"HVAC Sound Attenuators"

More of that tech talk in last week's architect's field notes for Southside Library: "Work in progress: Ledger angles are going up for the deck. Bar joist and decking are going down in various parts of the building. Concrete anchor bolts at the shade ramada. The concrete bond beam at the South Patio will potentially be poured on Wednesday. The Architect instructed the Contractor to steel trowel, vibrate the forms very well, provide a hard steel trowel finish and a light broom. Additionally, the bond beam should slope away from the building at the same grade as the paving plane so that water drains off the bond beam. Trenching in the parking lot. Electrical is being put in at the East Patio. Coiling security grille door will be in place soon. Architect notes that care should be taken not to hit radiant tubing when anchoring columns in for the security grille. (Subcontractor) came out to review the location of HVAC sound attenuators."

Whole New Album Free On The Web

Is this the future already, turning up in our email boxes and on our screens? Neil Young's new album, Living With War, is at the moment free online on both the album's blog and the album's webpage. It goes to digital retailers on May 2nd, and to stores "in early May." No indication of how long they will be giving it away...

Evidently we don't pay enough attention to the music world, as we have no idea if other albums have been launched the same way. (And in the library we haven't heard a note yet. Library staff can't listen to audio on staff machines.)

Wise Fool Program for El Día de Los Niños

Don't forget to make time for Wise Fool's program, "A Look Inside," Saturday, April 29th, 2PM at the Main Library.

"El Día de Los Niños" is an annual nationwide celebration of children and books. This year in honor of the occasion the Santa Fe Public Library will have the Wise Fool New Mexico theatre group present their program A Look Inside. The program is a participatory journey through the magical world of puppetry. Wise Fool will spin tales of fun and fancy while teaching kids and adults about the art of puppetry, from small masks to their famous giants (10 to 20 feet tall) that take three people to operate! See how they operate, try them on for yourself and bring something to life and leave inspired to make puppets of your own. Wise Fool New Mexico is a nonprofit theatre arts project created and staffed by women artists of diverse backgrounds who are dedicated to art as a means of changing our world.

Fire Restrictions

The Santa Fe Fire Department would like to remind the citizens of Santa Fe that due to the current extreme fire conditions, the following restrictions are in effect:

• All open burning, including camp fires, bonfires, pit barbecues, and the burning of weeds, trash, or other vegetation.
• The use of charcoal barbecue grills in public parks and recreation areas.
• Smoking in public parks, recreation areas, or on any public trail.
• The use of any motorized ATV’s or motorcycles on City owned open space, parks, trails, or other recreational areas.

There have been nine grass fires in the southwest area of the City in the past 72 hours. Any person having information regarding the cause of these fires should contact the Santa Fe Regional Communications Center at 428-3710 or Santa Fe Crime Stoppers at 955-5050.

Ancestry.com, and Other Resource News

The genealogical resource, Ancestry.com is available to the public for free at the New Mexico State Library. This is wonderful news for people doing family research. There are two workstations offering access to the subscription version of Ancestry.com in the Southwest Room on the first floor. The State Library is at 1209 Camino Carlos Rey, and is open 9-5 weekdays.

The State Library documents librarian is also excited about "online access to the U.S. Congressional Serials Set on Readex. This database includes historical documents dating back to 1817. In the 1800's, Congress published documents from many federal agencies and commissions. By searching this database, you can find information about American Indian tribes, the Civil War, statehood, early reports and surveys of the southwestern United States, and many other historical subjects. Maps, illustrations, and tables have all been scanned along with the text. This database is still being built; volumes published up through 1888 are currently available. When the database is complete, coverage will extend up to 1980... Call ahead (476-9702) for consultation and we'll make sure it is worth your time to visit us."

Still other good resource news is that the New Mexico Supreme Court Law Library is offering free access for the public to both Westlaw and Lexis. There is a signup sheet, and you are limited to 45 minutes of access when others are waiting. The Law Library is open Monday-Friday 8:00-5:30 PM, Saturday 10:00-3:00PM, and is at 237 Don Gaspar. Their phone number is 827-4850.

We'll have more news about resources available in libraries around town later in the week. Don't forget the databases you have free access to both within the library and at home, available from our Magazine, Newspaper, and Reference Databases page.

Spring: Scent As Well As Sight

Lilacs blooming, or about to, everywhere in town. These are on Paseo de Peralta.

