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August 2001 LIBRARY NEWS IN THE YOUTH DEPARTMENT Summer is here and West Vancouver kids are reading! The Youth Department is abuzz with summer reading clubs for everyone from pre-schoolers to high school students. Over 1,000 young people are enrolled so far! Encouraging reading over the summer reinforces skills and helps develop the lifelong habit of reading for pleasure. This summer we are pleased to offer a new component to the summer reading program. Parents can sign their children up for weekly one-on-one half-hour appointments with a Book Buddy. What is a Book Buddy? Four bright and enthusiastic post-secondary students have been hired to act as Book Buddies to younger kids, reading to them, listening to them read, and involving them in a variety of activities designed to encourage reading. The emphasis is on fun and enjoyment. We are accepting weekly bookings for Tuesdays, Thursdays or Saturdays during August, for young people ages 6-12. For information about Book Buddies and other programs in the Youth Department, please call (604) 925-7408. Book Buddies have been hired through the Literacy Sector of the Youth Community Action program sponsored by the provincial government. Volunteer students are compensated with tuition credits for use at any post-secondary institution in B.C. WEST VANCOUVER MEMORIAL LIBRARY 1950 Marine Drive, West Vancouver, BC,V7V 1J8 Tel; (604) 925-7400 Library Hours: (604) 925-7401 Fax; (604) 925-5933 Website: www.westvanlib.org REFERENCE SERVICES It might be well worth looking at the photograph display of summers’ past in the Reference area. Historical West Vancouver beach and boating scenes, including Garrow Bay, previously named Fisherman’s Cove, with early West Van residents enjoying the lazy days of summer, are presently exhibited on the panels in the Reference hall downstairs. Often the only way to discover something is through serendipity. The word obelus was one such discovery when my eyes caught this odd spelling while looking up another term. This word defines a symbol that looks like a minus (-) or sometimes a division (J symbol, but when either of these marks are designated the name obelus they are referring to a corrupted or spurious passage in an ancient manuscript. Hence, the printers, proofreaders or editors of yore would use obeli to indicate a suspicion or critical suggestion that something was not quite right about a section or paragraph of a text. We often define the symbol # as a “pound key” or a “number sign.” However, checking my Word of the Day site on the Internet, I discovered the term octothorp, which can also be spelled octothorpe. Apparently, the word was coined in the 1960s by a telephone company employee who wanted a single word, rather than a phrase, for this symbol. All sources agree that “octo-” refers to the eight points on the symbol, but there are colliding stories about the origin of “-thorp.” One version of the suffix’s origin is that the word’s inventor was committed to the return of the 2 gold medals of American athlete, Jim Thorpe, which he had won during the 1912 Olympic Games in Stockholm. As a result, the inventor added the suffix “-thorpe” to the word. Another account is that “-thorp” is related to Old Norse thorpe (meaning “village, farm, hamlet”), perhaps because the symbol looks something like eight fields around a village. However, octothorp (#), considered a new term, is unlikely to be found in dictionaries. By the way, the medals were posthumously returned on January 18, 1983. [SOURCE: Word of the Day, August 4, 1999 http://features.LeamingKingdom.comyword/archive/1999/08/04.html] ADULT SERVICES IN THE GALLERY ... “In The Moment” by June Harman... in oils, pencil, acrylic and watercolour, will continue to August 4. Harmony Arts Group Show will be on display in the Library August 7 to August 18. Reception, artists in attendance, Friday, August 10, 6:00 - 7:30 p.m. Most paintings are for sale. “Not About Cows” in oil, acrylic, pastel and ceramics by artist Elizabeth Harris-Nichols, will be on display in the Library August 20 - September 9. Elizabeth describes her series of paintings with the statement “This series is not about cows, it is about colour, light and contrast. This series is not about cows, it is about composition, form and shape relationships. This series is not about cows, it is about texture, materials and surfaces.” Reception, artist in attendance, Friday, August 24, 6:00 - 7:30 p.m. Most paintings are for sale. Adult Programs NOTE: Internet classes and Cyber Saturdays will not be offered for the month of August and possibly September due to construction. August... the end of summer ... the hottest days of the year ... also known as Sandwich Month (after the Earl), celebrated by the Emperor Augustus (his most fortuitous month), St. Bartholomew’s Day August 24 (not to be celebrated) and by Leos until the 22. Enjoy these languid days before the fall with a good read, a good film or a “how to” pickling or preserving book to savour the summer harvest. HOW-TO-BOOKS ... Canning And Preserving Without Sugar by Norma M. MacRae. An excellent cookbook as well as a guide to preserves. Preserving Summer’s Bounty: A Quick And Easy Guide To Freezing. Canning. Preserving And Drying What You Grow by Susan McClure and the Rodale Food Center.