RCPL is Holiday Central!

Christmas books on display

Did you know that your local library is holiday central?

Want a new recipe to add to your annual holiday rotation? Check out our selection of cookbooks and cooking magazines. In addition to print, we have hundreds of digital titles available on Libby and Magzter. Listen to a holiday playlist from Freegal while you're in the kitchen to help set the festive mood.

Time to mix up your holiday decor? We have crafting and decorating books and magazines to inspire you. Bring that seasonal scrapbook paper hiding in a drawer and use the library's die-cut machine to make shapes to decorate your table or tree. Or, make a handmade present for a friend. You may still have time. Remember, there are twelve days of Christmas!

Your Russell County Public Library is the antidote to a commercial holiday. Grab a cozy holiday read - or a murder mystery set during the holidays - or a seasonal movie. From It's a Wonderful Life to Die Hard, we've got you covered. Hallmark Christmas movie addicts can get their fix with the Hallmark Movies Now BingePass on hoopla. Get seven days of unlimited access to all the feel-good movies you love.

You don't have to spend money to enjoy the holiday season. Attend a community event, like the Heart of Appalachia Community Orchestra's free concert, or wander through town looking at the lights and the trees. And stop by your local library. We're always here for you.

 

The Season of Thanks and Giving

Throughout the year, participants in Russell County Public Library's crochet programs make hats, scarves, mittens, and headbands with donated yarn.

Each year they donate them to a local school. Children will lose their hats or scarves sometimes; some parents may not be able to replace the lost items. 

The crocheters--and knitters--make sure that none of the little ones do without a hat or scarf. They make sizes for the bigger kids and teens, too. This year's beneficiaries are Copper Creek and Castlewood schools. Pictured above are office staff with principal Adam Padgett from Castlewood Elementary.

The library's crocheters and knitters are grateful that they can practice this centuries-old craft to make useful items. Come February they will spend a Saturday teaching you how to do it, too.  

They are thankful they have the means and skill to create. They understand that it is better to give than to receive. It's the season for thanks and giving.

posted by Kelly McBride Delph

 

Memorial Day Mourning and Celebrating

Memorial Wall, Cumbow Meeting Room

Memorial Day is a federal holiday in the United States of America (USA) to mourn US military personnel who have died while serving in the armed forces. Originally known as Decoration Day, it dates back to the late 1860s and has always been celebrated in May. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memorial_Day) It's known as Decoration Day because it was when families would clean and decorate the gravesites of their late service members.

It seems better known now as the unofficial start of summer. But remember why government offices are closed - to honor and remember and mourn those who died ensuring our freedom.

The 20th century war dead in Russell County are honored in the Cumbow Meeting Room at the Russell County Public Library. The meeting room has a wall with the names of all men known to have been killed in service. The men are listed by the war in which they were killed. (RCPL maintains an alphabetical list of names.)

The Cumbow Meeting Room was named for William W. Cumbow, a prisoner of war from Russell County during World War II. Mr. Cumbow was chair of the Library Board of Trustees when the current library building was constructed. During construction the Library Board voted to name the room in Mr. Cumbow's honor.

A brief look at the memorial wall illustrates the scale of the different wars and the changes in warfare. Korea and Vietnam involved fewer soldiers and sailors, and battlefield medicine improved dramatically over the 20th century resulting in fewer lives lost. Yet our 21st century battlefield actions have already cost of the life of one Russell County native, Ryan McGlothlin, in Iraq.

War extracts a terrible price. Some of the wounds are invisible, while others are obvious. During Memorial Day weekend, remember those who paid the ultimate price. But do feel free to celebrate; those who paid the ultimate price did so that we can live freely and pursue happiness.

 

 

posted by Kelly McBride Delph

 

Freedom...to gather, to speak, to read...Banned Books

Infographic from geediting.com

September recognizes several anniversaries or 'celebrations' that we like here in libraryland.

In honor of Constitution Day, September 17, please take a moment to appreciate the 230th anniversary of the signing of the U.S. Constitution. Unite to celebrate what was then a phenomenal new type of government, and likely a great risk.

We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do
ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

Despite our problems and divisions, it has worked out pretty well. In the 230 years there have been 27 amendments; how many can you name? That averages one amendment every 8.5 years.

The Bill of Rights, Amendments 1-10, grant us many freedoms that the founding fathers thought warranted articulating. Amendment One makes clear that we have to right to speak and to publish without interference from the government. Most states, including Virginia, have laws that also make clear that we have the right to read what we wish and that what we read is a private matter. Your library borrowing record is private, protected information; nobody looks at it without a court order. (You're welcome.)

To celebrate our right to read as we please, libraries celebrate Banned Books Week September 22-28. You may be surprised to learn that many of your favorite books have been censored, if not banned, including the Bible. Follow the links and see how many banned books you've read. Also interesting is this blog about Forbidden Books from around the world.

September is also Library Card Sign-Up Month. Yes, libraries made this one up. Stop in to get a card or renew yours. We aren't just print books anymore. We are downloadable music, ebooks, emagazines, craft sessions, and games and trivia at neighborhood eateries...and real, live authors come October 12. Pop in, use the wifi, and say hello.


Posted by Kelly McBride Delph

Holiday Closures?

From October through February, holidays abound. Can you imagine having to work every day of the year? For much of the history of the USA, people did work virtually every day. If you grow your own food and keep livestock, you don't get a day off. The cow still wants milking and the chickens still need to be fed. Work might be the bare minimum (the cow and the chickens) on Sundays even if there wasn't a church nearby.

The first holidays designated by Congress were declared in 1870--New Year's Day, Independence Day, Thanksgiving, and Christmas Day--only for federal workers in the District of Columbia.  (They were later applied to all federal government employees.)

Why were all the government offices closed on Friday BEFORE Martin Luther King, Jr. Day? Have you ever wondered how we got these holidays? What determines a 'federal' or state holiday? Most federal holidays followed the precedent of the states. A federal holiday was proposed after most of the states were celebrating a holiday. And a federal holiday only applies to federal government employees. But state and local governments try to keep a common schedule.

The holidays celebrate important events in our history (Independence Day, aka the 4th of July) or honor people--individuals like Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. or collectively, laborers on Labor Day. Some of the holidays have evolved and changed their names as we 'accumulate' more history.  Memorial Day was originally Decoration Day, when those who died in the Civil War were honored by tributes decorating their graves and monuments. After a few more conflicts, the name was changed to Memorial Day to honor those who died in the ensuing wars and conflicts. Armistice Day marked the end of the Great War, now know as World War I. It was marked as a National Peace Holiday, and though the sentiment remained, the name was changed to honor veterans of all wars.

Getting confused? That's why Congress passed the Uniform Monday Holiday Act in 1968. It moved many holidays to Mondays for consistency and to avoid interrupting commerce too much with holidays mid-week.  Or did you think those holidays were just for retail sales?

Back to that Friday before M. L. King, Jr., Day...that is Lee-Jackson Day, honoring Robert E. Lee and Thomas Jonathan (Stonewall) Jackson. For a number of years, Jackson, King, and Lee actually shared a holiday in Virginia. Other Southern states still have a Confederate memorial day commemoration.

And that October holiday? In Virginia it's officially Columbus Day and Yorktown Victory Day, to commemorate both Columbus' voyage to the Americas and final victory at Yorktown in the Revolutionary War.

Enjoy that day off.

Source: Federal Holidays: Evolution and Current Practices, Congressional Research Service, 2014; The Code of Virginia.