Those of us who grew up in the in the 1960s and 70s may have fond memories of Saturday mornings spent watching cartoons. If you are one of these people and are feeling nostalgic for that simpler time, check out a couple of DVD sets that the library added to our collection this week.

Top Cat: The Complete Series. Top Cat, or T. C., is the leader of a gang of alley cats that are always up to some sort of mischief. Because of this he is always being watched by Officer Dibble, who would love to run him out of his alley. However, deep down, Top Cat is really a decent fellow at heart and usually finds himself on the side of the law. His gang includes Fancy-Fancy, Spook, Benny the Ball, Choo Choo, and Brain. From the moment the catchy theme song begins, you will be transported back to your childhood.

Jonny Quest: The Complete First Season. Who can forget the exciting adventures of young Jonny Quest, who travels the world with his father, the renowned research scientist Dr. Benton Quest. They are accompanied by Jonny’s tutor/bodyguard Race Bannon, Hadji, an Indian orphan, and Jonny’s dog Bandit. They investigate all sorts of mysteries and battle dangerous villains, especially the evil Dr. Zin. The series incorporates a little science fiction with monsters, robots and futuristic gadgets, in addition to adventure and humor.

These are just a few of the television sets that are available for your viewing enjoyment. We have many of the older shows that will bring back memories as well as most of the current popular ones. Come in and check out your favorites.

Need a suggestion for something to read or watch from the library this weekend? Maybe you'd like to check out an ebook or audiobook? Try some of our Staff Picks, to find what some of the other people in our parish are enjoying.

We know that not every staff pick will appeal to every patron, but not to worry! If you need help selecting something, we have online tools like Book Browse and our Online Catalog, or you can ask one of our friendly staff members to help search for you.

American Gods by Neil Gaiman

The book is about a man named Shadow Moon who is released early from prison after the death of his wife Laura Moon, and on an airplane ride home to attend his wife’s funeral he meets a mysterious man named Wednesday who offers Shadow a job. After this Shadow ends up getting caught up in something more mysterious, strange, and serious than he expected as he travels around with Wednesday on a journey that combines bits of ancient mythology (the Old Gods (Deities)) and fictionalized mythology (the New Gods (Deities)) from a more American and modern perspective.

I like the idea of combining elements of ancient mythology and fictionalized mythology from a modern and American perspective where you get to see different deities and other types of entities from ancient times and modern times interact with each other and with humans. I think that other people will also like the unique combination of ancient mythology and fictionalized mythology from an American and modern perspective, but I would like to warn readers that this book can be vulgar at times.

At times American Gods is the most vulgar book that I have read, and my feelings about the book are the most conflicted and mixed of any book that I have read because the book jumps back and forth between being good and bad and neutral at times. I think that this book could be improved by a good editor to make it a great book that I could feel comfortable recommending to others.

If American Gods interests you, feel free to request or check it out. We'll be back next Thursday with a different Staff Pick.

Tomorrow night's performance by Lady Chops has been cancelled due to the impending weather situation.

The event will be rescheduled for late July. We will post details once we have made arrangements for the new performance date.

Watermelons

When I was a child growing up in Beauregard Parish, one of my favorite things about summer was watermelon. During the summer, we would eat watermelons, have seed-spitting contests, and float the rinds down the creek. Grandma would try to collect as many seeds as she could before we children broadcast them all over the front lawn in our seed-spitting contests. She would save her seed collection for the next year’s planting season – when my grandfather would cultivate a new crop of watermelons.

Watermelons have been a part of Beauregard Parish’s history for generations, especially in Sugartown, a community in Beauregard Parish that is regionally renowned for its watermelons. The Beauregard Tourism Commission began hosting the Beauregard Watermelon Festival 12 years ago in conjunction with the watermelon harvest. This year’s festival will be held on June 23-24 at the Beauregard Parish Fairgrounds.

For more watermelon fun, the library will also share watermelon programs the week before the festival. We will have watermelon carving demonstrations, seed-spitting contests, make watermelon slushies, and sample other watermelon treats. We hope that you will join us at one of the following locations for Build a Better World through Agriculture on:

Wednesday, June 21 at 1:30 p.m. South Beauregard (room behind the State Farm building – next to the library. For more details, ask the South Beauregard librarian.)

Friday, June 23 at: 10:00 a.m. Merryville

11:30 a.m. Singer

2:30 p.m. Hyatt

In the menu of choices at left between Calendar of Events and Request Meeting Room use is a button that reads My Account. It can be confusing when there are many accounts in different places all over the internet, but what does that mean to you as a Beauregard Parish Library patron?

