Appomattox Regional Library System » Adult

Red Carpet Film Series in Prince George

janderson — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 14:00:58 +0000

Appomattox Regional Library System productions presents:

Red Carpet Oscars^® series at the Prince George Library

February 21st through February 24th at 4:00 pm

Get ready for the 84th annual Academy Awards by watching winning films from previous years and enjoying fresh popcorn at the Prince George Library. Movies will be shown at 4:00 pm Tuesday 2/21 through Friday 2/24.

Movies may be rated PG-13 or R, except for Friday 2/4 when we will be featuring a family film from 2008 which won the “Best Animated Feature” award.

Library Lovers’ Month 2012

jturner — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 15:53:47 +0000

Come by The Reader’s Friend Book Store during February for specials on gently used books. The Hopewell/Prince George Friends of the Library are reducing already low prices on a variety of genres to celebrate Library Lovers’ Month. The first week of February, most children’s books are only $.25 or 5/$1.00. Books on parenting will be ½ price. This will encourage parents to “snuggle with a book” and get involved with the Winter Reading Program. Specials on romance, mystery and other fiction and nonfiction will follow.

The Reader’s Friend Book Store is located on the ground floor of the Hopewell Library and is open Wednesday, Thursday, and Saturday from 10:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Staffed by volunteers and filled with wonderful donations, the book store provides funding for youth and adult programming at all libraries served by the Appomattox Regional Library System. In addition, proceeds from the book store fund special purchases for the library like the game systems, public address system, and materials for the collection.

Here is the schedule for Library Lovers’ Month Specials:

February 1 – 4 Children’s books $.25 or 5/$1.00; parenting books ½ price
February 8 – 11 Romance ppb $.25 or 5/$1.00; Romance hard cover only $.50
February 15-18 Books by Black authors and about Black culture will be ½ price
February 22-25 Biographies and Memoirs will be ½ price
February 29 – Mar 3 Mass market mysteries (Grisham, Patterson, etc) and
Gardening books will be ½ price

Come find a book to love during Library Lovers’ Month at the Library. For more information, you may call 804-458-6329 extension 2001.

Make New Friends and Read More in 2012!

janderson — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 14:00:38 +0000

Join in the discussion: come to a book group meeting!

The Appomattox Regional Library System wants you to make a New Year’s resolution to read more and meet new people. To help you do this, ARLS is hosting monthly book groups at four of our locations. No matter where you live or work and no matter what interests you, the library is sure to have something you will enjoy!

To kick off this new year of book groups you are invited to discuss one of the most circulated books of 2011 at our newest library. Join us on Tuesday, January 10^th at 6 pm in the Prince George Library to discuss Room, by Emma Donoghue. This story of a 5 year-old boy and his mother who are held captive in an 11×11 foot room is gripping and shocking, but manages to remain hopeful.

Next, we invite you to come to the Hopewell Library on Thursday, January 19^th at 1 pm to share The Paris Wife, by Paula McLain. This book tells the story of Hadley who is introduced to a “beautiful boy” named Ernest Hemingway. After a whirlwind courtship the two marry and set off for Paris. Though the book is a work of fiction, it is based on the true story of Hemingway’s first wife of whom he once wrote “I wished I had died before I ever loved anyone but her.”

For those outside the tri-city area, book groups in Dinwiddie and Carson will also be meeting Thursday, January 19^th. Stop by the Carson Depot Library at 6 pm to talk about The Real Macaw, by Donna Andrews. This book (by a popular Virginia author) tells the story of Meg Langslow who hears an odd noise early one morning and discovers that her living room is filled with animals! Or come to the Dinwiddie Library at 7 pm to discuss Sharyn McCrumb’s The Ballad of Tom Dooley inspired by an 1866 murder made famous by The Kingston Trio’s 1958 song.

Finally, read one of our favorite books of the fall in Hopewell on January 31^st at 6:30 pm as librarian Chris Wiegard shares one of his top picks, The Language of Flowers, by Vanessa Diffenbaugh. In a recent review, Mr. Wiegard described this book as “disturbingly raw and powerful” as it tells the story of Victoria Jones, a young woman who has survived a miserable childhood in foster care and is thrown into the “real world” thoroughly unprepared.

Book groups are absolutely free to attend and require no registration. Each library location will host book groups each month all year long and welcomes you to attend as many you like. You can view a complete list of the 2012 book selections here.

