Monday, February 29, 2016

March Monthly Gauntlets







For March there are 2 gauntlets. The first is another either/or proposition and the second is tied to a March holiday and an author’s nationality.

The either/or is either James Patterson or Terry Pratchett. Patterson celebrates his birthday on March 22nd, while Pratchett died on the 12th of March last year. Both of these authors are well represented in our collection and you should have no problem finding something to read no matter what format you prefer.

The second gauntlet is tied to Saint Patrick’s Day. The Friends of the Library will host the Vulcan Eegits on the 10th. To get in the spirit before (or after) the concert you are tasked with reading an Irish author. For this quest the author must be born/have citizenship in Ireland not just write about Ireland. There will be a list of authors who qualify in the notebook found in the Reference department. Some examples to start with are Cecelia Ahern, Maeve Binchy, and Frank Delaney.

Of course the Friends program on March 10th will qualify for the Friends’ Library After Hours Event in the Bonus Events part of the challenge. The concert will start at 6:30 and like all library functions is free and everyone is invited. Also this month will be a chance to receive credit for a DPL Family Movie Night Extravaganza on Thursday, March 24th. The movie will be an animated film about the voices in your head and will also start at 6:30. We hope you can join us for one or both of these events.

Happy Reading!

March Calendar for StephRhonda
Sunday
Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday
Saturday


1
9am-5:30pm
2
11am-8pm
3
9am-5:30pm
*RoundTable 12-2

4
9am-5pm
5
Not Available

6
Not Available
7
9am-5:30pm
8
9am-5:30pm
9
9am-8pm
10
9am-6pm
11
9am-5pm
12
Not Available

13
Not Available

14
9am-5:30pm
15
9am-5:30pm
16
9am-8pm
17
9am-5:30pm
18
9am-5pm
19
9am-5pm


20
2pm-5pm
21
9am-5:30pm
22
9am-5:30pm
23
9am-8pm
24
12pm-6pm
*Family Movie Extravaganza
25
9am-5pm
26
9am-5pm


27
Closed for Easter
28
9am-5:30pm
29
9am-5:30pm
30
9am-8pm
31
12pm-6pm
*Movie Night





Wednesday, February 3, 2016

Gee’s Bend and Heritage of Hope



You may have noticed a lot of mention of the Gee’s Bend quilters in your Decatur Public Library.  (If you’re not familiar with the story of Gee’s Bend, take a look at this Encyclopedia of Alabama article for a brief overview.)    We’ve had our focus on Gee’s Bend this year for a couple of reasons:  first, four of the famous quilters will be visiting Decatur – and our library! – this month; and second, we at Decatur Public Library have a fondness for quilts.

How did we manage to get the world-famous quilters to visit?   The credit belongs to Decatur City Schools elementary art teacher Beth Young.  As part of an arts grant, Beth was able to bring the quilters of Gee’s Bend to Decatur to visit and share their art with her elementary art students.  Because she is incredibly generous and gracious, Beth invited other community organizations to take part; we’ve all been working together since May of last year to put together a week of events designed to let as many people as possible visit with the amazing artists of Gee’s Bend.  

Naturally, we are especially excited about the Library events and they have already begun!  On January 20th we kicked off the River City Read; we hope it will be the first of many.   Generous members of our community donated the money to allow us to purchase 44 “pass-along” copies of the book Leaving Gee’s Bend by Irene Latham and we are delighted to say that all 44 copies are now out and about in the community.  The idea is that you take a copy, read it, and either give it to someone else to read or return it to the Library; if they are brought back to us we put them out for someone else to take them.  We were also fortunate to have Irene Latham here in our Library on January 28th.  Ms. Latham was a wonderful speaker and storyteller who shared not only her books but the story behind her story of Gee’s Bend; we thoroughly enjoyed her visit and highly recommend Leaving Gee’s Bend.   

Beginning February 1st we have Gee’s Bend-inspired artwork on display created by students in Decatur City Schools.  The art teachers from various schools selected the best pieces from their classes and are displaying them here at DPL throughout the month of February.   The artwork is located in the display cases inside each Library entrance and you can vote for your favorite until February 14th.   We will announce the viewer’s favorites at our Gee’s Bend Meet & Greet, which is our next exciting event!

On Monday, February 15th, the Library will be closed for business in observance of President’s Day.  We will, however, have our building open from 2pm – 4pm so that we may welcome the quilters of Gee’s Bend to our Library and our city!   This will be a chance to meet the ladies, have them sign any books you might have (click here for a list of purchase suggestions), and enjoy light refreshments.   As always, this event is free and everyone is invited.  We hope to see you there!