LibrarianGene

New Advocacy Site

2010-04-17T08:56:00.000-07:00

One of my colleagues recently came across this library advocacy site and thought it would be a good thing to share.

I agree!

This is courtesy of Library and Information Science News.

Want to keep up on what's happening with efforts around the country to help save libraries? There's a great new site for that, appropriately named Save Libraries. Their motto is "When one library is in trouble, ALL libraries are in trouble." This project is being run by Lori Reed and Heather Braum. They can’t do this alone and are looking for additional help creating and maintaining the content on this site.

Save Libraries is a grassroots effort to compile information about libraries in need of our support. Save Libraries will aggregate information about current advocacy efforts, archive advocacy efforts, and provide links to resources for libraries facing cuts. The project began barely two weeks ago, and is already attracting attention.

Please email us at savelibs (at) gmail (dot) com for questions, comments, or concerns. Please tag your Web content with savelibraries to make it easier for us to find and collect it.

Kudos to none other than our own Blake Carver and LISHost.org for donating hosting for this site and getting WordPress up and running within minutes. This site is dedicated to advocacy for libraries–getting the message out about why libraries are important.

We’re looking for advocacy information, testimonials from patrons and staff, photos, videos, anything to help save our libraries. Please pitch in!! Use the tag savelibraries or #savelibraries on Twitter. If you would like to contribute to this site please email savelibs@gmail.com.

Keith Richards...Librarian!

2010-04-16T08:42:00.000-07:00

This truly has to be one of my favorite stories.

Keith Richards, the grizzled veteran of rock’n’roll excess, has confessed to a secret longing: to be a librarian. After decades spent partying in a haze of alcohol and drugs, Richards will tell in his forthcoming autobiography that he has been quietly nurturing his inner bookworm.

He has even considered “professional training” to manage thousands of books at his homes in Sussex and Connecticut, according to publishing sources familiar with the outline of Richards’s autobiography, which is due out this autumn. He has received a reported advance of $7.3m for it.

The guitarist started to arrange the volumes, including rare histories of early American rock music and the second world war, by the librarian’s standard Dewey Decimal classification system but gave up on that as “too much hassle.” He has opted instead for keeping favoured volumes close to hand and the rest languishing on dusty shelves.

To read more, go to the American Library Association's web site www.ala.org.

Supporting Your Library

2010-04-05T08:20:00.000-07:00

As I write this column, your library is preparing to hold its first signature fundraising event on April 22nd to benefit the Palm Harbor Library Endowment Foundation. Like other non-profit organizations, we too are looking for ways to raise revenue beyond our traditional means. Not surprisingly, this is primarily due to declining property values which has impacted your library over the past three years. The repercussions will be more severely felt this coming fall as we begin our new fiscal year on Oct. 1st. There will be more on that in a future column.
In the meantime, the library has developed ideas (and are looking into others) to lessen the expected financial shortfall. Here’s where you can help out:

Naming Rights

Palm Harbor Library has been developed a plan to name library areas and other physical properties. Some highlights of the new policy include:

1) Donors (individuals, corporations, etc.) may choose a major service area within the library, a meeting or conference room or a landscaped area.

2) All donors who contribute will be recognized with appropriate name signage for that underwritten area.

3) Each naming right has a life span of five years. At the end of the term, the current donor will be given first right of refusal before it is offered elsewhere.

4) Contributions may be paid over the five year period with minimum annual payments.

5) Proposals for naming rights should be submitted to the Library Director and should contain specific information in support thereof.

To date, we have been able to rename three areas. They are “The E. W. Martin Conference Room” and two “ExxonMobile Study Rooms”. To receive pricing information, just contact me directly at gene@phlib.org.

Friends Giving Tree

This long standing fundraiser is clearly seen on two walls as you walk into the library’s lobby. To purchase a “leaf”, it is $100. To purchase a “stone”, it is $1,000. It can be either as a memorial or as an honorarium. All monies support the Palm Harbor Friends of the Library which in turn support various library activities.

NAME YOUR DAY!

Palm Harbor Library has developed a new program entitled “Name Your Day”. The purpose is to celebrate an individual at the library on a particular day for a fee.

Here are some highlights of this new service:

1) The fee is $50 for one day of service.

2) The day can be any day during normal library operating hours.

3) All applications are to be submitted to the Library Director for approval.

4) Services for one day will include the following:
     - name(s) on library road sign

     - name(s) on one bookplate of book of choice

     - name(s) on all library electronic signs

     - name(s) listed on library’s website and the Library Director’s blog

     - name(s) on “Name Your Day” certificate

     - one reserved parking space

FOUNDATION BOARD

At one time all libraries used card catalogs. Well, like so many other things, they had their moment in the sun. Or did they? Instead of throwing ours away, we used the furniture piece to house material but also we took the front piece with the handle of each draw and placed it with others on a large board. For a donation of $500, you can now have a name inscribed, either as a memorial or as an honorarium on the front draw piece of your choice! Be a part of the library’s history and help with its future.

I do appreciate how your taxes support the library but indeed we will fall short this year of what you have come to expect. I ask you today to look towards your library and think how else you can support it. There are some wonderful opportunities here.

We're More than Just Books!

2010-04-01T08:26:00.000-07:00

Nearly one-third of Americans age 14 or older – roughly 77 million people – used a public library computer or wireless network to access the Internet in the past year, according to a national report released today. In 2009, as the nation struggled through a recession, people relied on library technology to find work, apply for college, secure government benefits, learn about critical medical treatments, and connect with their communities.
The report, Opportunity for All: How the American Public Benefits from Internet Access at U.S. Libraries, is based on the first, large-scale study of who uses public computers and Internet access in public libraries, the ways library patrons use this free technology service, why they use it, and how it affects their lives. It was conducted by the University of Washington Information School and funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Institute of Museum and Library Services.

Low-income adults are more likely to rely on the public library as their sole access to computers and the Internet than any other income group. Overall, 44 percent of people living below the federal poverty line used computers and the Internet at their public libraries.

To read further, go to the American Library Association's web site, www.ala.org.

Emerging Leader

2010-03-31T06:59:00.000-07:00

What a way to end Women's History Month with a notice about an emerging leader in the library profession.

The New Members Round Table (NMRT) is announcing that Janel White, Broadcast Librarian at National Public Radio in Washington, D.C., is the recipient of a $1,000 scholarship to sponsor her participation in the American Library Association’s Emerging Leaders Program.

White applied to participate in the Emerging Leaders program out of a desire to give back to ALA, the library community, and her patrons. “ As a librarian, it is my duty to not only serve my patrons but also the field of library science by constantly evolving, overcoming challenges, exploring new ideas and contributing to the profession,” says White. “Attending both the mid-winter and annual meetings as well as networking with my peers as part of this program will prove to be an invaluable experience for me in fostering further techniques of critical inquiry, developing the willingness to examine complex issues and improving my ability to communicate effectively.”

To read further, go to the American Library Association's web site, www.ala.org.

Women's Roles in WWII

2010-03-30T08:03:00.000-07:00

Perhaps one of the biggest misconceptions about women laborers in the wartime industry is that, before the war, they were all housewives unfamiliar with work outside the home. It is true that approximately 5 million women who entered the labor force between the years 1940 and 1944 were first-time workers, many of them married, white, middle-class women responding to government recruitment campaigns directed at homemakers. Still, in total, some 19 million women worked for wages during the war years. Roughly three-quarters of these women had known wage work before World War II; the war industries provided lots of sought-after employment for the many women who had been laid off during the years of the Great Depression, and offered career opportunities, higher wages, and new challenges for the millions in low-paying or mundane positions.

To read further, see www.shmoop.com.

And the Awards Keep Coming

2010-03-25T05:16:00.000-07:00

Well-known librarian, educator and tireless reading advocate Nancy Pearl has been selected the winner of the 2010 Margaret E. Monroe Library Adult Services Award, an honor administered annually by the Reference and User Services Association (RUSA).
The Monroe Award honors a librarian, library and information science researcher or educator who has made a significant contribution to library adult services. Pearl has an extensive career in librarianship and most recently was, until August 2004, the executive director of the Washington Center for the Book at Seattle Public Library. During her time there, she expanded readers’ advisory services beyond the library walls with the establishment of the One Book/One City reading event, which became a model for similar events now held around the country. Since 1993, Pearl has also taught readers’ advisory and genre literature courses at the University of Washington’s ISchool.

To read further, go to the American Library Association's web site, www.ala.org.

Women in Colonial America

2010-03-24T05:55:00.000-07:00

Marie Daucks was a twenty-five year old widow when she signed up to go to Jamestown. Barbara Burchens was just seventeen and unmarried when she decided to travel across the ocean. They were among the 57 'maids' sent to Jamestown by the Virginia Company in 1621 in an effort to raise morale and improve the quality of life in the struggling colony.
It was not the first time the company had tried to do something about the gender imbalance in the colony. But earlier efforts had met neither success nor approval; too few women were sent, the men complained, and even by Virginia's standards they left a lot to be desired. So this time around, the company was more selective in its recruitment. The young women had to present letters of recommendation—letters which spoke to their character and domestic skills. As a result, the women who made the trip were far from the most desperate of England's poor. Among the 57 women sent in 1621 were eight with ties to the English gentry; another twelve were the daughters of artisans. Ranging in ages from 15 to 28, with an average age of twenty, these women could not be classified as destitute. But they were united by a certain disadvantage—virtually all were economically vulnerable. The group included only two widows, but there were numerous orphans and several young women that had recently lost their fathers. While not the most desperate of London's poor, the girls and women who decided to go to Jamestown faced an uncertain future in England.

To read further, go to www.shmoop.com.

Women Muckrakers & Reformers

2010-03-23T09:59:00.000-07:00

Women played an integral role in the Progressive movement. Longstanding social traditions held that women were uniquely predisposed to maintain the moral center for their families. They were supposed to be purer, less vulnerable to temptation than men; especially since men were supposed to go to work in the vice-infested public sphere, while wives remained cloistered within the moral bastion of the home. Since women were also deemed responsible for raising children, they assumed the role of teachers and guardians of Christian virtues and values. Though these same religious teachings implied that women should be obedient wives and subservient individuals, ironically, they also provided a socially acceptable venue in which females could assume an active role in public life. That is, women could transgress traditional gender roles in the name of safeguarding other, more sacred traditions like Christian piety and social morality. In the long term, Progressive women were successful on several counts, but in their success lay unimagined troubles and complications

For more, read on at www.shmoop.com.

Another Librarian Does Well

2010-03-22T08:31:00.000-07:00

Mara Dabrishus, a reference librarian at the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh and a librarian at the Pittsburgh Theological Seminary, put lasting images from a childhood spent following racing to good use and beat out an award-laden field of finalists to win the ninth biennial THOROUGHBRED TIMES Fiction Contest in her first attempt.

Dabrishus’ story “Whirlaway” was selected as the best of the 62 stories submitted for the contest. Dabrishus earns $600 for winning the 2010 contest.

For the complete story, see the American Library Association's web site at http://www.ala.org/.

COSWL Celebrates National Women’s History Month

2010-03-18T07:46:00.000-07:00

During the entire month of March, the Committee on the Status of Women in Librarianship (COSWL) will recognize and celebrate women’s historic achievements with National Women’s History Month. The observance also provides an opportunity to honor women within our families and communities.

National Women’s History Month traces its origins back to March 8, 1857, when women from New York City factories staged a protest over working conditions. International Women’s Day was later observed in 1909. In 1981, the U.S. Congress designated the second week of March National Women's History Week, and in 1987 Congress expanded it to a month-long observance.

COSWL was established by the ALA Council on July 23, 1976, to officially represent the diversity of women’s interests within ALA and to ensure that the Association considers the rights of the majority (women) in the library field.

For further information, go to the American Library Association's web site, www.ala.org.

Another Award Winner

2010-03-17T07:12:00.000-07:00

Michèle V. Cloonan, dean and professor of the Graduate School of Library and Information Science, Simmons College, is the recipient of the 2010 Paul Banks and Carolyn Harris Preservation Award. The award, consisting of $1,500 and a citation, sponsored by Preservation Technologies, L. P., recognizes the contribution of a professional preservation specialist who has been active in the field of preservation and/or conservation for library and/or archival materials. The award will be presented on Sunday, June 27, at the ALCTS Awards Ceremony during the 2010 American Library Association (ALA) Annual Conference in Washington, D.C.

Cloonan's academic and practical accomplishments represent a long, diverse and extremely active career dedicated to promoting preservation in practice, theory and graduate- and doctoral-level education. Since she began her career in 1974, Dr. Cloonan’s major accomplishments include: her extensive research and publications, which form a major contribution to the literature of the profession; her incomparable influence and leadership in the field of preservation education and curriculum development for preservation in library science programs nationwide; and her active role as a leader in preservation organizations and efforts, a testament to her commitment to the profession.

For more information, go to the American Library Association's web site, www.ala.org.

Early Women Patriots

2010-03-16T05:24:00.000-07:00

"When Parliament passed duties on tea, among other items, in the Townshend Act of 1767, female Patriots banded together to support and uphold the colonial boycott. American newspapers praised the ladies who sipped coffee or local herbal teas in place of the British imports. Poetesses sent their verses to the local gazettes in order to express their heartfelt devotion to the cause and their determination not to submit to the fastening of "Chains upon my country."144 In North Carolina, 51 women signed an agreement in October 1774 declaring their "sincere adherence" to Congress's resolves and pledging to do "every thing as lies in our power" to support the "publick [sic] good."145 These women proclaimed their patriotism while simultaneously declaring their intention—and even their right—to participate in the traditionally male realm of public policy."

To read more about this fascinating part of our history, go to www.shmoop.com.

