A few months ago, we reminded you that with SearchOhio, you have free access to over 16 million books, audiobooks, movies, and music from public libraries across the state. If you’re using SearchOhio or its academic counterpart, OhioLINK, there’s good news and bad news.
Continue reading “Borrowing millions more items: interrupted”
April is known for Earth month, poetry month, school library month, contains National Library Week and Earth Day. It’s a month full of reminders to read, celebrate your library, and save the Earth. Mash these ideas together and you get the perfect month for Reed Memorial Library’s Book Art Contest.
The book art contest is just what it says: repurpose an old book and make some art out of it. We hosted this contest in 2022 with fabulous results (see a few of the entries below) and it’s time for another round.
We have just a few simple guidelines in our contest. Your art must be:
That’s it! We even have a readily-available supply of used books at the Friends’ bookstore at low, low prices (nothing over $1). They’re available in all sizes, shapes, colors, types of paper, and with and without illustrations. There’s plenty of variety to let your imagination run wild.
Entries are due at the library by April 30 for display and voting. The winner will be announced May 14th and all entries will be on display through May 27th. Download an entry form on your own or fill one out when you bring in your art.
What will you create? Get some inspiration from our Repurposed Book board on Pinterest. Peruse the shelves in the Friends’ bookstore with art (not reading) in mind and let’s see what happens!
Life as a recluse isn’t for everyone. This is the lesson learned in Julie Hatcher’s latest novel, Not Quite By the Book. It’s a sharp yet sweet book about how sometimes you need to abandon the quest for love to find your true passion. Want to meet the author? She’s coming to the library this Saturday!
Continue reading “Not Quite By the Book: An Author Event You Can’t Miss”
We installed a new book on the Story Trail today: Nest, by Jorey Hurley, a story about the first year of a bird’s life. The weather is warming, so take those kiddos outside to the park and read the story while they expend energy walking the trail. Not sure what the Story Trail is? Keep reading for details and a spring book list for kids.
Continue reading “Walking and reading: perfect for spring”
It’s a challenge so simple, it’s a breath of fresh, spring air. Complete a prompt from our activity list or read for an hour. Do either one five times. Fill out your tickets (up to five per person) and turn them in for the grand prize drawing. What could you win? Keep reading to find out.
Reed Memorial Library’s Petals and Pages challenge runs March 1 to 31st and is for all ages and all readers. You’ll get a matching magnet when you pick up your ticket board (so that you can hang it on the fridge). Want to get started right now? You can download and print your ticket board, too.
Like we said, it’s super simple: any combination of prompts from our activity list or reading for an hour. The activity list has all sorts of fun choices like reading in the sun, reading a book about butterflies or spring sports, and even visiting the story trail in Dix Park. There’s an activity for every age and reading level so the whole family can participate.
Fill out your tickets and bring them in for an entry. Do it one at a time or all five at once, just turn at least one in by March 31. One lucky ticket will be drawn for the grand prize.
Here’s what you will win:
One month to read and/or complete fun activities, one grand prize to win. Pick up a ticket board in the library or download and print your own and get started!
Simply put, a library challenge is a fun way to ensure that you, your kids, your family, are reading and learning. A challenge can be set up like a game, a BINGO board, a checklist, a tracker, or some other fun way to record reading and activities. Prizes and rewards are given for completing challenges and sometimes along the way. Library challenges grew out of a need to keep younger readers on track during school breaks by measuring and rewarding reading. We think that rewarding reading is appropriate for everyone and all seasons.
The First Ladies by Marie Benedict
Where to find this book at Reed Memorial Library:
Darlene from Adult Services recommends The First Ladies, a fictionalized account of the friendship between first lady, Eleanor Roosevelt and civil rights activist Mary McLeod Bethune.
Continue reading “The First Ladies – A Reed Reads! Book Rec”
Last year was a big one for book-to-movie adaptations and 2025 is shaping up the same. Setting aside the argument about which one was better, we just want to know which you did last year. Did you watch the movie or read the book? Many times, nothing in the movie or its credits clues you in that they adapted the story from a book. If you liked some of these movies, you might want to check out the book and vice-versa.
Continue reading “Did you watch it or read it?”
Where do you go when you have a question and can’t find the answer yourself? Just ask the Google, you say? Then what do you do when Google spits out multiple answers, some that may contradict each other? And how do you know if that answer is even correct?
Do you ask an AI chatbot? We’ve heard the stories about AI’s unbelieveably unreliable answers. You could call a friend, ask around, but did you know that you can also just ask your question at the library?
You’ve been asking and library staff have been answering your questions for as long as public libraries have been around. What kind of questions? Every kind.
Continue reading “Asked and Answered – Correctly!”
Our Giving Tree went up in December when the cold weather was just getting started. It’s colder than ever now and the need continues. So we’re keeping our tree up, adding decorations and collecting donations through the end of February. You can help.
Continue reading “Why are we leaving our tree up? Because it’s COLD out there.”
This week we had a book returned to us from an Illinois library. They got it from a neighboring library in Idaho, who found it in their book return. As much as we’d love to know how and why our book from Ravenna, Ohio, ended up in Idaho and Illinois, we’ll probably never find out. But its arrival sparked a conversation about things that end up at our library that don’t belong to us.
Continue reading “Strange Finds in Our Library’s Book Drop”
Sincerely, Cornelius 