Celebrate Banned Books Week

What exactly is Banned Books Week and why do we need to celebrate it?

From the American Library Association's website:

Celebrating the Freedom to Read is observed during the last week of September each year. Observed since 1982, this annual ALA event reminds Americans not to take this precious democratic freedom for granted. It began in response to a surge in the number of challenges to books in schools, bookstores and libraries. More than a thousand books have been challenged in the past 20 years. Challenges have occurred in every single state and in hundreds of communities.

Judy Blume, Robert Cormier, Phyllis Reynolds Naylor, Roald Dahl, these are some authors whose works have been challenged and/or banned. Do you see one of your favorite authors on this list?

It is important to raise awareness about attempts to stop access to information at our public libraries. Here are a few links that talk more about the celebration of Banned Books Week:

U.S. map that shows recent challenges

Gadsden Public Library Banned Books Display

100 Most Frequently Challenged Books

Banned Books Week Website

American Library Association

If you have any more questions about banned/challenged books please don't hesitate to ask us! We support patrons right to decide for themselves what they want to read - come check out a banned book....or a future banned banned book today!

We're Having a Book Sale!

Come visit Irondale Public Library during the
Whistle Stop Festival!


Saturday, September 26th

Open extended hours

9am – 4pm


We have a huge assortment of books, CDs, DVDs and more!!!

Ken Burns' National Parks

There is a beautiful new book, The National Parks: America's Best Idea: An Illustrated History, that was just released in conjunction with Ken Burns' latest PBS series.

From PBS.org:

Filmed over the course of more than six years at some of nature's most spectacular locales — from Acadia to Yosemite, Yellowstone to the Grand Canyon, the Everglades of Florida to the Gates of the Arctic in Alaska — The National Parks: America's Best Idea is nonetheless a story of people: people from every conceivable background — rich and poor; famous and unknown; soldiers and scientists; natives and newcomers; idealists, artists and entrepreneurs; people who were willing to devote themselves to saving some precious portion of the land they loved, and in doing so reminded their fellow citizens of the full meaning of democracy. It is a story full of struggle and conflict, high ideals and crass opportunism, stirring adventure and enduring inspiration - set against the most breathtaking backdrops imaginable.

The 6-part, 12 hour series begins on Sunday, September 27th and airs each night through October 4th. Visit APT's website for a complete schedule.

Contests this month @ the library

If you haven't already entered one of our contests, lucky for you, there is still time! You have until September 30th to enter for a chance to win a Dewey book. Here are the details:

Cat Coloring Contest
Bring the kids by the library and they can color a kitty picture and get their name entered in a drawing to win a copy of Dewey: There's a Cat in the Library!

Cutest Cat Contest
Email your most adorable picture of your cat to irondalelibrary@gmail.com and we will enter your name in a drawing for the book Dewey: the small-town library cat who touched the world. And your feline may be featured on our blog!



Good luck! See you at the library!

Project: Dewey - Book Club & the Lastest Dewey News

We had another great book club meeting last night! This month's book selection, Dewey: the small-town library cat who touched the world by Vickie Myron with Bret Witter, was chosen to coincide with ProjectRead. Our group thought it was a great story about two of our favorite things - libraries and cats!

If you can't get enough of Dewey, do not worry - there is so much going on with Dewey right now! According to Dewey's official website, Vicki and Bret are working a follow-up book that is tentatively titled "Dewey's Nine Lives." It will have more information about Dewey, but will also include stories and letters that Vicki has received about other people's cats. They have just released a children's picture book "Dewey: there's a cat in the library!"

The authors are also working on a young adult version of Dewey, which Vicki describes as a "Generation Y version of Dewey". Vicki and Bret are developing a children's Christmas book that is scheduled to be out in time for Christmas 2010.

AND if you haven't heard....Dewey is going to be made into a movie! The fabulous Meryl Streep has signed on to play the role of the librarian. Pamela Gray is the writer; the screenplay is currently in the revision stages. Full casting will move forward after the script is complete, with a projected release date sometime in 2011.

If you are looking for some Dewey gear, visit the Spencer Public Library's website. The Friends of the Library group is selling postcards with snapshots of Dewey on the front. On Dewey's website they are selling posters, T-shirts...even onesies for babies!

