Celebrating African American History Month!

There are so many ways to celebrate African American History month, so many reasons to celebrate it, and so many people to celebrate, it can be a little overwhelming where to start. Whether you are cheering on Elana Meyers and Lauryn Williams in the women's bobsled event at the Winter Olympics, or you've been following speedskater Shani Davis over the years; whether you were alive when the Civil Rights Act was passed 50 years ago; whether you listen to music, read history, or watch films; all of these are reasons to celebrate this month.

One of the great places to start learning more is at the African American History website created by the Library of Congress, National Gallery of Art, and several other federal agencies. From here you can learn more about the Underground Railroad through the National Park Service's Network to Freedom. Or visit the Exhibitions and Collections section to view some of the art and learn about some of the artists featured in the National Gallery of Art.

If you have a Pottsville Library card, you can use it to access some of the ebooks in the Reference Collection. From the library's homepage at www.pottsvillelibrary.org, click on Infobase eBooks to read "African Americans in the Military", or "Encyclopedia of Free Blacks and People of Color in the Americas".

Your Pottsville Library card also gives you access to the POWER Library Network. Need to find an African American author born in Pennsylvania? Contemporary Authors allows you to search by ethnicity, gender, and birth place. Need to find articles about civil rights, published within the last ten years? MasterFILE Main Edition allows you to search by subject and narrow it to just those dates you need, and only those articles that are available full text (so you can read the entire article on your computer screen). And SIRS Discoverer has some great resources for elementary and middle school school students who have a homework assignment due tomorrow!

And, if you have to come in to the library, we have a number of great reference, circulating, and children's books about African Americans in history and today. Library staff will help you get started in finding out more about this important group in our nation's history.

Winter Weather and Library Hours

The last few weeks have been brutal, haven't they? Snow storm after snow storm, with some ice mixed in there. Lovely. The Pottsville Library does try to remain open as much as possible, but we do sometimes close  for the safety of our staff and users. If you are hoping to come in to the library, and the weather is bad, please check our Facebook page to see if we're closed or closing early, or give us a call before you head out. We want everyone to stay safe this season!

Tax Season Has Officially Started

So, the first day to file federal tax returns has come and gone (Jan. 31). The Pottsville Library has received some of the federal forms, such as the 1040A and the 1040EZ, but the main form has not yet arrived. As soon as the regular 1040 gets here we'll be sure to put it out! In the meantime, the other two have been made available in our lobby area (across from the Circulation Desk), as well as the state forms.