The grant-funded renovations on the Galena Park Branch Library are well underway. The exterior of the library's new computer lab is very nearly complete and work on the lab's interior is underway. The carpeting and painting in the existing building is complete. The new furniture for the entire library will come soon after interior work is finished.

These much-needed improvements are the first undertaken on the library since it opened in 1996, and will not only make the library-going experience more pleasant; it will allow us to provide better service, including more and bigger free computer training classes.

Because of the rise of the internet and the growing popularity of downloadable content, public libraries are evolving at a pace never before seen. Harris County Public Library has never shied away from new technologies--we see them as opportunities to enhance existing library services and to expand into new service areas. But like all organizations that want to thrive in a changing technological landscape, we must continually reassess our mission and our goals. To help us do that, and ultimately allow us to provide better service to our customers, HCPL invites those of you who check out ebooks to complete a brief survey designed by a nationally-respected research firm.

This April 26 – 29, in observance of the 5th Annual Lights Out Houston initiative, Harris County Commissioners Court has authorized Facilities and Property Management to lead a countywide effort, in conjunction with the City of Houston, the Greater Houston Partnership and Central Houston Inc. to turn off all non-essential lights at the end of the day.

Turning out unnecessary lights when you leave a room is one of the easiest ways you can help the environment, conserve valuable resources and…oh yeah, save some money. Remember--unlike humans and other living things, furniture does not need light to survive. Your sofa, ottoman and coffee table, as well as your work station and file cabinets like it just fine in the dark.

May is the month set aside to acknowledge the important contributions that people of Asian and Pacific Islander descent have made to this country’s history and culture. This year, Harris County Public Library will once again celebrate the diversity of Asian and Pacific Island peoples with programs inspired by traditions from across that vast territory. HCPL invites you to enjoy the music and dance of India, sample the cuisines of Thailand and Japan, and explore cultures from China to Hawaii and points in between. There will be crafts, puppets shows, films, and fun for all ages.

Maybe it’s because their sense of wonder has not been tamped down by too many peeks behind the wizard’s curtain, or maybe it’s because their language has not been clogged up with convention and cliché. Whatever it is, children and teens seem to have a felicity with poetry that adult poets can spend their careers trying to recapture.

Writers in the Schools (WITS), a local nonprofit organization, actively encourages children (K-12) in over 350 area classrooms to develop those skills. Each April, WITS celebrates National Poetry Month by sharing some of the students’ work with the community through its Poem A Day project. We at Harris County Public Library are excited to participate in this year’s event. Starting this Monday, April 2 and running through the month, fans of HCPL’s facebook page will get to read these inspiring poems.

Once Adrienne Rich got the pretty (though pointed) rhyming verse out of her system (and she did that early--her first book was published when she was still at Radcliffe) Adrienne Rich constructed a voice for herself that was equal parts lyric brilliance, surgically precise language, and undiluted rage. To call her a feminist poet, while probably accurate, diminishes her project. Yes, the overarching issue of her writing, perhaps its sole impetus, was the struggle to carve out a place for women in society and as such she can be seen as a political/activist poet, few if any of her poems can be read as merely political statements.

Gone are the days when people with both a weakness for comic books and aspirations of becoming “serious” writers had to slink across town and hope no one they knew drove past as they walked out of the shop with the latest issue of Zap! or Weirdo wrapped in plain brown paper (to give it that little extra patina of shame).

I miss those days.

For many people, one of the only things better than reading a good book is talking about a good book, which explains the continuing popularity of book clubs and discussion groups across the country. Yet, book clubs are much more than a place to gab about a ripping good yarn. They’re a chance to meet new people, explore new areas of interest, and get good tips on what to read next, and sometimes, book clubs are a good way to get yourself featured on Voice of America. This is exactly what happened recently to one of Harris County Public Library's many book groups. VOA featured our Tomball College & Community Library’s Paranormal Book Club in a story about the growing popularity among older readers of supernatural romances aimed at young adults (See video below).

In truth, the library is already open for business, but we want everyone to come see our new look, so Harris County Precinct 2 Commissioner Jack Morman and Harris County Public Library invite you to celebrate the official reopening of Jacinto City Branch Library on March 21, 2012 at 10:30 AM.

The library, which is a cooperative undertaking of Harris County and the Jacinto City municipal government, has undergone extensive remodeling including new carpeting, paint and furnishings, as well as the addition of a new much-needed public meeting room. The renovations and expansion, funded with a federal grant, are the first since the library moved to the building in 1992.

How many words have you read today? Just think of them all: the emails, street signs, restaurant menus, websites, product labels, grocery lists, text messages, billboards, fortune cookies, instruction manuals, advertising circulars, and bills, to say nothing of the chapter of the latest Stephen King or the handful of Shakespeare’s sonnets you will read before turning out the light tonight. Chances are, if you thought about it, you would consider each and every one of those words vital to the way you want to live your life. Your ability to read not only allows you to move safely and efficiently through the world, it also enriches your inner life immeasurably.