For more information visit these links:

CBS Sunday Morning segment on Dewey

Dewey Readmore Books

Spencer Public Library

Homer's odyssey : a fearless feline tale, or, how I learned about love and life with a blind wonder cat - another inspiring cat story

The book club was just the first of many Dewey-themed events going on during the month of Septemeber. Click here to view a complete list of activites. Call us @ 951-1415 or email us, irondalelibrary@gmail.com, if you have any questions!

AVL Back To School Quiz

Come to the library and take the AVL Back to School quiz! Beginning Tuesday, September 8, and continuing through Monday, September 21, library users can take the quiz and nominate their library for a chance to win a great prize.

Click here to take the quiz.

This is a great way to become reacquainted with the AVL! And, of course, we will keep our fingers and toes crossed that we will win a prize for our library :P

Derby Girls

There was an interesting story this week on CNN's website about a 53 year old reference librarian from Ohio who is also a roller derby "girl." I am in awe of this woman - that is a tough sport to play at any age! I, myself, have only become familiar with roller derby within the past couple of years, so I thought it would be a great thing to spotlight for people who have not heard of it. So, what exactly is roller derby? Let's turn to every teacher's favorite source, Wikipedia, for a quick definition:

Roller derby is an American-invented contact sport based on formation roller skating around an oval track, with points scored as certain players lap members of an opposing team. In past decades, roller derby had been primarily a professional or paid sport for both women and men. Contemporary roller derby is international, predominantly female, typically operates on an amateur (or unpaid) circuit, and has a strong DIY ethic which often features both athleticism and a satirical punk third-wave feminism aesthetic.

In the past decade roller derby has seen a resurgence in popularity. Birmingham even has its very own team that was formed in December 2005 - The Tragic City Rollers! Check out their website to see their current line-up and get more information about the team and how the game is played.

Is your curiosity piqued? Then by all means you should come check out one of their bouts! When the Tragic City Rollers have a home game they play at Zamora Temple here in Irondale. Their next bout is Saturday, September 5th at 7pm. Tickets can be purchased online ($8) or at the door ($15). Kids under 8 get in free!

For more information about Roller Derby and Derby Girls:

Derby Girl by Shauna Cross

A 16 year old girl, bored with her small-town Texas life, secretly joins a roller derby team.

Hell on Wheels

A documentary about the formation of a team in Austin, TX that can be viewed in its entirety online.

Rollergirl: totally true tales from the track by Melissa Joulwan

Woman's Flat Track Derby Association

Whip-It

A movie based on the book Derby Girl, featuring Ellen Page and Drew Barrymore. It opens in theaters on October 9th.

Roll on!!!

Food, Inc.

Food, Inc. will be screened at Bottletree Cafe in Avondale this upcoming weekend. Food, Inc. is a documentary that examines food production in the United States. The film boasts Robert Kenner as the producer, Eric Schlosser (Fast Food Nation) as the director/narrator and Michael Pollan (In Defense of Food) as a contributor/narrator.

Show times will be Saturday September 5th at 1pm and 5pm. Saturday tickets are $7 and do not include food or beverages, but you can purchase food separately. Sunday tickets are $18 and includes dinner featuring a menu created by Bottletree, Cafe Dupont and Whole Foods.

This is your only chance to see the movie in a neat theater-type setting, since it never opened in the theaters in Birmingham! For more information call Bottletree at 533-6288 or visit their website.

But, if you can't make it to the screening you can always request the book version of the movie from the library or get in the hold queue for the DVD when it is released later this year.

Happy eating/watching/reading!

Goodbye, Reading Rainbow

It makes me sad to type this, but after 26 years Reading Rainbow has gone off the air. If you are a child of the 80s like I am you probably have fond memories of the show and it's host, LeVar Burton.

The show won 26 Emmy awards, a Peabody award and was the third longest running TV show on PBS (after Mister Rogers and Sesame Street). They had to go off the air because no one can/will pay the several hundred thousand dollars needed to renew the show's broadcast rights.

Here is the full story from NPR.

And I will leave you with this, the original theme song....goodbye, Reading Reading, we will miss you :(