You can use My Account to log into your personal library account and see what items are checked out, what items might be on hold, if you owe fines, etc. Unfortunately, you can't pay your fines online yet, but we have a few other useful things you can do with My Account.

You can make hold requests for items that are in the catalog. If you're looking for the latest blockbuster DVD release, you can put your own hold and even tell us where you want to pick it up.

You can renew your items if you're not done using them. Items can only be renewed one time, and they won't automatically renew if there is another Patron's request on them (example: blockbuster DVDs). Otherwise, renewals work just fine through My Account.

If you want to use My Account, you must have an electronic services username and password from Beauregard Parish Library. You can apply for that in person at the public services desk of any of our branches. Make sure to bring your current picture ID with you. Once you have that, you can log into your account with either your new user name OR your library card number and then your secret password. Happy account management!

This week we received a new book by video blogger Bethany Mota. At the age of 13, she uploaded her first YouTube video and she soon became an internet sensation known for her advice on beauty, fashion, love, and all aspects of life. This led to creating her own clothing line, doing international motivational tours, competing on Dancing With the Stars, and now writing a combination memoir and lifestyle guide.

Make Your Mind Up: My Guide to Finding Your Own Style, Life, and Motavation! tells Bethany’s story. She says she began making videos to help overcome her anxiety and lack of self-confidence that she says stemmed from being bullied in school. She tells about how she was able to break out of her shell and find her own voice. She wants to use her story to help others who may be having similar problems. She says that her book is not intended to tell anyone how they should live, but to show them how to discover their own path to success and happiness.

There are chapters on health, beauty, social situations, and creativity. It is written in a conversational manner which makes it easy to read. It is a very colorful book, containing many photos and highlighted passages.

This book can be found in the adult non-fiction section of the library in Dewey number 305. If it interests you and you need help locating it, please ask one of our helpful staff members.

Down at the bottom of each of the library's pages is a footer. It's a convenient place to find the phone number for the library, as well as the addresses of and maps to our branches. However, there's a couple of other important things down there as well.

One is a link to the Louisiana Legislative Auditor's Fraud, Waste, and Abuse hotline. The library administration will do its best to prevent anything of this type, and to respond to reports of such (just ask any of our clerks to let you speak to an administrator), if you cannot get satisfaction, you can go to the State Auditor and report it.

For less important issues, such as spelling errors, broken links, or suggestions to make our site better, we also have a link to e-mail the webmasters. We're always trying to make the site work better for our users and patrons, so feel free to drop us a message!

Need a suggestion for something to read or watch from the library this weekend? Maybe you'd like to check out an ebook or audiobook? Try some of our Staff Picks, to find what some of the other people in our parish are enjoying.

We know that not every staff pick will appeal to every patron, but not to worry! If you need help selecting something, we have online tools like Book Browse and our Online Catalog, or you can ask one of our friendly staff members to help search for you.

The Magnificent Scenery of Ireland [DVD]

The DVD, The Magnificent Scenery of Ireland, truly lives up to its name. The landscapes were absolutely breath-taking. The videographer included captions with the names of the regions of Ireland that were being shown; but not specific tourist sites. Although it was a very relaxing to watch, sixty minutes was a long time without any commentary. A commentary would have been beneficial for those planning a trip to Ireland. Most people will visit places of interest rather than see the entire country. This is something that you may wish to research before visiting.

If The Magnificent Scenery of Ireland interests you, feel free to request or check it out. We'll be back next Thursday with a different Staff Pick.

When you want to know what's happening at Beauregard Parish Library, there are two places on our site where you can look for information.

The Calendar of Events link is located at left with library activities arranged in a calendar grid. For each event, users can click or tap on the title to find out more information.

The Events tab near the top of the page between Library Info and Community is newly added for your convenience. At this tab, programs are separated out by interested age group (Children, Teens or Adults), and they usually have clickable fliers with additional information about the various events and activities.

Merryville Branch is closing early today due to a power outage. If power is restored before 6:00pm today, the branch will re-open for the remainder of its regular schedule.

If you need library services in the meantime, our DeRidder branch is open until 5:30 today. You can contact us in person or by telephone. Currently, all other branches are maintaining their normal hours of operation.

We apologize for any inconvenience this causes.

