Liberry Lit

One of my fondest of summer memories, and yet a great pleasure, is the berry harvest--strawberries and raspberries--fresh from the garden.

While easily consumed with a sprinkle of sugar, there are endless other berry applications suitably-detailed in selections from our cookbook collection. Check out a few today--fresh-prep or preserved!

Selected titles from the collection follow below (and do visit our Pinterest page). 

Should you be interested in cultivating your own berry patch or other small fruit, consult with our librarians to find titles from our collection and look for publications from the Cooperative Extension.

Title: Fruit Recipes: A Manual of the Food Value of Fruits and Nine Hundred Different Ways of Using Them

Title: Berry Lovers Cook Book

Title: The Great Lakes Berry Book: A Complete Guide to Finding, Harvesting, and Preparing Wild Berries and Fruits in the Great Lakes

Title: The Wild Berry Book: Romance, Recipes, and Remedies

Title: How to Dry Fruits and Vegetables at Home, and 50 Good Recipes for Cooking with Them

Title: Preserving Summer's Bounty: A Quick and Easy Guide to Freezing, Canning, Preserving and Drying What You Grow

Book Discovery Tools

One of the interesting and sometimes challenging aspects of our work in libraries is to match a library user with the texts that he or she will most want to read, be it for research or entertainment.

If you intend to also read for fun this summer, chat with us, check out our Pinterest Boards, or try some of the tools, below. Each one enables you to explore a genre or factor a recommendation based upon authors or books you already enjoy.

Fiction Connection

Novelry (New! Sign up for its July launch)

Which Book?

Goodreads and Shelfari (for those who appreciate the added social networking)

Locate available copies of books on campus or within the UW-System by using the library catalog and its UW System search feature. The Madison Public Library, as part of the South Central Library System, is also an amazing resource for satisfying popular reading interests--search its catalog to locate items of interest. 

And, if you haven’t yet discovered it, Steenbock Library hosts its very own "Little Free Library" in which you can also freely exchange popular reading materials.

Bury Yourself in a Good Book!

When was the last time that you participated in a summer reading program?!  I remember many summers of my childhood in which I fervently ticked off a list of reading to redeem for acknowledgement and prizes.

But, why should the kids have all the fun?!  If you’re in town this summer, stop on in to one of our Madison Public Library branches to register for its first Adult Summer Reading Club, or, you can also register online. 

Log your finished reads, in person, at your local branch or do so online to qualify for weekly prize drawings beginning the week of June 17 (all summer reading clubs began June 1).

You can also browse by branch to see what other participants have been reading and enjoying--all the better to discover something more to add to your reading list.

In Class with Go Big Read

The Go Big Read program is looking to identify instructors who would like to use the 2013-2014 selection, A Tale for the Time Being, with their classes during the coming fall and spring semesters.  Instructors can apply for free copies of the book, for use with their classes, by completing a request form.

"Go Big Read" is UW-Madison’s common book program where students, staff and the community are invited to read the same book, then participate in a variety of related programs in-and-out of the classroom.

For additional information about how to access the book--including alternative formats, click here.  Visit the author’s site for the book.

Save the date!  Author Ruth Ozeki’s public presentation is scheduled for October 28, 2013 beginning at 7:00 PM in Varsity Hall, Union South.

Enjoy the Nightlife!

Join bat experts and enthusiasts at the Wisconsin Bat Festival, Saturday, June 1 (10:00 AM - 6:00 PM  & 7:00 - 10:00 PM). The festival will feature opportunities to learn about different bat species and enable you to discover, and contribute to, the essential conservation efforts being made worldwide.

New this year will be a "Bat Science Night" in which to observe bat research techniques as part of monitoring efforts made by local bat researchers.

The Wisconsin Bat Festival is held at the Warner Park Community Recreation Center.  See directions here. All proceeds benefit the Wisconsin Bat Conservation Fund. Festival entrance fees are $5.00 per adult (16+); children free (with paying adult).  See flyer.

To learn more about bats, visit the following links:

Wisconsin Bat Monitoring Program

Organization for Bat Conservation

Natural Resources Foundation of Wisconsin, Bat Conservation Endowment Fund