Tuesday, May 21, 2013

New Wolf Creek Library Groundbreaking!

Wolf Creek
The Atlanta-Fulton Public Library System would like to invite you to the Groundbreaking Event for your new Wolf Creek Library!

Thursday, May 30, 2013 at 11:00 a.m.

We are asking attendees to please park at the Wolf Creek Public Safety Training Center.
3025 Merk Road, College Park, GA

A shuttle will take you from this location to the ceremony.

Please RSVP by Monday, May 27 to: 404-730-1972 or laura.wright@fultoncountyga.gov This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

All are welcome! We hope to see you there!

And for more information on all of the new libraries that are a part of our Library Building Program, be sure to check out the "Your New Libraries - News and Updates" link on our homepage! The Library System is engaged in a $275 million building program, funded by a library bond referendum approved by Fulton County voters in 2008. Updates will be added to this page as the program progresses through the next couple of years, so check back often!

Tuesday, May 14, 2013

Muslim Journeys Theme: Literature

Malian librarian reading
Islam has long provided a source of inspiration through which Muslims experience, understand, and guide their everyday lives. The Muslim Journeys Bookshelf given to the Atlanta-Fulton Public Library System includes fiction and nonfiction that give expression to Islam in the lives of individual artists. Here are a selected few to give you an idea of what the bookshelf contains. We invite all of our patrons to visit the Central Library and check out this rich collection of materials!
 
The Arabian Nights: Stories from India, Persia and Arabia - even China - developing out of an oral tradition that reflects the highly civilized and diverse Islamic world of the ninth to thirteenth centuries. 


The Conference of the Birds: A magnificent work of Persian poetry composed in the twelfth century. A fantastical, allegorical rendering of the Islamic doctrine of Sufism, it describes the pilgrimage of the world’s birds in search of their ideal king, the Simorgh, and the arduous journey they take to reach him.

Snow by Orhan Pamuk (Turkey): After eight years spent living in exile in Germany, the poet Ka returns to the isolated town of Kars during a historic blizzard. Cut off from the outside world, the author uses this town, once a crossroads for trade between Turkey, Soviet Georgia, Armenia, and Iran, as a way to illuminate the crossroads of ideas: socialism, communism, atheism, political secularism, Kurdish nationalism, and the most rapidly growing movement, Islamist fundamentalism.
 
Dreams of Trespass by Fatima Mernissi (Morocco): In this autobiography, Mernissi writes of the modern-day “harem” to illustrate the traditional communal life of the Middle East. The “harem” provided sanctuary and limitations; it hemmed people in but also made people pay attention to one another in a way we are not accustomed to in the West.
 
Minaret by Leila Aboulela (Sudan): The daughter of a government official close to the president, Najwa’s life changes radically when a coup overthrows the government. The family escapes to London, and Najwa finds herself orphaned and alone, taking work as a maid.

Tuesday, April 23, 2013

Check Out The Book Club Play!

Don’t miss a chance to have some big fun and support your libraries in the process! Horizon Theater’s, The Book Club Play will make you laugh out loud. The Atlanta-Fulton Public Library Foundation will receive proceeds for tickets sold on our website, which will be used to help enhance all library resources including filling empty shelves, expanding programs for communities and providing access to technology. Don't wait, opening night is May 15! 

The Book Club Play is a comedy about books and the people who love them. Ana lives in a letter-perfect world with an adoring husband, the perfect job, and her greatest passion: Book Club. But when her cherished group becomes the focus of a documentary film, their intimate discussions about life and literature take a turn for the hilarious in front of the inescapable camera lens. Add a provocative new member along with some surprising new books titles, and these six friends are bound for pandemonium. A delightful new play about life, love, literature, and the side-splitting results when friends start reading between the lines.
Lily


Book Clubs are welcome, so why not get your club together and have a night out at the theatre? For more information contact the Horizon Theatre Box Office:

Horizon Theatre Company
1083 Austin Avenue NE, Atlanta, GA 30307
 404.584.7450.

Thursday, April 18, 2013

April Is National Poetry Month!

National Poetry MonthThe Atlanta-Fulton Public Library System wants to encourage all of our patrons to celebrate National Poetry Month this April!
"Inaugurated by the Academy of American Poets in 1996, National Poetry Month is now held every April, when schools, publishers, libraries, booksellers and poets throughout the United States band together to celebrate poetry and its vital place in American culture."       ~ The Academy of American Poets
 
Poetry can be a powerful and fun way to express any kind of thought or emotion, so now is the perfect time to try your hand at writing your own. And the best part is, anyone can do it! Word-lovers of all ages can enjoy writing and reading poetry, so why not get the whole family together for your own special poetry night? Or check out this list of 30 Ways to Celebrate and find a new and creative way to participate. Of course if you prefer to leave it up to the professionals, we can help you with that too. Our libraries are filled with books and audiobooks of poetry and poets for you to check out and enjoy. Search the catalog or just come in and browse the poetry section. Here are a few suggested titles to inspire you!