Free Barry Manilow Music

Barry Manilow (a June baby) was born Barry Pincus and later changed his name to his mother’s maiden name of Manilow. In the beginning of his musical career he wrote jingles such as “Like A Good Neighbor (State Farm is There)”, and “(I Am) Stuck On Band-Aid” and other famous jingles. He went on to greater fame as a solo singer/songwriter in the 1970’s.

Freegal, the free and legal website that gives you 5 free weekly downloads and 3 free daily hours of commercial-free streaming music has many Barry Manilow albums and songs to choose from.

His Hits:

♫“I Write the Songs”, “Copacabana (At the Copa)”, “Bandstand Boogie” from The Essential Barry Manilow

♫“Mandy”, “It’s A Miracle” from Barry Manilow II

♫“Could It Be Magic”, “Friends” from Barry Manilow I

♫“Can’t Smile Without You” from Even Now

♫“Memory” from Here Comes The Night

He later recorded jazz and pop covers found on these albums:

The Greatest Love Songs of All Time, The Greates Songs of the Fifties,Sixties, Seventies and Eighties, Manilow Sings Sinatra, Singin’ with the Big Bands, Swing Street, Showstoppers, If I Should Love Again, Summer of ‘78, 2 A.M. Paradise Cafe

He also has Live albums and Christmas albums.

✷Freegal also has some of his music videos: Let's Hang On, Read'em And Weep, Unchained Melody, and I Can't Get Started.

This week we received a new book that might interest patrons with young children. As parents we often make every effort to protect our kids from dirt and germs. We scrub and sanitize everything they might touch and limit their exposure to anything or anyone we think might make them sick. The authors of the book Dirt is Good: The Advantage of Germs for your Child’s Developing Immune System argue that our diligent attempts at cleanliness may not be in their best interests.

Jack Gilbert, Ph.D. and Rob Knight, Ph.D. are the cofounders of the Earth Microbiome Project. They define the microbiome as the combined activity of all the tiny organisms inside our bodies and the surrounding environment. They are two of the leading scientists studying this and what an enormous impact it has on our health. In this book they answer questions such as: Is it OK for my child to eat dirt? ; Are antibiotics necessary for all infections? ; Shouldn’t I be afraid of germs? ; Should I use antibacterial soap or hand sanitizers? ; Am I keeping my house too clean? These, and many others, are all questions that they have actually been asked by parents from all over the world. The answers are presented in a clear, easy to follow format.

While these authors have done a great deal of research and are considered experts in their field, it is important to remember that each child has unique needs and the child’s doctor or medical professional should be consulted about anything that could affect his or her health.

Want to use the library's WiFi? Free WiFi is available at all of the Beauregard Parish Library branches. However, due to various laws, once you connect to our WiFi, you will need to log in. Go to https://library.beau.org, and find the WiFi Login option in the upper right corner. Clicking on that will lead to our MCP (Master Control Program) login screen, where you can either log in using your library username and password, or log in with a guest login available from the circulation desk.

Free WiFi is yet another service the Beauregard Parish Library provides to keep our patrons connected to the wider world. You can use it with your laptop, smartphone, tablet, or any other WiFi enabled device.

Need a suggestion for something to read or watch from the library this weekend? Maybe you'd like to check out an ebook or audiobook? Try some of our Staff Picks, to find what some of the other people in our parish are enjoying.

We know that not every staff pick will appeal to every patron, but not to worry! If you need help selecting something, we have online tools like Book Browse and our Online Catalog, or you can ask one of our friendly staff members to help search for you.

Sting! by Sandra Brown

Is this a crime/detective story with police corruption? Or is it an exhilarating and stimulating romantic story? Is the lead character a hitman/kidnapper or a detective and future love interest for Jordan Bennett?

It's a story about criminal financial schemes involving the beloved brother of a beautiful business woman and her 'would be' killer on the bayous and backstreet bars in small towns of Louisiana.

The intense events and twists kept me surprised and interested as to what happens next.

If you enjoy reading suspense stories set in our state of Louisiana as I do, you will like this book also.

If Sting! interests you, feel free to request or check it out. We'll be back next Thursday with a different Staff Pick.

History buffs will know that today is the anniversary of D-Day, the storming of the beach in Normandy by Allied forces in World War II. This military campaign has cultivated rich historical interest and has served as a backdrop to entertaining fiction in movies, books and television.

Beauregard Parish Library has many resources about D-Day and World War II. A few of the items related to military campaigns in Normandy can be found in our catalog. Please note that many of those items are from our electronic collections in OverDrive and Gale Virtual Reference Library. We also have many documentaries and historical reels from our Access Video collection, including the one linked below.

