The Cedar Rapids Public Library (CRPL) 2011 Annual Report has been awarded honorable mention in the 2012 American Library Association (ALA) “Best of Show” competition. This annual competition recognizes outstanding library public relations materials; winners are selected based on content, originality, design, format and effectiveness.

“Our panel of judges was very impressed with their work,” said Best of Show Co-Coordinators Holly Flynn and Michelle Allen. “With several hundred entries, the competition was fierce, so they should be very proud of this accomplishment!”

The CRPL 2011 Annual Report was presented as a children’s story book entitled, “If You Give a Child a Book.” An online version of the report is available here: http://bit.ly/crplannualreport.

Awards will be presented at the PR Xchange program on Sun., June 24 in Anaheim, CA, during the ALA Annual Conference.

The CRPL 2011 Annual Report is also the recipient of a Communicator Award of Excellence, Overall Design and Award of Distinction, Government. The Communicator Awards recognize big ideas in marketing and communications. Presented by the International Academy of Visual Arts, this is the 18^th year of the Communicator Awards. More than 6,000 entries from companies and agencies of all sizes make it one of the largest awards of its kind in the world.

The Award of Excellence, the highest honor, is given to those entries whose ability to communicate positions them as the best in the field. The Award of Distinction is presented for projects that exceed industry standards in quality and achievement. For more information, visit www.communicatorawards.com.

For more information on the Cedar Rapids Public Library, visit www.crlibrary.org or call (319) 398-5123.

Actress Nancy Margulies will perform her one-woman show “Deaf Poets Society” on Wednesday, May 23, at 7 pm, at Coe College’s Hickok Hall. Tickets are $10 each and benefit West Side Story, the Campaign to establish a permanent Cedar Rapids Public Library on the west side.

Margulies lives in the San Francisco Bay area where she has been performing her one-woman show to rave reviews. Her show includes a lesson in sign language street slang, the story of a clever independent deaf-blind man, a deaf prostitute, a man awaiting trial for murder, a psychologist who plays the role of advocate, interpreter, chauffeur for the cast of characters who are her clients. These elements combine for a most unusual evening of theatre.

Performed to enthusiastic audiences in San Francisco, reviews include: “Margulies brought so much humor and humanity and heart to the theatre last night with her superb writing and delivery. The wonderful detail in the vignettes was striking, but never overdone…”

In addition to her recent foray into the world of solo performance, Margulies developed a process using key words and images to capture ideas and strategies for clients ranging from corporate America to the Clinton White House and the Dalai Lama. She has authored a number of books and videos including the best seller, Mapping Inner Space. Her most recent book,  Klassic Koalas: The Koala Museum of Modern Art Catalogue, is available at the CR Museum of Art gift shop. It is a spoof on a museum catalogue written by Margulies’ alter ego, the pretentious Francois d’Rigeur.

Nancy is the daughter of long-time resident of Cedar Rapids, Joan Thaler, a member of the Friends of the CRPL Board of Directors and long time Library supporter.

Tickets can be purchased at the door. For more information contact Joan at jdthaler@mchsi.com.

For information on being a part of the West Side Story contact Katie Geiken, Executive Director of the CRPL Foundation, at (319) 739-0411 or geikenk@crlibrary.org.

Sixteen year old Bailey Zaputil of Cedar Rapids, a tenth grader at Kennedy High School, has been selected as the winner of the “Love My Library” Essay Contest held by the Cedar Rapids Public Library.

Students in grades 6 – 12 were asked to write an essay about what the Cedar Rapids Public Library means to them and why they “love” their library.

Bailey will receive a Nook Color e-reader and will read her essay at the new library groundbreaking celebration on Saturday.Please see Bailey’s essay below.

Runners up are sixth grader Arianna Frazee and sixth grader Breanna Kenney, both of Cedar Rapids. They will also receive special recognition during the groundbreaking ceremony as well as a $25 gift card to Barnes & Noble Booksellers.

