Birmingham Public Library Blog

Join us for our annual tradition with Birmingham storyteller and actress Dolores Hydock as she presents A Christmas Memory . Truman Capote's poignant reminiscence of his boyhood in rural Alabama is brought to vivid life in this wonderful holiday performance. Wednesday, December 5, noon. There will be an encore performance Tuesday, December 11, at 6:30 p.m., at the Central Library. Feed your body and mind at BPL's Brown Bag Lunch programs . You bring the lunch and we'll bring the drinks. Central Library, Linn Henley Research Building, Arrington Auditorium, 4th floor. For more information call 226-3604 or visit www.bplonline.org.

Staff and Friends at the 2007 Christmas Parade Do you love your library? Do you love a parade? This Tuesday, December 4 , supporters of the Birmingham Public Library will be marching in the city's annual downtown Christmas parade. Having a throng following the BPL banner will not only celebrate the library's importance to our community, it will be a show of support for an institution we need and love. Bring your kids, your friends, your neighbors, your current crush. If you would like to join the parade, please meet at Kelley Ingram Park at 4:30 p.m. , sporting some form of holiday gear (reindeer antlers, Santa hat, sleigh bells) and ready to walk. If you would like to make a poster to carry in the parade, we suggest these slogans: Winning Minds Start @ Birmingham Public Library; We ♥ BPL; Friends of BPL JOIN US; Use Your L!brary Voice; Support Public Libraries in Birmingham. Hope to see you there! With bells on! Regina Ammon, President Friends of the Birmingha...

The Birmingham Public Library would like to thank all of our wonderful donors from Birmingham and beyond for making #GivingTuesday so successful! As of this writing, we have raised $4,300 of our $6,000 goal. And donations are still coming in. For most of the campaign, each of your gifts has been matched one-to-one by one of our generous Foundation Board members—so each $10 gift has become $20, each $100 gift has become $200, and so on. Our goal is to complete this campaign by January 1, 2013, so that we can purchase each and every item in the new year. Please take a look at our list here , and consider donating enough for an entire wish or helping complete a wish with other donors. No amount is too small. Birmingham Public Library WishList This year is the launch of #GivingTuesday—a day dedicated to giving that falls on the heels of Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Nationwide, thousands of charities, corporations, and foundations—including the Birmingham Public Library—have promo...

This holiday season, take a break from the hustle & bustle and give the gift of reading. Visit Barnes & Noble December 10-14 and buy a children’s or young adult’s book(s) to donate to the YWCA Santa’s Workshop (as well as the rest of your holiday shopping). You must present a Barnes & Noble voucher at time of purchase, or enter the voucher ID number if purchasing online at bn.com. Vouchers may be printed from http://www.jclc.org/Reader/2012/winter/page4.htm , or picked up at any Jefferson County public library. A percentage of your entire purchase will be donated to the libraries of Jefferson County. Next, stop by California Pizza Kitchen and drop off your book(s) to be donated to the YWCA while enjoying a bite to eat, anytime December 10-14. Dine in, take out or cater; you can even go to cpk.com and order online. You must present a California Pizza Kitchen voucher to your server, which are available at http://www.jclc.org/Reader/2012/winter/page4.htm , or any Jefferso...

You've received your first party invitation of the social season and you have no idea what to wear. Does that black necklace go with that new sequined dress? Are boots cool for a cocktail event? Exactly what does the host mean when she says the attire is "creative black tie''? Birmingham fashion blogger Alexis Barton of www.samechicdifferentday.com wants to put your mind at ease. On Friday, December 7, at 12:00 p.m. , she will give style tips as part of "Fashion Friday,'' which will be held on the fourth floor of the Linn-Henley Research Library, 2100 Park Place. The program, presented by the Birmingham Public Library and Birmingham magazine, is free. "I hope this event will calm people's anxiety around dressing for social occasions and help them see that there are a variety of options for putting together their own looks,'' Barton said. "Sequins will be involved.'' Library fashion books and more will also be avail...

The City of Birmingham's annual Christmas parade and tree lighting ceremony will be Tuesday, December 4, 5:00-7:00 p.m. , at 20th Street North and Park Place. The event will include children's arts and crafts, a drawing for a bicycle, a visit with Santa and Mrs. Claus, and an appearance by Hollywood actor and Auburn University graduate Michael O'Neill , who's appeared in The West Wing , Grey's Anatomy , Transformers , and many other films. Storyteller Verna Gates, Sounds of Praise Choir, and the Magic City Choral Society will perform. For more information, call Urban Impact at 328-1850.

Angelology Danielle Trussoni One thing that makes an alternative history good is that it can give you an especially unsettling jolt with the realization that, not only are things not as you think they are, they never were. You get this feeling a few times in Angelology , which sort of (but not exactly) does for angels what Interview with the Vampire did for vampires. You soon find out that the offspring of fallen angels and humans, the Nephilim, have been around since at least Old Testament times, passing themselves off as humans, and they’re not here to help. Their cousins, the fallen angels, may also exist here in physical form. On a line with Dan Brown books at one end and Umberto Eco’s The Name of the Rose at the other, Angelology is about halfway between the two, more literary than Brown’s novels but more accessible than Eco’s book. It all starts with Sister Evangeline, a nun in upstate New York who is no one special particularly and who’d just as soon keep it that way....

I have to confess when I first read a review for Khan Academy the only image that came to mind was Captain Kirk screeching the name of his arch nemesis. But the review was in Voya.com, the Voice of Youth Advocates , a library journal justly famous for its professional judgments, so I guessed the site would be something other than Klingons sneezing at tribbles. In other words, I wasn’t expecting fun. The review was in the Voya column YA-Clicks, created by librarian Rebecca Purdy with contributions by the youth who use the Central Rappahannock Regional Library. One student, Emily Stant, described Khan Academy as a place with a huge number of high quality videos on topics ranging from American civics to finance. She promised that the site is easily navigable and “a wonderful tool to use both for learning and teaching.” The good people at Khan describe themselves as “…an organization on a mission. We're a not-for-profit with the goal of changing education for the better by provid...