Accessible Voting Machine Demo at IDB

The public will have access to an accessible voting machine in the Director’s Conference Room at the Iowa Department for the Blind on Friday, May 13 from 1:00 pm to 5:00 pm and Saturday, May 14 from noon to 4:30 pm,. If you come on Saturday, please use the north entrance as there will be someone there to let people in. Individuals will have the opportunity to have some hands-on experience with the accessible voting machine and to ask questions.

Iowa Department for the Blind, 524 Fourth St, Des Moines, Iowa – Director’s Conference Room    www.idbonline.org

 

Friends of the Library – Give Local

Give LocalMessage from the Friends of the Library!

GiveLocalDSM.org is where you want to be today, May 3!  It’s the first of its kind crowd-funding for local charities–and The Friends of the Iowa Library for the Blind and Physically Handicapped is a participating charity.  For as little as a $10 donation, you can be part of this extraordinary event.  All you need is your debit or credit card to make your donation.  Just click on the link above to donate.

The Friends recently gave $11,000 to the Library to support literacy for our youth and adults with vision loss or other impairments.  Without your support, many activities would be curtailed or left undone.  Please help to make this a better world for those with vision loss or other obstacles to reading.  Libraries and books open the soul to the world, and you can help make that happen for many who need you to step forward tomorrow.

 

It’s Money Smart Week!

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Money Smart Week is a public awareness campaign to promote financial education across all age groups. Launched in 2002 by the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, the program is now active in more than 45 states through national partnerships with the Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and USDA (United States Department of Agriculture) Cooperative Extension and the American Library Association.

Watch our blog all this week for resources and information on money and finance from our library.

 

 

Celebrate National Poetry Month

Small-Blue-RGB-National-Poetry-Month-Logo_0This April marks the 20th anniversary of National Poetry Month, which was inaugurated by the Academy of American Poets in 1996. Over the years, National Poetry Month has become the largest literary celebration in the world with schools, publishers, libraries, booksellers, and poets celebrating poetry’s vital place in our culture.

The goals of National Poetry Month are to:

  • highlight the extraordinary legacy and ongoing achievement of American poets
  • encourage the reading of poems
  • assist teachers in bringing poetry into their classrooms
  • increase the attention paid to poetry by national and local media
  • encourage increased publication and distribution of poetry books, and 
  • encourage support for poets and poetry

Here are some great books in our collection to help you celebrate National Poetry Month!

Libraries transform lives every day

NLW-button_smallThe 2016 National Library Week theme is Libraries Transform, and Gene Luen Yang will serve as Honorary Chair.

Gene Luen Yang is an award-winning graphic novelist and the 2016-2017 National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature. His 2006 book, “American Born Chinese,” was the first graphic novel to be a finalist for a National Book Award and the first to win the American Library Association’s Printz Award.  It also won an Eisner Award for Best Graphic Album.

What’s happening in libraries today? They’re more about doing than borrowing – more about connecting than simply plugging in. Whether you want to get involved in your community, find a job, start a business, or simply get ahead, your library is the key to opportunity. Libraries are transforming.

Thank you for celebrating National Library Week with us!