Groundbreaking for the new Cedar Rapids Public Library is Saturday, May 5, 10 am – 12 pm. A brief program will be held at 10 am followed by refreshments and activities for the whole family. The community is invited to participate in this special event.

The Love My Library Essay Contest is sponsored by the Cedar Rapids Public Library Foundation. Learn more about the Library 3.0 Campaign to build your new Cedar Rapids Public Library at www.crlibrarycampaign.org.

For more information on the Cedar Rapids Public Library, visit www.crlibrary.org or call (319) 398-5123.

Welcome Home

            No matter where it stands, or what shape it takes, the Cedar Rapids Public Library has been, and is, my home. Not in the sense of “a home away from home.”  Home is not a location, like most people think, but a place in one’s heart: and every time I go the library, that place awakens.

What makes a home? One part is time. In my memories, the Downtown library is still perceived through the eyes of a child:  the magnificent spiraling staircase, the glittering chandeliers, the smell of books—some old and crumbling, some glossy and new. It is preserved, unspoiled by the disillusionment that comes with age. Even now, the architecture and the atmosphere is still a part of me. I learned to read there. I learned to love books there. It’s given me an opportunity to explore and learn of new worlds through books I could not have attained otherwise. I learned lessons through the words on book pages, and indeed, through the dreaded numbers of book fines.

The other thing that makes a home is love. So much was lost four years ago to the flood. But our community has moved on, proved that we were stronger than a disaster. The CRPL is where I can always fall back to when I’m bored or lonely or angry or happy. It’s a quiet place. It’s a quiet hearth tended by a strong community. I’ve always felt safe and content with the books and the people there.

Love and time has made the CRPL a part of my home—and people, if nothing else, should always have home to rely on. Even if it might change, the heart of it all is still the same—and that is what CPRL means to me: welcome home.

Kevin Brockmeier will be featured during the second event of the 2012 edition of Out Loud! The Metro Library Network Author Series. Brockmeier will appear at the Hotel at Kirkwood Centeron Friday, April 27 at 7 p.m.

The event is free and open to the public, and no tickets are required. The Out Loud! Author Series is a program of the Cedar Rapids, Marion, and Hiawatha Public Libraries.

Brockmeier is a graduate of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop and is currently a visiting faculty member in the program. His most recent novel, The Illumination, investigates how the world might be different if physical pain manifested itself to others as a bright light.

He is also the author of two additional novels for adults (The Truth about Celia and A Brief History of the Dead), two books for younger readers (City of Names and Grooves: A Kind of Mystery), and two short story collections (Things That Fall from the Sky and The View from the Seventh Layer). He has won the O. Henry, Nelson Algren, and Italo Calvino Short Fiction awards and was named one of the Best Young American Novelists by Granta in 2007.

Following his presentation, Brockmeier will take questions from the audience and then sign books. The Cedar Rapids Barnes & Noble will be on hand with copies of Brockmeier’s work available for purchase.

All attendees can enter to win one of three $50 Barnes & Noble gift cards that will be given away at the event. Additionally, attendees can enter to win one of two Nook Color e-readers that will be given away at the end of the Out Loud! season.

The Out Loud! Author Series will present six additional authors in 2012 including legendary children’s author/illustrator Marc Brown (May 3), Linn Area Reads author Nicolette Hahn Niman (May 11), comics creator and scholar A. David Lewis (June 8), paranormal teen romance writer Wendy Delsol (June 21), bestselling thriller writer James Rollins (July 1), and science writer Sam Kean (July 13).

More information about the Out Loud! Author Series is available at www.metrolibrarynetwork.org/outloud.

Out Loud! The Metro Library Network Author Series is supported by the Giacoletto Foundation with media support from The Gazette and event book sales provided by Barnes & Noble Booksellers. Brockmeier’s event is funded in part by a grant from the Iowa Arts Council, a division of the Iowa Department of Cultural Affairs, and the National Endowment for the Arts.