Woodridge Library Programs This Weekend

The Woodridge Branch Library is having two programs of interest to the community this weekend.

The First Annual Multicultural Program will be held on Saturday, October 20th from 1:30-3:30 p.m. This is a family program for all ages.

On Sunday, October 21st, a celebration of Young Adult reading will be held for teens ages 12-19 from 2:00-3:30 p.m. Holla'Back and Teen Read Week participants can extend the fun of reading, games, chats, and more - including door prizes and refreshments!

The Woodridge Library is located at 1801 Hamlin Street, NE at the south corner of Rhode Island Avenue and 18th Street.

For more information call the library at 202.541.6226.

Book Drive to Benefit DC Youth - Through Sunday, September 23rd

From the inbox - I can't resist spreading the word about an event that pairs children and books:

First Book, a nonprofit organization, has teamed up with the Veterans of Foreign Wars, SunTrust Bank, and SunTrust Mortgage to host a book drive in DC through this Sunday, September 23rd. The drive will enable First Book to achieve its mission of providing children in low-income families the opportunity to read and own their first new books. Social venture company Better World Books will sell the books online and First Book will use the proceeds to bring thousands of new books to children in need in the DC community.

Between now and this Sunday, September 23rd, you can drop off your used books at select DC SunTrust locations, or, if you don’t live in the area, donate them by following the instructions on our webpage: www.firstbook.org/betterworld. This site also provides guidelines on which kinds of books are most helpful.

Friends of the Woodridge Library Monthly Meeting - Saturday, September 8th

I'm currently on hiatus from the Friends of the Woodridge Library due to a scheduling conflict with my monthly DC Neighborhood College classes, but this was the first group I became involved with when I moved to Woodridge, and we are always looking for new members. FWL raises money to support programs and services at the library and works with other like-minded groups to advocate on behalf of all the city's libraries. Part of this month's agenda will include tentative scheduling for our fall book sale.

When: Saturday, September 8th, 2007, 11 a.m.

Where: Woodridge Branch Library, 1801 Hamlin Street NE (on the south corner of Hamlin and Rhode Island Avenue)

Byte Back Summer Classes Start Monday, June 11th

Byte Back Community Computer Training Center
815 Monroe Sreet, NE
Telephone: 202.529.3395
Fax: 202.529.4684
E-mail: info@byteback.org
Web Site: www.byteback.org

REGISTRATION HOURS:

Monday-Friday, 10:00am to 5:00pm
Saturday, Noon to 4:00pm

Summer 2007 Class Schedule

COURSE DESCRIPTIONS:

Excel 1
Wednesdays, 6:00pm-7:30pm
June 13 - July 18
$50

Introduces spreadsheets with Microsoft Excel: understanding cell
addresses, the different cursors and parts of the spreadsheet, sorting
data, using formula, simple functions, and graphing with Excel.
Prerequisite: PC Beginners.

MS Office Fast Track
Tuesdays and Thursdays, 10:30am-noon or 6:00pm-7:30 pm
June 12 - July 31
$150

Windows XP file management, word processing with MS Office WORD, spreadsheets and graphing with EXCEL, and an intro to POWERPOINT.
Prerequisite: PC Beginners or placement test.

Hardware 1
Saturdays, 11:00am-noon
June 16 - July 7
$50

PC function, assembly, troubleshooting and upgrade

HTML 1
Wednesdays, 6:30pm-8:00pm
June 13 - August 1
$100

HyperText Markup Language is a script used to construct web pages. HTML 1 teaches bare bones construction of a web page, font, color, lists, and tables to control the placement of elements on the page.
Prerequisite: Keyboarding, File Management (PC Beginners) and Word 1.

PC BEGINNERS
AM - Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, 10:30am-noon
3 weeks - June 11 - June 27
$50
PM - Tuesdays and Thursdays, 6:00pm-7:30pm
4 weeks - June 12 - July 5
$50

Personal computing for beginners on Windows XP. Mouse basics, managing files and folders, using a typing tutorial, cut and paste, e-mail, and internet search.

WORD 1
Saturdays, 12:30pm-2:00pm
June 16 - July 21
$50

Word processing using MS Word 2003. Editing text and formatting text at the character level, paragraph level, and document level, graphics and templates.
Prerequisites: Keyboarding and PC Beginners.


Byte Back is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization providing high-quality computer training to low-income residents of Washington, DC and the surrounding area.

Join the Friends of the Woodridge Library in DC's Big Read

Their Eyes Were Watching God, the brilliant novel published in 1937 by Zora Neale Hurston, is the focus of THE BIG READ, a city-wide reading event in April and May created by the National Endowment for the Arts. Everyone in the city will be reading the same book at the same time!

DC's Big Read is part of the The Big Read, an initiative of the National Endowment of the Arts in partnership with the Institute of Museum and Library Services and Arts Midwest. DC's Big Read is presented by the Humanities Council of Washington, DC and the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities.

The events below are at the Woodridge Library, 1801 Hamlin Street, NE (at the corner of 18th and Rhode Island Avenue, NE).

Now through May 19th, 2007
Book display, "Remembering Zora Neale Hurston"

Monday, April 30th, 2007, 6:30pm
Join us for a video presentation of the film "Their Eyes Were Watching God," produced by Oprah Winfrey, starring Halle Berry. The Friends of the Woodridge Library (FWL) will provide refreshments. The branch has copies of the book for check-out; FWL has provided a limited number of copies to give away if the recipient commits to attending and participating in the May 2nd discussion (details below).

Wednesday, May 2nd, 2007, 6pm
With refreshments provided by FWL, DC performer, author and playwright Joy Jones will kick off discussion of the novel. Joy says, "I discovered Zora Neale Hurston in college and it was like discovering chocolate. The study of literature suddenly became delicious!"

Ms. Jones grew up in NE an avid reader and regular patron at Woodridge Library. She still visits DCPL for books many times a month. Her recent op-ed piece in the Washington Post, "Marriage is for White People," received national attention.

Reading groups and book clubs are especially urged to attend, to share information about the book, and also to tell how to form a good book club and make it work. The Literary Friends have prepared a book box filled with materials about Hurston that book groups can borrow.

» Details on DC Big Read events at MLK and branch libraries around the city [pdf]

Students at Bunker Hill Elementary Among Those Who Broke World Record

Now this is a wonderful way to get students excited about reading, from WTOP:

About 80 fourth, fifth and sixth graders at Bunker Hill Elementary in Northeast made history Wednesday, as they broke a world record for reading.

The Bunker Hill schoolchildren were among the 547,826 students from 28 countries worldwide who broke the Guinness World Record for the "Most People Reading Aloud Simultaneously in Multiple Locations."

Their book of choice? The students all read from the same chapter of E.B. White's Charlotte's Web.

At 12 p.m. Eastern Standard Time, the reading began. When the chapter was over, cheers erupted from the halls of Bunker Hill.

Incoming D.C. Police Chief Cathy Lanier and Howard University Assistant Vice President Raymond Archer were among the official witnesses.

The previous record was from 2004, when 155,528 students from 737 schools throughout the United Kingdom read William Wordsworth's poem "Daffodils," according to Guinness World Record.