EITC Awareness Day and Tax Forms @ Your Library

The Armstrong Library is celebrating Earned Income Tax Credit Awareness Day on January 28, 2011, with a grant provided through Entergy. Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) may be available to anyone who earned $48,362 or less from wages, self-employment, or farming in 2010. You could be eligible for a special tax credit this year and not know it. As a result, you may overlook claiming the EITC, which can put anywhere from $2 to more than $5,600 into your pockets.

People move into and out of EITC eligibility based on changes in their earnings, their parental status or their marital status. Many people will qualify for the first time this year due to economic changes in their incomes. We encourage people to see if they qualify. Eligible workers can get their EITC only if they file federal income tax returns – even if they are not otherwise required to file – and specifically claim the credit.

Taxpayers can get information and forms at the Armstrong Library from Friday, January 28 through Monday, April 18. Tax day is Monday, April 18 (this year only), in observance of Emancipation Day in the District of Columbia on April 15.

With the grant from Entergy, the Library will be of even more help to those needing tax forms and who wish to e-file. Grant funds will provide a computer dedicated to downloading tax forms and e-filing. People may come to the Library and download tax forms at a reduced price of 10¢ (ten cents) per printed page. The State of Mississippi, as a cost savings factor, is no longer mailing tax forms to individuals; therefore, the Department of Revenue has partnered with public libraries. All State tax forms are available at the Armstrong Library. People who wish to e-file may use the grant-provided computer to complete their tax filing. But, please don’t ask Library Staff for advice! We are not tax experts! Library staff can provide assistance in locating online forms, only!

The Armstrong Library also partners with the AARP in their Tax Aide program. Participation in this program is available on Wednesdays, from 9-4, beginning February 2 and ending on April 13. Persons assisted through the AARP Tax Aide program are served on a first come, first served, basis. Information on what is needed to participate in the Tax Aide program is available on Wednesdays only, during this time.

Come see what your Library can do for you!

• Tax information and forms, available @ Your Library
• A specific computer for downloading tax forms and for e-filing, available @ Your Library
• AARP Tax Aide program, available @ Your Library

What to Read Next

Looking for a good fiction book? Whether you want a list of all the titles by your favorite author or want to know the next title in a good series, your Library has a really cool way to get these answers - and more. It's called NoveList. NoveList is a fiction database with information on more than 135,000 titles, searchable in a variety of ways - and it's incredibly useful.

 First, let me show you how to find this great resource, so you can follow along as I tell you how to use it. Go to the Library website. In the menu on the left, click on Resources, then click on Online Research Tools. Scroll down until you find MAGNOLIA and click on it. MAGNOLIA is an extensive online research tool provided by the Mississippi State Legislature through the state's public libraries.

MAGNOLIA is close to a hundred different databases that can be searched for reliable information, but today we're just going to focus on one - NoveList. To reach it, click on the letter N under the Database A-Z List. Click on the title NovelList. Now you are in NoveList.

You can search for information by author, title, series, or even find a forgotten title by just entering a description of the book in the Search Box. If you look to the left, you'll see you can look at age range or by different genres, like Mysteries or Science Fiction. If you look to the right, you'll see other interesting things you can do - like looking for Book Discussion Guides or Award Winners.

One of the coolest features is the Author Read Alikes. If you find an author you like, you can find other similar authors. For example, let's say I like John Grisham books and I want to find more like them. Click on Author Read Alikes, then find the author's name, either by entering the Grisham, John in the search box or just clicking on the G. Once you see his name, click on it. Scoll down the page, and you will see a description of his writing style, and a description of similar authors. Isn't that cool?

Takes some time to play around in NoveList, and you will see everything you need to find that perfect book. It's also useful for all sorts of other projects like book reports and discussion guides. If ever you need help, just click on the purple button How to Use NoveList in the upper right hand corner for a series of tutorials. And of course, you can always call or come in the Library.

January New Books

There is a section in the Library called New Books, where we put new books when they arrive. They usually stay there for a few months before being shelved in their appropriate place. This section is a favorite place for many of our patrons. But in case you haven't been here in a while, here are some of the new arrivals.

FICTION

• Dead or Alive by Tom Clancy with Grant Blackwood. Many characters from Clancy's previous novels make an appearance as an intelligence group tracks a vicious terrorist called the Emir.
• Cross Fire by James Patterson. Alex Cross investigates a professional assassination in Washington and receives a chilling call from his deadliest adversary. 
• The Girl Who Kicked The Hornets Nest by Stieg Larsson. The third volume of a trilogy about a Swedish hacker and a journalist. 
• Full Dark, No Stars by Stephen King. Four long stories which are light on the supernatural and deal mostly with grisly human behavior. 
• Port Mortuary by Patricia Cornwell. In the 18th Kay Scarpetta novel, the forensic pathologist masters a sophisticated autopsy technology at an Air Force base.
• Fall of Giants by Ken Follett. Five interrelated families from five countries are caught in the upheavals of World War I and the Russian Revolution.
• Hell's Corner by David Baldacci. Recalled to duty, Oliver Stone hunts for those responsible for a bomb detonated near the White House.
• An Object of Beauty by Steve Martin. A young, beautiful and amitious woman ruthlessly ascends the heights of the Manhattan art world.
• Crescent Dawn by Clive Cussler and Dirk Cussler. Dirk Pitt seeks to discover the connection between a trove of ancient Roman artifacts and a series of mosque explosions.

NONFICTION

• Decision Points by George W Bush. The former President's memoir discusses his Christianity and the end of his drinking; his relationship with members of his family; and his decisions on 9/11, Iraq, and Katrina.
• Autobiography of Mark Twain by Mark Twain. The first of three volumes collected by the Mark Twain Project on the centenary of the author's death.
• Cleopatra by Stacy Schiff. A biography of the last queen of ancient Eqypt.
• America by Heart, by Sarah Palin. The former Vice Presidential candidate reflects on family, faith, and patriotism.
• I Remember Nothing by Nora Ephron. Reflections on age and memory, from the author of I Feel Bad About My Neck.
• Colonel Roosevelt by Edmund Morris. The third and concluding volume of Morris's monumental biography of Theodore Roosevelt.

Come check out our other new books.