The Free Library is excited to announce that we've added Freegal, a fantastic music database, to our growing digital collections!

Freegal increases the size and diversity of the Library’s digital collections by offering our registered cardholders in the United States access to the entire Sony Music catalog. The best part? Our U.S. cardholders can download three Sony Music tracks in MP3 format each week at no direct cost--and they can keep these songs forever! For more information about Freegal and to get started perusing our Sony Music collection and building your own, visit our Digital Resources page.

On Saturday, April 9 from 9:00 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at the Parkway Central Library, the Free Library of Philadelphia will host “Say YES to College!,” a half-day workshop featuring free college prep seminars and an information fair with local colleges and universities, trade schools, and educational organizations. Participants will learn about the college admissions process, applying for financial aid and scholarships, creating a résumé, assessing their personality, and more.

Made possible with generous support from PricewaterhouseCoopers, “Say YES to College!” is free for participants, though registration is required. Teens and families can register in advance by emailing collegeprep@freelibrary.org or in person on April 9 from 9:00-9:30 a.m. at Parkway Central. Lunch will be provided to all participants. “Say YES to College!” is part of the Free Library’s College Prep Program.

The Free Library of Philadelphia's College Prep Program provides free workshops for students on topics such as SAT Prep, ACT Prep, Financial Aid, and Personality Assessment in five Library locations: Joseph E. Coleman Northwest Regional Library, Northeast Regional Library, Parkway Central Library, Walnut Street West Branch, and Widener Branch.

For more information about “Say YES to College!” and College Prep, please email collegeprep@freelibrary.org or call 215-686-5372.
 

In this essay in the New York Times, David Greenberg explores the notion of disappointing last chapters in otherwise good books. He focuses mainly on non-fiction social commentary, like Eric Schlosser’s Fast Food Nation and Al Gore’s The Assault on Reason, discussing how authors will frequently contradict the arguments they’ve been making throughout their books with unexpectedly hopeful—or incongruously dour—conclusions. While I’m more of a reader of fiction than non-fiction, I’ve certainly noticed similar disappointing last chapters in many otherwise lovely novels.

Take Little Bee by Chris Cleave for example. I was absolutely enraptured by this story of a Nigerian orphan and her entanglement with a white, middle class family from small town Britain—it was one of those novels that I stayed up way too late reading. Now, I don’t want to discourage anyone from picking up what really is a good book, nor do I want to give away the ending, but man—was that a disappointing last chapter! Also, I usually enjoy David Nicholls’s books—they aren’t particularly complex, but they always offer well-crafted, entertaining stories (hello, Starter for Ten!). His most recent novel, One Day, was quite a fun read… until that final chapter. Again, I don’t want to give anything away, but Nicholls whipped out a plot twist that even the best, most skilled, most celebrated writers can only ever successfully employ—sometimes. This was not a successful employment. And that is all I will say about that.

Have you read any books that you really enjoyed, up until the disappointing end? Does a bad ending ruin your enjoyment of a book, or do you still consider some books to be good, despite their flawed conclusions?

The Children’s Literature Research Collection is abuzz with activity this week as we prepare to loan artwork to two upcoming exhibitions of Tomi Ungerer’s work. The Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art in Northampton, Massachusetts, will show “Tomi Ungerer, Chronicler of the Absurd” from June 21st to October 9th, 2011. The exhibition will showcase Ungerer’s career as an illustrator of children’s books, just in time for his 80th birthday. The CLRC spent some time last month consulting with Michael Patrick Hearn, a guest curator at the Eric Carle Museum and an expert in children’s literature, about the items he intends to borrow for the show. We are lending over 60 items to this exhibit, including some of our favorite items from Alfaro the Wheeled Pirate, Rufus, and Moon Man. We’ve also heard that some very important private collectors will be loaning little-seen items to this exhibit, so there will be a lot to look forward to! If you’re in the Boston area this summer, we highly recommend making a detour to the Eric Carle Museum – it’s a great experience for the whole family. 

A little farther afield, the Tomi Ungerer Museum in Strasbourg, France, will be displaying an exhibition entitled “Ogres, brigands, et compagnie. . .” from April 7th to August 7th, 2011. Also showcasing Ungerer’s work for children, the exhibit will draw on the museum’s own extensive collections, as well as previously unseen works from the Free Library of Philadelphia's collection. The Children’s Literature Research Collection will be lending 100 drawings to the show, including artwork from The Three Robbers, The Mellops Go Flying, and The Clambake Mutiny. 

We are thrilled that the items we love so much will now be seen by a much wider audience, and are very grateful for the CLIR Hidden Collections grant  that funded the processing and cataloguing to make them available. And remember that if you can’t make it to Massachusetts or France this summer, we'll still have our own exhibit of Tomi Ungerer’s artwork on display at the Parkway Central Library in June. Stop by and see these marvelous things right here in Philadelphia!

And, as always, if you’d like more news from the Children’s Literature Research Collection, visit our Facebook page or follow us on Twitter.

Tags: CLIR Grant, Children's Literature Research Collection, archives

The Free Library of Philadelphia has been in the news quite a bit recently! Catch up on any stories you may have missed:

• 6abc's Nydia Han explains our popular ebook lending services and how to get a Free Library Card.
• The New York Times explores the struggle between publishers and libraries over ebook lending terms.
•  The Philadelphia Inquirer examines the re-envisioned plans for Parkway Central Library. (Be sure to watch the great video they put together as well!)
• Read more on the revised plans for Parkway Central from WHYY.
• The Philadelphia Daily News covers the grand finale of One Book, One Philadelphia.