Category Archives: Library News

Give the Gift of Books with Our Second Annual Giving Tree!

Posted on November 30, 2018 | Leave a comment

‘Tis the season for giving! From now through December 20, Chatham County Public Libraries invite you to give back to the Chatham community by sponsoring books from our Library Giving Tree. Each library branch will host a tree. Patrons wishing to sponsor a book simply take a tag from the tree, follow the URL on the tag to the Library Giving Tree Amazon wish list and purchase a listed item. Items purchased from the Library Giving Tree list will be donated to the Sonflower Seeds Christian Preschool & Learning Center  in Siler City. Purchased items will ship directly to the Center.

Sonflower Seeds Christian Preschool & Learning Center is a locally owned and operated educational center for children between the ages of 0-12. Each classroom uses Creative Curriculum to teach writing skills, numbers, motor development and language. Classroom lessons are designed to meet each child where they are and are reinforced using a variety of hands on learning activities. The items on this year’s Giving Tree list reflect the curriculum style in place at Sunflower Seeds by promoting early literacy, social skills, and cultural awareness.

Spread the holiday cheer and promote literacy with books for our Community’s youngest learners! The deadline for making purchases is Thursday, December 20.

For more information about the Library Giving Tree, contact Katy Henderson at (919) 545-8085 or  [email protected].

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Chatham County Public Libraries Receive Funding to Develop Youth Coding Programs

Posted on November 29, 2018 | Leave a comment

Chatham County Public Libraries (CCPL) has received $500 from the American Library Association (ALA) to help plan and implement coding activities during Computer Science Education (CS Ed) Week 2018 (December 3-9) and beyond. Sponsored by Google, CCPL is one of 250 school and public libraries from across the country to receive this micro grant as a part of ALA’s Libraries Ready to Code initiative.

Library Director Linda Clarke said, “In addition to books and literacy, we see computational thinking and computer literacy as vital 21st Century skills. As a learning hub in a fast-growing county, Chatham County Public Libraries aim to engage users of all ages in technology use and learning.”

Using the micro grant funding, library youth services staff intend to pursue more opportunities to educate youth in basic coding across all three branches, using a variety of coding toys purchased with grant funds.

“Libraries are the cornerstones of our communities,” said Google program manager Nicky Rigg. “We are proud to include Chatham County Public Libraries in our CS Ed Week activities this year. We hope these libraries will join the growing number of libraries excited to offer CS programs that help youth create, problem solve and develop the confidence and skills to succeed in their future careers.”

“ALA is pleased to provide microfunding to Chatham County Public Libraries and other Ready to Code libraries,” said ALA President Loida Garcia-Febo. “We hope this microfunding will not only generate enthusiasm for CS Ed Week, but spark year-round programming to develop critical thinking and digital skills youth can draw on over a lifetime.”

The 250 libraries selected for CS Ed Week funding will each host activities based on Google’s free CS First curriculum, which uses video-based instruction to introduce CS to kids through block-based coding. Libraries will pursue projects that reflect Ready to Code themes critical for advancing youth learning, especially for building computational thinking literacies. The Ready to Code team estimates that the CS Ed Week funding will support more than 60,000 youth all around the country taking part in coding activities throughout the week.

To celebrate Computer Science Education Week, Chatham County Public Libraries will offer two Google CS First SCRATCH-based coding classes for children ages 7+. Programs will be held on Monday, December 3, at 4:00 pm at the Chatham Community Library in Pittsboro and Thursday, December 6, at 4:30 pm at the Wren Memorial Library in Siler City.

Classes are free, but registration is required. Please contact the library at (919) 545-8085 to sign up.

