Sit. Read. Think.

So you’ve had your DNA tested and you’re thinking “Now what do I do?” or you’re still wondering if it’s worth $80 to $125 to take a test?  Will it help with your traditional genealogy research? Will it help you find your birth family if you’re adopted? Will it tell you if your great-grandmother was Cherokee? The answer to all of those questions are “yes” under certain circumstances. If you have been doing traditional genealogy research, a DNA genealogy test will help you confirm the research you’ve already done, open new avenues for research and help you tear down those genealogy brick walls. I used AncestryDNA ancestrydna.com because I already had a family tree created with traditional genealogy on Ancestry.com but other well-known genealogy companies such as 23andMe www.23andme.com and FamilyTreeDNA www.familytreedna.com.Read More

Did you know that Laramie County Library has assistive technology for those who need help moving, reading, hearing, writing, or learning? For those with movement disorders we have several walkers, wheelchairs, and motorized wheelchairs that patrons can borrow while in the library. Additionally we have technology for the visually impaired including a Kurzweil machine, Jordy glasses, Desktop Zoom software on all public computers, and the Voyager TeleSensory lighted magnifier. I’ll tell you more about all these devices later in this post. First I’d like to highlight our new Assistive Technology Toolkit that can be checked out for use in the library.Read More

I was inspired today to write about my deep connection to music. This connection has existed since I was little, a common thread with my parents, with my friends, my husband, my kids. A common thread that has gotten me through the toughest of times. I am not alone in this connection. Most people I am close to have the same visceral response to music and the role it plays in their lives.Read More

Have you had your DNA tested?  At one time that question would have made no sense. Until the early 1950’s nobody knew that DNA–deoxyribonucleic acid—even existed, let alone what it was and how essential it is to all of life. As the blueprint for every aspect of an organism, DNA makes us who we are. It determines whether we have brown eyes or blue, are tall or short, are prone to certain diseases, even whether we tend to be outgoing or shy. DNA also makes us unique, so unless you have an identical twin, your DNA is different than everyone else on the planet.Read More

Architect Michael Dixon spent three years in Ukraine serving as a United States Peace Corps volunteer, then accepted a six month Peace Corps “Response” assignment in Armenia followed by another in Kosovo. Along the way he took numerous photos and collected artifacts from the countries he lived in and served.Read More

While working on the 3rd floor Reference Desk, I was recently asked to find an article from the Smithsonian magazine. The only information the patron provided was that the article was titled Flying on a Wing and a Prayer and dated Sept 1988. First I tried using the magazine database EBSCO and Google Scholar with no luck. Then I went back into the databases and looked under Science & Technology. Within that section lives the most wonderful database!! It is the Smithsonian Collections Online . It’s a database provided for us by the University of Wyoming.Read More

Here at your local library we try to offer the best experience you can get in whatever you come here to experience. Programming, collections, café coffee or computer center, we strive to make every patron experience positive.

That said, we try to keep our computers reasonably up to date while still getting as much use out of them as we can so we buy a handful of new computers each year and take the oldest out of service.  Historically we’ve stored the old equipment until we had enough to make it worth our while to hold a “Garage sale”.  Sometimes it’s taken a few years to get enough equipment stashed up.Read More

How do we humans put single significant events into context in our lives?   We do a great job, for the most part, when the event is personal.  Most of us remember the birthday of those we love or celebrate anniversaries to mark a memorable event.  How do we incorporate those larger events into the history of personal lives?  We love a shared experience.Read More

The sport of fly fishing has become more mainstream (and, dare I say, hipster-y) in recent years. More and more men and women are gearing up with rods, reels, and waders to try their luck at angling. But it isn’t a new trend. “Modern” fly fishing took shape in England throughout the 15^th, 16^th and 17^th centuries, with books such as The Treatyse on Fysshynge with an Angle (1496) by Dame Juliana Berners; The Secrets of Angling (1613) by John Dennys; or The Compleat Angler (1653) by Izaak Walton being published and widely distributed. However, there are references to catching fish with a fly dating as far back as ancient Roman and Japanese times. Fly fishing started to become popular in America in the 1950s.Read More