E.L. Konigsburg, author and illustrator of 21 books for children, teens, and adults, has died.

Elaine Konigsburg, born Elaine Lobl in New York City, grew up in small Pennsylvania towns as the middle of three daughters. Though her family would rather she cook or clean, she was a voracious reader. She taught science at a girls' school after graduating college with a chemistry degree and marrying David Konigsburg.

After her third child began attending school, Konigsburg began to write, publishing Jennifer, Hecate, Macbeth, William McKinley, and me, Elizabeth, which received a Newbery Honor, and Newbery Medal winner From the mixed-up files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler in 1967.

Of her characters, Konigsburg said, "the kids I write about are asking for the same things I wanted. They want two contradictory things. They want to be the same as everyone else, and they want to be different from everyone else.They want acceptance for both."

Konigsburg won another Newbery Medal in 1997 for The view from Saturday, making her one of five authors to win the prestigious award twice.

Her historical novel A proud taste for scarlet and miniver and short story collection Throwing shadows were both National Book Award finalists.

I encourage you to take a look at E.L. Konigsburg's books in the AADL catalog. You may find yourself revisiting an old favorite or trying something new!

Looking for a copy of today's Irish Times from Dublin? Daily coverage of Armenian news direct from Yerevan? This month's issue of Namibia Economist? Yesterday's Arkansas Times from Little Rock? You can find all of this, and much more, in our research database Infotrac Newsstand. This full-text newspaper resource provides access to more than 1,100 major U.S. regional, national and local newspapers as well as leading titles from around the world. It also includes thousands of images, radio and TV broadcasts and transcripts. Worried about language barriers? Infotrac will translate your selection into English (or choose from 12 other world languages). Easy-to-use citation tools will help with your research, along with options for e-mailing, bookmarking, downloading or printing.

Access to this and any of our other reference databases and resources is available at every branch of the AADL, as well as from outside the library with a valid AADL library card. For access from an outside location, please sign in to your library account, visit our reference database page, and navigate to the desired resource. To access the Infotrac Newsstand database, go to the Research page, and select Infotrac Newsstand from the Newspapers category.

The New York Times is available online to library users all the way back to its first issues from 1851. Over 150 years of historic news coverage is available at your fingertips, digitized and fully searchable. Select ‘Page View’ to see complete newspaper pages as they originally appeared in print, or select ‘Full-text PDF’ to see only the article you choose.

Access to all our reference databases and resources is available at every AADL branch and from outside the library with a valid library card. To access New York Times Historical, go to the Research page and from the Newspapers tab, click on New York Times Historical.

Wednesday October 24, 2012: 7:00 pm to 8:30 pm -- Pittsfield Branch: Program Room

Are you a fan and listener of Michigan Radio? Don't miss the chance to see Michigan Radio's Elections Team: Vincent Duffy, Zoe Clark and Rick Pluta. You've heard their voices on the radio, now hear them in-person!

The 2012 election is in its final weeks and our special guests will discuss the challenges of covering races across Michigan and the speed bumps that occur on the campaign trail for reporters, candidates and politicos.

Do not miss this special discussion, co-sponsored by Michigan Radio and The League of Women Voters of the Ann Arbor Area.

The Signal of Liberty was Ann Arbor's prominent abolitionist newspaper, running from 1841-1847. The paper has been digitized and made available online. This wonderful resource can be browsed by either articles or images. The Signal of Liberty had a primary goal of spreading facts on the issue of slavery to readers in the Midwest and remains an excellent primary source for research.

This resource can be accessed by visiting signalofliberty.aadl.org or through the AADL website by going to the Research page, clicking Local History, and then selecting Signal of Liberty.

"The most important thing in the Olympic Games is not to win but to take part, just as the most important thing in life is not the triumph, but the struggle. The essential thing is not to have conquered, but to have fought well." (The Olympic Creed).

Soon, participating countries will again set aside their differences for two weeks to cheer on their athletes in the world’s most prestigious sporting competition. To get your family into the spirit of the 2012 Summer Games, here are some fun facts, lessons, activities and games to share with children.

Wenlock and Mandeville, the official London 2012 mascots, have their own website, where you can play games, watch films, make your own mascot and more.

Here are some printable Olympics coloring pages, and ideas for crafts

And of course, don't forget to check out our books about the Olympics.

Here's a cool story we wanted to share! So a woman in Georgia knows her dad was a sketch artist whose work appeared in the Ann Arbor News in the late 1960s and she'd really like to see some of his work. Her friend contacts The Ann Arbor Chronicle whose editor happens to know we're undergoing a massive digitization effort, and he forwards the query to us. Well, it turns out we've already scanned some of those very sketches at ridiculous high quality and color as part of our feature on the John Normans Collins murder and trial during the late 1960s!

The grandson of J. R. R. Tolkien, author of The Lord of the Rings trilogy, and the great-great grandson of Charles Dickens are working together on a pair of new children’s stories. Michael Tolkien is writing two novels based on stories his grandfather told him as a child. Gerald Dickens will narrate the audiobook versions.

The first book is titled Wish and is inspired by Florence Bone’s 1923 story, “The Rose-Coloured Wish” which tells the story of two children who set out to use an evil enchanter’s wishing chain of stones to save their alpine valley, only to fall into trouble. Michael Tolkien said he wanted to pay tribute to the old tale and “recreate the spirit of the original in new dress.” Dickens added, “Wish is a timeless story which children will enjoy for years to come. Michael Tolkien has brought it to life in narrative verse.”

The second book, Rainbow, is based on another story by Bone, The Other Side of the Rainbow.

Both are expected to be released by the end of the year.

Wednesday February 15, 2012: 7:00 pm to 8:30 pm -- Downtown Library: Multi-Purpose Room

The theme for Ann Arbor Ypsilanti Reads 2012 is "Language: How We Communicate." Award-winning journalist Stephen G. Bloom, the UM Howard R. Marsh Visiting Professor of Journalism, will discuss how he communicates through non-fiction writing - including his December piece "Observations From 20 Years of Iowa Life" in The Atlantic which set off a firestorm of controversy placing him in the national spotlight. Bloom will also discuss the role of journalists today, touching on the future of journalism and nonfiction writing.

Since 1993, Bloom has been on the faculty of the School of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Iowa, where he is Professor and the Bessie Dutton Murray Professional Scholar.