Are Libraries Obsolete?

Who needs libraries if you have Google and ebooks? A lot of people! Let me tell you why I think we will always need libraries. (Yes, I know I'm biased, but I'm also right.)

If a library was nothing but a building full of printed material, it might be obsolete - but it's not. As a matter of fact, our attendance figures are higher than they've ever been. Why? Look at the tag line on our website: your community center for information, technology, and culture. That explains it all.

Your Library is part of your community. It has people in it - both staff and patrons. Computers are not shared experiences - libraries are. While browsing the new books, you could ask your neighbor standing next to you what she has read lately - or ask a librarian for recommendations. You could participate in a program. You can hold a meeting of your organization. You can have books read to your children - or they can learn how to draw from an artist. You can ask for help with any kind of project. Let's face it, computers are nice, but people are much more important.

You can get information at your Library that is simply not available anywhere else. Look at a copy of the Natchez Democrat from the 1800's - or an old Natchez High annual - or a Natchez phone directory from the early days. When you look something up on Google, you frequently have no idea of its authenticity. But your Reference Librarian can show you how to use our collection of many databases that are not available via the internet - or cost mucho money to use elsewhere. Also, you may not even know how to get started looking for something, but your librarian does.

And if you want technology, your Library has it.  We may have the largest and most up to date collection of computers in our area, and they're all available FREE. We even have special computers with programs just for children - and they are almost always being used. Because Mississippi is the poorest state in the country, many of our citizens cannot afford the latest in technology. But everyone has access to the Library. Libraries have always been the great equalizers in society by making knowledge available to everyone regardless of economic status.

No community is complete without its culture, and the Library is its repository. You might be surprised at some of the programs that have been offered at your Library. (Follow us on facebook or twitter and find out.) We carry books by local and state authors. Some people think the New York Times (especially Sunday's) is the place to go for the latest in the national cultural scene. However, it's no longer available free online, but it is available free at your Library. By the way, there are those who think more and more of online information will be fee based - making Libraries even more important.

In summary, don't cut up your Library card just yet. You're going to be needing it for a long time to come.

Librarians Head to New Orleans

On Saturrday June 25th, eight library employees headed for New Orleans to attend the American Library Assosiation annual conference. I'm new to the Library, and this was my first ALA conference. It was pretty overwhelming. There were over twenty thousand attendees, wide eyed and eager to see the latest - including over five thousand venders displaying their wares.

We spent five hours trudging through exhibits with bags upon bags full of free samples of books, posters, gadgets, and many, many catalogs. We returned to Natchez tired but full of new ideas to help our patrons have a pleasant library experience. Be on the look out for new books and fun, interesting programs for everyone from kids to adults.

New Best Sellers

FICTION

Dead Reckoning by Charlaine Harris. The telepathic waitress Sookie Stackhouse seeks the culprit in a firebombing.

10th Anniversary by James Patterson and Maxine Paetro. Detective Lindsay Boxer and the Women's Murder Club race to find a missing baby.

Conviction by Aaron Allston. The Jedi Order has taken control of the Galactic Alliance. Meanwhile, Luke and Ben Skywalker are pursuing the evil entity Abeloth. A Star Wars novel.

Buried Prey by John Sandford. The Minneapolis detective Lucas Davenport investigates the murders of two girls who were kidnapped in 1985 and whose bodies have just been found.

The Jefferson Key by Steve Berry. The former government operative Cotton Malone foils an assassination attempt on the president and finds himself at dangerous odds with a secret society.

The Snowman by Jo Nesbo. The Oslo detective Harry Hole searches for a serial killer who builds snowmen outside the homes of his victims.

The Final Storm by Jeff Shaara. The three month struggle for Okinawa in 1945, from the perspectives of combatants on both sides.

Sixkill by Robert Parker. In the final Spenser novel, a woman dies in an actor's hotel room.

Caleb's Crossing by Geraldine Brooks. A Puritan missionary's daughter forms a bond with a scholarly Indian.

The Paris Wife by Paula McLain. Ernest Hemingway's first wife, Hadley, narrates this novel set in Paris.

NONFICTION

The Greater Journey by David McCullough. The historian explores the intellectual legacy that France settled on its 19th century visitors.

Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand. An Olympic runner's story of survival as a prisoner of the Japanese in World War II.

Seal Team Six by Howard Wasdin and Stephen Templin. An expert sniper and former member of the Navy Seals recounts his training and missions.

