The Helen Ruffin Reading Bowl is an annual statewide reading competition that is open to students in grades 4-12. Students are quizzed on Georgia Book Award Nominees and Georgia Peach Teen Book Award Nominees. On Saturday, January 26, DeKalb County Public Library competed with three teams in the levels of elementary, middle school and high school. The high school team won first place and will move on to the next round that will take place at Clayton State in two weeks. DCPL is the first public library to enter a team into the HRRB. Library staff who coached the teams include: Mia Manekofsky, Lauren Tennyson, Shelley Thompson, Jonathan Myers and Elizabeth Harris. Check out more information on the Helen Ruffin Reading Bowl here.
Georgia Public Library Service has announced that DeKalb County Public Library has been selected as the 2018 Georgia Public Library of the Year “for their efforts to grow meaningful engagement and impact within their diverse community.” The annual award honors the outstanding service and achievements of Georgia’s public libraries, librarians and advocates. A collaborative effort was made with the “Read More” campaign that helped to promote the Library system as a whole while highlighting specific programs such as PRIME TIME Preschool, Fine Free Summer, the Human Library Project and more. DCPL will be recognized at the Georgia State Capital on February 13. Check out the official announcement here.
The Doris K. Wells Heritage Festival is an annual celebration of the large diverse community that makes up DeKalb County. DeKalb County Public Library’s first African-American librarian, the late Doris K. Wells, created the festival in 1983 as a Kwanzaa Awareness Festival at the Scott Candler Library. Attendance for the first year was over 1000 patrons. The festival continued to grow over the years and was renamed the Doris K. Wells Heritage Festival. Programs throughout the months of December and January include music, dance, food, crafts and informational workshops. A full list of events can be seen here.
Clarkston Library in DeKalb County has been awarded an Ezra Jack Keats Mini-Grant to create a “Tine Zine” that will focus on creative writing, media and visual arts. The program will be called “Hear Us: Teen Voices From Across DeKalb.” Effuah Chisholm is one of 70 educators in 29 states who will implement a new program during the academic year ending in June 2019. Since 1987, the Ezra Jack Keats Foundation, which fosters children’s love of reading and creative expression in this diverse culture, has awarded annual grants of up to $500 each to qualifying teachers and librarians in public schools and public libraries.The “Teen Zine” program aims to provide support and resources to help share concerns from a teen’s point of view. As a result, teens in DeKalb County will have the opportunity to become a part of a larger conversation about issues that affect them. The deadline to apply is October 3, 2018. Applications can be printed or picked up at any DCPL branch.
DeKalb County Public Library will be closed on Sunday September 2 and Monday September 3 in observance of Labor Day.
