Blog Entries

Our Book Club is Back! Won’t You Join Us?

Many patrons have asked and have been anxiously awaiting the return of our book club called Brown Bag with Books. In a normal atmosphere, book club participants would meet at Clarke County Library and bring their lunch to the discussion, thus the name Brown Bag with Books.

Now our book club is virtual as with many of our programs. ANYONE can join the book club in any location! Won’t you join us?

Our librarians have made their book picks 6 months in advance, so you can get ahead and going with your reading!

November 4th, The Great Believers by Rebecca Makka... Read Full Post

Enjoy the Harvest!

This time of year is ripe with fruits and vegetables fresh from the garden, famers’ markets and farm stands. So delicious! You can save a taste of summer by making preserves or jellies, pickles, drying or freezing this summer’s bounty. The library has an extensive cookbook section which includes books on canning and preserving such as: Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving, Better Homes and Gardens You Can Can, The Complete Book of Small-Batch Preserving and Foolproof Preserving 

 

Our non-fiction books are arranged by number (Dewey Decimal Classifica...

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Do You Zoom?

What is Zoom?

Have you Zoomed yet?  No, it’s not a car commercial, it is a popular platform for virtual meetings and events that has become very prevalent in the age of COVID 19.

More and more, people and groups are holding meetings and events virtually from religious services, to book clubs, to library programs. Zoom is a popular platform that allows participants to see one another, hear each other, and interact without being physically present together.  It is one way we as a library have been able to continue to bring programs to our community. 

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Archive’s Photograph of Betty Taylor Dandridge to be displayed at National Portrait Gallery

A photographic portrait of Betty Taylor Dandridge, daughter of U. S. President Zachary Taylor, is on its way to the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C. for an exhibit on first ladies. The photograph was taken in 1860. “Miss Betty,” as she was known, served as the White House's official hostess during her father’s presidency and later settled in Winchester, Virginia with her second husband.

Personnel from Crozier Fine Arts arrived the morning of Thursday, 24 September to pack the picture and deliver it to the National Portrait Gallery. Crozier specializes in moving a...

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Winchester Alamo Film Club DVDs at the Library

The Show Must Go On!

When you think about public library offerings for patrons, material books are usually the first thing that comes to mind. Handley Regional Library System has a lesser known collection of unique DVD movies donated by partner Winchester Alamo Film Club that would satisfy even the greatest fan of cult, foreign, and independent films.

Search the film club DVDs in our catalog now.

 

Originally shown in the local theater for their members, the Alamo Film Club over the years has donated more than 700 DVDs that library patrons can now e...

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Back to School Help from Your Local Library

This year’s Back to School Season looks substantially different for countless families. Many are navigating trying times to determine what’s best in getting the most information to make informative decisions for their family.

We want you to know that Handley Regional Library System is HERE for you. Whether your child is homeschooling or attending public or private school and even college, we can help. Are you an educator wanting to make the most of the digital content you are sharing with your students? Are you a caregiver that is new to assisting with at-home instruction? Or...

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Series and Read-A-Likes in the Library Catalog

This blog is about another nifty feature in the library catalog that you may not have found yet. I will use two books as an example. The first book “The Sherlockian” is a historical mystery with parallel narratives. When I type the name in the search bar for the library and then click on the title, I see the page below. Notice the link on the left titled “Series & read-a-likes”.

When I click on “Series & read-a-likes” I get another page with lots of useful information. The top tab has similar books labeled “read-a-likes”. Beside that are authors whose writings are similar ...

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Print from Anywhere and Pick it Up at the Library

We are excited to announce the availability of a remote printing service for the community called PrintME available at Bowman Library and Handley Library.   Users can upload their documents to the PrintME app, printme.com, or print@printme.com at home, on the go, or even at the library.  They will receive a confirmation code to take to the PrintME station at Bowman or Handley Libraries and pay with a credit card for a quick, contactless transaction when they pick-up their print job.

Learn more about PrintMe and watch the video.

Patrons can also pay by cash...

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The Strength of Women: New Display on the Suffragette Movement

In August, we remember the Suffragette movement.  Our display this month shows elements of the local fight for women’s right to vote.  In particular, the display highlights Fannie Baker Dunlap, who registered for the vote on October 2, 1920 at 56 years of age, and Mary Elizabeth Pidgeon, a member of the Equal Suffrage League of Virginia. 

It is just one hundred years since Virginia women won the fight for the right to vote.  In fact, Winchester’s first two women, Isabel E. Baker and Frances W. Beverly, registered to vote on August 27, 1920 – exactly 100 years a...

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Check out the Library of Congress Website!

The Library of Congress (LoC) was established in 1880 to support the research needs of the United States Congress. Over time, its mission and reach broadened, allowing it to serve as the nation’s library. As you can imagine this is quite an undertaking, making the LoC the largest library in the world! Early in this century the LoC began to digitize collections and put them online. Recently, I attended a webinar that provided a tour of features on the LoC website. You can view this webinar by following this link. It is about 45 minutes with 15 minutes of Q&A. A few of the standouts from ...

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Remembering and Honoring John Lewis

John Lewis was an amazing man; one of the key participants in the Civil Rights movement.

We mourn his death and look to his life for inspiration. If you would like to learn more about his life and accomplishments, the Handley Regional Library System has his graphic novels, the March trilogy, available at Handley and Bowman Libraries. There is also a signed set in the Stewart Bell Jr. Archives. He reached a new generation through these graphic novels.

There is a children’s book, Freedom Riders: John Lewis and Jim Zwerg on the Front Lines of the Civil Rights Movement by An...

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The Stewart Bell Jr. Archives & Research Appointments

The Reading Room of the Stewart Bell Jr. Archives is reopen to researchers. For the safety of staff and researchers, and to protect our collections, we have had to make some changes to our procedures. Researchers will now need to make appointments to do research in the Archives. Currently, researchers are limited to a one hour research appointment per day. Research appointment times are as follows:  

Monday to Thursday: 10:15 AM to 11:15 AM, 11:30 AM to 12:30 PM, 1:15 PM to 2:15 PM, 2:30 PM to 3:30 PM, 3:45 PM to 4:45 PM, 5:00 PM to 6:00 PM

Friday: 10:15 AM to 11:15...

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Hoopla, Music For Any Taste

Did you know that there are vast amounts of great music available to you through our Hoopla digital service? And even better, it’s all for free with a library card? When you download music, you get to listen to a whole album for seven days before it gets “returned”. Listed below are just some of the most popular albums in a few of the many categories. What is your favorite category of music to listen to? Do you always listen to the same music, or different music for different occasions?

What’s Popular Right now in Your Favorite Genre?

Pop Blog Type: Homepage Adults

Job Searches Using Reference USA (Part I)

 

The library subscribes to many useful services and databases so you do not have to. But, we still have to learn what these services are for and how to use them. One of these very useful services is called Reference USA, which provides a database of U.S. and Canadian businesses. This database not only provides lists of new businesses and historical business but job postings as well. Below is screenshot of the “Dashboard” page that you will be directed to when you click on the link for Reference USA.

If you click on U.S. Jobs/Internships then you are taken t...

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Bored? 10 Library Things to Do From Home: Quarantine Edition

Are you stuck at home during Covid-19? The Handley Regional Library System has you covered! You can access a lot of our services online from the comfort (and safety) of your own home. From educational to fun and entertaining, check out a list below of what you can do to occupy your free time and still enjoy the library 24/7. Know what the best part of all is? All of these services are free with your library card!

Check Out eBooks and/or Audiobooks

The Library isn’t slacking when it comes to the eBook and audiobook department. Quarantine will be over before you kno... Read Full Post