Welcome
to the
April
2008
In
This Month’s Edition
Web
Picks: Cool Stuff on the Web
No
closings in April.
This
year, the library will participate in the 4th Annual Spring
Chicken Festival which will be held in Gainesville the week of April
19th through the 26th. There will be exhibits, demos,
crafts, movies, a garden expo, a cook-off and a Miss Chick contest.
On
Tuesday, April 22nd, Jeanne Hozak and Gail Hogan will be
available at the Georgia Mountain Center from 4:00 p.m. until 7:00 p.m. with
information about the library and to sign up patrons for library cards.
Gail Hogan, along with Brad Strickland, a local author, will give a presentation
after the dinner and a movie. There will also be a book signing for Harris
Blackwood, author of Sweet Tea and Sweet Jesus.
On
Saturday, April 26th, there will be a booth set up at
Roosevelt Square from 8:00 a.m. until 4:00 p.m., where Jeanne Hozak and Marion
Hunter will be available with information about the library and to sign up
patrons for library cards.
“Hop
on the Dummies Express”
Stop
by the Blackshear Place Branch and to see their new “Hop on the Dummies Express”
train-themed display. The branch has entered into a contest to win 50 new
Dummies books for the library system. There will also be woodpecker art on
display through mid-April.
Book
Club at Blackshear Place
The
Blackshear Place Branch is in the process of starting a new Book Club. Those
interested in participating are invited to attend an organizational meeting on
April 22 at 6pm. The group will be discussing what kind of books will be used
along with other details. For more information, contact Janine
Cline
at 770-532-3311 ext. 155.
Read
to the Dogs
Children
are invited to “Read to the Dogs” at Blackshear Place on April 1 from 3-4
pm. The program is also held on Wednesdays at the Clermont Branch. To save
a spot for your child to read to one of our four legged visitors, come by the
library or call to make an appointment. The dogs are registered with Atlanta
Therapaws, Therapy Dogs international. Your child will remember this for a
lifetime!
Kids
and Kritters
Kelley
Uber of the Hall County Humane Society will visit Blackshear Place Library on
Thursday, April 24 at 3:00 p.m. Come join her for stories and find out what
surprise guests she will bring for her “Kids and Kritters”
program.
The
library system offers free computer classes including Introduction to
Email, Introduction to the Internet, Advanced Email,
Introduction
to MS PowerPoint, Word Processing Basics and
Introduction
to MS Publisher.
Classes are taught by trained library staff and are free to the public. Classes
will be held in the computer training labs at the Blackshear Place Branch and
the Gainesville Branch. For more
information please click here
or call 770-532-3311.
|
The art of
Elaine Howard will be featured in the gallery at Hall County
Library/Headquarters from April 1 through May 14. Ms. Howard was introduced to the
world of art at an early age, completing her first oil painting of
Portland Headlight Lighthouse at eight years of age. She later
continued her studies, completing her Bachelor of fine arts degree from
Syracuse University, New York and some graduate studies at Louisiana State
University. Ms. Howard
has always been fascinated with color, water reflections and wave
movements. She has traveled extensively throughout the U.S., the
British Isles and the Hawaiian Islands, accumulating a plethora of
reference photos. Her personal works of art reflect her interests
and broad experience. |
The next pajama
storytimes will be held at 6:30 p.m. at the
Gainesville
Branch (with special guest reader Deborah
Mack) on April 7 and at the Blackshear
Place branch on April 15. Everyone is
welcome. Children may wear their jammies and bring their favorite bedtime
buddy.
Winter
session of Baby Steps infant lapsits and
preschool storytimes are in session. Storytimes are held at the Gainesville,
Blackshear Place, and Murrayville branches. Schedules are available in
all branch locations and complete information is on the library
website. You can also call the branch for
more information.
Jump Start Reading
Club
(for children who cannot read on their own) and Reading Patch
Club
(for K-5 students who can read on their own) are currently in session. There are
new guidelines for participation in Reading Patch Club so be sure to click on
the link to check them out. These programs end for this school year the day
before the Memorial Day holiday in May.
Summer Reading Club 2008 begins June
2. Click here for more information or ask in any
branch. Final plans should be made by May 1.