Female Poet of the Day- Anne Sexton

2010-03-15T11:39:00.000-07:00

You could think of Anne Sexton as Betty Draper: beautiful, smart, and deeply, deeply unhappy. Like our favorite Mad Men heroines, Sexton was a model as a young woman, married early, and tried her hardest to be happy as a housewife. Like Betty, though, Sexton quickly realized that a that pretty little home in the 'burbs wasn't all it was cracked up to be. Her poetry lays bare all of the ways that her life has been punctuated by mental illness and circumscribed by rigid definitions of what a woman "should" do or think or believe.
Sexton's name is right up there with a handful of other poets as one of the most-read poets of the twentieth century. Her name gets also gets coupled with Sylvia Plath's just about all the time. Maybe it's because they both killed themselves. Maybe it's because they both wrote in the twentieth century. Here at Shmoop, though, we like to think that it's because they both explored the complicated role that women played in the mid-twentieth century.

Funny thing is, Sexton tends to get a bad rap from critics – both when she first published and, well, now. Apparently her no-holds-barred emotional tell-all makes some people a little bit uneasy. Maybe it's the fact that her confessional style isn't disguised by ornate turns of phrase or any of the formal tricks that so many poets tend to have up their sleeves. Maybe it's just that we all tend to get a bit weirded out when someone we've never even met starts spilling serious dirt.

Whatever it is, "Her Kind" is quintessential Sexton – so if you're not sure whether you're a Sexton fan or foe, this poem is a good litmus test. It's the sort of poem Sexton's known for: deep emotions, straight-speaking, and a healthy dose of social critique.

Published in 1960, "Her Kind" was part of the collection To Bedlam and Part Way Back. For those of you who haven't kept up with your nineteenth-century history, "Bedlam" was the nickname for one of London's most notorious mental institutions. We're guessing that Sexton chose to reference Bedlam in the title of her first collection because, as it turns out, she began writing while spending time in a mental institution. Choosing to describe her collection as a trip "part way back" to mental health allowed Sexton to shock her readers even as she confessed her ongoing depression and sense of social alienation.

So: is Sexton making literary bank off of her own misery? Or is she just trying to find a public voice for issues which no one seems to want to talk about? Well, that's up to you…

Courtesy of Shmoop.com

And a Little More About the Women's Movement in America

2010-03-12T08:22:00.000-08:00

Americans were slow to apply their egalitarian principles to women; for decades after the Revolutionary War, few people in this nation founded on the principle that "all men are created equal" challenged the fact that women possessed few political or legal rights. But during the 1830s, women in the abolitionist movement discovered that even forward-thinking male reformers believed that women should take a backseat to men, and the women's movement was born.
Advocates of women's rights held their first convention at Seneca Falls, New York in 1848. Participants in the convention nursed varying agendas—property rights, divorce reform, increased educational opportunities, and even dress reform were all among the objectives activists pursued. Only a minority shared Elizabeth Cady Stanton's belief that women should concentrate on winning the right to vote. But by the end of the century, women's suffrage had become the centerpiece of the women's movement.

After ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment finally gave women the right to vote in 1919, the movement made only minor progress. The Equal Rights Amendment, drafted in 1923, was buried in congressional committee as the Great Depression and World War II consumed Americans' attention.

But in 1963, Betty Friedan published The Feminine Mystique, sparking the modern women's movement. This new movement failed to achieve one of its greatest objectives: ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment. Still, it made enormous progress by fighting employment discrimination, advancing educational opportunities, and protecting reproductive rights.

Courtesy of Shmoop.com

How it All Got Started

2010-03-09T06:11:00.000-08:00

History of Women’s History Month

By Kay Ann Cassell and Kathleen Weibel

"How Recognition of Herstory Got Started"

The roots of National Women’s History Month go back to “Women’s History Week,” first celebrated in Sonoma County, California, in 1978. This public celebration was scheduled around March 8, International Women’s Day, long celebrated in socialist countries, but not in the U.S. despite the fact that the first International Women’s Day was held in the United States in 1909 honoring a women’s garment workers strike of the previous year.

In 1980 President Jimmy Carter issued a Presidential Proclamation declaring the week of March 8, 1980, as the first National Women’s History Week and women’s history celebrations were quickly adapted in many communities and organizations. In 1981, the unlikely combination of Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) and then–Rep. Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.) cosponsored a joint congressional resolution proclaiming a national Women’s History Week. Six years later, Congress expanded the celebration to the entire month of March; the National Women’s History Project, which spearheaded the creation of National Women’s History Month and coordinates annual themes, celebrates its 30th anniversary in 2010.

The United Nations began celebrating International Women’s Day on March 8, 1975, during the U.N. International Women’s Year and encouraged member states to establish a similar day on a date appropriate to their traditions. Celebration of International Women’s Day has extended to over 60 nations, although not always on the same date. To sample some of these celebrations, explore the over 900 programs listed for 2009 at the International Women’s Day website, a “service to women around the world wanting to share and promote their IWD activity, videos, opinions, and ideas” provided for free since 2001 by Aurora, a British marketing company.

Another Award Winner

2010-03-05T07:58:00.000-08:00

The Association for Library Collections & Technical Services (ALCTS) is announcing that Olivia Marie A. Madison, dean of the library, Iowa State University, is the recipient of the 2010 Margaret Mann Citation presented by its Cataloging and Classification Section (CCS).
The award will be presented on Sunday, June 27, at the ALCTS Awards Ceremony during the 2010 American Library Association (ALA) Annual Conference in Washington, D.C. The Mann Citation, recognizing outstanding professional achievement in cataloging or classification, includes a $2,000 scholarship donated in the recipient’s honor by OCLC, Inc. to the library school of the winner’s choice. Ms. Madison has chosen the University of Missouri School of Information Science & Learning Technologies, Library Science Graduate Program to be the recipient of this year’s scholarship award.

Madison is recognized for having exercised decisive leadership in the development and management of cataloging throughout a long and distinguished career. She has served as both secretary and chair of the Committee on Cataloging: Description and Access (CC:DA), where she played a key role in the ongoing development of the Anglo-American Cataloguing Rules. As a long-standing member of IFLA’s Standing Committee of the Section on Cataloguing, Olivia served two two-year terms as chair of the Study Group on Functional Requirements for Bibliographic Records. (These terms were interrupted by a two-year term as chair of the Standing Committee of the Section of Cataloging.) The work of this group has been broadly influential in shaping the development of several international cataloging codes including Resource Description and Access (RDA). More recently, Ms. Madison served as co-chair of the Library of Congress’s Working Group on the Future of Bibliographic Control. The conclusions of this diversely constituted group are likely to have widespread effects on the future of cataloging at the Library of Congress, nationally and internationally.

The Margaret Mann Citation Jury is pleased to honor Ms. Madison for her dedication, persistence and exemplary cataloging expertise that has helped direct high-level groups with difficult charges toward extremely productive outcomes.

The Association for Library Collections & Technical Services (ALCTS) is the national association for information providers who work in collections and technical services, such as acquisitions, cataloging, collection development, preservation and continuing resources in digital and print formats.

Women's Studies Award

2010-03-03T09:38:00.000-08:00

Cindy Ingold, women and gender resources librarian at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, has been selected as the 2010 winner of the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) Women’s Studies Section (WSS) Career Achievement Award. The award, sponsored by ABC-CLIO, honors significant long-standing contributions to women’s studies in the field of librarianship over the course of a career.

A cash prize of $1,000 and a plaque will be presented to Ingold at the WSS Program at 8 a.m. on June 28 during the 2010 ALA Annual Conference in Washington, D.C.

“Cindy has continuously demonstrated significant contributions and dedication to Women’s Studies librarianship, including her extensive service to WSS and ACRL, as well as her exemplary publications,” said Diana King, chair of the WSS award committee and associate librarian at the UCLA Arts Library. “These include her co-editorship of “Women’s Studies: A Recommended Bibliography” (2004), co-editorship and article contribution to a special issue of Library Trends on “Gender Issues in Information Needs and Services” and numerous other publications and presentations.

“Her work to successfully move an under-utilized departmental library into an integrated and circulating collection was also particularly cited in her nomination, as were her notable efforts in outreach to students and faculty in Women’s Studies and LGBT Studies programs.”

Ingold received her B.A. in History and her M.A. in English from Western Illinois University. She earned her M.A. in Library Science from the University of Missouri.

ACRL is a division of the American Library Association, representing more than academic and research librarians and interested individuals. ACRL is the only individual membership organization in North America that develops programs, products and services to meet the unique needs of academic and research librarians. Its initiatives enable the higher education community to understand the role that academic libraries play in the teaching, learning and research environments.

New Teen Editor

2010-03-02T09:26:00.000-08:00

Throughout "Women's History Month" I'll be highlighting women from various fields of interests. (Of course there'll be a heavy emphasis on librianship!).

Today, I introduce you to a young lady who's taking on some new editorial reins.

The Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA), will launch the Journal of Research on Libraries and Young Adults in fall 2010. The association named Jessica Moyer, a doctoral candidate at the University of Minnesota, as the journal’s editor.

The Journal of Research on Libraries and Young Adults will be an online research journal, disseminating research of interest to librarians, library workers and academics who focus on library service to young adults, ages 12 through 18. It will serve as the official research publication of the association,publishing annotated lists of recent research from YALSA’s Research Committee, Henne Award–winning research and papers from YALSA’s biennial Young Adult Literature Symposium. For more information on the journal, visit http://tinyurl.com/yalsaresearchjournal. Submission guidelines will be posted in spring 2010.

“I'm really excited about the chance to work with YALSA and promote research on teens and library services,” said Moyer. “As a proponent of digital literacy I'm especially pleased to see YALSA creating an online-only journal. I see so many exciting possibilities for this format.”

Moyer is an experienced YALSA member who has served on the division’s publications committee and presented at multiple conferences. She is the author of “Research-Based Readers’ Advisory” (ALA Editions, 2008) and co-editor of “The Readers’ Advisory Handbook” (ALA Editions 2010). She also served on the editorial boards of Reference & User Services Quarterly, Reference Books Bulletin and Evidence Based Library and Information Practice. Her dissertation focuses on teen reading in print, e-book and audiobook formats.

Women's History Month!

2010-03-01T06:32:00.000-08:00

In celebration of National Woman’s History Month, Palm Harbor Library will once again be holding its annual public recognition of women who have made significant contributions to improve the quality of life in the Palm Harbor community.
This is the seventh year where we have an opportunity to thank four women for their efforts in making the Palm Harbor a better place to live and grow. They need not be from Palm Harbor. It is their achievements that are important.

Women who were previously recognized include the following: Janice Banther, Chamber of Commerce President/CEO Connie Davis, Citizen of the Year Winona Jones, Palm Harbor Library founder Jeannette Malouf, Assistant Library Director Lois Eannel, Commissioner Susan Latvala, community leader Irene Rausch, Middle School teacher Susan Terry, library Foundation President Irene Finger, Jessica Collier, former Chairman of the Chamber of Commerce Sharon Lamm, Kristy Patterson, Deputy Sheriff Kris Gilmore, Pegoty Lopez, Dana Brandon, community activist Sharon Pikulinski, former Downtown Palm Harbor Main Street President Leslie Klein, Susan Senger, Palm Harbor Rotary President Mona Johnson, former County Commissioner Sallie Parks and community activist Dawn LaCross. Wow!

We have now selected our new honorees and their photographs and brief biographies are on display at the library throughout the month of March. The celebration will be held on Monday evening, March 29 at 6 PM.

Let’s recognize and applaud these women who have made Palm Harbor a place you can really call “home”.

Book Review

2010-02-26T09:45:00.000-08:00

As my last blog for "Black History Month", I like to give you my take on the 2004 Pulitzer Prize winning novel, "The Known World" by Edward P. Jones.

This historical novel takes place in antebellum Virginia, just a few short years before the Civil War. Although it addresses the well known issues of the day it also focuses in on the one issue many of us may know little about. It speaks to that small group of free African-Americans who owned slaves.

The main character, Henry Townsend is a black plantation and slave owner. His free parents who bought him his freedom never owned slaves themselves and made their living by woodmaking. Henry on the other hand, who was raised during several of his teen years by his former master William Robbins, sees the benefit of owning slaves because how this "property" would bring him prestige in Manchester County. The novel is populated with what seems like a cast of thousands but each individual is intricately entwined with one another fullfilling a vision Jones is trying to explore.

This novel is not for everyone. It uses several literary techniques that is certainly not mainsteam reading and there are those who would even argue that Jones' way of writing is stilted, awkward and uneven. Yet he won the Pulitzer. Why?

There is depth to this novel regarding race relations and some chracterizations that are fully realized. It may not flow (some would say it's not even a novel but a bunch if vignettes) but there are some passages that are truly deserving of your time.

Next month, my blogs will center on Women's History Month!

New Book on African-American Children's Author Virginia Hamilton

2010-02-25T06:25:00.000-08:00

The legacy of Virginia Hamilton, described as “America’s most honored writer of children’s literature,” continues through the efforts of her husband, poet and anthologist Arnold Adoff, who spoke exclusively with American Libraries during February’s observance of Black History Month.

Hamilton, who died February 19, 2002, wrote more than 40 award-winning books. Through those books, her scores of speeches worldwide, and in essays for prominent magazines and journals, Hamilton helped to bridge cultures and generations. Hamilton was the first African American to win the American Library Association’s Association of Library Service to Children’s John Newbery Medal, the first children’s author to win a MacArthur Foundation Genius Award, and one of only a handful of Americans to win the international Hans Christian Andersen Medal.

A new book, Virginia Hamilton: Speeches, Essays, and Conversations (Blue Sky Press/Scholastic, February 2009), co-edited by Adoff and Kacy Cook, gives us Hamilton’s voice throughout her career—from her first nationally published essay in 1971 to her final speech at a children’s book festival in 2001. Adoff discussed the book, the creation of the new ALA Coretta Scott King–Virginia Hamilton Award for LifetimeAchievement, and his life with Virginia Hamilton with >AL Associate Editor Pamela A. Goodes.

What will readers experience as they delve into the new publication? They’ll see a side of Virginia Hamilton that they’ve never seen before from her collections of folk tales, her novels, or picture books. There are 33 pieces in the book out of a total of probably more than 150. From the beginnings and the early ’70s until suddenly before her death, you have Virginia in all of her various intellectual and literary emphases. Virginia thought of herself as an African‑American woman, an African‑American novelist, an American woman and novelist, and a mother as well as a biographer of [Paul] Robeson and [W. E. B.] Du Bois. There isn’t a subject—from race to gender to raising children to having a nutty poet for a husband—that she never sought to deal with in one way or another.