Local Lit Mags

We have a new electronic neighbor, the online literary journal Cezanne's Carrot. Editors and co-founders Barbara Jacksha, Joan Kremer, and Lori Romero posted the first issue of their quarterly on the Winter Solstice and their second issue on the Vernal Equinox. It looks like they are well started. Other New Mexico online literary journals have been around for a few years: The Drunken Boat, from Farmington, edited by Rebecca Seiferle; Lunarosity: Journal of Poetry and Fiction by Contemporary Authors, from Las Cruces, edited by Wayne Crawford; and the Santa Fe Poetry Broadside, edited by Miriam Sagan and Miriam Bobkoff. Please let us know about any others out there which we have missed.

These are all birds of a particular feather, what the digital preservation system LOCKSS (Lots Of Copies Keeps Stuff Safe) calls "born-digital, freely available humanities e-journals." LOCKSS goes on to say, "Small publishers using marginal business models currently publish a substantial amount of important work in the humanities." Poetry in particular seems ideal for web publishing. People won't read long texts on a screen: after a couple of page-downs they will stop to consider 'Do I want to read this? If yes, do I need to print it?' But many poetic texts and other short literary forms are an inviting length to pursue to their end on the screen. It simply works to put them up on the web.

Recently there was an article in Publishers Weekly, 'Poetry Off The Books' by Craig Morgan Teicher which makes a similar point. "In recent years, poets and poetry enthusiasts have been organically developing a network of linked online poetry publications, blogs and other related sites, many produced at quality commensurate with the best print magazines." The article contains a lot of links to online literary magazines and influential literary blogs, and wonders whether all this activity is increasing sales of books as well as increasing the readership for poetry. Duh. Poets don't earn their living by selling their books of poetry. That won't change. Maybe if they do it for several decades, they'll win a big prize, as Richard Wilbur did recently. But in general, the servants of the muse are not in it for sales of books... The Wilbur story is also at poetryfoundation.org, but actually we're giving you that link because the cartoon which was in the middle of the cover page last week was a hoot.

Twenty Years Ago This Week

The nuclear accident at Chernobyl occurred on April 26, 1986. We have a fascinating new book by Mary Mycio, Wormwood forest : a natural history of Chernobyl. A surprising fact is that, with humans excluded from the contaminated areas, over the past 20 years the forest has been reclaiming both towns and fields, and a radioactive but otherwise flourishing array of wildlife has reinhabited the de facto sanctuary of the exclusion zone. Since the publisher of Mycio's book is National Academies Press, it is also available free online. They have a number of other nuclear titles also available. Another recent book about Chernobyl is Voices from Chernobyl by Svetlana Alexievich. A very effective earlier account, published a few years after the accident, is Grigori Medvedev's The truth about Chernobyl. (Also, Martin Cruz Smith's terrific 2004 novel, Wolves Eat Dogs, is set in contemporary Chornobyl.)

The demilitarized zone in Korea is also reported to be rich in wildlife, as is our own White Sands Missle Range, both because of the enforced exclusion of people. It's interesting to think about. There are more people all the time everywhere in the world except in a few places accidentally protected by terrible reasons.

P.S. Wormwood Forest is one of those books which we missed hearing about, and we hadn't ordered it until one of our library users asked for it. As much as possible we order what you ask for, and we count on you all to point out the titles we should have when you notice they are not yet in the system.

Program Reminder: Kids' Events at La Farge

Paul Glickman will present two evening children's programs at the La Farge Library this week in celebration of National TV Turnoff Week.

As "The Great Paulissimo", Mr. Glickman will perform his enchanting magic show on Monday, April 24th at 7 PM. Then on Wednesday, also at 7PM, is the Annual Pajama Party and Story Time. Mr Glickman will read children's favorite bedtime storybooks. Pillows and refreshments will be provided. :-)

Of course it's free. La Farge is at 1730 Llano Street. For more information call 955-4863.

Program information and other library news is always available on the news page.

Important News About the Bookstop

In preparation for the opening of our beautiful new Southside Branch Library, we regret to announce that we will be closing the Library Bookstop. Our last day of service at the branch in the mall will be Sunday, May 7th. Please continue to make use of our La Farge and Main Library facilities. You will find our Bookstop staff at La Farge to help serve you.

Main Library's hours are 10AM-9PM, Monday through Thursday; 10AM-6PM, Friday and Saturday; 1PM-5PM Sundays; their phone is 955-6781. La Farge's hours are 10 AM-9PM Monday to Wednesday; 10AM-6PM, Thursday to Saturday. Their phone number is 955-4862.

