The Poets of Tin Pan Alley at Wayne County Public Library

Pianist/arranger Jim Martinez and lecturer/vocalist Laura Didier will present "The Poets of Tin Pan Alley" on Saturday, November 21, 2009.

Come out and see “The Poets of Tin Pan Alley: The Lyricists of the Great American Songbook” on Saturday, November 21st at 3:00 PM.

Lecturer/vocalist Laura Didier, a Goldsboro, NC resident, has been performing nationally with the Jim Martinez Trio since early 2007.  Highlights include Jazz festivals in California, Idaho, and Canada, as well as Christmas concerts in Iowa and North Carolina.

A classically-trained pianist based near Sacramento, CA, Martinez has performed or recorded with notables like Lionel Hampton, the Stan Kenton Band, the Nelson Riddle Orchestra, Christian McBride, Benny Golson, Russell Malone, Roy Hargrove, and Ed Thigpen, who was the first drummer with the Oscar Peterson Trio.  Martinez recently worked as pianist and musical director for Joan Rivers and Bob Newhart.

Didier and Martinez have also co-developed a Jazz concert titled “A Tribute to the Music of Doris Day”, with performances scheduled nationally.

This lecture/musical event will provide an historical look at the innovative lyricists who shaped American popular music in the years between World War I and World War II.  Highlighted in the presentation will be Irving Berlin, Lorenz Hart, Ira Gershwin, Cole Porter, Oscar Hammerstein, and Johnny Mercer.  Throughout the program, Didier and Martinez will perform a selection of songs written by each of the featured lyricists.

More info on Jim and his music can be found at his official website.

Come to the Harvest Carnival!

If you’re out trick-or-treating on Saturday night, be sure to come by Wayne County Public Library and take part in our Harvest Carnival!  There will be games, free candy, and a chance to win this year’s Newbery Award-winning novel, The Graveyard Book.  Be sure to come in costume!

Southern Cooking, High and Low

Southerners share a good number of passions, and chief among them is food. As with any other culture, traditional cooking—and the occasions at which we share them with our loved ones—is a cornerstone of a Southern upbringing. Understanding the favorite recipes of a culture helps one to understand the way people live, the way they socialize, and the values they hold dear.

Southern Cooking High and Low: A Short History of the Cuisine of the South, presented by John Beck, will be a valuable opportunity to learn more about the roots and historical significance of the food that native Southerners have enjoyed for years. This program uses traditional Southern cooking as a gateway to genealogy and local history studies, promising to satisfy both culinary and historical curiosities.

Southern Cooking High and Low will be presented on October 31^st at 1:00 in the Gertrude Weil Auditorium at Wayne County Public Library. This program is made possible through the North Carolina Humanities Council.

Reading With Rover

Wayne County Public Library will begin hosting Reading With Rover programs on the second and fourth Saturday of every month beginning in October.

Reading With Rover is a program designed to help children who need to reinforce their reading skills, particularly when it comes to reading aloud, by letting them read to certified service dogs. After a child finishes a book, the service dog will autograph it with their paw print and the child will be able to keep it. Participating children must be in 1^st-5^th and registration is required.

The Library will begin this new ongoing service with a kick-off on September 26^th from 3-4:30 PM. Activities will include pet safety orientation, information about spaying and neutering your pet, and an introduction to service dogs. Children will be able to register for Reading With Rover at this event.

All dogs participating in this program are certified through either Therapy Dog International or Leashes of Love.

For more information, please contact Maegen Wilson at the Goldsboro Branch of Wayne County Public Library at 735-1824 ext. 5117.

Programs for Genealogists

Wayne County Public Library will be hosting two genealogy programs on Saturday, September 19^th.  Genealogy for Kids at 10:00 will help children get started with studying their family history, explaining to them what genealogy is and what tools and methods they need to use to get the most out of their genealogical research.  Those interested can register with the Children’s Department at the Goldsboro branch of the Library.  Genealogists studying documents from the Revolutionary War will want to attend the session at 1:30, where participants will learn about documents from this era and learn how to manipulate the data presented in them.  Registration is at the Reference Desk of the Goldsboro branch.  If you have any additional questions, feel free to contact Maegen Wilson, Local Historian Librarian, at (919) 735-1824 ext. 5117.

Geeks and Gamers 2009

This year’s Geeks and Gamers was the biggest one yet, with more games and more prizes than ever before.  Over 100 people came to the event from August 14 to August 16 to play a variety of video games and board games with their family and friends.  Winners of this year’s tournaments each took home a GameStop gift card and a copy of the graphic novel Batman: The Greatest Stories Ever Told, books were given away as door prizes, and everybody who checked out an item from the library that day was given a chance to win an MP3 player.  Children, teens, and adults alike enjoyed playing Rock Band 2 on the big screen, and everyone had a chance to get a sneak peak at the upcoming game Batman: Arkham Asylum.  All in all, 9 different video and board games were available for play.  Games are an important part of the Library’s services, because they strengthen creative thinking and problem-solving skills as well as encourage positive social interaction, teamwork, and good sportsmanship—all three the mark of a productive and responsible citizen.  The Library will continue to offer more gaming programs over the next 12 months as part of the Play Me a Story campaign, funded by the ALA/Verizon Libraries, Literacy, and Gaming Grant.

