Thursday, April 25

Florence - Book Sale


The Friends of the Florence Public Library 's Annual Book Sale will be Saturday, May 4. 8:00 am- 10:00 am. Location : Florence Public Library. 

For more information contact the library at 601-845-6032

Wednesday, April 17

Pearl Library starts National Library Week off with glasses and parties!

Yesterday was a huge day for us at the Pearl Library! For starters, it was Dress Like a Librarian Day! Here are a few shots of our supervisors hamming it up in the stacks...



(You have no idea how happy all of us were to don our glasses and official-looking skirts. Fun fact: one of the librarians pictured to the side is actually wearing a skirt that was given to her by ANOTHER librarian at a state library agency. The force of the library was strong with us yesterday!)






While all of the fun dressing up was going on, we were also doing what we normally do as librarians, which means that we were checking books out to patrons, manning the computer lab, running our regular story times, and preparing for programs. Here's a photo of our Children's supervisor giving one of the children's clerks some information about  an upcoming story time.






As late afternoon approached, we had to kick it into serious work mode to prepare for programs. Our children's department hosted Sarah Frances Hardy, who read her picture book Puzzled by Pink to a room full of kids decked out in princess outfits, fairy wings, jeans, pajamas, or whatever they wanted to wear to the Puzzled by Pink Party!



Finally, the adults ended the night with delicious refreshments (inspired by Pinterest, of course!) and a reading by Mississippi's cartoonist-laureate, Marshall Ramsey, who read to us from his book and from his blog, which can be found at http://marshallramsey.com/

Wow! What a day! For those of you who joined us, we thank you, and we hope you had a great time! For those of you who couldn't make it by the Pearl Library yesterday, we hope we'll see you later on this week, when James Meredith with speak about his new book and when the MDAH will talk to us about Eudora Welty's house and collection.Check Facebook and our calendar for details!


*We'd like to add a big thanks to the Pearl Chamber of Commerce for donating all the food for yesterday's programs. It was wonderful!

Tuesday, April 16

Skype Chat with Pearl Chapter 1 Book Club

What an exciting evening we had Thursday, April 11 when we spoke live with bestselling author Melanie Benjamin via Skype. The club read and discussed Benjamin's The Aviator's Wife about the life of Anne Morrow Lindbergh, wife of famed aviator Charles Lindbergh.
 

 
This is our first Skype. Everyone was very excited.  Melanie spoke to us from her home outside of Chicago.  Other titles by Benjamin are Alice I Have Been and The Autobiography of Mrs. Tom Thumb.  It was truly a team effort to get everything hooked up and working properly.  Thanks to all staff who made it happen without any technical problems at all.  This was so much fun.  We hope to do this again sometime and highly recommend it to other book clubs.

 



Monday, April 15

National Library Week & New Services Announced!

It is National Library Week and Central Mississippi Regional Library System (CMRLS) is excited to announce two new services from Rankin, Scott, Simpson, and Smith County Libraries! Freegal Music and Rocket Languages are both services by Library Ideas(TM) that was named "One of the Top 100 Companies in the Digital Content Industry for 2011-12" by EContent Magazine

Freegal Music is a database of over 3 million songs including Sony Music's catalog of legendary artists and over 10,000 music labels from 65 different countries. Registered CMRLS cardholders can download 3 music tracks in MP3 format each week at no cost. In addition, Freegal Music recently announced the availability of free mobile apps. The app is available at the Apple(r) App Store and Google Play(r). This makes the Libraries' music collection mobile and downloadable from anywhere. 

"We have been waiting a long time for a service like this that delivers great music, compatibility with lots of devices and simplicity of use. We think this will be incredibly popular with our patrons and will help the library in marketing all its services to the community," said CMRLS Director Kaileen Thieling.

Where did the name "Freegal" come from? It must be asked often, Library Ideas (TM) answers the question on their website. Freegal, which rhymes with legal, is free, downloadable, legal music. Library Ideas (TM) thinking to further advertise the point came up with "Free and Legal" - it's Freegal. It is memorable, which is what you want when marketing a product and there is no threat of copyright infringement when downloading this music. So, Freegal it is! 