Please note: After May 7th, all holds and Interlibrary Loan material that had originally been scheduled to be delivered to the Library Bookstop will be send to the La Farge Branch. If you would prefer to have your items held for you at the Main Library, please let us know so that we can change the pickup location. We apologize for the inconvenience.

Tech Talk and Art Talk at Southside

The architect's Work in Progress" notes for this week say, "Decking is being placed. HVAC and roof hatch penetration openings are being installed. Bar joist and canopy for the Children’s Area are being installed this week. The Children’s Area concrete masonry and South Patio grade beam will be installed this week. Irrigation sleeving will be installed this week."

Also there are a lot of "Arts related issues:" in the field report: " We reviewed a sketch of the ceramic tile arrangement for the Children’s Courtyard... We discussed the installation of the steel guard railing on the Children’s Patio by the cisterns which will be part of the art installation. Final selection of the artist will occur on May 28. Glass etching will be considered for the Teen and Clerestory windows. The hanging of the fabric art form in the Children’s Performance area is being checked out for weight and installation needs... "

The projected opening date has slid forward into January, alas. Construction photos are always available on the Progress page.

Dynamite Santa Fe Book

We just spent a half-hour or so paging through a new picture book about Santa Fe, Jerilou Hammett's The essence of Santa Fe : from a way of life to a style . What a knockout. You'll be seeing it on lots of coffee tables.

All That New Non-Fiction

The What's New list of Recently Ordered Nonfiction (just updated) includes all kinds of titles — media materials and stuff for children and reference books and poetry and new work on many topics. There's something seductive on every screen of the list. With the help of the tables of contents, reviews, and other useful information available by clicking on the cover images or 'More about this title' button, you can get enough of a preview that you don't need to wait until it arrives before you decide you want to put a request in for the ones you are interested in.

Some examples of titles which caught our eye in a quick browse (you might make a different selection, but you'll surely find plenty):

Guests of the Ayatollah by Mark Bowden
Come on In! New Poems, yet more unpublished work by the late Charles Bukowski
A sheltered life : the unexpected history of the giant tortoise by Paul Chambers
The silk ribbon embroidery bible by Joan Gordon
Oceans : a visual guide by Stephen Hutchinson & Lawrence E. Hawkins

Very Quiet

Today's a holiday. The libraries are closed. See you all tomorrow.

Early News on Summer Reading

Summer Reading -- The Theme Is Dinosaurs!!! Summer Reading will run from June 19th to July 28th. Registration begins June 19th.

Special Events will include dinosaurs, music, puppets, magic, storytellers. There will be dinosaur prizes. :-)

Programs will include the kick-off celebration, Little Readers Day with Paul Glickman; Ande Marimba Band; Jamie O’Hara - the Magic Guy; Carolyn Newell and the Exotics of the Rainforest; Terry Alvarez - the Story Dancer; and Joy Ginther and the Pink Elephant Theatre.

It's all free. For information call Main Library 955-6837; La Farge Branch Library 955-4863.

Detailed program schedule and other information will be posted next week. Stay tuned.

Media Lists, Large Print, What's New and All

The media lists--DVDs, videos, books on CDs and tape, etc.--have been updated. Also the Large Print and What's New lists, and the currently most popular titles, "Books You're Willing to Wait in Line For".

These lists are always available from the catalog's opening page, and are updated about once a month.

Holiday Weekend Reminder

All three libraries (and all City government offices) will be closing at 1 PM on Friday, April 14th. We will keep our normal schedule on Saturday, and be closed on Sunday in observance of the Easter holiday.

The library's annual holiday schedule is always available on our web pages.

Fire Season Already : Ojo Feliz Fire

There is a fire near Ojo Feliz (map) on the other side of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains. Both the Morning Briefing and the Large Fire Incident Report from the Southwest Coordination Center say roughly the same thing: "OJO FELIZ (reported anywhere up to 10,000 acres) is burning in Mora County in New Mexico State Forestry's Las Vegas District. Human-caused, the fire started Wednesday, spreading quickly and leading to evacuation of the communities of Ojo Feliz, Los Huertos, Hidden Lake, and numerous ranches in the area. An emergency shelter has been set up at Mora High School Gymnasium. Highway 442 is closed between la Cueva and Ocate. Bob Lineback's Type 2 Incident Management Team has been ordered to replace Type 3 Incident Commander Jaymes Smith. Some 125 firefighters are fighting the fire."