New
titles for children and teens
Dimity Dumpty: The Story of Humpty’s Little
Sister
by Bob Graham
Everyone knows what happened to Humpty
Dumpty, but now we learn about his brave little sister
who came to his aid. (EFC)
Lily Brown’s
Paintings by Angela
Johnson
Lily’s everyday world becomes magical
through her imagination and paintings. (EFC)
Happy Birthday, Mrs.
Piggle-Wiggle by Betty
MacDonald
Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle works her usual
magic while the children are working some of their own—planning a boisterous
birthday bash for everyone’s favorite problem solver.
(JFC)
Desperate
Journey
by Jim Murphy
In the mid-1800s, with both her father
and her uncle in jail on an alleged assault charge, Maggie, her brother, and her
ailing mother rush their bare along the Erie Canal to deliver their heavy cargo
or lose everything. (JFC)
Feels Like
Home
by e. E. Charlton-Trujillo
Following the death of her father,
17-year-old Michelle’s older brother—who had disappeared six years
earlier—returns to their small Texas town where, with the help of S.E. Hinton’s
The Outsiders, the two siblings try to find a way to move beyond a past tragedy.
(YAF)
The Extraordinary Adventures of Alfred
Kropp by Rick
Yancey
Through a series of dangerous
misadventures, teenage loser Alfred Kropp rescues King Arthur’s legendary sword
Excaliber from the forces of evil. (YAF)
New
titles in the adult area:
The
Appeal
by John Grisham
“Filled with deadly
accurate characterizations by an author who knows both the law and politics from
the inside.”
Change of
Heart by Jodi
Picoult
“Picoult moves the story
along with lively debates about prisoner rights and religion, while plumbing the
depths of mother-daughter relationships and examining the literal and
metaphorical meanings of having heart.”
Remember
Me? by Sophie
Kinsella
What if you woke up and
didn't recognize your life? What if you lost three years of memory--and
everything had changed in that time?
Gang Leader for a Day: A
Rogue Sociologist Takes to the Streets by Sudhir
Venkatesh
“Honest and
entertaining, Columbia University professor Venkatesh vividly recounts his seven
years following and befriending a Chicago crack-dealing gang in a fascinating
look into the complex world of the Windy City's urban
poor.”
The Good Rat: A True
Story by Jimmy
Breslin
“Breslin, renowned
journalist and author of The Gang That Couldn't Shoot Straight, revisits
a familiar wise-guy milieu in this collection of stories and anecdotes about the
mob. His writing, like the Mafia itself, breezily transitions from humorous to
horrifying as he regales the reader with loosely connected tales of mistaken
identity, crooked cops, snitches and
murder.”
The Geography of Bliss:
One Grump’s Search for the Happiest Place on Earth
by Eric
Weiner
“Weiner set out on a
yearlong quest to find the world's unheralded happy places. Having worked for
years as an NPR foreign correspondent, he'd gone to many obscure spots, but
usually to report bad news or terrible tragedies. Now he'd travel to countries
like Iceland, Bhutan, Qatar, Holland, Switzerland, Thailand and India to try to
figure out why residents tell positive psychology researchers that they're
actually quite happy.”
Lunch
& Learn Continues
The
Lunch & Learn Gardening Series continues this year in the Gainesville Branch
meeting room. Come at noon each week and bring your lunch to learn how to
improve your gardening skills. Join us for the following sessions during
April:
April
2
Pat DeNote, Indoor Plants
April
9
Fran Henry, Gardening for Birds and
Butterflies
April
16
Waterwise Georgia Garden
April
23
Janelle Whalen, Kitchen Gardens
April
30
Mary Wenger, Growing and Propagating
Hydrangeas
Scrapbooking
Workshop
There
will be ongoing Scrapbooking Workshops once a month at the Blackshear Place
Branch. The next meeting is
scheduled for Monday, April
14th from 5 to 7:30pm. Experienced scrapbooker Arneshia Echols
will demonstrate useful techniques and creative ideas to showcase family
memories or create clever pages for your memorabilia. Experienced scrappers and
“newbies” are welcome, but advanced registration is required. Beginners may
purchase an optional starter kit for $12, payable upon registration. Attendees
are encouraged to bring their own photos or clippings. Please call 770-532-3311
ext. 151 for more information.
