About Andrea

Andrea is a Collection Development Librarian at CCPL.

Horror DVDs for Halloween

the boxThe Halloween season is upon us, but don’t wait until the last minute to go trick-or-treating through the DVD section looking for a spook! Movies like Frankenstein and the Poltergeist trilogy probably come to mind, but I’ve highlighted a few I found while browsing the collection.

Vincent Price stars in the 1953 film House of Wax about an insane sculptor that builds a wax museum out of things that used to be alive.

Based on Stephen King’s short story of the same name, 1408, follows renowned horror novelist Mike Enslin and paranormal skeptic. Defying the warnings of the hotel manager, the author is the first person in years to stay in the reputedly haunted suite 1408 of the notorious Dolphin Hotel. Will Enslin go from skeptic to true believer, all while trying to survive the night?

The Box will bestow upon its owner $1 million with the press of a button. But, by pressing this button it will simultaneously cause the death of another person somewhere in the world, someone the owner doesn’t know.

In The Eye Sydney is a blind violinist who is given the chance to see for the first time since childhood through a miraculous corneal transplant. As she adjusts, she is haunted by frightening visions of death. Terrorized and on the brink of insanity, Sydney is convinced that her anonymous eye donor has opened the door to a terrifying world only she can see.

The Haunting in Connecticut is based on the true story of one family and their new house, which was once a funeral parlor where some of the most heinous acts took place. Now their son is being used as a messenger for the evil spirits that still lurk in the house.

Have you checked the children? How are the children? Those are some of the harassing questions by a prank caller to a high school babysitter in the 2006 remake of When a Stranger Calls.

These are just a few of the horror films in the library’s collection. What horror film thrills and chills you?

Inheritance Released November 8

inheritanceHave you been anxiously awaiting Christopher Paolini’s conclusion to The Inheritance Cycle?

Inheritance will be released on November 8, but patrons may place a hold today. Audiobook fans, keep an eye on the catalog as it will be available soon for holds.

If you are new to this bestselling series, about an orphaned farm boy turned dragon rider begin with book one, Eragon, continue with Eldest, Brisingr and then finish with Inheritance.

Books into Movies

If reading through the upcoming movie titles sounds like browsing the library catalog that is because many books are being made into theatrical releases. From recent bestsellers, such as Water for Elephants and The Help to current movies, like I Don’t Know How She Does It and Dolphin Tale, check out the library for the book.

While we do not have access to the movie until after it is released on DVD, you can read the book before visiting the theater.

A hedge fund manager and mother of two, struggles to juggle her professional and personal lives and to balance–often unsuccessfully–on the tightrope of work and home in I Don’t Know How She Does It.

Baseball fans check out nonfiction book, Moneyball, which explains how Oakland Athletics general manager, Billy Beene, uses a new kind of thinking to build a successful and winning baseball team without spending enormous sums of money.

Based on the children’s book, Winter’s Tail, Dolphin Tale describes the rescue and rehabilitation of a young Atlantic bottlenose dolphin who received an artificial tail after being badly injured when caught in a crab trap.

In We Need to Talk about Kevin the mother of a teenage boy who killed seven fellow and two adults in a high-school shooting writes a series of letters to her estranged husband on their son’s upbringing and questions what she fears may be her own part in the tragedy.

Karyn Bosnak’s 20 Times a Lady has been made into the motion picture What’s Your Number. The female main character reflects on the twenty men she’s had relationships with in her life and wonders if one of them might be her one true love.

In October Steel and Other Stories by Richard Matheson will be released at Real Steel. You may remember Mateson’s other book, I am Legend was made in the 2007 film of the same name.

It has been a few years since the last theatrical release of The Three Musketeers, but no matter how many movies are made some will always prefer Alexandre Dumas’ book.

A View You Can Take With You!

Imagine a device with no DVDs to scratch, lightweight, ideal for small hands and designed to withstand drops.  Where can you get such a neat, kid-friendly gadget? At the library!

Introducing the Playaway View, which comes preloaded with three to seven children’s titles bundled together for up to six hours of playtime. Videos come from National Geographic, PBS Kids, Sesame Street, Nickleodeon and others.

The 3.5” full-color LCD screen has a shatter-resistant acrylic cover and the simple 7-button functionality makes it easy to use. The View has a built-in speaker, optional headphone jack and delivers high quality imagery at the touch of a button.

Each View takes four hours to obtain a full charge and the rechargeable internal battery provides eight hours of continuous play. One great feature for parents is that any charger with a mini-USB input will work with a View, including travel chargers.

The Playaway Views are located at the Amelia, Milford and Union Township branches and all View titles are available through the catalog. For help placing a hold, please contact your local branch.

Making the Most of Flea Market Finds

The 127 Sale also known as the World’s Longest Yard Sale runs from August 4-7 and spans five states from Michigan to Alabama. If you love to rummage yard sales, flea markets and thrift stores for treasures then this is the yearly sale for you.

Whether you’re setting out in search of collectibles or hoping to haul home items for shabby chic decorating, check out books from the library ranging from price guides to furniture makeovers.

Antique collectors can find price and background information on antiques, collectibles, fine art, and historic Americana using the p4A Antiques Reference database available through the Research and Homework page.

Make it Legal with Law Depot

While librarians are unable to dispense legal advice, we are able to direct patrons to the information they seek. Often we meet patrons who wish not to seek legal counsel for creating legal forms and would rather photocopy such forms from books at the library. To help with these requests, CCPL now offers Ohio legal forms through Law Depot. This database allows patrons with Internet access to create do-it-yourself legal forms at any time of day.