Rocket Languages is an online conversational language lesson database of 13 languages, including American Sign Language and ESL for Spanish and Japanese speakers. The language lessons have been created to help the learner speak naturally; even recording your voice for comparison with every word and phrase used in the course. To reinforce the lessons, Rocket Languages uses Language-Master Games, self-testing, and a forum so that anyone using the language lessons can interact with other learners and your Rocket Languages teachers. 

Other languages in the Rocket Language database are Spanish, Korean, Japanese, Italian, Hindi, German, French, Chinese, Arabic, and Portuguese. Cardholders may work on one or all of the languages that are accessible anywhere through the CMRLS website. Rocket Languages also has iOS and Android apps so that you can use your course wherever you are.

"We are excited to also offer this free Library service. This can be very useful for our communities that continue to grow more diverse, and for travelers. The lessons travel with you, either online, by the use of an app, or by downloading the lessons as pdf or MP3 files," said Dorothy Vance, CMRLS Public Relations Coordinator. 

National Library Week, first sponsored in 1958, is a national observance sponsored by the American Library Association (ALA) and libraries across the country each April. "Communities matter @ your library, is this year's motto and service to the community has always been the focus of the library," said Vance.

Central Mississippi Regional Library System serves the public libraries of Rankin, Scott, Simpson, and Smith Counties. For more information, contact your local CMRLS Library or visit www.cmrls.lib.ms.us.
 

Saturday, April 13

Author Jeana Campbell Visits Florence Library for National Library Week

Florence Public Library

Author Jeana Campbell will join us during National Library Week to sign copies of her latest novel Spirit Woman . Tuesday, April 16 at 11:00 am. Come and enjoy coffee and light refreshments.

Spirit Woman
... by Jeana Campbell

Book Description
Publication Date: September 12, 2012
Faced with an uncertain future after the death of her soldier husband, and the end of the Civil War, a young American In...dian woman must come to grips with life when she returns home to her family, a man she once loved, and the legend that has been written for a lifetime.
Florence Public Library
115 West Main Street
Florence, MS 39073
Phone: 601-845-6032

M & Th 9:30-7:00
Tu & W 9:30-5:00
F 1:00-5:00
Sa 9:00-12:30
See More

Thursday, April 11

National Library Week at the Pearl Library

We have so much coming up at the Pearl Library that I hardly know where to start!

Next week, we go into overdrive with so many events at the library in honor of National Library Week. On Tuesday, April 16th, all of the staff members (well, all of the willing staff members) are going to be dressed like stereotypical librarians (Hair buns, glasses, pencil skirts, the whole deal)! The public is welcome to join in this fun occasion!

Also, our children's department will be having a Puzzled by Pink party on Tuesday the 16th at 5:00 p.m., at which author Sara Frances Hardy will be reading her book by that name. Children are welcome to come dressed up in pink or in all black, or in anything they would want to wear to a party! Refreshments generously provided by the Pearl Chamber of Commerce.

On the 16th, famed cartoonist and local celebrity Marshall Ramsey will ALSO be visiting us! He'll be in the meeting room at 6:00 p.m., reading from his new book, Fried Chicken and Wine. We're so excited for him to come read with us! Refreshments generously provided by the Pearl Chamber of Commerce.

Next, on Thursday, April 18th at 12:00 p.m., James Meredith will be here speaking about his newest book, A Mission from God: A Memoir and Challenge for America. I was so excited when my branch manager told me that she had met and spoken with Mr. Meredith. He has done so much to promote racial equality in this state and country, and we are thrilled to have him come to the Pearl Library. Refreshments will be served (again by generous donation from the Pearl Chamber of Commerce, so come on over during your lunch break!

Finally, we'll end National Library Week 2013 on Friday, April 19th with a very special Brown Bag Luncheon, in which the Mississippi Department of Archives and History will come talk to us about the Eudora Welty House and Collection. This is going to be a phenomenal presentation, and you won't want to miss it. Bring your sack lunch and meet us in the meeting room at 12:00 p.m. We'll have light refreshments and drinks provided by the Friends of the Pearl Library!

It's sure to be a crazy, exciting, and fun week around here next week. We hope you'll come hang out with us and enjoy some of these great programs. See you then!!