Monday, April 25, 2022

Access the Telegram and Gazette Newspaper from Home

Did you know that in addition to the print newspaper, the library subscribes to the online edition of the Worcester Telegram and Gazette? The online edition is the image version of the newspaper and includes all sections found in print - news articles, classifieds, weather reports, puzzles and more! You can access the same day’s paper in color for free from the comforts of your home!

All you need is a valid Worcester Public Library card and a computer or device with internet access. Find it here on our website. Once you are on the homepage for the newspaper, choose the 2nd listing for the image edition of the Worcester Telegram & Gazette. Articles can be printed, emailed or downloaded and saved to a flash drive. You can also search the newspaper for specific topics or keywords.

Here is a listing of what is available in each format:
Available at the Newspapers and Magazines desk: 
Printed Hard Copy:
Past two months
Microfilm:
Sunday edition from 1884
Daily edition from 1886 – Dec. 2018

Available online:
Text version online (indexed): 
April 17, 1989 – present
Image version online (indexed): 
September 2018 - current
Web-only Source (articles published online only):
2017 - current

The library also provides obituary lookups through Email Reference Service. A date of death is required since the microfilms are not indexed. Feel free to call us at 508-799-1655, ext.3 with any questions.

Friday, April 22, 2022

WooReads Spring Reading Challenge For Adults: Patron Book Reviews


Join the WooReads: Spring Reading Challenge for Adults for a chance to win a L.L. Bean tote bag featuring the WPL logo. All you have to do is log at least 9 books from March 1- May 31 to be entered into the drawing. 

There's nothing like a good spring cleaning! Try the Home Organizing & Decluttering booklist for resources to help you get your space in order. 

Try one of our Bundles if you'd like a librarian to select books, magazines or DVDs for you. For information on adult classes and programs, visit mywpl.org

Enjoy these book reviews submitted by your fellow patrons through our WooReads challenge.



I enjoyed this book. It held me throughout. I love the character studies of each person and each of their own personal situations in the midst of natural disaster and how they are all brought together. ~ Jane O. 


I think the best description of this book is the quote by Tom Hanks which says it's a book about family. And this family, against the odds of most showbiz families, survived with a long-term marriage and two successful sons. Not to say they were perfect, as one brother did struggle with substance abuse for a time, but the respect and admiration they had for each other just comes shining through. It was especially fascinating to read how the boys' father worked with them in unconventional ways so their acting would be genuine. Very interesting read! ~ Linda J. 


Red Paint: The ancestral autobiography of a Coast Salish Punk by  Sasha taqwšeblu LaPointe

Well worth the read. I'm interested in reading more from this author. I'm curious if future work would be fiction and centered on Indigenous people, culture, and history. Red Paint is an autobiography intersecting the author's experiences with the women in her lineage. It's a reflection of historical traumas of colonialism and genocide, resilience and healing. ~ Mary T.


Good story, kept you guessing until the end! ~ Linnea S. 

Thursday, April 21, 2022

New Releases: May Edition

Check out these highly anticipated May releases featuring fiction and nonfiction titles. Click on the title to request a copy or get your name on the waitlist. Don’t forget to watch for more featured releases next month! 


Fiction

Book of Night by Holly Black

Holly Black debuts her first adult fantasy book about a world of shadow magic. For a cost, shadows can be altered for beauty or power, but the alterations take hours or days off your life. In this magical world, Charlie Hall is a bartender with a side hustle as a low-level con artist. When a figure from her past returns, Charlie is dragged into the magical underground market for shadow trading in this new modern dark fantasy series.






Luli Wei is beautiful, talented, and desperate to be a star. Coming of age in pre-Code Hollywood, she knows how dangerous the movie business is and how limited the roles are for a Chinese American girl from Hungarian Hill. The studios want to own everything from her face to her name to the women she loves, and they run on a system of bargains made in blood and ancient magic, powered by the endless sacrifice of unlucky starlets like her. But she doesn't care-she’d rather play a monster than a maid.






It’s been five years since the accident that killed the love of Feyi’s life and she’s almost a new person now-an artist with her own studio, and sharing an apartment with her best friend, Joy, who insists it’s time for Feyi to ease back into the dating scene. An encounter at a party cascades into a whirlwind summer she could have never imagined, but her new relationship might be sabotaged by the thrill Feyi feels every time she locks eyes with the one person in the house who is most definitely off-limits. 



