February is African American History Month!  Explore, Discover, and Celebrate the History, Events, and rich African American Heritage that has contributed to U.S. history from slavery to freedom.

If you're looking for African American Authors, and others who write about African American life and culture, check out the library's "BookSpace"  webpage.  Here you will find comprehensive lists of authors from all backgrounds, genres, subjects, and more. 

 Attend one of the Library Free Events to celebrate African American history and culture!

For Black History Month, check out Denzel Washington's movie, "The Great Debaters."   The "Great Debaters" is based on a true story about  African American educator, writer, politician, and poet, Melvin Beaunorus Tolson, who inspires Black students to form the school's first debate team.  Go to Internet Movie Database for more information.

Looking for tips on how to begin researching your African Ancestral Lineage?  Let Afri Geneas help you.  They provide an interactive beginner's guide, searchable databases of surnames, group research through mailing list, chats, newsletters and internet.

What are the best overall car values for the year 2008?  See Intellichoice.com for the answer.

Since 1926, February has been dedicated to Black History Month. Discover your African American heritage and attend one of the library's free events to celebrate African American history and culture!

CNN had access to a recent covert test by the TSA on January 25 where a tester was able to slip a mock bomb past airport security.  Find out more from CNN's story.  Also, take a look at the Transportation Security Administration's information on covert testing.

Scientific American summarizes 2007 in robots, highlighting robots for healthcare, the battlefield, and beyond.

CoffeeBreakSpanish offers up weekly lessons you can listen to online or download to your PC, iPod, or mp3 player. Check out other language learning podcasts at Radiolingua.

World Monuments Watch list of 100 most endangered sites seeks to promote public awareness of key site threats and possible global and local solutions.  Interactive map features photos and an overview of each site.

Scratch is a programming language to create your own games, art, animations and more.  It is now on TeenLinks computers, change the screen resolution to 1024x768 to use it.  (Right click on your desktop, select properties, select settings tab, and choose this resolution.)

Find your caucus, check on your state taxes.

Looking for a paper copy of the FAFSA form? Order a free copy from ED Pubs or print a copy at the Federal Student Aid Gateway. Find the form under FAFSA Filing Options.

If you're a Mac fan, you've probably already read about the new MacBook Air, and its ultra-thin profile and light weight.  What you may not know is that it was made without many of the environmentally harmful compounds in older pc's.

Learn what happened on this day in American history and view historic documents!  Today in History, part of the American Memory project, lists historic events for each day of the year and includes links to primary documents from those events.

So says Live Science. What do you think? Digital libraries are number 10! Number 4, *printing* something dimensional (building up layers of resin to MAKE something) astounds me.

Come remember and celebrate!  At one of the library's 
 Martin Luther King Day  programs, come to learn about the life and legacy of Dr. King.   All events are free and everyone is welcome to attend!

On Tuesday , February 5, 2008, 7pm Minnesota will hold political party caucuses. For more information contact your political party. Democratic Party, Republican Party, or Independence Party.  The Secretary of State also has general information about the caucuses.

Want to know how to read back issues of Wall Street Journal online?  Which database has a list of electronic enclosurer manufacturers? The CEO of Carlson Companies?  Ask a Librarian  can help you find the answers to these questions and any other topics that have you stumped .  Contact us by email, IM chat service, phone or in person.   

A common New Year's resolution is to get organized.  Here's a couple of tools I'm going to try -- gubb for online list management, and jott for voice to text conversion.  So, use gubb keep all sorts of lists, and call jott when you're away from a computer and it'll add to your gubb lists -- or it'll text or email a someone - or yourself!

Take a look at Six Techniques to Get More from the Web than Google Will Tell You an article from the online magazine CIO.com.  It offers tips on improving your research results by going beyond the default search engine searches.

Try MinnPost.com as an alternative local news source.

Take a look at the year-that-was at Information Please Almanac.

Minneapolis and Hennepin County didn't only merge library systems recently.  
Heading Home Hennepin is a united effort to end homelessness in Minneapolis and throughout Hennepin County.

Check out Popular Mechanics' Science and Technology Election Guide, where you can compare leading presidential candidates in these areas.

Did you know that New Hampshire held its first primary on the second Tuesday of March in 1916, along with Minnesota. Indiana held its primary a week earlier. New Hampshire became first-in-the-nation in 1920 when Indiana moved its date to May and Minnesota returned to a caucus.  Learn more at the New Hampshire Political Library site. The primary is January 8.

Reuters.com's international pages contain the latest updates on elections in Kenya, the assasination of Benazir Bhutto, North Korea,  volcano eruptions and more.

Follow live caucus results out of Iowa using Google Maps cool tool.  Includes news, information and videos along with live results using an interactive map.

Was your ancestor a Home Child? These poor and orphaned youth were shipped from Britain to labor in Canada, often separated from sibilings. Use the Home Children pages from the Libraries and Archives of Canada to search for Children's names, dates of arrival and more.

With the holidays over, adult ELL and GED classes are starting up again. To find a class near you check the Adult Literacy  Hotline. You can also call 800-222-1990.

If you're thinking about getting a tattoo, you'll want to read the FDA's concerns about the inks, infection, scarring and MRI complications. Think Before You Ink: Are Tattoos Safe?

Need information on home energy conservation. Try the Energy Star website and a list of materials in our catalog to get you started.