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Blackbeard’s Sunken Prize: The 300-Year Voyage of Queen Anne’s Revenge

Posted on November 21, 2018 | Leave a comment
Chatham Community Library will host a program on Blackbeard’s famous ship, Queen Anne’s Revenge, on Saturday, December 1, at 1:00 pm in the Holmes Meeting Room.  The program will be facilitated by Chatham County resident and co-author of Blackbeard’s Sunken Prize: The 300-Year Voyage of Queen Anne’s Revenge, Linda Carnes-McNaughton.
In 1717, the notorious pirate Blackbeard captured a French slaving vessel off the coast of Martinique and made it his flagship, renaming it Queen Anne’s Revenge. Over the next six months, the heavily armed ship and its crew captured all manner of riches from merchant ships sailing the Caribbean to the Carolinas. But in June 1718, with British authorities closing in, Blackbeard reportedly ran Queen Anne’s Revenge aground just off the coast of what is now North Carolina’s Fort Macon State Park. What went down with the ship remained hidden for centuries.
Having played a vital role in the shipwreck’s recovery and interpretation, Carnes-McNaughton discusses the ship’s first use as a French privateer and slave ship, its capture and use by Blackbeard’s armada, the circumstances of its sinking, and more based on a wealth of artifacts now raised from the ocean floor. Carnes-McNaughton is the current Program Archaeologist and Curator at Fort Bragg’s Cultural Resources Management Program.
This program is free and open to the public. Funding is made possible by the generous support of the Friends of the Chatham Community Library.

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Native American Heritage Celebration on November 10

Posted on November 7, 2018 | Leave a comment

In recognition of Native American Heritage Month, Chatham Community Library will host a special performance by Ryan-Dial Stanley & Friends on Saturday, November 10, from 11:00 am – 3:00 pm in the Holmes Meeting Room.

Dial-Stanley, a member of the Lumbee Tribe, is a well-known flutist, storyteller, and traditional dancer. Mr. Dial-Stanley has been a student ambassador for the UNC American Indian Center and powwow co-chair of the Carolina Indian Circle. He has traveled across the state of North Carolina presenting programs on the history and culture of the Lumbee Tribe. Mr. Dial-Stanley will bring other Native Americans who will provide a program of cultural enrichment and instruction in interactive crafts.

This special event includes music, dance and storytelling from 11:00 am -12:30 pm and craft instruction beginning at 1:00 pm.  Light refreshments will be served. This event is free and open to the public.

Funding for this program is made possible by the generosity of the Friends of the Chatham Community Library.

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Library Hosts Free Health Insurance Enrollment Sessions

Posted on October 29, 2018 | Leave a comment

Chatham Community Library will host free health insurance enrollment sessions beginning Tuesday, November 6, from 9:15 am – 2:15 pm, continuing each Tuesday through December 11th (not available on Tuesday, November 20). Meet one-on-one with local enrollment Navigator, Martha Samaniego, of NC Legal Aid.

Nine out of ten North Carolina residents who enrolled last year received financial help in paying for their coverage. If you enrolled last year, it’s important that you check out your options again this year. New plans and prices are available that may better fit your needs and budget.

Appointments are required and can be made by calling 1-855-733-3711 or by registering online at www.getcoveredamerica.org/Connector.

Enrollment appointments will take place in the Library’s double-study room.  Chatham Community Library is located at 197 NC Hwy 87 N on the Chatham County campus of Central Carolina Community College.

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PlayMakers Repertory Presents Shakespeare’s Macbeth on Sept. 20

Posted on September 17, 2018 | Leave a comment

Chatham Community Library will host a free performance of Shakespeare’s Macbeth on Thursday, September 20, beginning at 6:30 pm in the Holmes Meeting Room.

PlayMakers Repertory Company will bring their mobile touring company for a sizzling 90-minute performance of the Bard’s psychological thriller. In this production, brilliant young general Macbeth has pulled off a glorious victory in battle, but before he can return to King Duncan’s court, he encounters a most enticing prophecy. Spurred on by his ambitious wife, Macbeth sets his sights on the throne, but as blood begets blood, he soon learns there is no rest for the wicked.

Through partnerships with area non-profits, community organizations, and local schools and libraries, in locations across the Triangle, PlayMakers presents professional-quality, bare bones productions of Shakespeare plays and more, cut to ninety minutes or less connecting with new audiences in their own spaces, truly meeting them where they live. By revealing theatre to be accessible, relevant, and vital, PlayMakers Mobile builds a new audience for these timeless plays and allows PlayMakers to foster new relationships throughout the region.

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Library to Host “Titanic: Ship of Dreams” Program on September 13

Posted on September 7, 2018 | Leave a comment

Chatham Community Library will host Titanic: Ship of Dreams on Thursday, September 13, at 6:30 pm in the Holmes Meeting Room. This program will be presented by Dr. Melinda Ratchford, an NC Humanities Council Road Scholar.

