Klamath County Libraries are providing online activities for families, kids and teens for the month of October, according to a Klamath County Libraries news release.

October is Harry Potter month at Klamath Libraries. Each week, pick up a different craft kit at the Youth Services desk, then join us for the tie-in live event on Zoom each Friday at 4 p.m. Zoom connection details will be in the craft kit. Kits for the week of Oct. 5 will by Pygmy Puff Pets. Kits for the week of Oct. 12 will be Monster Books. Kits for the week of Oct. 19 will be Slime. Kits for the week of Oct. 26 will be House Pride Bookmarks. The Library has also created a text-adventure escape room, with prizes from the Youth Services desk available after completion, at maxdcrow.itch.io/hogwarts-escape.

Other online activities include:

n Camp Write Stuff: Weekdays at 9 a.m. Join fellow authors each morning to bounce ideas or just leverage a little friendly peer pressure to make yourself finish that fic youve been procrastinating on. (You know the one.) For ages 12-18. Email Sarah at smiller@klamathlibrary.org for the link to join!

n Virtual Storytime: Tuesdays at 11 a.m. We go live on our Facebook page, http://www.facebook.com/KlamathCountyLibrary, each week with stories, games, and surprisingly catchy songs. (Dont worry if you miss us live we host a recording of each Virtual Storytime on our Facebook page.)

n Teen Dungeons & Dragons: Tuesdays. We have everything you need to play just bring a healthy dose of imagination! We have three different playgroups: one from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m., another from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m., and one from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. Email Sarah at smiller@klamathlibrary.org to get your character started!

n Teen Art Hour: Wednesdays at 3:30 p.m. Hang out and make art together! (Running low on art supplies? Stop by the Youth Services desk for a kit.) Email Sarah at smiller@klamathlibrary.org for the link to join.

n Animal Crossing: New Horizons Hour: Thursdays at 4 p.m. We gather in the Nintendo Switch game to trade items, admire each others outfits, and more! Email Vesta at vkerns@klamathlibrary.org for the code to enter our Animal Crossing island.

n Storytime Live: Fridays at 11 a.m. Do you like our Facebook live storytimes, but wish you could join in? Katies got an interactive storytime for you! Register once at https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZMkcuuorDMoGNNV3QU2Xi5nmIhPqvpjjyQR and youll have access to a whole month of Storytime Live gatherings. Email Katie at khart@klamathlibrary.org if you need help connecting to Zoom.

n Teen Fan Club: Fridays at 3:30 p.m. Because libraries are more than just books, our book club for teens celebrates media of all kinds! From novels to manga, movies to K-Pop, lets chat about it all. Email Sarah at smiller@klamathlibrary.org to join.

n Lemon Brick Studios Comics Club: October 10 from noon to 3 p.m. Our ongoing comics club for artists and writers in sixth through 12th grade hangs out online on the second Saturday of every month! Email Sarah at smiller@klamathlibrary.org or club advisor Professor Franny at franny.howes@gmail.com to get the link to join in.

n Teen Discord! Did you know the Klamath County Library has a Discord server for teens to hang out! Its true! The conversations happening there inspire quite a bit of our online events. Email Sarah at smiller@klamathlibrary.org for the server info.

For more information, please call 541-882-8894, visit the Youth Services desk, or see our calendar at klamathlibrary.org/calendar.

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Online events for children, families and teens hosted by the Klamath County Library - Herald and News

Every day, dozens of like-minded mathematicians gather on an online forum called Zulip to build what they believe is the future of their field.

Theyre all devotees of a software program called Lean. Its a proof assistant that, in principle, can help mathematicians write proofs. But before Lean can do that, mathematicians themselves have to manually input mathematics into the program, translating thousands of years of accumulated knowledge into a form Lean can understand.

To many of the people involved, the virtues of the effort are nearly self-evident.

Its just fundamentally obvious that when you digitize something you can use it in new ways, said Kevin Buzzard of Imperial College London. Were going to digitize mathematics and its going to make it better.

Digitizing mathematics is a longtime dream. The expected benefits range from the mundane computers grading students homework to the transcendent: using artificial intelligence to discover new mathematics and find new solutions to old problems. Mathematicians expect that proof assistants could also review journal submissions, finding errors that human reviewers occasionally miss, and handle the tedious technical work that goes into filling in all the details of a proof.

