Today is the First Day of Autumn

Richard Burton reads 'Autumn'

by John Clare (1793-1864)

International Day of Peace

September 21st is
the International Day of Peace

Prayer of the Mothers

Gilbertown Celebrates Constitution Day!

Since both SGA and Baptist Campus Ministries meet in Gilbertown Library, service opportunities  for the students are often combined with library or community promotions. The pictures below are from their Constitution Day observance.

(click photos to enlarge)

CONSTITUTION DAY!!

September 17th is Constitution Day

 
Constitution Day Display in
Leigh Library (click to enlarge)

For the full-text of the U.S. Constitution,
as well as related videos and podcasts,
please visit the National Constitution Center.

September is Library Card Sign-up Month!

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Reading books is the most glorious pastime 

that humankind has yet devised. 

-Wisława Szymborska

John Dennis Forte Library adds Smart TV

 

ADA Anniversary

The Americans with Disabilities Act
was signed into law on July 26, 1990
by President George H.W. Bush. 

New Smart TV in Leigh Library

Independence Day

Happy Independence Day!

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 On July 4th, 1776, the Continental Congress
formally adopted the Declaration of Independence.
History of July 4th at the History Channel

July is Park & Recreation Month

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Park & Recreation Month

display by DeeDee Baggett

June 19 is Juneteenth

BREAKING NEWS:Juneteenth to become a federal holiday!(see AP News story)

Official JUNETEENTH Flag

In 1863, during the American Civil War, Pres. Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, which declared more than three million slaves living in the Confederate states to be free. More than two years would pass, however, before the news reached African Americans living in Texas. It was not until Union soldiers arrived in Galveston, Texas, on June 19, 1865, that the state’s residents finally learned that slavery had been abolished. The former slaves immediately began to celebrate with prayer, feasting, song, and dance. 

Juneteenth Celebration

The following year, on June 19, the first official Juneteenth celebrations took place in Texas. The original observances included prayer meetings and the singing of spirituals, and celebrants wore new clothes as a way of representing their new-found freedom. Within a few years, African Americans in other states were celebrating the day as well, making it an annual tradition. Celebrations have continued across the United States into the 21st century and typically include prayer and religious services, speeches, educational events, family gatherings and picnics, and festivals with music, food, and dancing.

Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. "Juneteenth". Encyclopedia Britannica, 25 May. 2021, https://www.britannica.com/topic/Juneteenth. Accessed 17 June 2021.

June 14 is Flag Day

On August 3, 1949, to commemorate the
adoption of the U.S. national flag, Congress
designated June 14 of each year as Flag Day.

June is Adopt a Shelter Cat Month

 

National Nurses Month

 

CHAMPIONS OF HOPE:
Celebrating National Nurses Month

May in the Library

Get Caught Reading Month

National Inventors Month

Displays by DeeDee Baggett (click photos to enlarge)

Today is Poem in Your Pocket Day!

"The Soldier"
by Rupert Booke

If I should die, think only this of me:

      That there’s some corner of a foreign field

That is for ever England. There shall be

      In that rich earth a richer dust concealed;

A dust whom England bore, shaped, made aware,

      Gave, once, her flowers to love, her ways to roam;

A body of England’s, breathing English air,

      Washed by the rivers, blest by suns of home.

And think, this heart, all evil shed away,

      A pulse in the eternal mind, no less

            Gives somewhere back the thoughts by England given;

Her sights and sounds; dreams happy as her day;

      And laughter, learnt of friends; and gentleness,

            In hearts at peace, under an English heaven.

 

Recitation of "The Soldier" by Sophie Okonedo

April 22nd is Earth Day!

Mobile Bay at Fairhope
(click to enlarge)

Alabama State Parks

Alabama's Anti-Litter Site

Clean Water Future

Earth Charter Initiative

Earth Day Network

Earth Island Institute

Ebsco's GreenFile

Keep Alabama Beautiful

Mobile Baykeeper

National Park Week

Nature Conservancy

National Haiku Poetry Day

April 17th is National Haiku Poetry Day The traditional form for Haiku is as follows: a 3-line poem with 5, 7, and 5 syllables per line. An old silent pond; A frog jumps into the pond. Splash! Silence again. -Basho Haiku Foundation Haiku Generator Haiku Syllable Counter History & Artistry of Haiku

(click to enlarge) Matsuo Basho Greatest Master of Haiku

National Library Week, April 4th-10th

In honor of National Library Week,
Coastal Alabama Libraries will forgive
all fines for overdue books or videos
returned during the month of April.

April is National Poetry Month

display by DeeDee Baggett (click to enlarge)

Academy of American Poets Bartleby Great Books Online Modern American Poetry National Poetry Month Poem Generator Poetry Center Poetry Daily Poetry Foundation Poetry Society Poetry Society of America Rhyme Zone Sonnet Project