National Readathon Day

Visit the Main Library at Goodwood this Saturday, January 24, to celebrate National Readathon Day! It’s a marathon reading session from noon to 4 p.m. Join readers across America in making time to read that afternoon. Four straight hours is a lot of reading so this could be your opportunity to finally tackle that challenging longer book that’s been sitting on your newsstand. Or maybe you want to bring a whole pile of books, and read a bit from each. We will have loads of books on hand for you to read here too — we are the library after all! Refreshments will be served.

The focus of the event is to celebrate reading and literacy and to raise money for the National Book Foundation (a 501c3 nonprofit). All donations will support the National Book Foundation’s nonprofit work to promote literature and reading in America. *Donations are not required to participate in this Library event though.

Khaled Hosseini plans to read The Children Act by Ian McEwan, novelist Emma Straub plans to read Evelyn Waugh as well as some Babar, and the National Book Foundation’s Executive Director Harold Augenbraum plans to read the Lemony Snicket series. Share your photos and experiences during the Readathon and tell us what you’re reading on social media using the hashtags #timetoread and #ebrpl. See you Saturday!

MLK Day Events at the Library

Check this month’s Source newsletter for more information on the Martin Luther King, Jr., Day events planned at EBRPL. All branches will be closed on Monday, January 19, for MLK Day. We will resume normal business hours on Tuesday, January 20.

Baton Rouge Room Lecture Series: Eudora S. Day, Baton Rouge’s First and Only Female Sheriff

The Baton Rouge Room Archives will launch its monthly lecture series this Wednesday, January 14, at 7 p.m. at the Main Library at Goodwood. The lecture will cover Eudora S. Day’s journey to the Sheriff’s seat following the March 1924 death of her husband, the incumbent Sheriff Robert Day, who was killed in the line of duty. Community sentiment was that his widow should step in and carry on his legacy but the newly formed, Klan-controlled Democratic Committee had other ideas. Archivist Melissa Eastin will explore the brief campaign launched by Widow Day’s supporters and examine how the struggle between the Democratic Party, the Ku Klux Klan, and women’s suffragists played a role in this most interesting event in Baton Rouge history.

“Lean In” Discussion Panel: Women in Business

Top Facebook executive Sheryl Sandberg made a splash and started a movement with the publication of her bestselling business book Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead. We’re taking a page out of her book and hosting a “Lean In” discussion panel at the Main Library at Goodwood at 7 p.m. next Wednesday, January 14.

The panel will feature a group of female leaders who will give their own interpretation of “leaning in” and give insight into their experiences as women in business. The discussion will be followed by a question-and-answer period with the audience. Refreshments will be served.

Panel members include:

Dr. Candace Collins, Eye Medical Center

Ophthalmologic Surgeon and Cataracts and Eye Muscles Specialist

Jill Rigby Garner, Manners of the Heart

Nonprofit Founder/Executive Director

Dima Ghawi, IBM

Talent Development Manager

Heather Howle, West Feliciana Middle Schools

Middle School Science teacher with a focus in STEM

Czarina Walker, InfiniEdge Software, Inc.

Founder/CEO

Libraries Closed on New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day

All EBRPL branches are open today but will be closed tomorrow (Wednesday, December 31)
and Thursday, January 1, for New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day. We wish you a safe and happy New Year and we’re looking forward to seeing you again in 2015! All branches will resume normal business hours on Friday, January 2.