But first, the mathematicians who gather on Zulip must furnish Lean with what amounts to a library of undergraduate math knowledge, and theyre only about halfway there. Lean wont be solving open problems anytime soon, but the people working on it are almost certain that in a few years the program will at least be able to understand the questions on a senior-year final exam.

And after that, who knows? The mathematicians participating in these efforts dont fully anticipate what digital mathematics will be good for.

We dont really know where were headed, said Sbastien Gouzel of the University of Rennes.

Over the summer, a group of experienced Lean users ran an online workshop called Lean for the Curious Mathematician. In the first session, Scott Morrison of the University of Sydney demonstrated how to write a proof in the program.

He began by typing the statement he wanted to prove in syntax Lean understands. In plain English, it translates to There are infinitely many prime numbers. There are several ways to prove this statement, but Morrison wanted to use a slight modification of the first one ever discovered, Euclids proof from 300 BCE, which involves multiplying all known primes together and adding 1 to find a new prime (either the product itself or one of its divisors will be prime). Morrisons choice reflected something basic about using Lean: The user has to come up with the big idea of the proof on their own.

Youre responsible for the first suggestion, Morrison said in a later interview.

After typing the statement and selecting a strategy, Morrison spent a few minutes laying out the structure of the proof: He defined a series of intermediate steps, each of which was relatively simple to prove on its own. While Lean cant come up with the overall strategy of a proof, it can often help execute smaller, concrete steps. In breaking the proof into manageable sub-tasks, Morrison was a bit like a chef instructing line cooks to chop an onion and simmer a stew. Its at this point that you hope Lean takes over and starts being helpful, Morrison said.

Lean performs these intermediate tasks by using automated processes called tactics. Think of them as short algorithms tailored to perform a very specific job.

As he worked through his proof, Morrison ran a tactic called library search. It trawled Leans database of mathematical results and returned some theorems that it thought could fill in the details of a particular section of the proof. Other tactics perform different mathematical chores. One, called linarith, can take a set of inequalities among, say, two real numbers, and confirm for you that a new inequality involving a third number is true: If a is 2 and b is greater than a, then 3a + 4b is greater than 12. Another does most of the work of applying basic algebraic rules like associativity.

Two years ago you would have had to [apply the associative property] yourself in Lean, said Amelia Livingston, an undergraduate math major at Imperial College London who is learning Lean from Buzzard. Then [someone] wrote a tactic that can do it all for you. Every time I use it, I get very happy.

Altogether, it took Morrison 20 minutes to complete Euclids proof. In some places he filled in the details himself; in others he used tactics to do it for him. At each step, Lean checked to make sure his work was consistent with the programs underlying logical rules, which are written in a formal language called dependent type theory.

Its like a sudoku app. If you make a move thats not valid, it will go buzz, Buzzard said. At the end, Lean certified that Morrisons proof worked.

The exercise was exciting in the way it always is when technology steps in to do something you used to do yourself. But Euclids proof has been around for more than 2,000 years. The kinds of problems mathematicians care about today are so complicated that Lean cant even understand the questions yet, let alone support the process of answering them.

It will likely be decades before this is a research tool, said Heather Macbeth of Fordham University, a fellow Lean user.

So before mathematicians can work with Lean on the problems they really care about, they have to equip the program with more mathematics. Thats actually a relatively straightforward task.

Lean being able to understand something is pretty much just a matter of human beings having [translated math textbooks] into the form Lean can understand, Morrison said.

Unfortunately, straightforward doesnt mean easy, especially considering that for a lot of mathematics, textbooks dont really exist.

If you didnt study higher math, the subject probably seems exact and well-documented: Algebra I leads into algebra II, pre-calculus leads into calculus, and its all laid out right there in the textbooks, answer key in the back.

But high school and college math even a lot of graduate school math is a vanishingly small part of the overall knowledge. The vast majority of it is much less organized.

There are huge, important areas of math that have never been fully written down. Theyre stored in the minds of a small circle of people who learned their subfield of math from people who learned it from the person who invented it which is to say, it exists nearly as folklore.

There are other areas where the foundational material has been written down, but its so long and complicated that no one has been able to check that its fully correct. Instead, mathematicians simply have faith.

We rely on the reputation of the author. We know hes a genius and a careful guy, so it must be correct, said Patrick Massot of Paris-Saclay University.

