News

One of the things I love most about my job is that I am involved in a variety of tasks, which allows me to learn and exercise many different skills. Lately, my focus has been on creating exhibits for the state bicentennial which will be on display for the rest of the year. This has been an incredibly rewarding challenge. With each exhibit, I feel I am learning so much, and the exhibits are improving as a result. One that I am particularly pleased with is the exhibit on World War II.

Our library loves to showcase its talent when the opportunity arises! 

Emeka Barclay Marshall, an educator with the Huntsville City Schools, as well as a part-time employee of the Huntsville-Madison County Public Library, won a prestigious award for her self-published book of poetry.

The Black Caucus of the American Library Association, Inc. (BCALA) and BiblioBoard announced the winners of the 2019 Self-Publishing EBook Award on April 30. Following the model of the current BCALA Literary Awards, the award honors the best self-published EBooks in fiction and poetry by an African American author in the United States. This is the fourth time BCALA and Biblioboard have given this innovative award.

    May the Force be with you, always. It's become a tradition to celebrate all things Star Wars on May the Fourth (get it?), and we have lots of materials available to help you get into the spirit of a that galaxy long ago and far, far away whether you're feeling nostalgic, looking to jump back in, or curious and just starting fresh we have the perfect places for you to start!

This editorial was written by Laurel Best, Executive Director of the HMCPL.

This week, the Huntsville Madison County Public Library (HMCPL) joins libraries of all types in celebrating the many ways libraries build strong communities by providing critical resources, programs and expertise.

April 7-13, 2019 is National Library Week, an annual celebration highlighting the valuable role libraries, librarians and library workers play in transforming lives and communities. Libraries are at the heart of their cities, towns, schools and campuses. They have public spaces where people of all backgrounds can come together and connect.

Our volunteer and training coordinator, Dorothie Linton, attended the American Library Association’s mid-winter meeting in Seattle and had the opportunity to prescreen The Public.

Here is her review-

In The Public, filmmaker Emilio Estevez invites viewers to observe a fictional yet plausible example of the struggle to preserve public libraries as one of the last indoor communal spaces. The film tackles this issue through the story of a Cincinnati public library as it and its patrons endure a bitter winter.         

In Special Collections, we get donations of all shapes and sizes. Books, papers, artifacts – they all come to us, and we make them available for researchers. Sometimes, though, it is the things we don’t get to keep that really intrigue us.

March is Reach Out to Your Neighbor Month and throughout the Huntsville-Madison County Library system we aim to be a steady source of information and resources for our neighboring communities.

At the Downtown Huntsville Library, due to our centralized location and numerous services, we serve a diverse patron base.  Patrons experiencing homelessness utilize our branch’s services often.  Our free public computers, free Wi-Fi, and plentiful reading materials are available to them during their visits to the library. We also offer a free phone in our patron lounge that may be used for short outgoing calls.

The Huntsville-Madison County Public Library received a grant from The Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA). LSTA is the only federal program exclusively for libraries. It is administered by the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS). With the funds provided by the grant, the Library is providing meaningful opportunities for school-aged children and teens throughout Madison County in the areas of Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM).

On Monday, January 7, 2019, Cecil Ashburn Drive will close for critical updates. Here is some handy information from the City of Huntsville on the project:

City's Cecil Ashburn Info Page

Restore our Roads