s head, while allowing for the enjoyment of the rest of the story.

This is an engaging, satisfying novel that should not be missed by teens and adults alike.

Jeana Gockley is the children’s librarian at Joplin Public Library.