Neill Public Library will be closed from Sunday, March 1, 2015 to Sunday, March 8, 2015 for our annual In-House Work Week.

You can visit the library via our website at www.neill-lib.org 
where you can view the catalog, check out electronic resources, use the library databases, request an item and view your account. No materials will be due at this time, but if you wish to return materials you may do so using the book drop at the North entrance of the library. 

We will reopen at 1:00 p.m. on Monday, March 9, 2015.

Explore the Palouse Heritage Collection....

The Palouse Heritage Collection at Neill Public Library has a wide variety of materials about the Palouse.  We will be sharing some of the photos from the collection with you over the next few days and weeks, but don't just view the materials here.  Come down to the library and explore the Palouse Heritage Collection!

Foot bridge on Kamiaken Street - Pullman, March 2, 1910

The Short and Long of It....

We’re about to finish this second month of 2015 and with that, the

shortest month of the year as well.  So, it seems the perfect time to

ditch the short and look to something long.  The end of February is

 the perfect time to set a long-term goal that the library can 

completely support!  For the remaining ten months of the year, 

let’s challenge ourselves to read at least one item listed as “new” 

on the library’s online catalog.  Not sure how to find those

listings?  Just click on the library’s website:  www.neill-lib.org 

Then look at the left side of the page and click on “new items.”

There are several categories you can now explore. From adult 

nonfiction to the latest in children’s picture books – these new-to-

the-library items are just waiting for you to check them out to 

enjoy! There are new listings in each of the categories on a regular 

basis. So, you’ll be able to find many items each month from 

which to choose to help you meet your goal (and satisfy your 

reading passion!) Here’s to the rest of the year! Happy (new book) 

Reading!

Kathleen Ahern

Children's Librarian

Love Your Pets

My 1 yr old Husky mix - Juno

Do you have a pet? Perhaps a cat, dog, fish, hamster, rabbit, reptile or some other animal to call your own. At some point in your life did you ask your parents, "Please can I get a .....?" Just fill in the blank! All my life I have grown up with animals in my home, cats mostly, with a few dogs here and there and the occasional house sitting of classroom pets including rodents, reptiles and fish. I'm not alone, however, because the fact is that 68% of all U.S. households own approximately 396 million pets. The largest majority of those pets of course are dogs (56.7 million) and cats (45.3 million), but this also includes freshwater fish (14.3 million), birds and other small animals like rabbits, hamsters, etc (6.9 million each), reptiles (5.6 million), horses (2.8 million) and saltwater fish (1.8 million).

The U.S. Pet Industry has more than tripled its sales over the last twenty years, with Americans spending $58.51 billion dollars on our pets in 2014, compared to $17 billion in 1994. To put that into perspective, in 2013 every American in the United States spent $1,141 on clothing. In the same year American pet owners spent $1,271 and $1,649 in annual expenses for their cats and dogs.  These expenses included not only food, vet visits and boarding, but vitamins, grooming, toys, clothing and professional photos.

My daughter's 3-yr old black and tan
Coon Hound - Apollo waiting for a treat.

So, is it any wonder that there is an entire day dedicated to loving your pets?  Today, February 20th, is Love Your Pet Day. So if you have a pet, spend time with them, have fun, and enjoy the love and companionship they bring into your life. And if you are thinking about getting a pet, come down to the library and check out one of these great books on pets and how to care for them. Caring for Dogs & Puppies: A Guide to Taking Care of Your Most Loyal Friend, The Complete Idiot's Guide to a Healthy Cat by Wexler-Mitchell, or Healthy Homemade Pet Foods: 75 Whole-Food Recipes & Tasty Treats by Taylor-Laino. There is also Tropical Aquarium Fish by Dawes, Becoming Your Bird's Best Friend by Gutman, My Pet Hamster by Rockwell, Reptile Style by Gruber, Horse Sense: A Complete Guide to Horse Selection & Care by Mettler, Paws, Claws, Feathers & Fins (video), and A Pet or Not? by Silverstein.  At the end of the day, I look forward to going home and knowing that I will be greeted with excitement as soon as my car turns the corner. Juno comes to the fence with her tail wagging and a smile on her face, waiting for me to say hello. It makes you feel good to know that unconditional love is always there. So love your pet today!