This is one reason why proof assistants are so appealing. Translating mathematics into a language a computer can understand forces mathematicians to finally catalog their knowledge and precisely define objects.

Assia Mahboubi of the French national research institute Inria recalls the first time she realized the potential of such an orderly digital library: It was fascinating for me that one could capture, in theory, the whole mathematical literature by the sheer language of logic and store a corpus of math in a computer and check it and browse it using these pieces of software.

Lean isnt the first program with this potential. The first, called Automath, came out in the 1960s, and Coq, one of the most widely used proof assistants today, came out in 1989. Coq users have formalized a lot of mathematics in its language, but that work has been decentralized and unorganized. Mathematicians worked on projects that interested them and only defined the mathematical objects needed to carry their projects out, often describing those objects in unique ways. As a result, the Coq libraries feel jumbled, like an unplanned city.

Coq is an old man now, and it has a lot of scars, said Mahboubi, who has worked with the program extensively. Its been collaboratively maintained by many people over time, and it has known defects due to its long history.

In 2013, a Microsoft researcher named Leonardo de Moura launched Lean. The name reflects de Mouras desire to create a program with an efficient, uncluttered design. He intended the program to be a tool for checking the accuracy of software code, not mathematics. But checking the correctness of software, it turns out, is a lot like verifying a proof.

We built Lean because we care about software development, and there is this analogy between building math and building software, said de Moura.

When Lean came out, there were plenty of other proof assistants available, including Coq, which is the most similar to Lean the logical foundations of both programs are based on dependent type theory. But Lean represented a chance to start fresh.

Mathematicians gravitated to it quickly. They were such enthusiastic adopters of the program that they started to consume de Mouras time with their math-specific development questions. He got a bit sick of having to manage the mathematicians and said, How about you guys make a separate repository? said Morrison.

Mathematicians created that library in 2017. They called it mathlib and eagerly began to fill it with the worlds mathematical knowledge, making it a kind of 21st-century Library of Alexandria. Mathematicians created and uploaded pieces of digitized mathematics, gradually building a catalog for Lean to draw on. And because mathlib was new, they could learn from the limitations of older systems like Coq and pay extra attention to how they organized the material.

Theres a real effort to make a monolithic library of math in which all the pieces work with all the other pieces, said Macbeth.

The front page of mathlib features a real-time dashboard that charts the projects progress. It has a leaderboard of top contributors, ranked by the number of lines of code theyve created. Theres also a running tally of the total amount of mathematics that has been digitized: As of early October, mathlib contained 18,416 definitions and 38,315 theorems.

These are the ingredients that mathematicians can mix together in Lean to make mathematics. Right now, despite those numbers, its a limited pantry. It contains almost nothing from complex analysis or differential equations two basic elements of many fields of higher math and it doesnt know enough to even state any of the Millennium Prize problems, the Clay Mathematics Institutes list of the most important problems in mathematics.

But mathlib is slowly filling out. The work has the air of a barn raising. On Zulip, mathematicians identify definitions that need to be created, volunteer to write them and quickly provide feedback on each others work.

Any research mathematician can look at mathlib and see 40 things its missing, Macbeth said. So you decide to fill in one of those holes. It really is instant gratification. Someone else reads it and comments on it within 24 hours.

Many of the additions are small, as Sophie Morel of the cole Normale Suprieure in Lyon discovered during the Lean for the Curious Mathematician workshop this summer. The conference organizers gave the participants relatively simple mathematical statements to prove in Lean as practice. While working on one of them, Morel realized her proof called for a lemma a type of short steppingstone result that mathlib didnt have.

It was a very small thing about linear algebra that somehow wasnt yet there. The people who write mathlib try to be thorough, but you can never think of everything, said Morel, who coded the three-line lemma herself.

Other contributions are more momentous. For the last year, Gouzel has been working on a definition of smooth manifold for mathlib. Smooth manifolds are spaces like lines, circles and the surface of a ball that play a fundamental role in the study of geometry and topology. They also often feature in big results in areas like number theory and analysis. You couldnt hope to do most forms of mathematical research without defining one.

But smooth manifolds come in different guises, depending on the context. They can be finite-dimensional or infinite-dimensional, have boundary or not have boundary, and be defined over a variety of number systems, such as the real, complex or p-adic numbers. Defining a smooth manifold is almost like trying to define love: You know it when you see it, but any strict definition is likely to exclude some obvious instances of the phenomenon.

