Women’s History Month Reading Challenge 2024

Celebrate Women’s History Month! Log your reading and complete activities to earn badges throughout the challenge. Earn an entry into a drawing for one of our grand prizes for every badge earned.

This reading challenge is live on Beanstack from March 1, 2024 to March 31, 2024. Curious what you need to do? Sign up on Beanstack today either online or on the app!

Needs ideas about what to read? Try any of these women’s history books.

Juvenile Nonfiction

Cut!: how Lotte Reiniger and a pair of scissors revolutionized animation by C.E. Winters

Jovita wore pants: the story of a Mexican freedom fighter by Aida Salazar

Little Rosetta and the talking guitar: the musical story of Sister Rosetta Tharpe, the woman who invented rock and roll by Charnelle Pinkney Barlow

Love is loud: how Diane Nash led the Civil Rights Movement by Sandra Neil Wallace

To boldy go: how Nichelle Nichols and Star Trek helped advance civil rights by Angela Dalton

The Van Buren Sisters vs. the pants police by Jennifer Fox

The woman in the moon: how Margaret Hamilton helped fly the first astronauts to the moon by Richard Maurer

Adult Nonfiction

Brooding over Bloody Revenge: enslaved women’s lethal resistance by Nikki Marie Taylor

The exceptions: Nancy Hopkins, MIT, and the fight for women in science by Kate Zernike

Looking through the speculum: examining the women’s health movement by Judith A. Houck

The Lost Princess: women writers and the history of classic fairy tales by Anne E. Duggan

Madame Restell: the life, death, and resurrection of old New York’s most fabulous, fearless, and infamous abortionist by Jennifer Wright

Normal Women: 900 Years of Making History by Philippa Gregory

Proving Ground: the untold story of the six women who programmed the world’s first modern computer by Kathy Kleiman

A Rome of one’s own: the forgotten women of the Roman Empire by Emma Southon

The six: the untold story of America’s first women astronauts by Loren Grush

Undaunted: How Women Changed American Journalism by Brooke Kroeger

Young queens: three Renaissance women and the price of power by Leah L. Chang

Social Work Spotlight: Quad Cities Open Network IRIS Resource Hub

Quad Cities Open Network IRIS Resource Hub

This month, our resource spotlight is on the Quad Cities Open Network (QCON), a collaboration of over 116 Health and Human service organizations. Their shared mission is to bolster community well-being through a robust human services sector. Quad Cities Open Network maintains an Information and Referral Hub that assists agencies in connecting Quad Citizens to the resources they need.

Established in 2020, The Quad Cities Open Network Hub utilizes IRIS, an information and referral tool created by the University of Kansas to facilitate warm hand offs between providers as Quad Citizens in a person-centered way. The hub has evolved to include eighty-five human service providers. These organizations work with QCON to simplify services and referrals, ensuring seamless support for individuals and families in the Quad Cities. According to Cecelia Bailey, QCON Executive Director, ‘navigating community resources during a crisis can be overwhelming’. The IRIS hub’s primary goal is to create a centralized access point, providing individuals and families with a single-entry point to connect to the most relevant resources or services tailored to their needs.

Within the hub, each organization is detailed with an explanation of their services, facilitating efficient referrals. This streamlined process identifies available services and ensures that client’s needs are appropriately addressed, minimizing service gaps and allowing for easy follow-up. Effective communication among the organizations within IRIS is crucial in bridging service gaps. QCON aims to expand the platform to foster a collaborative environment where member agencies complement each other.

The vast network of providers empowers community members, and as the number of participating agencies grows, QCON strives to make a substantial impact through its Resource Hub. The hub’s significance becomes evident during natural disasters as a crucial centralized entry point for coordinating emergency support and resources. Notably, during the COVID-19 pandemic, it was pivotal in providing a centralized hub for individuals and families to access emergency support and resources.

QCON envisions the Hub as a new standard for information and referral systems, serving as a best practice model for other communities. By collecting data on service gaps and overlaps, QCON aims to inform member agencies, fostering greater collaboration across a sector with finite resources.

All organizations in the Quad Cities committed to serving the local communities are welcome to become part of the IRIS platform. By participating in this initiative, you not only increase awareness for the valuable services you provide but also facilitate smoother referrals. This, in turn, promotes a more interconnected and supportive community where collaboration and communication thrive for the benefit of all. If you want to learn more about how to join IRIS and partner with QCON, please email TheOpenNetworkQC@gmail.com.

