Sunday, August 30, 2009

Friday Afternoon Movies in October and November@ 1pm





Note Movie Change for November 6

Alfred Hitchcock's North By Northwest-The 50th Anniversary Edition

A strong candidate for the most sheerly entertaining and enjoyable movie ever made by a Hollywood studio. Positioned between the much heavier and more profoundly disturbing Vertigo (1958) and the stark horror of Psycho (1960), North by Northwest (1959) is Alfred Hitchcock at his most effervescent in a romantic comedy-thriller that also features one of the definitive Cary Grant performances. It's a classic Hitchcock Wrong Man scenario: Grant is Roger O. Thornhill (initials ROT), an advertising executive who is mistaken by enemy spies for a U.S. undercover agent named George Kaplan. Convinced these sinister fellows (James Mason as the boss, and Martin Landau as his henchman) are trying to kill him, Roger flees and meets a sexy Stranger on a Train (Eva Marie Saint), with whom he engages in one of the longest, most convolutedly choreographed kisses in screen history. And, of course, there are the famous set pieces: the stabbing at the United Nations, the crop-duster plane attack in the cornfield (where a pedestrian has no place to hide), and the cliffhanger finale atop the stone faces of Mount Rushmore. Plus a sparkling Ernest Lehman script and that pulse-quickening Bernard Herrmann score. What more could a moviegoer possibly desire?--Jim Emerson

Note: The Courageous Heart of Irene Sendler will be screened if it becomes available.



November 13 - My Life in Ruins
Georgia, (Nia Vardalos) is facing burnout in her job with a Greek tour company when her latest group of tourists helps her shed some of her hard-built personal armor, guiding her to cut loose as the tour progresses. The strong supporting cast includes Richard Dreyfus--seeming very comfortable playing an old coot--Rachel Dratch, Rita Wilson, and the dreamy Greek actor Alexis Georgoulis, a bus driver with the soul of a poet. And possibly a secret crush on the oblivious Georgia. The true star of the film is Greece itself, from the coastline to the mountains, from the Acropolis to the Parthenon. A.T. Hurley, Amazon.com




November 20 - An Old-fashioned Thanksgiving
Things are so bad for recently widowed Mary Bassett and her three children that this Thanksgiving they may not even be able to afford a turkey. When Mary's wealthy and estranged mother comes for a visit, it will take more than money to heal the emotional wounds that exist between mother and daughter. Jacqueline Bissett. MidwestTape.com







November 27 - Whatever Works
The crux of this odd love story, directed by Woody Allen, involves the unlikely friendship between the brilliant, kvetchy Boris and the Southern beauty queen with a heart of gold and a brain of wide-open spaces, Melodie. Melodie's deeply religious and tightly wound mama and her husband, a Southerner slightly to the right of George Wallace come to the big city to reclaim their wayward lamb, and when the Southerners meet the New Yorkers, sparks fly--in ways both good and slightly scary. Larry David, Evan Rachel Wood, Ed Harris, Patricia Clarkson. A.T. Hurley, Amazon.com

Movies begin at 1 p.m.

Friday, February 27, 2009

Book Display Table Sponsored by Library Benefactor

Library Director Andrew Hamm (left) and donor Dr. Bernard Malberg (right) show off the new library display table featuring new arrivals to the collection.

The library was fortunate to have a local resident sponsor a beautiful, custom-made book display table which now graces the entrance to the Adult Reading Room. Dr. Bernard Malberg, a long-time library user, generously provided the library with funds to purchase a two-tier cherry book display table complete with slat-wall book display holders and book shelves. The library is using this handsome piece of furniture to display items from the New Book area, and our library users are making good use of it, checking out many of the items exhibited there. Stop in and check out some of our newest arrivals attractively displayed on this new addition to the library.

Monday, February 23, 2009

New at the Library: Suffolk Homework Help Online Tutoring


The public libraries of Suffolk County are pleased to announce that families with young children, teens and adults seeking to support their studies or improve their math or grammar skills, will all have experts waiting to help via the Internet through a cooperatively funded project called Suffolk Homework Help.

Expanding one-to-one online tutoring and homework help to more students is a natural next step for libraries as we continue to find new ways to serve everyone in the community. Parents are teaching younger children to use the computer, to learn and explore their world, just as adults turn to technology to help them with everything from GED preparation to resume writing.

Addition of K-3 Enhances Library Support of Early Learners
Parents who connect their young children to the Suffolk Homework Help service expose them to rich learning resources, increase the child’s ability to succeed in computer literacy and provide practice for fine motor skills.

Libraries Supports Adult Learners Online
Adults have always come to the library for assistance with research, earning their GED and other Adult Continuing Education support—as well as for grammar help with their resume or work-related writing. Now you may connect to a live expert online, either on your library’s computers during regular operating hours, or from the privacy of your home computer until 10.00 p.m.