She received the McArthur Genius Fellowship and she really was a true genius. I knew that when I first met her in 1958 when nobody was using that word; we were all trying to break in. But she had such attention to thought and detail. It’s a side that hasn’t been presented before even if you were lucky enough to see her Newbery acceptance speech or something like that.

Can you tell us what you consider to be the most interesting, relatively unknown piece about her that’s in this book? The piece that is the most fun is one that we worked on together that’s a conversation. The two of us would occasionally go out and present. And there was a real juggling act, a real balance between husband/wife, African American/Jewish American, novelist and poet, and even New Yorker and Midwesterner. We’d go out and we would highlight the differences between poetry and prose and the differences between the way we viewed raising kids and the way we viewed the work assets that we did—or in my case didn’t—have.

America still isn’t working. I’m not a believer in the easy labeling of the post‑Obama presidency as a post-racial era. America has a long, long way to go. And America still has what William Faulkner called the “sin of slavery.” And race isn’t taken as seriously as it should be. People forget that regardless of your cultural or racial background, you have other aspects of your relationship.

We never collaborated on a book, for example, because we couldn’t agree on how to cook chicken or how to make string beans. And that had as much to do with our cultural background as it did with our skin color. So that’s a fun one.

Is this a book that should be on the shelves of every library, whether it’s public school, academic, or special? Absolutely. It gives you a window into an intellect and it gives you a window into the soul of a major literary figure of the 20th century. It opens up African‑American literature to all professionals—librarians, teachers, and graduate students. And it opens up African‑American literature to students as well. But it also opens up youth literature far beyond children’s literature.

We need more and more specifics of African‑American thought and literary emphases and yearnings for all of the many places in America where we have purposefully, or not so purposefully, re-segregated American schools, libraries, and communities as well as places where young people of color are in large majority.

For example, she used terms that you don’t find on a daily newscast. We tried to eliminate the term “minorities” because we found it very pejorative. Virginia created a term called “parallel cultures,” where people of a variety of cultures live in parallel and that means equal. She coined the phrase “liberation literature” and she talked far more than liberating politically.

In the 1970s when she wrote M. C. Higgins, the Great, she had the giant flag heap of coming down from Sarah’s mountain based on the kind of strip mining that was being done then and teaching today. She wrote books of survival. For young people and adults looking to make sense of the world, books like this, which deal with the various aspects of how we survived in this world, are few and far between.

In light of the newly revised website that you’ve worked on, why is it so important to keep Virginia’s legacy alive to writers, particularly those who happen to be African American? I could be cynical and say all peoples of all kinds keep reinventing the wheel. And I could be less cynical and more sincere in saying that you can’t build a house unless you lay those foundation blocks down. Virginia looked to Richard Wright, Gertrude Stein, Du Bois, and Robeson for her foundation stones. New generations of African‑American writers and parents need to look to a major foundation stone for their young people. That’s why we’ve gone through a great deal of effort to upgrade the website and we will continue. I have also pledged that all of the 120 other pieces will eventually find their way onto the website. Her Newbery Medal acceptance speech for M. C. Higgins, the Great is on the website for free in its entirety just so people can get a sense of how she used language and what some of her thinking was.

Are there specific roles that you believe libraries can play in helping to keep Virginia’s legacy alive? When we first started to publish—Virginia in ’67 and I did an anthology of what we called negro poetry in those days with I Am the Darker Brother in 1968—it was librarians who took us into their hearts and who opened the rest of America up to them; first, to our work, and, secondly, to who we were. If librarians love you, they will love you first and longest, because they see your works first and they know what they can do. They know the power that they have if they can only struggle to keep their doors open and their libraries staffed. They are the repositories of a nation’s greatness and what a nation needs to become great.

Many of my collections of poetry are out of print or “temporarily” out of stock. That’s the way it is with a great deal of children’s literature, adult literature, and particularly poetry. I always tell people sure we can go on eBay and try and buy a copy at some high price but the book will be found in fine libraries everywhere. There’s no question. We are allies. It was the most wonderful thing when I had a letter from the Library of Congress asking us to deposit Virginia’s manuscripts at the Library of Congress, which we happily have done.

How will those materials that you’ve donated to the Library of Congress aid scholars and researchers? There are rough drafts, notes, and revisions. Literary scholars will be able to see, for example, a proof of the anecdote that’s really true when Virginia’s editor said to her after she saw the M. C. Higgins, the Great manuscript: “Well inevitably we can publish it just the way it is, but if you can go back and work on it, you can really make it a superb book.” Six months later, Virginia had nine different versions, particularly of the first opening chapters. She called me into her room and said, “Oh what’s for dinner Arnold? I’m working here. Listen to this. This is version number seven of the opening of M. C. Higgins.

That’s the kind of thing that literary scholars, teachers, and academics have always loved to find. There’s also a progression of thought. They’ll see a young person from a small town in Ohio make her way to the big city and take on major world issues in her fiction and rediscover a great deal of folklore from a variety of places.

Tell us about the upcoming April opening of the Virginia Hamilton and Arnold Adoff Resource Center at Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio. What will it include and why Wright State? That’s a wonderful thing. Wright State University is seven or eight miles down the road. What I’ve done is to look around the house and say “Well, what will you do with these hundreds of books, particularly African‑American literature and nonfiction various periodicals?” We worked to expand that resource center, which has now expanded itself beyond African- American literature to include women’s studies and Native peoples. People will be able to come in and use some of the materials that we used over 30 years. There will also be programs. Our son, Jamie Adoff, who lives on the other side of town, also writes for young adults. He and I will be doing programs. There will be poetry readings and guest lectures. And young people will be able to come in and sit down and do some research on the computer terminals.

With the financial squeeze on libraries, public libraries, and academic libraries particularly, this expanded resource center will be open to young people as well as institutions of higher education in the whole Miami Valley. Students who go to Sinclair College in Dayton, Ohio, for a two‑year degree; students who go where my son graduated from, Central State University in Wilberforce, a historically African‑American college; and students who go to Wittenberg University in Springfield—the whole Great Lakes region—will be provided a resource far beyond the geographic center.

Talk to us about the inaugural Coretta Scott King–Virginia Hamilton Award for Lifetime Achievement announced during ALA’s Midwinter Meeting in Boston. It took years to create and it’s wonderful. Walter Dean Myers, an old dear friend and an extraordinary novelist in his own right for over 40 years, is the first recipient. The committee called me at 7 that morning, 7:30, as they love to do. That’s one of the fun things. We’ll all be there, I think its June 29th on a Tuesday morning in Washington, D.C., to see him get that award as the first recipient.

What’s real different about it is every other year it’s a writer or illustrator and in the intermittent years, the award will be given to a professional in the field. It might be a librarian. It might be a professor. It might be a publisher. Somebody who’s worked hard to encourage, foster, and present African‑American literature to young people around the country.

This article has been taken from American Libraries magazine.

And More African-American Titles

2010-02-11T06:52:00.000-08:00

Another new release that has garnered praise is Rawn James Jr.'s Root and Branch: Charles Hamilton Houston, Thurgood Marshall and the Struggle to End Segregation.

This title examines the celebrated 1954 Brown v. Board of Education case by profiling the lives of its two principle architects. Charles Hamilton Houston , the first black man on the Harvard Law Review was a brilliant lawyer and teacher, and Thurgood Marshall was one of his students at Howard University. This pair opened the NCAAP's legal office and spent years devising the legal campaign against educational disparity that culminated in the Brown case. Hamilton died before the case was fully developed but Marshall would victoriously argue it and ultimately end up on the Supreme Court himself after breaking the back of the "separate but equal" philosophy of education.

Bulk of this review was taken from Bookpage Magazine.

More New Titles of African-American Life

2010-02-09T07:50:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I talked about the new Nina Simone biography and today I would like to offer you some other new titles in celebration of Black History Month.

reviews by Bookpage Magazine

The Shadows of Youth: The Remarkable Journey of the Civil Rights Generation by Wesleyan University professor Andrew Lewis spotlights the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, established in 1960, whose members were younger and more radical than theuir counterparts in the NAACP and other black organizations. The book shows that the SNCC had a large, nmostly positive impact on the Civil Rights movement, and that its major goals wren't nearly as radical as many claimed.

University of Maryland professor Ira Berlin's The Making of African America: The Four Great Migrations studies four centuries of black relocation to and within America. Berlin presents what he deems an updated approach to African-American culture, one that doesn't just cover progress from slavery to civil rights, but also incorporates the struggles of more recent black immigrants to the U.S. This title contains its share of controversial views about black culture, but it is thoroughly reserached and well-documented.

More tomorrow.

New Bio of Nina Simone

2010-02-08T06:18:00.000-08:00

Continuing my spotlight on "Black History Month", a new biography of jazz siner Nina Simone has just been released and is reviewed below by Booklist Magazine.

"My baby just cares for, my baby just cares for me..."

Princess Noire: The Tumultuous Reign of Nina Simone.

Cohodas, Nadine (author).

Born in 1933, Eunice Waymon was a musical prodigy, amazing North Carolina churchgoers with her piano playing beginning at age four. Serious, proud, and hardworking, she dreamed of becoming a classical pianist and only began performing her unique blend of classical, gospel, jazz, and pop when she took a nightclub gig to earn money for graduate school. Eunice’s spontaneous invention of her alter ego, Nina Simone, is evidence of her formidable capacity for improvisation, the lifeblood of her world-altering music and the skill that helped her survive the bloody turmoil of the civil-rights era. Cohodas infuses every scene with electrifying detail and penetrating insights into Simone’s struggles as an African American musician of phenomenal talent and exalted ambition. Cohodas provides gripping descriptions of Simone’s indelible music along with profoundly moving accounts of her commanding, increasingly militant, and eventually downright bizarre stage presence. From her regal demeanor to her friendships with James Baldwin and Lorraine Hansberry, courageous activism, and the tragedies that pushed Simone into mental illness, Cohodas chronicles every turn with precision and empathy. The result is a wrenching story of how racism can undermine even the most ascendant life, and a dramatic portrait of an uncompromising, audacious, and beleaguered musical genius of conscience.

Top 10 Black History Nonfiction for 2010

2010-02-05T07:52:00.000-08:00

Now besides the award winners, there were some other great African-American reads especially in the area of non-fiction. Listed below are the top 10 as selected by Booklist Magazine.

The Dandy Dons: Bill Russell, K. C. Jones, Phil Woolpert, and One of College Basketball’s Greatest and Most Innovative Teams. By James W. Johnson. 2009. Univ. of Nebraska, paper, $19.95 (9780803218772). Powered by Bill Russell and K. C. Jones, the 1955–56 NCAA champion University of San Francisco Dons compiled a 60-game winning streak, in the process altering basketball forever.

Family Properties: Race, Real Estate, and the Exploitation of Black Urban America. By Beryl Satter. 2009. Holt/Metropolitan, $28 (9780805076769). Satter’s inspection of her father’s career helping black Chicagoans keep homes purchased under exploitative contracts is a personal as well as historical study of the national disgrace of housing segregation.

Little Richard: The Birth of Rock ’n’ Roll. By David Kirby. 2009. Continuum, $19.95 (9780826429650).
When Kirby hears America singing, it sounds like Little Richard. Ride along on his high-octane travelogue-cum-meditation on the Georgia Peach, and you’ll second the perception.

“A Long Time Coming”: The Inspiring, Combative 2008 Campaign and the Historic Election of Barack Obama. By Evan Thomas and the staff of Newsweek. 2009. PublicAffairs, hardcover, $22.95 (9781586486075). Real-life stories get no more compelling than this crisply anecdotal chronicle of the campaign and election of the first African American U.S. president.

Mongrel Nation: The America Begotten by Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings. By Clarence E. Walker. 2009. Univ. of Virginia, $22.95 (9780813927770); paper, $13.95 (9780813927787). Walker views the complexities of American race relations through the prism of the contradictions between Jefferson’s writings on race and his 38-year relationship with his slave Sally Hemings.

Post Black: How a New Generation Is Redefining African American Identity. By Ytasha L. Womack. 2010. Lawrence Hill, paper, $16.95 (9781556528057). One-size-fits-all definition of black identity is crumbling, Womack says, as burgeoning disparate constituencies (young professionals, immigrants, bi- and multiracials, etc.) impact black America.

Stormy Weather: The Life of Lena Horne. By James Gavin. 2009. Atria, $27 (9780743271431).
Maintaining a classy image through decades of pop-music and racial-climate changes and despite personal insecurities, singer Horne is a mesmerizing icon in Gavin’s pages.

Sweet Thunder: The Life and Times of Sugar Ray Robinson. By Wil Haygood. 2009. Knopf, $27.95 (9781400044979). Haygood compares the achievements of the all-time great boxer with those of three similarly innovative contemporaries of his: poet Langston Hughes, singer Lena Horne, and jazzman Miles Davis.

Thelonious Monk: The Life and Times of an American Original. By Robin D. G. Kelley. 2009. Free Press, $30 (9780684831909). The first full biography of the pianist-composer who cocreated bebop is a landmark of jazz literature that dispels a cloud of myths as it brings Monk alive for his generations of fans.

Up from History: The Life of Booker T. Washington. By Robert J. Norrell. 2009. Harvard/Belknap, $35 (9780674032118). In a more nuanced assessment of the post-Reconstruction leader long disparaged for racial accommodation, Norrell argues that Washington’s strategy was that of the fox rather than the lion.

Coretta Scott King Award

2010-02-04T08:21:00.000-08:00

This is my second blog about an African-American award in literature, the prestigious Coretta Scott King Award. This award has grown since its inception in the late 1960s. At its humble inception at the May 1970 dinner gala of the New Jersey Library Association, Lillie Patterson was honored for her biography, Martin Luther King, Jr. Man of Peace. In 1982 the American Library Association recognized the Coretta Scott King Award as an association award. For a more complete history consult two works: The Coretta Scott King Awards Book, From Vision to Reality Edited by Henrietta Smith, American Library Association, 1994 and The Coretta Scott King Awards Book, 1970-1999, Edited by Henrietta M. Smith, American Library Association, 1999.