Shari’s Nonprofit Pick: A Breath of Reality Air

shenry — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 14:00:07 +0000

Great by Choice: Uncertainty, Chaos, and Luck – Why Some Thrive Despite Them All

by Jim Collins

The author of the renowned worldwide bestseller Good to Great is at it again. And, again, he produces a work worth reading. Great by Choice is based on nine years of research by a team of over 20 researchers, distinguishing itself from Collins’s other books “by its focus not just on performance, but also on the type of unstable environments faced by leaders today.” With all the talk about vision, innovation, and risk-taking, it may surprise readers that those factors don’t seem to be as important as discipline, empiricism, and even paranoia in making great leaders. In a nonprofit world determined to be more business-like yet often equally determined to be led by many who enjoy speaking abstract gobbledygook, this book offers a lifesaver. If you, like many nonprofit leaders, are tired of navigating rough waters and fear being sucked away by a theoretical vortex, you need to read this book. Check it out.

Shari’s Nonprofit Pick: Quit Whining!

shenry — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 14:00:30 +0000

The No Complaining Rule: Positive Ways to Deal with Negativity at Work by Jon Gordon

Jon Gordon, author of the bestselling The Energy Bus (coming soon!) has written another winner. Written in story format (you’ll meet a great gal named Hope who is working on complaining less) you’ll fly through this book and be glad that you did. By the end of 137 pages based on a real-life company that implementing the No Complaining Rule, you will have learned all sorts of innovative ideas and down-to-earth solutions to move your organizational environment from complaining to positive. Check it out.

Holiday Cheer from ARLS

cmcpherson — Fri, 25 Nov 2011 14:00:30 +0000

Two weeks of holiday events are coming to an ARLS branch near you! Please join Hopewell, McKenney, Dinwiddie, Prince George and Burrowsville branch libraries for holiday festivities:

The Friends of the Library, Dinwiddie (FOLD) will host the annual Holiday Open House on Friday, December 2nd, from 2:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m at the Dinwiddie Branch. The Friends will have special refreshments and door prizes.

The Prince George Library will host a holiday open house following the Prince George County parade on Saturday, December 3rd, from 3:30 p.m. to 6 p.m. The Girl Scouts and the Hopewell Prince George Friends of the Library will offer refreshments and the library will offer a children’s craft and be showing a classic holiday movie.

Also on Saturday, December 3rd, the McKenney Branch will hold a holiday open house at 11 a.m. as part of a festive day of town activities. Refreshments and a children’s craft will be available at the library. The Town of McKenney will also be holding a holiday bazaar at 10 a.m. and a holiday parade will begin at 2 p.m.

Visitors can also enjoy a “Hogwart’s Holiday” on December 6th, 6:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m. at the Hopewell Branch. Dress up as your favorite character from Harry Potter and enjoy crafts and refreshments. Following this, the library will host the Ralph Jones Group at 7:00 p.m., with music for the holiday season.

The Burrowsville Branch library will have an open house with a children’s craft during The Friends of Burrowsville School, Inc. “Community Christmas Party” on December 9th, beginning at 7 p.m. at the Burrowsville Community Center and Library. The party will feature seasonal music, refreshments, door prizes and a performance by the Ralph Jones Group. The Friends will be collecting canned food items for the Prince George and Mission Ministries Food Banks.

Following the Dinwiddie County Christmas Parade, the Dinwiddie Branch will offer an open house with a children’s craft December 10th, at 4:00 p.m. This is in partnership with the county’s Christmas Illumination and tree lighting at the Dinwiddie Courthouse.

All events are free. Also, be sure to look for Rudolph the ARLS Bookmobile at the Dinwiddie, Prince George and Hopewell holiday parades!

Shari’s Nonprofit Pick: Rewards on a Shoestring Budget

shenry — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 14:00:24 +0000

A Guide to Non-cash Reward by Michael Rose

Most nonprofit organizations are operating on especially tight budgets these days. This brief, easy-to-follow book will show you how to learn the value of recognition, reward staff at virtually no cost, and improve your organizational performance. You’ll learn why recognition is important, what, when, and how to recognize people, and all about using non-cash awards. This book will help you set up recognition plans for staff, board members, and volunteers. Check it out.

