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February 2002 LIBRARY NEWS On November 27 th Mayor Ron Wood and the Chair of the Library Foundation cut the ribbon on our newly refurbished West Wing area. Every time / walk through the new shelving in the West Wing, I am struck by how much easier it is to find things and how wonderful it looks with the new lighting, paint and furniture. The initial goal for the project was bringing our shelving into line w’ith seismic codes. We accomplished far more than that. The project took a lot of hard work and some thanks are in order: THANK YOU to the Library Foundation and to the Municipal Council for funding the project, THANK YOU to the Library Board for their support during the project, THANK YOU to the Library stafffor the fabulous job they did in plannirrg and executing the project and finishing ahead of schedule, THANK YOU to the usually unsung heroes in the Municipal Purchasing Department, who helped us with all of the details of bid documents and contracts, AND FINALLY OUR THANKS to all of you for your patience and good nature when the books on your favourite topics seemed to chartge locations almost daily. Ann Goodhart 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 To be technical, there are distinctions between initialisrns and acronyms, both of which are used to reduce long clumsy expressions. An initialism is usually the first letter(s) of each word in a phrase and pronounced as letters: e.g. UN (United Nations), USA (United States of America), www (World Wide Web), etc. On the other hand, an acronym is technically an initialism pronounced as a word, e.g. NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization), AIDS (acquired immunodeficiency syndrome), BASIC (Beginner’s All-Purpose Symbolic Instruction Code), etc. There is a tendency to push initialisrns into acronyms, e.g. URL (uniform resource locator - the teclmical name for "internet address ”) is both pronounced as letters (U-R-L) and as a word (pronounced like "earl"). However, there is still another category in this grammatical practice, the anacrorrym, defined as “words, which began their lives as an initialism or an acronym, ... but few people are able to remember what the letters stand for.” Examples of such terms are: r adar, built on the acronym ra[dio] d[etecting] a[nd] r[anging] and, laser, built from l[ightwave] a[mplification by] s[timulated] e[mission of] r[adiation]. Few could be expected to remember the string of words, let alone conceptualize the idea embodied in the descriptive language of these inventions. Often such words are reduced to lowercase spelling and treated as general usage words whose original, extended phrase has been forgotten by the population at large. Consequently, anacr-orryrn was coined from two words: “anachronistic + acronym.” From its definition, such words as the above BASIC, AIDS, URL, and the like may very well be in the process of becoming anacronyms since few remember what their letters stand for. Most dictionaries more than a year or two old will not list anacronym; it appears to be quite new on the scene. According to the WordSpy Web site Logophilia, the word appears in 1997. The Reference Department attempts to update its collection of new word dictionaries from time to time. Some such titles are: The Oxford Dictionary of New Words, and odd-word dictionaries such as The Guinness Book of Curious Words. SOURCES: various dictionaries; and the Internet, httD://www.logophilia. com/WordSpy/anacronvm. asp httP://whatis.techtarYet.com/definition/0..sid9 eci21J560.00.html ADULT SERVICES IN THE GALLERY ... “Local Scenes” by Dee Morris and “Nature’s Day” by Lome Topham will be on display in the gallery February 1st to February 28th. Dee has been drawing and painting in watercolours, acrylics and pastels for many years. She enjoys depicting character buildings, street scenes and architectural details and has done a series of paintings of unique comer grocery stores with their colourful flower displays. Lome specializes in acrylics, watercolours and photography. “In my photos, I enjoy capturing patterns of colour and form that I find in Nature which have a visual impact or tell a story. In my watercolours and acrylics I express my appreciation and joy in discovering images in Nature and hope to convey that sense in my paintings.” Reception, artists in attendance, Friday, February 1, 6:00 - 7:00 p.m. BOOK SIGNING AND READING EVENT Repeated episodes of depression affect thousands of Canadians - as many as one in ten, statistics say. However, a person with this illness can live a rewarding, if bumpy, life. To leam more, come to hear Nan Dickie, author of A Map for the Journey: Living Meaningfully with Recurring Depression, speak about living a fulfilling life with this illness. Nan will also read from, and sign copies of, her book. Enjoy refreshments and perhaps win the door prize - a copy of Nan’s book. Date: Thursday, February 7, 2002 Time: 5:30 - 7:30 p.m. Place: The Peter J. Peters Room This event is free, but please call (604) 925-7402 to register. YOUR ATTENTION PLEASE: We would love to notify you by e-mail of forthcoming Author Visits or other Literary Events. Please phone us at (604) 925-7402 or e-mail us at adult(^westvanlib.org if you would like to be on our special events notification e-mail list.