Get Informed: Library and Online Resources for Voters

Midterm elections are scheduled for Tuesday, November 2, less than three weeks from now. Senate races are going on in 36 states; races for governor are taking place in 37 states (including Massachusetts), and races for the House of Representatives are going on in every state. Wherever you’re registered to vote, you can arm yourself with information about candidates, ballot questions, and more with the following library-recommended resources.

Get the latest news coverage through the library’s subscriptions to the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Boston Globe, and more (including local Massachusetts newspapers) through our News databases. Or, search for transcripts of interviews with candidates through LexisNexis Academic, which includes transcripts from media outlets like Fox, NPR, and ABC. Just click on the “News” category on the side, and choose “TV & Radio Transcripts.” (A recent search for the phrase “senate race” in the last three months yielded 1,591 results!)

Want information about where to vote, or what’s on your local ballot? If you’re a Massachusetts voter, there is a limited number of Voter Information Packets located near the magazine rack in the library entrance from the Deloitte Cafe. You can get the same information by going to the Massachusetts Election Division website – you can locate your polling place or check out this year’s three statewide ballot questions. If you’re registered in another state, similar information can be found at the League of Women Voters’ Smart Voter website. Just enter your address to locate your polling place and local ballot.

And if the election’s got you interested in American politics, the library has tons of books and DVDs on U.S. politics and government, and voting and political participation in the U.S., not to mention recent books and audiobooks about political figures like Karl Rove, John Edwards, Michael Bloomberg, and Ted Kennedy.

As Thomas Jefferson said in a 1789 letter, “[W]herever the people are well informed they can be trusted with their own government.” (You can read the whole letter, if you want, in the library’s copies of Jefferson’s papers.)

Bentley Library Top 10 Most Circulated Items Lists

You’re probably familiar with the The New York Times weekly bestseller lists and Amazon’s Top 100 books and DVDs lists. But did you know that here at the Bentley Library we track our own “best sellers” each academic year?

Check out the BENTLEY LIBRARY TOP 10 lists for academic year 2009-2010 in the categories of POPULAR READING, STACKS (regular book collection), AUDIOBOOKS and POPULAR DVDs.

Top 10 Most Circulated Books from the Popular Reading Collection

  1. THE LOST SYMBOL by Dan Brown [check availability]
  2. ALEX CROSS’S TRIAL by James Patterson & Richard Dilallo [check availability]
  3. I, ALEX CROSS by James Patterson [check availability]
  4. THE GIRL WHO PLAYED WITH FIRE by Stieg Larsson [check availability]
  5. I HOPE THEY SERVE BEER IN HELL  by Tucker Max [check availability]
  6. DEAD AND GONE by Charlaine Harris [check availability]
  7. THE LAST SONG by Nicholas Sparks [check availability]
  8. THE SHACK: A NOVEL by William P. Young [check availability]
  9. THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO by Stieg Larsson [check availability]
  10. OUTLIERS: THE STORY OF SUCCESS by Malcolm Gladwell [check availability]

Top 10 Most Circulated Books from the Stacks

  1. FREAKONOMICS: A ROGUE ECONOMIST EXPLORES THE HIDDEN SIDE OF EVERYTHING by Steven D. Levitt & Stephen J. Dubner [check availability]
  2. A COLOSSAL FAILURE OF COMMON SENSE: THE INSIDE STORY OF THE COLLAPSE OF LEHMAN BROTHERS by Lawrence G. McDonald with Patrick Robinson [check availability]
  3. HOUSE OF CARDS: A TALE OF HUBRIS AND WRETCHED EXCESS ON WALL STREET by William D. Cohan [check availability]
  4. PRINCIPLES OF CORPORATE FINANCE by Richard A. Brealey, Stewart C. Myers & Franklin Allen [check availability]
  5. BLINK: THE POWER OF THINKING WITHOUT THINKING by Malcolm Gladwell [check availability]
  6. POT POLITICS: MARIJUANA AND THE COSTS OF PROHIBITION by Mitch Earleywine [check availability]
  7. THE CATCHER IN THE RYE by J.D. Salinger [check availability]
  8. ACCOUNTING INFORMATION SYSTEMS by Ulric J. Gelinas, Jr.,  Steve G. Sutton & James E. Hunton [check availability]
  9. THE TIME TRAVELER’S WIFE: A NOVELby Audrey Niffenegger [check availability]
  10. RICH DAD, POOR DAD: WHAT THE RICH TEACH THEIR KIDS ABOUT MONEY – – THAT THE POOR AND MIDDLE CLASS DO NOT! by Robert T. Kiyosaki with Sharon L. Lechter [check availability]

Top 10 Most Circulated Audiobooks

  1. SUPERFREAKONOMICS: GLOBAL COOLING, PATRIOTIC PROSTITUTES, AND WHY SUICIDE BOMBERS SHOULD BUY LIFE INSURANCE by Steven D. Levitt & Stephen J. Dubner [check availability]
  2. THE GIRL WHO PLAYED WITH FIRE by Stieg Larsson [check availability]
  3. THE HELP by Kathryn Stockett [check availability]
  4. THE PROFESSIONAL by Robert B. Parker [check availability]
  5. THE INFORMANT by Kurt Eichenwald [check availability]
  6. THAT OLD CAPE MAGIC by Richard Russo [check availability]
  7. THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO by Stieg Larsson [check availability]
  8. TWILIGHT by Stephenie Meyer [check availability]
  9. PREDICTABLY IRRATIONAL: THE HIDDEN FORCES THAT SHAPE OUR DECISIONS by Dan Ariely [check availability]
  10. I AM AMERICA (AND SO CAN YOU!) by Stephen Colbert [check availability]

Top 10 Most Circulated Popular DVDs

  1. BLOW [check availability]
  2. GRAN TORINO [check availability]
  3. THE FLIGHT OF THE PHOENIX [check availability]
  4. THE READER [check availability]
  5. WALL-E [check availability]
  6. ENTOURAGE, SEASON 3 [check availability]
  7. WEEDS, SEASON 4 [check availability]
  8. GANGS OF NEW YORK [check availability]
  9. THE PROPOSAL [check availability]
  10. WATCHMEN [check availability]