For a basic definition, you dont have any choice [for how you define it], Gouzel said. But with more complicated objects, there are maybe 10 or 20 different ways to formalize it.

Gouzel had to maintain a balancing act between specificity and generality. My rule was, I know 15 applications of manifolds that I wanted to be able to state, he said. But I didnt want the definition to be too general, because then you cannot work with it.

The definition he came up with fills 1,600 lines of code, making it pretty long for a mathlib definition, but maybe slight compared to the mathematical possibilities it unlocks in Lean.

Now that we have the language, we can start proving theorems, he said.

Finding the right definition for an object, at the right level of generality, is a major preoccupation of the mathematicians building mathlib. Its creators hope to define objects in a way thats useful now but flexible enough to accommodate the unanticipated uses mathematicians might have for these objects.

Theres an emphasis on everything being useful far into the future, Macbeth said.

But Lean isnt just useful it offers mathematicians the chance to engage with their work in a new way. Macbeth still remembers the first time she tried a proof assistant. It was 2019 and the program was Coq (though she uses Lean now). She couldnt put it down.

In one crazy weekend I spent 12 hours a day [on it], she said. It was totally addictive.

Other mathematicians talk about the experience the same way. They say working in Lean feels like playing a video game complete with the same reward-based neurochemical rush that makes it hard to put the controller down. You can do 14 hours a day in it and not get tired and feel kind of high the whole day, Livingston said. Youre constantly getting positive reinforcement.

Still, the Lean community recognizes that for many mathematicians, there just arent enough levels to play.

If you were to quantify how much of mathematics is formalized, Id say its way less than one-thousandth of one percent, said Christian Szegedy, an engineer at Google who is working on artificial intelligence systems that he hopes will be able to read and formalize math textbooks automatically.

But mathematicians are increasing the percentage. While today mathlib contains most of the content through second-year undergraduate math, contributors hope to add the rest of the curriculum within a few years a significant milestone.

In the 50 years these systems had existed, not one person had said, Lets sit down and organize a coherent body of mathematics that represents an undergraduate education, Buzzard said. Were making something that will understand the questions in an undergraduate final exam, and that has never been done before.

It will probably take decades before mathlib has the content of an actual research library, but Lean users have shown that such a comprehensive catalog is at least possible that getting there is merely a matter of programming in all the math.

To that end, last year Buzzard, Massot, and Johan Commelin of the University of Freiburg in Germany undertook an ambitious proof-of-concept project. They temporarily put aside the gradual accumulation of undergraduate math and skipped ahead to the vanguard of the field. The goal was to define one of the great innovations of 21st-century mathematics an object called a perfectoid space that was developed over the last decade by Peter Scholze of the University of Bonn. In 2018, the work earned Scholze the Fields Medal, maths highest honor.

Buzzard, Massot and Commelin hoped to demonstrate that, at least in principle, Lean can handle the kind of mathematics that mathematicians really care about. Theyre taking something very sophisticated and recent, and showing its possible to work on these objects with a proof assistant, Mahboubi said.

To define a perfectoid space, the three mathematicians had to combine more than 3,000 definitions of other mathematical objects and 30,000 connections between them. The definitions sprawled across many areas of math, from algebra to topology to geometry. The way they came together in the definition of a single object is a vivid illustration of the way math grows more complex over time and of why its so important to lay the foundations of mathlib correctly.

Many fields of advanced math require every kind of math you learn as an undergraduate, Macbeth said.

The trio succeeded in defining a perfectoid space, but for now at least, mathematicians cant do much with it. Lean needs access to much more mathematics before it can even formulate the kinds of sophisticated questions in which perfectoid spaces emerge.

Its a bit ridiculous that Lean knows what a perfectoid space is, but doesnt know complex analysis, Massot said.

Buzzard agrees, calling the formalization of perfectoid spaces a gimmick the kind of early stunt that new technologies sometimes perform to demonstrate their worth. In this case, it worked.

You shouldnt think that because of our work every mathematician around the Earth started to use a proof assistant, Massot said, but I think quite a few of them noticed and asked a lot of questions.

It will still be a long time before Lean is a real part of mathematical research. But that doesnt mean the program is a science fiction sideshow today. The mathematicians busy developing it see their work as akin to laying the first railroad tracks a necessary start to an important endeavor, even if they might never get to take a ride themselves.