This is depressingly early. Look for the National Forests to close themselves to visitors well before Memorial Day.

Looks Like An Actual Building

The skeleton of the Southside Library is complete. The last beams were hoisted into place on April 10, with a great fanfare, a lot of blowing sand, and cookies. How many library supporters does it take to throw a Topping Out Party? Lots.

Everyone signed the last beam.

And up it went.

More construction photos and more pictures of the topping out will be on the progress page later today. We're still looking at a December, 2006, opening. Keep your fingers crossed.

Gospel of Judas

National Geographic has a thorough website about the recently published Gospel of Judas. The site offers the complete Coptic text, an English translation, and a 14-minute webcast of a press announcement about the discovery, conservation, and context of the manuscript (including a very brief contribution from Gnostic scholar Elaine Pagels). There's plenty to be found on the web about the Gospel itself (1)(2)(3), gnosticism, etc.

The library will set about ordering both Geographic's primary scholarly publication, and some books about the gospel and its historical context. We do have a number of older books about the Gnostics, but for the current topic you are better off using the web until some current books are available.

The Big Book of Art

You probably saw some news stories. The latest revision of Janson's History of Art was published last month. It was extensively revised, with some artists and images dropped, others added. The New York Times article (call the library for login and password) quotes the principal editor as saying that a quarter of the content had been changed. For 40 years this title in one of its incarnations has been the standard text for art history; teachers and students alike may find the new edition a bit surprising (and a bit refreshed). We're ordering a copy of the new edition, and meanwhile have various older editions available in case you feel like a trip down memory lane. We'll let you know when the new edition arrives.

The Bridge of the Hidalgos

The time is 1920. A new state highway connecting Taos and Santa Fe has just been built with federal aid. Residents of the (then) northwest area of Santa Fe petitioned the Santa Fe County Commission for a new bridge over Arroyo Mascaras (on upper Grant at Rosario). The concrete 'El Puente de los Hidalgos' and the concrete Cross of the Martyrs were built in the same year by the Midland Bridge Company, and dedicated as part of the Fiesta celebration that fall. The bridge was of the design patented by James Marsh in 1912, known as a Marsh arch or "rainbow arch." At one time there were hundreds of Marsh arch bridges in the country. There may be only a few dozen remaining. The bridge over Arroyo Mascaras is the only rainbow arch bridge left in New Mexico.

A procession across El Puente and up to the Cross remained a feature of the Fiesta celebration for several decades; but as the neighborhood filled in densely on the formerly empty hill, a new Cross of the Martyrs was erected by the Fiesta Council near the ruins of Fort Marcy. That's the Cross that present-day residents think of as the Cross of the Martyrs. The Near Northside Neighborhood Association bought the old cross on its lot on Paseo de la Loma from the Orthodox Catholic Christian Parish of St. Joseph and deeded it to the Historic Santa Fe Foundation for preservation in 1993. (Map)

Some longtime residents are familiar with the Old Cross of the Martyrs, some people are familiar with the Bridge of the Hidalgos, some people who don't spend time on the Near Northside may never have noticed either structure. Most of this information comes from a paper written by Corinne Sze of the Historic Santa Fe Foundation in 1991, at the time that the bridge was listed as a historic site. We have a copy in our vertical file. Ask for "Santa Fe--Historic Landmarks--Buildings and Districts II". Thank you to HSSF and to Corrinne Sze for sharing the paper.

More April Events

As part of the citywide effort for National TV Turnoff Week, the Santa Fe Public Library will be presenting 2 programs by Paul Glickman. Both will be for families in the evening at La Farge. The purpose of the week is to encourage children and families to find other activities which may be more beneficial than TV viewing. The Santa Fe Public Schools are spearheading the effort here in town. They are sending out information to educate parents and children on the unwanted, unlooked for, bad side effects of constant TV viewing by kids. They are also sending out a calendar of all the activities citywide that are available as part of the effort. This event is free. 455-4863 for information.

Monday, April 24, 7:00 p.m.: "The Great Paulissimo" will present a magic show.

Wednesday, April 26, 7:00 p.m. : The Annual Pajama Party and Storytime at La Farge. Children are encouraged to come dressed in their pajamas and to bring their favorite bedtime storybooks. Paul will read as many of those as time allows. Pillows, popcorn, and lemonade come standard with the program.