Here are the 2010 winners:

“Bad News for Outlaws: The Remarkable Life of Bass Reeves, Deputy U.S. Marshal,” written by Vaunda Micheaux Nelson, is the King Author Book winner. The book is illustrated by R. Gregory Christie, published by Carolrhoda Books, a division of Lerner Publishing Group, Inc.

Illustrator Award Winner: “My People,” illustrated by Charles R. Smith Jr., is the King Illustrator Book winner. The book was written by Langston Hughes and published by ginee seo books, Atheneum Books for Young Readers.

Author Honor Book: “Mare’s War” by tanita s. davis and published by Alfred A. Knopf, an imprint of Random House Children’s Books, a division of Random House, Inc.

Illustrator Honor Books: “The Negro Speaks of Rivers,” illustrated by E. B. Lewis, written by Langston Hughes and published by Disney - Jump at the Sun Books, an imprint of Disney Book Group.

John Steptoe New Talent Author Award: “The Rock and the River,” written by kekla magoon, is the Steptoe winner. The book is published by Aladdin, an imprint of Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing Division.

Coretta Scott King – Virginia Hamilton Award for Lifetime Achievement: Walter Dean Myers is the winner of this first-ever Coretta Scott King – Virginia Hamilton Award for Lifetime Achievement. The award pays tribute to the quality and magnitude of beloved children’s author Virginia Hamilton. Myers’ books include: “Amiri & Odette: A Love Story,” published by Scholastic Press, an imprint of Scholastic; “Fallen Angels,” published by Scholastic Press; “Monster,” published by Amistad and HarperTeen, imprints of HarperCollins Publishers; and “Sunrise Over Fallujah,” published by Scholastic Press.

2010 Zora Neale Hurston Award

2010-02-03T06:22:00.000-08:00

This is the season for award giving. You've got your Oscars, Grammmys and Razzies and literature is no exception. In our continuation of celebrating Black History Month, today and tommorow I'll spotlight two awards given to African-Americans for their contribution to African-American literature.

Anthony Loum of the Brooklyn Public Library has been selected as the 2010 winner of the Zora Neale Hurston Award.

Mr. Loum was selected for his work in planning and ensuring the quality of programs delivered by the Brooklyn Public Library in the 2009 Big Read for which Zora Neale Hurston’s “Their Eyes Were Watching God” was the chosen book. Mr. Loum coordinated with key partners for the use of performance spaces, performers and the materials used and donated for the book discussions, screenings and craft workshops. These programs, which were innovative and targeted a variety of age groups, took place at locations across the city. The programs and events introduced Hurston to a new audience of readers and provided professional development workshops to support the continued reading of Hurston’s works in city schools.

The Zora Neale Hurston Award, which is administered by the Collection Development and Evaluation Section (CODES) of the Reference and User Services Association (RUSA), recognizes a RUSA member’s significant efforts to promote African American writers and African American literature in their libraries. Through the generous sponsorship of HarperCollins, the award enables the winner to further their professional development so that they can continue to build multicultural collections and serve diverse populations.

Mr. Loum was selected by the 2010 Zora Neale Hurston Award Committee, which includes Chairperson Bergis Jules, Deborah Costa, Charlene Rue, Lucy Lockley and John Lawrence.

The Reference and User Services Association, a division of the American Library Association, represents librarians and library staff in the fields of reference, specialized reference, collection development, readers advisory and resource sharing. RUSA is the foremost organization of reference and information professionals who make the connections between people and the information sources, services, and collection materials they need.

"The Underground Railroad"

2010-02-02T06:55:00.000-08:00

Here's another program at the library to celebrate Black History Month.....

Join local author, adventurer, teacher and explorer Rick Rhodes on Friday, February 12, at 2:00 p.m. as he walks you through the history of the Underground Railroad. He has researched the journey of African-Americans from the shackles and chains of slavery in the Old South to a new land of freedom and eventual liberation. Admission is free and both kids and adults are welcome!

Captain Rhodes has more than just a few stories to tell, and his passion to share American History with audiences is infectious! His programs focus on some of the lesser-known historical facts and are enhanced by a multi-media slide show. Rhodes, whom some people call a “History Detective,” has researched and written eight guidebooks. Wherever he’s been, he has engrossed himself in local history, and he has a passion to share this with readers.

Library Kicks-Off Black History Month

2010-02-01T06:29:00.000-08:00

Today, the first of February kicks-off Black History Month and your Palm Harbor Library will be celebrating it through various in-house programs. As we go along I'll let you know about each of them as well as highlighting recent African-American literary award winners, events and book reviews such as the Pulitzer Prize winning novel "The Known World".

We start off the month by asking you to join Palm Harbor Library on Friday, February 5, at 2:00 p.m. for a vocal performance by local singer Angela Filer-Johnson. Enjoy beautiful renditions of everything from gospel music to the blues to Broadway tunes. Admission is free.

Call 727-784-3332, Ext. 3006, for further information. The library is located at 2330 Nebraska Avenue.

Learn Feng Shui from the Expert

2010-01-29T05:43:00.000-08:00

Want to learn more about Feng Shui, the ancient Chinese art of placement that explains how our surroundings impact our lives? Join the Palm Harbor Library for a free discussion on Saturday, February 6, at 11:00 a.m. Diane Gallin is back! (Her first lecture, held last October, was very popular.) Gallin will explain how landscape features, design details, floor plans and furnishings in a home or office influence the people who live or work there, and what they can do to make improvements.
Gallin is a Certified Feng Shui Consultant and founder of Wind and Water Feng Shui Consulting. The discussion will be followed by a question-and-answer period. For more information, visit her website at www.windandwaterfengshui.com or contact the library at 727-784-3332, Ext. 3007.

Libraries Contunue to Pitch in for Haiti

2010-01-28T06:16:00.000-08:00

Library workers and educators are keeping their sleeves rolled up as they continue contributing to the international effort to provide moral and monetary aid to earthquake-stricken Haiti.
•Boston Public Library’s Mattapan branch, which now houses the city’s resource center for area families seeking contact with Haitian loved ones and ways to help them. Operated by the Mayor’s Office of New Bostonians, the center provides translators, crisis counselors, computers, and international phone lines.

•The Resource Shelf blog, which has compiled a list of resources about the Haiti crisis, including information about the a partnership through February 19 between the National Library of Medicine and the Association of American Publishers to offer free full-text articles from over 200 biomedical journals and over 30 select reference books for libraries and hospitals affected by the earthquake.

•The American Library Association, which has created an information page that includes instructions on how to contribute to the Association’s Haiti Library Relief Fund.

•Volusia County (Fla.) Public Library’s Deltona Regional Library, which has donated use of its new ampitheater for a January 30 concert organized by the Deltona Arts and Historical Society. All donations are designated for the Red Cross.

•Garwood (N.J.) Free Public Library and the Central Arkansas Library System in Little Rock, which are giving overdue fines to Haiti relief efforts. Garwood PL has designated UNICEF as the recipient of fines collected through January 30; CALS is donating fines received until February 7 to the Clinton Bush Haiti Fund.

•Library staff members of Indiana State University, who are holding a silent auction January 28 and donating the proceeds of winning bids and monetary donations to Mountain Top Ministries in Gramothe, Haiti.

At least one heartfelt effort was organized much closer to home: A library in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic—some 90 miles from the devastated Haiti capital of Port-au-Prince—began collecting clothes and toys donated by area residents just after the earthquake hit. “The Dominican Republic is so poor, yet [the people] donated stuff for the Haitian people,” said Williamsport, Pennsylvania, volunteer George Way in the January 21 Williamsport Sun-Gazette. Way, who had traveled to the Dominican Republic with six other Pennsylvanians, was an eyewitness to the generosity.

Do what you can do, give what you can.

Thank you.

"Rabbit Hole" to be Performed @ Your Library

2010-01-27T06:32:00.000-08:00

The Showcase Repertory Theater will perform Rabbit Hole by David Lindsay-Abaire, at 7:00 p.m. on Thursday, January 28, and 2:00 p.m. on Saturday, January 30, at the Palm Harbor Library.

In this 2007 Pulitzer Prize Winner, the life of a happy couple is turned upside down when their young son dies in an accident. It is a story of loss, heartbreak and forgiveness told through daily moments and emotional hurdles.

No reservations are required, and a suggested $10 donation will be taken at the door. The library is located at 2330 Nebraska Avenue. For further information, call 727-784-3332, Ext. 3006.

Public Art Commission for Palm Harbor Library

2010-01-26T06:31:00.000-08:00

As you are fully aware by now, your public library has been completely renovated. Hooray! There are several new features, expanded services and just an overall brighter environment. The one item though that I have not spoken about is our new outside sculpture.

Approximately two to three years ago, the library approached Pinellas County Cultural Affairs to determine the feasibility of obtaining public art. After a formal presentation and much follow-up discussion, the library was approved with a $50,000 grant to secure a piece of public art work. Shortly afterwards a “Call to Artists” was issued. Eventually 105 applications were received.

After a lengthy review by the Public Art Selection Panel, Michael Cain from New Orleans, Louisiana was selected. He has created a series of totem and relief sculptures in front of the library. Titled "Beyond the Blue”, this artwork is based on the artist’s vision of the library as being a place of knowledge and community story telling.

The artist himself tells his story through colorful symbols and images, including the sea, people, birds, books, maritime flags, and lotus flowers. His story depicts “a quest for knowledge”. The main elements of this installation include three totem-pole-like structures. Each totem conveys its own meaning: totem #1 represents the seeds of knowledge, totem #2 (center) pays homage to the essence of community connection, and totem #3 (including the images on the wall behind the totems) refers to the power of the sea to serve as a symbolic repository of knowledge.

In front of the three totems is an open book (metal) that is mounted to a reading stand. The open page reads “Knowledge is the seed of our own creativity, the foundation that strengthens our community and the landmark that guides our course of action”. Michael Cain believes that this is one of the most important aspects of the sculpture. “When we pick up a book and invest the time in reading it, in a way, the book becomes part of us. There is a continual interplay between people and the written word. The reader gets inspired and then becomes the writer, who, in turn, inspires the next reader, and so on. We all place ourselves in context within the stories that we can relate to.”

This artwork can be enjoyed both day and night, as it is illuminated by colorful strips of energy-saving LED lights.

The Public Art Selection Panel which helped guide this project was chaired by architect Steve Klar and included: Susan Gehring, Artist; John Toppe, Architect; Lynn Whitelaw, Director, Leepa-Rattner Museum; Lynn Neff, Artist and Public Art and Design Committee Member; Irene Finger, Community Representative; Nedima Ablakovic, County Public Works and myself.

If you would like to learn more about Pinellas County’s Public Art Program, please contact Pinellas County Cultural Affairs at (727) 453-7860, or visit www.pinellasarts.org. For information about Palm Harbor Library please visit our updated website at www.palmharborlibrary.org.

Vaunda Micheaux and Charles R. Smith win 2010 Coretta Scott King Awards

2010-01-25T06:05:00.000-08:00

With Black History Month coming up in February, the winners of the annual Coretta Scott King Awards were announced. The winners are Vaunda Micheaux Nelson, author of “Bad News for Outlaws: The Remarkable Life of Bass Reeves, Deputy U.S. Marshal” and Charles R. Smith Jr., illustrator of “My People”. These awards honor African American authors and illustrators of outstanding books for children and young adults. Kekla Magoon, author of “The Rock and the River” is the Coretta Scott King/John Steptoe New Talent Author Award winner. The awards were announced at the American Library Association (ALA) Midwinter Meeting in Boston, and will be presented in Washington, D.C. at the ALA Annual Conference in June.
The Coretta Scott King Book Awards are presented annually by the Coretta Scott King Book Awards Committee of the ALA’s Ethnic and Multicultural Information Exchange Round Table (EMIERT) to encourage the artistic expression of the African American experience via literature and the graphic arts.

“Bad News for Outlaws: The Remarkable Life of Bass Reeves, Deputy U.S. Marshal” published by Carolrhoda Books, a division of Lerner Publishing Group, Inc. is a biography of a legendary peace officer. Born into slavery in 1838, Bass had a hard life and a strong sense of right and wrong. Bass was one of the most feared and respected lawman in Indian Territory. During his career, he made more than 3,000 arrests but killed only fourteen men.

Vaunda Micheaux Nelson is the author of numerous fiction and nonfiction books for children. In addition to writing books, she has also been a teacher, newspaper reporter, bookseller and children’s librarian.

“The winning title for text was selected because it is engaging, meticulously researched, and offers a riveting account of an unsung African American hero,” said Carole McCollough, Award Jury Chair.

In “My People” written by Langston Hughes and published by ginee seo books, Atheneum Books for Young Readers, Smith’s vibrant sepia photographs celebrate the beauty and diversity of African Americans. The close-ups of illuminated faces filled with jubilant, loving expressions emerge from black backgrounds and capture the spirit of Langston Hughes’ eloquent poem.

“Charles R. Smith Jr. has carefully photographed and selected images that depict African Americans of all ages and hues,” said McCollough.

Charles R. Smith Jr. is a poet and 2008 Coretta Scott King Author Honor Award winner of “Twelve Rounds to Glory: The Story of Muhammad Ali.” Smith grew up in California and attended the Brooks Institute of Photography.

Occasionally awarded, the Coretta Scott King/John Steptoe New Talent Award affirms new talent and offers visibility to excellence in writing and/or illustrations at the beginning of a career as a published children’s book creator. This year’s winner is kekla magoon for “The Rock and the River,” published by Aladdin, an imprint of Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing Division. In 1968 Chicago, Sam Childs is living in the shadows of two important people – his father, a civil rights activist working with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and his older brother “Stick” who has joined the Black Panther Party. These different approaches to achieving racial equality place Sam between the rock and the river.

One King Author Honor Book was selected: “Mare’s War” by tanita s. davis, published by Alfred A. Knopf, an imprint of Random House Children’s Books, a division of Random House, Inc.

