April is Financial Literacy Month and is an excellent opportunity for all of us to brush up or learn something new about our finances.
The library subscribes to a streaming service that provides short informational movies about financial literacy. You can learn about stocks and bonds but also credit scores, buying on credit, as well as a series called Biz Kids that helps teach kids about financial literacy. Anyone can access this site and its information by visiting http://internationalfallslibrary.us/resources and clicking on the link for “Financial Literacy Streaming Service.” Standard library user id and password apply, call the library if you don’t know these.
The library is excited to announce that after several requests, we are helping host and start an open writing club. It will begin meeting on April 21 at 6:30 p.m. in the meeting room. It will meet monthly on the third Wednesday of the month. Anyone interested in improving their writing skills and being encouraged in their writing is welcome to attend.
The group will have monthly challenges to encourage interested writers in growing and developing their writing. Interested persons are encouraged to attend the first meeting on April 21 at 6:30 p.m. If you’d like more information prior to the first meeting, please talk to Diane.
The library is preparing to launch another new program. “Pictures and Pens” is a photography and writing project that will kick off in May. But now is the time to begin thinking and looking. Beginning in May we will be soliciting photos that tell a story. The Northwoods Shutterbugs will pick a winning photo each month which will be posted in the library and available on our website. We will then solicit writers to tell the story of the posted photo with entries due a month later. The first deadline for photographs will be May 10, 2012. Full contest details will be available shortly, but now is the time to look for stories in photos.
Of course the library has a wide range of books to instruct and help you hone your craft whether photography or writing, but we have also purchased some new books that might be of interest. Fundamentals of Photo Composition by Paul R. Comon is a thorough look at composition from definition to lighting, color, placement and more. Lots of great information contained in a rather slim volume. The Photographer’s Mind by Michael Freeman is subtitled “creative thinking for better digital photos.” The book aims to unravel the mystery behind the creation of a photograph and explore what makes a photograph great.
Writers will want to take a look at Unless it Moves the Human Heart by Roger Rosenblatt which covers ‘the craft and art of writing.” It details one semester in the author’s “writing everything” class. Poets (and other aspiring writers) will want to borrow The Book of Forms by Lewis Putnam Turco which is a handbook of poetics including odd and invented forms. This will be a great resource for anyone looking for poem ideas.
