Pam Ikauniks of Concord is familiar with the stereotype of today's gaming generation: teens who sit in a dark room for hours playing video games by themselves. As a reference and young adult librarian at Cary Memorial Library in Lexington, however, she knows better.
Based on feedback and recommendations from the approximately 25 members of the library's Teen Advisory Board, the library has purchased the wildly popular music video games Dance Dance Revolution and Guitar Hero. The most recent addition -
According to Ikauniks, music video games can improve not only dexterity and hand-eye coordination, but also social skills in a collegial atmosphere of healthy competition. She said she also has been pleased at the willingness with which older teens share their expertise with younger and less technologically savvy peers.
Although the games are offered in conjunction with other teen activities, Ikauniks credits their availability with contributing to the library's near 100 percent increase in circulation materials over the past four years.
"Our teens still read books, but we're at a crossroads where technology is becoming more and more important," Ikauniks said. "Many of them have DDR at home, but they come here for the fun of playing it with others. That's something the library can provide: space for them to talk, do homework together, and interact. It's very gratifying to be part of it."
FOOD FOR THOUGHT As food service director for the Groton-Dunstable Regional School District, Janice Buxton of Nashua embraced recipes from a cookbook made available through the Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources. After a little encouragement, she said, students have done the same.
Buxton worked with food service manager Pam Patnode of Dunstable to institute a Farm Food Wednesday incorporating locally grown produce into school lunch recipes from "Fresh from the Farm: The Massachusetts Farm to School Cookbook" by Berkshire author Amy Cotler. Popular new side items include green beans tossed with olive oil and garlic, roasted butternut squash with brown sugar and cinnamon, cucumber-apple salad, and lemon zest broccoli with grated cheese.
According to Patnode, the school system distributed free samples and discussed the new items on a local cable television show. The book also contains a nutritional analysis of each recipe, all of which are designed around schools' tight budgets and limited food preparation time.
"It's great for us and it's great for the kids, who are getting exposed to fruits like kiwis they might not get at home," she added. "Now students are asking us for the recipes. That never happened before." For more information, visit mass.gov/agr/markets/Farm_to_school/index.htm.
PASS IT ON: Even though he's a published author and teaches creative writing at Emerson College in Boston, Mike Heppner of Belmont shares commonly held frustrations with the publishing industry. So after putting the finishing touches on a piece of work too lengthy for a short story but not long enough to be released as a novel, he decided to offer it free on his website, mikeheppner.com.
In return, all he asks is that readers who enjoy "Man Talking" pass it on.
Heppner's first two novels, "The Egg Code" and "Pike's Folly," were published by Knopf in 2002 and 2006, respectively. "Man Talking," which Heppner said can be read in about 90 minutes, is about a middle-age writer who has made sacrifices in his personal life in order to achieve commercial success. In fact, Heppner calls his novella a "hybrid novel and writing manual" that serves to warn aspiring writers that even publishing the novel of their dreams won't solve problems in their noncreative life.
"It took me seven months to write [the novella]. And although length affects commercial possibility, writing is a profession and writers should get paid for their work," Heppner says. "In my case, posting it on my website is an alternative to putting it away in my closet. I might not be able to sell Harry Potter numbers, but there's still value in it."
Heppner will read from "Man Talking" this Friday in the Dire Literary Series, which begins at 8 p.m. at 106 Prospect St. in Cambridge. For more information, visit direreader.com.
People items may be submitted to Cindy Cantrell at cantrell@globe.com.
