Library News

• Authors! Authors!: The 2007-2008 Fall/Spring Authors! Authors! series presented by The Blade and arranged by the Toledo-Lucas County Public Library offers an exciting lineup of authors.

On tap: Thursday, October 18, 2007 – Joe Klein, Journalist and Columnist:  Klein has written many critically acclaimed political novels including Primary Colors, published anonymously, and The Natural, Bill Clinton’s Misunderstood Presidency.

All Authors! Authors! events are scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. and are held at the Stranahan Theater Great Hall, 4645 Heatherdowns Blvd. Tickets are $10 per person, $8 for students, or $27 for the entire Fall authors series, or $36 for the entire Spring authors series.  Tickets are available for purchase at all Toledo-Lucas County Public Library locations starting today (September 5) and are limited in quantity.

For more information, please call 419.259.5381.

• “Poetry Live & Out Loud,” an evening of poetry and spoken word, is scheduled from 7-8:30 p.m. Tuesday, October 23, 2007, in the McMaster Center Lobby at Main Library, 325 Michigan Street, Toledo.

Whether you’re a fan of Shakespeare, Beowulf, Plath, or Russell Simmons’ Def Poetry Jam, hear some of the area’s most talented poets and spoken word artists for this lively night of open-microphone poetry.

Five-minute performance slots are currently being scheduled.  If you are interested in sharing a few of your poems with the audience, sign up now to register and reserve your time to wax poetic on the microphone. Space is limited.

Lewd lyrics, profanity, or strong sexual content are not allowed during poetry performances.

For more information or to register, please call 419.259.5333.

• Remembering World War II Exhibit

To coincide with the Public Broadcasting System (PBS) showing of the Ken Burns’ documentary, “The War,” the Humanities, and Local History and Genealogy departments at Main Library are displaying both military and home front items from World War II.  Wartime Norman Rockwell posters are also on display on the Promenade level.

This free exhibit, “Remembering World War II” is on view now through November 30, 2007, at the Main Library, 325 Michigan Street.  World War II, or the Second World War, (U.S. role 1941-1945) was a global military conflict that split a majority of the world’s nations into two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis.  This war is marked as the deadliest in world history resulting in some 70 million deaths.

Items on display in Humanities include medals and other insignia, war ration books, a silk escape map from the Army Air Force, and Coca-Cola playing cards illustrating airplane identifications.

Local History displays include wartime posters that often appeared in American restaurants, train stations, airports, and in the workplace. Promenade level displays include Norman Rockwell posters depicting war-era scenes from the military and the home front.

As with the Ken Burns’ documentary, many items for the Library exhibits were gathered regionally, highlighting the service and bravery of the local soldier. 

The PBS documentary “The War” is written and produced by Ken Burns and Lynn Novick.  A six-year project in the making, it is the story of World War II through the personal accounts of a handful of men and women living in four American towns—Mobile, Alabama; Sacramento, California; Waterbury, Connecticut; and Luverne, Minnesota.

“Over the course of the film’s nearly fifteen hours more than forty men and women opened their hearts to us about the war they knew -- and which we, their inheritors, could only imagine” – Ken Burns and Lynn Novick (www.pbs.org)

For more information on the documentary “The War” or for a local broadcast schedule, please log on to www.wgte.org (WGTE TV 30) or www.pbs.org/thewar/. For more details call 419.259.5218.