CSPAN’s Book TV at AANM on Dec 10

CSPAN’s Book TV will be in Dearborn for Alia Malek’s A Country Called Amreeka: Arab Roots, American Stories author appearance & book signing. 

6 p.m. Thursday, December 10, 2009
Arab American National Museum
Free and open to the public

From the press release:
Syrian American author and civil rights attorney Alia Malek has reported for Salon, The Columbia Journalism Review and The New York Times.

Her first book, A Country Called Amreeka, tells the story of the last 40+ years of U.S. history as experienced by Arab Americans. These are dramatic narratives, describing the very human experiences of love, friendship, family, courage, hate, and success. There are the timeless tales of an immigrant community becoming American, the nostalgia for home, the alienation from a society sometimes as intolerant as its laws are generous. 

Each chapter describes an event in U.S. history which may already be familiar to us, and invites us to live that moment in time in the skin of an Arab American. The chapters follow a timeline from 1963 to the present, and the characters live in every corner of this country.

CSPAN will be on site filming the event for their Book TV series.

For further information about this event and the collections and services of the AANM Library & Resource Center, call 313.624.0223 or visit the Event Website.

Museum Adventure Pass

The third year of the Cultural Alliance of Southeastern Michigan’s Museum Adventure Pass program began on October 25, 2009.   Four new museums have been added:  Paint Creek Center for the Arts, Shalom Street Museum, Troy Museum & Historic Village and the University of Michigan Matthaei Botanical Gardens.  A complete list of participating museums can be found here.

How it works
(from detroitadventurepass.org)

Visit your public library (for a list of participating libraries, click here) and check out a Museum Adventure Pass, using your valid  library card, for two or four free admissions, depending on location, to one of the museums.  Libraries have a limited number of passes for each participating organization. Passes are available on a first-come, first-served basis and cannot be reserved, renewed or requested through interlibrary loan.   One Museum Adventure Pass may be checked out per person, per loan period. The loan period is seven days.

McGregor Library in the spotlight

Highland Park’s McGregor Public Library is in the news today.  An announcement is expected Monday, September 14th about a new film entitled “Highland Park” that will detail the library’s closing in 2002 and its struggle to reopen.  It is set to star Danny Glover.  The McGregor Library was named for Katherine McGregor who donated the land for the library in 1918.  She was the daughter of lumber magnate David Whitney.

For more information about this exciting project:
Detroit Free Press – ‘Highland Park’ film may revive dormant library

More information about the McGregor Library:
City of Highland Park – McGregor Public Library

Michigan Libraries for the Future

The Michigan Library Association has a new website, Michigan Libraries For The Future.  The site includes, among other resources, a newsroom, a press kit, and links to write to legislators. 

By clicking the above picture, you will be taken to MLA’s Legislative Action Center where you can enter your zip code and discover who your representatives and senators are.   There is a “Take Action” button that will take you to an area where you can easily compose a message to your government representatives complete with talking points that you can choose to include.

Don’t forget the Rally at the Capitol on September 10, 2009!

Free Admissions around Detroit

Museums on us© from Bank of America

Present your ID and a Bank of America ATM, credit, or check card at participating museums on the first full weekend of every month and your admission is free!

In the Detroit area, participating museums are:

• The Henry Ford (no Sundays)
• Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History (no Sundays)
• Motown Museum (closed Sundays)
• Detroit Science Center

For more information and a calendar, go to http://museums.bankofamerica.com.

Target sponsored events

• The Henry Ford – Free admission and parking on Labor Day 2009 (Monday, September 7)
• Arab American National Museum –Free admission every Sunday
• Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History – Free admission every first Sunday. For dates, click here.

Museum Adventure Pass

Don’t forget the Museum Adventure Pass available for check out at local libraries (a list of participating libraries is here).