Nonfiction
For millennia the location of the Nile River’s headwaters was shrouded in mystery. In the 19th century, there was  a frenzy of interest in ancient Egypt. At the same time, European powers sent off waves of explorations intended to map the unknown corners of the globe – and extend their colonial empires.





The National Book Award-winning nature writer, novelist and environmentalist has been sorely missed since his death in 2020. His final work, a collection of essays that includes five pieces that were never published, is a moving reminder of this literary giant’s legacy. As Lopez takes readers along with him to California, New York, Oregon, Antarctica and beyond, their attention will be drawn over and over again to small details of natural beauty that Lopez was famous for noticing.




We can only imagine what it’s like growing up in the spotlight and not being able to be your true self at all times, but why does it always take a tragic moment to finally cause us to make overdue changes? Part memoir, part confession and part cautionary tale, Colton Haynes pulls back the curtain on his life and career, revealing the incredible highs and devastating lows. From his unorthodox childhood in a small Kansas town, to coming to terms with his sexuality, he keeps nothing back.

Tuesday, April 12, 2022

Kanopy: Conflict in Ukraine


Kanopy, streaming service that is free to use with your WPL card, has assembled a collection of films that provide further context on the conflict in Ukraine. To view the complete list of films and learn more about this moment and the events that led up to it, visit go.kanopy.com/ukraine. To learn more about Kanopy, click here

To find books about these events, view our Understanding Ukraine booklist. 



This documentary looks at people who were transformed by a democratic revolution and gave up their normal lives to fight a Russian invasion. 

Directed by acclaimed filmmaker Sergei Loznitsa, Maidan chronicles the civil uprising that toppled the government of Ukrainian president Victor Yanukovich and has since developed into an international crisis between Russia and the West.




With only a smattering of biographical details released to the public and his sometimes puzzling public appearances, scholars-and even many world leaders-still struggle to understand the man at the helm of the Kremlin. To glean a clearer picture, Frontline took a closer look at some of the most identifiable aspects of Putin’s public persona.

Award-winning journalist Manon Loizeau returned to the places she filmed while undercover in Chechnya. Behind the gleaming façade of the new Grozny, Loizeau discovered women and men more terrified than in all the years of war and occupation. 

Friday, April 8, 2022

WooReads Spring Reading Challenge For Adults: Patron Book Reviews



Join the WooReads: Spring Reading Challenge for Adults for a chance to win a L.L. Bean tote bag featuring the WPL logo. All you have to do is log at least 9 books from March 1- May 31 to be entered into the drawing. 

Searching for a sports read? View our Staff Picks: Honoring Jackie Robinson booklist, which celebrates the 75th anniversary of the desegregation of Major League Baseball on April 15, 1947.

Try one of our Bundles if you'd like a librarian to select books, magazines or DVDs for you. For information on adult classes and programs, visit mywpl.org

Enjoy these book reviews submitted by your fellow patrons through our WooReads challenge.




Katy and her mother, Carol, plan a trip to Positano, Italy. Before their trip commences, Carol dies from her battle with Cancer. Unsure of her future, and to reconnect with her mother's legacy, Katy embarks on their trip solo. In Italy, Katy is swept up in all that Italy offers - its beauty, love, history, and magic. It's a touching story sure to make any reader have wanderlust.~ Mary T.




A thriller that catches the feel, the scents and the sense of New Orleans as I remember it. Good read! ~ Karen L.


Circe by Madeline Miller 

Wonderful and lovely book. Big fan of mythology and this is one of my favorites.       ~ Miriam V. 


In this book, Lucy Worsley traces the history of mystery novels in England starting with the banning of public executions in the 1800s and ending with the Golden Age of Detective Fiction in the 1920s and 30s. Easy to read and full of fascinating details about true crimes, Madame Tussaud, the Metropolitan police and the rise of women authors like Dorothy Sayers, the author also touches on social aspects like literacy and women's roles in Victorian England. Informative and well written! ~ Mary R.




Reading Resources


Try one of our virtual book clubs!
Register here