Bradley, Reference Coordinator

International Games Week, Month, Thing 2020

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Wondering if we’re doing anything for IGW this year? Bummed out because COVID’s getting all the fun stuff canceled? Well, we are doing what we can! We have a few options for all you gamers and game-curious. We are running a couple of games online as well as providing customers with packets of printed games, often referred to as Print & Play games. I will also share a list of Print & Play resources if you want to print some of your own copies at home.

Now, for the events! First, we have Teamfight Tactics night with Jon. He will be running a session with up to seven other players on Thursday, November 5th from 6:00 pm to 8:00 pm. Players will need a Discord account and a Riot Games account to participate. Come a little early if you need help. Don’t be alarmed when you find you are creating an account for League of Legends. Teamfight Tactics is part of LoL. Registration for the event is here.

 

Second, we have Board Game Arena night with Brad. The night is Thursday, November 12th from 6:00 pm to 8:00 pm. Come a little early if you need help. Depending on the number of registrants, there will be a number of games to choose from. We could play Carcassonne, Kingdomino, Sushi Go!, Love Letter, or Saboteur. Players will need a Discord account and a Board Game Arena account to participate. Registration for the event can be found here.

Last, and certainly not least, we have our Print & Play games. Five games will be available for you to take home and play. The games have been printed out and need to be cut out, but will be yours to keep and play forever after. Each game was obtained from the manufacturer/creator who has graciously shared their games for anyone to use. We will have the demo version of both Dixit and Carcassonne from Asmodee, Love Letter Sender from Z-Man Games, Dungeon Squad 2 from Bully Pulpit Games, and Caterpillar Feast from Venntik Games. If you have the means to print at home, you are certainly welcome to grab the files yourself and print at your leisure.

The following is a list of more resources where you can find games to Print & Play at home.
Jellybean Games
Greenbrier Games
Asmodee
Good Little Games
Cheapass Games
PNP Arcade

The following is a list of free tabletop game websites where you can play various tabletop games online.
Board Game Arena
Yucata
BrettspielWelt
Boite a Jeux
Tabletopia
Playing Cards.io
netgames.io

Friday, the Australian Shepherd Puppy
Anna, Information & Reference

Puppy Love

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It has been twenty-three weeks (yes, I am counting) since the state’s initial stay-at-home order. By day three, I wanted a puppy.

Now I know what you are thinking: “Ah, yes, yet another pandemic puppy,” and maybe you are right. But what better way to get through this pandemic than to bring home a lovable furball who is (mostly) oblivious to the high-stress environment surrounding her. Another creature to bring joy to our family; something to focus on other than the latest news and our lack of normalcy. And I’m not the only one! Four other staff members at LEPMPL have adopted puppies this summer!

In celebration of all these new library pups, here are some top picks from our catalog featuring some fabulous canines.

  1. Dog Man: Grime and Punishment by Dav Pilkey (Author, Illustrator) From the creator of “Captain Underpants” comes #9 in the “Dog Man” series, release date September 1, 2020, so place your hold today! What type of dog is dog man? A hound.
  2. Think Like a Dog (DVD) Oliver is a middle-school tech prodigy whose science fair experiment has a furry twist that gives him a telepathic connection to his dog, Henry. If you are wondering Cover Art of Where the Red Fern Growswhat kind of dog Henry is, he is a Labradoodle.
  3. Muzzled by David Rosenfelt Reluctant lawyer Andy Carpenter and his beloved golden retriever are back on the case in this 2020 release about a missing owner.
  4. Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls A list of titles featuring dogs would be incomplete without this classic tale of a young boy and his adventures in the Ozarks with two redbone hounds.
  5. The Call of the Wild (DVD) If you want to see Harrison Ford take on the role of Jack London’s John Thornton, the final owner of Buck, a Saint Bernard/Scotch Collie mix, check out this 2020 title.

If your household has recently been blessed, (or the other, depending upon how sleep-deprived you are right now), and you are looking for some training guidelines, wondering why your puppy seems to have a witching hour at 7 p.m. every evening, or need some advice on crate training, check out this list of puppy training titles available in our system.

Happy training and enjoy those puppy snuggles!

Bradley, Reference Coordinator

To Socialize, Or Not To Socialize

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It shouldn’t have to be a question!

Though we refer to the expectation of distancing ourselves from others around us as “social distancing,” it does not mean that we have to negate all social activities we could have with others. Socializing is best in person, but that is not necessarily the only method of socializing. The modern technological marvels we have access to provide us with a means of socializing that has been historically impossible. We don’t have to be locked up without any way of communicating as our ancestors had with Spanish Influenza, so why not take advantage of the resources at hand? “What resources?” you might ask. Well, let me share a few with you.

