Birmingham Public Library Blog

The 2021 Pulitzer Prize winners in Journalism, Books, Drama and Music were announced on June 11th at Columbia University in New York City.  Biographical information on this year’s winners and finalists is available at Pulitzer.org .  The following is a list of the winners in Books, Drama, and Music. There are links to the catalog for items that are available in the library system. Books with an asterisk (*) are available in more than one format.  Fiction ** The Night Watchman by Louise Erdrich (Harper) Finalists: A Registry of My Passage Upon the Earth by Daniel Mason (Little, Brown and Company) Telephone by Percival Everett (Graywolf Press) Drama The Hot Wing King by Katori Hall Finalists: Circle Jerk by Michael Breslin and Patrick Foley Stew by Zora Howard History Franchise: The Golden Arches in Black America by Marcia Chatelain (Liveright/Norton) Finalists: The Deviant’s War: The Homosexual vs. the United States of America by Eric Cervini (Farrar, Straus and Giroux) The Thr

By Gelenda Norman| Central Library Youth Department Kick off your 2021 Juneteenth weekend by joining the Birmingham Public Library’s first in-person Read-In for Justice. This nationally-recognized program will be held from 10:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. on Friday, June 18, the eve of the annual Juneteenth  celebration. It will take place in Learning Tree Park adjacent to the Five Points West Library , 4812 Ave. W (across from the Birmingham Complex ).  Previous Read-In for Justice programs were held virtually on the Birmingham Public Library Facebook page .  This will be the first held outdoors for the public, allowing in-person participation.  Read-In for Justice was formed in June 2020 amid national protests of racial injustice sparked by the death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police . After racial protests were held across the country including Birmingham , Rachel Estes, Outreach Coordinator of Canterbury United Methodist Church , learned of a similar event held in Hun

Is your child in need of tutoring help this summer? The Birmingham Public Library is calling rising second and third graders in the Birmingham City School System to take advantage of our free Literacy Leaders Tutoring Services. The program starts Monday, June 14, and runs through July 22.   Registration is now open! Please call the following 5 Birmingham Public Library locations to enroll:   *  Central  Library - (205) 226-3655 *   Avondale  Library - (205) 226-4003 *  Five Points West  Library - (205) 226-4017 *  North Birmingham  Library - (205) 226-4026 *  Springville Road  Library - (205) 226-4085 BPL's Literacy Leaders Tutoring Services are funded by a $16,000 grant the Friends Foundation of the Birmingham Public Library received from the Community Foundation of Greater Birmingham . The program aims to address learning deficits among young children, brought on by remote and hybrid learning formats due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Birmingham Public Library thanks the Commun

BPL's Grab n Go Fox Craft activity is Friday, June 11 at 10:00 a.m . The first of 14 free "grab n go craft" Birmingham Public Library Summer Learning activities kick off this week.  The Artic Fox craft activity video, available for all ages, airs on  BPL's Facebook page  on Friday, June 11 at 10:00 a.m. Every week throughout June and July, p articipants will learn how to make items such as leather bracelets, door hangers, animal masks, key chains, and animal bookmarks.  Swing by your local BPL branch to pick up free "grab n go" kits containing supplies needed to create your craft ahead of each scheduled craft event.  Two of BPL's "Grab n' Go" crafts are sponsored by the Birmingham Museum of Art: June 18 and July 9.     You can find a link to all 40-plus BPL 2021 Summer Learning programs and craft activities on the BPL events calendar or download a printable listing by clicking on  www.cobpl.org/SummerLearning All 2021 Summer Learning prog

The Birmingham Public Library Board of Trustees has approved new extended public service hours for all 18 BPL locations that go into effect next week.  Beginning Monday, June 14, 2021, in-person service hours will be extended at 18 Birmingham Public Library locations on a select schedule until 6:00 p.m. This will assist patrons who work until 5:00 p.m. by allowing them to visit their favorite libraries after work.  Beginning, Monday, June 14, 2021, curbside service will be available at 18 Birmingham Public Library locations from 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. Monday through Friday.  The new in-person public service hours by library location are on the flyer above.   In addition to these services, BPL also provides a Books by Mail service for patrons unable to visit our locations, including the elderly and disabled. You can reach Books by Mail by calling (205) 226-3758. BPL reminds the public that our libraries remain open 24/7 online, allowing patrons to continue to check out e-books, audioboo

 By Mary Beth Newbill| Central Library Southern History Department  The Birmingham Public Library's Southern History Department has several free virtual genealogy programs underway as part of  2021 BPL Summer Learning. The genealogy series kicked off on Tuesday, June 8, with the popular Intro to Genealogy workshop . That program covers such topics as how to begin researching your family tree using vital records, courthouse documents the Federal Census, and other materials. The other programs, all offered viz Zoom, are as follows:  Mad About Magazines, Tuesday, June 22, 2021, at 12:00 p.m.  If you're not using periodicals in your family history research, you're missing out on some great information. Find out what you can discover about your ancestors in the pages of a magazine. Registration link is below: http://www.cobpl.org/calendar/?trumbaEmbed=view%3Devent%26eventid%3D152538883   Researching Your House History, July 8, 2021, at 10:00 a.m.   Presented by the Library'

  The Central Library has a Pride Month Display that includes LGBTQ collection from BPL Archives.    As part of its recognition of Pride Month, the Birmingham Public Library is hosting a program at 10:00 a.m. this Thursday, June 10, called “Queer History with the Invisible Histories Project.”   This powerful discussion on the BPL Facebook page will focus on the Invisible Histories Project (IHP) , a Birmingham-based 501©3 organization that locates, preserves, researches, and creates for local communities an accessible collection of the rich and diverse history of LGBTQ life in the deep South. Currently, IHP collects in Alabama, Mississippi, and Georgia.  IHP acts as an intermediary between the Queer community and various institutions like universities, museums, archives, and libraries to preserve Southern LGBTQ histories. The Invisible Histories Project was co-founded by Joshua Burford and Maigen Sullivan and established as a nonprofit in October 2016. The Invisible Histories Projec