Later this month will mark the twentieth anniversary of the death of Princess Diana. The world is remembering her with all sorts of tributes. This week the library received a new book about the late “People’s Princess” filled with pictures commemorating her all-too-short life.

Check out: Remembering Diana: A Life in Photographs published by National Geographic with a foreword by Tina Brown. The book is divided into sections detailing each stage in her life. It begins with her childhood which was marred by her parent’s divorce and lonely years at boarding school. Then comes the section dealing with her fairy tale wedding followed by an increasingly difficult marriage. There are photos showing the joy she took in her young sons, Prince William and Prince Harry. Part three shows how she was able to forge her own way in the stuffy and repressive environment of the Royal Family, endearing her to people all over the world. It also shows how she was continuing her humanitarian work even after her divorce and loss of royal position. The final section depicts the impact her life and death have had on the world. It shows the devotion and grief that people from all walks of life felt when her life was tragically cut short.

If this book interests you, it can be found in the non-fiction section of the library in Dewey number 941. You can also find other biographies of Diana and other members of the Royal Family in this area.

Finding a book you want at the library can be daunting. We have a lot of them, and that's before you add in all of the electronic books, the magazines, the audio books and dvds, and more. That's where the card catalog comes in.

These days, the card catalog is kept electronically, and that means it can be accessed anywhere in the world. You can find it at home by going to the library's home page and picking the My Account button on the left, or jump right in to searching with the Search Our Catalog box in the top right. You can also use access it from dedicated card catalog machines at each of our branches.

While gettings started searching can be easy, the advanced search features can help narrow down the list of materials to things closer to what you're looking for. Advanced search lets you look for things of specific formats, limit the words searched to things appearing as the title, subject, author, or series name, by language, limit the search to things that aren't checked out, and other useful ways.

Give it a try! The library has an amazing collection of things - so dive in and enjoy yourself!

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.

Outlander [DVD] seasons 1 and 2

The television series Outlander is one of the more popular programs on the Starz network. It is based on the best-selling books by author Diana Gabaldon. It combines adventure, romance, history, and fantasy into a thrilling experience that will have you on the edge of your seat.

The story opens shortly after World War II with English nurse Claire Randall and her husband vacationing in Scotland. Claire is mysteriously transported back nearly 200 years when she stumbles on a strange circle of stones. In the past she is captured by the evil English soldier, “Black Jack” Randall, who just happens to be her husband’s look-a-like ancestor. She is rescued by a group of Scotsmen that includes the handsome nobleman/outlaw Jamie Fraser. She returns with the group to their home, where she struggles with trying to fit into the vastly different and dangerous world she has entered while trying to figure out how to return to her own time and the husband she loves. In the midst of all of this, she must deal with her growing attraction to Jamie.

The library owns the two seasons that are available at this time. Season three is expected to air on Starz beginning in September, so hopefully by this time next year it will be on DVD. (We also have the books if you are interested in reading the series. They are all available in ebook format on Overdrive, and a few are in print.)

Please note that although the DVDs are not rated, the series has been rated TV-MA which means that it is intended for mature audiences. It contains a great deal of violence, some graphic sexual scenes, nudity, and language that may offend some viewers.

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

We all have busy days, but it might be comforting to know that we have a relaxation room in our DeRidder branch. This is the room near the new book shelves where you can sit down in comfortable chairs and enjoy our wifi or have coffee and a light snack before 11:00 am. We have seating for computer users and many available electrical outlets for laptop users.

Please note: Beauregard Parish Library doesn't allow food and drink in other patron areas unless it is a specific part of a library program.

The newest addition to our relaxation room is our jigsaw puzzle station. We have several puzzles to put together and a puzzle board to help work the pieces. We will change out the puzzles regularly so repeat visitors won't be bored.

We invite you to come to DeRidder branch and try our relaxation room and see what's new!

Join us for afternoon tea to sample various types of tea and perhaps create your own blend. Explore the various tea rooms of America and England. Learn the fine art of afternoon tea.

We welcome Mr. Hawkins from the LSU Agricultural Center who will share more about tea cultivation.

Times and Locations:

August 17 at 3:30 p.m. South Beauregard

August 18: 10:00 a.m. Merryville
11:30 a.m. Singer
2:30 p.m. Hyatt

August 19 at 10:00 a.m. DeRidder

Musician and singer Glen Campbell died Aug. 8 at 81 years old. He had been battling Alzheimer’s Disease for years. Besides all his hit songs, Glen was well known for his guitar playing. He worked in many studios and can be heard on songs of The Monkees, Elvis, and other famous singers. He also had his own show called the Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour. He also acted and was in the famous movie True Grit with John Wayne (which the library owns).

