Connections: A Podcast of the James L. Hamner Public Library

Some people really like checking items off of lists. When it comes to reading or viewing options, there is a plethora of lists to choose from. In this episode, Jill and Josh talk about ideas for lists based on the library's inventory. Due to space limits, not all titles mentioned are listed below.

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Featured Resource: SOVALUe e-Book Collection

Other Resources:

• List Challenges

Books Mentioned:

• Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll (YA F Car)
• The BFG by Roald Dahl (J F Dah)
• Coraline by Neil Gaiman (e-Book)
• The First Rule of Punk by Celia C. Perez (J F Per)
• The Godfather by Mario Puzo
• Holes by Louis Sachar (e-Book)
• Insignificant Events in the Life of a Cactus by Dusti Bowling (J F Bow)
• In the Key of Nira Ghani by Natasha Deen (YA F Dee)
• In Your Shoes by Donna Gephart (J F Gep)
• The Lord of the Rings Trilogy by J. R. R. Tolkien (F Tol)
• Mary Poppins by P. L. Travers (e-Book)
• The Maze Runner by James Dashner (YA F Dash)
• Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (F Doy)
• Wonder by R. J. Palacio (YA F Pal)

Movies and TV Shows Mentioned:

• Alice in Wonderland (J DVD F Ali)
• The BFG (J DVD F BFG)
• The Blair Witch Project (DVD F Bla)
• Coraline
• Ghost Adventures (DVD 133.12 Bag)
• The Godfather
• Holes
• The Lord of the Rings - Animated 
• The Lord of the Rings - Directed by Peter Jackson (DVD F Lor)
• Mary Poppins
• The Maze Runner (YA DVD F Maz)
• Sherlock Holmes (YA DVD F She)
• Wonder (DVD F Won)

Do you have hours of holiday cleaning coming up? Long drives? Just looking to listen to something new? In this episode, Jill and Josh talk about the podcasts they are listening to, plus a few more.

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Featured Resource: Connections Podcast (See if your public library has a podcast or YouTube channel.)

Podcasts Mentioned:

• The Art of Manliness
• Good Christian Fun
• Myths and Legends
• Sewing Out Loud
• Til Death Due Us Blart
• The Worst Idea of All Time

Role Playing Game Podcasts

• Adventure Zone
• Critical Role
• Not Another Dungeons & Dragons Podcast
• One Shot

From Maximum Fun

• Jordan, Jesse, Go!
• Judge John Hodgman
• My Brother, My Brother and Me
• Oh No, Ross and Carrie!
• Sawbones

Holidays typically come with family traditions. In this episode, Jill and Josh talk about some of their traditions and how the library can help them.

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Featured Resource: Pimsleur Language Program CDs

Other Resources:

• A to Z Food America
• A to Z World Food
• Connections Episode 32: "Holiday Remembrances"
• eBooks and More

Josh likes to visit theme parks, both the kind where the objective is to ride anything that will make you scream and those where the objective is to be immersed in another world. In this episode, Josh tells Jill about parks he has visited, which leads the discussion to human-eating pigs, racing woolly worms, and vengeful animatronics. 

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Featured Resource: Great Courses Library Collection e-Videos

Other Resources:

• Defunctland YouTube Channel
• Mayberry, NC
• South of the Border, SC
• Woolly Worm Festival

Library workers work in a place of tension between valuing allowing anyone to access any idea they want and being responsible adults who care about children's welfare. The American Library Association has a Code of Ethics that helps guide libraries as they make policies and procedures to help library workers navigate these values. In this episode, Jill and Josh look at some of the ethical and philosophical ideas behind their day-to-day decisions.

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Featured Resource: NoveList

Other Resources:

• American Library Association Code of Ethics
• Deadfall by Stephen Wallenfels (YA F Wal)
• Eragon by Christopher Paolini (F Pao)
• Kinsey Institute
• Percy Jackson Series by Rick Riordan (J F Rio)
• Wheel of Time Series by Robert Jordan (CD F Jor)

Josh starts this episode by asking Jill, "How do we decide which items to buy for the library?" Jill begins to answer and the conversation goes from there, including a tangent on classics and boring books that win awards.

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Featured Resource: JLH Library Policy Webpage

National Novel Writing Month challenges participants to write a 50,000-word novel during November. In this episode, Jill describes the challenge to Josh and talks about her experience participating.

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Featured Resource: IndieFlix

Other Resources:

• National Novel Writing Month
• NaNoWriMo Young Writers Program

Virginia author Grandma Salad wrote and illustrated How the Mockingbird Found His Tune. This episode is a live recording of the reading she gave at a Friends of James L. Hamner Public Library author reading.*

*For long-time listeners, the sound quality is much improved over the last live recording.

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Featured Resource: Friends of the Library

Jill and Josh were talking about National Novel Writing Month and Josh mentioned Inktober. In this episode, Josh explains Inktober to Jill and Jill takes Josh on tangents.

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Featured Resource: A to Z Food America

Other Resources:

• 24-Hour Comics Day
• Inktober
• National Novel Writing Month

Rebecca Warner is a founding member of Decoding Dyslexia Virginia. In this episode, Rebecca talks with Jill about dyslexia, explaining what dyslexia is and isn't, giving advice for caregivers helping dyslexic students, and more.

Contact Us: [email protected]

Featured Resource: Libby/SOVALUe (e-books and e-audiobooks)

Other Resources:

• Connections Episode 48: Good People Read
• Decoding Dyslexia Virginia Facebook
• Dyslexia pqbd
• International Dyslexia Association
• Orton-Gillingham Multi-Sensory Education
• Virginia Department of Education Dyslexia Awareness Module