Craving some face-to-face time with family and friends? If you haven’t heard of Zoom, where have you been? It’s free to sign up and easy to get started. You can also use the “video call” feature in Google Hangouts if you already have a Google account. You can even get creative and work in some visual games like Heads Up! or Pictionary.

Image courtesy of Tumisu CCO

Missing out on board game night? I know I am! There are so many options available out there. If you want a really genuine board game experience where you can pick up and move those pieces around the board and you enjoy the authenticity of calculating everything yourself as you play, go check out Tabletopia. You can play many games for free and play with your friends online. But be careful, the free reign of the board means you have to keep on eye on those players who like to make “mistakes.” You know who I’m talking about.

If having to do everything yourself with the board games sounds like too much hassle, check out Board Game Arena. It’s free to sign up and you can join any existing tables that have been started. Most of the games are completely free to host yourself, but the premium titles like Carcassonne and Kingdomino require a subscription to host. Though, you can always ask if someone would kindly host a game for you through the website’s chat feature.

Maybe you aren’t such a board game fan, but you really miss playing card night with the regulars. Well, there are some great options there too! If you are looking for that genuine experience, once again, there’s a website for that! Check out playingcards.io where you can pull in as many decks of playing cards as you like, manipulate their contents to match your game, and play a few rounds of your favorite card game. And the best thing of all, there is no need for an account! Every game receives its own unique address that you share with your friends for access. Unlike the other options in this post, all communication will require another application like Zoom, Discord, or your favorite chat app.

There are, of course, many options to play card games where the computer keeps track of the rules. Anyone who remembers the 90s will likely recall Solitaire on their computer that was a Windows staple for years. One of the most popular online playing cards resources is Cardzmania. Like playingcards.io, it requires no login. Anyone can host a game and simply share the match’s address for friends to join. Cardzmania will even provide computer-controlled bots to fill in if you need more players.

Image courtesy of Piotrus CC BY-SA 2.5

Chances are, if you’re a tabletop roleplayer, you have probably heard of Roll20, but this is both a reminder to the veteran players and nudge in the right direction for the TTRPG curious. Roll20 is a versatile tool that allows a group of roleplayers to coordinate via the website with their online character sheets, dice rolling, and maps to play their favorite tabletop roleplaying games online. It’s free to use the basic features for both players and the game master and provides the GM with even more tools if they wish to subscribe. It’s not a bad idea to use something like Zoom to help keep the experience genuine.

There are so many options to socialize in our “socially distanced” world right now. Take care of your social health and take advantage of the resources available out there! Social distancing doesn’t mean there is no socializing. Just socializing distantly.

Stephanie, Reference Assistant

Virtual Vacation

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Summer is getting closer and COVID-19 projections and precautions have erased many of our typical summer plans. This is usually the time of year when spring fever eases, but this year it’s reaching new and unprecedented heights as the world buckles in for months and even years of recovery.

As someone who finds large crowds exhausting, I’m not usually a big event-goer. I won’t really miss things like music festivals and amusement parks (though I do enjoy some local events like concerts in the park). Instead, what I’m struggling with most is the inability to travel.

Most of my family lives in Minnesota about a 5-hour drive from Eau Claire, and it’s tough not knowing when I’ll be able to visit. I also just really enjoy going on vacations in the summer, whether it’s a relaxed day trip to a nearby destination, an epic road trip, or a long-distance journey requiring air travel.

At this time, the CDC, the U.S. Department of State, and the Wisconsin Department of Health Services all advise against any nonessential travel outside of your local community.  This makes sense to me. I understand how travelers can inadvertently bring the disease with them to their destination or carry it back when they return home. I think avoiding travel is sensible advice. That doesn’t make staying home any easier.

To curb our collective wanderlust, many destinations around the world have made virtual tours accessible online (and quite a few were already available). From home, you can explore famous museums, zoos, landmarks, and national parks.

Here’s a list of a few of my personal favorites:

Have you discovered any amazing virtual tours? Share them with us in the comments. Until we can travel safely: stay home, fellow wanderers, and stay safe.

Panoramic view of library's Dabble Box makerspace.
Stephanie, Reference Assistant

Play, Make, and Share – Safer at Home Edition

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The mission of the Dabble Box Makerspace at the L.E. Phillips Memorial Public Library is dedicated to inspiring a love of making and creating by providing access to equipment, materials, and space.

For those who have visited the Dabble Box, you will have seen these three words featured in our space: Play. Make. Share. Like other makerspaces around the country, the Dabble Box provides a space for community members to share creative equipment, supplies, and ideas (and I mean creative in the connotation that the Dabble Box is for creating). It is a resource that we at the library love to share with you, and, though we cannot currently gather in its dedicated space, we’re still dedicated to playing, making, and sharing our creative resources with you virtually.

