Birmingham Public Library Blog

Memorial Day is just around the corner and you know what that means.  The unofficial beginning of summer is a signal that it’s time to head to the beach.  Things are slowly getting back to normal, so get ready to pack your suitcase, grab the sunscreen and load everything into the car.  Before you hit the road, make sure you stop by the library to pick up one of these new titles to read while you relax on the beach.  The descriptions are from the publishers.  The Summer Job by Lizzy Dent Birdy has made a mistake. Everyone imagines running away from their life at some point. But Birdy has actually done it. And the life she's run into is her best friend Heather's. The only problem is, she hasn't told Heather.  The summer job at the highland Scottish hotel that her world class wine-expert friend ditched turns out to be a lot more than Birdy bargained for. Can she survive a summer pretending to be her best friend? And can Birdy stop herself from falling for the...

  By Beth Willauer |  Southern History Department The Birmingham Public Library has a database subscription to Newspapers.com: Library Edition Southeast Collection. The database contains over 2,000 newspapers – 554 of them from Alabama, including: * The Birmingham News (1889-1923) * Birmingham Mirror (1960-1963) * The Weekly Review (1940-1951) * The Birmingham Reporter (1907-1934) A short video introduces you to the database and a second video shows you search strategies to find specific items of interest. BPL's Newspapers.com database uses optical character recognition software to find your search terms; your search is not limited to the main subjects of the articles. Once you've entered your search term, you can refine your results by state, county, newspaper and / or range of years. Students can use the newspapers as primary sources for first hand accounts of events big and small that shaped our history. Family historians may want to grab a cup of hot cocoa and settle in....

  Today, May 6, 2021, is National Nurses Day. National Nurses Day kicks off a seven-day celebration of National Nursing Week, which concludes on May 12, the birthday of pioneering nurse Florence Nightingale.  Florence Nightingale (1820-1910) , was a British nurse known as "the founder of modern nursing."  National Nurses Day was first observed in the United States in October 1954 to mark the 100th anniversary of Nightingale's pioneering work during the Crimean War (1853-1856) in Europe. In 1982, President Ronald Reagan proclaimed May 6 to be "National Recognition Day for Nurses."   The role of nurses has taken on special meaning over the past 14 months as they have been on the front lines of treating patients since the COVID-19 pandemic began in the United States in March 2020.  Across the country as the nation celebrates National Nurses Day 2021, media have given special tributes to how nurses have helped saved countless lives of patients who contracte...

  Pamela Gordon of North Birmingham/Inglenook Libraries By Karnecia Williams, Branch manager of North Birmingham / Inglenook Libraries  Any good leader knows that the success of an organization is not his or hers to claim solely, but is also the team’s whose fulfillments and contributions propelled the success of the vision. Having said that, team members at North Birmingham and Inglenook Libraries epitomize the effectiveness of a good team and are testaments to the level of success that can be achieved with one.  Because of the awesomeness of this team and their contributions to the success of these libraries, I felt compelled to honor and recognize all their hard work by creating an “Employee of the Month Program.”  Pamela Gordon was chosen for the month of April to be North Birmingham and Inglenook Libraries’ Employee of the Month. Pamela is a Library Assistant III for both libraries and has undertaken many projects to restore the prominence of both libraries in t...

Today, May 5, is Cinco de Mayo , a holiday celebrating the day Mexico defeated France in the Battle of Puebla during the France-Mexican War on May 5, 1862. While Cinco de Mayo is a big deal celebration of Mexican culture across the United States, the holiday is not even a federal holiday in Mexico.   Read this article to learn more about Cinco de Mayo.  Many people mistakenly believe Cinco de Mayo is Mexican Independence Day (that holiday will be  September 16, 2021, when Mexico celebrates its 1810 independence from Spain). If you are looking for Cinco de Mayo food freebies, discounts on margaritas and more at restaurants, check out this article that appeared today on al.com.  Cinco de Mayo books available at the Central Library Members of the Jefferson County Library Cooperative, including the Birmingham Public Library, have several books and DVDs about Cinco de Mayo available for checkout.  The Central Library's Youth Department on the second floor also ...

  Gelenda Norman | Central Library   May is Get Caught Reading Month.   Get Caught Reading was established in 1999 by the Association of American Publishers (AAP) to encourage people of all ages to spend an entire month  spreading the joy of reading by taking photos of people with their nose in a book.  Here at the Birmingham Public Library , we want to “catch you reading” and/or “catch you getting a stash of books” to read.  Reading is cheapest way to travel to places known and unknown. Reading opens doors to creativity, an expansion of knowledge, places beyond our imagination.  Sooooo….we would like for you to share moments where you catch your kids, family, and even co-workers reading, or even take a selfie of yourself reading.  Send the photos to our Public Relations Director, Roy Williams, at Roy.Williams@cobpl.org.  Put Get Caught Reading in the subject line. Allow our staff to take a pic of you as you are checking out books and ev...

  Napoleon Bonaparte, former French Emperor  Today, May 5, 2021, marks the 200th anniversary of the death of Napoleon Bonaparte, the famous French Emperor.  As French President Emmanuel Macron prepares to lead a celebration in which he will lay a wreath at  Napoleon's tomb, he is walking a fine line trying to appease those in France who want to celebrate his legacy as well as critics calling for a boycott. Although Napoleon made France a world power after becoming its leader during a coup and leading the country to many military victories, leaders of the racial justice movement have sparked debate over his controversial decision to re-establish slavery in France in 1802.   Napoleon's decision to reinstate slavery, eight years after it was abolished following the French Revolution, made France the only country to bring slavery back after outlawing it.   Napoleon was born August 15, 1769, on the Mediterranean island of Corsica off the coast of Italy...

Holding copies of the donated "Southern Exposure DVDs are L-R: Janine Langston, BPL Interim Director; Charles Scribner, Executive Director of Black Warrior Riverkeeper; Caleb West, BPL Collection Management Department head. 36 copies were donated to all 18 BPL locations. BIRMINGHAM, Ala.— Alabama Rivers Alliance and Black Warrior Riverkeeper have partnered to donate to the Birmingham Public Library (BPL) 36 copies of the latest editions of Southern Exposure, an award-winning film series dedicated to educating the public about Alabama’s natural resources. Each of BPL’s 18 locations will soon have one DVD copy of both the 2020 and 2019 editions of Southern Exposure , a series of documentary shorts on various Alabama environmental topics by independent filmmakers. DVDs of previous Southern Exposure editions are available at all BPL branches thanks to Alabama Rivers Alliance and Black Warrior Riverkeeper’s prior donations.  Janine Langston, the Birmingham Public Library’s Interim ...