Explore the Palouse Heritage Collection....

The Palouse Heritage Collection at Neill Public Library has a wide variety of materials about the Palouse.  We will be sharing some of the photos from the collection with you over the next few days and weeks, but don't just view the materials here.  Come down to the library and explore the Palouse Heritage Collection!

Flood waters cover Grand Street, Pullman - March 2, 1910

U. S. Presidents

Today, the third Monday in February is the day Congress has designated Presidents' Day.  When most people think of this day, they think of  George Washington or Abraham Lincoln.  However, there have been a total of forty-four presidents in the two hundred and forty-nine years that we have been a nation. Most of us will remember a president by name, political party, when he served, or the major news headlines of his presidency, but do you know who...

 - was the first president who was a U.S. Citizen?
 - was born outside the original 13 colonies?
 - was born in a hospital?

(Martin Van Buren, Abraham Lincoln, and Jimmy Carter)


Do you know who....

- was the shortest president at only 5'4" and never weighed more than 100 pounds?
- was the tallest president at 6'4"?
- was so large that he got stuck in the White House bathtub so many times that he had to have a special tub designed just for him?

(James Madison, Abraham Lincoln, and William Howard Taft)



Do you know.....

- which president served in both World War I and World War II?
- which president could write Latin with one hand while simultaneously writing Greek with the other hand?
- which president bet the White House china in a poker game and lost?

(Dwight D. Eisenhower, James Garfield, and Warren G. Harding)

If you want to find out more, come down to the library and look for one of these great books. Three Presidents Died on the 4th of July: And Other Freaky Facts About the First 25 Presidents by Seuling, Weird But True Facts About U.S. Presidents by Ringstad, Inside the White House: The Hidden Lives of Modern Presidents and the Secrets of the World's Most Powerful Institution by Kessler, Inside the White House: America's Most Famous Home, the First 200 Years by Caroli, and many other interesting materials about the presidency, the first wives' who loved and served with them, and the history of the American political system.

Lori C. Lewis
Administrative Assistant

Happy Birthday Susan B. Anthony!

Happy Birthday to Susan B. Anthony – a brave advocate and spokesperson who fought for justice, equality and women’s suffrage.  Born in Adams, Massachusetts on this date in 1820, Ms. Anthony was raised in a Quaker family which helped instill her early sense of justice and moral zeal.

As she matured, she became active in the temperance movement, (even though, as a woman she was not allowed to speak at temperance rallies!) the slavery abolition movement and an outspoken advocate for a woman’s right to own her own property and retain her own earnings.  After meeting fellow advocate Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Ms. Anthony dedicated her life’s work to the woman’s suffrage movement.

To learn more about this amazingly courageous  human being, check out these and other library resources:

The Art of Public Speaking: Lessons from the Greatest Speeches in History by Hale

The Susan B. Anthony You Never Knew by Collier

Susan B. Anthony: A Life of Fairness by Boothroyd

Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony: Fighting Together for Women’s Rights by Mattern 

Kathleen Ahern

Children's Librarian

Isn't It Romantic?

February 14^th is Valentine’s Day which most Americans associate with love and romance. However, it hasn’t always been that way.  Although it is believed the origins of Valentine’s Day are rooted in a pagan festival that was celebrated in the middle of February each year, it contains vestiges of both ancient Roman and Christian traditions. It wasn’t until the 5^th century when the pagan festival of Lupercalia was outlawed as it was deemed “un-Christian,” that Pope Gelasius declared February 14^th St. Valentine’s Day in honor of at least three different saints named Valentine, all of whom were martyred.

Legends of the three Valentines would have one of them a priest who married young soldiers, even though it was against the law; another helped Christians escape harsh Roman prisons. A prisoner, the third Valentine, is actually credited for writing the first “valentine” greeting. Having fallen in love with a young girl who visited him in prison, he wrote her a letter before his death and signed it “From your Valentine,” a phrase still used today.