Finished product of Pop Tab bracelet with orange ribbon. A Dabble Box monthly project. You may be familiar with the rotating projects featured each month in the Dabble Box. From DIY jewelry and seed pellets to homemade bath salts and website design, library staff have put together 49 project cards in the last few years to guide and inspire your dabbling. Did you know that all of those projects are available online in our How-To Library? Many of them only require supplies that you probably already have at home, like Pop Tab Bracelets which require pop tabs, ribbon, and tape, or Upcycled Book Baskets which only require an old book, a piece of cardboard, and time. Any supplies you might be missing can easily be added to your next outing for essential supplies (please don’t make a special trip).

Some other projects which require Dabble Box equipment to complete may be started at home. Design a 3D print on your home computer using free software like Tinkercad or get started on a design for a heat press mug. We will be open again someday.

Part of the joy inherent in a makerspace is seeing what others are making. If you’d like to share the results of your dabbling with us, we would love to see them! Share with us on Facebook or tell us about it in the comments below. Also, make sure to check out our Facebook page for activities and inspiration for people of all ages, including book recommendations, virtual story times, Dabble Box projects, and digital media offerings.

Stay safe, everyone and play, make, share.

Pattymooney / CC BY-SA
Bradley, Reference Coordinator

Eisner Week 2020

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Will Eisner. A name many may see and think, “I know I’ve heard that name before. What did he do?” Maybe the name Eisner, as in the Eisner Award, is what triggers the elusive sense of recognition. Perhaps it’s a vague familiarity with his well-known works, The Spirit or A Contract With God. Whatever it may be, Eisner was an amazing writer and artist who had a profound impact on literature as we know it because Eisner is the “Father of the Graphic Novel,” and this week, March 1–7, is Will Eisner Week. A week where we celebrate Will Eisner and the graphic novel.

For Will Eisner Week we will have our blog shelf near Information & Reference on the second floor of the library filled with a variety of graphic novels to sate the appetite of both graphic novel veterans and novices alike. If you’ve never picked a graphic novel up, give it a try. Expand your literary skills beyond the mere written word for sequential art, an Eisner-coined term, has a set of literary skills of its own.

Stephanie, Reference Assistant

February Goals

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Okay, everyone. Don’t panic. February is here again. Last year, the month of February did its best to break our spirits through record-setting snowfall and feeling like the longest month ever, despite only having 28 days. This year it has 29 days, but it’s going to be okay.

February can be a trying month. The holidays are long behind us and somehow, it’s still winter. No matter what the groundhog says, spring is not visible on the horizon. We face a long, dull, plodding trek to warm sun and green grass. Odds are, you’re not as busy this time of year as you will be in a few months; that makes February the perfect time to cultivate some healthy habits.

A month ago, you may have set some New Year’s resolutions. Or, if you’re like me, you may have looked at your track record with resolutions and decided not to set yourself up for failure. Either way, February is to great time to either evaluate your progress or set some new healthy goals without the stress and gravitas of a New Year’s resolution.

Here are a few keys to good goal setting:

1. Set an attainable goal. Don’t expect to enact a complete lifestyle change overnight. Leave yourself some wiggle room, because you might have a bad day or a bad week, but that doesn’t mean you’ve failed. You goal should be something you both want to do and are capable of doing.

2. Set a measurable goal. This is how you know whether you’re succeeding. Instead of saying you’ll work out more, specify that you’ll go to the gym three times a week or take a 30 minute walk at least four times a week.

3. Set a time to finish or re-evaluate your goal. Having a finish line to work towards provides motivation. If you’re trying to make long-term changes, it also provides an opportunity to reflect on whether you want to continue as is, make adjustments, or scrap your goal altogether for a new one.

If you’d like some inspiration to help you be healthier this month, the library has many resources to support your physical, mental, and emotional health goals. Try recipes from a healthy cookbook. Pick up a DVD to guide you through a work out at home. Listen to a meditation CD to help you de-stress. Create something in the Dabble Box. Join the adult winter reading program and set a reading goal.

You may think that February goal setting is nonsense, and maybe it is, but I’ve yet to share the best part: if you focus on achieving a goal this February, by the time you’re done, it will already be March.

Bradley, Reference Coordinator

New Year’s Resolution Goals!

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If you’re like me, you are not all too fond of the traditional New Year’s Resolution. If so, you may have tried and inevitably failed or perhaps you were intuitive/pessimistic enough to know it would fail before even starting. It’s also possible that the notion of fixing yourself has rubbed you the wrong way. Then again, maybe you are not like me and you set the annual New Year’s Resolution and are resolute enough to succeed in your endeavors. To you, I say, congratulations. Keep doing what you are doing and may your future endeavors result in as equal or greater success. To those who can relate or are curious, please read on!

