TAMPA-HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARIES PRESENT "THE GINGERBREAD BOY: A PUPPET SHOW"

Join one of your favorite fairy tale characters, the Gingerbread Boy, as he runs away from the farmer’s wife, the farmer and a host of animals, too. The Tampa-Hillsborough County Public Library is pleased to host this delightful children’s tale presented by Creative Arts Theater of the City of Tampa Parks and Recreation Department at the Riverview Branch Library at 10509 Riverview Drive, Riverview on Wednesday, May 13 at 10:30 am and 3:30 pm and at the College Hill Branch Library, 2607 East Dr. Martin Luther King Blvd., Tampa on Thursday, May 14 at 10 am.

For more information about these and other FREE programs @ your library®, please call (813) 273-3652 or visit hcplc.org.

KEEP YOUR BOAT AFLOAT AND SAFE @ YOUR LIBRARY

As part of the local observance of National Safe Boating Week, U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary Flotilla 79 is offering a unique and information-packed Boating Safety Course "Sampler" and Vessel Safety Check for boat owners and passengers at the Jan Kaminis Platt Regional Library on Thursday, May 14, 2009 at 6:30 pm.

The sampler is an overview of the "must-have" information boat owners need to be safe on the water and that is presented in the Auxiliary’s full Boating Skills & Seamanship Program. Sampler topics include:

· Boat Handling Techniques · Required Safety Equipment · Navigation Basics · Boat Trailering · Rules of the Nautical Road · Highway Signs on the Water · Marine Radio Use · Maritime Domain Security Awareness

In addition, Auxiliarists will be available to provide Vessel Safety Checks in the library’s north parking lot. Residents can bring trailer-able boats for the free, 15-minute inspections that determine the presence of federal/state required documentation, safety equipment and overall vessel condition. Passing vessels receive a VSC decal; citations are not issued for missing/expired items.

For more information about this and other FREE programs @ your library®, please call (813) 273-3652 or visit hcplc.org.

TAMPA-HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARIES WELCOME "ROAD SCHOLAR" & ACCLAIMED STORYTELLER CARRIE SUE AYVAR TO THE LUTZ BRANCH LIBRARY

Tampa-Hillsborough County Public Libraries welcomes Florida Humanities Council Road Scholar Carrie Sue Ayvar on Monday, May 4, at 7 pm to the Lutz Library, 101 Lutz-Lake Fern Road West, Lutz.

Ayvar will usher her audience on a multicultural journey of imagination with her vast repertoire of tales. An accomplished storyteller, she flows seamlessly between Spanish and English as she blends traditional, international and personal stories connecting Florida’s people, languages, and cultures.

Ayvar is very involved in Florida storytelling guilds and is the Florida State liaison to the National Storytelling Network. She also participates in Florida Humanities Council Prime Time Family Reading program as a Bilingual storyteller. This program is cosponsored by the Development Committee, Friends of the Library of Tampa-Hillsborough County, Inc. and by the Florida Humanities Council.

For more information about this and other FREE programs @ your library®, please call (813) 273-3652 or visit hcplc.org.

Have A Ferociously Good Time As Tampa-Hillsborough County Public Library Presents "Paws For Reading"

To celebrate National Pet Week, Tampa-Hillsborough County Public Library Presents "Paws for Reading" May 6 – 12. Celebrate our furry friends with crafts, pet tales and the opportunity to read with a therapy dog at the following library branches:

78th Street Community Library, 7625 Palm River Road, Tampa, Tuesday, May 5 at 4 pm.

Bloomingdale Regional Library, 1906 Bloomingdale Avenue, Valrico, Thursday, May 7 at 4 pm.

College Hill Branch Library, 2607 East Dr. MLK, Jr. Boulevard, Tampa, Friday, May 8 at 3 pm.

Brandon Regional Library, 619 Vonderburg Drive, Brandon, Saturday, May 9 at 11 am.

For more information about these and other FREE programs @ your library®, please call (813) 273-3652 or visit hcplc.org.

THE 29TH ANNUAL TAMPA-HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY STORYTELLING FESTIVAL IS SATURDAY!

Attention School Media Specialists, Teachers, Youth Leaders, and Parents. Hillsborough County is gearing up for its Twenty-Ninth Annual Storytelling Festival!

The culminating festival will be held April 18, 2009, from 9 am - 4 pm. This year the festival will be returning to its traditional Tampa home, Hillsborough High School, located at 5000 N Central Ave. in Tampa. The festival is FREE and open to the public.

In addition to this year’s Featured Storyteller, Donald Davis, the festival also presents hundreds of school-aged Festival Quality Storytellers, regional storytellers of all ages, balladeers, puppets, storybook characters, and much, much more!

This event is produced by the Tampa-Hillsborough County Storytelling Committee, the Tampa-Hillsborough County Public Library System, the City of Tampa Recreation Department, and the Creative Arts Theater with the support of the Arts Council of Hillsborough County and the Hillsborough County Board of County Commissioners.

For more information about these and other FREE programs @ your library®, please call (813) 273-3652 or visit hcplc.org.

SURVEY: “HOW DO THE PUBLIC LIBRARY COMPUTERS AND INTERNET HELP YOU?”

From April 6 to April 19, the Hillsborough County Public Library Cooperative is participating in a nationwide Internet survey to find out how people use the free computers and Internet connections in public libraries. The U.S. IMPACT web survey is being conducted by the University of Washington Information School with support from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

Until now, there has been no nationwide research about how library computing services fit into peoples’ lives. Some believe that library computers are used mostly for entertainment, but librarians report that people use them to find jobs, stay connected with family and friends, or to get health information. The goal of the U.S. IMPACT studies is to collect evidence about the ways computers in public libraries help people and their communities across the United States. This information will be used to improve these services and to inform policy makers about how best to fund and support them. In these hard economic times, this information will be invaluable.

You can access the web survey from the Hillsborough County Public Library Cooperative website at http://www.hcplc.org/ from April 6 to April 19. The survey is completely anonymous and takes 10 to 15 minutes to fill out. The researchers at the University of Washington encourage you to take a few minutes to help improve public library computing services across the United States. For more information, ask at the library information desk, or visit the IMPACT studies web site at http://impact.ischool.washington.edu/.