Nonfiction Book Review

River of Doubt: Theodore Roosevelt’s Darkest Journey
By Candice Millard
Harsh conditions, treacherous rapids and months of travelling upriver through the wilderness of the Amazon Jungle of Brazil in 1914, Theodore Roosevelt, and Candido Rondon, a Brazilian explorer, formed the Roosevelt-Rondon Scientific Expedition to trace the River of Doubt, an area previously unexplored.
One more adventure by the man who was larger than life, the journey almost killed Teddy Roosevelt and certainly shortened his life. Infected with a deadly bacteria and fighting Malaria, there was some doubt the Theodore Roosevelt would survive the journey. Sponsored by the American Museum of Natural History, many new animal and plant specimens were discovered. Insects, Malaria, inadequate provisions, and canoes unsuitable for rapids were a few of the mistakes made by men who had no knowledge of the Amazon Rainforest and almost cost the expedition members their lives.
Plenty of action and adventure, and adds to the Roosevelt legends.
For Further information about Theodore Roosevelt:
www.theodoreroosevelt.org and www.theodore-roosevelt.com

Air Conditioning Project Update - March 22nd

Shannon's, Inc. was awarded the bid for the Library Air Conditioning Project. The company is located in International Falls and was awarded the Trane/PHCC National HVAC contractor of the Year in 2006- 2007. We are expecting workers to be in the building in April.

The work will begin in the crawl spaces and on the roof. After that, things begin to get more complicated. The children's area will be closed for a time as they work installing duct work on the ledge. The reference area will be closed for a time when the duct work is installed. We are having a new electrical line brought into the building, which will mean that the library will be closed for a day when the electricity is turned off and the switch over is being made.

Yes, there will be a dust and noise, but when it is all done the Library will be a "Cool Place" to be.

Preparing for the Project -

In 1919, the Hibbing Public Library Board of Trustees and the Library Director, Dorothy Hurlbert, invited a Chicago art dealer to exhibit a collection of American paintings at the Library. During the exhibit, four thousand people came and viewed and voted on their favorite paintings. After all the votes were tallied, the Library Board decided to purchase several of the paintings. To protect these paintings, of which some are quite valuable, the Friends of the Library decided to create a storage area. We are following the advice of the Midwest Art Conservation Center in creating this storage area. Our thanks go to Don Hanson, ASAP Ship and Print, who found large pieces of cardboard and bubble wrap, which are being used to soft wrap the art work and to Glenn's Fix It for creating the storage cabinet.

Russian Stories with Robin

Robin Kuznick, who recently traveled to Russia, shares stories to young children at the Hibbing Public Library on March 14th. As Bears are often characters found in Russian Folklore she brought along her bear puppet. Robin also told with the help of the children the story of the Great Big Enormous Turnip.

Kill A Watt - Energy measuring devices now avialable at the Library

The Hibbing Public Library now has 3 "Kill A Watt" testers that can be checked out for 28 days to test the efficiency of your electrical appliances.

Lake country Power has supplied area libraries with this energy measuring device. Each kit includes the Kill A Watt, a carrying case and a laminated instruction card.

The Kill A Watt meter shows consumers how much energy various appliances use. By comparing these measurements to that of average use and more efficient Energy Star products, they can then make educated decisions on where their appliance dollars are best spent. They can also learn to improve on the efficient use of an appliance by either unplugging while not in use, adjusting temperatures or modifying their activity.

Common energy wasting practices found by the Kill A Watt include extra refrigerators and televisions left running when not needed, home office equipment that can use energy while sitting idle such as computers and printers and the energy lost from a heated water bed not properly covered.

Landscaping Project Receives Gift from Lowe's

Hibbing Public Library and the Friends of the Hibbing Public Library - with the help from a $1,000 gift from Lowe’s and advice from the members of the Hibbing-Chisholm Gardening Club will be beautifying the library lawns. The first planning meeting was held March 5th despite the snow and below zero weather. Words like Lady Mantles, Pig Squeak, Russian Sage, Miss Kim, and Lamb Ears were used at the meeting. “I don’t know what they mean,” said children’s librarian Enid Costley. “I am just grateful for people from the Gardening Club and Lowe’s Nursery Specialists, who do know plants.” “We want to make the library look nice - have some curb appeal. We also want children to see something beautiful when they look out the windows on the children’s area.” said Donna who is both a member of Friends of the Library and Hibbing-Chisholm Gardening Club.
For others who are planning a garden project – recommended reading includes “52 Weekend Gardening Projects” by Nancy Bubel and “A Garden for Children” by Felicity Bryan.

Cookie Dough & Brownies

In cooperation with Sunrise Bakery the Hibbing Public Library will be having a cookie dough and brownies fundraiser!
Cookie Dough - Choose from Chocolate Chip, Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip, Oatmeal Walnut Chranberry, Happy Camper, or Molasses for $10.00 per container. Each container will make about 65 2-inch cookies or 32 3-inch cookies.

Brownies - Will be ready to cook in an 8 by 8 pan for $10.00 per pan.

Call 218-262-1038, email hibbingpl@arrowhead.lib.mn.us, or stop in the library to place your orders by March 10th. Cookie dough and Brownies will be available for pick up at the library on March 21 -23.

Fundraising for the Friends of the Hibbing PUblic Library will go to Children's Programs and Services.

Motion Mayhem at the Library

The Science Museume of Minnesota presented a program at the Hibbing Public Library on March 7th. Children and adults learned how to; suspend a ball in mid-air, drop a nail in a bottle without touching the nail, and pull a tablecloth out from under a set of dishes. After the presentation there were table top activites which further explored the science of motion.

This is a cooperative program with the area schools funded in part by the U.S. Bank Foundation.

In this picture shows T.G. getting ready to pull a table cloth out from under an object. Thus proving that object not in motion remain inert.