Birmingham Public Library Blog

Have you been thinking about purchasing a home, but feel a little uncertain about the financial consequences involved in such a decision? Well, perhaps the Birmingham Public Library can be the source of some clarification. On Monday, September 30, 2013, at 6:30 p.m., BPL’s Avondale branch will host a program titled, Own Your Own Home . The purpose of the program is to provide information that will help attendees better understand the home buying process. For further details, please contact the Avondale Library at 226-4000. This program is part of the MakingCents: Resources to make your money grow and Smart investing@your library® series, a partnership between the American Library Association and the FINRA Investor Education Foundation .

Change is inevitable, but is not always easy. The Alabama College and Career Ready Standards (Alabama Common Core Standards), which was adopted by Alabama in 2010, will be fully implemented in 2014 and it’s time to prepare our students for a change that will likely challenge them beyond what they are comfortable with. The Alabama College and Career Ready Standards (CCRS) were designed to prepare students grades K-12 for college, the job market, and the real world. Additionally, the students will be expected to meet a set of standards at the end of each year that will lead to a set of skills that will meet the intended goal. Public librarians need to prepare for the change as well as the relationship between school and public librarians will be crucial in helping students reach theses benchmarks. Let’s begin strengthening or establishing relationships with our school librarians to ensure that our students succeed and benefit from the skills that they’ll be introduced to. Submitted b...

Maritima by Judith Aronson of Mobile The Watercolor Society of Alabama (WSA) will host its annual Members’ Showcase at Birmingham Public’s Central Library in the Fourth Floor Exhibition Gallery beginning September 24 through October 31, 2013. Approximately 50 aqua media paintings executed by watercolorists from across Alabama will be selected for the exhibition. An opening reception and awards presentation will be held on Sunday, September 29,  2:30 to 4:30 p.m., in the Fourth Floor Gallery. The library is located at 2100 Park Place. Tampa resident Taylor Ikin will be the selection judge for the WSA show. Ikin’s art hangs in many corporate and private collections—even in The Vatican in Rome, Italy. Known as the “Yupo Queen,” Ikin has been painting on the unique surface of Yupo for over 14 years and has shared her discoveries and skills in many workshops. There are numerous articles and publications featuring her work on Yupo in art books and magazines. As an arti...

Today we celebrate the birthday of one of America’s greatest legends and folk heroes, Johnny Appleseed. The real Johnny Appleseed was born John Chapman in 1774, in Leominster, Massachusetts. He lived his life by a strict code of morality, honesty and kindness to all creatures. John was a pioneer, probably the country’s first nurseryman, one of its great agriculturists, and without a doubt, a great man. John’s adventures began in 1792 at the age of eighteen. He headed west following the steady stream of immigrants. Although he lived most of his life alone, he was a stranger to no one. His frequent visits to the settlements were well received. To the men and women he was a news carrier and to the children he was a friend and storyteller. In this way, he was the frontier’s first librarian! John was very religious and often preached to people along his way; his favorite book was his Bible. While he appeared to be poor, this was not the case. He made money by selling his...

Gifts of a Wordsmith is a free adult poetry workshop held on the first Tuesday of every month from 6:00-8:00 p.m. in the Story Castle on the second floor of Central Library . The next workshop is scheduled for October 1 . The class will cover how to get your thoughts down on paper, overcoming writer's block, copyright issues, self-publishing, how to perform, and more. The Friends of the Birmingham Public Library funds the workshops. The workshops will be led by Atiya Robertson, a local writer, poet, and agent of change from Birmingham Alabama. She is also the founder of It Doesn’t Have 2 Be This Way, a local nonprofit program dealing with suicide prevention and abuse counseling debuting Spring of 2014. “I believe that we each have the power to create change in our world, and when we use that power to empower others, we change the world.” For more information on Robertson, visit her website www.AtiyaRobertsonWriter.com and blog www.SavingSomeForYourself.blogspot...

A team of six Birmingham-area teens competed in the Brave New Voices International Youth Poetry Festival held August 7-11, 2013 in Chicago. Until this year, the competition has never had a team from Alabama. The teens decided to call their team “ #KnowDisclaimer ”. These young poets will be honored at a reception on Sunday, September 29 from 3:00 to 5:00 p.m. at the downtown Birmingham Public Library located at 2100 Park Place. The program will be held in the Arrington Auditorium. The team members are Chase Essary , recent graduate of the International Baccalaureate (IB) Program at Shades Valley High School; Jacob Bryant of Huffman High School,   Jordan Montgomery , Minor High School, Eboni Wallace of Tarrant High School, Miaya Webster   of the Alabama School of Fine Arts, and Justin Wright , a recent graduate of IB. The project began when Birmingham Public Library Arts Literature and Sports Department Head Haruyo Miyagawa and John Paul Taylor, Founder and Executive...

Please join the Woodlawn Business Association this week as they host a financial program called MakingCents - Banking and Credit. This event is free to the public and will be held on Thursday, September 26, at 5:30 p.m., at the SocialVenture building (5529 1st Avenue South, Birmingham, AL 35212) in Woodlawn . Dr. Andreas Rauterkus will be presenting information in this session that will help you determine your banking needs, manage a personal checking account, obtain and interpret your credit score, and make wise choices about credit cards. This program is part of the MakingCents: Resources to make your money grow and Smart investing@your library® series, a partnership between the American Library Association and the FINRA Investor Education Foundation .

Have you been thinking about purchasing a home, but feel a little uncertain about the financial consequences involved in such a decision? Well, perhaps the Birmingham Public Library can be the source of some clarification. On Monday, September 30, 2013, at 6:30 p.m., BPL’s Avondale branch will host a program titled, Own Your Own Home . The purpose of the program is to provide information that will help attendees better understand the home buying process. For further details, please contact the Avondale Library at 226-4000. This program is part of the MakingCents: Resources to make your money grow and Smart investing@your library® series, a partnership between the American Library Association and the FINRA Investor Education Foundation .