Honoring Veterans of Mecklenburg County

Next week, Thursday the 7th, Freedom is going to have a program to honor the veterans of Mecklenburg County.

The event begins at 6pm and will go on until we close at 9pm.

So who is going to be there? Veterans services of Mecklenburg County, The VFW Post #7775 & Ladies Auxiliary and the Philip O. Berry High School ROTC. And you too!

This is a special tribute to honor veterans and take a moment to be thankful for their efforts and sacrifices. This program is free and open and all are encouraged to attend.

For more information, call Dot at 704-416-4206.

Again, mark your calendars for May 7, from 6 pm - 9 pm.

Last Year's Veteran Celebration

Stop by the library and take one of our flyers and see the all new Freedom Flyer - the month-long calendar with all our programs for May 2009!

Looking Ahead with Freedom 4/28 - 5/2

Tuesday

"Storytime" 10- 11 am

"Wii Got Game" 2:30- 4 pm


Wednesday

"Storytime" 10- noon
- Storytime for the very little ones.

"Script Frenzy" 3- 4 pm
- Work on your script or start a new one. April is script writing month, and every Wednesday, we're here to help you on your way.

"Freedom Film Series" 6- 8 pm
- Speaking of scripts, we have afternoon movies in April. This week; Young Frankenstein.

Thursday

Michele Andrea Bowen - Author Visit.
- Author of Up at the College and Church Folk will be visiting our humble library at 10:30 am.


Saturday

"Think College" 9 am - 1 pm
- Call Think College @ 416-4232 to get in on the action.

March of the Librarians

A little bit dated, but still funny.

Upcoming Author visit next week!

Michele Andrea Bowen will be visiting our little library on Thursday, April 30 at 10:30 AM. Her latest book, Up at the College, was just released earlier this month.

Review from Booklist -

Yvonne turned her life over to God when her husband divorced her and she moved back to Durham, North Carolina, with her two early-teen daughters. Now employed by Eva T. University as an adjunct professor, she attracts the attention of sexy basketball coach Curtis Parker, who struggles between his faith commitment and his urge to be in control. It’s up to the faithful—such as Yvonne, her cousin Maurice (assistant coach and good friend), and Curtis’ grandmother—to convince him that only when he walks with God will he be successful in the current basketball season and fulfilled in his personal life. Bowen’s newest release in the black Christian fiction genre revisits characters from earlier novels while it offers an entertaining mix of humor, morality, and steamy relationships as well as an intimate portrayal of academic politicking and college sports.


Michele Andrea Bowen's other books include
Second Sunday (2005)
Holy Ghost Corner (2008)
Church Folk (2002)


See Up at the College in our Catalog - "on order" means we've got more copies coming, so sit tight.
Up at the College on Amazon

UPDATE - Bowen's book, Holy Ghost Corner, is available for download as an audio book from netlibrary. With your library card barcode handy, follow with link to get the ebook.
http://www.netlibrary.com/Details.aspx?ProductId=211718&Terms=&ReturnLabel=lnkSearchResults&ReturnPath=/Search/SearchResults.aspx

Looking Ahead with Freedom 4/20 - 4/25

National Volunteer Week (19- 25)

Monday

"Poetry Club" 3- 4 pm


Tuesday

"Storytime" 10- noon

"Unplugged Gaming" 2:30- 4 pm

"Da' Circle" 3- 4:30 pm
- A new program just for teenage girls. This is a place to talk about issues and concerns and get support.

"Growing Green in the Kitchen" 7- 8:30 pm
- Learn how to grow healthy vegetables and herbs in pots without taking over your windowsill or kitchen.


Wednesday - Earth Day

"Storytime" 10- noon
- Storytime for the very little ones.

"Script Frenzy" 3- 4 pm
- Work on your script or start a new one. April is script writing month, and every Wednesday, we're here to help you on your way.

"Freedom Film Series" 6- 8 pm
- Speaking of scripts, we have afternoon movies in April. This week; Robin Hood, Men in Tights.


Saturday

"Think College" 9 am - 1 pm
- Call Think College @ 416-4232 to get in on the action.

Special Saturday Update

I had the day off yesterday...

And speaking of my day off, I did what all librarians do with a free Friday - I cataloged my home collection of books. For real.

You find yourself wondering, how do libraries catalog? Or, how to libraries know if a book is in another library?

We use a tool called Worldcat.

Worldcat is short for Worldwide Catalog. It is a web resource that allows users to browse a single catalog interface, then see which libraries have the item in collection.

Items don't even have to be books. Movies, sound recordings, articles and serials can all be searched for.

The Charlotte public library system has made Worldcat available to patrons- and its easy to find, here's how:

On the PLCMC homepage, choose the Research/Homework tab in the top middle

and Worldcat is the last option.



Worldcat is available for use from home- just provide your library barcode number when prompted and you'll on your way. Computers in the library automatically pull up Worldcat without needing to add your barcode. This also works with laptops in the branches using the public wifi.

If you do not live in Charlotte, or don't have a library card, you can still harness the awesome power of Worldcat- with Open Worldcat.

Open Worldcat can be found at worldcat.org/. That's it- no library card required. Open Worldcat has less cataloging information, but will still show you items in libraries near you, and provide a link to the library's online catalog. Generally, from there you can find cataloging information.

You can read more about Open Worldcat and see more links by visiting my website about it. Go to www.devinsingley.com/worldcat. There, I show a comparison between the full and open versions of the same book, and provide links to more Worldcat resources.

Don't Forget About Earth Day

The Freedom Regional Library has a lot going on.

Thursday morning (tomorrow), from 10:30 to noon, we will be hosting an Earth Day event for adults and seniors.