Crazy
Craft Class
The Crazy Craft
Classes will meet again this month at the Gainesville Branch. Making
Jewelry is the next series to be taught and this month, on Tuesday,
April 29th at 5:30 p.m., the class will make earrings. The
classes are free of charge and open to the public. If you do not have your
own supplies, however, supplies can be purchased the night of the class.
Space is limited, so please call to register at 770-532-331, ext.
114.
Donating
a book to the library in honor or memory of a loved one is a great way to show
affection. Titles of suggested book donations are listed on the library’s
Amazon.com Wish List. For the price
of a book, anyone can help the library keep the most current materials
available. To view the list, see the library
website
and follow the link to amazon.com.
Book donors may request that a commemorative plate be placed inside the
front cover of the book in recognition of a loved one or to honor a special
occasion. The Hall County Library System is a non-profit government agency
and a charitable 501(C) (3) organization; therefore, all donations are tax
deductible. The library is pleased
to announce that it has now received 200 plus books through this
program.
Dear
Patron,
The first librarian I ever worked
under remains the most memorable. Dick taught me to always be fair, give your
employees enough rope to hang themselves but recognize that those looking to
improve the workplace make mistakes. He only got upset when you made the same
mistake twice.
Dick ran away from home several times
before joining the army prior to World War II at the ripe age of 16. He had
problems with his mother and his dad agreed the service was best for the family.
I could tell a thousand stories about Dick but he was a man that at 65 still
visited his second and third grade teachers. He worked a wheat farm one summer
and fifty years later was still visiting the farmer and his wife.
He was captured when the Japanese
overran the Philippines, escaped and fell back into enemy hands when Corregidor
fell. He was on a prison transport vessel as part of that Japanese convoy --
allied submarines attacked but his ship managed to come through unscathed.
Repatriated on the main island after spending the remaining years of the war
shoveling coal in a steel mill, he returned to visit the mill as an honorary
guest when he was on three year assignment from the U.S. Air Force to teach
Japanese Air Self Defense pilots enough English to communicate with American
pilots. He had learned perfect Japanese while
incarcerated.
He became a librarian following the
war using the GI Bill. He attended Carnegie Tech, worked as a county librarian
in Tennessee, then joined the Air Force at the outbreak of the Korean War. He
had had enough of the army. He spent the remainder of his service working war
colleges on both sides of this continent or on loan to the Greek Air Force and
later the Japanese Defense.
He was an interesting man, not always
an easy man to work for but he was always fair and tried to do the right thing.
I never heard him raise his voice but on several occasions when in his office I
caused him to clamp down on his pipe, face red, and tell me he had to take a
walk. (Sometimes I am a little more hard headed then necessary for my own good.)
Having watched him face down more than one Full Bird Colonel – we lived in a
community where they were a dime a dozen – I knew he had probably mastered the
colorful art of the military put down. He respected himself more then to resort
to such techniques with underlings and would not stand for it from those that
thought too highly of themselves.
He rode a motorcycle and his idea of
fun was to take a month’s vacation and put 500 to 600 miles on his bike every
day. He prided himself on having a six-pack bladder and cast iron rear. With the
time he had given to his country he more than earned his eccentricities – and he
had many.
When you next see a librarian make no
assumption that the person is some meek, mild, bookish individual prone to
spending time alone, locked away from the world. I have known more than one Dick
since I started this profession.
Hope to catch you in the stacks
reading.
Adrian Mixson
Library
Director
To
get more information on your library account, please call the library’s
Circulation Manager at 770-532-3311 ext. 110 or visit the
library
website
and enter your account through the
library's catalog. You will need your library card and pin number, which
may be obtained by visiting any library branch. You may also email the
Circulation
Manager
for additional information.
Web
Picks: Cool Stuff on the Web
Get
Ready for Income Tax Time
www.irs.gov:
Get downloadable
federal income tax forms and instructions, along with much more.
Georgia
Forms: Downloadable Georgia
income tax forms and instructions.
History: The history of income tax in the United
States.
Editors
For
more information please call (770) 532-3311 ext. 134 or visit our website at
http://www.hallcountylibrary.org/
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