Although St. Valentine was the most popular saint in England and France, romance was not associated with St. Valentine’s Day until the Middle Ages. Chaucer wrote of St. Valentine’s Day as a romantic holiday in 1382. Knights gave roses to their maidens, and songs were sung under balconies and from afar.  Hand-written valentine’s messages began to appear in the 1400’s, beautiful hand-made valentine’s cards by the 1700’s, and mass-produced valentine's in 1840. Also in 1840, a young British chocolatier, Richard Cadbury, saw Valentine’s Day as an opportunity to sell the new varieties of eating chocolates he had recently produced after improving his technique for extracting cocoa butter from whole beans. So, he packaged them in beautiful heart-shaped red boxes decorated with cupids and bows, and marketed the chocolates to eat now, and the box for storing mementos in later.

Today more than 141 million Valentine’s Day cards are exchanged in the United States.  There are 189 million flowers, 90 % of which are roses, sold on Valentine’s Day, 110 million of which are red. 36 million heart-shaped boxes of chocolate will be sold, generating over $1 billion dollars, and 8 billion candy hearts will be manufactured and sold. That’s enough candy hearts to go between Italy and Arizona twenty times. And there are approximately 220,000 marriage proposals on Valentine’s Day; that’s the population of Glendale, CA, or Montgomery, AL.

So is Valentine’s Day romantic?  Perhaps. But for me, a hopeless romantic, I don’t care much for the grand romantic gestures of Valentine’s Day. I’d much prefer wildflowers picked from the side of the road on a summer day or a meal planned and cooked for me giving me a night off. The small gestures, a call or text just to say “I miss you” or “I’m thinking about you,” the brush of a hand in passing, a kiss goodbye in the morning and hello in the evening; these are the romantic gestures that tell me he loves me every day. So to my husband, Robert, thank you, and I love you! On Valentine’s Day and every day thereafter.

Lori C. Lewis

Administrative Assistant, Neill Public Library

NEILL PUBLIC LIBRARY CLOSED: Monday, February 16, 2015

Neill Public Library will be Closed on Monday, February 16, 2015 in honor of Presidents' Day

You can visit the library via our website at www.neill-lib.org 
where you can view the catalog, check out electronic resources, use the library databases, request an item and view your account. No materials will be due at this time, but if you wish to return materials you may do so using the book drop at the North entrance of the library. 

We will reopen at 10:00 a.m. on Tuesday, February 17, 2015.

Explore the Palouse Heritage Collection....

The Palouse Heritage Collection at Neill Public Library has a wide variety of materials about the Palouse.  We will be sharing some of the photos from the collection with you over the next few days and weeks, but don't just view the materials here.  Come down to the library and explore the Palouse Heritage Collection!

Palouse River at Pullman - March 2, 1910

Do You Remember?

Where were you on Feb 9, 1964?  Something momentous happened that evening that changed the musical landscape of the world.  What was it?  Or should I say, who was it?  Need a hint?  It involved four “long-haired” British lads appearing on a very popular American variety television show.  You got it!  We’re talking about the Beatles! And this year marks the fifty first anniversary of their famous appearance on the Ed Sullivan show. Fifty one years?  Fifty one years! 

From L to R: Ringo Starr, George Harrison, Ed Sullivan, John Lennon,
and Paul McCartney

This first American appearance on February 9, 1964 is considered a watershed moment in pop culture history, drawing an estimated 73 million viewers (including yours truly, as an almost nine-year-old little girl!). It all started there and as they say, the rest is (musical) history!  It would be difficult to find anyone in the world who has not heard of the Beatles.  Like ‘em, love ‘em or leave ‘em alone, one cannot deny the incredible impact they’ve had on millions of us, as a musical group and yes, as individual musicians as well.

