1.  Style Me Vintage: Easy Step-by-Step Techniques for Creating Classic Hairstyles by Belinda Hay    >> Read more

Legendary Hollywood actress Elizabeth Taylor has died at the age of 79.

Celebrate the life of this Oscar-winning actress by remembering some of her landmark films, available for checkout from the Richland County Public Library.

Click on the images below and get these movies today!

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A few months ago I went to one of the nicest weddings I've been to in years.  The bride and groom were both in their seventies, and both had been married previously and lost their spouses.  (Actually, the bride was my kindergarten teacher.)  It was lovely - very simple, no fuss, just a nice ceremony and a low-key reception.  Great chicken salad sandwiches.  Punch.  Your parents dancing.  Nothing elaborate.

There were definitely cheese straws, though.  You aren't legally married without cheese straws in this state.    >> Read more

I read recently that the budgets are getting cut back so much at Conde Nast, publisher of Vogue, that senior staffers are being told to ride the subway instead of being driven around Manhattan. 

Can you imagine Anna Wintour, Vogue editor since 1988, riding the subway?  Did you know she gets her trademark bob trimmed every day?  There is no way she got to work this morning hanging from a strap.

Vogue is a lot more venerable than a lot of people realize.  It was founded as a weekly magazine in 1892 and bought by Conde Nast in 1909.  It incorporated photography in 1913, pioneering the fashion photo spread.  

Vogue has always been popular during hard times when nobody can afford the fashions in it - subscriptions surged in the Great Depression and again during World War II.  During the 1960's under the hand of Diana Vreeland the magazine began to appeal to younger women with a focus on contemporary fashion and young models. 

More than any other fashion magazine, Vogue has historically had the power to make a model a household name.  The success of models like Twiggy, Lauren Hutton, Suzy Parker and Verushka paved the way for the supermodels of the 1980s. 

Under the leadership of Anna Wintour, she of the bob and indoor sunglasses, Vogue has taken a position of leadership in discovering and promoting new designers and concepts in fashion.  Wintour's presence at your fashion show is an indication that you're going somewhere as a designer - sometimes Fashion Week coverage reads like a copy of her Outlook calendar.  

Today, Vogue has a plethora of worldwide editions.  Local Vogue is published in Australia, Brazil, China, France, Germany, Greece, India, Italy, Japan, Korea, Mexico, Portugal, Russia, Spain, Taiwan, and the UK.  There's also a general Latin America edition.  Theseoffshoot publications all have their own Web sites, and they are awesome.  Vogue India is my favorite so far.  

Of course, you can come and read the current issue in the Periodicals department, but did you know we also have microfilm of this title back to 1950?  We do!  Better yet, we have it bound through the 60s and 70s, so you can see the fashions and ads in full color.  Come by and take a look!    >> Read more

Here in Periodicals, we get newspapers and magazines from all over the world.  We get newspapers in Chinese, German, Spanish, and even Norwegian!  However, we also get quite a few interesting periodicals that are a little less exotic.  Canada, our friendly neighbor to the north, puts out some truly outstanding magazines.  Let me show you a few of them!

Maclean's is a weekly news magazine along the lines of Newsweek or Time.  While of course the United States looms large in Canadian news, the articles feature a strong Canadian viewpoint.  The magazine is very smart and well-written, and I recommend it to anybody who wants to know more about Canada's government, politics, and economy. 

The current issue features "The Year in Pictures", a retrospective of some of Maclean's best photographs of 2009.  Some of them are similar to photo retrospectives in major American magazines (the Obama inauguration, Miley Cyrus) while others are unique in our collection to a magazine like Maclean's (Prime Minister Stephen Harper in Times Square, Canadian soldiers in Afghanistan). 

Canadian Home Workshop is most similar to Family Handyman.  It offers advice for home repairs and building projects.  Of course, the prices are in Canadian dollars, but most products seem to be available on both sides of the border.  Each issue has projects for several skill levels, and the product reviews are lengthy and complete. 

The current issue includes instructions on building a staircase railing, a mirror frame, a tool cabinet, and a false beam ceiling.  Additionally, there's a great article on the differences between cheap and expensive drills. 

Chatelaine is a women's magazine similar to Redbook.  The audience is a little older than the Glamour crowd, I'd say.  This is one magazine where product availability may vary - some of the cosmetics look unfamiliar to me, and of course the pricing is Canadian.  However, all the recipes have measurements in metric and imperial units, so you'll be able to make all the food.  In my opinion, Chatelaine is the best women's magazine we get.  It's much less cheesy than a lot of the American women's titles.  The articles are substantial and interesting, it isn't as product-focused, and the beauty articles don't take over the magazine.  

This month there's an interview with Dolly Parton (my hero!), a gorgeous chocolate cake on the cover, and a big guide full of concrete tips for saving money.  (Did you know that October is the best time to buy a bicycle?  And I've really got to get around to taking all the junk out of my car - evidently it's wasting gas money!)  Do you enjoy reading magazines like Marie Claire but every so often find yourself reading the same one twice?  And you don't realize it until you see a familiar ad?  Try Chatelaine instead!    >> Read more