On China by Henry Kissinger. China and America are mutually dependent economic giants, Kissinger writes, but they need a design of partnership.

CHILDREN

A Picture Book of Amelia Earhart by David A. Adler and illustrated by Jeff Fisher. Readers glean a sense of Earhart's courage and determination.

A Picture Book of Eleanor Roosevelt by David A. Adler and illustrated by Robert Casilla. Key events are highlighted, from Roosevelt's early childhood to her role as representative to the United Nations.

A Picture Book of Thomas Alva Edison by Daivd A. Adler and illustrated by John and Alexandra Wallner. Provides interesting glimpses of an inquisitive youth who grew into a hard-working visionary.

TEENS

Jerk California by Jonathan Friesen. A compelling story about Sam, a high-school student with Tourette syndrome, who embarks on a cross country road trip to discover his roots and identity.

Beautiful Darkness by Kami Garcia. The much anticipated part two of the three part series Beautiful Creatures.

Grown Up Fun at Your Library

It's an encouraging trend that more and more libraries across the country are offering summer programs for adult readers. It's about time! Kids have had all the fun for years during the summer.

Here at Armstrong Library, we are in our second summer of adult programming. The theme this year is Novel Destinations, so our events are predominately travel related. On Thursdays through July 21 from 4-5:30 pm, we are presenting travel dvd's, individual accounts of interesting trips, and tips on taking better digital pictures. We'll also be watching and discussing the movie Eat, Pray, Love.

Once again we are having weekly drawings for recent hardback titles and theme related prizes. This activitiy was very popular with patrons last year, and there are plenty of entries again this year. Just fill out one entry form for each book read. Drawings are each Wednesday. Patrons willing to write a short book review to post on our bulletin board will receive a Novel Destinations book bag (while supplies last!) Click here for copies of both forms and details about the program.

If anyone has taken an especially exotic or beautiful trip and would like to share pictures and experiences with our group, please let us know.

Next month we will start a brown bag book discussion group. We will be reading Brad Watson's Aliens in the Prime of their Lives, a collection of short stories which recently won the Mississippi Institute of Arts and Letters 2011 Fiction prize. Participants will bring their lunches, and the Library will provide beverages. Please contact us to sign up.

We are always open to ideas for programs! If you have a skill or interest you'd like to share, or have a collection we might display in our front foyer display case, please let us know.

If you're on Facebook, be sure to friend Judge George Armstrong to receive updates on events. Also, National Public Radio has a wonderful book page on Facebook which has excellent interactive book lovers' information. It's NPR books. Who says the book is dead?!

Have a great summer and keep on reading!

"No more pencils, no more books, no more teacher's dirty looks!"

"No more pencils, no more books, no more teacher's dirty looks!" I remember singing this Alice Cooper song when I was a kid.

Yes, school was out for summer. No more homework, no more getting up early to catch the bus. All the way home I fantasized about playing outside all day with my friends - staying up late at night watching movies rather than doing homework.

Yes, my summer was planned, and I thought I would never get bored. However, that idea was short lived. By mid June, several of my friends were away at camp or on family vacation. I had nothing to do, and nowhere to go. All I had left was to stand on my head and spit wooden nickles, as my mother suggested.

That was until I went to my local public library and found out they were running a summer program for middle schoolers. The library was going to put on a puppet show, and we got to make the puppets and the stage. I signed up immediately and went to the first meeting and had a great time. I made some new friends. I learned all about puppets and made one of my own. We read Pinocchio as a group read.

The last day we had a big party, and we performed our puppet play for the smaller children and our parents. That summer made a difference in my life. Ms Patty was the library assistant, who was a college student working at the library for the summer. She was cool, and she was fun, so she made the library cool and fun, too. I was always a reader, but this experience made me a library user for life. That was back in the days of tie dye and bell bottom jeans, back in a time when we thought summer lasted forever.

Now this may be the 21st century, and kids today may have so much more to occupy their time, but I still hear kids telling their moms they are bored, that they have nothing to do. So my suggestion is to get them down to your Library and sign up for the free Summer Library Program. Let us help make your kids library users for life.

PreK - Grade 5

We are offering something for everybody in the family. One World, Many Stories is for children from preK through grade 5, You Are Here is for tweens and teens from grade 6 through 12, and Novel Destinations is our Adult program. We will have special guests and speakers to read stories and share interesting facts about different cultures. There will be games, crafts, and prizes. Most importantly, the kids will keep up their reading skills and make new friends while having fun learning.


