Events Calendar for November 19-25, 2007

Monday, November 19

• Thanksgiving Feast (Pine Hills Branch)
• Bookmobile - Westview Senior Center (Bookmobile)
• Thanksgiving Craft (North Albany Branch)
• Bookmobile - Avila Retirement Community (Bookmobile)
• Bookmobile - Daughters of Sarah (Bookmobile)
• Bookmobile - Arbor Hill Elementary School (Bookmobile)
• Guitar Hero (Howe Branch)
• Free Tutoring (Main Library)
• Beginning Beading Program – Learn How to Make a Floating Bead Necklace (Delaware Branch)
• Runescape Marathon (Howe Branch)

Tuesday, November 20

• Bookmobile - New Scotland Neighborhood (Bookmobile)
• Thanksgiving Craft (North Albany Branch)
• Toddler Storytime (Pine Hills Branch)
• Into To Blogs and Blogging (Howe Branch)
• Open Computer Lab (Howe Branch)
• Bookmobile - Arbor Hill Community Center, Inc. (Bookmobile)
• Free Tutoring (Main Library)
• Delaware Dogs Program (Delaware Branch)

Wednesday, November 21

• Pre-School Storytime (North Albany Branch)
• Pre-School Storytime (Howe Branch)
• Pre-School Storytime at Main (Main Library)
• Pre-School Storytime (Delaware Branch)
• Toddler Storytime (Pine Hills Branch)
• Thanksgiving Craft (North Albany Branch)
• Read to Me Storytime (Pine Hills Branch)

Thursday, November 22

• All locations closed for Thanksgiving Day (0)

Friday, November 23

• All locations closed for Thanksgiving Friday (0)

Librarians Rule!

If any of you are wondering why, in the age of Google books, we need subject headings, here's a good PDF article on the topic.

This article was recommended to a librarian friend of mine. It is long, but worthwhile (and easy to read).

The Sojourner Truth Story Performed at APL

On Monday, November 26 at 7:00 pm at the Main Library, Rashid Hamzah will stage a play based on his book I’ll Have My Child Back: The Sojourner Truth Story. The book and the play celebrate the life of this inspirational woman and shows her struggles and victory over tremendous odds. Sojourner Truth used the American system of justice and challenged the fairness of the American privileged class. It is the story of how she won freedom for her son from a state where slavery was still legal.

When his son chose to research Sojourner Truth for a Black History Month assignment, Rashid became so fascinated with the life of this courageous abolitionist that he wrote a book about her. I’ll Have My Child Back: The Sojourner Truth Story was published in 2003. In the preface of the book Rashid thanks APL Librarians Mary Coon and Scott Jarzombek for their valuable help. “The Albany Public Library is a wonderful place to write and do research. I learned word processing at the library. Their computer classes are great. My book wouldn’t have been done without the library,” he said.

Growing up in Arbor Hill, Rashid, now 57, remembers his first library experiences at the Pruyn Branch of the Albany Public Library. He remembers the wonderful time he had reading The Lord of the Rings as part of the library’s after school reading club. He went on to study television production and is in the process of writing a screenplay on Sojourner Truth. His goal is to someday bring this story to the big screen.

Rashid is an Elder of the Masjid As Salaam Mosque, located near the Main Library. He says the children that attend the Mosque are great users of the library. About his lifelong dedication to the library, Rashid had one final thought, “The first word of the Koran is Iqra, which means Read.”

To find out more information on The Sojourner Truth Story performance call John Cirrin, Public Information Officer, at 427-4344.

Events Calendar for November 12-18, 2007

Monday, November 12

• Bookmobile - Atria Shaker (Bookmobile)
• Bookmobile - Atria Crossgates (Bookmobile)
• Dance, Dance, Revolution (Howe Branch)
• Free Tutoring (Main Library)
• APL Finance Committee (Main Library)
• Woman’s Book Discussion (Howe Branch)

Tuesday, November 13

• Bookmobile - New Scotland Neighborhood (Bookmobile)
• Advanced Internet II, Web Tools (Howe Branch)
• Toddler Storytime (Pine Hills Branch)
• Open Computer Lab (Howe Branch)
• Free Tutoring (Main Library)
• Delaware Dogs Program (Delaware Branch)

Wednesday, November 14

• Pre-School Storytime (North Albany Branch)
• Bookmobile - Crestwood Plaza (Bookmobile)
• Pre-School Storytime (Delaware Branch)
• Toddler Storytime (Pine Hills Branch)
• Pre-School Storytime at Main (Main Library)
• Intro. to Internet (North Albany Branch)
• Read to Me Storytime (Pine Hills Branch)