Library news and information about programs is always available on the news page (though we'll admit news often turns up here first.)

P.S. Information about Summer Reading will be coming soon.

OnLine Resource News

The State Library has added Grolier's La Nueva Enciclopedia Cumbre to the databases which it is offering though all the libraries in the state. This is a Spanish language reference tool which comes in two streams, one for Spanish speakers and one for students of Spanish. If you go to our periodicals/databases page,
you will see it listed there both for use in the library and for home access.

Home access requires that you go to the link provided there on the periodicals/database page to sign yourself up with Grolier. They will email you a username and password. After that, if your browser sets cookies, you will keep being able to get in without logging in again.

The Gateway to Other Library Catalogs page within the catalog is once again working from the in-house catalog stations. If you are looking for other libraries while online from home, we have a much larger selection on the Internet Starting Points, and a detailed description of Santa Fe Library Resources in particular.

Irresistible Time Fact For Lovers of Numbers

This came in one of those maddening emails that people forward to each other:
"On Wednesday April 5, 2006, at two minutes and three seconds after 1:00 in the morning, the time and date will be 01:02:03 04/05/06."

Writers Room : April Events

The Southwest Literary Center of Recursos has announced two free events in April.

Donald Levering Reads - Thursday, April 6 at 7 pm. Join us for a reading by poet Donald Levering. Levering has published two full-length volumes of poetry including Outcroppings From Navajoland and Horsetail as well as four chapbooks, The Jack of Spring, Carpool, Mister Ubiquity, and The Fast of Thoth. Another chapbook, The Kingdom of Ignorance, is forthcoming this spring from Finishing Line Books. Levering was a recipient of a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship Grant in poetry.

Open Reading to Honor Earth Day - Thursday, April 20, 7 pm. Bring yours or others' "earthy" poems and prose and celebrate Earth Day out loud. Readings up to five minutes (please respect your audience and time yourself). First 15 to sign up will read.

Both events take place upstairs in the Writers Room of the Southwest Literary Center at 826 Camino de Monte Rey, and are free and open to the public. For more information call 577-1125, email litcenter@recursos.org

...On The City's Web Pages

Hooray. The City's Planning and Land Use Department has put the 2006 edition of Santa Fe Trends on the web. Twenty-four pages of numbers and charts about growth, housing, water, transportation, schools, etc etc. The report is pretty to look at and packed with data.

Also, the City's GIS (Geographic Information Systems) department has some terrific maps on their web site. These are large PDF files, so you'd need a good printer to get a paper product. (It might be easier to go buy one from the department.) But they sure are fun to look at, and in many cases looking is all you need to do to answer your question--finally, a good zip code map, a mountainous terrain map, residential subdivisions, and on and on. The thumbnail image is from Future Land Use.

A lot of other useful information can be found on the City's official web site: the Code, the Weekly Water Reports, bus schedules, and more.

News (and Flotsam) From the World of Science

Spaceweather.com wants us all out watching the sky this evening. "...On Saturday, April 1st, the Moon is going to eclipse an entire star cluster--the Pleiades. The eclipse (or 'occultation') will be visible from eastern and central parts of North America. Start looking as soon as the sun sets. The slender crescent moon will pop out of the western twilight next to or among the stars of the Pleiades. Binoculars are recommended but not required." More details on the Spaceweather website under the headline "Don't Miss This," and at Sky & Telescope.

Meanwhile, the 2005 cohort of juveniles for the eastern whooping crane flock, who were led by ultralight on their first southbound migration last fall, have started back north on their own. Follow the news of their progress at Journey North. Pick up a glimpse of National Geographic's Crane Cam on the North Platte River while you're thinking birds. (They get a LOT more sandhill cranes than we do in the winters at Bosque del Apache, though it's the end of their season and the crances there, too, have mostly moved north.)

A friend has pointed out that there is a Google Mars. We knew about Google Moon; Mars was a surprise. The Cassini-Huygens probe team has images of small moonlets embedded in Saturn's rings (summary and article citations at Nature, but not full text), and is gearing up for a fly-by of Titan at the end of April.

We found a new drought graphic, a River Basin Snow Water Content map covering the whole west; earlier in the month there were news stories from the earliest universe (data courtesy of NASA's WMAP probe); and for a small silly treat, listen to a bullfrog at FrogWatch.com