What a busy time of the year - holidays, cooking, shopping. Before I go shopping for that Old Navy boy's jacket it would be good to know that Old Navy recalled boys' jackets because the drawstring at the waist poses an entrapment hazard. How would I know that except by going to notinmycart.org or recalls.gov? Notinmycart.org is the website for the Consumers Union and it is chock full of consumer tips for safe shopping.

Did you know that our reference department has an “Aladdin Rainbow Pro Electronic Magnifier” for low vision patrons? This magnifier can increase the size of text from small to extra-large. I put my People magazine on the platform and low and behold, the print was on the screen before me. Reading matter can be viewed on the screen in black on white or reversed for white on black and other colors are available. This assistive magnifying device is user-friendly, but feel free to ask our reference staff for any help that you may need!

Several months ago, a patron approached us about her son who was preparing for his Bar Mitzvah. He was thinking about what “mitzvah” or charitable deed he could do for this special occasion in his life when he came across the “For Our Soldiers” display in the lobby of the library. Renee, Chris and I have been collecting food, materials, books and money for postage, and have been sending care packages to soldiers overseas for over a year. It has been a busy year for us, both personally and professionally, and honestly I lost track of the young bar mitzvah boy. But he didn’t forget about the soldiers. One day last week, he came into the library with his mother and brother and presented us with the money he had collected from his friends and neighbors. He had his picture taken with us, and Maria Pontillo wrote an article about him for the Plainview Herald. This “mitzvah” performed by this wonderful young man offered us a glimpse into the future, and I for one liked what I saw.

I was going to take the LIRR to Penn Station and discovered that the printed schedule I had was expired. I found the current new schedule very quickly on this link http://lirr42.mta.info/index.asp and was able to get the return schedule as well. Also handy are the Long Island Bus schedule, and E-Z Pass applications, and Service Advisories on http://mta.info.