LearnATest offers free online test preparation for Atlanta-Fulton Public Library System cardholders. Among the features offered are:

Academic Tests
-ACT
-GED
-GRE
-SAT
-PSAT
-U.S. Citizenship
-Proficiency in Reading and Math Skills grades 4-12
-Test Preparation in Spanish

Career Preparedness
-Air Traffic Control
-ASVAB
-Cosmotology
-CDL
-Civil Service
-Nursing
-EMT
-Firefighters
-Plumbing
-Real Estate

Go to www.afpls.org. Hold your mouse over Books and Materials Click on Databases and scroll down past the search options to the database listing. Follow the alphabetical order to LearnATest.

Register using your Atlanta-Fulton Public Library System card number as your user name and create the password of your choice to login and begin to prepare for any of these or other tests.

You may also call 404.730.1915 for the Learning and Career Center at the Central Library for more information.

The Learning and Career Center on the 4th floor of the Central Library is currently offering free classes to help individuals get started in the Key Train/Georgia Work Readiness Program.

The Key Train/Work Readiness Programs Certificates are being used by some Georgia employers as a means of determining basic skill and work preparedness in some of their applicants.

Classes are held every Tuesday in March at 10 am. Call the Learning and Career at 404.730.1915 for more information.

The Learning and Career Center on the 4th floor of the Central Library has a large supply or test preparation materials for a variety of examinations. Among the subjests covered in our selection is:

-ASVAB
-GED
-GRE
-SAT
-MCAT
-TOEFL

We also have study guides for licensing in CDL, Nursing, Real Estate and other areas. You can find these and other study guides in the library catalog.

You may also come in and browse through our materials or call 404.730.1915 for more information.

If you have a new computer or are still stuggling with a recent upgrade from the 2003 to the 2007 version of any of the Microsoft Office applications, DVD’s are available at the Atlanta-Fulton Public Library. The Discover Series has a multi-level disk series for Word, Excel, Access, Publisher, PowerPoint and Outlook.

You can check out the DVD’s for one week at a time. Or you can come up the 4th floor of the Central Library to the Learning and Career Center and view the DVD’s here in the library.

February 14th is nearing and the library is ready! We have events scheduled in many branches for all ages, so please come by and enjoy a Valentine’s Day program with us. A sample of Valentine-themed activites are listed below, but you can also check the AFPL events calendar for other programs at your local branch.

Valentine’s Day Love Grams
February 1-12.The youth will have the opportunity to tell that special someone how they feel in the Mechanicsville Valentine’s Day Newsletter. Pick up your love gram form and turn it in at the circulation desk. The Valentine’s Day Newsletter will be ready for pick up on February 12.
Mechanicsville Branch, a part of the Atlanta-Fulton Public Library System
400 Formwalt St., SW, Atlanta 30312
For information call 404.730.4779

Valentine Story & Craft for Preschoolers
Tuesday, February 9. 11:45 a.m.
Preschoolers will enjoy a Valentine’s Day story, followed by a simple craft activity. Ages 3-5. Reservations required.
Buckhead Branch, a part of the Atlanta-Fulton Public Library System
269 Buckhead Ave. NE, Atlanta 30305
For information call 404.814.3500

Children’s Valentine’s Day Craft Activity
Tuesday, February 9. 4:30 p.m.
Children will make a fun Valentine’s craft and hear some Valentine’s Day related stories. Ages 3-5.
Pre-registration is required. Seating will be limited. Please call the Children’s Desk to pre-register.
Northeast/Spruill Oaks Branch, a part of the Atlanta-Fulton Public Library System
9560 Spruill Rd., Johns Creek 30022
For information call 770.360.8820

“Have a Heart” Kid’s Card Craft Activity
Wednesday, February 10. 10:00 a.m.
Calling all creative kids! Ages 4-12. Reservations required for groups.
East Point Branch, a part of the Atlanta-Fulton Public Library System
2757 Main Street, East Point 30344
For information call 404.762.4842

Love and Black History Storytime
Wednesday, February 10. 10:00 a.m.
Enjoy tales focused on figures in black history and create crafts for both Black History month and Valentine’s Day. Ages 2-6. Reservations required for groups.
Perry Homes Branch, a part of the Atlanta-Fulton Public Library System
2121 Hollywood Road, NW, Atlanta 30318
For information call 404.792.4994

Preschool Valentine’s Day Craft
Wednesday, February 10. 11:30 a.m.
Children will enjoy making a Valentine’s Day craft for Valentines Day. Ages 0-6.
Southwest Branch, a part of the Atlanta-Fulton Public Library System
3665 Cascade Road, Atlanta 30331
For information call 404.699.6363

Valentine Craft
Wednesday, February 10. 4:00 p.m.
Design a Valentine card to give your loved one.
Hapeville Branch, a part of the Atlanta-Fulton Public Library System
525 King Arnold Street, Hapeville 30354
For information call 404.762.4065

Valentine Treats: Teens Cooking with Chef Markice
Wednesday, February 10. 5:00 p.m.
Ages 13 -19. Registration is required.
Cleveland Avenue Branch, a part of the Atlanta-Fulton Public Library System
47 Cleveland Avenue, Atlanta 30315
For information call 404.762.4116

On Your Own Craft: Let’s Make Valentines!
Friday, February 12. 2:00 to 5:00 p.m. This is a Fulton County Schools Teacher Work Day.
Fun and fabulous craft materials are provided for children, parents and care-givers to make wonderfully creative decorations and cards for Valentine’s Day. Located in the storytime room.
Ages 3 and up.
Sandy Springs Branch, a part of the Atlanta-Fulton Public Library System
395 Mt. Vernon Highway, Atlanta 30328
For information call 404.303.6130

