Oxmoor Page Turners May Selection

Reserve your copy of The Glass Castle today!

National Volunteer Week April 15-21, 2012

National Volunteer Week April 15-21, 2012, a set on Flickr.

Fact is: We couldn't function without the Friends of Homewood Public Library who do SO much for us!

Why Should I Donate to the Public Libraries of Jefferson County?

The JCLC was recently eliminated from the Jefferson County budget.

After 33 years of funding, the Jefferson County Library Cooperative was recently eliminated from the Jefferson County budget. Our library building, staff, and operations are funded by the City of Homewood. (Thank you Homewood!) But JCLC, a non-profit organization, provides all 40 Jefferson County public libraries—including Homewood Library—with essential services like Internet access, book and DVD delivery between libraries, one centralized catalog and one centralized library card. Learn more.

"Keep It Alive" the "One County-One Library Card" System

Donations can also be made by mail to:

Jefferson County Library Cooperative
2100 Park Place
Birmingham, AL 35203

Or donations can be made at:

Homewood Library or any Jefferson County library 
by making checks payable to JCLC.

Thank you for your help!

Patron Appreciation Day at HPL, April 11, 2012

Patron Appreciation Day at HPL, April 11, 2012, a set on Flickr.

We ♥♥♥ our customers, truly!

Little Dog Lost

In January 2010, the world watched as a lone dog was rescued from a piece of ice floating on the Vistula River near Grudziadz, Poland. This poor mutt had been stranded for days and no one could figure out how he got there. It took several days to rescue him. Firefighters tried, but they could not get close enough to save him. The dog fell into the water several times and ended up drifting 15 miles off shore into the Baltic Sea. Finally he was saved by the crew of the scientific research vessel R/V Baltica, who adopted the brave dog and named him Baltic.

This little dog’s brave story captured the hearts of millions. Mônica Carnesi,
 who is an artist and a librarian, was fascinated with the story. She immediately set to work on her very first picture book so she could keep Baltic’s amazing rescue story alive. Little Dog Lost: The True Story of a Brave Dog Named Baltic teaches children the endearing story of a dog that no one would give up on. Through sparse text and sweet illustrations, children not learn of Baltic’s daring rescue but the care he needed to recover after such an ordeal. It is always nice to see a picture book about a true story that has a happy ending. Children will love reading about Baltic’s amazing journey from floating on a piece of ice to capturing the hearts of the world.

The Way

    Every once in a while you stumble upon a good movie that you just have to share. The Way is one of those movies. Martin Sheen plays Tom, an aging doctor who is comfortable in his structured and steady life. Suddenly Tom’s world is shattered with the death of his estranged son, Daniel. Daniel was embarking on the pilgrimage journey of El Camino de Santiago or the Way of St. James, which crosses through Spain. Tom travels oversees to collect his son’s body, but in a moment decides to walk the El Camino for Daniel.

     Written and directed by Emilio Estevez, who also portrays Daniel, The Way focuses on the different reasons that many travelers make the trek each year.  Estevez does a great job portraying the locals who are famous for their generosity to the pilgrims. The entire movie is filmed in Spain and France and the actual scene of the walk were filmed on the Camino. Instead of focusing on the physical hardships, Estevez places his focus on the personal growth of the characters. On his trek, Tom meets an array of characters, all walking the Camino for extremely different reasons. Together, these travelers must learn not only to get along, but accept each other as they are…flaws and all.  As Tom spreads Daniel’s ashes along the Camino, he learns that it is not about the life you choose, but the life you live. This inspirational story will have you wishing that you were walking the Camino, but you might want to do a little more research before you jump in as quickly as Tom did. 

The Homewood Public Library has The Way in both DVD and Blu-ray. Enjoy! 

   

We Found Another Reason to Be Excited for Summer

Anticipation is one of life’s greatest emotions and one we are all too familiar with here in the Children’s Department, especially when it comes to one of our favorite author’s newest publications. Tao Nyeu whose book Wonder Bear crossed our desk in 2008 has a new book ready for our profuse praise coming out mid June of this year Squid and Octopus Friends for Always. One of the greatest things about the anticipation of a new book is that it means we will spend the time looking forward to reading their newest book by rereading the great books already on our shelves. So until June you will probably see us with our noses in Bunny Days. Care to join us?

Why I Love the Homewood Public Library… Feb. 2012

To see a slideshow of some of the entries, click the Play button (arrow) above. Then click the four-headed arrow on the bottom right corner of the slideshow to view it FULL SCREEN. When finished, press Esc to close the window.

During the month of February, Homewood Public Library held a contest called “Why I Love the Homewood Public Library…” Patrons were asked to share their favorite library story for a chance to win a $50 Visa Gift Card donated by the Friends of the Homewood Public Library. The library received over 200 entries. The Director read every entry and picked her top nine stories and a committee voted to select the winner.

The first and second place entries were only separated by one vote, so the Friends of the Homewood Library provided another $25 for a second place prize. The $50 prize for First Place went to Abbie D. The Second Place prize went to Lee Ann S. Library Director, Deborah Fout said, “The stories are wonderful and really validate the work we do at Homewood Library. The staff and I know how libraries can change lives, but to hear it expressed so beautifully by our patrons really touches us.”

We have included just a sampling of the stories here for you to read.

More of the stories will be highlighted in our gallery during National Library Week, April 8-14.

Why Aren't There More eBooks?

A library, unlike a regular person, cannot purchase an eBook from Amazon or Barnes & Noble and then lend it out to another person. Libraries can buy a printed book from these companies, place it on the shelf, and lend it out. Digital content is treated differently by the publishers and the companies who manage digital content licensing.

We want to offer as many eBooks as we can to our patrons; however, the publishers' policies are preventing us from doing so. Please know that we are committed to advocating for a change to these restrictive policies.

Many publishers will not sell or license eBooks to libraries. We think that's wrong. If you do too, you can write or call each publisher to let them know what you think. For your convenience, the addresses and a sample letter are provided here.  

Looking for our eBook Collection? Click here to continue to eBooks.

The above are just a few of the titles not available as library eBooks due to publisher restrictions.

Thank you for helping us help you!