Please note: Patrons need to share their library card number to access videos outside library locations.

This week we received a new book that should appeal to readers who enjoy the stories of real people doing interesting and unique things. Walking to Listen: 4000 Miles Across America, One Story at a Time is a fascinating story of a young man’s incredible journey.

Twenty three year old Andrew Forsthoefel had just graduated from college and had no idea what he wanted to do next. He decided to start walking. He left his home in Pennsylvania with a backpack, an audio recorder, and a sign that read “Walking to Listen.” His goal was to walk all the way across the country, talking to people all along the way. He wanted to get to know them, learn how they answered many of the questions he had about life, and see how they lived. He met all sorts of people from all walks of life, and they shared their life stories with him. He tells about the hardships he faced – bad weather, fatigue, fear and loneliness. But he also shares his experiences with incredible kindness from strangers and learning about the deep connections between all people despite their obvious differences.

His journey took nearly a year, but he did make it to the Pacific Ocean. He may not have completely figured out the meaning of life or gotten answers to all of the questions he had, but he did learn a great deal about himself and his place in the world.

If this book sounds like one you would enjoy, come check it out. It can be found in the adult non-fiction section of the library in Dewey number 796. As always, any of our helpful staff will be happy to assist you in locating it.

Summer Reading Program 2017 has started! If you haven't already signed up, the links are at the top of the webpage, but you can also click here for Children's Login, Teens' Login and Adults' Login. The library has all kinds of books available to read, but you don't have to come in to the library to find things to read.

As a matter of fact, anything you read from Tumblebooks is eligible for your score in the Summer Reading Program! And if you're on the go, you can even get an App for it from the Apple AppStore or Google Play.

In fact, any of the books you can get to through our Electronic Library Page are eligible! Enjoy your summer and enjoy your reading!

Are you brave? Do you like new things?

If you aren't afraid of seeing things break, you can now give the new SquirrelMail install a bit of testing. Your addressbook and other preferences won't be there yet and who knows, it might become angry and eat a kitten, so be careful and certainly don't try it if you are expecting an important email. But otherwise, joking aside, it really should be safe enough to give it a try.

Try it: New Webmail and report any problems to help@beau.org.

Oh, and on the subject of address books and preferences, when we do formally cut over and import those things from the old system you will lose any changes you have made to the new one, so feel free to experiment.

Improved Spam filtering may be enabled as we continue to work on it. As of now though it doesn't seem to be doing what it is supposed to. You will still see the [SPAM] header that we have had for years but soon those new SPAM/NOT SPAM buttons will let you train it on your own personal mail. It will either work or the buttons will vanish before the official switch.

Need a suggestion for something to read or watch from the library this weekend? Maybe you'd like to check out an ebook or audiobook? Try some of our Staff Picks, to find what some of the other people in our parish are enjoying.

We know that not every staff pick will appeal to every patron, but not to worry! If you need help selecting something, we have online tools like Book Browse and our Online Catalog, or you can ask one of our friendly staff members to help search for you.

Jesus Among Secular Gods by Ravi Zacharias

Jesus Among Other Gods by Ravi Zacharias addresses the uniqueness of Jesus Christ among the world religions. Its subtitle: The Absolute Claims of the Christian Message. Zacharias gives the reader a complete picture of what his goal is in the introduction, namely, the testing of the truth claims of Christianity over and against world religions: “The reality is that if religion is to be treated with intellectual respect, then it must stand the test of truth, regardless of the mood of the day. This book is a defense of the uniqueness of the Christian message.”

Mr Zacharias respectfully answers questions and defends the faith in sometimes very hostile settings. He's written many books and is always very polite. He does not address dominational issues like Baptist vs Methodist. He defends the Christian faith and answers the questions everyone has: Who am I; Why am I here; Where am I going, What's it all for; etc.

If Jesus Among Secular Gods interests you, feel free to request or check it out. We'll be back next Thursday with a different Staff Pick.

Are you ready to "Build a Better World?" Stop by your local branch of the Beauregard Parish Library for great events, special performers, and the chance to earn some great prizes!

Registration starts tomorrow, and you can get registered (and start earning prizes) from the comfort of your home by clicking the links above.

Take a look at our special events or use our online calendar on the left side of the page to stay informed about all your library has to offer.

So, get out your hard hat and get ready to build a better world, starting at your Beauregard Parish Library!