November "Notes on Reading" Blog

 

When we kicked off the 8^th Annual Adult Reading Challenge on January 17^th, we had no idea that 2020 would be a pandemic year with quarantines, stay-at-home orders, library closures and no book club meetings. So if you have stuck with us for the 8^th Annual Adult Reading Challenge, we applaud your perseverance!

This is the last task of the year and will finish the Notes on Reading Challenge. We wanted this to be a treat not a trick so are releasing this task earlier than usual. The last task is to read a book where the title of the book is also the title of a song. The titles have to match the song title exactly. The exception is if it is a Non-Fiction title, the words before the colon must match exactly, and what comes after the colon does not matter. You can find a list of eligible books in the DPL catalog labeled “November Task for 2020 ARC”.  We have also printed the list and put a copy in the notebook outside our office door. These lists are suggestions to help you, but are not the only books that will work. You may find books we did not list. When you fill in the November task on your reading log please list book title, author and the singer or group who recorded the song.

Since this is the last task, as you finish the challenge you may turn in your reading logs. The last day to turn them in is Thursday, December 3, 2020. This is a different date than what is listed on the brochure you received when you signed up for the challenge, but a lot has changed this year! The winners will be announced on this blog and our website on Thursday, December 10, 2020.

You may drop off reading logs to the Marketing and Outreach office (now located across from Youth Services department) anytime the library is open.  If we are not in our office, please make sure your name and the phone number where we can contact you is written on the front of your reading log then slide it under the door. We will contact the winners by phone and post the list for everyone to see.

Thank you for playing along this year, we hope you read some great books and will sign up for the 2021 Challenge in January.

Happy Reading!

October "Notes on Reading" Blog

 

Starting this Saturday, (October 3^rd) DPL will be open from 11:00 am until 3:00 pm. On this first Saturday we are open since March, the Friends of the Library will be hosting a Book Donation Drive from 11:00 am until 2:00 pm. If you have books, magazines, or media materials you have been wanting to donate to the library, drive through the circular drive on Cherry Street to drop off your donation. Friends members will be on hand to unload your donations, so you won’t even have to get out of your vehicle. All proceeds will benefit the Decatur Public Library.

October also brings the 39^th Annual Quilt Show, so be sure to come into the Library and see it. There are 32 quilts hanging in the library now through October 30^th. There are voting slips on the table beside the New Arrivals bookshelf, so vote for your favorite quilt before we close on Wednesday, October 21^st. Ribbons will be awarded for 1^st, 2^nd, and 3^rd place for Viewer’s Choice and 1^st, 2^nd, and 3^rd place in the pictorial category; ribbons for both categories will be posted on Thursday, October 22^nd.

This year has been a crash course in strange and different. If you had told us last year that 2020 was going to be a year of quarantine, stay-at-home orders, and mandatory face masks in public, we would not have believed you. At the end of 2019, that scenario would have sounded like something out of Hollywood. Cue the opening music, because 2020 has one more moviesque moment for us. Remember Footloose?   A real life town in Missouri has banned dancing. This inspired the October task-read a book where dancing is part of the story.

We hope you are still reading and working on the Adult Reading Challenge. If you’re finished and ready to turn in your reading log, you can drop it off in the Marketing and Outreach office now through Monday, November 30^th.

 

Happy Reading!

September "Notes on Reading" Blog

 

We have been really depressed about the lack of programs to push in the blog each month of this never-ending, pandemic-ridden year. However, good news - finally! Decatur Public Library will be hosting the 39^th annual Quilt Show this year in October. You can call the Marketing and Outreach office at 256-340-5780 to reserve a space (limit 2 quilts per person) and you must have the quilts turned in to us by Wednesday, September 23^rd by 3:00 pm.  They will be on display October 1^st through October 30^th.  Voting for 1^st, 2^nd, and 3^rd place “Viewer’s Choice” ribbons will be open October 1^st through October 21^st.  Be sure to come in and vote for your favorite!

As this is being written, we still have no word on when we might plan for a Book Club Meeting. We are not giving up, though. We are hopeful we can start planning small programs sometime this fall. If limited attendance is a condition of  hosting Book Club, we might have to schedule a couple of meetings with limited registration for each one. We would of course take notes on all books discussed and post the information in the Adult Reading Challenge binder outside our office to keep everyone up to date. 