Freegal, the free music website has a lot of Glen Campbell’s music. Freegal has many of his hits like “Rhinestone Cowboy” and "Southern Nights" sung live and several Gospel albums. Also newer Christmas albums and an old recording of “Twas the Night Before Christmas” found on Country Christmas and another older song “It Must Be Getting Close To Christmas” from Winter Wonderland.

Freegal also has the original version of Glen’s hit “One Last Time” from 1972. And Freegal has many of his instrumental recordings such as “Walk Right In”. If you are interested in his very early work you might enjoy the 60’s feel of “Guitar Child” and “Blue Ribbons” from the album Sharon Shelley: Songwriter.

Use your 3 free hours of streaming music (commercial-free) or download Glen’s songs with any of your 5 free weekly downloads.

If you enjoy a good novel but sometimes have trouble seeing the small print, check out some of our great books in large print. The print is much easier to see and we have all types of stories available for your enjoyment. Check out a couple of the new ones we received this past week.

The Domino Effect by Davis Bunn. Esther Larsen is a top risk analyst at one of the country’s largest banking institutions. She discovers information that she believes indicates the coming of a worldwide financial crisis. It appears that her own employer is involved and she becomes convinced that she must do something. But she is not sure that she can stand up to an international conspiracy, and even if she could, she is not sure anyone would listen to her. As the markets edge closer and closer to a tipping point, she manages to find her voice. But those she seeks to expose will not go down quietly. Her life is now in danger and the world is on the brink of complete financial devastation.

Looking Through Darkness by Aimee and David Thurlo. Josephine Buck runs a trading post just off the Navajo Reservation with her friend Leigh Ann Vance. Leigh Ann’s husband, Kurt, has been killed and it is discovered that he had been having several affairs. He had also been embezzling from his business partners. As the police investigate his death, they begin to suspect Leigh Ann of killing him. Leigh Ann turns to a blind sculptor, Melvin Littlewater, for help. He is dealing with memories of the car crash that took away his sight, but agrees to help. Together they delve into the darkest moments of their pasts and search for the truth.

Remember that large print novels are easy to find. The are separated from the regular print fiction and they have a green dot on the spine. As always, if you need help, don’t hesitate to ask.

Downloaded a bunch of music from our free online music service Freegal and want to play it in your car? Or maybe you need it to play on at your best friend's wedding? Well, our patron computers have several packages for dealing with music, including two packages - Brasero and K3B - designed to help you convert those MP3s and burn them to a CD. You can find them under the Applications (foot) menu, listed under Sound & Video. Ask for help getting started, and you can enjoy your music from your favorite CD player any time!

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.

Bones: Dead People Do Tell Tales by Sara Latta

I found this book while searching for material on building healthy bodies. Our bones need to be healthy, too.

It was a very interesting introduction to forensic anthropology for young readers, not the very young. All bones tell a story -- you have to know how to read them. Forensic anthropologists can tell if found bones are male or female, human or animal and how someone lived and died.

I did find the read enlightening in this area of science. Those who are interested in forensic investigation will find it a good read.

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

It's the time of year again when the Perseid Meteor Showers are most visible in the sky. Expect peak visibility from August 10-12.*

If you want to learn more about meteors or other astronomical events, Beauregard Parish Library has plenty of resources to help.

To learn basic information about meteors, you can visit this article in World Book Encyclopedia Online.

For documentaries on meteors, the best place to find them is through our Access Video (AVOD) collection.

If you want to study about astronomy, Universal Class includes an Astronomy 101 class. All Universal Class courses include certificates of completion if you earn a score of 70% or higher.

Our Beauregard Parish Library motto is "Knowledge. Growth. Imagination.", and during back to school time, you might want a knowledge boost. We have you covered with digital resources you can use inside the library and most of them at home. Just remember when you're visiting our website to use our resources from home, you may be prompted to enter your library card number.

You can find all our resources on our Topical Resource List or listed in A-B-C order on our Alphabetical Resource List. The ones that well help get a new school year started best are:

The all boy band from England, Herman’s Hermits had many popular songs in the 1960’s. Freegal, the free website paid for by your Beauregard Parish Library has a lot of free Herman’s Hermits music to listen to or own. Listen with your 3 daily hours of free streaming music or use your 5 free downloads that are yours to keep forever. All free from Freegal.