One Illustrator Honor Book was selected: “The Negro Speaks of Rivers” by Langston Hughes, illustrated by E. B. Lewis, published by Disney - Jump at the Sun Books, an imprint of Disney Book Group.

Members of the 2010 Coretta Scott King Book Awards Jury are: Carole McCollough, Retired faculty, WSU/LIS; Eunice Anderson, Enoch Pratt Free Library, Baltimore; Alan R. Bailey, East Carolina University, Greenville, N.C.; Brenda Hunter, Atlanta Fulton Public Library, Retired; Jonda C. McNair, Clemson University, Clemson, S.C.; Martha Ruff, Prince George’s County Public Library, Oxon Hill, Md.; and Robin Smith, Ensworth School, Nashville, Tenn.

The American Library Association is the oldest and largest library association in the world with over 65,000 members. Its mission is to provide leadership for the development, promotion, and improvement of library and information services and the profession of librarianship in order to enhance learning and ensure access to information for all.

For information on the Coretta Scott King Book Awards and other ALA Youth Media Awards, please visit www.ala.org/yma.

Information courtesy of the American Library Assosication.

"Going Bovine" Wins 2010 Printz Award

2010-01-22T05:47:00.000-08:00

Going Bovine,” written by Libba Bray and published by Delacorte Press, an imprint of Random House Children’s Books, a division of Random House, has won the 2010 Michael L. Printz Award for Excellence in Young Adult Literature. The Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA) today announced the winner during the ALA Midwinter Meeting, held Jan. 15 – 19 in Boston.
This year marks the 10th anniversary of the Michael L. Printz Award. The award, first given in 2000, is named for the late Michael L. Printz, a Topeka, Kans., school librarian known for discovering and promoting quality books for young adults. The award is administered annually by YALSA and is sponsored by Booklist magazine.

In “Going Bovine,” Cameron, a sixteen-year-old slacker, sets off on a madcap road trip along with a punk angel, a dwarf sidekick, a yard gnome and a mad scientist to save the world and perhaps his own life.

Libba Bray is the author of the Gemma Doyle trilogy. She lives in New York City.

“Wow. Backwards and forwards, this wildly imaginative modern day take on Don Quixote is complex, hilarious, and stunning,” said Printz Award Committee Chair Cheryl Karp Ward. “The hero’s journey will never be the same after ‘Going Bovine.’”

The committee also named four Printz Honor Books: “Charles and Emma: The Darwins’ Leap of Faith” by Deborah Heiligman, published by Henry Holt Books for Young Readers, an imprint of Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group.

Once Charles Darwin sets his rational mind to marry the religious Emma Wedgeworth, they both must take a leap of faith in order to build a life together.

“The Monstrumologist,” by Rick Yancey, published by Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, an imprint of Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing.

Will Henry, orphan and assistant to a monstrumologist, races against time to save his town (and himself) from the anthropophagi, a pod of monstrous creatures who prey on humans.

“Punkzilla,” by Adam Rapp, published by Candlewick Press.

Fourteen-year-old runaway Jamie, homeless and strung out, embarks on a harrowing journey to reach his dying brother.

“Tales of the Madman Underground: An Historical Romance, 1973,” by John Barnes, published by Viking Children’s Books, a division of Penguin Young Reader’s Group.

Karl Shoemaker wants to begin his senior year with a new identity separate from his counseling group, his alcoholic mother and the legacy of his dead father.

Members of the 2010 Printz Award Committee are: Chair Cheryl Karp Ward, Broad Brook Conn.; Priscille Dando, Robert E. Lee High School, Fairfax County Public Schools, Va.; Sally Leahey, McArthur Public Library, Biddeford, Maine; Angela Leeper, University of Richmond, Va.; Teri Lesesne, Sam Houston State University, Huntsville, Texas; H. Jack Martin, New York Public Library; Connie Mitchell, Indianapolis; Ann Theis, Chesterfield (Va.) County Library; Snow Wildsmith, Mooresville, N.C.; John Sexton, administrative assistant, Westchester Library System, Tarrytown, N.Y.; and Gillian Engberg, Booklist consultant, Chicago.

For more than 50 years, YALSA has been the world leader in selecting books, videos, and audio books for teens. For more information about YALSA or for lists of recommended reading, viewing and listening, go to www.ala.org/yalsa/booklists.

For more information on the Michael L. Printz Award and other ALA Youth Media Awards, please visit www.ala.org/yma.

Information courtesy of the American Library Assosciation.

2010 Newberry & Caldecott Medal Winners!

2010-01-21T07:44:00.000-08:00

Rebecca Stead, author of “When You Reach Me” and Jerry Pinkney, illustrator of “The Lion & the Mouse,” are the 2010 winners of the John Newbery and Randolph Caldecott Medals, the most prestigious awards in children’s literature.

Rebecca Stead and Jerry Pinkney were among the award winners announced Jan. 18 by the Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC), a division of the American Library Association (ALA), during the ALA Midwinter Meeting in Boston, Jan. 15 - 19. The Newbery and Caldecott Medals honor outstanding writing and illustration of works published in the United States during the previous year.

The 2010 Newbery Medal for the most distinguished contribution to children’s literature went to Rebecca Stead for “When You Reach Me,” published by Wendy Lamb Books, an imprint of Random House Children’s Books. Twelve-year-old Miranda encounters shifting friendships, a sudden punch, a strange homeless man and mysterious notes that hint at knowledge of the future. These and other seemingly random events converge in a brilliantly constructed plot.

“’When You Reach Me’ is an exceptionally conceived and finely crafted work of fiction that will engage and satisfy readers for years to come,” said Newbery Committee Chair Katie O'Dell.

Rebecca Stead is a former attorney and lives in Manhattan with her husband and two sons. Stead discovered her love for writing when she re-read all her favorite childhood books to cheer herself up after the tragic demise of her laptop.

The 2010 Caldecott Medal for the most distinguished picture book is awarded to Jerry Pinkney for “The Lion & the Mouse,” published by Little, Brown and Company Books for Young Readers. The screech of an owl, the squeak of a mouse and the roar of a lion transport readers to the Serengeti plains for this virtually wordless retelling of Aesop’s classic fable. In glowing colors, Pinkney’s textured watercolor illustrations masterfully portray the relationship between two very unlikely friends.

“Pinkney’s stunning watercolors add new dimensions to an ancient tale in a book which is sure to become a beloved classic,” said Caldecott Committee Chair Rita Auerbach.

Born in Philadelphia, Pa., where he attended the Philadelphia Museum College of Art, Jerry Pinkney is one of the most honored illustrators of American picture books. He has won five Caldecott Honor Awards and five Coretta Scott King Illustrator Awards. He has also received three Coretta Scott King Honor Awards. Pinkney and his wife, author Gloria Jean Pinkney, live in Croton-on-Hudson, N.Y.

Four Newbery Honor Books were named: “Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice” by Phillip Hoose, published by Melanie Kroupa Books/Farrar Straus Giroux, an imprint of Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group. Hoose reveals the true story of an unsung hero of the Montgomery bus boycott. Hoose’s work stands out for its creative approach to narrative biography. Colvin’s own recollections are merged seamlessly with the narrative voice, providing a uniquely personal view of Colvin and the Civil Rights Movement.

Phillip Hoose is a Yale-trained environmentalist, musician/songwriter and the author of many award-winning books.

“The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate” by Jacqueline Kelly, published by Henry Holt and Company. On the eve of the 20th century, 11-year-old Calpurnia awakens to new possibilities, and through her evolving relationship with her naturalist grandfather, learns to think like a scientist. Kelly’s rich, evocative language captures Callie’s distinctive voice and lively observations of the natural world.

Trained attorney and physician Jacqueline Kelly was born in New Zealand, raised in western Canada and now lives in Fentress and Austin, Texas.

“Where the Mountain Meets the Moon” by Grace Lin, published by Little, Brown and Company Books for Young Readers. A rich tapestry of stories, both original and traditional, transports readers to a fantastic world where Dragon joins Minli on a fortune-changing quest.

Grace Lin found inspiration for this tale while traveling in Hong Kong, China and Taiwan. She resides in Somerville, Mass.

“The Mostly True Adventures of Homer P. Figg” by Rodman Philbrick, published by The Blue Sky Press, an imprint of Scholastic Inc. This rollicking yarn, presented through the voice of 12-year-old Homer, uses humor and pluck to mitigate the horrors of the Civil War.

Genre-defying Rodman Philbrick splits his time between Maine and the Florida Keys, writing for both children and adults.

Two Caldecott Honor Books were named: “All the World,” illustrated by Marla Frazee, written by Liz Garton Scanlon and published by Beach Lane Books; and “Red Sings from Treetops: A Year in Colors,” illustrated by Pamela Zagarenski, written by Joyce Sidman and published by Houghton Mifflin Books for Children, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.

In “All the World,” Frazee’s small vignettes and sweeping double-page spreads invite readers to share a joyful day with a diverse, multigenerational community. Flowing lines and harmonious colors give vibrant life to Scanlon’s poetic text.

Born in Los Angeles, Frazee knew she wanted to be a children’s book creator from the moment she first saw Maurice Sendak's “Where the Wild Things Are.” She studied at the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, Calif., and worked as a freelance illustrator before dedicating her talents to children's book illustration. Frazee received a 2009 Caldecott Honor Award for “A Couple of Boys Have the Best Week Ever” (Harcourt, 2008).

In “Red Sings from Treetops,” Zagarenski’s playful illustrations enliven Sidman’s expressive poetry in this exploration of the seasons and their colors. Computer illustration and mixed-media paintings on wood combine rich textures, intriguing graphic elements, stunning colors and stylized figures to reward attentive readers with a visually exciting interplay of poetry and illustration.

A resident of Stonington, Conn., Zagarenski graduated Magna Cum Laude with a BFA in Graphic Design from the University of Connecticut. Her mixed media artwork has been featured in solo shows and has won best in show at several museums and galleries throughout Connecticut.

Members of the 2010 Newbery Medal Selection Committee are: Chair Katie O'Dell, Multnomah County Library, Portland, Ore.; Joel Bangilan, San Antonio Public Library; Meaghan M. Battle, Berkley, Mich.; Nancy Baumann, Albany County School District, Laramie, Wyo.; Francesca Burgess, Brooklyn (N.Y.) Public Library; Steven Engelfried, Multnomah County Library, Portland, Ore.; Lori Faust, Warren-Trumbull County Public Library, Warren, Ohio; Diane Foote, Chicago; Elva Garza, Southeast Austin (Texas) Community Branch Library; Maria E. Gentle, Arlington (Va.) Public Library; Linnea Hendrickson, Bandelier Elementary School, Albuquerque, N.M.; Holly Jin, Skokie (Ill.) Public Library; Alison O'Reilly, Austin (Texas) Public Library; Maria Salvadore, Washington, D.C.; and Deborah Stevenson, Center for Children's Books, Champaign, Ill.

Members of the 2010 Caldecott Medal Selection Committee are: Chair Rita Auerbach, New York; Zahra M. Baird, Cineaste/Librarian, White Plains, N.Y. ; Christy B. Estrovitz, San Francisco Public Library; Christi Showman Farrar, Woburn (Mass.) Public Library; Suzanne Harold, Multnomah County Library, Portland, Ore.; Merri Lindgren, Cooperative Children's Book Center, University of Wisconsin-Madison; Gene Nelson, Provo (Utah) City Library; Julie Ranelli, Queen Anne's County Free Library, Stevensville, Md.; Julie Roach, Cambridge Public Library, Cambridge, Mass.; Brandy Sanchez, Daniel Boone Regional Library, Columbia, Mo.; John P. Scott, Friends School of Baltimore; Henrietta M. Smith, SLIS-University of South Florida, Tampa, Fla.; Joanna Ward, County of Los Angeles Public Library; Jan S. Watkins, Skokie (Ill.) Public Library; and Lucinda Whitehurst, St. Christopher's School, Richmond, Va.

ALSC is the world’s largest organization dedicated to the support and enhancement of library service to children. With a network of more than 4,200 children’s and youth librarians, literature experts, publishers and educational faculty, ALSC is committed to creating a better future for children through libraries. To learn more about ALSC, visit their Web site at www.ala.org/alsc.

For information on the John Newbery and Randolph Caldecott Medals and other ALA Youth Media Awards, please visit www.ala.org/yma.

This information was provided by the American Library Association.

Third Place Engagements Part II

2010-01-19T13:27:00.000-08:00

Recently I wrote about Third Place Engagements and mentioned two venues at the library. The first was about Socrates Cafe and the second was PHiL's Book Club. Well let's talk a little bit more about the latter now.

PHiL’s Book Club began many, many years ago, all the way back to September 2000; a lot of reading over the years…and a lot of talk.

It almost seems like yesterday but at the very first session it was discussed that the purpose of book clubs is not just to introduce people to various types of reading genres but also to serve as an environment to stimulate ideas, concepts, and feelings about topics raised by the book then by the conversation itself. We have read biographies on such people as pioneering/Nazi sympathizer Charles Lindberg. We tackled fiction in Afghanistan with The Kite Runner. Drama was explored in Tennessee Williams’ “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof”. Memoirs were discussed in South Africa in “Don’t Lets Go to the Dogs Tonight”. In each session there was never a lack of opinions and feelings and over the years that passion hasn’t faded with time. Here’s a peek of what’s coming up the re mainder of this reading year:

Monday Feb. 8th- Known World by Edward P. Jones

Monday March 8th- The Passion of Artemisia by Susan Vreeland

Monday April 12th- The Piano Shop on the Left Bank by Thad Carhart

Monday May 10th- The Hemingses of Monticello by Annette Gordon-Reed

Monday June 14th- Breathing Lessons by Ann Tyler

All book club dates begin at 11 AM and 7 PM and we meet in the library’s new Conference Room. And here's another bonus, free food!

Ah...reading and eating. Two of life's greatest pleasures.

