Despite what critics may say, Nicholas Sparks has written some of the best love stories of our time.  He is personally one of my favorite authors and, lately, he has kept me very busy with his books, films, and television productions. His newest book, The Best of Me, is set to release October 11th, 2011.  It is about two small-town former high school sweethearts from opposite sides of the tracks. Now middle-aged, they’ve taken wildly divergent paths, but neither has lived the life they imagined . . . and neither can forget the passionate first love that forever altered their world. When they are both called back to their hometown for the funeral of the mentor who once gave them shelter, they will be forced to confront the choices each has made, and ask whether love can truly rewrite the past. Warner Brothers has also already purchased film rights for The Best of Me and will begin production on that sometime next year. In addition to this novel, Warner Brothers has adapted Sparks’ novel, The Lucky One, into a film to be released on April 20, 2012 and his recent book, Safe Haven, has already undergone production by Relativity Media. One would think that all of this would be enough excitement for one author, but Sparks does not stop there.  Sparks teamed up with Kristin Hahn, co-producer of The Time Traveler’s Wife, to create the script for a fantasy television show called The Watchers.  Temple Hill Entertainment bought rights to the television series and it will be broadcast on ABC.  The drama is about a fallen angel coming down to Earth to find love.  This is different then most of Sparks’ novels but if the show is anything like his books then I’m positive I will find it endearing and captivating…maybe you will too! To see what Nicholas Sparks material Snell Library has in our stacks search myneu. To read more about Nicholas Sparks visit his website.

Snell Library now has three new staff members on its team: Erin Beach, Jennifer Ferguson, and Greg McClellan. Erin Beach, in her new role at NU Libraries, will be a full-time Circulation Supervisor for Consortial Borrowing & Lending.  In addition to staffing and supervising the circulation desk, Erin will coordinate the NExpress and WorldCat Navigator materials processing.  Erin has worked in the Resource Sharing unit as a student and part-time employee for the past two years.  She is a 2009 graduate of Brown University where she majored in English Literature,  and a 2011 graduate of Northeastern University where she also majored in English.  Erin is interested in pursuing a professional career as a library archivist. Jennifer Ferguson joined us this September as a Data Services Librarian, a newly created position within the Research and Instruction Services department.  A major responsibility of the Data Services Librarian will be to focus on data management and curation, and on data resources that faculty and students can utilize in their research and publishing activities.  Jen will also be the group leader of the new Science, Engineering and Math Liaison Group and play a key role in developing an even stronger liaison program.  Jennifer comes to us from Brandeis University, where she was a Research and Instruction Librarian.  She also serves on the New England E-Science Portal Virtual Community and contributes to the Bioinformatics Core project at the HarvardSchool of Public Health. Last but certainly not least, Greg McClellan joined us this August in the role of Senior Digital Library Developer, adding important new capacities to our technology portfolio. Greg comes to us from the Brandeis library staff where he served as Senior Systems Librarian. Prior to his time at Brandeis, Greg worked in library technology positions at Lesley University, MIT and Cornell, and he has worked with many open source projects, including VuFind and dSpace. Greg joins the Library Technology Services staff and will work with his tech colleagues on a variety of programming projects including the digital repository, as well as various work flow automation ideas. The Library welcomes each of you and wishes you the best in your new positions!

On Thursday, September 22nd a group of staff volunteers from Northeastern University’s Snell Library spent the afternoon at the National Braille Press located at 88 Saint Stephen Street (in the midst of Northeastern’s campus). Once on-site, staff took a tour of the facility and learned about the braille production process which includes transcription, proofreading, embossing, pressing, tactile graphics and finishing. After the tour they formed an assembly line in order to add braille to 250 pre-published children’s books. The books they helped assemble were copies of Eric Carle’s, From Head to Toe, which will be sent to blind children across the country. Check out the pictures below from the day! The National Braille Press is always looking for volunteers so if you are interested visit http://www.nbp.org/ic/nbp/support/volunteer.html to learn more.