It will be so cool that its worth a big time investment now, Macbeth said. Im investing time now so that somebody in the future can have that amazing experience.

Correction: October 2, 2020A previous version of this article misstated Patrick Massots university affiliation, due to a recent change in its name. The article has been revised accordingly.

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Building the Mathematical Library of the Future - Quanta Magazine

The Library of Congress, which includes millions of books, recordings, photographs, newspapers, maps, and manuscripts in its collections, is seeking a cloud-based approach for interacting with digital collections as data.

In a Sept. 30 post on Beta.Sam.gov, the Library of Congress said it was awarded an Andrew W. Mellon Foundation grant titled Computing Cultural Heritage in the Cloud. The $1 million grant was awarded in October of 2019. The purpose of the grant was to test the cloud-based approach for interacting with digital collections as data, specifically to support researchers who are creatively applying emerging styles of research to Library material.

As technology advances, we envision a future in which all users researchers, artists, students and more are only limited by the questions they can think to ask; where scale, complexity, uniqueness, and speed are aligned to support their goals and result in fundamentally transformed ways of understanding the world around us, said Kate Zwaard, the Librarys director of digital strategy, when the grant waThe Library of Congress, which includes millions of books, recordings, photographs, newspapers, maps, and manuscripts in its collections, is seeking a cloud-based approach for interacting with digital collections as data.s awarded.

With its posting, the Library is looking to award contracts for up to four research experts to experiment with solutions to problems that can only be explored at scale. The Library is collaborating with subject matter experts and its IT specialists throughout the contract process. The goal of the research process is to help produce models for supporting cloud-based research computing, and will make the costs and possibilities of this work more transparent to the broader cultural heritage community.

The library is seeking a diverse group of research approaches for the exploratory project and is looking for technical, topical, and early-stage research provocations across multiple formats and collections. Research experts awarded contracts through this process will have access to a set of Library collections, computational resources in cloud infrastructure, and research expertise from digital scholarship librarians.

Projects proposed within this program area should come from researchers who can demonstrate appropriate disciplinary, linguistic, and historical knowledge, as well as technical, data, and cloud computing skills to carry out projects with limited support from Library staff beyond some research support, and information about library data practices, the Library of Congress said in its announcement.

The application process is two-fold. Researchers will first submit concept papers no later than Nov. 30, 2020. Next, a limited number of researchers will be asked to submit detailed project proposals. The Library is holding virtual Industry Days to answer questions on Oct. 28 at 1 p.m. and Oct. 29 at 4 p.m. The research will run for nine months from May 2021 to January 2022. The proposed research budget may not exceed $77,500. After the research has concluded, results will be available to the public.

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Library of Congress Seeks Cloud-Based Approach for Interacting With Digital Collections - MeriTalk

No one expected the lockdown to last as long as it has, so when Fort Bragg Seed Library enforced parameters of 20 packets of seed per individual, they only planned it to last through spring. Now were at the six-month mark and its time to start planning our fall and winter gardens and Fort Bragg Seed Library is resetting the parameters. Those who already collected 20 packets are now free to request 20 more.

They have quite a selection of seeds for fall and winter: root vegetables, lettuces, spinach and other greens. Instructions for requesting seeds can be found at mendolibrary.org/services/seed-libraries.

Questions? Call the library, Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., 707-964-2020 or shoot them an email at fortbraggbranchlibrary@gmail.com.

Need help getting started with your fall/winter garden? The library has tons of gardening books, DVDs and lots of online resources. Tons of gardening information is available on their online library.

Mendocino Seed Libraries are online with links to tips for gardening, seed saving and much more at mendolibrary.org/services/seed-libraries.

Happy gardening!

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Fort Bragg Seed Library launches fall and winter program - Mendocino Beacon

The Briggs Lawrence County Public Library will receive 40 hotspots for Internet service, thanks to a partnership between the Foundation for Appalachian Ohio and Facebook and T-Mobile.

Appalachian Ohios communities have long faced a digital divide. Compared to the states non-Appalachian region, Appalachian Ohio experiences slower Internet connections and fewer households are connected to the Internet.

Thats why the Im a Child of Appalachia Fund at the Foundation for Appalachian Ohio is working with Facebook and T-Mobile to improve Internet access for students and families.

