You belong @ your library

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The Cloquet Public Library will celebrate National Library Week April 8-14. Whether you are a job seeker looking for resources to land a new job, a parent looking for free activities for children or a student searching for your next favorite book, “you belong @ your library.” Today’s libraries help level the playing field by making both print and digital information affordable, available and accessible to all people. Libraries provide cultural heritage and genealogical collections, materials in print and electronic formats, job seeking resources.

There are many activities happening at the Cloquet Public Library this week and every week.

At 6 p.m. Thursday, April 12, the Minnesota History Players present “Maude Hart Lovelace.” Why Maud Hart Lovelace? Lovelace, a Minnesota author, was born in Mankato and is a well respected author of many children’s books that are still read today. Most notable among her works are the Betsy-Tacy series. If you haven’t read her books, we encourage you to read them and join us in this theatrical presentation about her life.

Naturalist Kristine Hiller from Jay Cooke State Park will give a presentation on “Exploring the Natural World,” on Saturday, April 14, at 10:30 a.m. This program is in conjunction with our One Book One Community read, celebrating the children’s book, “The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate” by Jacqueline Kelly. Check our web site www.cloquet.lib.mn.us for all library activities. We hope that you can join us in person at the library and if not, visit us on the web.

The Friends of the Library will hold their spring book sale from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday, April 21. The Friends will accept donations of gently used books for the sale. Proceeds are used for children’s summer reading program, library programs, and purchase of library materials.

April is Poetry Month. If you are looking for a good poem for a special occasion or just one to read for pleasure, check out our collection at the library. You might be interested in reading poetry of local poets Sheila Packa and Jim Johnson. They have both been honored as Poet Laureate for Duluth. If you would like to access poetry online, try http://www.poets.org/ and http://www.poetryfoundation.org/. Did you know that there is even a mobile poetry app? Novelist John Fowles said, “We all write poems; it is simply that poets are the ones who write in words.”

This April also marks the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic. The epic tale by Walter Lord, “A Night to Remember,” is available both in print and in film. Some critics believe that “A Night to Remember” is the best Titanic film of all time. The library has a selection of newly released books about the tragedy including, “Titanic Tragedy: A New Look at the Lost Liner” by John Maxtone-Graham, “Voyagers of the Titanic: Passengers, Sailors, Shipbuilders, Aristocrats, and the Worlds They Came From” by Richard Davenport-Hines and “Gilded Lives, Fatal Voyage: The Titanic’s First-Class Passengers and Their World” by Hugh Brewster.

Finally, I would like to mention that 1940 census records are now online and available for free. You may access them at http://1940census.archives.gov/ and through the library’s genealogy page, http://www.cloquet.lib.mn.us/genealogy.html. The census is still being indexed and the indexed version will be available soon on ancestry.com. The library has the Library Edition of Ancestry.com and it can be accessed on the library’s computers for free.

We hope to see you soon at the library and look forward to helping you with your reading and research requests.

Tags: local columns, carlton county, cloquet