Summer Reading Program Sponsorships Available

It's time to Catch the Reading Bug and support HCPL's 2008 Summer Reading Program with your sponsorship. Get all your details here. If you have questions, don't hesitate to contact Vanessa Milio, HCPL Foundation Director at 410-273-5600. Last year, over 15,000 children and teens participated in the program. Sponsors receive logo placement, name recognition in all printed materials, press releases, and event activities. We celebrate our sponsors with a special Summer Reading Program kick-off event in early June. You can really make a difference.

Avatars at the Library

Here's just one example of some of the avatars you'll be seeing this summer at the library. Avatars are popular on many Web 2.0 sites including virtual worlds like Second Life, Active Worlds, and Teen Second Life.

Harford Book Festival 2008

Here we go with a series of 2008 Harford Book Festival events being kicked off with a great fund raising opportunity at Barnes and Noble, Saturday, April 26th from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Be sure to print a voucher before you go to the store and present the voucher when you check out. These funds will be used to underwrite ongoing activities and author events.

Additional partners for the Harford Book Festival in addition to the library are:

Harford County Government
Harford Community College
Harford County Public Schools
Harford County Center for the Arts
Harford County Cultural Arts Board
Town of Bel Air
Highlands School
Barnes & Noble
Proforma 2KMarketing

A Night Out @ the Library: Alan Pell Crawford

Historian and author Alan Pell Crawford will speak at the Jarrettsville Branch of Harford County Public Library (HCPL) on Friday, April 25, 2008. The event begins at 7:00 pm and will include a fireside chat and book signing. Tickets are $25 each or $15 with a student ID. Expected to be a sell-out the event is presented by the HCPL Foundation. Proceeds will benefit Harford County Public Library. Order a ticket now!

Alan Pell Crawford’s recently released biography, Twilight at Monticello, focuses on the final years of Thomas Jefferson. The book is an unprecedented and engrossing look at Jefferson as he returns to his beloved Virginia plantation after two terms as president in 1809, to his death in 1826. Crawford, who had a residential fellowship at the International Center for Jefferson Studies at Monticello, had access to thousands of letters from family, friends and Monticello neighbors, some previously unexamined by historians, that he used to depict an intimate portrait of a great American historical icon.

This is the second year the Night Out @ the Library event has hosted a relevant and formative writer. “What a fantastic opportunity to see a celebrated author in Harford County,” said Vanessa Milio, HCPL Foundation Director. “The HCPL Foundation is certainly excited to once again offer people a great evening of historical discussion, light refreshments and stimulating conversation all at an affordable ticket price." Sponsors for the event include WXCY FM 103.7 and Lucie and Edmund Snodgrass.

Meet Children's Author: Bruce Coville

Bruce Coville, award-winning author of many books for young readers including My Teacher is an Alien, I was a Sixth Grade Alien, and The Unicorn Chronicles, will speak at the Abingdon Branch of HCPL on Wednesday, April 2nd at 6:30 pm. Coville will talk about the creation of a book from the beginning of the idea until the time of the manuscript is sold to a publisher.

Coville knew he wanted to be a writer since he was a child. He started to write for children when he was 18 years old and sold his first book at age 27. His books generally fall into the fantasy and science fiction genres, full of personable and humorous characters. His books stress values like saving the environment and fair treatment of others.

Bruce Coville lives in Syracuse, New York with his illlustrator/wife, Kathy Dietz. The couple has three children.

HCPL's Jamie Watson featured in Library Journal

Congratulations are due to one HCPL's librarians, Jamie Watson, who has received one of Library Journal's most coveted designations: 2008 Mover and Shaker. Ms. Watson is the Assistant Materials Manager, an active member of the American Library Association, YALSA (Young Adult Library Services Association), and Capitol Choices (a regional book review and award committee). Ms. Watson also writes teen book reviews for School Library Journal and has her own blog, The Mashup: A Blog About Books for Teens which is part of WETA's Adolescent Literacy Project. Ms. Watson says, "... you can make readers out of bored kids who hang out at the library. Treat teens as individuals and find something specific for each one, and they'll demand another one 'just like that' .... I take them seriously." Ms. Watson has been with the Harford County Public Library for 5 years.

Expanded MyLibraryDV

Movies, Movies, Movies! My LibraryDV is providing more movies than ever online and and they're downloadable from your home computer. What's available? Well, classic movies like Night of the Living Dead, Meet John Doe, or The Great Train Robbery as well as other Hollywood and Sony Studio favorites. Television episodes from popular shows like the Antiques Road Show, Today's Homeowner, and Globe Trekker. There are actually a large number of travel movies and television episodes. Just check out this list of downloadable movies. And remember, it's all free.