Birmingham Public Library Blog

Do you have loved ones or friends who might enjoy using their own devices to read, watch movies, and even get crafting lessons for free with their library cards? If you or someone else is missing out on library digital services, like Libby + Craftsy , Hoopla , and Kanopy , join the Pratt City Branch Library for our  E-Entertainment Open House !

  Christmas Day may be over, but Southside Branch Library has free Grab N Go bags for patrons celebrating Kwanzaa ! DROP BY THE SOUTHSIDE BRANCH TO PICK UP A GRAB N' GO BAG FOR KWANZAA!!This Grab N' Go features a simple KWANZAA MEMORY GAME! This simple game involves matching cards as well as creating a chat about the meaning of the symbols and principles of Kwanzaa.  Pick it up at Southside Branch Library,  1814 11th Avenue South, through this Friday, December 29, between 9:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m.  Beginning annually on December 26, the day after Christmas, Kwanzaa is a seven-day period of learning, family and celebration of African culture . During Kwanzaa, families and communities come together to share a feast, to honor the ancestors, affirm the bonds between them, and to celebrate African and African American culture. Each of the 7 days, Kwanzaa participants light a candle to highlight the principle of that day and to breathe meaning into the principles with variou...

October’s program has been cancelled. The next program is  scheduled  on Thursday, November 7, 2024 at 12pm . Each new calendar year brings changes to Medicare costs, benefits, and coverages— 2024 is no exception . If you are planning on enrolling in Medicare during the year, learn  about all your options to make the best decision for your health care. Get informed with the  Birmingham Public Library 's monthly Facebook program, Let's Talk About Medicare: Questions and Answers.

  Avondale Regional Library is beginning an Avondale Memory Café in early 2024 to help families caring for loved ones dealing with dementia and Alzheimer’s.  A memory café offers dementia patients and their caregivers the opportunity to enjoy social interaction in a safe, welcoming environment, said Leslie Deason, adult services outreach librarian at Avondale Library and coordinator of the new program. Research shows that social interaction benefits individuals with Alzheimer’s Disease or any other form of dementia, or other brain disorders.  Social group activities benefit people with dementia since they are stimulating and uplifting, Deason said. In addition, caregivers need support. At a memory café, caregivers and care recipients can socialize and connect with others in similar situations. One of the most important outcomes of memory cafes are the friendships that are formed.  This is a drop-in program and no pre-registration is required. New attendees are welc...

In honor of National Science Fiction Day (Tuesday, January 2, 2024), I'd like to mention two of my favorite science fiction materials available here at the North Birmingham Regional Branch Library !

It's quite the jamboree! Image source: Roku/roku.com Every holiday season , people gather around in their cozy, heavily decorated living rooms and rewatch some of their favorite holiday movies, which may include some Christmas classics. I have friends who repeatedly quote A Christmas Story or Christmas Vacation hoping that it will never get old. Others debate if Die Hard or Gremlins are legitimately Christmas films or not.  As for me, one of my favorite Christmas traditions is revisiting an unsung diamond in the rough,  Jim Henson 's  Emmet Otter's Jug-Band Christmas .

Protective Life Corporation gifted this Gingerbread tree to the BPL's Central Library downtown. L-R Protective's Shayla Aguillard and Lori Dixon; BPL's Catherine Frey & Karyn Davis-West Birmingham, Ala.— Since early December, visitors to the Central Library lobby in downtown Birmingham have seen a special gift: a Gingerbread Christmas Tree donated to the Birmingham Public Library by Birmingham-based Protective Life Corporation.

  These are just some of the holiday options available on BPL's Hoopla.   Looking for free downloadable movies, TV shows, music and more to enjoy with family during the holiday season? Then sign up for Hoopla at the Birmingham Public Library.    Hoopla offers eBooks, downloadable audio, movies, TV shows, comics, music, and more.  Learn more about Hoopla and other BPL online resources by clicking here.     Bringing you hundreds of thousands of movies, full music albums, audiobooks and more, Hoopla is a revolutionary digital service made possible by your local library. Hoopla offers a variety from Hollywood blockbusters to best-selling artists and authors – not just the hits, but the niche and hard-to-find as well.  You’ll soon discover that hoopla provides you the freedom you've been searching for to experience, explore and enjoy what you want, when you want, and where you want. Simple to access and use, without the hassle of having to retur...