The Foundation for Appalachian Ohio is helping to fill a critical need for people in Southeast Ohio who have been left behind when it comes to connecting to reliable, high-speed Internet, Lt. Gov. Jon Husted said. The governor and I are grateful to Facebook and T-Mobile for helping to make these efforts possible and for being a part of the solution we all continue to work toward of ensuring every Ohioan can access the modern education system, modern economy, and modern healthcare system through broadband internet.

FAO, Facebook, and T-Mobile will each contribute to libraries and schools in the region to help support their work to address gaps in connectivity throughout Appalachian Ohios communities.

The children and families of Appalachian Ohio face a true barrier to education, accessing telehealth options, and connecting digitally to the opportunities that will help them thrive, Foundation for Appalachian Ohio president and CEO Cara Dingus Brook said. We are grateful to work with Facebook and T-Mobile to help Appalachian Ohio bridge this digital divide as internet access continues to be especially critical.

FAOs Im a Child of Appalachia Fund will provide libraries with hotspots, which library patrons may check out just like books through hotspot lending programs. These programs help individuals access remote learning, telehealth, remote work, and other vital services. Targeting communities identified as having the greatest need for new or expanded hotspot lending programs, the initiative will support library systems in Athens, Harrison, Highland, Jackson, Lawrence, Meigs, Pike, Vinton and other Appalachian Ohio counties with a total of 240 hotspots. Among these library systems is the Briggs Lawrence County Public Library, which will receive 40 hotspots through the partnership.

We know that lack of access to the Internet is a barrier for so many people who call Lawrence County home, and we are thrilled by the opportunity to establish a hotspot lending program, Briggs Lawrence County Public Library director Joe Jenkins said. As soon as the Wi-Fi hotspots have been received and processed for check out, we will notify the community on our website and Facebook page.

FAO will also deploy Wi-Fi access points to school districts across the region based on the need for devices. As districts offer remote or hybrid learning, or prepare for the possibility of a return to remote learning, these access points will provide more options for students without reliable internet connections while also enhancing connectivity within school buildings.

Back-to-school looks different this year parents, teachers, and students are facing a myriad of challenges, including many students needing access to reliable Internet for distance learning, Dr. Adam Seldow, director, education partnerships at Facebook, said. Facebook is committed to helping bridge the digital divide, and by collaborating with FAO to address some of the more immediate connectivity needs faced by the Appalachian community, we aim to create a positive impact for children and their families.

As part of this program, Facebook is donating access point technology and hotspots for schools and libraries across Appalachian Ohio and six months of unlimited data service on T-Mobiles network for that technology. Through its EmpowerED program, T-Mobile will supply another six months of unlimited data service on their wireless network and customer support for the hotspots and access points.

Families in Appalachian Ohio face tremendous barriers due to lack of broadband access and infrastructure preventing them from accessing equitable education and opportunities, Dr. Kiesha Taylor, national education administrator at T-Mobile, said. T-Mobile believes in the power of connectivity and the potential it offers for ALL Americans in communities big and small, urban and rural. We are proud to play a part in making an impact for communities throughout this region.

This Im a Child of Appalachia Fund initiative builds upon recent Im a Child of Appalachia Fund grants to fund community WIFI access points at schools and in communities throughout Appalachian Ohio and to develop a report to track the regions progress in overcoming the digital divide. FAOs emergency response to COVID-19 also included funding to increase digital connectivity. The Im a Child of Appalachia Fund is dedicated to meeting the most pressing needs and pursuing the most promising opportunities for people and communities throughout the 32 counties of Appalachian Ohio. The Fund works across FAOs five Pillars of Prosperity: Arts & Culture, Community & Economic Development, Education, Environmental Stewardship, and Health & Human Services.

To learn more about this initiative or to support the Im a Child of Appalachia Fund with a gift today, contact FAO at 740.753.1111 or visit http://www.AppalachianOhio.org.

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Briggs Lawrence County Public Library to receive 40 hotspots - The Tribune - Ironton Tribune

By Anne Marie Mackler, Development Director

Sedona AZ (October 2, 2020) The seasons are changing, days are growing longer and cooler, and Halloween is just around the corner. With it comes Sedona Public Librarys annual fall celebration! And since nothing is normal this year, were following suit with our first ever Spooktacular Online!Everyone is invited to enjoy the fun on Friday, October 30. Weve got a great lineup again this year, and all youll have to do is visit our Facebook page, YouTube Channel, or our website for nonstop posts and Halloween celebration.

