Birmingham Public Library Blog

    Dr. A.G. Gaston, 1892-1996 Today's 2024 Black History Month Spotlight is on the late  Dr. A.G. Gaston,  who amassed a business empire worth over $40 million by the time of his death at age 103 in 1992 and was  named by Black Enterprise as the Black Entrepreneur of the 20th Century. Gaston's business principles, which include  "Find a Need and Fill It,"  are the subject of the annual  A.G. Gaston Conference , founded in 2005 by  Bob Dickerson  of the  Birmingham Business Resource Center  and  Gaynelle Adams Jackson  of  Advanced Planning Services .  The 2024 A.G. Gaston Conference begins next Tuesday, February 13 and concludes Wednesday, February 14 at the  Birmingham Jefferson Convention Complex .   To register, click here.  The Birmingham Public Library has several books on Gaston , including  Black Titan: The Making of a Black American Millionaire , (by Carol Jenkins and Elizabeth G...

Tania De'Shawn is host of the poetry workshop happening Feb. 13 at Central Library. A free writing workshop paying tribute to Brian Hawkins, best known by his poetry moniker Voice Porter, will be held next Tuesday, February 13, 5:30 - 6:30 p.m. at the  Central Library in downtown Birmingham.  The "Poetry at Park Place" writing workshop will be led by Birmingham's Tania De'Shawn Russell , who has hosted "Be Gentle with Black Girls" workshops at the Birmingham Public Library, based on her book of the same name. Last year, Tania won a fellowship from the Magic City Poetry Festival in which she will present events in partnership with the Birmingham Public Library .  “Poetry on Park Place will be a home for writers to come and connect while building their craft," Tania said. "We’ll explore the talent that has built Alabama’s writing scene while crafting a spoken word album that pays homage to Birmingham.”  Poetry on Park Place is a free, generativ...

  Celebrate Black History Month with free movie screenings at the Birmingham Public Library all February long.  The movies include a showing of "The Color Purple" on February 17 at Five Points West Regional Library, a "Black Girls and Women in Magic and Fantasies" movie every Thursday in February at East Ensley Branch Library, and Black History-inspired movies every Wednesday at Smithfield Library. Counting these movies, BPL is hosting 81 Black History Month programs in our libraries across Birmingham during February .    See details about the movies below:  Friday Movie Matinee, West End Branch Library, today,  Friday, February 9, 3:30 -5:30 p.m.  Enjoy a movie and a snack at West End Branch.   "Black Girls and Women in Magic and Fantasies," Thursdays at 3:00 p.m. at East Ensley Branch Library East Ensley Library, 900 14th Street Ensle y, is hosting a movie screening every Thursday of February at 3:00 p.m. to highlight Black Girls and Women in...

The new blood pressure kiosk is ready for patron use at the West End Branch. Monique Mullins of Jefferson County Health Dept. shows West End Library employee Ursula Walker how to use the kiosk . Birmingham, Ala. -  The Birmingham Public Library offers so much more than free access to the Internet/public computer usage, and a place to check out books and DVDs. Now thanks to a partnership with the Jefferson County Department of Health and the West End Branch, patrons will have the ability to keep track of their blood pressure by using the new blood pressure kiosk that was installed on February 6, 2024. According to the Alabama Department of Health, high blood pressure is often called "the silent killer" because it usually has no warning signs or symptoms until serious issues arise. The state health department says in 2021, over 42 percent of Alabamians reported having high blood pressure. Having high blood pressure increases your risk for heart disease and stroke, the first...

  The Birmingham Public Library  is excited to announce the opening of two new art exhibitions at downtown’s Central Library .  Misty Bennett: Candy Crush  and Stacey Holloway: Othernesses  are the most recent installments of this year’s Art for Everyone  series.   Misty Bennett: Candy Crush features vibrant oil paintings that express Bennett's perspective on both the surplus and scarcity of food in American society. Her abstract imagery is inspired by the expressive power of color and texture, which she uses to explore the notion of food as a metaphor for our psychological and emotional states of being.  Bennett teaches at the University of Montevallo . She holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Painting from the Savannah College of Art and Design and a Master of Fine Arts in Drawing and Painting from the University of Georgia.   Her work has been exhibited across the Southeast, most recently at the Alabama State Council for the Arts Ga...

  The Birmingham Public Library is excited to announce the opening of two new art exhibitions at downtown’s Central Library .  Stacey Holloway: Othernesses and Misty Bennett: Candy Crush are the most recent installments of this year’s Art for Everyone  series. Stacey Holloway: Othernesses features intriguing animal sculptures and other creations by artist Stacey Holloway. Holloway is an active national mixed media artist, sculptor, and fabricator who works within a variety of media, including drawing, printmaking, sculpture, ceramics, and interactivity. Through the exploration of storytelling and ethology , she creates work that communicates a universal societal connectivity. Holloway received her MFA from the University of Minnesota in 2009, her BFA from Herron School of Art and Design/IUPUI in 2006, and has been living and working in Birmingham, Alabama since 2013. She currently serves as the Associate Professor of Sculpture at the University of Alabama at Birmingham...

Get more—and save more—out of your library card by taking advantage of everything the Birmingham Public Library (BPL)  has to offer.  Libby and Hoopla are both library apps that allow you to read digital materials for free, and you can access these apps on almost any smart device.  You may like one over the other, but each app provides a different user experience and offers different features!

Calling all student writers!  North Avondale Branch Library is holding a Black History Month Essay Contest! We want to know who is your favorite black historical figure. Tell us about their achievements and what you admire about them.