Tuesday, September 23, 2008

Fall Library Happenings

There are many special activities and programs coming up at your Library during the next few weeks and months. First and foremost is the running of the third annual Forrest Ray 5K Run/Walk Celebration. This event will be held on October 11, 2008 at the Main Library @ 111 N. Harvin Street. This year’s route will begin and end at the Downtown Library, winding through downtown Sumter and several historic neighborhoods. A map of the route and registration details are available on the Library website @ www.midnet.sc.edu/sumtercls. You can also register at http://www.ymcasumter.org/ or http://www.strictlyrunning.com/ . Registration on race day will begin at 8:00 am and the start time for the 5K is 9:00 am.

Fundraisers are an important way for the Library to raise money to support programs and services. Money raised from this year’s 5K will be used to purchase materials for Children’s Services. Our Children’s collection recently received a boost from a donation made by the Junior Welfare League of Sumter. Their generous contribution has allowed us to place many new titles on the shelves. We are also fortunate to receive frequent donations of children’s books from the Kiwanis.

Our Friends’ group is very active and are an invaluable help to the Library. We were recently able to purchase a Document Camera with help from the Friends. Our Children’s Librarians are very excited about this acquisition, and are looking forward to enhancing their Storytime presentations with this device.

Speaking of the Friends, the Annual Book Sale is scheduled for early November. Thursday, November 6th will be the Friends Preview Night (memberships will be available at the door for those who would like to join) and continue through November 7th, 8th, and 9th. The second weekend of the sale will be on November 14th, 15th, and 16th. We will be at the Sumter Mall again this year. Buy early and buy often. Not only will you be supporting the Friends, you will find excellent books and other items at prices that can’t be beat.

We have a film series that will begin on Tuesday, September 23rd. This falls series is entitled “Not Just for Baby Boomers – If you’ve only seen it on TV, you haven’t really seen it”. These will be shown on every other Tuesday (Election Day excepted) through December 16th. The series kicks off with A Hard Days Night, and other movies scheduled are A Streetcar Named Desire (Marlon Brando (Stella!) made his mark with this film, but it’s Vivien Leigh’s Blanche DuBois that is one of the finest performances in movie history), Dial M for Murder, Rocky (Adrian!) Harold and Maude, and Pocket Full of Miracles. Show time is 5:30 pm in the Downtown Meeting Room.

There is also a Teen Movie Night scheduled for Thursday, October 16th from 6:00 to 8:00 pm. This is being presented in conjunction with Chestnut Oaks and Bates Middle Schools.

The South Carolina Bar has been offering a series of clinics on legal issues. There are two remaining – Wills, Estates & Probate on September 25th and Real Estate Issues on October 2nd. Each session begins at 6:00 pm at the Downtown Library in the Main Meeting Room.

Carl Winters “The Kalimba King” will be performing at the Downtown Library on Saturday, September 27th, 3:30 pm. A kalimba is a thumb piano fashioned from African gourds. The Kalimba King will put on a fifty minute program featuring spirituals, Civil Rights/Freedom songs, jazz, and blues.

Our Wesmark Branch Library has recently begun a Book Club. They meet the first Sunday of every month at the Wesmark Library from 3:00 to 5:00 pm. The next meeting is scheduled for October 5th, and Vinegar Hill by A. Manette Ansay is the book that will be featured. The Last Promise by Richard Paul Evans will be discussed on November 2nd, and The Covenant by Naomi Ragen on December 7th.

The Wesmark Branch has also scheduled a Halloween program for October 31st and a special program featuring “Benjamin Franklin” on November 10th at 6:30. The Downtown Library is planning a program on the subject of South Carolina Native Americans for Saturday, November 8th from 2:00 to 4:00 pm and a “Read Along and Sing Along with Santa” for Saturday, December 6th from 6:00 to 7:00 pm.

Please call the Library at 773-7273 (Downtown) 469-8110 (Wesmark) or 775-7132 (South Sumter) for more information on any of these events.

Robert Harden