Image result for fun"

I’ll skip boring you with the dictionary definitions of resolution and its nearly synonymous use with goals. It’s all semantics. The point is in the implication of its use. Resolution implies there is a flaw to be fixed. If you Google anything on New Year’s Resolution, it will likely paint a portrait of your past failure and how you can work to improve yourself. Though we are all without a doubt quite flawed and could use a little improvement, we tend to inundate ourselves with these negative self-images. Maybe it’s time some of us look at those “resolutions” as goals instead. We don’t have to improve ourselves all of the time. Improve yourself at work or if you have a health condition that requires a lifestyle change. Otherwise, we should be allowed to be happy with who we are and simply do something for the enjoyment of it. Yes, pick up new hobbies or partake in new, energy-filled activities. But don’t do it because of what you lack, and instead, do it because you feel like it. I’m far more interested in taking up something if I actually want to do it. I will ALWAYS fail if it feels like a chore. I have enough chores to deal with. Why add more?

Rough Cat Face With
New Blender Sculpting

Luckily, the library has MANY ideas and activities for you to try out. For fun! Obviously, we have many, many books for new hobbies and other areas of interest. Check out the 600s for a variety of content on home improvement and building. The 700s are great for arts, crafts, and graphic novels. If you have had your fair share of books and want to try something new, stop in the Dabble Box during one of our open labs (Schedule may be found here). We have materials and equipment for a variety of activities including arts, crafts, and technology of all sorts. We recently obtained a complete set of digital drawing tablets that let you draw, paint, and sculpt on the computer. Along with that we have Corel Painter that imitates real-life painting and drawing and the recently updated Blender is an outstanding application for sculpting 3D models. If you just want to take a break, stop in at the Information and Reference desk on the second floor and borrow one of our board games for in-house checkout. There’s a little something for everyone here at the library.

Stephanie, Reference Assistant

Baking News!

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The L.E. Phillips Memorial Public Library is jumping on the cake wagon and joining the many public libraries with cake pan collections!

You batter believe it! Libraries around the country have been curating collections of cake pans for decades. Specialty cake pans can be expensive, especially considering how infrequently most people use them. They also take up a lot of valuable storage space in your home. It just makes sense to share cake pans as a community the same way we share books, movies, music, ukuleles, and sewing machines: through the public library.

Next time you’d like to bake your own funky cake bundt you don’t feel the need to own a novelty pan, don’t sweet it! LEPMPL’s cake pan collection already boasts 28 pans and is still growing. Do you have a cake pan gathering dust in a cupboard? We would love to accept your gently used cake pans. Donations may be left on top of the book donation box in the lower level or dropped off at the Customer Service desk on the first floor.

The collection will debut on Tuesday, November 26 at an open house to celebrate LEPMPL being named the 2019 Library of the Year by the Wisconsin Library Association. Join us for the main ovent from 3-7pm. Eat a cupcake, check out a cake pan, and chat with staff about all the library has to offer.

If you miss the open house, don’t shed a tier! Afterward, the cake pans will be on display on the first floor near the Dabble Box. You will also be able to view a list of all our cake pans on the MORE Catalog. The check-out period for cake pans will be 2 weeks, and they will not be available to put on hold.

For your next celebration, get a slice of the action and sprinkle some extra joy on the occasion! Check out a cake pan from the library!

Jon, Reference Assistant

Winter is Coming

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We all dread it, but since we choose to live in Wisconsin, we can’t run from winter. So I’m going to try my best to help you get ready to “survive” the season, whether that be a new book, new activity, or possibly even getting you to go out and enjoy what winter brings (if it’s actually possible).

I know what you’re thinking, it’s November, we still have Thanksgiving in a couple weeks, why are all these retail stores playing Christmas music and putting out Christmas stuff. I, too, think it’s way too early but it’s actually about the perfect time to start making some amazing handmade gifts for your friends and family for all the holidays coming up! You get to keep yourself preoccupied and stay out of the cold while also probably making something someone will cherish. Whether it’s knitting, quilting, or any craft, you can find inspiration and instructions here at the library in the 745+ section of non-fiction.

If crafting isn’t your thing, you can always cozy up with a good book. You can live vicariously in a warmer climate while reading a book set around the beach. Maybe you like the spirit of winter but don’t like frostbite, well there’s plenty of books to fill that niche as well! And if you’re really down about winter, you can always read about someone’s winter that is definitely worse off than yours.

Maybe I’ve got you all wrong, maybe you love winter and all it brings. That’s great, and we’ve got something here in the library for you. You can find some nice books about skiing, snowboarding, and ice skating. If you love sledding, I’ll let you in on my super-secret sledding spot, which starts at this point. Follow the trails and you’ll come across four or five super fun slopes with differing speeds so all ages can get in on the action.

Whether you spend it inside or out, winter is coming. Let’s just hope it will be better than the last season of Game of Thrones.