Montgomery Alabama’s Public Librarians and School Media Specialists Collaborate for Student Success
Montgomery City County Public Library just hosted all nearly seventy of our county’s public school Media Specialists for an all day inservice dedicated to better support for the students both groups serve. It was a big, big deal!
The library’s Collection Developer, Head of Reference, Outreach Services, and other department and branch heads briefly shared how they could better assist public school students and requested feedback to improve that assistance. Public librarians are ready to help students with research projects, research skills, and personal recreational or informational reading needs. Public library resources are available for classroom use through our School Services Program. Our goal is strong communication with public schools to keep our services useful and used.
We provided a tasty sandwich lunch. Lunchtime entertainment in this summer’s Catch the Reading Bug theme by Minnie Stringer, Joan Means, Montgomery Idol Jonathan Conner, a motley crew of shiny plush insect puppets doing ‘We Are Family’ and a rousing rendition of the Tootie Tot made our day.
Across Alabama, only 46% of homes have internet access. Alabama is ranked 46th in the US for percentage households with internet access. In households with income of 15,000 per year (seven or so dollars an hour) or less, only about 13% of homes have internet access. Children who have internet access at home are more likely to be able to develop internet and computer skills taught in school or to make good use of the great resources on the Alabama Virtual Library, for example, to succeed in school. Live homework tutors are available to children FREE through HomeworkAlabama.Com, but only to those with access to the internet.
This is just one of the many services that makes Montgomery’s public libraries crucial to leveling the playing field and creating an educated next generation to build our economy and community.
And the best thing about the library? Well, other than the fact that it is free to Montgomery City County taxpayers and their children, of course– the best thing about the library is that we don’t just provide computers and books and the finest online resources. When students leave school, public librarians are available to ’teach them to fish’– showing students how to access the highest quality, most reputable educational and recreational reading and technology resources.
We are dedicated to making sure all students have access to the resources they need to succeed. If you are a teacher, parent, student or school official, please call on us and participate in the dialog to better support our students.
Fight Hunger and we’ll forgive your fines
Food for Fines time is here again! In partnership with the Montgomery Area Food Bank, Montgomery Public Library offers our cardholders the chance to pay library fines by fighting hunger in our community.
Bring your overdue books and something nourishing and delicious to help a local family in need to any of our ten branches across Montgomery County. Please check the expiration date!
The library will forgive the overdue fine for one book for each 16 ounce can, or 2 smaller (8,10,12 ounce) cans. We will be accepting Food for Fines through May 24.
Rappers have library cards too…
Kim Wilson Owen, Governor’s Square Branch:
Last night’s presentation on the music business was a fantastic program for this librarian and music lover. I am so grateful to all who attended and offered their questions and experience for discussion, especially Mark Coleman, who volunteered his time and extensive knowledge.
The night had many high points. But can I tell you the highest, at least for me? Lil Chappy, a successful Montgomery rapper, picked up one of the library’s books on the music business– and whipped out his library card to check it out.
Whatever your business, style, interest, issue or dream, the library offers FREE resources that will give you the edge you need.
So what’s the current state of the music business?
You do it because you love it, and if you’re smart, you can make money at it too.
Mark Coleman gave a fantastic presentation on the reality of the music business and how aspiring musicians can make it work for them. Guests included several folks aspiring to put their audio (music and poetry) on the internet, and hometown heroes Queazy and Lil Chappy. Some great questions were asked, and connections were made.
Mark has years of experience with the music life. He’s been in bands around Montgomery over the years. His podcast has built relationships with listeners and musicians from Montgomery to Poland to the heart of Siberia. He’s ‘the sound guy’ for various musical events around town. As an instructor at Booker T. Washington Arts Magnet, he teaches young people to use music production equipment and software to turn their creativity into a musical product they can use to promote themselves and their talent.
The idea that musicians ‘make it big’ when they get signed by a major label is just an illusion. After the record company gets their cut, musicians are often living in near poverty, often on the road, pretty much indentured servants. He noted that record (cd, these days) sales have never made musicians much money, but record sales for ‘bestsellers’ have declined to about 1/3 what they were at in 2000– which means even less money for musicians. He noted that the amazingly talented Toni Braxton had to declare bankruptcy after platinum sales, because of the nature of major label recording contracts.
He likened trying to ‘make it’ — in the traditional sense– in the record industry to trying to have a bestselling book. For every bestseller, thousands of books are published that make very little to just modest money for their authors.
So what’s a talented musician, author or producer to do?
Mark mentioned the names of several musicians or authors who earned more money by promoting their music or books over the internet than they did in their 9-5.
While it’s great to work with a local studio if you have the money, Mark demonstrated software and hardware, available at prices from free to extremely expensive, for home sound production. With a small investment and some work, anyone can create audio– music, poetry, spoken word, or books.
Once audio is produced, artists and producers can take advantage of internet resources to promote their work, get cd’s pressed, or create t-shirts, hats or other promotional material with a very reasonable investment up front. Artists no longer have to spend thousands of dollars out of their own pocket to record and ‘press’ a cd or get t-shirts made up, only to have boxes and boxes of t shirts and cd’s sitting around the house years later because nobody bought them. [Mark, why didn't you bring us all a cd and a T-Shirt?]
Queazy and Lil Chappy weighed in at the end to confirm many points in the presentation or the discussion that follows.