So don't get stuck standing in the corner spitting wooden nickels all summer come see whats happening at your local library.

New Best Sellers

FICTION

The Sixth Man by David Baldacci. The lawyer for an alleged serial killer is murdered, and two former Secret Service agents are on the case.

The Land of the Painted Caves by Jean M Auel. The latest volume in a series that began with The Clan of the Cave Bear, set during the ice age.

Bel Air Dead by Stuart Woods. In this Stone Barrington novel, the New York lawyer makes enemies when he represents a widow in the sale of a movie studio.

A Turn in the Road by Debbie Macomber. A middle age woman takes a cross country road trip with her daughter and former mother in law.

The Fifth Witness by Michael Connelly. The lawyer Mickey Haller represents a woman facing home foreclosure and who is accused of killing a banker.

Born of Shadows by Sherrilyn Kenyon. In the Ichidian universe, a smuggler and a woman warrior must fight together to survive - a League novel.

I'll Walk Alone by Mary Higgins Clark. A woman haunted by the disappearance of her young son discovers that someone has stolen her identity.

Chasing Fire by Nora Roberts. A smoke jumper faces a new season of firefighting in Montana after the loss of her partner.

Save Me by Lisa Scottoline. A mother’s action during a school emergency causes an uproar in a Philadelphia suburb.

44 Charles Street by Danielle Steel. The owner of a Greenwich Village town house takes in boarders and bonds with her tenants.

Eve by Iris Johansen. The forensic sculptor Eve Duncan searches for answers to the mystery of her daughter’s disappearance.

The Lost Fleet. Beyond the Frontier: Dreadnaught by Jack Campbell. Captain Black Jack Geary and his fleet search for aliens in Syndic space.

NONFICTION

Bossypants by Tina Fey. A memoir from the creator of 30 Rock.

I'm Over All That by Shirley MacLaine. The actress offers observations on what remains important to her.







CHILDREN

A Sick Day for Amos McGee by Philip Christian Stead.  Zookeeper Amos McGee always makes time to visit his friends who live at the zoo until the day he stays home because he is sick.

Gooney Bird Is So Absurd by Lois Lowry and illustrated by Middy Thomas.  Mrs Pidgeon’s second grade class studies poetry and her students write haiku, couplets, free verse, and finally, a tribute to Mrs. Pidgeon’s mother that was organized by the irrepressible Gooney Bird Greene.

Make Way for Dyamonde Daniel by Nikki Grimes and illustrated by R Gregory Christie.  Spunky third grader Dyamonde Daniel misses her old neighborhood, but when she befriends a boy named Free, another new student at school, she finally starts to feel at home.

Top Secret, Personal Beeswax: A Journal by Junie B and Me by Barbara Park.  Junie B Jones shares her thoughts and personal pictures in this journal that allows the user to include information about themselves.

The Prince Is Coming to Natchez

Earlier I posted an article about the Prince from Natchez, and the film about him. Now the film is coming to Natchez.

Film & Conversation

Prince Among Slaves is an award winning PBS documentary about the fascinating life of Abdul Rahman, a West African prince enslaved in Natchez, Mississippi for 40 years, who through improbable circumstances won his freedom and became one of the most famous men of his day.

Sunday, June 5, 2:30 — 5:30 pm
City Auditorium
FREE and open to the public

Special guest Terry Alford, author of the book upon which the film is based, will introduce the film, describing how he came to write this story and how it became a film.

Following the film, the audience will break into small groups to talk about the film. Leading the conversation will be special guest Amad Shakur, founder of the Center for the African Diaspora, a research institute in Charlotte, North Carolina.



All attendees will receive a free DVD of the film and are invited to attend a reception with refreshments following the event to honor the guest speakers at the NAPAC Museum.

Event Partners:

• Alcorn State University
• Antioch Missionary Baptist Association
• Bluff City Post
• City of Natchez
• Copiah Lincoln Community College
• Friends of the Armstrong Library
• Historic Natchez Foundation
• Judge George Armstrong Library
• NAACP
• Natchez Association for the Preservation of Afro American Culture
• Natchez Convention & Visitors Bureau
• Natchez Historical Society
• National Endowment for the Humanities
• National Park Service
• Unity Productions Foundation