Born on February 11, 1847, in Milan, Ohio, Thomas Edison rose from humble beginnings to work as an inventor of major technology. Setting up a lab in Menlo Park, some of the products he developed included the telegraph, phonograph, electric light bulb, alkaline storage batteries and Kinetograph (a camera for motion pictures). He died on October 18, 1931, in West Orange, New Jersey.

Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time. – Thomas A. Edison

“Let America be America again” by Langston Hughes | Poem and Questions

The Great Books Foundation has a free resource for teachers who want to engage and discuss Hughes’ famous poem about the American dream. Download the “High School Sample Unit” in the right column and look for the poem and discussion questions starting on page 8. The unit also contains a lesson on “Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address,” starting on page 50.

Members of the Michigan Library Association are very disappointed that Governor Snyder signed SB 571 into law without sending it back to the senate for revisions.

However, we look forward to working with legislators to help craft a clean-up bill that would not impede the libraries’ ability to educate and inform voters.

The language in SB 571 creates criminal and civil penalties for librarians and library boards concerning sharing of factual information about their elections within 60 days of Election Day. This language blocks access to unbiased, objective communication and dissemination of information – the very definition of a library’s purpose.

As librarians, we see this as not only a free speech issue but also a blow to transparency in government and harmful to one of librarians’ basic doctrines which is to educate patrons and inform citizens about issues impacting their communities.

http://www.milibraries.org/advocacy/key-issues/

The Maida Alumni Library will close at 11:15 on Thursday, January 14, 2016 for Monsignor Machalski’s Epiphany Luncheon.

The Adam Cardinal Maida Alumni Library will close on Monday, January 18, 2016 for the Martin Luther King, Jr. Holiday.  Normal business hours resume Tuesday, January 19, 2016.

    Thank you, the Library Staff

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