Why Read? Making the Case for Passionate Reading

Albany City Area Reading Council, Iroquois Reading Council, Schoharie Reading Council and The Children’s Literature Connection invite you to:

Why Read? Making the Case for Passionate Reading
Monday, March 11, 2013 4:00-8:00 p.m.
The Century House 997 New Loudon Road, Latham, NY 12110

Dr. Shelley Stagg Peterson, IRA board member and Professor of Literacy, University of Toronto
Steven Sheinkin, author of The Notorious Benedict Arnold and National Book Award Finalist Bomb
Matthew McElligott, author and illustrator of Even Aliens Need Snacks and more

Guest speakers will address the need for passionate reading in our standardized times and help teachers, librarians, and authors inspire a new generation of readers.

Evite can be found here.

Questions: acarcny@gmail.com or your local membership chair (Janice Toomajian - jtoomajian@ brittonkill.k12.ny.us.) Professional development certificates will be provided as well as door prizes for all. Join us for a great evening of literary conversation.

E-books for all

A successful Kickstarter campaign>:


The People's E-Book seeks to be a lab, an incubator, an e-book creation platform for artists, authors, and alternative presses who want to try new things, publish new books, and push into new territories. The People's E-Book will handle e-books of all sizes and scope, but it will excel in areas that no one else has cared to consider—the very small, the quick and dirty, the simple and the experimental.

Winter Break Activities at Albany Public Library

There's no room for boredom this week because APL has so many great FREE activities planned for kids and teens during the winter vacation. They've got a number of arts and crafts programs, along with LEGO-building sessions, story times, family movies, and more.

Check out this flier for a complete list of winter break fun at APL.
Here's a small sample of what has been planned for this week:

Roll into Reading Family Roller Skating Party
Sunday (Feb. 24) at 1-3 pm -- Washington Avenue Armory
Join APL for the second annual roller skating party at the Armory (next to the Main Library at the corner of Washington and Lark). We're providing skates, craft activities, and light refreshments. They'll have giveaways -- free book to the first 100 kids through the door -- too. Albany All Stars Roller Derby League will give skating tips and a helping hand. (Skates are provided; participants will not be allowed to use their own roller skates.)

Clay Pictures Arts and Crafts Activity
Tuesday (Feb. 19) at 3 pm -- Main Library
The Scotia-Glenville Traveling Museum helps kids design and create their own 2-D pictures using multi-colored clay. For ages 6-12. Registration required at 427-4310.

"Hotel Transylvania" Family Movie
Wednesday (Feb. 20) at 2 pm -- Pine Hills Branch
In this funny animated feature, Dracula and his pals try to keep a high-end, monsters-and-ghouls-only resort a safe haven from those pesky humans.

Electrifying Science Program
Thursday (Feb. 21) at 3 pm -- Main Library
The Children's Museum of Science and Technology (CMOST) helps kids investigate static, explore magnetics, and more. For ages 6-11. Registration required at 427-4310.

"Where in the World are You?" Music and Dance Program
Friday (Feb. 22) at 2 pm -- Bach Branch
Popular music educator Deb Cavanaugh presents an interactive program of songs and dances from around the world. For elementary-school children.

Copywrongist of All: Fair Use and Intimidation

Sanity is Razor Thin.

It seems we need to go over this copyright thing again. The movie studios seem to think that copyright only applies to them and they get to make the rules (when it favors them). This is wrong. Very wrong. How many of you are familiar with the term "Fair Use"? Fair Use means that we, all of us, have the right to use a copyrighted work without compensating the copyright holder in a specific and limited scope. You can use parts of a movie, a book, a song, a video game, a painting... anything for the purposes of satire, criticism or reporting.

What's the Best Way to Read a Book?

Unless you are both an incredibly avid reader as well as someone who cares for their gadgets and does not replace or upgrade to new models, e-readers just simply don't live up to the lighter footprint they promise. Instead, we should stick with our library cards.

More HERE.

The Future of Librarians in an EBook World

"There is not such a cradle of democracy upon the earth as the Free Public Library, this republic of letters, where neither rank, office, nor wealth receives the slightest consideration." So wrote the steel baron and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie, who donated a great part of his vast fortune to establish some 3,000 such libraries around the English-speaking world, from his native Scotland to Fiji, and in 47 of the United States. Carnegie believed that libraries should be more than just repositories for books. He envisioned them as community centers as well, and many of them serve that purpose to this day.

But libraries in the 21st century face challenges that Carnegie could not have anticipated, and have struggled to retain their central role to the lives of cities and towns. One of the most profound realities libraries face is the move of readers away from printed books. In 2010, only 6 percent of Americans owned a tablet or e-book reader. By 2012, that percentage had jumped to 33 percent.

Libraries are responding to the decline of print in a variety of creative ways, trying to remain relevant – especially to younger people – by embracing the new technology.

More HERE.

RIP Danforth Toan, Architect of Brutalist Libraries

Architect Danforth Toan specialized in library design, and often wrapped them in a brutalist shell. One of his major works was Toronto's Robarts Library, with Toronto firm Mathers and Haldenby. Lindsey Roberts writes in Architect Magazine:

At its opening in 1973, the Brutalist-style Robarts Library at the University of Toronto was said to be the largest academic building in the world, with each side of the equilateral-triangle-shaped building measuring 330 feet, and with enough space inside for 4,000 people and 1 million volumes. The library was impressive to more than just Toronto students; novelist Umberto Ecco wrote much of his 1983 novel, "The Name of the Rose," in the library, taking some of its features as inspiration for the secret library described in the book.

More HERE.

Capital Region calendar for Black History Month

Where can you see artwork by Gordon Parks and Faith Ringgold, hear civil rights attorney Lani Guinier, join in discussions on the Maafa of the 21st Century, experience a masquerade ball, see live theater, hear gospel choirs, sample foods from area restaurants, watch student step teams, honor students who won a creative expression contest, learn about the role of spirituals, take part in a business networking event, find out about Black Shakers, attend a pre-screening of a film that honors women who make a difference, watch films made in Africa, share in activities that honor our ancestors, receive spa services at nominal rates, learn why Texas got word of the Emancipation Proclamation so late, hear about some history of Blacks in Schenectady and more? Right here in the Capital Region during the month of February.

See this Capital Region calendar for Black History Month for a listing of events that highlight themes and celebrate the lives of people of African descent during Black History Month.



Jacqui C. Williams, Founding Director

Filling in the Gaps in American History (FIGAH)

www.figah.us