Our wonderful webmaster recently updated the Library web page to highlight new services, and when we tried to view the changes, we were reminded of the importance of a mundane computer task: clearing the cache.  If you visit a site frequently, your computer is probably loading cached versions of the pages.  It’s a good practice to clear the cache on a regular basis; that way, the display on the screen reflects all the recent changes to the site.

For more about clearing the cache and other private data, click these links for Firefox and Internet Explorer.

It’s late October: are you scared already?  Do not fear: the Librarian’s Internet Index has a goodie bag of web links to calm you.

For safer, happier trick-or-treating, check out the Halloween Safety Alert from the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission.  It offers handy tips, complete with diagrams.  For inter-species safety, read Holiday Pet Hazards and How to Prevent Them, and remember to lock up the chocolate.  If the very mention of chocolate makes you break out in an anxious, allergic skin rash, you might benefit from posts about alternative treats, including 10 Gluten-Free Halloween Party Recipes and the holiday menu at Vegans in Paradise, which includes “Howling Banshee Treats” and “Rolo the Pet Tarantula.”

Social anxiety might be the hidden plague at Halloween, but homebodies don’t have to miss out on the fun.  The U.S. Census Bureau has a special treat for data nerds, and history buffs have a very cool site with simulated flying vampire bats.  Or if all that is too overwhelming, you could spend a quiet evening at home preserving pumpkins.  The National Center for Home Food Preservation has all the instructions, but for heaven’s sake, heed their warning: “DO NOT MASH OR PUREE.”

Of course, if you insist on being reckless, there are plenty of resources to help you.  For example, you could print out vintage poison labels to slap on the punch bowl at your Halloween party.  Just imagine the look of horror on your guests’ faces when they see that they’re really drinking Deadly Nightshade or Carbolic Acid!  HA!  HA!  If they drape your car with toilet paper, don’t blame us: we did our best to keep you from harm.

Yum: I just received a list of Best Free Reference Web Sites 2009 from the Reference and User Services Association, a division of the American Library Association (and these people are picky about their sites).  I’ll highlight some of the interesting ones in the blog, with thanks to Jess Weitz for calling my attention to the list.

With winter squash and potatoes and fall greens appearing at the farmers’ markets, it’s a nice time to visit www.localharvest.org.  The site is (sorry,  I have to use the cliche) a cornucopia of information for all who value small farms and good, local food.  Among other things, you can search by zip code to find farmers’ markets, CSAs, grocery stores, and restaurants that feature local products.  It’s beautifully designed and fun to use, and I think it would be especially helpful for travelers who want to know where to eat when they get to their destination.

In the last few weeks, there have been several incontrovertible signs that autumn is here. Days have slowly gotten shorter and cooler; leaves are changing color and fleeing from the trees that have hosted them since spring; stores have begun holding back-to-school sales; and the October issue of Vogue has hit newsstands and can be checked out at Brooks Memorial Library.

This is the time of year when many of us look to take advantage of low prices to update our look and ready our wardrobe for the colder months ahead. Before heading to the stores, why not visit the library first? We’ve got plenty of resources to help you find out what’s currently au courant. And if you don’t have the time or money to purchase a whole new look, we have the tools you’ll need to transform the clothes you have now.

The aforementioned Vogue is a great sourcebook for information on recent fashion trends. Fashion tips and trends can also be gathered from recent issues of In Style, Glamour, and Redbook. And while Time does not usually have much in the way of fashion editorial, their Autumn 2009 Supplement is devoted to the topic. All of the magazines can agree on one thing: it’s time to bring out your neon legwarmers, shoulder pads, and jewel-colored tops, because the 1980s have returned (speaking on a strictly sartorial note).

Do recent fashion trends leave you dispirited? Do you prefer to follow your own personal style? The library has a wonderful collection of sewing books. There are instructional tomes for the beginning sewer, such as New Complete Guide to Sewing : Step-by-Step Techniques for Making Clothes and Home Accessories (646.2 NEW) and Sew U : the Built by Wendy Guide to Making Your Own Wardrobe ( 646.4 MUL).

There are guides for those with more advanced sewing skills — try Designer Techniques : Couture Tips for Home Sewing (646.2 KIL) and Sewing Secrets from the Fashion Industry : Proven Methods to Help You Sew Like the Pros (646.4 SEW). No matter what your skill level or your sewing goal, one or more books in the 646s should assist you. And if nothing there suits you, drop by the Reference desk for help!

The goal of the Assistive Technology Exchange in Vermont is to “put AT equipment that is not currently being used into the hands of someone who can benefit from it. The exchange is a free ‘classified ad’ designed to help people buy, sell or give away equipment.”

The Get AT Stuff poster at the Library shows the diversity of needs and ages of the people who might use the exchange, from adorable toddlers to elders.  The categories of devices include:

• Vision
• Hearing
• Speech Communication
• Learning, Cognitive, Developmental
• Mobility, Seating & Positioning
• Daily Living
• Environmental Adaptations
• Transportation and Vehicle Modifications
• Computers and Computer-related
• Recreation, Sports, and Leisure
• Other

Plus, they have the coolest slogan ever!