From My Heart to Yours
Friday, February 12. 3:30 p.m.
Valentine craft for ages 5-14.
Thomasville Heights Branch, a part of the Atlanta-Fulton Public Library System
1700 Thomasville Drive SE, Atlanta 30315
For information call 404.624.0620

Senior Steppers
Saturday, February 13. 10:00 a.m.
Seniors will learn the latest dance steps in celebration of Valentine’s Day. Adults. Reservations required for groups.
Washington Park Branch, a part of the Atlanta-Fulton Public Library System
1116 Martin Luther King Jr. Drive, SW, Atlanta 30314
For information call 404.752.8760

Valentine’s Day Drop-In Craft
Saturday, February 13. 12:00 p.m.-3:00 p.m.
Children can drop in any time between noon and 3:00 p.m. to make a Valentine’s Day craft as a self-directed activity. Ages 5-12.
Buckhead Branch, a part of the Atlanta-Fulton Public Library System
269 Buckhead Ave. NE, Atlanta 30305
For information call 404.814.3500

Love Your Library Movie & Craft for Kids
Saturday, February 13. 12:00 p.m.“Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs”. Valentine craft to follow movie.
Light refreshments. Ages 4-10.
Central Library, a part of the Atlanta-Fulton Public Library System
One Margaret Mitchell Square, Atlanta 30303
For information call 404.730.1848

February is Black History month, and you can find all kinds of events happening in all branches of the Atlanta-Fulton Public Library System. Programs ranging from children’s storytimes to adult classes and lectures can be found on the library website’s event calendar. You can browse here for this week’s programs and events at all of the branches, or you can search by a particular date to see what may be happening in various locations on that day. You can also view events taking place only at your local branch by going to Library Locations, selecting your local branch and then clicking on the link to Events and Classes.

For something extra, sign up for our African-American newsletter from our Bookletters page. This monthly e-newsletter will feature titles by African-American authors. To view the current newsletter, click here.

You may also want to visit History.com for links to featured biographies, events, facts and videos related to Black History. And you can click here for links to stories and events happening in and around Atlanta this month that will celebrate Black History, from the AJC.

The Learning and Career Center offers a lot of support for English as a Second Language (ESL) students. In addition to classes, there are books and DVD’s available for all student levels.

Click on Catalog Search for these and other titles.

BOOKS:
Barron’s ESL Guide to American Business English by Andrea B Geffner
English Vocabulary for Beginning ESL Learners by Jean Yates
ESL Mathematics for Standardized Tests by Catherine Price
Intermediate English Grammar for ESL Learners by Robin Torres-Gouzerh
Writing Better English for ESL Learners by Edward Swick

DVD’S:
Conversation Pieces for Improving ESL Communication by Vocalis Ltd
ESL easy English. Vol 3, Using numbers and money by Linda Lentini.

There is also online help in the www.afpls.org database:

Under Books and Materials ,click Database Search Scroll down past the search section to the alphabetical list of databases. Click on MangoLanguage. To login, use your AFPLS library card number as your user id and create your own password.

MangoLanguage provides English tutorials for Spanish, Portuguese and Polish speakers.

Jerome David Salinger, most famously known for the high-school classic starring Holden Caufield, The Catcher in the Rye, has passed away in his New Hampshire home at the age of 91. Salinger retreated to this farm- house a few years after his most famous work was published, and stayed there for the next 50 years avoiding media and photographers, and staunchly denying screenwriters, actors and authors the rights to adapt the book. He rarely granted interviews, despite repeated requests, and hardly ever explained himself. However, in one of these rare interviews he was quoted as saying

“I refuse to publish. There’s a marvelous peace in not publishing. There’s a stillness. When you publish, the world thinks you owe something. If you don’t publish, they don’t know what you’re doing. You can keep it for yourself.”

J.D. Salinger’s other works that did make it to the publisher include, Nine Stories, a collection of short stories, the novella Franny and Zooey, and a short story that took up almost an entire New Yorker magazine in 1965.

You can check the AFPL catalog here for Salinger’s books. And you can click here for a list of his stories published in various magazines throughout his life time. I can’t say I’ve reviewed this particular site thoroughly, but it does list the story titles, dates, publications and page numbers. Unfortunately since these stories were published 60 to 70 years ago, they won’t be found in the AFPL databases. However, if you are a fan and a sleuth you may be able to find hard copy or microfilm versions in some libraries!

Thank you to NPR and the New York Times for links to articles on Salinger’s life and work.

Business cards are a great self-promotional tool for the self-employed and for the small business owner. If you do not have your own, come to the Learning and Career Center (formerly the Instructional Learning Center ) on the 4th floor of the Central Library.

Creating Business Cards in Publisher will be held on Tuesday, January 26th at 2pm. Please bring a disk or flash drive to save your work. You may call 404.730.1915 to reserve a space, or you may come in person 15 minutes before class time to register.

Several days ago, the literary world lost two important authors. And although the stories each wrote were very different in style and character, the locations in and around Cambridge, MA featured prominently in both their works. Parker’s Spencer novels, named after the main character in this polific series of books, were said to have recreated the American detective novel, while Segal is most often recognized for his best-selling debut novel, Love Story.

AFPL owns many of the titles writen by both of these great authors, and I encourage you to check the catalog here for a few by each. You can find their works in all formats: print, audio CDs, downloadable e-books, and films of their novels on DVD. Below is a list of suggestions to get you started. You can also click here and here, to read or listen to two stories remembering the authors from National Public Radio. Enjoy!

Works by Robert B. Parker