Birmingham Public Library Blog

When a C-SPAN camera crew arrives on site at the Birmingham Public Library on September 9 , it will mark the fourth time this year the station has made a stop to film at the historic Linn Henley Research Library. This commemorative year has provided a perfect setting for staff to coordinate programs to encourage remembrance, reflection and discourse—and the programming has caught the attention of national media. With financial support provided by the Rita C. Kimerling Family Fund, the Birmingham Public Library Archives will host a panel discussion by three eminent historians examining Governor George Wallace’s role in Birmingham’s civil rights struggle and Wallace’s continuing influence on American politics and race relations today. The discussion entitled In Birmingham They Love the Gov’nor: George Wallace, Birmingham and Beyond begins at 6:00 p.m. in the Richard Arrington Auditorium of the Central Library located at 2100 Park Place . This program is free and open to the public. C...

Playing with your baby is not only important for bonding but it is also an educational experience for your child. We are providing a special time and place for you to come to the public library and spend one-on-one time playing with your child. 1-2-3 Play with Me, a five-week program, is for children birth through age 3 and their parents/caregivers. We will have toys, books, and art activities just for you and your child. Also, we have invited special guests from the community to join us each week to answer your questions about parenting. Remember—you are your child’s first teacher. 1-2-3 Play with Me is an opportunity for you and your child to play and learn together. Visit Birmingham365 for the 1-2-3 Play with Me schedule for these Birmingham Public Library locations: Avondale, Central, Five Points West, North Birmingham, and Springville Road. Here is a list of the individual sessions in case you need it as well. Avondale Branch Library – September 11-October 9 – every Wednes...

Read articles about Miss Fancy in the BPL Digital Collections   The short documentary Mr. Todd's Fancy had its premiere at this year's Sidewalk Film Festival . Avondale Library has been given permission to host a special screening of  the11-minute film at the Forest Park/South Avondale Neighborhood Association community meeting on Tuesday, September 3, 6:30 p.m. The film will be first up on the agenda. Popcorn will be served. For those not familiar with Miss Fancy the alcohol-loving elephant, she was the star attraction at the Avondale Zoo from 1913-1943. She formed a special bond with her handler, John Todd, and was kept busy entertaining local children—who would save their pennies to buy her treats—by giving them rides.

Dr. Andreas Rauterkus If you are interested in getting your financial life in order this fall, then the Central Library is the place to be! Dr. Andreas Rauterkus, Associate Professor of Accounting and Finance at UAB, will be leading a series of programs that will focus on a variety of issues related to personal finance and investing. The series begins on Tuesday, September 10, 2013, at noon in the Arrington Auditorium and will continue at the same time and place on the second Tuesday of the month, October thru December. The individual programs are: Budgeting and Beyond Tuesday, September 10, 2013 12:00 p.m. Arrington Auditorium This program will cover setting financial goals, tracking daily spending, creating a personal spending plan, and estimating monthly income and expenses. An emphasis will be placed on identifying ways to increase income and decrease spending. Banking and Credit Tuesday, October 8, 2013 12:00 p.m. Arrington Auditorium Information will be prov...

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 September 3 . 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.com ...

Inglenook Library's temporary location at the Inglenook Recreation Center As many know, the Inglenook Library is housed in the Inglenook Recreation Center until the renovation is completed. Though the renovation may seem like an inconvenience, it has given the Inglenook Library staff an opportunity to build lasting relationships that will hopefully continue when the Inglenook Library re-opens. As the people of the Inglenook community become more acquainted with the library’s existence in the Inglenook Recreation Center, they will discover services that they weren’t aware of and provide the Inglenook Library staff the opportunity to promote these services. Sandra Womack, the Director of the Inglenook Recreation Center, has been wonderful in welcoming the Inglenook Library staff and directing existing and prospective patrons our way. The staff is excited to about the renovation and though the Inglenook Library’s services are limited, the staff’s zeal to serve the community...

Erwin Schrödinger, 1887-1961 Earlier in the month, August 12 to be exact, Google honored Erwin Schrödinger with a "doodle." I have to confess I’ve never been much of a physics enthusiast. When I read the name Schrödinger, I only think of one thing: a dead cat in a box. Or is it two dead cats? No, wait. One cat is dead, but the other is alive. No, it’s definitely one cat but it’s both…Well, at this point I’m just confused. Erwin Schrödinger was born August 12, 1887, in Vienna. In modern parlance, he was home schooled until the age of 12 at which point his parents hired tutors. Although he excelled in mathematics and the sciences, he also showed a keen interest in poetry and the humanities. Perhaps this latter interest explains the …quirkier aspects of his most famous thought experiment. In the course of his career he worked on a variety of physics problems including general relativity and radiation theory, but he is considered the father of Wave Mechanics. Just as Ei...

Many of us have had back aches, either because we overestimated what we could lift or we just moved the wrong way and then the pain started. This past week, at lunch time, I was stopped at a red light and was rear ended by an inattentive driver. I had myself checked out at an urgent care center because my back was hurting and was given muscle relaxants and pain pills. After almost two days off work, I felt fine because the medicine did its job. But, what if it hadn’t? These resources are for those who may still be saying, “Oh, my aching back!” Books The 7-Minute Back Pain Solution : 7 Simple Exercises to Heal Your Back in Just Minutes a Day The Back Bible The Complete Idiot's Guide to Back Pain b End Back Pain Forever : A Groundbreaking Approach to Eliminate Your Suffering Essential Back Care End Back & Neck Pain  Foundation : Redefine Your Core, Conquer Back Pain, and Move with Confidence Yoga for Back Pain Websites Back Pain: MedlinePlus Spine-health....