by Technology Librarian Josh
I remember the lead up to January 1st, 2000: a dull anxiety slowly getting louder and louder until all thoughts are fogged by the worst-case scenarios. News story after news story explaining the Y2K problem, people’s reaction, and what the fallout was going to look like. This was a magic threshold we were going to cross that no one could stop and there was nowhere else to kick the can. We had to solve this problem to maintain our current way of life.
by Programming Librarian Zach
My introduction to James Baldwin came about 20 years too late while taking a Rhetoric of Social Movements course in college and it was both revelatory and infuriating. Where has this voice of reason, truth, anger, outrage, hope, and passion been all my life? Baldwin’s writing was both intimate and expansive, challenging us to see how systemic injustices affect communities and the self and guiding us to a better, more humane society.
by Technology Librarian, Josh
For the library’s centennial we’re hosting a series of music programs that look back at the amazing music and musicians celebrating 100 years!
By Youth Services Manager Julie
With Bexley Public Library’s Summer Community Read theme, “100 Years of Adventure,” we’re marking the library’s centennial birthday and celebrating the endless adventures that await you in the stories you hear, books you read, movies you see, and people you meet at your library.
By Library Director Ben Heckman
Bexley Public Library is excited to be celebrating our 100th birthday this year, and we are honored to share this once-in-a-lifetime birthday with the wonderful community we’ve been honored to serve for more than a century. While April marks the start of our many celebratory festivities, we invite you to join us for the host of engaging authors, talented musicians, inspiring artists, and more that will join us throughout the year.
by Local History Librarian David
With holidays and family gatherings right around the corner, let Bexley Public Library be your place to discover family history and preserve your memories – for free! We have special genealogy programming this October in honor of Family History Month, and we invite you to explore the tools in our Memory Lab.
By Local History Librarian David
August 10 is Bexley Day, the day Bexley was established as an incorporated village with its first charter in 1908. For the second year, the Bexley Public Library, in partnership with the Bexley Historical Society, are celebrating Bexley’s birthday with an honorary program and cake. This year, Historical Society Trustee, Larry Helman, will present on how the community developed over time. Join us for the event at 7 PM on Thursday, August 10 in the library auditorium. It will also be an opportunity to learn about a new effort to mark and recognize those houses of 100+ years in age.
By Associate Librarian – Readers’ Advisory Specialist Debbie
This year the Bexley Library is one of 29 libraries across the country chosen to participate in the Yiddish Book Center’s “Stories of Exile” Reading Group!
The Yiddish Book Center is in Amherst, Massachusetts and was founded by Aaron Lansky, who started collecting Yiddish books when, as a college student, he and his classmates had trouble finding Yiddish books to read. They realized that since Yiddish wasn’t spoken by the current generation, Yiddish books were being thrown away – and it was happening at an alarming rate. Aaron Lansky’s adventures saving Yiddish books and the founding and evolution of the Yiddish Book Center are chronicled in his wonderful book Outwitting History: The Amazing Adventures of a Man Who Rescued a Million Yiddish Books.
by Public Service Associate Juliana
Happy Birthday, Toni Morrison! Mark your calendars! February 17th is Toni Morrison Day, and there’s no better time to immerse yourself in her work. Read, watch, listen, or attend, there are myriad ways to honor Morrison’s legacy.
by Public Service Associate Juliana
I was never a vampire reader, no Dracula, The Queen of the Damned, or Salem’s Lot. My preferred medium for vampire lore has always been film. With that said, I have always been drawn to movies based on books. Interview with the Vampire based on the Anne Rice novel and Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust based on the novels written by Hideyuki Kikuchi, are two of my favorites. I recall staying home sick from school in the early 2000s watching Vampire Hunter D for the umpteenth time. I paused on a favorite scene and decided to draw the still, copying exactly what I saw on the screen. When I wrote about the experience in the journal I had to keep for art class, my teacher commented that I had “experienced the healing power of art.” I’ve returned to this thought many times throughout my life, the idea that art can heal. And now with that connective tissue, I forever equate vampire movies as a kind of magic medicine.