  • Writing Poetry: Where Poems Come From and How to Write Them by David Kirby
  • The Collected Poems of W.B. Yeats by William Butler Yeats
  • Behold the Bold Umbrellephant and Other Poems by Jack Prelutsky
  • New Poems of Emily Dickinson by Emily Dickinson
  • The Maya Angelou Poetry Collection by Maya Angelou
  • The Kingfisher Book of Funny Poems by Roger McGough
  • Native Guard by Natasha Trethewey (Our current Poet Laureate!)

Friday, April 12, 2013

Database Workshop On ReferenceUSA


Are you thinking about starting your own business? Not sure where to get started or how to gather the necessary information? The Atlanta-Fulton Public Library System is here to help you start the process and work towards your goal! Join us for the workshop described below and learn how to use ReferenceUSA, a premier online business database that all AFPLS patrons have free access to through our collection of A-Z Databases.

Title: Small Business Development Workshop

Where: Atlanta-Fulton Public Library System, Central Library, 4th floor, Multipurpose Room

When:  Wednesday, April 24th, 10am – 11:15

 
Description:  Even the big leagues take time each spring to get loose before they step up to the plate — here’s your chance to stretch your mental muscles and fine tune your research skills with ReferenceUSA, a business online database for target marketing and much more.

The session will cover the fundamentals in Search Essentials, advancing the runners with Uncovering the Hidden Job Market  and  Start! Manage! Grow! Your Business  then swing for the fences with  Mapping & Data Visualization  and  ReferenceUSA Consumer Data.

This session is free to the public, however, requires registration by calling 404-730-1971.

Tuesday, March 26, 2013

Muslim Journeys Theme: Connected Histories


The Atlanta-Fulton Public Library System was one of the libraries chosen to receive the Muslim Journeys bookshelf in 2013. The bookshelf is a collection of fascinating books and DVDs about the Muslim world's history and culture. We’ll profile some in our blog over the next few months.

Ancient Muslim Map
 
Centuries before the dawn of supersonic transport, the internet, and multinational corporations, the world already was an amazingly interconnected place. Modern-day national boundaries did not exist. Lines between cultures that seem so solid today were blurry. Many of the books in the Muslim Journeys bookshelf provide a tantalizing view as to just how interconnected the medieval world was in spite of the slowness and danger associated with travel.

When Asia Was the World: Traveling Merchants, Scholars, Warriors, and Monks Who Created the “Riches of the East”. Read about how Islam related to the religions and cultures of India, China, Iran, and modern-day Afghanistan.  

The Ornament of the World: How Muslims, Jews and Christians Created a Culture of Tolerance in Medieval Spain.  Learn about a uniquely diverse culture in the Andalusian Middle Ages in Spain.

The House of Wisdom: How Arabic Science Saved Ancient Knowledge and Gave Us the Renaissance. Discover how the scientific method began in Muslim lands.

In an Antique Land. Learn what it meant to be free or enslaved in the Muslim world in the days before European colonialism.

Leo Africanus. A swashbuckling historical novel about real-life Hasan al-Wazzan, born in Andalusia on the eve of the Spanish Reconquest.

For more information, visit this site for annotations and other resources provided by the grantor. You can also access the Oxford Islamic Studies Database through our list of A-Z Databases.

Tuesday, March 19, 2013

Earth Hour 2013

Earth Hour 2013

Earth Hour is an annual event that takes place worldwide in an effort to promote awareness of climate change and other environmental issues. This year the team behind Earth Hour is encouraging people to participate by switching off their lights for one hour on Saturday, March 23 at 8:30 p.m. Last year, Earth Hour broke records to cement itself as the largest voluntary action for the environment, with more than 6950 cities and towns across 152 countries and territories taking part! This year Earth Hour is once again hosting the “I Will If You Will” challenges on YouTube to showcase how everyone has the power to change the world we live in, bringing together the world’s biggest social video platform with the ‘world’s largest action for the environment.’ Will you accept the challenge? Or better yet, come up with a challenge of your own!

And let the kids participate too! The Earth Hour website has all kinds of fun stuff to explore and even some games that teach about recycling and conservation. Earth Hour Kids ambassador, Pocoyo, has pledged to clean up two tons of trash from the ocean floor if 100,000 kids play the Ocean Clean-Up Game!

And for more information on protecting our planet, you can search the catalog for these titles and many more at your local library!

Going, Going, Green! [DVD] by Drew Massey

50 Plus One Tips for Going Green by Alicia Marie Smith

Greenjobs: A Guide to Eco-friendly Employment by A. Bronwyn Llewellyn

The Green Kitchen: Techniques & Recipes for Cutting Energy Use, Saving Money, Reducing  
     Waste by Richard Ehrlich

A Sustainable Future: Saving & Recycling Resources by Louise Spilsbury

Don't Throw it Out: Recycle, Renew & Reuse to Make Things Last by Lori Baird