For the September task for the Adult Reading Challenge, read a book that has the word “Music” in the title. The book does not have to be about music, just has to have the word "music" in the title. There are several in the physical collection, and CamelliaNet, and hoopla both have titles that will work as well.

We miss all of you!

Happy Reading!

 

August "Notes on Reading" Blog

Can you believe it’s August already??!! This year has somehow managed to move along at both an agonizingly slow and a ridiculously fast pace.  This Thursday (August 6^th) would have been our August Book Club meeting.  While we are sad this cannot happen due to COVID-19 restrictions, we plan to send out the first ARC Newsletter via email to all participants of this year’s Adult Reading Challenge by end of day on Thursday.  

Unfortunately, a lot of people did not give us an email address when they signed up, so if you do not get the e-newsletter in your inbox, then we do not have an email address for you.  You can email stephrhonda@myDPL.org to request your copy of the e-newsletter and we will add your email address to our 2020 Adult Reading Challenge participant list.  We will also have a printed copy of the newsletter in the book outside our office if you prefer to look at it that way.

When we requested books you have read for the challenge to share with others in the newsletter, two of you sent us the same video of the Rock Bottom Remainders. We have shared it on our Facebook page, but if you didn’t see it click here.

Which brings us to this month’s task for the Adult Reading Challenge:  Read a book by one of the members of the Rock Bottom Remainders. Please verify the author you choose to read is listed on the website or Facebook page for the band.  Please note that the band members have changed through the years, but if they are listed as band members on the above links then you can count them.

Happy Reading!

July "Notes on Reading" Blog

We have had a lot of questions this past month about when the ARC Book Club will meet again. We wish we could say tomorrow at our normal (pre Covid-19) time. Unfortunately, that is not going to happen. We have no idea when we will be able to schedule a program in the Library due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Instead, we are going to put out a Book Club Newsletter and we need your help. Many of you have come by our office to let us know you are still reading and to ask about meetings. Now we need you to come by and let us know what you have read, what clues and tasks the books counted for on the challenge, and did you enjoy the book enough to recommend it to someone else. We will compile this information (along with other information about the Challenge) and then send it out to the people who are signed up for the challenge that regularly attend the book club.

This leads to the discussion of when is the best time to come to our office. In the month of July we will be doing some regular outreach with our friends at Decatur Youth Services. This month the best day to drop in will be Friday.  Call us at 256-340-5780 the day before to set up a time to make sure we will be available. You can also just give us the information over the phone! We look forward to talking to each of you.

This leads to the task for the month of July. We felt March was a bad time for this task (and now may not be a better time) but it feels relevant to us. Read a book where the world is changed by a major catastrophe. It could be a virus, a solar storm (shout out to Linda Howard/Linda Winstead Jones), or any other major natural disaster that affects events worldwide.  

Happy Reading!

June "Notes on Reading" Blog

In the same way that everyday life has changed to accommodate new safety precautions against the spread of Coronavirus, so too has our approach to summer reading. This year our program is called Summer Reads and it has a category for every age from 0 to 99+. It is mostly virtual and we are using READsquared to manage reading logs and activities toward completing the program. Go to mydpl.readsquared.com to sign up and get started earning electronic badges.

To go with READsquared, we have launched a YouTube channel, www.youtube.com/decaturlib, where we are posting virtual story times with Mrs. Mary and Mrs. Anna, Story Times with Special Guests like Elizabeth Thompson from the Morgan County/Decatur Farmers Market, Kerrie Hoffner, a professional story teller, Rapunzel, (courtesy of Magical Memories, AL), and others. There will also be programs with Ranger Daphne from Wheeler National Wildlife Refuge and the Alabama Department of Archives and History. All of the details about Summer Reads and READsquared can be found at mydpl.org/summerreads/.

If you are participating in the Adult Reading Challenge, you may be wondering what kind of effect the Summer Reads will have on the ARC. The answer is none. The Adult Reading Challenge remains the same. If you are signed up for our yearly challenge, you do not have to register for the READsquared app since you already have your reading log. If you are interested, however, you are welcome to do both. You can sign up for an account as an adult and post the same books you are reading for the ARC to READsquared. It is what we call being doubly blessed. You get two reading challenges, one for the summer and one that lasts all year long.

Which brings us to our task for the month of June. Since our theme this year is music, and we now have two challenges for adults, the June task is to read a book with a duo as the main characters. The characters can be coworkers, friends, or super heroes such as Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson, Hap and Leonard, or Batman and Robin to name just a few.    

             

Happy Reading!