Law Depot contains the expected forms, such as a living will, power of attorney and residential rental agreement, but there are forms for musical band partnership agreement, child care services agreement and roommate agreement. At this time Law Depot does not offer Ohio divorce forms, but it does provide prenuptial and separation agreement forms.

Patrons will find forms in the major areas of wills, real estate, sales transactions, business, cohabitation and consent. Most forms take about 15 minutes to create by asking questions and provide blank boxes for completion. Law Depot requires users to create an account and will save the documents, which can also be downloaded as a Word or HTML document.

Clicking Ohio forms in the Law Depot menu header provides a list of all forms available as well as a link to a video explaining how to use the database. Links for help and frequently asked legal and site questions are available on the left side of the page.

So after you have taken the guitar class through Universal Class and you are ready for your first performance, access Law Depot to create a performance contract!

To access Law Depot, visit CCPL’s Research and Homework page, select databases and scroll to Law Depot.

¡Hola Bonjour Ciao Olá Hello Mango Languages

Mango is a language learning database that uses real-life situations and actual conversations to teach a new language rather than just presenting grammar and vocabulary. The interactive set-up of Mango allows patrons to listen and repeat after material designed from native conversations learning the words and phrases as well how to use them in practical situations and conversations.

Patrons will be required to create an account and from there be able to select from 35 languages including the top five languages, Spanish, French, Dutch, Italian, and Japanese. Additionally, interested patrons may access 15 English-as-a-Second Language (ESL), packages to help foreign language speakers learn English.

The course is presented on slides for easily tracking lessons. Conversations are shown in English and as they are spoken in the chosen language the words switch as well. Additional slides break down the words in the conversation to provide the pronunciation. Users can even record their voice and compare it. The timer slides allow users to practice speaking a presented word. Throughout the lesson are cultural notes about the language, which keeps things interesting.

I began my lesson online, but was curious about the iPhone app. After downloading the app, I signed into my account, selected my language and begin my course. The layout for the app is similar to the website in presenting the conversation, words and pronunciation on slides and speaking the language while providing an opportunity to repeat it back.

If you are ready to learn a new language in an interactive format, visit the Language Arts and Writing subject guide and login into Mango.

Research World Vital Records


With genealogy being CCPL’s most popular area of databases, we are excited to announce the addition of World Vital Records to our collection. With so much information housed in World Vital Records, at first glance it may seem daunting, but it is worth taking the time to explore.

If you know where information may be located, you can choose a state and begin your search. For example, I chose Ohio and then input a surname and found a college yearbook for one family member and a newspaper photo of another family member in a small town Ohio paper. I was able to save the newspaper article as a PDF, but I could have posted it to my Facebook or Twitter accounts.

A broader search returned photos of grave markers, records of Russians immigrating to the United States, family biographies and more. With so much information available, I will have to take a little more time to check out these sources.

While World Vital Records may have the same Social Security death index, U.S. Census and voter information as other databases, it is still a resource researchers will want to become familiar.

Visit CCPL’s Research and Homework page, select databases and scroll to the bottom to access World Vital Records.

Learn Something New with Universal Class

With over 500 non-credit continuing education courses, Universal Class offers exciting opportunities for self-paced learning. Alternative medicine, career training, cooking, education, entrepreneurship, office skills and spiritual studies are a few of the areas for personal enrichment. With so many classes, it is worth logging into Universal Class to see the complete list of classes.

Keep in mind while browsing the course catalog, if several classes catch your eye you can enroll in up to five courses and have six months to complete each course. Since the classes are online and available 24 hours a day, you can attend class and complete the assignments on your schedule. Just like an in-person class, the courses have a real instructor who you may communicate with using email.

Universal Class offers streaming video, website avatars and insightful instructional content for an engaging learning experience that helps you reach your educational goals.

If you have been interested in learning more about buying and selling antiques, want to learn guitar, or any of the countless other offerings, log into and Universal Class and start today! Remember you can find Universal Class and all of CCPL’s databases on the Research and Homework page.

Please note, these non-credit courses are for personal enrichment and are not intended to be a substitute for any state, government, licensing, or educational requirements.

Digging into ChiltonLibrary

Each day this week, we will take a closer look at each of CCPL’s new databases starting with ChiltonLibrary, which provides decades of information to maintain cars and light trucks.

To refresh your memory, you can access any of our databases from our Research and Homework page of CCPL’s website or by searching the catalog.

The name Chilton is synonymous with vehicle repair manuals and ChiltonLibrary offers that same information including maintenance schedules, bulletins and recall notices in an easy to use database. The repair portion of ChiltonLibrary contains diagrams, charts, photographs and closed caption videos providing a variety of ways to distribute the information.

When it comes to maintaining a vehicle, many car owners know it is important, and keeping track of it is easy if you refer to a maintenance schedule. But what if you have misplaced the owner’s manual or bought a used vehicle without one? Use ChiltonLibrary to look up your vehicle’s scheduled maintenance intervals, which are displayed in a grid so you can print it and keep it with your car. This feature makes vehicle maintenance a little more hassle free.

Vehicle safety is important to all of us and while there are several sources for recalls, ChiltonLibrary provides the convenience of recalls and bulletins for each vehicle in one spot. Now, this is one area where you hope there is not too much information, but ChiltonLibrary allows you to select a vehicle make and model and review the information.

ChiltonLibrary has a help link at the top of the page or you can visit the information desk at the library or call your local branch to learn more.