We are ready to kick off East West Riverfest with our first Cemetery Tour! Join us at the Fairmount Cemetery mausoleum (3902 Rockingham Road) on Saturday, September 8th at 2:00 p.m. for a walking tour that will highlight the fascinating people buried there and provide you with tips on how to find secrets in a cemetery. Registration is required for this free tour; call 563-326-7832 to register. We will have additional Cemetery Tours on October 26th and 27th, visit  www.davenportlibrary.com for more information.

Thank you to everyone who had their picture taken with the library’s 25′ Libby balloon! It was a great time! Checkout all of the pictures on our facebook page.

Kids of all ages, kickoff your summer fun at the Fairmount Branch Library (3000 N. Fairmount Street) with the Summer Reading Kickoff Carnival on Saturday, June 4 from noon to 4 p.m.!  Play games, win fun prizes, knock one of the teen volunteers into the dunk tank, and signup for the “One World, Many Stories” Summer Reading Program.  All of these great activities and more are FREE for the entire family!

When you need a little break from all of the fun and excitement visit the FRIENDS Bookstore for some real bargains, then stop across  the hall at Cam’s Coffee House for fabulous food and drinks!  Just think, you get entertainment,  fun, check-out library materials, and sign-up for the summer reading program all for FREE and then buy a book and have lunch for around $5.00!  No where else in the Quad Cities can you get all of this excitement for such a great deal!

Kids and teens receive a free book for their half-way prize and the first 1600 finishers (total of all age groups combined) receive a FREE summer reading t-shirt.  Also, upon completion enter your name into a drawing for a chance to win an i-Pod Touch, a Color Nook, or a giant stuffed tiger!    The summer reading program ends August 4 at the Bix Porch Party, featuring Don Estes and the Prairie Area Ramblers, clowns, a stilt walker, and much more!

Keep track of all our fun activities throughout the year on our blogs at blogs.davenportlibrary.com or go now to www.davenportlibrary.com and visit the “Calendar of Events” for a list of all of the AWESOME SUMMER FUN at YOUR DAVENPORT PUBLIC LIBRARY!

 Slave to Soldier PA

THE DAVENPORT PUBLIC LIBRARY AND THE
AFRICAN AMERICAN MUSEUM OF IOWA PRESENTS

“FROM SLAVE TO SOLDIER”

Experience the transition from slave to soldier in the Civil War

Thursday, March 24 at 7:00 p.m.

at the Fairmount Branch Library (3000 N. Fairmount Street) 

Nationally known speaker, Joseph McGill, will explore the experience of African Americans who left slavery to join the Union soldiers of the Civil War.  McGill speaks from personal experience as the founder of the re-enactor’s 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, the group of African American soldiers highlighted in the film Glory.  He will also speak about The Slave Cabin Project, an initiative backed by the National Trust for Historic Preservation that is designed to bring attention to the dilapidated state of many slave cabins across the South.  He is frequently pictured near these important pieces of US history holding a sign stating “This Place Matters.” 

All ages are welcome to attend this free event.

For more information, contact the African American Museum of Iowa at 319.862.2101 or visit www.education@blackiowa.org.

                                       Contact the Davenport Public Library at 563.326.7832 or                                 www.davenportlibrary.com.

The Library strives to get news and information out to the public via numerous different outlets. For people who like printed items, we produce a bi-monthly newsletter called Main Entries. You can either pick a copy up from the Library, or read it here.  Main Entries is the best place to get a full calendar view of upcoming programs and Library closings. It is also our general newsletter, so in it you will find out a lot of information regarding library resources, the Eastern Avenue Branch construction project, and other helpful information. It is sponsored by the FRIENDS of the Davenport Public Library, so there is also a page devoted to FRIENDS happenings.
If you’re only interested in programs, then our programs flyers are perfect for you! We separate programming into three age divisions: kids, teens, and adults/all-ages. Each age group has a unique program flyer for upcoming programs. You can view them on our website www.davenportlibrary.com by clicking on the link “Programs & Publicity” found on the left-hand side of the homepage. You can also view them here: adults, teens, kids.
If you’re more technology saavy, then try our electronic newsletter, eConnections. You can sign up here. If you’re looking to get automatic updates via social networking tools, the Library has accounts with Twitter, Facebook, Flickr, YouTube, and MySpace. Our links are all available from our website.
If you’re more into watching TV, watch our show, “The Library Connection,” on the City’s cable channel 18. Or you can view them here online.
As you can see, there are many ways to learn about Library news and programs. We have a lot going on, and we want you to participate! If you’d like to see our information in other outlets, please let us know by commenting. We’ll try our very best to accommodate you request.

The Visible Cities is a poetry project developed by Ryan Collins, and sponsored by Quad City Arts, to coincide with a poetry residency he will have in the Quad City area October 19-22, 2009. The theme for this project/residency is: Looking at Place and Identity through Poetry. How do we shape the places around us? How do those places shape us?

The Visible Cities will be an exploration of questions such as these. It encourages everyone to examine the place where we are, places we have been and how place informs who we are, how we behave and how we live.

The Davenport Public Library is proud to host Mr. Collins on Thursday, October 22, at 4:00 p.m. at the Fairmount Branch (3000 N. Fairmount Street) for a special book discussion of his recently published chapbook, Complicated Weather, which complements the Visible Cities project.

If you are interested in reading Ryan Collins’ chapbook and discussing it at the Library, contact Angela at 563-888-3371 to reserve a copy, or register at www.davenportlibrary.com. For more information about the project, visit: http://www.visibleqc.blogspot.com/.