Library Closed for President’s Day

All three Davenport Public Library locations will be closed Monday, February 19th in observance of President’s Day. All three buildings will reopen with regular business hours on Tuesday, February 20th: Main (321 Main Street) 9am to 5:30pm, Eastern (6000 Eastern Avenue) 9am to 8:00pm, and Fairmount (3000 N Fairmount St) noon to 8:00pm.

Even though our physical locations will be closed, you can still access free digital content for all ages. Your Davenport Public Library card gives you access to free eBooks, digital audiobooks, magazines, movies, and music through LibbyFreegalTumbleBooksQC Beats, and Kanopy!

Have a safe and happy holiday!

We Are Not From Here by Jenny Torres Sanchez

“Because the world doesn’t care how much pain you are in, or what terrible thing has happened to you. It continues. Morning comes, whether you want it to or not.”
― Jenny Torres Sanchez, We Are Not From Here

I haven’t read a quote that epitomizes a book quite as well as the above quote does for Jenny Torres Sanchez’s newest young adult fiction title, We Are Not From Here. Pulga, Chico, and Pequeña don’t have much, but they have each other. The small town where they have grown up isn’t the best town, but they know what they are up against. When danger comes at the three, alone they are lost, but together they realize that the only option they have left is to run. The threats come right to their doors leaving them with no other option: they have to leave their families and their country. In a desperate bid to survive, Pulga, Chico, and Pequeña cross from Guatemala through Mexico along the route of La Bestia, surfing atop this deadly freight train that will deliver them to the United States if they are lucky enough to stay alive. All they have are each other, the bags on their backs, and the need to have a better life. Outrunning the darkness chasing them will be the hardest thing these three do in their lives.

This book is a painfully relevant and devastating read. It shook me to the core, yet had me unable to put the book down. Jenny Torres Sanchez discusses the lives of migrants at the United States southern border with vivid realism, not shying away from the devastating and deadly realities that many immigrant families face. She is brutally honest while telling this incredibly timely story.

This title is also available as a CD Audiobook and in Spanish.

Want to talk about We Are Not From Here with others? Join See YA! See YA is our adult book club with a teen book twist. See why so many teen books are being turned into movies and are taking over the best seller lists. Registration is not required. Books are available on a first-come, first-served basis at the Eastern Avenue library. We meet the first Wednesday of the month at Eastern at 6:30pm.  Our next four months of books are listed below:

March 6 – We Are Not From Here by Jenny Torres Sanchez

April 3 – The Cost of Knowing by Brittney Morris

May 1 – Juliet Takes a Breath by Gabby Rivera

June 5 – The Chaos of Stars by Kiersten White

Black History Month Challenge 2024

Celebrate Black History Month! This month, learn more about Black history, celebrate Black authors and illustrators, and explore Black history through the arts. Log your reading and activities throughout the month to earn badges and tickets to enter into our prize drawings!

This reading challenge is live on Beanstack from February 1st, 2024 to March 2, 2024. Curious what you need to do? Sign up on Beanstack today either online or on the app!

 

Needs ideas about what to read? Try any of these Black history books

Juvenile Nonfiction

I am Ruby Bridges by Ruby Bridges

Schomburg: The Man Who Built a Library by Carole Boston Weatherford

Seeking Freedom: The Untold Story of Frances Monroe and the Ending of Slavery in America by Selene Castrovilla

Stamped (For Kids): Racism, Antiracism, and You by Jason Reynolds and Ibram X Kendi

Young, Gifted and Black, Too by Jamia Wilson

Young Adult Nonfiction

And We Rise: The Civil Rights Movement in Poems by Erica Martin

The Burning: Black Wall Street and the Tulsa Race Massacre of 1921 by Tim Madigan

Nearer My Freedom: The Interesting Life of Olaudah Equiano by himself by Lesley Younge

Revolution in Our Time: the Black Panther Party’s Promise to the People by Kekla Magoon

Stolen Justice: The Struggle for African American Voting Rights by Lawrence Goldstone

Adult Nonfiction

Black Ghost of Empire: The Long Death of Slavery and the Failure of Emancipation by Kris Manjapra

Black Rodeo: A History of the African American Western by Mia Mask

Driving the Green Book: A Road Trip through the Living History of Black Resistance by Alvin D. Hall

Invisible Generals: Rediscovering Family Legacy, and a Quest to Honor America’s first Black Generals by Doug Melville

Twice As Hard: The Stories of Black Women who Fought to Become Physicians from the Civil War to the 21st Century by Jasmine Brown

New QC Beats Albums

Three new albums are now available on QC Beats! Check out Say It Again by Subatlantic, Witness Trees by David G. Smith, and Running Man by Running Man.