Ask any matey or wench what September 19th be, and certain ye’ll be to get the same reply.  It be International Talk Like a Pirate Day!  For those of ye landlubbers who know not the lingo, the library’s reference pirates be uncoverin a hidden treasure of places in the internet to help yez all talk like pirates too.  For those of ye buccaneers keen to learn more about the pirate life, there be a host of books here at the library for all of yez to check out.

Treasure Map:

If ye be wantin to talk like a pirate, but be in need of schoolin, get yez over to the official home page of Talk Like a Pirate Day.   The Pirate Speak web site ye’ll also be findin useful.

Be ye wantin to know more about the glorious pirates of the past?  Go ye to Reference, where ye be findin David F. Marley’s Pirates and privateers of the Americas, a great grand encyclopedia of piratical information (REF 910 MAR).  There be no better way to be learnin about the sweet trade o’ piracy.

The library also be havin several absorbin and entertaining books on the glorious golden age of piracy.  Ye can find No man knows my grave: Privateers and pirates 1665-1715 by Alexander Winston (910.4 WIN), and Piracy, mutiny and murder and Ghosts, gales and gold by Edward Rowe Snow (910.4 SNO) on the library’s first floor.  All grand grippin tales they be.

If it be pirate music ye fancy, ye be enjoyin Rogue’s gallery: Pirate ballads, sea songs, & chanteys (CD Music ROG).  Ye can be takin these items from the library and enjoyin them in yer home, a mug of grog by your side to keep ye warm.  But beware!  If it’s late ye be in returnin them, the library pirates may make ye walk the plank if ye do not pay up in precious booty!

By the powers! Don’t be ye a scallywag.  Celebrate this fine fair holiday wi’ a wannion, and be askin a library pirate for help if needin assistance ye be.

The website of the Vermont Small Business Development Center welcomes visitors to “The #1 Resource for Small Business,” and it looks like they have to substance to back that up.

Funded by the Small Business Administration, the VT Department of Economic Development, and Vermont State Colleges, the VtSBDC offers free confidential coaching for existing businesses and low-cost training for entrepreneurs and business owners. Check out the Training tab for a rolling calendar of programs like Starting Your Own Small Business, Building a Sustainable Agricultural Business, and Introduction to Government Contracting, to name a few.

Besides offering its own programs, the VtSBDC serves as a clearinghouse of information on related agencies and organizations. Click on the Resources tab for many useful links, from demographic statistics to trade associations to government regulatory agencies.

Bottom line:  A terrific one-stop resource for small Vermont businesses.

My library work and personal life generally co-exist peacefully together, often reinforcing one another. However, there are moments when the two sides of my brain have to duke it out. One such moment is when I have to explain to a patron that the minute a book is returned, the library holds no record that you ever had the book out.

The librarian in me says this is crucial for the privacy of our patrons and our ability to uphold the American Library Association’s Code of Ethics which states “We protect each library user’s right to privacy and confidentiality with respect to information sought or received and resources consulted, borrowed, acquired or transmitted.”

The reader in me recognizes the anguish on a patron’s face, as they try desperately to remember the title of an important work they read just last month! We all want to be able to peruse a list of things we have read to spark our memory or make a suggestion to a friend.

My solution: LibraryThing www.librarything.com. A website that allows us all to create a record of not only what we have read but what we would like to read. Once you have set up a free account, it only requires seconds per title to keep a running list. The list can include title, book jacket, author, dewey number (warms my heart), tags, reviews, and other reader’s comments.

Below is an example of how your list might look:

If you have a book wishlist already started on Amazon, LibraryThing can import that list to save you typing time.

Once you have begun a catalog of the books you have read, or just want to remember to read, you can also use LibraryThing to get suggestions for other books or to share your reading list with friends. If you have a blog or website, you can also use a Library Thing widget to generate a slideshow of book jackets on your list!

You know right where your favorite fiction sits on the shelf, right?  Look again!  What was up is down, down is up.  Authors you have never noticed before are front and center. We haven’t rearranged the alphabet, but we have rearranged the books.

The fiction was so crowded that in some sections our shelvers simply could not fit another book into the mass.  What to do?  Well, the 800’s  (Poetry, essays, literary criticism, etc.) were lounging around in first class accommodations with plenty of legroom,  so we evened them up a little, made the sparser sections a bit more crowded. That created space to shift the fiction along almost a whole aisle.  So, now, where is Billy Collins, as well as Nora Roberts?

We have tried to make all the books accessible to tall people and short ones, but everyone will have to get in shape and squat or stretch.  Those little step-stools with squeaky wheels make great seats for exploring the lower shelves, and, of course to stand on to reach the top shelves, (the wheels don’t roll if you stand on the stool).

We are getting fine, new labels at the ends of the stacks that really describe what is there now in 2009, no longer what we put in place in 1967;  thus you can find the Roberts aisle right away.  But why not browse?  This is your chance to make new fiction finds, and discover poetry or essays that you never noticed before.  Enjoy!

The Scout Report from the University of Wisconsin – Madison has a roundup this month of their favorite websites of 2008-2009.  Okay, maybe it’s the kind of thing we would expect to see in January, not July, but don’t let that shake your confidence: the Scout Report is selective, and these sites will be the best of the best.