Birmingham Public Library Blog

  The Birmingham Public Library , Springville Road Library Youth Department, Birmingham City Council District 1 (Clinton Woods) and Black Warrior Riverkeeper are collaborating to present a hip-hop program promoting conservation and recycling next week.   Shaheed & DJ Supreme , who performed last Friday, March 14, in BPL Loud at the Library's Punk Show at the Central Library, will perform a free concert, "Conservation Collaboration with Shaheed & DJ Supreme," on Wednesday, March 26, from 2:00 to 3:00 p.m. at Springville Road Regional Library, 1224 Springville Road.   Join us at the Springville Road Regional Branch for a special program about conservation and recycling! Learn about how to keep our waterways clean. Hear a story & play a game! Enjoy a lively hip-hop performance! FUN FOR ALL AGES!   Although the concert is free, you can register via Eventbrite for the concert featuring Shaheed & DJ Supreme by clicking here.  Birmingham...

Sol M úsica at Rojo in Birmingham's Highland Park neighborhood The Birmingham Public Library is excited to announce Sol Música  as the musical headliner at its fourth annual A Novel Tasting . On Thursday, April 17, at the Central Library , guests at A Novel Tasting  will be entertained by a unique   mélange of world music, jazz, Americana, and improvisation.  The Birmingham-based   Sol Música   will feature Troy Bland  on guitar, Grammy award-winning musician Dave Crenshaw  on percussion, and the band’s founder Arturo LaCruz  on keyboards and guitar.  This trio of Berklee College of Music graduates will be joined on stage by Nashville-based singer and songwriter Regan Southerland, known for her hypnotizing voice and wide vocal range. Grammy award-winning musician Dave Crenshaw Sol Música’s fresh arrangements and impromptu creations were first launched at UAB’s International Festival in 2017. Band leader and native Peruvian Arturo LaCruz...

  Major advances in healthcare delivery in the United States over the past century have not completely solved the problem of patient access. Currently, the U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) designates over 3,400 places in the country as being Medically Underserved Areas (MUA). Certainly, part of the reason these areas are underserved is due to lack of available practitioners and facilities, but the social and economic makeup of the population plays a significant part as well. Low income, advanced age, physical isolation, lack of mobility/transportation, and language barriers often impede people getting the healthcare they need.   Are you connected with an organization or agency that is working to help alleviate the problems faced by medically underserved, or under-resourced, communities? If so, would you like to learn how to develop more effective healthcare programs that help fulfill your mission and generate positive outcomes? Then join the Birm...

March is designated as Women's History Month, celebrating the contributions women have made across the United States.  Twelve  Birmingham Public Library locations across the city are hosting nearly 40 programs and activities honoring women all month long. Events kicked off last week with several programs, including  Pratt City Branch Library's tribute last Thursday to jazz pianist and singer Hazel Scott, the first African-American woman to host her own television show  and  BPL's Bards & Brews Open Mic Poetry highlighting Women's History Month last Friday at TrimTab Brewing.  Upcoming events include: * On March 24, Smithfield Branch Library will give out free Empowering Women Self-Care Kits while supplies last.   * Avondale Library (March 17-31) Color your own bookmarks featuring quotes by  Clara Barton,   Harriet Tubman,   Florence Nightingale , and  Sojourner Truth . and craft your own "Well Behaved Women Rarely Make Histor...

  Celebrate Pi Day by making Pi Day Paper Crafts at East Ensley Branch Library , 900 14th Street Ensley, this Friday, March 14 from 4:00 p.m. – 5:30 p.m.  Held every year on March 14 (3/14) Pi Day is a worldwide celebration of Pi (Greek letter “π”), the symbol used in mathematics to represent a constant — the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter — which is approximately 3.14159. Pi Day is an annual opportunity for math enthusiasts to recite the infinite digits of Pi, talk to their friends about math, and eat pie.  Pi has been calculated to over 50 trillion digits beyond its decimal point. As an irrational and transcendental number, it will continue infinitely without repetition or pattern. While only a handful of digits are needed for typical calculations, pi’s infinite nature makes it a fun challenge to memorize, and to computationally calculate more and more digit. Special thanks to BhamNow for spotlighting the Birmingham Public Library’...

  The ACT test is often required for college admissions and scholarships, yet it is a dreaded and anxiety-filled experience for many high school students. The Birmingham Public Library is ready to help with our free ACT Prep workshop on Saturday, March 15, 2025, from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. at the Springville Road Regional Library, 1224 Springville Road. Attendees will learn test-taking strategies, take a full-length practice ACT exam, and receive a free calculator. Lunch will be provided. Tickets are required, and available through Eventbrite  by clicking here. This free workshop is made possible through a partnership between the Jefferson County Alumnae Chapter of the Delta Sigma Sorority and The Birmingham Public Library. For more information about the ACT workshop, contact the Springville Road Regional Branch Library at 205-226-4083 or drop by during library hours. The Birmingham Public Library also offers ACT study guides to check out. You can also access tutorials remotel...

  Bards & Brews, the Birmingham Public Library's popular monthly spoken word poetry event, is going on the road this Friday to Birmingham's Lakeview Entertainment District.   If you ever wanted to share spoken word poetry before a live audience, join us at TrimTab Brewing, 2721 5th Avenue South , at 6:30 p.m. on Friday, March 7, for a Bards & Brews Open Mic celebration of Women's History Month. Founded in 2013, TrimTab is a small Birmingham brewery specializing in expressive IPAs, experimental stouts and fruited sour beers .     Singer Viktoria Vennice will be the featured artist and Thed Weller will serve as our host. Follow Viktoria Vennice on Instagram @therealviktoria . Bards & Brews is free and open to the public. You must be 18+ to enter & 21+ to drink from TrimTab with proof of I.D. Bards & Brews open mics are welcome to all forms of spoken word arts.  Bards & Brews is sponsored by the Alabama State Council on the Arts. ...

Did you make a New Year's Resolution to eat the right foods in  2025? Then plan on joining the  Birmingham Public Library  this Tuesday, March 4, for "Mindful Eating: What's Eating You?," the next class in the 2025 workshop series  "Self-Care MasterMind: Community Edition."  This free series of engaging discussions about emotional and physical health happens every first Tuesday from 5:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. on the first floor of the  Central Library downtown , 2100 Park Place.  The instructor for the  Self-Care MasterMind: Community Edition  series is Christina (C. J.) Wade, a licensed massage therapist and certified health coach.    C.J. Wade, instructor for the Self-Care MasterMind series. Check out this blog by Jim Murray, librarian at the Central Library, about BPL resources available to help people maintain a healthy diet.    In a Q&A with BPL PR Director Roy Williams, class instructor C.J. Wade ...