Amy DeGroff, director of information technology for the Howard County Library, shared with me some of the nuts and bolts work that went into the library's new Web site.

"The new Web site was built using a customer programmed CMS (content management system)," DeGroff said. "Danny Bouman wrote the CMS using PHP, MySQL, and several open source programming libraries including phpmailer and adodb," she said explaining the purpose was to help library patrons get to the content.

More specifically, it is the "New and Hot Items" tab which is the home for all collection-related materials. DeGroff likes to point out the teamwork that was involved in the site's creation.

"Much credit goes to my technical staff; Danny Bouman, Beth Tribe, Luis Salazar and Ruth Vargas in particular the later three supported Danny's work daily," said DeGroff who also mentioned that the system wide library staff were also helpful in making wording and layout decisions.

One of those new and hot items is the staff-generated "Highly Recommended" blog with reviews covering all adult library materials.

Lisa Bankman, information services supervisor, came up with the structure and implementation plan that enabled the Library to produce a blog as a team effort, so the work involved would be spread out among all interested staff members. She is excited about how much this new blog will add to patrons' ability to easily access information.

"From the beginning, Highly Recommended's mission has been to publicize all materials from the adult collection, including books, audio books, music and DVDs, as well as providing an information forum for library classes seminars, and events," Bankman said.

Go to www.hclibrary.org and the first thing you'll notice is the signature cerulean blue and apple green colors that make up the library Hi circle sign brand. Click on the tab 'New and Hot Items' and on that page in the middle of the left sidebar is the heading, 'Highly Recommended (staff blog)' and click on one of the categories to get to the blog.

This new site is a great addition if you are taking part in the summer reading program. Now, instead of scanning the shelves, just scan the site for suggestions on what to read. Here are some reviews from the site:

"Shadow Gate" by Kate Elliott:

"This second installment of Kate Elliott's series continues to explore characters and situations introduced in Spirit Gate. Despite some difficult passages, Shadow Gate is an excellent fantasy novel with a complex, multiple timeline plot and realistically drawn characters.

You could read this book without having read the first, but it's going to be harder to put the pieces together. Elliott has a talent for world-building, especially for the rhythms of dialogue.

The books offer an original fantasy story, with intriguing characters, deft handling of political elements, and stay-up-until-2 a.m. action."

Kristen Blount, who works in the administration offices at the East Columbia branch and a sci-fi fan authored this entry.

Barbara Cornell, assistant manager at the Glenwood Branch, had this to say about Julia Glass' new novel, "The Whole World Over":

"Julia Glass gives us a second psychologically intricate novel, following her National Book Award-winning 'Three Junes.' She even brings along the engaging expatriate Scotsman from her first novel, Fenno MacLeod, for a supporting role.

"In The Whole World Over, Fenno runs a book store in Manhattan's West Village, where his life intersects with several fully developed secondary characters, as well as the main character, Charlotte 'Greenie' Duquette Glazier. And one more. If you like your fiction to cover current world realities here's what Cristina J. Lozare, from Central had to say about the tale of a young man living in the post-Sept. 11 world. 'Excuse me, sir, but may I be of assistance? Ah, I see I have alarmed you. Do not be frightened by my beard: I am a lover of America ... .'

"So starts the story of 'Changez in The Reluctant Fundamentalist,' in which a 25-year-old Pakistani engages an unknown American in a cafe in Lahore, Pakistan. He graduated at the head of his class at Princeton and works in a top-notch financial company in Manhattan, earning more money than he ever dreamed possible.

"He is also in love with the beautiful, elusive, and mysterious Erica. At the end of each entry you can comment if you would like to join in the dialogue or suggest something else altogether."

Bankman stresses there are some rules: you need to identify yourself and the library needs to own a minimum of four copies of items blogged about. And remember to write succinctly if you are writing about upcoming seminars or events you enjoyed. Bankman said the site is constantly evolving and hopes to have a blog for children and teens up and running in a few months.

"Our goal is to encourage and engage customer participation, to help us understand what our public wants and to continually tailor our services to meet our customers' needs as they evolve in new directions, while at the same time promoting our collection and our numerous seminars and events," Bankman said.

So far the feedback has been good, DeGroff said.

"I feel it is a tremendous service to our customers and truly results in our collections falling off our shelves and into people's laps," she said.

FYI -- During the summer months only the Central and the Miller branches will be open Sundays with the exception of Aug. 31 when all branches will be closed for the Labor Day holiday.

East Columbia, Laurel, Savage, and the Elkridge branches will only be open on Saturdays during summer weekends. For more information about library hours call 410-313-7980 or go to www.hclibrary.org.

Contact Judy Boman at judyboman@yahoo.com or 410-465-2489.

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