Arlington gives CPI a thumbs up!

Arlington gives CPI a thumbs up!, originally uploaded by kiltedlibrarian.

This morning I visited the Arlington library to talk about the new CPI collection maintenance procedures. Thanks Kathy and Debbie for making me feel so welcome, and to the Arlington staff for being such an attentive audience.

Lose weight by Reading?

A newly released study by researchers at Duke children’s Hospital showed that preteen girls might just lose weight by reading.

In a pilot study of 81 girls between the ages of nine and 13, reading resulted in a lower Body Mass Index, which measures weight in relation to height. One group of young people were given copies of Annie Bryant’s Lake Rescue (Aladdin, Nov.), the sixth book in the Beacon Street Girls series; a second group was given a different BSG title, Charlotte in Paris. A third control group wasn’t given a book.

The girls who read Lake Rescue, a novel about an overweight 12-year-old at risk for Type-2 diabetes who, with the help of camp counselors, makes positive changes in her life, saw their BMI scores drop (–.71%) after two months. The book echoes many of the themes promoted at Duke’s weight-loss program, like eating breakfast every day, getting plenty of sleep and avoiding juice. The girls who read Charlotte in Paris also saw a dip in their BMI scores, but not as much as those who read Lake Rescue. Those who didn’t read either book actually increased their BMI by .05%. (Judith Rosen, Publishers Weekly 10/9/08)

Childhood and adult obesity is an overwhelming problem in our culture.  Dr. Terrill Bravender, chief of the section of Adolescent Health at Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus, Ohio, who was part of the study said, “We’re going to use this to demonstrate that this will be worth investigating further.”

oh you commie

in a skit titled “The Red Lending Menace,” Colbert urges Americans to defy the left-leanings of this country during the economic crisis and subsequent bail-outs by defying the bastion of Communism, libraries.  “It is our patriotic duty to go to the local libraries, check out all the books we can, and never return them.”

(via Shelf Awareness)

if you’re like me and missed his Seattle stop

here’s your chance to enjoy Neil Gaiman’s reading of his latest, “The Graveyard Book.”