QC Beats is an online streaming audio collection of original music featuring Quad Cities musicians and artists. QC Beats is a collaboration between Davenport Public Library, Bettendorf Public Library, and St. Ambrose University.

 

Library Closed for Martin Luther King Jr. Day

All three Davenport Public Library locations will be closed Monday, January 15th in observance of Martin Luther King Jr. Day. All three buildings will reopen with the regular hours on Tuesday, January 16th: Main (321 Main Street) 9am to 5:30pm, Eastern (6000 Eastern Avenue) 9am to 8:00pm, and Fairmount (3000 N Fairmount St) noon to 8:00pm.

Even though our physical locations will be closed, you can still access free digital content for all ages. Your Davenport Public Library card gives you access to free eBooks, digital audiobooks, magazines, movies, and music through LibbyFreegalTumbleBooksQC Beats, and Kanopy!

Have a safe and happy holiday!

OverDrive Records – No Longer In Catalog

PATRON: Do you still have eBooks and eAudiobooks?

LIBRARIAN: Why, yes, we do.

PATRON: I don’t see them listed in the catalog any more.

LIBRARIAN: Well, we removed the records.

PATRON: Why?

 

During the first week of 2024 the RiverShare Libraries de-integrated (removed) the records of OverDrive items from our catalog.

Checking our statistics, we found that less than 3% of OverDrive users visit the RiverShare catalog to find what eBooks and eAudiobooks are available. Over 97% of you go directly to the Libby or Sora site to borrow your items and place holds.

So, we decided to save the staff time spent entering this data and also save the cost of the MARC records to be added.

Did you know that we do not “own” some OverDrive items? Many items are “metered.”  We have access to them for X number of circulations or for a particular number of months/years. Once we no longer have the rights to circulate these items, their records need to be removed from the catalog. That’s right, more work! Or looking at it from our new angle, more time saved!

What impact will this change have to you? Well, for 97% of you, none.

For the 2-3% of you who are use to locating the records in the RiverShare catalog, you will want to change your approach and go directly to the OverDrive site.

There you will be able to check out up to 5 items at a time, place reserves on up to 10 items, check out an unlimited number of magazines, and use the Settings option to control the default length of time items are charged to your account.

Don’t you just love OverDrive!?

Well, we just found a way to love it even more!

 

Richardson-Sloane Special Collections Center Closed Saturday January 6th

The Richardson-Sloane Special Collections Center will be closed on Saturday, January 6th. They will reopen on Monday, January 8th with normal business hours.

Even though they are physically closed today, you can visit them digitally and take advantage of their research guides, indexes, collections, databases, and more!

Coming Soon! Online Reading Challenge 2024!

Welcome to the 2024 Online Reading Challenge!

Get ready for our ninth year of reading recommendations with our super-casual, low-stress reading club! It is run online through the Davenport Library’s reference blog Info Café and, new in 2024, you can participate in the Online Reading Challenge through the Beanstack app!

For anyone who doesn’t know (or remember!) the Online Reading Challenge is run through the Info Cafe blog and now Beanstack! Each month we read books centered around a theme. Each year is a little different, but the unchanging main principle of this book club is: No Pressure! There is no sign-up, no meetings to attend (although you’re welcome to add any comments to the blog posts), no shame in not finishing a book, or skipping a month (or two). You can read one of the suggested titles or something different or none at all! Read at your own pace, read what interests you, try something out of your usual reading zone or stick with what you like best. In other words, create a personalized book club with a bit of encouragement from the Reading Challenge!

Our theme for 2024 is Decades!

Each month we will be traveling to a different decade and highlighting a main title set in that decade. Besides the main title, we’ll have suggestions for books set in the same decade as well as many more on display at each of our buildings. You can choose to read the main book or alternate titles or even something else completely! As always, we’ll have an introductory blog post at the beginning of the month, and a wrap-up at the end. At the end of the month I’ll write about the main title, pose some questions, and invite you to comment your observations about the title you read.

Of course, as always, you may do as you please – there are no Library Police! If you wish to skip a month or read more than one book in that month or read a book from a different month, go for it! No one will drag you off to Library Jail if you choose your own path!

The 2024 Online Reading Challenge begins on Wednesday, January 3rd. Be sure to follow the Info Café reference blog or Beanstack for more information and updates!