Take a glimpse into 1912 and the 2,228 amazing people who boarded the most luxurious and largest ship in the world and sailed off into immortality. Having traveled to all the sites that have connections to the R.M.S. Titanic (Belfast, Southampton, sinking site in North Atlantic, Halifax, NS et al.), Dr. Ratchford takes the audience on a voyage in time to learn about the Titanic, as well as to see her extensive collection of Titanic memorabilia. She will “introduce” listeners to the young Robert Spedden and his Stief bear, Polar; the world’s richest man and his beautiful new wife who had to leave New York society under a cloud of shame; and the elderly man and wife who tested the vow of “til death do we part”. This program will offer the chance to experience the world of courage, fear, love, and cowardice that is still alive over one hundred years after the Titanic’s sinking.

A native of Kannapolis, NC, Dr. Ratchford received her B.S. in Social Science and a Sixth Year degree in Curriculum from Appalachian State University.  She received her Masters in Library Education from UNC-Greensboro.  She also attended UNC-Chapel Hill where she received her Doctorate in Education. Her avocation has been a 60-year interest in the study of the R.M.S. Titanic and her history.  She has given presentations to over 225+ groups on the topic.

This program is brought to you in conjunction with the NC Humanities Council and is free and open to the public.

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RBG Film Screening & Discussion Slated for September 8

Posted on August 30, 2018 | Leave a comment

Chatham Community Library will host its first screening of the new film RBG on Saturday, September 8 beginning at 1:00 pm in the Holmes Meeting Room.  The screening and discussion will be facilitated by District Court Judge (15B) Sherri Murrell.

RBG is a 2018 American documentary film directed and produced by Betsy West and Julie Cohen, focusing on the life and career of United States Supreme Court of the United States Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. After premiering at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival, the film was released in the United States on May 4, 2018.

Judge Murrell served as an assistant public defender in Chatham and Orange counties before being elected in 2016.

This event is free and open to the public. Funding for this program is made available by the Friends of the Chatham Community Library.

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OverDrive magazines are back!

Posted on August 23, 2018 | Leave a comment

OverDrive magazines

OverDrive magazines are back! You now have access to 50 different magazine titles through OverDrive with your Chatham County library card. Check out The Atlantic, Popular Mechanics, HGTV Magazine, Yoga Journal, OK!, Newsweek, Clean Eating, and many more! These checkouts do not count against your usual loan limits for eBooks and audiobooks. Access the magazine collection through a web browser at http://e-inc.overdrive.com, or with the Libby or OverDrive apps. Need help getting started? Call the reference desk at 545-8086.

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Chatham Community Library to Host ANTI-Bullying Workshop

Posted on August 14, 2018 | Leave a comment

Every day, more than 16,000 kids miss school because of bullying. 45% of kids experience bullying before age 18. And 38% of kids believe that their school doesn’t take bullying seriously. 

Children entering grades K-5 and their parents/caregivers are invited to attend a 90-minute anti-bullying workshop presented by Bullyproof Pittsboro.

In this 90-minute interactive parent/child Bullyproof America workshop, presenters Alex Changho and Cat Zohar will clearly define what bullying is, and what it is not.  They will help simplify the situation by providing clear boundaries for understanding how bullying takes place, what kids can do when bullying takes place, and how parents can help their kids be more empowered to deal with bullying.  Alex and Cat teach these lessons through foundational martial arts techniques and skills that have been proven to boost self-esteem and confidence in children.  

The workshop also includes anger management and self-control practices that help keep emotions in balance when frustration and sadness set in from bullying.  These skills are essential to controlling the imbalance of power that occurs as a result of bullying.  Participants of a Bullyproof America workshop will leave with usable skills and knowledge to help better prepare them for a positive school year and how to respond appropriately in a bullying situation.  

The ANTI-Bullying Workshop will be presented at the Chatham Community Library, 197 NC Hwy 87 N, Pittsboro on Saturday, August 25, at 1:00 p.m.

Admission is free and open to the public. For more information, contact Katy at (919) 545-8085 or [email protected].

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