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Community Events/Seminars

Richland County Public Library to Close for Independence Day

All Richland County Public Library locations will be closed Sunday, July 3 and Monday, July 4 for Independence Day.  The library system will resume its regular business hours on Tuesday, July 5.

Materials can be renewed online at www.myRCPL.com or by calling 929-3425 or 929-3427.  Items can be returned using the book drops available at all 11 RCPL locations.

Cool Off This Summer With a Good Book

Friends’ Sale Offers Bargain Books, DVDs and More

Columbia, S.C. – School’s out for summer! Keep everyone in your family entertained with your choice of thousands of gently used books, CDs, DVDs and more from the Friends of the Richland County Public Library’s Summer Book Sale.

The Friends’ Summer Book Sale will be held from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturday, July 16 at the RCPL Operations Center, 130 Lancewood Rd.  A preview sale for Friends’ members only will take place from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. on Friday, July 15 (Memberships, which start at only $25, will be available at the door.)

Choose from thousands of print and nonprint materials in all genres, from fiction and nonfiction to children’s books and other rare finds, for the best bargains in town.  Prices start as low as 50 cents for paperbacks and $1 for hard backs. Pick up a new eco-friendly Friends of RCPL tote at the book sale for only $2.50.

Last year, the four Friends’ book sales raised more than $80,000 to support special programs and services for the library.

The Friends of RCPL is a nonprofit organization charged with raising awareness of and support for the library. For additional information on memberships or the annual book sales, call (803) 929-3475 or visit myRCPL.com/friends. Have you joined?

SEC East Champions Take the Field at the Richland County Public Library

Spurrier’s Gamecocks Kick Off the Season with the Library

Spurrier’s SEC East Division Champions are taking the field at the Richland County Public Library for Pigskin Poets, an annual program that emphasizes the importance of summer reading, at 11 a.m. on Friday, July 15 in the Bostick Auditorium of the Main Library, 1431 Assembly St.

Children of all ages are encouraged to attend this free program, one of many Summer Reading Challenge celebrations at RCPL. Stories, games and autographs are in the lineup for the Gamecocks, who will kick off the 2011 season to an expected capacity crowd of adoring fans.

The program, now in its fourteenth season, helps establish reading as a fun summer activity, encouraging children to explore the variety of materials available at the library. 

Join RCPL's Summer Reading Challenge and get rewarded for reading! Read every day, read a new way. Children, teens and adults can register at any RCPL location through August 13.

For more information on children’s programs, call 929-3434 or www.myRCPL.com.

Download Free Music at RCPL

Free and Legal Music Downloads Available Through Freegal

The Richland County Public Library now offers free music file downloads through Freegal Music.

Thanks to RCPL’s latest resource, library customers will now be able to download more of their favorite music from the comfort of their own home anytime, day or night with Freegal, a new service that allows anyone with a RCPL library card access to a variety of free and legal digital music downloads.

With access to the Sony Music Entertainment catalog, Freegal offers hundreds of thousands of songs, over 100 genres of music and more than 50 record labels, all without having to download special software. Available artists include Adele, The Cast of Glee, Kenny Chesney, Elvis Presley, T-Pain, Janis Joplin, James Taylor and many more. This service is paid for by the library allowing customers to download music legally for free without facing copyright issues. 

RCPL cardholders are eligible for three downloads per week for a total of 156 songs a year. The music files do not expire and are compatible with PCs, Macs, iPods, iPads and other MP3-compatiable devices. Freegal is available 24 hours a day so you can browse, download and enjoy on your own schedule. A Library card number and PIN is necessary to access and download songs.

The library’s downloadable media collection also includes fiction and nonfiction eBooks and audiobooks, music and videos for children, teens and adults.

For more information visit www.myrcpl.com/freegal, call 929-3450 or visit RCPL’s 1431 department located on the first floor of the Main Library.