Thursday, November 15

• Bookmobile - Center for Disability Services (Bookmobile)
• Pre-School Storytime (Howe Branch)
• Free Tutoring (Main Library)

Friday, November 16

• Bookmobile - Ida Yarborough (Bookmobile)
• Open Computer Lab (Delaware Branch)
• Bookmobile - South Mall Towers (Bookmobile)
• Bookmobile - New Scotland Neighborhood (Bookmobile)
• Connecting with America (Pine Hills Branch)

Friends of APL Honor Author Frankie Y. Bailey

The Friends of Albany Public Library will honor Frankie Y. Bailey, as Author of the Year for 2007 at their annual Book & Author Luncheon on Saturday, December 1 at 12 noon at the Main Library. In for YOU SHOULD HAVE DIED ON MONDAY, released in April of this year, Professor Bailey continues to weave the tale of African American university professor and crime historian Lizzie Stuart as she comes face-to-face with her long lost mother, Becca. Following threads from her earlier cases, Lizzie uses her keen investigative abilities to research her own family's past and uncovers a web of murder and mayhem centered around her other. As the pursuit of Becca runs from the gangster-led Chicago of the 1960s to modern, pre-Katrina New Orleans, Lizzie rattles the wrong people, jeopardizing her interracial relationship with homicide detective John Quinn while putting her own life in danger. Ultimately, Lizzie learns that some things are better buried in the past.

You Should Have Died on Monday is the fourth novel in her mystery series featuring crime historian Lizzie Stuart. Frankie Y. Bailey is also the author of Out of the Woodpile: Black Characters in Crime and Detective Fiction, which was nominated for the Mystery Writers of America 1992 Edgar Award for Criticism and Biography. She is the co-author of "Law Never Here": A Social History of African American Responses to Issues of Crime and Justice, and co-editor of Famous American Crimes and Trials and Media
Representations of September 11th. Ms. Bailey has been on faculty in
the School of Criminal Justice at SUNY Albany since 1990. Her research focuses on criminal justice and American popular culture/mass media and social history, with emphasis on issues of race/ethnicity, class, and gender. Her fiction gives her an outlet to explore issues of race, class, gender, and justice that reaches beyond the classroom and academic journals.

The Luncheon at 12 noon is $15 and the lecture at 1:00pm is free of charge. To make a reservation for lunch, send a note with payment to the Friends of Albany Public Library, 161 Washington Avenue, Albany, NY 12210, leave a message at 427-4333, or e-mail at friendsofapl@yahoo.com.

STAR Rebate Deadline Extension

The following was recently posted to the state tax department Web site. Listed below is a brief description, followed by a link to the document.

Acting New York State Commissioner of Taxation and Finance Barbara G. Billet announced that Gov. Eliot Spitzer recently signed legislation extending the deadline for homeowners to apply for their 2007 Middle Class STAR Rebate Program check from November 30 to December 31.

In addition, Acting Commissioner Billet also said that reminders about the program will be sent to about 600,000 property owners statewide who have yet to apply for their rebate check.

To view the entire document and rates please visit here.

Events Calendar for November 5-11, 2007

Monday, November 5

• Bookmobile - Westview Senior Center (Bookmobile)
• Bookmobile - Avila Retirement Community (Bookmobile)
• Bookmobile - Daughters of Sarah (Bookmobile)
• Bookmobile - Arbor Hill Elementary School (Bookmobile)
• Dance, Dance, Revolution (Delaware Branch)
• Free Tutoring (Main Library)

Tuesday, November 6

• Bookmobile - New Scotland Neighborhood (Bookmobile)
• Open Computer Lab (Howe Branch)
• Bookmobile - Arbor Hill Community Center, Inc. (Bookmobile)
• Free Tutoring (Main Library)
• Delaware Dogs Program (Delaware Branch)

Wednesday, November 7

• Pre-School Storytime (North Albany Branch)
• Pre-School Storytime (Delaware Branch)
• Toddler Storytime (Pine Hills Branch)
• Intro. to Word (North Albany Branch)
• Read to Me Storytime (Pine Hills Branch)
• Numismatists (Pine Hills Branch)

Thursday, November 8

• Lapsit Storytime at Main (Main Library)
• Free Tutoring (Main Library)

Friday, November 9

• Intro. to E-mail (Delaware Branch)
• Intro. to Word--Part 1 (Pine Hills Branch)
• Bookmobile - New Scotland Neighborhood (Bookmobile)
• Connecting with America (Pine Hills Branch)