Guidelines from the Museum Adventure Pass website:

“Check out a Museum Adventure Pass using your valid library card at any library location. Libraries have a limited number of passes for each participating organization. Passes are available on a first-come, first-served basis and cannot be reserved, renewed or requested through interlibrary loan. One Museum Adventure Pass may be checked out per person, per loan period. The loan period is SEVEN DAYS. Up to two or four people may be admitted on each pass. (See the list for which organizations admit 2 and which admit 4.) Choose the museum you would like to visit and bring the card for that museum to the circulation desk. The library will give you a date-due slip that admits you into the museum through the date printed on the slip. After this date, the pass expires. You do not need to return it to your library.”

Others

• Detroit Institute of Arts - free admission on Fridays for Detroit residents
• Dossin Great Lakes Museum, Belle Isle – admission is always free; donations accepted
• Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit – free admission unless otherwise indicated
• Detroit Children’s Museum – general admission is free
• Dearborn Historical Museum – admission is always free; donations accepted
• River Raisin Battlefield
• Holocaust Memorial Center – free admission; donations appreciated

Midsummer Nights in Midtown

Midsummer Nights in Midtown began this past weekend and will continue through the month of June.  This month-long series replaces the Detroit Festival of the Arts, a single weekend event.

From the April 24th press release:
“The University Cultural Center Association (UCCA) and Wayne State University are excited to announce a new series of summertime public performances, Midsummer Nights in Midtown, every Thursday, Friday, and Saturday evening in June. This special series will continue to provide outstanding arts and cultural programming for the metropolitan Detroit community, in lieu of the Detroit Festival of the Arts.

“Midsummer Nights in Midtown spotlights a different Midtown venue each evening of the series, presenting an admission-free performance by international, national and local guest artists ranging from acclaimed musicians to award-winning poets and authors, and large-puppet theater for children. In total there will be more than a dozen participating venues and over 25 performances amid the state’s premier arts and cultural institutions, neighborhood galleries, and entertainment facilities.”

For more information, visit midsummernightsinmidtown.com.

For the schedule of events, click here.

St. Mary’s Polish Country Fair!

Visit St. Mary’s Preparatory in Orchard Lake on Memorial Day Weekend (May 22-25) for their annual Polish Country Fair!  There will be music, rides, and lots of food as well as games and crafts.  For more information and maps, visit http://www.stmaryspolishcountryfair.com/.

New Equipment in DALNET Digital Lab

 

The DALNET Digital Lab has a new piece of equipment in addition to two book scanners and an LP-to-MP3 recorder. This new equipment is the Ion USB Cassette Archiver which can easily convert audio cassette tapes to MP3.

DALNET members can call 313-577-0234 to set up an appointment to use the digital lab at their convenience.

Click the link for more information: Digital Lab Brochure

DALNET Office Holiday Closure

The DALNET Office will be closed beginning December 25th and will reopen on January 5th.

ALA Second Life Symposium

SLymposium
Saturday, November 8, 2008  

Sponsored by the American Library Association Virtual Communities & Libraries Member Initiative Group

Schedule (All times are U.S. Pacific Time, also known as Second Life Time):
8:00 A.M. – Welcome and Keynote
Tom Peters, author, ALA TechSource Library Technology Report on Librarianship in Virtual Worlds

8:30 A.M. – Public and Rural Libraries in Second Life
Sonja Morgan, Mark & Emily Turner Memorial Library

9:00 A.M. – Library Associations in Second Life
Tina Coleman, ALA

9:30 A.M. – Academic Libraries in Second Life
Carrie Pennell, Harvard University
FT Takacs, University of South Carolina

10:00 – 11:00 A.M. – Break

11:00 A.M. – Special Libraries in Second Life
Carol Perryman, Coordinator of Health Infoisland

11:30 A.M. – Schools, Teens and Tweens in virtual worlds
Kelly Czarnecki, Public Library Of Charlotte & Mecklenburg County

12:00 P. M. – Graduate library students in Second Life 
Sue Bergren 

Location
ALA Island in Second Life.  There are several ways to get to ALA Island.  The SLURL is http://slurl.com/secondlife/ALA%20Island/128/102/29/.  Or you could search: under the Edit dropdown menu in the SL interface, then click on the Places tab, then search for “American Library Association” then select the teleport option.