♫“Mrs. Brown You’ve Got A Lovely Daughter” ♫“There’s A Kind Of Hush” ♫“Can’t You Hear My Heartbeat” ♫“No Milk Today” ♫“Don’t Go Out Into The Rain” ♫“I’m Henry the VIII, I Am” ♫“Leaning On A Lamp Post” ♫“I’m Into Something Good” ♫“Something’s Happening” ♫“Silhouettes” ♫“End Of The World” ♫“Listen People”

The Library also has a movie entitled Mrs. Brown You’ve Got A Lovely Daughter starring Herman’s Hermits. See them in this rollicking romp across England and hear their playful music.

If you are looking for a book that will make you laugh, we received a new book on Playaway (the self-contained audiobook) this week that will do the trick.

Bestselling author Lisa Scottoline and her daughter Francesca Serritella have written several collections of funny stories from their real lives. Their latest, I Need a Lifeguard Everywhere but the Pool, will make you laugh out loud. They tell of their regret at drunk-shopping online, an attempt at “smell dating”, taking a break from men, referred to as a “guyatus,” and the many funny situations they encounter while taking a long book tour by car. The stories are told with humor, but readers will find themselves relating to many of the experiences.

The library also owns this in print format, but you might want to get the added experience of listening to the authors share these stories in their own voices on the Playaway. Remember that Playaways can be enjoyed with any type of headphones or plugged into a speaker. Many cars are equipped with a headphone jack that allows you to listen through the car speakers. This would make excellent entertainment for long car trip. If you have questions about Playaways, please don’t hesitate to ask any of our helpful staff.

A place to study can be a tricky thing to find sometimes. Perhaps there's a need to meet up with a few people to work on a project together. The library can help. On the left side of the home page is a Request Meeting Room Use button, allowing patrons and other members of the public to reserve one of the various spaces the library has set aside for peace and quiet. People may also simply come in, and if a space is open, go ahead and use it. Power and WiFi are also on hand, and if your meeting needs it, in-house laptops are available, and arrangements can be made if you call for a certain amount of other equipment, such as a projector or large screen display.

Check it out!

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.

They Left Us Everything by Plum Johnson

Five adult siblings are faced with clearing out their parents' 23 room home after their deaths. The home is filled with 23 years of history, antiques and oxygen tanks. The task turns out to be much harder and more rewarding than they imagined.

I was thinking, "I don't want to do this to my children," until I read the line in the book where a friend said, "I must not do this to my children." The daughter answered, "but you will be denying them the memories of it all if you clear things out."

This was a very good, well-written book.

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

There will be no preschool story times at Beauregard Parish Library during the month of August. This is the month our programming department staff take to create story times that will excite everyone during the next year ahead.

Preschool story time will resume at our various branches after Labor Day.

We are making another change in our Beauregard Parish Library website, but this one is aimed at making navigation of our Electronic Resources easier than it has ever been. Users have had a few weeks to become acquainted with our Alphabetical Resource List, but now we have a one-stop page with our resources divided by Topic.

For you the patron, this means you don't have to guess what we might mean with the different subpages. If you know you want Genealogy, for example, you can pick that from the topical list and find our links to both Heritage Quest and World Vital Records.

It is our hope that this will make using our website easier for you to use. Please let us know what you think. You can contact us in person, by mail or phone, and via email.

The Beauregard Parish Library Board of Control will meet at 205 S. Washington St., DeRidder, La 70634 at 4:30 PM on Wednesday, Aug 2, 2017. Except as otherwise noted, this meeting is open to the public pursuant to LA. R.S. 42:14.

Agenda

I. Call to order & Roll call

II. Review & approve minutes of May board meeting & July committee meeting

III. Public participation, if any

IV. Review standard reports

V. Discuss East Beau project next steps

VI. Auditor

1. Review auditor's FY 2016 report
2. Discuss Legislative Auditor's required changes for FY 2017 & beyond

VII. Pay scale committee

1. Review, discuss, and approve proposed pay scale changes for FY 2018 & beyond

VIII. Executive (closed) session : Director's evaluation

IX. Upcoming events

1. Advocacy training for trustees

2. LSW Annual Author Dinner

X. Any other business

1. Hear from Tranquil Crosby re: June 2017 national conference

XI. Adjourn

The Summer Reading Programs at Beauregard Parish Library have been a great success with more participation than years past and a variety of well-attended programs. There is still time to track the last of your summer reading adventures, but the last time to report your times ends tomorrow (July 31) at midnight!

If you haven't done so already, log into the website and report your reading times. If you need personal help, you can call or stop by the open branches of the library on Monday for assistance. On Mondays we are open in DeRidder, Merryville, and Ragley.