New Art Exhibit

2010-01-14T08:13:00.000-08:00

Palm Harbor Library is now exhibiting the mixed-media paintings of local artist Annette Coast-Anatra in its Art Alcove through the end of February. Coast-Anatra’s work, a unique style she calls “Inspirationalism,” depicts visions and emotions from her life experiences. She uses a plentiful palette of color, light and movement to create depth. The mood set by her paintings lets you use your imagination to its fullest in determining the true meaning of each piece.

The definition of “inspiration” – stimulation of the mind or emotions; a high level of feeling or activity; an agency, such as a person or work of art, that moves intellect or emotions or prompts action or invention – defines her art style and Coast-Anatra herself. “There are so many ideas in my head just waiting to come alive…to live endlessly and remain fresh.” Or, in the words of Placido Anatra, “When you love what you do, that love reaches out and touches the beholder.”

Coast-Anatra has earned numerous awards: Photography (1980), the Ford Automobile Competition (1980), the American Institute of Architects’ Architectural Delineator of the Year (1991), an American Advertising Federation ADDY Award (1998), and an Honorable Mention in the a la cart show at the Gulf Coast Museum of Art (2007). She is a member of the Gulf Coast Artist Alliance and the Professional Association of Visual Artists. A native of Cleveland, Ohio, she is a graduate of the renowned Cleveland Institute of Art. To see more of her artwork, visit www.anatraart.com.

The Art Alcove is open Monday through Saturday during library hours at 2330 Nebraska Avenue. For more information, call 727-784-3332, Ext. 3021, or visit the library’s website (www.palmharborlibrary.org).

Third Place Engagements

2010-01-13T08:28:00.000-08:00

One of the things that I have told my staff over the years is that communication is truly one of the cornerstones of any successful organization. To be fully informed in a timely manner is crucial for proper decision making and ultimately (or so I hope) to be more proactive than reactive to various issues. The same holds true for Joe and Jane Citizen when it comes to topics affecting them locally as well as globally. So where do you go and what do you do to get “informed”? There are the obvious outlets such as newspapers, TV and going online, however there are other options. They may not seem as important but they can be just as satisfying, fulfilling and thought-provoking.

At your Palm Harbor Library, we currently offer two venues where good discussions are held monthly on current and past topics. Places where you can speak your mind and listen to those of others. Neutral sites where one can engage in thorny concerns and where opportunities to express your feelings, and perhaps better understand those of others exist. Today I’ll talk about “Socrates Café”. Tomorrow I’ll speak of PHiL’s Book Club.

Socrates Café is a program in which ordinary people gather to ask questions--and questions about questions. At the beginning of each session the group votes on one topic to be discussed for the duration of the meeting. The questions come from the participants at the end of the previous café. There are few rules and they pertain only to manners. Everyone who wishes to speak gets the opportunity, interruptions are not allowed. It is operated on the premise of civil discourse.

Socrates Cafe enables and inspires each participant, within a group setting, to become a more autonomous and conscientious thinker and doer, a more expert questioner and listener. A paramount aim is to inspire people who are curious, perplexed and filled with an insatiable sense of wonder, so they can dialogue for discovery. Also it strives to enable those who share our deep concern about the state and straits of civility and civic-mindedness to dialogue for democracy.

The first Socrates Café took place in April of 2006. The popularity of the group was so profound that in April of 2007 a second group was added. It meets the first Wednesday of each month at 6 PM and the third Thursday of each month at 1 PM. Some past topics included:

-Can science and religion co-exist?
-What is courage?
-Is the concept of God fundamentally irrational?
-Is being “politically correct” being moral? Is democracy bad?
-The separation of church and state; do you agree or disagree with our founding fathers?
-Is freedom more important than religion?
-What is the difference between an atheist and a person who believes in God, both individuals living morally decent lives?
-Is the understanding of “good” universal?

The library is currently working on other discussion opportunities for 2010 that will engage the community in local matters as well as issues beyond the county line. To be better informed, at least to my way of thinking, is to be more successful.

Library as the Third Place

2010-01-12T09:27:00.000-08:00

A recent buzz in library world is that we are now the “third place”. But I have heard that other institutions see themselves as something similar. As a matter of fact, in a Time article the CEO of Starbucks, Howard Schultz also saw his stores as filling this need. So what is this “third place” and why is it important? This is a two-part question so let me answer the first.
The “third place” is where you go to after your home and workplace. In his influential book The Great, Good Place, Ray Oldenburg argues that “third places” are important for civil society, democracy and civic engagement. “Third places” are “anchors” of community life and facilities and foster broader, more creative interaction. Further, Oldenburg suggests these hallmarks of a true “third place”: free or inexpensive; food and drink, while not essential are important; highly accessible; proximity for many; involve regulars- those who habitually congregate there; welcoming and comfortable; both new friends and old should be found there.

So I got to thinking, isn’t that what public libraries do and have been doing since our doors first opened? Haven’t we been exhibiting these hallmarks (especially the “free” part) for quite some time already? And if so, does that mean we are more than just books? Yes, yes and yes!

Over the years I have written about the various services public libraries offer and how it continues expanding today. I have talked about our Deaf Literacy opportunities, books on CDs, music CDs, teen and intergenerational programs, the Business Center, the Adaptive Toy Collection for mentally delayed and physically challenged individuals, wireless capability as well as online resources. However, throughout all these evolving services the library has always hosted for free, a neutral location of face to face dialogues, be it formal or not, of issues confronting our community. Such instances included “Meet the Candidates” and “Legislative Breakfast” forums in cooperation with the Palm Harbor Chamber of Commerce, the “Teen Town Hall” where only teens were allowed to raise questions to local community leaders, the on-going “Socrates’ Café” which provides opportunities to debate current issues, PHL’s Book Club and a “Ethics in Business” panel discussion. These are all forms of what a true “third place” should be; a forum of continuous, “civic engagements”.

Public Libraries have been referred to as “Temples of Civic Engagement” for its central role in bridging the full divides of people by bringing them back to the “public square”. Public libraries may be seen in many ways, but in this regard they are:

- a civic information center
- serving as partners in public service
- a public forum
- an enabler of civic literacy
- a public advocate

Chronicler and author of the disintegration and revival of the American community, Robert Putnam, stated that “Citizenship is not a spectator sport.” We at Palm Harbor Library couldn’t agree more. The library has served as an election site and recently began offering early voting. Also beginning later this year, the library will initiate a series of public discussions under the National Issues Forum Institute (www.nifi.org) as one more way to engage the community in confronting issues through raising awareness and soliciting ideas.

A wise old sage once said, “When you are growing up, there are two institutional places that affect you most powerfully- the church, which belongs to God and the public library, which belongs to you. The public library is a great equalizer.” Looks like Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones knew his “third place”.

When you’re seeking your “third place”, you’ll have several choices. Starbucks could be one of them. Your public library is another. Come to us for your books and CDs. Come to us to congregate, feel welcomed and see old and new friends. Come to us to be civically engaged and be part of the dialogue. We’ll save a chair for you.

Landscape Lectures @ the Library

2010-01-08T07:49:00.000-08:00

If you’ve driven past Palm Harbor Library in recent weeks, you may have noticed a colorful new landscaping plan. Where bare spots, withering plants and anthills once abounded, different native and edible plant varieties now thrive. The first phase of a year-long project, the new design is the brainchild of “Plan C Initiative,” a local non-profit organization dedicated to empowering communities and governments to develop ecological landscapes.

Now this same group has agreed to offer family-friendly lectures at the library on their ecological landscaping concepts. Join them for the following topics:

Wednesday, January 20, 6:30 p.m. – Why Go Native?

Saturday, February 13, 2:00 p.m. – Edible Yards

Saturday, March 20, 2:00 p.m. – Who Lives in Your Yard? (kid friendly)

No reservations are required, and a suggested $5 donation ($1 for children) will be taken at the door.

"Rabbit Hole" to be Performed a the Library

2010-01-07T04:04:00.000-08:00

The Showcase Repertory Theater will perform "Rabbit Hole" by David Lindsay-Abaire, at 7:00 p.m. on Thursday, January 28, and 2:00 p.m. on Saturday, January 30, at the Palm Harbor Library.

In this 2007 Pulitzer Prize Winner, the life of a happy couple is turned upside down when their young son dies in an accident. It is a story of loss, heartbreak and forgiveness told through daily moments and emotional hurdles.

No reservations are required, and a suggested $10 donation will be taken at the door.

An Afternoon of Arias

2010-01-06T05:39:00.001-08:00

Enjoy an afternoon of arias at the Palm Harbor Library.

On Saturday, January 16, at 2:00 p.m., local diva Julia Coulmas will perform arias from the world’s greatest operas and will tell the stories behind them. Come join us for this delightful performance! No reservations are required.

Kindles Now at Your Library!

2010-01-05T06:19:00.000-08:00

Starting Monday, January 4, Palm Harbor Library will have Kindles available for checkout! The Kindle is Amazon’s wireless reading device that lets you access dozens of titles on one slim, portable reader. It reads like real paper, without any glare, and can even read most books aloud to you.
The library has three different devices available: A Best-Seller Kindle loaded with all the hottest new releases, a Popular Fiction Kindle with a wide variety of titles from your favorite authors, and a Classic/Nonfiction Kindle with both the classics you’ve always loved and great nonfiction spanning an array of topics.

Call 727-784-3332, Ext. 3006, today to be placed on hold, or log on to the library’s website at www.palmharborlibrary.org to place a hold from home. The library is located at 2330 Nebraska Avenue.

Economy Bottoming; Libraries Booming

2009-12-29T06:59:00.000-08:00

When it comes to the economy, what can I tell you that you haven’t heard already? It almost seems that every day more and more Americans are losing their jobs. People are counting every dime to make ends meet and there seems little chance of improvement in the very near future. The quality of life for the average Joe out there is just not what it was and it just may not be for quite some time to come. Dire talk, but it’s the truth.

As most Americans struggle to pay their bills they’re also looking for ways to get ahead, to improve themselves and figure out how to still enjoy life at little cost. And then there are those Americans who simply want to find a job. People are searching for answers, looking for help and not sure where to turn to first. I would strongly suggest that you place the local public library near the top of the list.

Although your Palm Harbor Library has also been hit hard by this recession, losing up to $250,000 annually over the past two years and facing another significant decrease this forthcoming year, it still strongly adheres to its principles of bridging the gap between the haves and have not’s while providing free access to all. Now that may sound a bit highfalutin’, but that’s what we do.

In a recent online article by Jim Rettig for the Huffington Post, he states “We already know that through their power to educate and to inspire libraries level the playing field for underserved communities. It is the library that opens the door to life-changing books and provides access to the worlds beyond our communities. Perhaps most importantly, libraries exist as centers of culture. As the nation continues to experience a sharp and jarring economic downturn, local libraries are providing valuable free tools and services to help Americans of all ages through this time of uncertainty. The public library is the only option many Americans have for financial advice and information to secure their families’ futures. In Florida, a study showed that libraries create jobs, raises wages and increase gross regional product, returning $6.54 for each dollar invested. As our country faces the challenges and uncertainty of this time, the public library is one constant that all Americans, regardless of age or economic status, can count on.”

So what exactly are we doing to help you?

As Mr. Rettig alluded to, your library does offer several print and non-print materials regarding financial maters that you can either use or borrow for free. You can obtain this information with your free library card or by accessing the library’s website at www.palmharborlibrary.org. We offer various types of free computer classes, free usage of computers and free business services. We also offer free e-government services.

As for your leisure hours, save your money at the book stores, video stores and music stores. We got it all here. Get the latest new books, DVDs, CDs as well as classic LP records. We even loan out a portable turn table! And then there are puzzles, educational toys, “Book-Clubs-To-Go”, genealogy services, literacy services, homework helpers and as they say, so much more.

Many years ago in library school I was taught that a successful library is one that responds to the needs of the community it serves. Fancy talk, but it’s the truth.

College Entrance and Admissions 101

2009-12-28T05:38:00.000-08:00

St. Petersburg College will be presenting an informational free program for high school students (9th-12th graders only) and their parents on Thursday, January 21, at 6:00 p.m. at the Palm Harbor Library.

The program will focus on the college entrance process and financial aid tips, followed by a question-and-answer session. Registration, which begins January 2, is required. Sign up by phone at 727-784-3332, Ext. 3006, or online at www.palmharborlibrary.org.

2009-12-23T06:44:00.000-08:00

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Early Childhood Fair

2009-12-22T06:28:00.000-08:00

Have you been thinking about preschool programs or schools for your children? Do you wish you knew more about the different types of classes, and what each has to offer? Then stop by the Palm Harbor Library on Saturday morning, January 9, from 9:30-11:30 a.m., for some “one-stop shopping” in the form of the library’s annual Early Childhood Fair. Representatives from over 25 schools, programs, and agencies will be available to answer your questions, provide information about costs and registration, and offer free handouts and prizes! Coordinated Child Care of Pinellas County, the agency responsible for licensing day care providers and preschools, will be available to assist you in previewing and choosing the best school and caregivers for your most precious possessions – your children!

This Early Childhood Fair will be held in the Community Room of the library, located at 2330 Nebraska Avenue. If you have any questions, please call the Youth Services Department at (727) 784-3332, Ext. 3018.

Library as the Third Place

2009-12-21T09:52:00.000-08:00

The most recent buzz in library world is that we are now the “third place”. But I have heard that other institutions see themselves as something similar. As a matter of fact, in a Time article the CEO of Starbucks, Howard Schultz also saw his stores as filling this need. So what is this “third place” and why is it important? This is a two-part question so let me answer the first.
The “third place” is where you go to after your home and workplace. In his influential book The Great, Good Place, Ray Oldenburg argues that “third places” are important for civil society, democracy and civic engagement. “Third places” are “anchors” of community life and facilities and foster broader, more creative interaction. Further, Oldenburg suggests these hallmarks of a true “third place”: free or inexpensive; food and drink, while not essential are important; highly accessible; proximity for many; involve regulars- those who habitually congregate there; welcoming and comfortable; both new friends and old should be found there.

So I got to thinking, isn’t that what public libraries do and have been doing since our doors first opened? Haven’t we been exhibiting these hallmarks (especially the “free” part) for quite some time already? And if so, does that mean we are more than just books? Yes, yes and yes!