Celebrate Earth Day with Recycle Art
In celebration of Earth Day join in the fun and learn how to create unique art gifts from recyclable materials that you have at home.
For more info, call Dot Siler: (704) 416-4206


And thats not all. Coming up next week there is an event (also for adults and seniors) about making your own home a little greener. Earthier with vegetables!


Growing Green in the Kitchen
Learn how to grow healthy vegetables and herbs in pots without taking over your windowsill or kitchen.
Date: Tuesday, 4/21/2009 at 7:00 PM (Program Length: 1 hour and 30 minutes)
Call Dot: (704) 416-4206

We have plenty of books about growing plants and vegetables in the library! Upstairs in the reference department, just look for the number 641.5636. (That's just one example, we have several books and sections.)


See all the library's upcoming events.

Looking Ahead with Freedom 4/13 - 4/18

This week is National Library Week!

Monday

"Cultural Exposure" 3- 5 pm
- We'll be screening Through My Eyes, a 2006 documentary showing young people from Rwanda and how they view the world.

Tuesday

"Storytime" 10- noon
- Storytime for the little ones.

"Wii Got Game" 2:30- 4 pm
- Hang out after school and improve your video game skills.

Wednesday

"Storytime" 10- noon
- Storytime for the very little ones.

"Script Frenzy" 3- 4 pm
- Work on your script or start a new one. April is script writing month, and every Wednesday, we're here to help you on your way.

"Freedom Film Series" 6- 8 pm
- Speaking of scripts, we have afternoon movies in April. This week, enjoy Blazing Saddles. *Anyone under the age of 17 will need parental permission or accompanyment.

Thursday

"Celebrate Earth Day" 10:30- noon
- Geared for seniors, this program is about Earth Day, gardens and planting.

Friday

"Friday Cinema" 3- 4:30 pm
- In celebration of National Library Week, we have a special library themed movie for Friday.

Pride and Prejudice and...

Zombies.


I've been geeking out over this for a little while now. Really, since January when the book got mentioned on NPR's Wait, Wait... Don't Tell Me (best game show ever).

I was holding back on talking about this book on the blog, but, this week Library Journal reviewed it. THEN to make things ever better, I saw that the Freedom Library is getting a copy! I've included a link at the bottom to this book in the catalog. From there, you can request the book or have it put on hold for you.

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies is a parody, of sorts, on Jane Austin's classic novel. Basically, co-author Seth Grahame-Smith added scenes of zombie attacks to the text of Pride and Prejudice. I'm not sure why this fascinates me, but it does.

I once saw author David Sedaris read live. He took time from his work to read passages from and sell the audience on The Zombie Survival Guide by Max Brooks (Mel Brooks' son- thus tying this post to the previous post about Genius Film.)

I haven't read it yet- but once the library gets its copy, I will, and then post my review here.

See it in the catalog
Read the Library Journal review

Anime Club

Once a month the Freedom Regional Anime Club meets. And this Wednesday (today) is the day.

Club meets at 3 pm, and today will screen an episode from three different shows. Slayers, Mushi Shi and Evangelion.

Anime programs are shown in their native language with English subtitles. All videos are pre-screened by library staff to ensure quality. (Most Anime programs are unrated, and we make sure screened content is not too graphic or violent. You know, with in reason.)

The club is free and open. You don't have to have been to any previous meetings to come to this one (or the next one, or one after that). The Anime club is open to all ages, but is generally geared towards a high school aged audience.

May's club meeting will likely not be on the second Wednesday- so please check back with the blog to see when the next meeting will be.

Looking Ahead with Freedom 4/6 - 4/11

Tuesday
"Rise and Shine Story Time" starts at 10 am
- This is a regular weekly program that reads books to small children.

"Unplugged" 2:30 - 4 pm
- Everybody's favorite gaming hour. Think you can win at Jenga? Can get down to Uno? Give it a shot at Unplugged.

Wednesday
"Preschool Storytime" 10 am
- Little books for very little listeners.

"Anime Club" starts @ 3 pm

"Script Frenzy" 3- 4 pm
- Work on your script or update us on your status.

"Freedom Film Series"
-April is Mel Brooks month. This Wednesday, join us for the classic Spaceballs.

Thursday


Friday
"Poetry Club" starts @ 3:30 pm

Saturday
"Think College" 9 am - 1 pm
- Plan for college.

You should check this out...

Get it? Check it out, libraries...

Neil deGrasse Tyson, astrophysicist and all around cool guy has a new book out.

The Pluto Files (released Jan. 2009) chronicles the rise and fall of Pluto, America's favorite (ex-) Planet. Included in this book are angry letters Dr. Tyson received from school children (following Pluto's demotion), cartoons, explanations and plenty of pictures.

The best part is, you don't have to be a physics grad-student to read and understand this material. The Pluto Files is written in a fun and entertaining language.

You'll learn such amazing things as how Pluto got it's name (and any connection it has to a famous dog), how planets are found, what else is in our solar system, and what exactly a planet is.

Tyson is the director of the Hayden Planetarium at the American Museum of Natural History.


The library system has 6 copies. You can have this book right after I'm done reading it.

Mel Brooks Month at Freedom

"Humor is just another defense against the universe." - Mel Brooks

Mel Brooks is a funny dude. His career has now spanned over five decades. Brooks is probably best known for his classic comedies Blazing Saddles (1974) and Young Frankenstein (1974).

The Freedom Film Series will be showing the best of Brooks' work during the month of April.

Here's a run down of the schedule;

4/1 - Dracula: Dead and Loving It (1995) PG-13
4/8 - Spaceballs (1987) PG
4/15 - Blazing Saddles (1974) R**
4/22 - Robin Hood: Men in Tights (1993) PG-13
4/29 - Young Frankenstein (1974) PG


**Anyone under 17 must have parental guidance or permission for R-rated films.