"A Happy New Year." New York Public Library. Digital ID 1588010.USA.gov provides a listing of popular New Year's Resolutions and related government resources to help you meet any of these goals. The Library is also a great place to find information to help you start off the New Year on the right foot.

A happy New Year., Digital ID 1588108, New York Public LibraryWhat are you going to focus on in 2012?

• Drink Less
• Eat Healthy
• Get a Better Education (follow the Lifelong Learning and Facing the Page blog channels)
• Get a Better Job (follow the Job Search Central blog channel)
• Get Fit
• Lose Weight
• Manage Debt
• Manage Stress
• Quit Smoking
• Be Green
• Save Money
• Take a Trip (follow the Ticketless Traveler blog channel)
• Volunteer (check out how to volunteer at NYPL)

And one more just from us:

• Read More!

The new year is also a great time to think about a project or plan you want to accomplish. With that concept in mind, I created a book list of the genre I like to think of as the "One Year Challenge." (For a while there it seemed like anyone could get a book deal with a blog and an outrageous idea about how to spend 12 months!)

In this list you can find the stories of real people who made a conscious decision to eat locally in Appalachia, eat locally in Vancouver B.C., only eat in, cook an entire cookbook, seek out exotic delicacies, go on a date with anyone who asks, not have sex, follow the Bible literally, start a real estate business, simplify life and decrease clutter, not buy anything, not buy anything made in China, enjoy life and find happiness, say thank you, follow the teachings of a different self-help guru each month, follow the teachings of Oprah, watch terrible movies, do one scary thing every day, try a new job every week, live below the poverty line, make as little environmental impact as possible, make one positive environmental change per day, read a book a week, read a book a day, read the Harvard Classics, read the Oxford English Dictionary, experience life as a man, knit obsessively, make a skull each day, get committed to a mental hospital, and move to a farmhouse in rural France.

"A Happy New Year." New York Public Library. Digital ID 1587964.Another type of resolution you could make is to embark on something called a "365 project." Do something — anything — but the same thing every day for a year. Draw a picture, take a snapshot, jot a short journal entry, or write a poem — do whatever it is you enjoy that will help jump start your creativity or help you improve your technique. You can post your project on specifically designed websites, Flickr (see groups/366photos; groups/365days), Facebook, Twitter, or your own blog. 

Have you read and enjoyed another "One Year Challenge"? What is your resolution for the year? (Posting here might just make you feel more accountable for it later on.) Share your thoughts in the comments section below.

Whatever your plans for 2012, wishing you 366 happy days!

Update, 1/20/12: I am finding that having access to great ebooks is helping me with my personal resolution to read more; with the Kindle app installed on my iPad and iPhone, it syncs to the last page I've read on either device. As my colleague says, reading on your phone is great because you can have an emergency book with you at all times!

And for those interested in the "doing more with less"-type resolutions, you might take a look at Meg Hourihan's latest project, all about how she plans to "use it up, wear it out, make it do, do without."