public libraries

It has been a busy summer of makerspace projects at the library and monster hunting for the three members of the Super Secret Monster Patrol, and the puddles that are appearing all over town are a clue to the identity of another monster--an angry hydra water monster who is obsessed with cleaning up (literally) the town of Stermont, even if it means drowning all the messy children who live there.

"Two children learn the importance of librarians in their neighborhood"--Provided by publisher.

". . . this book documents the history of distributed learning and discusses current issues in distributed learning librarianship, with a special focus on the role of technology. Topics covered include virtual libraries, reference assistance, E-reserves and document delivery, administrative and marketing issues, and copyright concerns"--Back cover.

Abby is having trouble coming up with a community helpers project since all the other children in her third grade class have taken all the good jobs and even her best friend is planning on doing something without her--but the public library beckons.

Sound the alarm -- things are heating up in Stermont! The Super Secret Monster Patrol arms themselves with water balloons to take on their hottest monster yet. But when puddles appear in the streets and the town starts to flood, Alexander and his friends realize there's a different monster splashing about!.

"Eleven-year-old Pearl Moran cannot imagine life without the historic but under-utilized branch of the New York Public Library where she was born (in the Memorial Room) and where her single mother works as the circulation librarian; the other librarians, the neighborhood people, the raccoons, and most of the 41,000 plus books all form the structure and essence of her life--but when someone cuts off the head of the library's statue of Edna St. Vincent Millay she realizes that the library is under attack, and it is up to her to save it"--OCLC.

When Melvil Dewey realized every library organized their books differently, he wondered if he could invent a system all libraries could use to organize them efficiently. Melvil was a persistent (and noisy) advocate for free public libraries. And while he made enemies along the way as he pushed for changes--like his battle to establish the first library school with women as students, through it all he was efficient, inventive, and often annoying as he made big changes in the world of public libraries--changes still found in the libraries of today.

Something is stealing machine parts from all over Stermont, including a wrecking ball from a local construction site, and Alexander and his fellow monster hunters, Rip, and Nikki, fear that it is building a Stermont-smashing machine--so the friends must use the resources of the summer maker program at the library to stop this monster, and perhaps even solve the mystery of who is leaving monster trading cards where the Super Secret Monster Patrol can find them.

Looks at arguments for and against public library funding, including budget issues, access to alternatives such as the Internet, and community cohesion.

"It has been several months since monsters last plagued the town of Stermont, and frankly Alexander Bopp (leader of the Super Secret Monster Patrol) is bored, and misses his friends Rip (immersed in video games) and Nikki (soccer camp), so when his father signs him up for a summer maker program at the library he is happy to go--but soon he starts finding weird old-timey objects, and monster trading cards, and it starts to look like maybe monsters are back in Stermont"--Publisher provided.