Bobbi Newman Joins Richland County Public Library

Position to Maximize Staff Growth and Development

The Richland County Public Library announces Bobbi Newman has been named the staff learning engagement manager.

Newman will lead the staff learning department, which is responsible for training and development.

Newman comes to RCPL from Columbus, Georgia, where she was the digital branch manager. She has become known as a champion for learning, digital media and celebrating the public library as a key component of success for 21^st Century learners. She frequently shares her expertise by consulting and speaking at national and international conferences, and she was recently named a 2011 Mover & Shaker by Library Journal. She is the author of the library-focused blogs Librarian By Day and Libraries and Transliterarcy. 

Newman earned a bachelor’s degree in history, Spanish and anthropology from the University of Northern Iowa and a Master of Information Resources and Library Science from the University of Arizona.

Mother Uses Loss of Son to Benefit Community, RCPL

Four years ago, Columbia resident Cynthia Byrd’s life changed forever when her 20-year-old son, Brandon LaVar Byrd, was killed in a car accident. But she and her family have found comfort in raising money for the Richland County Public Library, an organization that her son and her other children, London and Kimberly, have valued.

Byrd has reached her goal of raising $17,500 for RCPL, resulting in the meeting room at the St. Andrews Regional Branch and a tree in the Main Library’s Children’s Room being dedicated to Brandon. The meeting room was dedicated on Saturday, March 12 at the St. Andrews Regional Branch in celebration of Brandon’s March 6 birthday.

Byrd raised the money by holding several fundraisers and appealing to family and friends. She quickly reached her first $2,500 goal, allowing a tree in the Children’s Room of the Main Library in downtown Columbia to be dedicated to Brandon in October 2008. Her continued efforts to raise the remaining $15,000 now mean the St. Andrews Regional Branch meeting room is dedicated to Brandon.

For the third year in a row, Byrd is also planning the Remembering Brandon LaVar Byrd Through Giving Fashion and Talent Show in August. The event will benefit the RCPL Foundation.

Richland County Public Library Extends Hours for Two Locations

Southeast Now Open Sundays; Eastover Adds Hours

The Richland County Public Library has extended the hours of two locations to better serve the community!

The Eastover Branch, located at 608 Main St. in Eastover, has added hours three days of the week. The location is now open 9 a.m. to 8 p.m., Mondays and Tuesdays, as well as 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturdays. Since the Eastover Branch opened in 1985, circulation of materials has increased from more than 12,700 to nearly 19,500 last year. More than 15,300 people visited the Eastover Branch last year.

The Southeast Regional Branch, located at 7421 Garners Ferry Rd., is now open from 2 - 6 p.m. on Sundays, becoming the second current location with Sunday hours. This library first opened in May 1975 as the Landmark Square Branch, and the facility moved to its current location in 1992, when it was renamed the Southeast Regional Branch.

“More and more people continue to turn to the library for the resources and information they need,” said RCPL Executive Director Melanie Huggins, “and we want the libraries to be as accessible as possible.”

RCPL hopes to open additional library locations on Sundays as funding can be made available.

For a complete list of library locations and hours, visit www.myRCPL.com.

Check Out Wii Games at RCPL

Have a Nintendo Wii and looking for a place to find more games? You’re in luck! Wii games are now available for check out at the Richland County Public Library.

Wii games are played on the popular Nintendo Wii gaming station. The Nintendo Wii uses special motion-sensitive controllers that allow you to swing a bat, drive a car, or throw a punch with a flick of the wrist rather than with the push of a button.

Tiger Woods PGA Tour, Guitar Hero and Backyard Baseball are just a few of the more than 30 titles available at RCPL’s Main Library. Wii games, like DVDs and CDs, check out for seven days, and overdue items will be charged 75 cents per day. A complete list of the Wii titles is featured on the 1431 Blog, which is accessible from RCPL’s Web site www.myRCPL.com.

For more information, visit www.myRCPL.com or call 929-3450.