Get those times in! Thank you for helping make our 2017 Summer Reading Program another success.

This week we added an interesting self-help book to our collection. Make Your Bed: Little Things That Can Change Your Life... and Maybe the World is written by Admiral William McRaven, a retired Navy SEAL who ended his military career as Commander of all U.S. Special Operations Forces. In 2014 he gave the commencement address at the University of Texas at Austin and his speech became an internet sensation with over ten million views. In it he shared the ten principles he learned during his SEAL training that have helped him overcome challenges throughout his life. He explained how everyone can use these lessons to change themselves, and the world, for the better.

In this book, Admiral McRaven explains each principle in detail and gives examples from his own life and the lives of those who have inspired him to show how these seemingly little things can have drastic impact on our lives. For example, the title lesson “make your bed”, means much more than just taking a few seconds to make the bedroom a little neater. He explains that in SEAL training making the bed correctly was the first thing expected of them each day. By completing this task, it gave them a sense of accomplishment and pride, which led them to do the next task, and the next, and so on. By the end of the day, they could look back on all of their successes. McRaven says that doing this one little task the first thing in the morning can give anyone a positive lift and allow them to face whatever challenges occur throughout the day.

This is just the first of the ten lessons, and Admiral McRaven summarizes them in this way: “Remember... start each day with a task completed. Find someone to help you through life. Respect everyone. Know that life is not fair and that you will fail often. But if you take some risks, step up when times are toughest, face down the bullies, lift up the downtrodden, and never, ever give up – if you do these things, then you can change your life for the better...and maybe the world.”

Computers have invaded every part of modern life, and the library is no different. The library has a number of computers available for patrons and guests to use, and even some to check out.

Each branch has desktop computers available to sit down and work out. These are somewhat more powerful than the others the library has, with nice large monitors to see your work clearly. There is, however, a two hour limit if the library lab is full and there are patrons waiting for a lab computer.

The DeRidder branch also has a number of laptops for check-out and use in-house, allowing patrons to go to one of the quiet rooms, or into the juvenile or children's area so parents can work while their children read and play.

Also, each branch has one or more B-TOP laptops, originally obtained as part of a state library program, that may be checked out under certain conditions. These B-TOP laptops can be taken home and used. However, anything to be saved must be saved on a CD or USB key, as they will reset themselves and erase anything left on them when turned off, as a virus protection measure. Ask the branch clerks for more information on the B-TOP laptop program.

And finally, if a patron or guest wants to bring their own laptop, tablet, or smart phone and connect to our WiFi, that's perfectly fine as well! There are even outlets available scattered throughout the library branches to plug in and keep them charged.

And of course, if you can't find what you need on the Internet, ask one of our staff. They may be able to help you find it in one of those crazy old-fashioned things called "a book".

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.

Penguin the Magpie: The Odd Little Bird Who Saved a Family by Cameron Bloom

Penguin the Magpie is the extraordinary true story of recovery, hope and courage as one injured bird and her human family learn to heal and celebrate life. Two tragic accidents happen--one to Bloom's wife Sam, and one to a baby magpie, Penguin.

It's a great story about the determination and grit of a woman and her family, including a wonderful, wild magpie who support her and love her. The beautiful photography throughout the book is delightful.

If you desire a quick read that will uplift you and inspire you I highly recommend this book.

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

UPDATE: The branch WILL be open at 1 p.m. and the events will go on as schedule.

Due to the electricity being off in the area while repairs occur, the South Beau branch in Ragley will not be open at 1 p.m.

Based upon restoration predictions, we are planning to be open at 2 p.m.

The YA program at 1:30 p.m. is, unfortunately cancelled, but the story time at 2:30 p.m. should still be happening. We will update you as the situation changes.

The Houston Museum of Natural Science will be here on Saturday, July 29, 2017 at noon with their Amazing Arthropods.

These talented bugs are the world's construction workers. They lift, scoop, level, and build.

If you are interested in lessons related to Amazing Arthropods for grades K-2, check out the HMNS website.

There are also options for grades 3-5 and Middle School.

We hope you will join us as we bug out this Saturday!

The Beauregard Parish Library Board of Control's Pay Scale Committee will meet at 205 S. Washington St., DeRidder, La 70634 at 4:45 PM on Wednesday, July 26, 2017. This meeting is open to the public.

Agenda

I. Call to Order & Roll Call
II. Confirm 2017 mid-year pay raise
III. Discuss, amend, and/or approve pay scales for non-exempt & exempt employees for FY 2018 and beyond
IV. Any other business
V. Adjourn