So, as you reflect on that memorable performance fifty one years ago tonight, the library can add to your Beatles viewing, listening and viewing pleasure with these and other resources:

Who Were the Beatles by Edgers

The Beatles: Unseen Archives, with photographs by the Daily Mail

The Beatles Were Fab by Krull

Meet the Beatles: A Cultural History of the Band that Shook Youth, Gender and the World by Stark

Paul McCartney: Many Years From Now by Miles

Harrison by the editors of Rolling Stone

101 Amazing Facts About the Beatles by Goldstein

Destination England (DVD)

A Hard Day’s Night (DVD)

All You Need is Love (CD)

Kathleen Ahern

Children's Librarian

February is National Dental Health Month

Show those pearly whites and grab your floss, brush and paste!  February is National Children's Dental Health Month. Sponsored by the American Dental Association (ADA), their mission is to raise awareness about the importance of good oral health.

Developing and establishing good habits at an early age is one step toward caring for children’s dental health. It’s also important to include the scheduling of regular dental visits so children can get a good start on a lifetime of healthy teeth and gums.

The library has great resources to support you in these efforts as a parent/caregiver. Take a look at the many library books that can help you help your child navigate the path to good dental health.  Here is just a sampling of library offerings:

Taking Care of My Teeth by DeGezelle

Brushing Well by Frost

Open Wide: Tooth School Inside by Keller

ABC Dentist by Ziefert

Let’s Talk About Going to the Dentist by Johnston

 

Kathleen Ahern

Children's Librarian

GO RED FOR WOMEN®

Women are strong. We are smart. We solve problems. Women can do anything men can do. And, there are some things we’re even better at – dying of heart disease and stroke. Like breaking barriers? Go Red! And help break the one against heart disease.

It’s not just a man’s disease. Each year, 1 in 3 women die of heart disease and stroke. But we can change that because 80 percent of cardiac events can be prevented with education and lifestyle changes.

Go Red For Women is about much more than wearing red on National Wear Red Day this Friday, February 6, 2015. It’s about making a change.

Here are a few ways you can make a change today:

Get Your Numbers: Ask your doctor to check your blood pressure, cholesterol and glucose.
Own Your Lifestyle: Stop smoking, lose weight, be physically active and eat healthy.

Raise Your Voice: Advocate for more women-related research and education.
Educate Your Family: Make healthy food choices for you & your family. Teach your kids the importance of staying active.
Donate: Show your support with a donation of time or money.

FACTS ABOUT CARDIOVASCULAR DISEASES
FACT 1: Cardiovascular diseases cause one in three women’s deaths each year, killing approximately one woman every minute.

• An estimated 43 million women in the U.S. are affected by cardiovascular diseases.
• 90% of women have one or more risk factors for heart disease or stroke.
• 80% of heart disease and stroke events could be prevented.

FACT 2: Since 1984, more women than men have died each year from heart disease & stroke.

• Fewer women than men survive their first heart attack
• The symptoms of heart attack can be different in women vs. men, and are often misunderstood – even by some physicians.
• Women have a higher lifetime risk of stroke than men.
• Each year, about 55,000 more women than men have a stroke.

FACT 3: Heart disease and stroke affect women of all ethnicities.

• Cardiovascular diseases are the leading cause of death for African-American women, killing nearly 50,000 annually.
• Only 43% of African American women and 44% of Hispanic women know that heart disease is their greatest health risk, compared with 60% of Caucasian women.
• Of African-American women ages 20 and older, 48.9% have cardiovascular disease. Yet, only 20% believe they are at risk.
• Only 50% of African-American women are aware of the signs and symptoms of a heart attack.
• Hispanic women are likely to develop heart disease 10 years earlier than Caucasian women.
• Only 3 in 10 Hispanic women say they have been informed that they are at a higher risk.
• Only 1 in 4 Hispanic women is aware of treatment options.

FACT 4: Women who are involved with the Go Red For Women movement live healthier lives.

• Nearly 90% have made at least one healthy behavior change.
• More than one-third has lost weight.
• More than 50% have increased their exercise.
• 6 out of 10 have changed their diets.
• More than 40% have checked their cholesterol levels.
• One third has talked with their doctors about developing heart health plans.

