Holiday Reading

For our patrons who celebrate things other than Christmas this time of year, here are a few titles that might be of interest to you:

Eight Tales for Eight Nights: stories for Chanukah by Peninnah Schram offers eight traditional tales from around the world that introduce the customs and meanings of Chanukah.


Andrea Carneiro's Jewish Cooking Boot Camp: the modern girl's guide to cooking like a Jewish grandmother, includes over 50 easy-to-follow recipes for such classic dishes as Honey Cake, Rugelach, and Matzo Balls, background on Jewish holidays putting food and tradition into context, interviews with rabbis about creating modern traditions, and tips from Jewish bartenders and party planners.


Inviting God: celebrating the soul meaning of the Jewish holidays, by David Aaron, provides insight into the reasons why we celebrate.

Kwanzaa from holiday to everyday: a complete guide for making Kwanzaa a part of your life, by Maitefa Angaza is a guide to how Kwanzaa, a winter celebration of family, friends, and the African American community, can be part of life all year round. It provides information on the seven principles and offers ideas for planning Kwanzaa gatherings.

Eric Copage's, Kwanzaa: An African-American Celebration of Culture and Cooking, is a complete guide to the history and foods of Kwanzaa. In addition to 125 recipes, it also includes folktales that illustrate each of the seven principles of the celebration.

Happy holidays, and happy reading!

Are you a Cartophiliac?

Do you love everything having to do with maps or atlases? Then this is the book for you!

Maphead, by Ken Jennings
From Jeopardy! legend and trivia master Ken Jennings comes a fun, informative and entertaining book that covers just about everything you ever wanted to know about maps, and then some. How much do you know about geocaching, highpointing, road atlas rallying, or "unreal estate"? Ken will fill in the blanks on these and many other related topics. Even if you're not a map lover, you will likely enjoy this book, as it's written in a very humorous and casual style. Chosen as an Amazon Best Book of the Month for September 2011.

Library2Go Help Pages

The Washington County Cooperative staff have a very helpful Library2Go help page.  Our experience with these eBooks is that it takes a little time to figure out the process but your patience is rewarded with great access to a wide range of free titles!

Oregon Job Hunters-Trying to prepare for the NCRC?

If you have seen Worksource Oregon's website or visited any of their facilities lately, you might have noticed that there is a new readiness test. It is called the NCRC, the National Career Readiness Certificate, and it measures key workplace skills. So, how do you prepare for it?
There are a couple of options for prepping for the NCRC assessments. Through the WorkSource Oregon Centers, an individual can take what is called the Initial Skills Review. This gives an indication of how the individuals will do on the assessments for the NCRC. After completing the ISR, individuals can access the WIN Courseware. This is online, self-paced courseware that help prepare the individual for the NCRC assessments. The courseware can be accessed from outside of the WorkSource Centers after an individuals has logged in once. Staff at the WorkSource Center can also provide PDF versions of the courseware if requested.

Individuals can also access online practice tests through ACT, the company who created the NCRC. These cost $5.00 each. Here is link to that resource: http://www.act.org/workkeys/practice .

When the program was in the pilot phase of implementation, there were some workbooks purchased in 2008-2009 by one of the pilot sites, but at this point, there are no free booklets at the WorkSource Oregon locations, or libraries. But the Beaverton City Library has always been a good place to find general materials on brushing up on your math, reading comprehension, writing, and research skills.

Where can I find books on relationships?

Relationships are complicated--so finding books on the subject are in many areas!
Relationship books -- Areas to look

100s
Western guide to feng shui for romance 133.3337 COL
Nonviolent communication 153.6 ROS
How to change anybody: proven techniques to reshape 153.85 LIE
Crucial Conversations: Tools for Talking 153.6
Women Who Love Too Much 155.633 NOR
How to be an adult in relationships 158 RIC
What your mother couldn't tell you & your father didn't know 158.2 GRA
Boundaries : where you end and I begin 158.2 KAT
Conscious Living: finding joy in the real world 158.1 HEN

For students or anyone who is interested in exploring careers, the Oregon Career Information System is one of the most helpful resources I have ever used. Although the database focuses on Oregon schools and programs of study, the user can expand their search to includes schools throughout the United States. It's a highly interactive site and what I have found is that the more you use it, the more you find with each new search. One of the most valuable aspects of the database is that it covers not only the two and four year schools, but also those institutions that offer short-term study programs or certificates for various occupations. Included in the detailed information:

• Overviews of individual occupations with details on specific work activities, common work activities, working conditions, physical demands, skills and abilities, knowledge, interests, preparation, helpful high school courses, hiring practices, wages, employment and outlook, advancement, and further resources. It then allows you to search schools that offer programs of study in that occupation.



• The program section addresses program admission, graduate admissions, typical course work, things to know, and other resources. The schools offering those programs are listed by geographical region in Oregon (or you can choose an out-of-state location) and then give detailed information about the school, student body, costs, financial aid, admissions, academics, student life, housing, student services, and career services. Website links are also given.



• If you aren't sure about a particular job title but are interested in a specific field of work like health care or business, the clusters index lists appropriate occupations within a variety of fields.



• The financial aid section is extremely useful in that it allows you to narrow your search to certain types of financial help like scholarships, grants and loans. The scholarship list is very detailed and there is a section specifically for Oregon residents.


• The exploration tools section is helpful in that it lets the user sort through various areas such as occupation, undergraduate or graduate schools, financial aid and one of the most interesting tools, the Reality Check which gives a very realistic picture of how much money you will need to live and which occupation will may for those needs.

Check it out!

NeighborhoodScout

Moving to another area of the country can be a daunting task and finding out as much information on your new home base can be overwhelming. A website that can help in determining which neighborhoods are best suited to your needs and dreams is NeighborhoodScout.com. The website uses the latest neighborhood statistics available from several leading government sources including the U.S. Bureau of the Census, the U.S. Department of Justice, the National Center for Education Statistics, and the U.S. Geological Service, among others. The neighborhood profiles include school quality, housing costs, crime rates, income levels, the age, size and style of homes, the density of buildings, rental areas versus owner occupied, the proportion of families with children, the ages of persons in the neighborhood, ethnic and racial makeup, educational levels, languages spoken, types of careers of those living in the neighborhood and much more. Although you can subscribe to the database for more detailed information, the statistics that are available free of charge are substantial.

B

Unlimited

Celebrated fitness instructor Jillian Michaels gives readers tips on building a successful, fulfilling life. Included in her book are chapters on finding your passion, forgiving and accepting responsibility, getting an attitude adjustment, getting organized, strengthening your willpower and managing emotions, and learning the art of conscious choice making. The audio version of this title is very entertaining because it is read by the author, and if you're familiar with Jillian, she doesn't pull any punches!