Pursue the dream, but read the writing on the wall. Keep your integrity, and your money. Take advantage of the great tools available to produce and promote yourself. Work smarter. Put in the time. Want help? Don’t expect a handout. Figure out what you can bring to the table in a partnership. Nothing is free. Have realistic expectations. Keep putting your name out there. Create relationships– no contact is insignificant, because relationships create opportunity. Keep learning. Come to events like this. It can be done.
Stay tuned to 2885B. I had thought my teen club would be doing blogs and podcasts this summer but it sounds like many people of all ages, teens on up, would like to learn the basics they need to get started creating and promoting online. I am available by appointment just about any time to assist you with creating a blog of your own. I will reserve computer time especially for those who are working on audio and internet promotion projects. I am working to get the earphone/microphone sets and software needed for basic podcasting (internet audio production and distribution).
Please call 334-284-7929 if you are interested in learning, sponsoring, or volunteering to assist others as they learn.
Lil Chappy, Queazy and Mark Coleman all have great myspace pages. Queazy and Lil Chappy feature the highest quality rap/hiphop, grown right here in Montgomery. Mark’s features his signature mix of avant garde and European hiphop. For more information call Kim Wilson Owen at 334-284-7929, Tuesday through Saturday.
You can be a star…
…Or at least a well respected name in the music world, and all you need is a realistic understanding of the music industry today and some knowledge of computer and internet tools for production and promotion.
Tonight at the Governor’s Square Branch Library on the Southern Bypass, Mark Coleman, Sound and Music Production Instructor at Booker T Washington Arts Magnet and producer of the Spartacus Roosevelt Podcast will speak at Governor’s Square on the State of the Art and Business of Music.
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7pm, Thursday April 17
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The current state of the music business
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Easy tools and tips for producing and promoting your music over the internet
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Elements of Sound
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Already a musician or producer? Stop in to network or mentor an aspiring musician.
Mark Coleman’s favorite book on the music business
Commemorating the life of a Montgomery Librarian and Civil Rights Pioneer
A historic marker commemorating the life of Montgomery Librarian and Civil Rights Pioneer Juliette Hampton Morgan will be unveiled at Juliette Hampton Morgan Memorial Library (The old ‘Main Library’) at 245 High Street, Montgomery, Thursday, April 17, 2008, at 10:00 a.m.
The public is invited to attend.
Juliette Hampton Morgan Biography |
“Juliette Hampton Morgan, a native of Montgomery, was the daughter of Frank Perryman Morgan, a traveling dry goods salesman with political ambitions, and Lila Bess Olin, a liberated Southern belle whose circle of friends included Zelda Fitzgerald, Sara Powell Haardt and Tallulah Bankhead.“Morgan attended Montgomery’s finest schools and graduated from Sidney Lanier High School. She graduated Phi Beta Kappa from the University of Alabama in 1934. She worked as a librarian in Montgomery’s Carnegie Library and became director of research at the Montgomery Public Library in 1952.“Morgan used the public forum of the local newspaper to write many articles about the rise of totalitarianism in Europe in the late 1930s and about her fear that a segregated America was as guilty in denying the rights of many of her citizens. She courageously opposed the White Citizens Council, which had been set up to resist Brown vs. Board of Education. She was the first, and for a time the only, Caucasian woman to oppose the Council, though she was a third generation Alabamian and a seventh generation Southerner.“With no thought to her own safety, she expressed outrage at injustice during the Montgomery Bus Boycott and during the integration of her alma mater, the University of Alabama. On January 14, 1957, the editor of The Tuscaloosa News published a letter written by Morgan in which she praised him for his criticism of the WCC. She wrote: “There are many Southerners … who know the Southern Way of Life must inevitably change. Many of them are eager for change, but they are afraid to express themselves — so afraid to stand alone … Everyone who speaks as you do, who has the faith to do what he believes is right in scorn of the consequences, does great good in preparing the way for a happier and more equitable future for all Americans.”“Within six months, Morgan had lost friends and resigned her job after the mayor withheld municipal funding for the library, though the superintendent and trustees refused to fire her.“Morgan’s courage and bravery against the evils of her day and her persistence in speaking out serve as a worthy model for men and women today.”
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Recession… Foreclosure… Economic Downturn…
Governor’s Square Branch, in the Governor’s Square Shopping Center near Montgomery Mall:
Financial Wellness Brown Bag Luncheon, Wednesday April 16 at 12.15 with Dena Barnes of the Cooperative Extension.
Bring your lunch and your questions!
Each January the money management calendars from the Cooperative Extension are a hot item here at Governor’s Square. Our visitors are asking for them long before they arrive. Our patrons are thinking about solid money management all year long.
Our economy seems to go up and down like the tides. With the words recession, foreclosure, predatory lending, economic downturn all over the news these days, our thoughts turn to careful budgeting– but these skills are equally important during the ‘good times’ if we want to make it through the inevitable later downturn.
On Wednesday, April 16 at 12.15 am, Dena Barnes of the Cooperative Extension will share tips and tools to help us create financial security– information we need all the time, not just during a recession.
Our large selection of personal finance and retirement planning books will be on display and ready for you to checkout as you begin to move toward financial wellness, and on to building your dreams.
If you would like to market your business, club, or good cause by sponsoring snacks for this or any other event, please call Kim Wilson Owen at 334-284-7929.
Welcome to the Montgomery City/County Public Library Blog
Join the Montgomery City/County Library System in celebrating National Library Week, April 13-19. See the schedule of exciting events on our website. Also join us here on our new blog for announcements of future events, feature articles and discusions of library issues that matter to YOU!