FACT 5: When you get involved in supporting Go Red For Women by advocating, fundraising and sharing your story, more lives are saved.

• Today, nearly 300 fewer women die from heart disease and stroke each day
• Death in women has decreased by more than 30 percent over the past 10 years.

** all information above comes from http://goredforwomen.org/
©(2015), American Heart Association. Also known as the Heart Fund.
TM Go Red trademark of AHA, Red Dress trademark of DHHS.

If you would like more information on women and heart disease Neill Public Library is a great resource.  Come down and check out one of these books on the subject:  Take It To Heart: The Real Deal About Women and Heart Disease by Serure or Woman Heart's All Heart Family Cookbook by Kastan.  And don't forget to wear your red tomorrow, and show support of  the Go Red For Women movement.

Explore the Palouse Heritage Collection...

The Palouse Heritage Collection at Neill Public Library has a wide variety of materials about the Palouse.  We will be sharing some of the photos from the collection with you over the next few days and weeks, but don't just view the materials here.  Come down to the library and explore the Palouse Heritage Collection!

Pullman March 2, 1910

2014 Income Tax Forms Available in Limited Quantity at Neill Public Library.

Due to changes in the 2015 Omnibus Appropriations bill recently passed by Congress the IRS has significantly reduced the number of tax forms they will be printing.  As a result Neill Public Library will only have the following hardcopy forms available to the Pullman Community at the library:

Forms	Publications
Form 1040	Publication 1169 – Need Tax Help?
Form 1040A	Publication 1258 – Where Should I Send This?
Form 1040EZ	Publication 1309 – Tax Forms This Way Publication
	Publication 1725 – If the Form Fits….Use It!

Reproducible copies of the other Federal Tax Forms and instructions will be available at the Reference desk to make paid copies.  Tax forms can be ordered for home delivery by calling 1-800-829-3676 or visiting the IRS website at IRS.gov/orderforms . You can also view and download the instructions from the website IRS.gov/Forms .

Lori Lewis

Administrative Assistant

Will He or Won't He?

Today, February 2nd, is Groundhog Day!  Across the nation, Americans will watch to see if Punxsutawney Phil will see his shadow when he wakens and comes out of his hole in the ground.  A bright sunny day means a shadow and six more weeks of winter, while a gray overcast day means no shadow and a sign that spring is coming.  Have you ever heard anything so ridiculous?

The origins of Groundhog Day are centuries old and rooted in our ethnic cultures and religious traditions. Many cultures believed that animals awakened on specific dates, and nature influenced their daily life. In Europe, February 2nd is the Christian Festival of Lights Day also know as Candlemas Day. This ancient festival marked the midpoint of winter, half-way between the winter solstice and the spring equinox. The weather on Candlemas was important, as many songs and verses would portray:

If Candlemas be fair and bright,
Come, Winter, have another flight;
If Candlemas brings clouds and rain,
Go Winter, and come not again.

The Germans, being of both minds, believed that if the sun made an appearance on Candlemas Day, the hedgehog would awaken and see his shadow foretelling six more weeks of winter. Pennsylvania's earliest settlers were German, so they decided that the groundhog, being much like a hedgehog, would also predict six more weeks of winter if he came out of his underground home on February 2nd to see his shadow on a sunny day in Punxsutawney.

Ridiculous? Maybe. However this day is an important reminder to farmers, then and now. No matter whether the groundhog sees his shadow or not, it is only the midpoint of winter. They should still have half of their hay left. If not it means lean times ahead until spring.

Lori C Lewis
Administrative Assistant

New items!!

If you want to see what new items have been added to the library's collections during the month of January take this link!  Many of the items are still being processed so it can take a while for them to be ready to be checked out, but go ahead and place a hold and you'll be notified when it's ready for you to pick up. Make sure we have a current email and postal address for you.

New downloadable items are added every month as well. Here's the link to Washington Anytime Library.