Shari’s Nonprofit Pick: Get Leading

shenry — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 14:00:12 +0000

Everyone’s talking about leadership so it follows that many people are writing about it. Are leaders born or made? Can you lead regardless of where you are placed within an organizational hierarchy? Is leadership better learned in a classroom (have you noticed how degree programs in leadership are proliferating at lightning speed?) or by doing? Read for yourselves what the authors of five books think, and then let me know.

Apples are Square: Thinking Differently about Leadership by Susan and Thomas Kuczmarski. This book lists six critical values that they believe are changing the way people lead, and then, succeed. Those values are humility, compassion, transparency, inclusiveness, collaboration, and values-based decisiveness. After discussing these values, the authors describe how to activate the “seven steps to change.”

Comebacks: Powerful Lessons from Leaders Who Endured Setbacks and Recaptured Success on Their Terms by Andrea Redmond and Patricia Crisafulli. You’ll read the profiles of several world-known leaders who fell from grace and rebounded, among them JPMorgan Chases CEO Jamie Dimon, HP chair Patricia Dunn, Ford Motor CEO Jacques Nasser, and many more.

Dynamic Strategy-Making: A Real-Time Approach for the 21^st Century Leader by Larry E. Greiner and Thomas G. Cummings. More of a strategic planning book than a leadership one, this book provides a no-nonsense approach on building a strategic system, assessing your organization, using guided involvement, and leading in “real time.” Many nonprofit executives and consultants will find the chapter on facilitating real-time strategy (a “new role for consultants”) particularly helpful.

Leadership is Dead: How Influence is Reviving It by Jeremie Kubicek. If you choose one book to read from this list, make it this one. Kubicek will show you how to break down the wall of self-preservation, build your credibility, and work to use your influence rather than power in order to move you and your organization forward. You’ll find the book useful on a personal as well as professional level.

Leading in Times of Crisis: Navigating through Complexity, Diversity, and Uncertainty to Save Your Business by David Dotlich, Peter Cairo, and Stephen Rhinesmith. We are most certainly living in complex and uncertain times. The authors urge leaders to destroy and rebuild their business models, focus and simplify their organizations, build for innovation, and lots more. My favorite part of this book is the final part (Part 3) where you’ll read about aligning your organization’s talent around “whole leadership” in order to navigate the stormy times.

If you like to read about leadership, you’ll love these books. If you need to grow your leadership skills (or help grow those in others), you’ll learn from these books. Check them out.

All Aboard: The Carson Depot Branch turns 20!

cmcpherson — Sun, 13 Nov 2011 16:24:23 +0000

Join the Appomattox Regional Library System as we celebrate the twentieth anniversary of the Carson Depot Branch Library in the upcoming months. Special activities and programs will be held in 2012 to promote and celebrate this unique library branch.

The Appomattox Regional Library System first served the town of Carson with a book mobile stop (in 1975). Carson then became the site of a more permanent library (a decommissioned bookmobile parked on the lot in 1985). Through public support and the generous gifts of Carson residents Lillie and John H. Clements, the library moved into a renovated 1888 train depot. The depot and the land it rests on were donated by the Clements. Additional donations from the Bank of Southside Virginia, Prince George County, and Dinwiddie County supported the opening of the Carson Depot Library while landscape assistance came from the Carson Ruritan Club.

Visitors can tour the Carson Caboose.

In October of 1991 the branch was ready to open, with a formal open house ceremony held on May 3, 1992. An authentic caboose joined the station in 2002. Schools regularly visit the Carson Depot Library for a visit with our Conductor and a lesson on trains and their place in history. Friday story times are held throughout the year for families and the library often hosts special crafts and other events during our Summer Reading Program. Stop by and visit this one-of-a-kind library and keep checking our website for upcoming events to celebrate the Carson Depot Library’s 20 years of service!

Learn to Make Wreaths in Prince George

jturner — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 14:00:58 +0000

Fall into the holiday season by learning how to make decorative wreaths at the Prince George Library Tuesday, November 15th at 2:00 pm.

What you’ll learn:

How to make bows

See how you can make wreaths with straw, grapevine, evergreen and other materials

Techniques for fastening

PLUS all attendees will have the chance to win door prizes, including a wreath!

Registration is appreciated, but not required. Please call 458-6329, extension 3700 to register.

~Light refreshments will be served ~