Over the years I have written about the various services public libraries offer and how it continues expanding today. I have talked about our Deaf Literacy opportunities, loaning out umbrellas, books on CDs, music CDs, teen and intergenerational programs, the Business Center, the Adaptive Toy Collection for mentally delayed and physically challenged individuals, wireless capability as well as online resources. However, throughout all these evolving services the library has always hosted for free, a neutral location of face to face dialogues, be it formal or not, of issues confronting our community. Such instances included “Meet the Candidates” and “Legislative Breakfast” forums in cooperation with the Palm Harbor Chamber of Commerce, the “Teen Town Hall” where only teens were allowed to raise questions to local community leaders, the on-going “Socrates’ Café” which provides opportunities to debate current issues, PHL’s Book Club and a “Ethics in Business” panel discussion. These are all forms of what a true “third place” should be; a forum of continuous, “civic engagements”.

Public Libraries have been referred to as “Temples of Civic Engagement” for its central role in bridging the full divides of people by bringing them back to the “public square”. Public libraries may be seen in many ways, but in this regard they are:

- a civic information center

- serving as partners in public service

- a public forum

- an enabler of civic literacy

- a public advocate

Chronicler and author of the disintegration and revival of the American community, Robert Putnam, stated that “Citizenship is not a spectator sport.” We at Palm Harbor Library couldn’t agree more. Beginning in 2010, the library will initiate a series of public discussions under the National Issues Forum Institute (www.nifi.org) as one more way to engage the community in confronting issues through raising awareness and soliciting ideas.

A wise old sage once said, “When you are growing up, there are two institutional places that affect you most powerfully- the church, which belongs to God and the public library, which belongs to you. The public library is a great equalizer.” Looks like Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones knew his “third place”.

When you’re seeking your “third place”, you’ll have several choices. Starbucks could be one of them. Your public library is another. Come to us for your books and CDs. Come to us to congregate, feel welcomed and see old and new friends. Come to us to be civically engaged and be part of the dialogue. We’ll save a chair for you.

Library Stuff

2009-12-18T10:22:00.000-08:00

As I head into my 10th year as Director of your library (Where has the time flown?), I’ve written on all kinds of topics and honestly after a while, it gets a bit tougher to find something to talk about that won’t put you to sleep.
Well this time out certainly won’t be scintillating or provocative but perhaps a bit amusing and maybe if I’m lucky, a chuckle or two. You see, I’m going to expose some library miscellanea right out of “The Whole Library Handbook 4”, Dewey # 020.973 EBE that is usually reserved just for librarians. It talks about everything you can possibly imagine about librarianship and more. I know, hot stuff, but you got to work with what you got. So let’s see what nuggets of wisdom can be revealed from this holy grail of library world………..

-Quotes:

“There are, of course, worse places to wait for someone than in a library.”

-Valerie wolzien, All Hallows Evil (1992), p. 84

“In a liberry, it’s hard to avoid reading.”

-Anonymous student, in New York Times, July 23, 1976, p. A21

“For myself, public libraries possess a special horror. The stillness and the heavy air, the feeling of restriction and surveillance, the mute presence of these other readers, ‘all silent and all damned’, combine to set-up a nervous irritation to quiet study.”

-Kenneth Grahame, Pagan Papers (1894) p. 57.

-Librarians in Detective Fiction:

“The Gutenberg Murders”, 1931, by Gwen Bristow and Bruce Manning

Nine leaves from a Gutenberg Bible have been stolen from the rare books collection of the private Sheldon Memorial Library in New Orleans. The chief suspect, assistant librarian Quentin Ulman, turns up dead. Head Librarian Dr. Prentiss- “a scholar of pictures and legends, tall and slender, with a droop to his shoulders that suggested much bending over a desk, and long delicate hands that seem made for caressing the crumbly pages of old books”- may not be the quiet bibliophile he seems.

“The Cruellest Month”, 1991, by Hazel Holt

Irascible part-time librarian, Gwen Richmond is killed by a falling Encyclopedia Britannica in the New Bodleian Library at Oxford, but British literary critic Sheila Malory suspects foul play.

“Enrollment Cancelled”, 1954, by D. B. Olsen

Two female undergrads at Clarendon College are murdered, both of them know to straitlaced thirty-something librarian Miss Pettit.

-Odd Book Titles:

“How to Cook a Bigfoot” by Theata Iona Crowe, 2000

“The English: Are They Human?” by Gustaaf Johannes Renier, 1931

“Santa Claus: Last of the Wild Men” by Phyllis Siefker, 1997

-Librarians in Film:

“All the Queen’s Men”, 2001:

Romy is a sexy librarian and underground resistance fighter in Nazi Germany who operates a safe house in the library’s attic.

“Firestarter 2: Rekindled”, 2002:

Pyrokinetic student Charlene McGee works part-time in the campus library.

“Ophelia Learns to Swim”, 2000:

Dian Kobayashi is the Librarian, a super-heroine who is a fount of knowledge.

-Haunted Libraries in Florida:

Miami, Southwest Miami High School:

Books in the Media Center are often rearranged and the lights flicker.

Tampa, Howard W. Blake High School:

A cold spot can be felt around the tables in the back of the library.

West Palm Beach, Palm Beach Atlantic University Library:

A janitor who disappeared mysteriously haunts the library near an old janitor’s closet.

Well there you go; a plethora of useless library info for your entertainment. But I think it would be a fitting end with a library joke. It goes like this:

A patron asked the librarian why “Tales of Robin Hood” had been withdrawn from the collection. The librarian replied, “Too much Saxon violence.”

Hey, it’s the best I got.

A How-to for Book Discussion Groups

2009-12-17T07:13:00.000-08:00

There are many reasons why we enjoy reading. It may include pure escapism, the wonder of learning something new, a chance to live vicariously or simply something pleasant to distract us while we’re waiting for our favorite doctor or dentist. Reading can be cheap (especially if you visit your local public library), easily mobile without any cords attached and it’s something that can be done at your pace, within your schedule without any time limits. What a great invention!
This wonderful way to occupy and stimulate your mind has been around since before Homer to Hiaasen. It’s a one on one experience with you and your characters, you and your emotions. And what did you learn? What did you really like about it? Why did you hate it? And why don’t they write stuff like this anymore? Good questions but guess what? You’re not the only one asking these questions. There are quite a few others out there just like you and they sure would like to meet, and discuss with you, the merits of what you just read. This, my fellow book lovers is what we call a “book discussion” group.

This concept has been around for quite some time in one form or another. It had its highs and lows in popularity but it has always been around. Either it was held in someone’s home, at a club, in a church or (in my favorite setting) at a public library.

The basic “rules” for a book discussion group is pretty simple. You get a bunch of people together who are interested in reading and sharing their thoughts about books, pick a book, pick a place to discuss the book, pick a time then discuss the book. That’s the bare bones of it but during my 18 years of coordinating book discussions I’ve discovered a few other things. First, not every book discussion group is conducted exactly the same way. Some will rotate the “leader” and some will keep the same one. Second, some will do just one type of genre such as mysteries, histories and romances while others will mix it up. Third, some will meet monthly while others will make it an annual family event. In other words, there are all kinds of groups but the common denominator for all of them is simply to read and discuss.

As a model to start your own book discussion group, here are some elements I have found helpful:

1) When possible, limit your group to 12 maximum. It gives everyone an opportunity to speak.

2) Have a strong and fair leader. He/she will guide and keep the discussion on track without letting a few loud voices dominate the conversation while encouraging the others to speak.

3) Pick a book democratically. This is a tough one but everyone should have a say so.

4) The leader should be prepared to introduce the author with a brief biography and have questions prepared to stimulate conversation when the discussion gets stalled.

5) Arrange the seating in a circle so everyone can see and hear each other.

6) Provide food (my favorite). You can’t miss!

7) Most important thing to remember is that this is not school! This is not an assignment. This should be fun.

Well those are the highlights. There’s much more but at least you get a feeling of what you may be getting yourself into.

Happy reading!

Bibliophiles, unite!

2009-12-16T06:57:00.000-08:00

It’s amazing sometimes how things just creep up on you like birthdays and holidays and PHiL’s (Palm Harbor Library) Book Club is no exception. Unbelievable as it may seem, we’re now into our tenth year of reading, eating and meeting. Considering this momentous occasion, I thought I’d take a few moments of your time to tell you what we’ve been reading and what’s coming up.
This year’s crop of titles encompasses a wide range of authors, backgrounds, cultures and genres. There’s just about something for everyone. For example, the new reading year kicked off with Jhumpa Lariri’s Pulitzer Prize winning collection of short stories, The Interpreter of Maladies. Other international settings include My Life in France by Julia Child and remote 19th century China in Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See.

We will also be discussing art in Susan Vreeland’s The Passion of Artemisia and American history in The Hemingses of Monticello by Annette Gordon-Reed, winner of the National Book Award.

All book club dates meet at 11 AM and at 7 PM at Palm Harbor Library. A complete list of titles and dates are below:

PHiL’s BOOK CLUB

READING LIST

JULY 2009 to JUNE 2010

Monday July 13th, 2009- Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri

Monday August 10th- One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

Monday September 14th- My Life in France by Julia Child

Monday October 12th- Cross Creek by Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings

Monday November 9th- Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See

Monday December 14th- Isaac’s Storm by Erik Larson

Monday January 11th, 2010- Dreams from My Father by Barack Obama

Monday Feb. 8th- Known World by Edward P. Jones

Monday March 8th- The Passion of Artemisia by Susan Vreeland

Monday April 12th- The Piano Shop on the Left Bank by Thad Carhart

Monday May 10th- The Hemingses of Monticello by Annette Gordon-Reed

Monday June 14th- Breathing Lessons by Ann Tyler

In today’s society you got a lot of choices how to spend your leisure time. Sure, one of the easiest things to do is pull out the remote and click but if you want to be with friends, meet new friends, laugh, discuss, learn and eat, this may be the place for you. And here’s the best part. It’s free!

So stop by and walk the left bank of Paris, meet one of the first great female painters, experience a Florida nearly long gone and perhaps, fall in love with reading all over again.

See you next Monday.

Public Art Commission for Palm Harbor Library: “Beyond the Blue”

2009-12-15T06:09:00.000-08:00

Approximately two to three years ago, the library approached Pinellas County Cultural Affairs to determine the feasibility of obtaining public art. After a formal presentation and much follow-up discussion, the library was approved with a $50,000 grant to secure a piece of public art work. Shortly afterwards a “Call to Artists” was issued. Eventually 105 applications were received.
After a lengthy review by the Public Art Selection Panel, Michael Cain from New Orleans, Louisiana was selected. He has created a series of totem and relief sculptures in front of the library. Titled "Beyond the Blue”, the artwork is based on the artist’s vision of the library as being a place of knowledge and community story telling.

The artist himself tells his story through colorful symbols and images, including the sea, people, birds, books, maritime flags, and lotus flowers. His story depicts “a quest for knowledge”. The main elements of this installation include three totem-pole-like structures. Each totem conveys its own meaning: totem #1 represents the seeds of knowledge, totem #2 (center) pays homage to the essence of community connection, and totem #3 (including the images on the wall behind the totems) refers to the power of the sea to serve as a symbolic repository of knowledge.

In front of the three totems is an open book (metal) that is mounted to a reading stand. The open page reads “Knowledge is the seed of our own creativity, the foundation that strengthens our community and the landmark that guides our course of action”. Michael Cain believes that this is one of the most important aspects of the sculpture. “When we pick up a book and invest the time in reading it, in a way, the book becomes part of us. There is a continual interplay between people and the written word. The reader gets inspired and then becomes the writer, who, in turn, inspires the next reader, and so on. We all place ourselves in context within the stories that we can relate to.”

This artwork can be enjoyed both day and night, as it is illuminated by colorful strips of energy-saving LED lights.

The Public Art Selection Panel which helped guide this project was chaired by architect Steve Klar and included: Susan Gehring, Artist; John Toppe, Architect; Lynn Whitelaw, Director, Leepa-Rattner Museum; Lynn Neff, Artist and Public Art and Design Committee Member; Irene Finger, Community Representative; Nedima Ablakovic, County Public Works and myself.

If you would like to learn more about Pinellas County’s Public Art Program, please contact Pinellas County Cultural Affairs at (727) 453-7860, or visit www.pinellasarts.org. For information about Palm Harbor Library please visit our updated website at www.palmharborlibrary.org.

Environmental Endeavor

2009-12-14T12:06:00.001-08:00

As some of you may know by now, the library has begun a new partnership with a local, non-profit, ecological design landscaping organization called "Plan C Initiative". Its purpose is to empower communities to landscape yards, common-areas, and public areas, so as to support people and wildlife. The library grounds are one of the best possible frameworks to achieve this for many reasons:
1) It is a public space visited by thousands of community members every year.

2) It is a place where people come expecting to find resources and to learn.

3) It provides great outdoor and indoor demonstration possibilities within an urban setting, to give people the tools they need to apply their knowledge at home.

The ultimate goal is to design and re-landscape all the areas surrounding the library building. The design for each of these areas will showcase different plant communities, and will work with many of the plants that already exist on site, as well as with the character of the building and that of the land that surrounds the library. The one thing in common is that each of these areas will be landscaped with a mixture of native and edible plants in such a way that facilitates exploration, and will include signage that describes the plants and their functions.

This entire program will be done in several phases over the next year+ beginning on the north side by the outdoor sculpture and halfway along the west side (Riviere Rd.) up to the front entrance of the building.

The first phase was done the weekend of December 5-6 with the help of community members such as yourself. These wonderful volunteers planted, mulched and created pine straw pathways. The next phase will complete the west side and the south-east side of the building. The latter area is located south of the book drive. It is here, in addition to the new plantings that a reading garden will be installed.

I think we did a good job renovating the inside of the library in 2008. I also think you’ll be pleased with the outside when we’re done in 2010. Either way, it’s your library. Enjoy it!