Prepare for a day of family-friendly pop-up spooky readings! Well show videos throughout the day of patrons, staff, board members, students, local stars, and maybe YOU reading something fun, spooky, historic, poignant or hilarious, all themed for Halloween, autumn, or Da de los Muertos. There are so many options! We already have commitments from our new Youth Services Director Viviane Kraus, Arizona writers Jesse Sensibar and Gary Every, and yours truly, Anne Marie. Will you join the fun? Just email Anne Marie for more information.

Last years photo booth was a hoot! So this year, were hosting an online photo contest. Sharpen your selfie skills, and snap pictures of you and yours in costume, in character, or just hanging out and celebrating the season. Dress up as your favorite literary character, get a group shot of your family carving a pumpkin, dust off those silly wigs and stand on your heads. The skys the limit, just have fun, and remember, there will be prizes for the Cutest, Scariest, and Most Unique photos. Send your entries and questions toamackler@sedonalibrary.org.

What would a family event at the Library be without story times? Our wonderful youth services staff, and special guests, will be reading childrens books for you and yours to enjoy! Well also have Grab & Go Craft kits available Halloween week, and well post instructional videos on our website. Be sure to send us a photo of you and your creations so we can post them on our website. This is going to be a spectacular Spooktacular!

And if youre looking for good reads, music, movies, or other Halloween-themed items from our collection, watch for our display in the Library, where you can browse from Monday through Friday, 12pm to 5pm. (Masks and social distancing required.) Well also post our recommendation list on our website, so if you dont want to come in, just browse the list, put your selected items on hold and when theyre in, you can pick them up in our parking lot!

So much has been cancelled this year, but as your 24/7 Library, we make our services and collection available online all the time! Watch for updates to our Spooktacular plan as we work to create an event that guarantees your holiday is as fun, and as safe, as it can be.

Your Library is one community staple that didnt disappear during COVID-19. If you havent yet explored all that we offer from our website, please visitsedonalibrary.org, and from there youll find that you can check out books or magazines, take a class, watch a movie, learn a language, and celebrate Spooktacular Online!

Its with your support that we can so reliably be your 24/7 Library, and our technology just keeps improving. Since March of this year weve replaced all of our computers in West Sedona, installed WiFi extenders across our building and parking lot, and were almost ready to check out Chromebooks and hot spots to those who need them. Were not only meeting the communitys technology and information needs, but your celebration needs, too!

So please, join us for the first ever Spooktacular Online, and while youre on our website, consider making an online gift! Its easy atsedonalibrary.org/donate.

You need a great library, especially during these trying times, and we need your support. Thank you. For more information about Spooktacular Online, or supporting Sedona Public Library, please contact Anne Marie atamackler@sedonalibrary.org. See you soon!

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Spooktacular 2020, Going Online! | Sedona.Biz - The Internet Voice of Sedona and The Verde Valley - Sedona.biz

The Chilton/Clanton Public Library received a $3,000 grant from Sen. Cam Ward during a presentation on Sept. 29.

According to Interim Director Darlene Brock, the goal of the grant is to be used to improve the services offered to students and adapt them to meet the everchanging requirements due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Libraries are the cornerstone of any community, Ward said. COVID-19 has really put some restrictions and burdens on them, so in any way that they can use this money to deal with those restrictions and the new norm, then Im glad to present them with this money.

Although the money is not yet designated for specific projects, Brock assured that the grant money will be used for something both educational and fun for students.

We were thinking about getting some more Chromebooks, but weve had another source that has given us the money for that, Brock said. Now, were looking at all the new changes we have in our life, and the library has had to change along with it.

According to Brock, libraries are even more vital now because of the restrictions people have had on their lives.

Starting Oct. 1, the library began putting packets together for preschool students. Included in the packets will be a challenge to read and a coloring contest.

Its something they can come in and get and take home with them, but be able to get the resources that they need, Brock said. They will feel more a part of the library and have something to look forward to when they come in here.

Ward reminisced about the importance the library played as a youth and still remembers the joy of receiving his first library card.

It was a big deal when I was a little kid, Ward said. We would walk up to the library, and that was where I read some of my first books outside of school.

Ward acknowledged that the library has changed over the years and is much more than just about books.

