Category: Library news

We Have a Winner!

- Ann 1 Comment

staycation3Congratulations to KarenW, the winner of our first ever Davenport Library Info Cafe blog contest! Karen’s excellent comment recommended not one but several wonderful places to visit, all arranged in a handy driving tour and includes great places to stop for a meal along the way. Her tour will appeal to many interests including families, and really showcases the beauty and history of eastern Iowa. Be sure to check out her comment!

Need some more ideas for your next Staycation? Here are some thoughts from a couple of our blogging librarians:

Lynn: I, for one, can’t wait to get on the road and try out Karen’s ideas. (it’s very useful to know how to gauge your coffee consumption when you’re in (relatively) unknown territory).

One of my favorite staycations follows the river on the Illinois side. It starts with an early morning  hike at Mississippi Palisades State Park in Savanna (fortified by a thermos full of good strong coffee). Trails along the cliffs and ravines provide just enough challenge to make ice cream, popcorn and/or an elegant Italian meal in Galena seem totally justifed.  To me, it’s a great combination of natural beauty, physical exercise and (sort of) sophisticated indulgence.

Ann: Don’t pass up a visit to the Neil Smith National Wildlife Refuge near Grinnell (about a 2 hour drive west of the Quad Cities, just off Interstate 80) where you can experience Iowa the way it was when the pioneers arrived. Less than one tenth of one percent of the tall grass prairie that once covered Iowa remains; at Neil Smith they are hard at work preserving and restoring authentic prairie. They have an excellent visitor’s center with educational displays and a introductory film, walking paths of various lengths (some are perfect for children) and a driving tour where you will have a very good chance of spotting the buffalo or elk herds. The Refuge is free but you’ll want to pack a picnic lunch. Don’t miss visiting this rare and beautiful land.

Congratulations again Karen and thanks for the great Staycation ideas! Your IMAX tickets are in the mail!

Come Celebrate with Us!

- Ann Leave a comment

EasternYour public library is growing to serve you better! Join us today, July 31, at the site of the new branch library located at 6000 Eastern Avenue (just past 53rd Street) for the Ground Breaking and Ceremonial Tree Planting! We’re super-excited about this new chapter in our story and look forward to opening the Eastern Branch library in summer 2010. Be sure to follow our progress on the Eastern Avenue Branch blog.

Please note, both the Main Library and the Fairmount Branch will be CLOSED on today, Friday July 31, until 1:00pm so that the staff can attend the ceremony. Both buildings will be open on Friday 1:00-5:30pm.

Big Weekend in Davenport!

- Ann Leave a comment

Bix 7Just in case you’re new to the Quad Cities, here’s a heads up – this is a big weekend for events in Davenport! The Bix 7 road race, featuring world-class runners and ordinary-Joes alike, gets started at 8am today. And then the celebration of all things Bix Beiderbecke gets going with the Bix Biederbecke Memorial Jazz Festival, filling the Davenport riverfront and various locations with the sounds of jazz.

Because of the crowds and congestion, the Davenport Main Library will not be open today, Saturday July 25. However, the Fairmount Branch library will be open their usual hours, 9:30am to 5:30pm. Both buildings will be open their regular hours on Monday.

Now get out there and soak up some jazz! Have a great weekend!

Join the Fun – Bix Porch Party!

- Ann Leave a comment

BixIt’s time again to celebrate one of Davenport’s own – the Bix Beiderbecke Jazz Festival kicks off today with the 22nd annual Davenport Library Bix Porch Party at our Main library. There’ll be live music – provided by Don Estes and the Prairie Ramblers – hot dogs and free lemonade and popcorn. It all starts at 11:30am.

Interested in hearing more of Bix’s music? Be sure to check out Riverboat Shuffle or Bix Lives! from the library. If you’d like to learn more about the brilliant but brief life of Bix and the era he lived in, take a look at Remembering Bix: a Memoir of the Jazz Age by Ralph Berton or Bix: Man and Legend by Richard Sudhalter.

And don’t forget – grab a lawn chair and head to the Main Library for lots of great music and fun!