Life of a Donated Book

2009-12-11T08:02:00.000-08:00

I know. It’s not the kind of title that’s going to grab you. It’s not riveting, sexy, controversial or thought provoking. However, it may just make you realize how important your donation really is. Let me tell you how this story goes…
It’s spring cleaning, you’re moving, you’ve run out of room or you just graduated and over the years you have collected a lot of stuff. There’s some you keep, some you throw away, some you sell and then there’s that stuff you don’t know what to do with but you figure that somebody is going to want it. Now when it comes to books (you can also fill in here videos, tapes, magazines, toys, puzzles, CDs), chances are the local public library will be your location of choice. You think to yourself, what better place could use them? And you know something? You’re right!

So you gather your cardboard boxes/plastic crates/Publix bags filled with donations and drop them off at either Palm Harbor Library’s drive-up window or bring them to the front of the building. At this point some staff member will formally tell you that yes we do accept these types of donations providing they’re in reasonably good condition and it is understood the library will determine how best to use them. Alright now, what does that mean?

There are several ways your book can go. Here’s the super six list:

1) Add it to the Adult Collection
2) Add it to the Children’s Collection
3) Add it to the Teen Collection
4) Give it to the Friends of the Library to sell
5) Donate it in turn to another organization (more on this in just a bit)
6) Dump it. Why? Because…
     -the box was filled with critters
     -the box was wet (and so are the books)
     -the books are outdated (You really can’t use a medical book published in 1990. I know I wouldn’t!)

Obviously the first three options are what we look for. As our budget decreases, donations become more valuable. #4 is also very important because through your donations, we’re able to stock the library’s new Friends of the Library Book Store and through that little venture the library receives significant financial support. Case in point, it was the Friends who were able to contribute $100,000 to the library’s recent construction project. That’s a lot of donations! #5 is least know but as important to how else we use your donations. If we don’t add or sell your book, most likely one of the following organizations will be getting it:

-abuse shelter
-Alcohol Anonymous
-Bay Pines Veterans Hospital
-Coral Oaks Assisted Living Facility
-homeless shelter
-Head Start Program
-Hospice
-Mothers of Marines
-Mothers of Soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan
-Pinellas County Adult Jail
-St. Vincent de Paul Soup Kitchen
-UPARC

So as you can see, a lot goes on after you drop off your donation, get back in your car and head on home. As far as you may be concerned, that’s the end of it. For us, it’s just the beginning and for that, we thank you.

Maybe this wasn’t one of the best stories you ever heard, I’m sure you’ve known better but for me, it’s certainly one of my favorites. Thanks for listening. Thanks for donating.

Job Satisfier

2009-12-10T06:24:00.000-08:00

One of the inside jokes in librarianship is that as we move up the ladder of success, we tend to say, “I never learned that in library school”! Oh how true.

Today, I get involved in budgeting, marketing, personnel issues, reclaimed water hook up, landscape design, building renovation, governmental relations and on occasion, to keep it interesting, a plumbing inquiry. Everything I (didn’t) learn in library school.

But as Library Director, I do have some say how to spend part of my time (and very little at that). An old boss of mine looked me in the eye one time after I complained about doing things a “librarian” shouldn’t do (I thought I was hot stuff) and said, “What you want is a job satisfier.” It’s the thing we like to do at work as opposed to all the things we have to do. For me, it’s talking about books.

For the past 9+ years, I’ve indulged my “satisfier in the library’s Book Club and providing book talks in the community in such places as Coral Oaks Independent Living Facility and more recently at St. Marks. But today, I’m going to take time out (with what little I got) and share with you some of my favorite books that I’ve recently read.

My Life in France by Julia Child is just wonderful. If you like cooking, experiencing Europe and sharing a laugh or two with a loving couple, this is the book for you. This memoir from one of America’s favorite chefs is truly a loving tribute to some of the good things in life; food, family, fun. Bon appétit!

American Lion: Andrew Jackson in the White House by Jon Meacham is a nitty-gritty look at one of our most rambunctious and legendary Presidents. He was the first to break from the Virginia bred Presidents, who implemented his vision without taking any prisoners. A man of conflicting views who was hated and adored, despised and cherished, but who had a passion for America and did what he thought was best for his country. This is truly a riveting read.

For the Sake of Elena by Elizabeth George is a much older title but still resonates with the elegance and suspense of a great British mystery. George has been around for some time now but I only started reading her about two years back. Slowly but surely I’m reading her through but man, there is just so much other good stuff to read out there! As they say, too many books, too little time.

Oliver Twist by Dickens has drawn me back to the classics and this particular yarn reminds me why they’re called classics. One thing I never fully appreciated as a kid when I read him was how funny old Chuck could be. Man, this guy could write and what tales he told.

The Dark Tower series by Stephen King is a fantasy epic right up there with the Hobbits and Potters. An exhausting quest for this ominous tower keeps our hero the “Gunfighter” on a trail filled with evil forces, lost love, betrayal, enduring friendships and revenge. Fantasy may not be your thing but if good characterizations and a gripping tale are, this may be just for you.

Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri is a beautifully written collection of short stories that examines the Indian immigration to America. Although this Pulitzer Prize winner is a very quick read, the characters and story lines will linger long after the last page is turned.

Happy reading!

Green is Good!

2009-12-09T12:24:00.000-08:00

As I’ve recently written, the library has initiated a landscaping program that is environmentally friendly. If I do so say myself, it’s looking great! Yet, keep in mind it’s just another step we’ve taken for going “green”.

On your next visit to the library, look around and you will notice several small signs hung throughout the building advising what steps we took to make your library more environmentally friendly. Each of them will say along the top, “Green Feature” then state what it is. This is what you will find:

ENERGY-EFFICIENT LIGHTING
Reduces electricity consumption by 21.7%

CARPETING
Indoor Air Quality Green Label Plus Certified
53% total recycled content

Motion sensors turn lights off when the area is unoccupied.

Daylight sensors turn lights off when day lighting is adequate.

Day lighting via solar tubes donated by Solatube International

Low-flow Faucets save water

Low-flow Toilets use 1.6 gallons per flush

Waterless Urinal saves water
(Approximately 40,000 gallons is saved annually.)

And of course we still offer our two recycling bins out in the library’s parking lot. It takes paper, phone books, newspapers and other similar material. Also, we offer in-house recycling bins for paper and eye-glasses.

As Martha Stewart is fond of saying, “It’s a good thing”.

Lending a Hand to ALL Our Community Members

2009-12-04T05:45:00.000-08:00

For the fifth year, Palm Harbor Library is partnering with the Haven of Religious Community Services to provide holiday gifts for young victims of domestic abuse. The Haven has set up a “Giving Tree” in the library’s lobby which is covered with paper ornaments holding children's wish lists.

“It has been heartwarming to see how generous patrons have been in the past,” says Lois Eannel, Assistant Library Director and Head of Youth Services. “One year, a library member brought in items from SIXTEEN wish lists…and then left his name and number in case there were any children left without a gift.”

Please stop by the library to take one or more ornaments and help make a child’s holiday a little brighter this year! (Monetary donations will also be accepted.) All UNWRAPPED gifts must be brought to the library by Saturday, December 12.

But wait! We haven't forgotten our furry friends!

The Hungry Bowl™ Pet Food Drive will be accepting donations of pet food to benefit the Humane Society of Pinellas beginning Tuesday Dec. 1, ending Dec .12. In addition, a percentage of the food collected will be distributed through homeless shelter services in Clearwater to feed pets of homeless families.

The Humane Society of Pinellas is in great need of pet food donations entering 2010. The rescue organization feeds their own shelter animals Hill’s Science Diet; however if you donate other brands the food will be distributed to people in financial need who are having difficulty providing food.

All donations once again can be dropped at Palm Harbor Library. The pet gift box is located across from the Reference Desk.

Please give. Thank you.

Public Library Advocay Now!

2009-12-03T06:19:00.000-08:00

As we all know the economy has taken a bit of a hit and nearly everyone has been affected one way or another. We're not sure when it'll rebound and can only hope it'll be soon. In the meantime we're all scrambling to find ways to make ends meet and those of us in the non-profit world are no exception. We need to hold onto what we already have while searching for other means to continue the services you have come to expect. I’ll have more on the latter in a later blog.
There are several ways the library generates revenue to operate your facility. State Aid has been one of them from the very beginning. When I first arrived here 9+ years ago, State Aid monies was available in two ways; one was to assist in county-wide services and one was a direct annual payment to the library of approximately $20,000. Well there's been a lot of water under the bridge since then with the results that we no longer receive any direct annual dollars and monies for county-wide services have dwindled to the minimum. And what are those county-wide services that benefit you directly? Here's the list:

- County-wide library automation system

- County-wide courier services transports material requests from one library to another saving you time and money.

- Free online databases

- Talking Book Library

- Born to Read Program

- Deaf Literacy Program

Putting it bluntly, without State Aid dollars, all of this goes away which would leave individual libraries to fend for themselves with their own reduced revenue. What impacts this further is that federal funds are attached to this State Aid to Libraries Grant program. Simply stated, once State Aid is deleted, so too will the federal funds. During the last legislative session this past spring, those invaluable dollars almost disappeared but through a state-wide grass roots efforts they were saved...to serve you once again. We now face a similar situation.

I ask you now to please write the Governor asking him to allocate the amounts suggested in recurring General Revenue for the library programs in the Department of State Budget. His address is:

The Honorable Charlie Crist

Governor of the State of Florida

PL-05 The Capitol

Tallahassee, FL 32399-0001

It’s always best to tell your own library story, the one about how your library is changing lives every day. Please thank him for providing critical leadership last spring when it looked like State Aid to Public Libraries might be eliminated. You may also want to tell him that public libraries are helping Floridians with job searching and in obtaining E-Government services, and according to the Department of State, provide a $6.54 return on every dollar invested! I would like to think that's money well spent.

The only other suggestion I would encourage, is to contact your local legislators. Ask them to maintain the minimum State Aid dollars for 2010-2011 that are needed to meet the maintenance level required for federal funds. For your convenience, I have listed them below:

SENATOR MIKE FASANO
District 11
8217 Massachusetts Ave
New Port Richey, 34653-3111
Local phone: (727) 848-5885
Tallahassee phone: (850) 487-5062
E-mail: fasano.mike.web@flsenate.gov

REPRESENTATIVE TOM ANDERSON
District 45
2236 US Hwy 19 N (Mt. Vernon Professional Ctr)
Holiday, 34691-4351
Local phone: (727) 943-4760
Tallahassee phone: (850) 488-8528
E-mail: TOM.ANDERSON@myfloridahouse.gov

REPRESENTATIVE PETER NEHR
District 48
905 E. Martin Luther King, Jr. Dr, Suite 430
Tarpon Springs, FL 34689
Local phone: (727) 943-4880
Tallahassee phone: (850) 488-5580
E-mail: PETER.NEHR@myfloridahouse.gov

There was a lot to say here and I thank you for taking the time to read it. I now ask you to invest a little bit more of your time and tell your legislators what you read. It would be a win-win for all.

Thank you.

Library Needs Landscaping Help

2009-12-02T05:46:00.000-08:00

As some of you know by now, the library is in partnership with a non-profit, ecological design landscaping organization called "Plan C Initiative". The goal is to re-landscape all green areas around the library that are environmentally friendly, supporting people and wildlife. It will showcase different plant communities with a mixture of native and edible plants. This entire program will be done in several phases over the next year+ beginning on the north side by the outdoor sculpture and halfway along the west side (Riviere Rd.) up to the front entrance of the building.

The first phase will be done the weekend of Sat.-Sun. Dec. 5-6 and we're looking for volunteers to plant and mulch. The schedule for both days is 10 AM to 4 PM. We realize not everyone has the time (and in some cases the stamina) to help out those many hours so any amount of time, even 1-2 hours, would be greatly helpful.

If you can lend a hand, here are some items we suggest you bring with you:
-gardening gloves
-hat
-shovel
-hand trowel
-water
-closed toe shoes

And if you can help us to mulch on Sunday, a wheelbarrow would be quite welcomed.

To assist you, we are planning to have a volunteer training session on Tuesday Dec. 1 at 6 PM in the Harbor Room at the Library to answer all your gardening questions.

Thank you for considering to offer your time and muscle. This is your library and now it could also be your garden.

Please contact me if you have any questions or better yet, if you want to volunteer.

Gene P. Coppola
Library Director
Palm Harbor Library
2330 Nebraska Avenue
Palm Harbor, FL 34683
727-784-3332 ext. 3001
gene@phlib.org

2009-12-01T11:23:00.000-08:00

2008 was the Year of the Renovation Project and now, 2009 has become the Year of the Tweeks!

After we had our Grand Re-Opening back on January 10th, we all thought we were set but like any new endeavour, once the dust settled we found there were a few more things that had to be done. For example, the non-fancy add on was gutters above the front entrance. Not overly exciting but appreciated by the public never the less. However, we are on the verge of doing something really exciting that I want to share with you.

The library is in partnership with a non-profit environmental landscaping design group called "Plan C Initiative". The goal is to landscape all green areas around the library that are environmentally friendly, supporting people and wildlife. It will showcase various plant communities with a mixture of native and edible plants.

This coming weekend, Dec. 5-6, we are looking for volunteers to plant and mulch. The schedule for both days is 10 AM to 4 PM. If you can spare some time and muscle, we would greatly appreciate your assistance.

This is your library. Now it can also be your garden.

Blogging Intro Oct. 28, 2009

2009-10-28T14:15:00.000-07:00

Welcome to Gene Coppola's new blog site ingeniously called...LibrarianGene! This is my small way to talk up the great stuff at Palm Harbor Library. I'm also using this venue as a place to discuss library trends and happenings while getting feedback about what you expect from public libraries...and what you are actually getting.

I've been the Director here for the past 9+ years but I've been in the profession for over 25. I started out my career in Brooklyn (no more needs to be said) and I've seen and done just about everything.

What do you want to know? What's the latest? What do you think we should do...and not do? What's great? What stinks?

Let's talk!

Gene

Picasa Web Albums - genecopp - Library Happenings

2009-10-27T14:11:00.000-07:00

Picasa Web Albums - genecopp - Library Happenings