People come here to get online and do job applications, Ward said. Its the synergy of the community. Its really about people more so than even the books.

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Library receives grant to help with pandemic 'burdens' - The Clanton Advertiser - Clanton Advertiser

A digital board outside the Nicholson Memorial Library promotes the summer reading program at the library, on Tuesday, June 03, 2014 in Garland. Library summer programs will begin in early June for children and adults.

The Garland Public Library plans to honor World Mental Health Day with an online social for teenagers aged between 13 and 17.

Scheduled for 6:30 p.m. on Oct. 7, the social will be held on Zoom and will allow teenagers to e-meet their peers and discuss stress management strategies with a mental health professional.

The social will come three days before World Mental Health Day, which takes place each year on Oct. 10.

Chat with your fellow teens, play games, and discuss methods to de-stress with a professional therapist, the library announced in a Twitter post.

The participants will speak with each other and Lauren Spivack, a therapist who works with Counseling Institute of Texas, Inc.

In order to register, participants should call 972-205-2517 to receive a link for the event.

Since the COVID-19 pandemic first hit, Garlands Nicholson Memorial Library System has ramped up its online services for patrons at home.

The libraries offer programs for youngsters, teens, adults and everyone else, including story time activities, literary exercises and others.

On Oct. 28, the library system will host a game of Dungeons & Dragons for teens via Zoom.

For a full list of events, visit the Nicholson Memorial Library Systems calendar here.

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Garland library to mark World Mental Health Day with Zoom event for teens - The Dallas Morning News

PASO ROBLES The Paso Robles City Library announced Oct. 1, the addition of two new online products, JobNow and VetNow, designed to help Library patrons learn new skills, prepare for certification testing, create more impactful resums, improve interviewing techniques, and search for jobs.

The Brainfuse products, JobNow and VetNow, offer learning, career, and veteran support tools, such as resume and writing labs and an extensive list of resources, in addition to in-person support, such as live job coaching, live veteran benefits eligibility, and live tutoring. JobNow and VetNow will be part of the Librarys toolkit in support of economic recovery for the next two years.

The statewide subscription is being paid with emergency federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act funds earmarked for Californias 1,120 libraries. According to State Librarian of California Greg Lucas, Libraries are centers for resilience and recovery in every California community. As more Californians turn to libraries for help as they always do during economic downturns libraries can now offer even more tools to empower and strengthen Californians.

JobNow and VetNow can be accessed from the Paso Librarys eLibrary.

For more information about adult programming, contact Adult Services Librarian Karen Christiansen, kchristiansen@prcity.com or 805-237-3870.

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Live, Online Assistance for Job Seekers, Veterans, and Their Families Paso Robles Press - The Paso Robles Press

Wednesday Sep30,2020at5:00PM Sep30,2020at5:00PM

HOLLISTON The Friends of the Holliston Library recently announced its upcoming programs. The Friends of the Holliston Library will present Irish Need Not Apply with historian Christopher Daley at 2 p.m Oct. 4. This program will virtually explore the history of the Irish in Boston from colonial times until the present. It is free and sponsored with the Medway Public Library and the Holliston Historical Society. To register, visit http://hollistonlibrary.org to receive a Zoom invitation for the program. The Morning Book Club will discuss Jokha Alharthis prize-winning novel Celestial Bodies at 11 a.m. Oct. 5. The group will meet virtually, and the book is available to borrow about one month before the discussion in multiple formats. Register on the librarys website to receive a Zoom invitation. New members are warmly welcomed at both groups. Hoopla, the streaming service for libraries, is available for use by Holliston residents. It is free and funded by the Friends. Hoopla has e-books, audiobooks, comic books, music, movies and TV shows which can be downloaded. The service is limited to four downloads per person per month and is accessed by a valid library card. All the titles in the collection are available at all times and there are no reserves or waiting. The collection changes monthly and items simply disappear once they reach their due date. The link to get started is available at http://hollistonlibrary.org. Patrons who would like personal instruction in using electronic services can do so by contacting the library. Kindles and Rokus with Disney Plus, Acorn, Hulu and Netflix are available to borrow from the library at no charge. The library is open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays; 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Wednesdays and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturdays. Curbside pickup continues at the library during the same hours. Holliston residents who cannot visit in person or use curbside pickup can arrange for home delivery by calling the library.

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Friends of the Holliston Library announce upcoming programs - MetroWest Daily News