Gorgeous Korean Manhwa Trilogy

Tue, 10/06/2009 - 9:22am by erin

Manhwa is the general term for for comics and print cartoons in Korea. If you're looking for a lushly drawn, and accessible graphic novel to try for the first time, or if you're a seasoned reader looking for something new be sure to try the "Color" trilogy by Dong Hwa Kim. The trilogy starts with The Color of Water and chronicles the lives of a single mother and her daughter in rural Korea in a moving and evocative look at love as seen through the eyes of one feeling it for the first time and another who longs to savor it once more. The story continues with The Color of Earth and concludes with The Color of Heaven. Beautiful illustrations, mother and daughter bonding and romance will capture your heart. The trilogy is published by First Second the premier publishing house for quality, literate graphic novels.

Secrets of the Library: Art Prints

Fri, 10/02/2009 - 2:17pm by shannon riffe

Every so often, we'll feature some "Secrets of the Library," resources available here at AADL that you may not know about. Today's secret: Art Prints! Did you know that we have hundreds of framed Art Prints from a wide variety of artists for you to borrow to redecorate your home or office? You can take Art Prints home for eight weeks. The best way to see what we have is to check out our inventory on the second or third floors of the Downtown branch, but you can also browse the catalog 'By Format' if you know the title of a specific work. Even some of the pieces on our walls are available for checkout!

Important Catalog News!

Tue, 07/07/2009 - 1:37pm by Beth Manuel

There’s a new way to find foreign language materials at AADL. Let’s start by calling them World Languages. If you are looking for materials in Arabic, you would go to Advanced Search and click on call number & enter World-Ara. There's a new collection, too: Youth Lang-Learn. Wait! There’s more! The Basic Reading and ESL collections are now called Language Learning or Lang-Learn for short. You can even look for Lang-Learn Fiction with Reading Levels for adults. We look forward to searches becoming easier for you and everyone as we tweak our catalog and roll out a new one.

Art Prints Can Change Your Outlook

Thu, 04/23/2009 - 11:36am by Beth Manuel

We have hundreds of framed Art Prints for you to borrow to redecorate your home or office. Browse the
catalog 'By Format' if you know the title of a print or take a look on the second or third floors to see what we have available. Many of the pieces on our Downtown Walls are available to borrow! It's a refreshing and FREE way to embellish your space & add verve to your view for a couple months!

DVD Genre Spotlight: Film Noir

Sun, 04/19/2009 - 1:48pm by Caser

Literally meaning 'black film', film noir is a niche genre of mostly 1940s-1950s Hollywood movies typified by their antihero male protagonists and mercurial femme fatales. Absent are the Capra-esque feel good tales of hope; rather, these films center on murderous plots and deceptive individuals acting out of self-interest and roiling in dirty money. Seedy characters derived from pulp magazines thrive in the urban underbelly settings, and private eyes like Philip Marlowe toe the line between the cops and the gangsters.

Classic performances from this genre include Humphrey Bogart's turn as Marlowe in The Big Sleep, and Orson Welles as the titular character in Sir Carol Reed's magnum opus, The Third Man. The AADL now has a DVD section devoted entirely to film noir for more great browsing choices at all of our locations.

The Michigan Theater is showcasing a film noir every Monday in April, with Sunset Boulevard, The Maltese Falcon, Body Heat, and Chinatown, but if you can't make these screenings the AADL owns copies of all of these films.

Nonprofits will find this profitable

Sun, 03/15/2009 - 9:00pm by annevm

In these tough economic times, NEW - Nonprofit Enterprise at Work - continues to help southeast Michigan non-profits succeed. The NEW Center, located at 1100 N. Main St., provides office space for area nonprofits. NEW also hosts an internet radio show, the Nonprofit Buzz, which airs here each fourth Thursday of the month, 9-10 a.m On March 26, the topic will be "Partnering For Success." At the library, electronically browse some of our books on nonprofits, or visit our special collection downtown on the second floor.

The Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian

Fri, 01/30/2009 - 3:08pm by cecile

On Feb. 1st, the Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian launches its digital showcase to give everyone the opportunity to look into its archives. Eventually, they hope to have their entire collection online.

Assembled at the turn of the twentieth century by wealthy New Yorker George Gustav Heye (1874–1957), the collections are distinguished by thousands of masterworks, including intricate wood and stone carvings and masks from the Northwest Coast of North America; elegantly painted and quilled hides, clothing, and feather bonnets from the North American Plains.

This museum also hosts frequent exhibitions in both New York and Washington, D.C. Perfect excuse for a spring vacation to these great destinations!

New eLibrary Elementary Goodies

Thu, 01/15/2009 - 4:38pm by StoryLaura

Does your child only want to play or learn on the computer? Check out the new Weekly Reader series at elibrary Elementary on our website. There are biographies and histories in graphic novel format. The illustrations will captivate and the stories will spark interest in subjects that are sometimes just beyond a child’s reach. While you are at the research page on our website, click on AADL Select Sites for Kids and see what the library has to offer. Then lure them away with hands-on science activities.

Browse the AADL Catalog by Language

Wed, 11/19/2008 - 3:01pm by andrewjmac

Ever wonder if AADL owns any books in Polish? How about in Malayalam? Now you can easily look at the items AADL owns in any language by visiting our new Foreign Language Browsing Page. Click on any language in this listing to see all of the items in that language or select a type of item within each one. You can always get to the list of languages from the Browse By Format section of our Catalog Page. Take a look at AADL for your favorite DVDs in Danish and CDs in Swahili or teach yourself a new language by selecting AV Language Study. Over 125 languages are waiting at AADL to be explored, so take a look today.

Indian Language Books

Wed, 07/23/2008 - 5:32pm by Beth Manuel

Ann Arbor District Library has a number of Indian language books in our Foreign Language collection that you may not be aware of. There are books in Hindi, Gujarathi, Marathi, Kannada, Punjabi ,Malayalam, Bengali, Telugu and Tamil. Please tell your friends and neighbors about this impressive collection at the Ann Arbor District Library!