Library News
Friend Your Library! This National Friends of Libraries Week we’re celebrating all that our wonderful Friends do! Our Friends group supports the Library with funding for summer reading prizes, special events, winter library challenge, and landscaping. The Friends also organize many fundraising events like the spring book sale, holiday puzzle sale, Halloween costume sale, Grant Wood prints and note cards, and city-wide garage sales. Join the Friends of the Library and see how you can help grow our Library. Special thanks to all of our Friends for their continued support!
Solon Public Library is collaborating with other Johnson County Libraries to engage our communities by presenting diverse speakers. The goal of Local Libraries LIT {Listen, Initiate, Talk} is to grow a thriving community which shines with diversity, equity, and inclusion. This month author Ann Patchett will speak. Patchett’s novels include Bel Canto, The Patron Saint of Liars, Taft, The Magician’s Assistant, Run, State of Wonder, Commonwealth, and The Dutch House. There are two ways to enjoy this discussion: Register online at https://tinyurl.com/LLLIT2022 and view from your home on Thursday, October 27 at 6:30 p.m. Or enjoy a watch party at the Solon Public Library on Tuesday, November 1 at 6:30 p.m. We’ll play an encore presentation of the speaker and enjoy charcuterie and desserts with other literary lovers. Join us either way to hear from Ann Patchett!
Are you interested in advocating for the Library? The Solon Public Library Board of Trustees has an open seat for a City of Solon resident and an open seat for a rural Johnson County resident. Trustees advocate for the Library in the community in many ways, like increasing funding, ensuring the Library is meeting the needs of the community, and planning for the future. To learn more about the role of the Library Board of Trustees, and find the application, visit our website (solon.lib.ia.us) then under the “About” menu, click “Library Board”. Applications should be returned to Solon City Hall.
Library Access
Regular Library hours are Monday-Thursday from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. and Friday-Saturday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Please note the following special hours and closures in October:
Friday, October 28th, the Library will be closed.
Monday, October 31st, the Library will close at 4 p.m. for the holiday.
Library Events
Join us on Zoom for Virtual Trivia Night on Thursday, October 20th at 7 p.m. This general knowledge trivia will have four rounds, and this time they’ll be either audio or visual rounds. Gather your team (no limit on team size) or play as an individual to test your ability to recognize these audio clips and images. The joy of a virtual trivia night is the ability to gather friends and family from across the country. So get ready & enjoy the friendly competition! Zoom details are available on our website calendar event.
Great Pumpkin Decorating Contest
The first few entries have been received! Don’t miss the Great Pumpkin Decorating Contest, pick out the perfect pumpkin and get it all dressed up! Get creative, use paint, glue, or other materials, just don’t carve your pumpkin. Categories include Littles, Kids, Teens, Adults, and Families. Judges will rank based on creativity, use of materials, originality, and title. Pick up an entry sheet for the full details of this contest. Pumpkins must be turned in by Wednesday, October 26th to be entered in the contest.
The final session of Family History will include resources to help guide us as we continue to dive into our personal family histories with Jeanne St. Christian, a Family History Librarian. Don’t miss Family History on Monday, October 24th at 6 p.m.
Your Space is just for teens! Tuesdays after school the Library’s meeting room is just for 6th-12th graders to hang out, play games, challenge friends to a competition on the Nintendo Switch, and of course eat snacks. Tuesdays after school until 5 p.m.
What’s New?
New titles for all of your interests are hitting the shelves in non-fiction. Stop in to browse or place it on hold for pick-up.
The Backyard Homestead Book of Building Projects by Spike Carlsen. Gardeners, small farmers, and outdoor living enthusiasts will love this compilation of 76 rustic DIY projects. From plant supports and clotheslines to a chicken coop, a greenhouse, and a root cellar with storage bins, most of the projects are suitable for complete novices, and all use just basic tools and easy-to-find materials. You’ll find techniques to build whatever your outdoor world is missing, with additional tips to live sustainably, happily, and independently.
Blooms & Dreams: Cultivating Wellness, Generosity, & a Connection to the Land by Misha Gillingham. Misha Gillingham is a travel writer turned farm girl whose story has won over the hearts of fans worldwide. In Blooms & Dreams, Misha shares not only what brought her to Evergreen Acres, a farm on Bainbridge Island in the Pacific Northwest, but also all of the wisdom she has gleaned over the years as she and her family put down roots.
Killing the Legends: The Lethal Danger of Celebrity by Bill O’Reilly. Elvis Presley, John Lennon, and Muhammad Ali. These three icons changed not only the worlds of music, film, and sports, but the world itself. Their faces were known everywhere, in every nation, across every culture. And their stories became larger than life until their lives spun out of control at the hands of those they most trusted.
Starry Messenger: Cosmic Perspectives on Civilization by Neil deGrasse Tyson. In a time when our political and cultural views feel more polarized than ever, Tyson provides a much-needed antidote to so much of what divides us, while making a passionate case for the twin chariots of enlightenment a cosmic perspective and the rationality of science.