Another Reknown Novelist Comes to the Quad-Cities

- Lynn Leave a comment

Fall of the SparrowFresh on the heels of Elizabeth Berg’s visit to the Quad-Cities, comes Robert Hellenga, author of many best selling novels. He is the keynote speaker Thursday, June 25th at Midwest Writing Center’s annual conference. This year, events are held at St. Ambrose University.

My favorite novel by Robert Hellenga is The Fall of the Sparrow, which is partially set at a liberal arts college in Galesburg (the author is a Knox College  literature professor), and partly in Italy.  Though there’s a insider feeling of intimacy when you’re familiar with the local references; the novel resonates with many themes. The main character is a classics professor  and the reader learns about Latin, Greek, Persian rugs, as well as the blues,  and shares Woody’s deep appreciation of Italian culture.

“Libraries Will Get You Through Times of No Money…..

- Ann 4 Comments

…..better than money will get you through times of no libraries.”

— Henry David Thoreau

Economic downturn getting to you? High gas prices keeping you close to home? Turn to your local public library for free (so long as you return those books on time!) help of all kinds including:

—books on surviving a layoff, writing a resume, learning new skills or learning about saving money by growing your own food, sewing your own clothes, saving energy in your home, even free internet access

—entertainment in the form of DVDs, magazines, newspapers, computer games, music CDs, and – oh yeah – good old books

—keep the kids busy with the multitude of programs at the library – everything from Movie Matinees to puppet workshops – and don’t forget to sign up the whole family (pre-school through adult) for the Summer Reading Program – prizes for everyone!

NBC News ran this story recently about how public libraries are doing all this and more during this recession. What about you – have you turned to the library now more than ever? If so, how? Let us know – and spread the word!

National Library Week — Great Books about Librarians

- Ann 3 Comments

free-for-all1Some people think that libraries are stuffy, tomb-like places run by bespectacled octogenarians whose primary  function is to go around shhhussshing  others.  Those of us who actually work in one know that’s far from the truth.  One book I found that  really hit the nail on the head as far as how libraries today really operate  is Free for All: Oddballs, Geeks and Gangstas in the Public Library by Don Borchert.  Okay, it’s about a library in California, so some things are a little different, but it is still a quick read that’s delightfully funny, yet peppered with some very poignant moments.

down-cut-shin-creekFor a nonfiction take on the subject, check out Down Cut Shin Creek: The Pack Horse Librarians of Kentucky by Kathi Appelt and Jeanne Cannella Schmitzer.  During the Great Depression, this WPA program was started to put women to work and to serve the very poor in remote regions of the country.  These courageous book carriers provided their own horses or mules and were paid  a whopping $28 a month!

miss-rumphius2As far as children’s books, an old favorite of mine is Miss Rumphius by Barbara Cooney.  Miss Rumphius, a retired librarian, plants lupines all over her community– in order to leave the world a better place.  The message is touching and the illustrations inspiring — it’s a feel good book that just makes you want to go out and DO something!

Our New and Improved Catalog is Here!

- Lynn 1 Comment

Try the new version of the PrairieCat catalog! Some neat things about itprairiecat:

  • Have you ever thought you’d like to write your own review of a book you loved (or hated) and have it appear in the catalog? Well, now you can (Look at the Community Reviews for  The Thing About Jane Spring). That Minniemutt has such good taste in literature.
  • You can also rate an item (1 star = I Hate It and 5 stars = I Love it)
  • You can add the tag “travel book” to make it easier for other users unfamiliar with official library subject headings. You can add adjectives, such as “grunge” for a Pearl Jam CD or physically descriptive, such as “yellow cover!”
  • You can register for a My Discoveries account; this is a great way to keep track of your reading lists or things you want to put on hold. (I have a list of dvds I don’t have time to watch right now, but don’t want to forget about them!)
  • The new catalog is more intuitive, faster, with more relevant search results, but the old or Classic Catalog is still available as a tab.

Edited: We’ve had to postpone our launch of the new catalog until tomorrow, March 31. It’ll be worth the wait, I promise!