READ TO WIN at Wayne County Public Library

Teens from all over Wayne County are encouraged to participate in the teen summer reading program Read to Win at Wayne County Public Library!

After picking up an official registration form at the Goldsboro Branch of the Library, all you have to is read books and graphic novels and book reports about what you read. You’ll be entered into a drawing for a cash prize.  The more book reports you turn in, the greater chance you have of winning and the bigger cash prize you are eligible for.  You could win up to $50!

Participants can read any book or graphic novel they want and are encouraged to use this activity to find new authors, genres, and series’ that they might enjoy.

Everybody who turns in at least one book report will be invited to a pizza party to be held at the Library on July 31^st from 4-5.

For more information, please call Brandon Robbins, Young Adult Services Coordinator for Wayne County Public Library, at 735-1824 ext. 5116.

Get Your Business Going with Small Business Resource Center!

Wayne County Public Library has a new resource available for patron use.  Small Business Resource Center will help any entrepreneur get their business off the ground.

A comprehensive database that offers content covering accounting, finance, human resources, management, marketing, tax, and a wide variety of other topics relevant to small businesses, Small Business Resource Center is ideal both for aspiring business owners and students in business programs.

Designed specifically for library patrons, this resource offers numerous search options.  Users can search an entire document, or limit their search to broader subjects and keywords.  A “How To” menu offers answers to frequently asked questions and sample business plans are readily available.

Small Business Resource Center reprints articles from a wide variety of primary sources, including business journals such as: Better Asset Management, Black Enterprise, Consumer Connects, Cosmetics International, Direct Marketing, Financial Management, Family Business Review, and The Tax Adviser.  Also available is the entire Business Plans Handbook Series and Encyclopedia of Business Information Sources.  Dozens of titles from John Wiley & Sons (publisher of the “For Dummies” series) such as The 7 Irrefutable Rules of Small Business Growth and Portable MBA in Entrepeneurship, are also available.

Small Business Resource Center is available to anybody with a Wayne County Public Library card.  To access, visit www.wcpl.org and click on “Electronic Resources.”  If you have any questions, feel free to call the Wayne County Public Library reference desk at 735-1824 extension 5100.

Wayne County Public Library offers Optimal Resume: an online resume builder

A well-presented resume can mean the difference between unemployment and a steady income.  As part of our ongoing quest to provide our patrons with all the tools they need to help them get back on their feet in these tough times, Wayne County Public Library has a new tool that allows patrons to create and share their professional quality resumes online.  It’s called Optimal Resume and it’s available to all Wayne County residents, whether they have a library card or not.

To access Optimal Resume, just type this address into your web browser: https://wcpl.optimalresume.com.  Once there, you will need to create a user account and then you will be able to use all of the tools that Optimal Resume has available.

Unlike creating a resume in a word processing program, there is no need to have knowledge of formatting techniques.  All a user has to do is enter relevant information in structured categories (such as work history, educational background, and professional certifications) and Optimal Resume will generate a resume for you that can be downloaded to your computer, printed off, or published online.

Optimal Resume also allows users to create portfolios of their written works, photography, presentations, and many other types of creative projects that show their range of talents.  Patrons will even be able to (with the necessary hardware) record a video resume, allowing them to make a positive first impression as if they were meeting employers in person.

This service is offered completely free-of-charge.  Patrons can access it from home at any time, or they are welcome to use one of the public access computers at their local library branch.  Please be aware that using public-access computers at any Wayne County Public library requires a library card, which is free to residents of Wayne County.

Please do not hesitate to call the Reference Desk at 735-1824 ext. 5100 if you have any questions about Optimal Resume.

Play Me a Story

We are proud to announce that Wayne County Public Library is a winner of the American Library Association/Verizon Libraries, Literacy, and Gaming Grant.

Ten libraries in 10 states from New York to Alaska will receive $5,000 grants as part of the American Library Association’s (ALA) Libraries, Literacy and Gaming initiative, funded by the Verizon Foundation.

The winners, representing a broad spectrum of libraries – seven public, two school, and one academic – will use the funds to develop and implement gaming and literacy programs that provide innovative gaming experiences for youths 10-18 years of age. The 10 libraries were selected out of 390 that applied for the grant.

With grant funding, Wayne County Public Library will be launching the year-long campaign “Play Me a Story,” an initiative that encourages students aged 10-18 to strengthen their creative thinking and technology skills using both video and board games. The Library will be working in conjunction with Wayne County Public Schools, the Boys and Girls Club of Wayne County, and the Friends of the Library to make this campaign a reality.

Brandon Robbins, Young Adult Services Coordinator for the Library, will be serving as the Project Coordinator for “Play Me a Story.”

“We have a wide variety of activities planned that will appeal to all kinds of gamers and creative people,” says Robbins. Planned programs include: an ongoing Dungeons and Dragons game that players will use as the basis for their own short stories; opportunities to learn how to edit videos and publish them on YouTube; and fan-fiction contests where writers will create stories based around their favorite video game characters.

Wayne County Public Library encourages all of their patrons to check back frequently to find out what programs and activities are currently ongoing and how they can participate in this event.