How it Works
Anyone with a library card from a Suffolk County public library may log-on to www.suffolkhomeworkhelp.org , go to the Live Homework Help link, select a grade level from K – 12, College Intro, or Adult Learner, and pick from one of 12 subjects, depending on your grade level. You will then enter an Online Classroom where a certified subject expert tutor will work with you in a chat window, on a drawing board, and through website and file sharing, to resolve your educational challenge. This site is also available in most cases directly from West Islip Public Library’s web page at www.wipublib.org.

The service is available from 2:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. daily in English and Spanish. This live online service is provided by Tutor.com, the largest online tutoring company with more than 2,000 certified, background checked tutors. Tutor.com recently won a Parent’s Choice Gold Award, their highest honor.

Working Together To Empower Communities
Suffolk Homework Help is another example of Suffolk County public libraries working together to bring their communities the latest in research and learning tools in a cost effective manner through cooperation. Coordinated by the Suffolk Cooperative Library System and funded by the fifty-six public libraries of Suffolk County, Suffolk Homework Help joins other cooperative library projects including Answers 24/7, the live online reference question service, and Suffolk e-Resources, a collection of professional quality electronic databases for public use. These services are examples of how local public libraries are leveraging their resources to bring their communities access to information on a level that only a few individual libraries could possibly afford.


To learn more, visit www.suffolkhomeworkhelp.org or stop by or call either the West Islip Public Library's Adult Reference Desk or the Children's Reference Desk at 661-7080.

Monday, October 13, 2008

Answers 24/7: Real Librarians in Real Time!


Sometimes you need the answer to a question, but its just not convenient or possible to go to the library--what can you do? With Answers 24/7, a service accessible from the web page of West Islip Public Library, you can get help from a real librarian in real time--all you need is your library card! This county-wide service coordinated by the Suffolk Cooperative Library System provides electronic resources and assistance searching the Internet in response to specfic questions. The librarians at Answers 24/7 can help you find information, articles, books and much more! Just click on the logo on the library's web page at www.wipublib.org .

Learn a Language using Mango on the Library Web Page


Mango is a web site that lets you take lessons in a wide variety of languages. West Islip Public Library is offering free access to this great site to our cardholders through a county-wide venture with the Suffolk Cooperative Library System. The lessons are presented as a series of audio/visual slides-- they are interactive and you can click on words on the side to hear them repeated. There are lesson courses in a variety of languages, offering English to Spanish, French, German, Greek, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese, and Mandarin. There are also lessons for Spanish to English and Polish to English. There are about 100 lessons for each language, with about 80 slides per lesson. This is a self-taught system, and is very easy to use. To access Mango, simply click on the logo on the library's web page at http://www.wipublib.org/ and enter your library card and password (if you do not yet have a password, click on the instructions to get one).

Tuesday, October 07, 2008

Download Digital Media from the Library Webpage








Download SuffolkWave Digital Media to Your Home Computer from the Library Webpage. The West Islip Public Library is pleased to announce a new service, SuffolkWave, which cardholders can use to download a variety of digital media to their home computers. A cooperative project involving Suffolk County public libraries,the Suffolk Cooperative Library System, and Overdrive Inc., SuffolkWave is accessed from the library’s webpage at http://www.wipublib.org/, and allows library patrons to download audio books, music, and video to their home computers, which then may be transferred to many popular portable devices. Patrons will need a valid library card, broadband access to the Internet, and a home computer to access SuffolkWave materials. A one-time free download of OverDrive Media Console is required to usethe downloaded files. This service is intended for home use and is not available on library computers., Need more help? Call Mon-Fri 10am-3pm or email WIPL HelpDesk




Download Direct Video from the Library Webpage using MyLibraryDv. The West Islip Public Library has begun to offer direct digital videoon-demand via our webpage at http://www.wipublib.org/ using a new product, MyLibraryDv. Cardholders can access hundreds of hours of DVD-quality programming such as cooking with America’s Test Kitchen, travel with Rick Steves’ Europe, collecting with Antiques Roadshow, and selected classic films using this free library service. Digital video downloads can be “borrowed” to the patron’s home computer for seven days, after which they are automatically erased. Cardholders wishing to use MyLibraryDV would need to have broadband access to the Internet, and a computer with Windows 2000 or XP with SP2, and at leasta gigabyte of free space on their hard drive. A one-time download of a free download manager is a necessary first step to accessing these videos. Need more help? Call Mon-Fri 10am-3pm or email WIPL HelpDesk

Playaway Digital Audiobooks


Check out these self-contained audiobook players and enjoy them at home and away from home.Playaways are small self-playing digital audio books. They are simple to use, and small enough to fit in your pocket or the palm of your hand. Their top-quality digital sound allows you to escape into a good book whenever and wherever you can.

Wednesday, October 01, 2008

Did You Know.....?

You can browse through the complete list of DVDs in the collection from the comfort of home. Choose "New Items" from the main library page, then select the list you want from the side panel. They are large files, and may take a few moments to open. Once the file opens, you may save a copy to your own computer.

(These lists are in PDF format - go to www.adobe.com if you need to download a fresh version of Adobe Acrobat Reader) ...CAA