SBPL Coffee Break - Sandra Vose (Episode 13)

This week we were joined by Sandra Vose, Senior Library Technician at the Santa Barbara Public Library System.

Mentioned in this episode:

SB Reads Costume Ball -
http://santabarbaraca.evanced.info/signup/EventDetails?EventId=14020

Frankenstein Double Feature at Solvang Library -
http://santabarbaraca.evanced.info/signup/EventDetails?EventId=16847

What is CRISPR?  at the Central Library -
http://santabarbaraca.evanced.info/signup/EventDetails?EventId=15757

Hilarious Halloween Haunts Marionettes at Carpinteria Library -
http://santabarbaraca.evanced.info/signup/EventDetails?EventId=16940

Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark -
https://www.blackgold.org/polaris/search/title.aspx?ctx=1.1033.0.0.1&cn=377269

Ghosts of the Haunted Coast -
https://www.blackgold.org/polaris/search/title.aspx?ctx=1.1033.0.0.1&cn=306720

Children of Blood and Bone -
https://www.blackgold.org/polaris/search/title.aspx?ctx=1.1033.0.0.1&cn=1030091

Tucker and Dale vs. Evil -
https://www.hoopladigital.com/title/11049557

Always Running -
https://www.blackgold.org/polaris/search/title.aspx?ctx=1.1033.0.0.1&cn=808356

Claire DeWitt and the City of the Dead -
https://www.blackgold.org/polaris/search/title.aspx?ctx=1.1033.0.0.1&cn=594261

Pride and Prometheus -
https://www.blackgold.org/polaris/search/title.aspx?ctx=1.1033.0.0.1&cn=1063000

Wuthering Heights -
https://www.blackgold.org/polaris/search/title.aspx?ctx=1.1033.0.0.1&cn=727027


Find more SBPL Staff Picks Blog - http://sbplstaffpicks.blogspot.com/

SBPL Coffee Break - Leon Yen (Episode 12)

This week we were joined by Leon Yen, a Library Technician at the Santa Barbara Public Library System. 

Mentioned in this episode:

SB Reads Writing Contest at Central and Solvang (via the SBReads guide) -
http://bit.ly/SBReads

It's Alive!  Frankenstein Science Fair -
http://santabarbaraca.evanced.info/signup/EventDetails?EventId=14058

Zine Maker Workshop at Central Library -
http://santabarbaraca.evanced.info/signup/EventDetails?EventId=14030

Carpinteria Zine Making -
http://santabarbaraca.evanced.info/signup/EventDetails?EventId=15363

Solvang Zine Making -
http://santabarbaraca.evanced.info/signup/EventDetails?EventId=15382

Crazy Rich Asians -
https://www.blackgold.org/polaris/search/title.aspx?ctx=1.1033.0.0.1&cn=986712

The Stormlight Archive -
https://www.blackgold.org/polaris/search/title.aspx?ctx=1.1033.0.0.1&cn=544841

Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency -
https://www.blackgold.org/polaris/search/title.aspx?ctx=1.1033.0.0.1&cn=176694

Kitchen Sisters Podcast -
http://www.kitchensisters.org/present/

Here There Be Gerblins -
https://www.blackgold.org/polaris/search/title.aspx?ctx=1.1033.0.0.1&cn=1077687

Ivy Sole: Overgrown -
https://ivysole.bandcamp.com/album/overgrown

Lil' Wayne: Carter V -
https://www.hoopladigital.com/title/12220785

Ex Machina -
https://www.blackgold.org/polaris/search/title.aspx?ctx=1.1033.0.0.1&cn=803038


Find more SBPL Staff Picks Blog - http://sbplstaffpicks.blogspot.com/

The immortal life of Henrietta Lacks - Rebecca Skloot

The immortal life of Henrietta Lacks - Skloot, Rebecca

Summary: Her name was Henrietta Lacks, but scientists know her as HeLa. She was a poor Southern tobacco farmer, yet her cells--taken without her knowledge--became one of the most important tools in medicine. The first "immortal" human cells grown in culture, they are still alive today, though she has been dead for more than sixty years. HeLa cells were vital for developing the polio vaccine; uncovered secrets of cancer and viruses; helped lead to in vitro fertilization, cloning, and gene mapping; and have been bought and sold by the billions. Yet Henrietta Lacks is buried in an unmarked grave. Her family did not learn of her "immortality" until more than twenty years after her death, when scientists began using her husband and children in research without informed consent. The story of the Lacks family is inextricably connected to the dark history of experimentation on African Americans, the birth of bioethics, and the legal battles over whether we control the stuff we are made of--From publisher description.


Booklist Reviews
*Starred Review* The "first immortal human cells," code-named HeLa, have flourished by the trillions in labs all around the world for more than five decades, making possible the polio vaccine, chemotherapy, and many more crucial discoveries. But where did the HeLa cells come from? Science journalist Skloot spent 10 years arduously researching the complex, tragic, and profoundly revealing story of Henrietta Lacks, a 31-year-old African American mother of five who came to Johns Hopkins with cervical cancer in 1951, and from whom tumor samples were taken without her knowledge or that of her family. Henrietta died a cruel death and was all but forgotten, while her miraculous cells live on, "growing with mythological intensity." Skloot travels to tiny Clover, Virginia; learns that Henrietta's family tree embraces black and white branches; becomes close to Henrietta's daughter, Deborah; and discovers that although the HeLa cells have improved countless lives, they have also engendered a legacy of pain, a litany of injustices, and a constellation of mysteries. Writing with a novelist's artistry, a biologist's expertise, and the zeal of an investigative reporter, Skloot tells a truly astonishing story of racism and poverty, science and conscience, spirituality and family driven by a galvanizing inquiry into the sanctity of the body and the very nature of the life force. Copyright 2009 Booklist Reviews.


Check Availability