This blog post was written by Elyse Berrier, library program coordinator for Charlotte Mecklenburg Library.  

National Family Literacy month is recognized each November, and Charlotte Mecklenburg Library plans to celebrate with a systemwide, in-person, “Out of this World” Family Literacy Night on Wednesday, November 30, 2022 from 5-7 p.m. Families are invited to visit any Library location (no registration necessary) to participate in self-directed family literacy activities that the whole family will enjoy and be invited to take home. Play literacy games, check out books, read and write together, and learn more about why family literacy is extremely important! Every Library location will also be hosting a giveaway drawing and other fun surprises that you are not going to want to miss!  

While we are celebrating with this “stellar” event on November 30th, Charlotte Mecklenburg Library always strives to provide opportunities and education around families learning together every day all throughout the year. Here are five ways we encourage families to improve literacy together: 

1. READ OFTEN AND ALOUD AS A FAMILY:  According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, children who are read to have better language skills, have more interest in reading, and have better nurturing relationships with their parental figures (AAP, 2014).  Make it a habit to read as often as you can as a family. Visit our physical Library locations to check out books, or read books electronically together! Browse one of our digital book resources, and spend time reading together as a family.  

1. WRITE FREQUENTLY: The practice of writing aids in fine motor skills, self-expression, and language development. There are many ways to practice writing as a family at home. Start a family journal, where family members write back and forth to one another, or simply send notes and letters to each other! Seek inspiration from our storytellers at the Library to write your own story together as a family. Drawing counts too!  Feel free to write a book review as well together as a family and add it to our catalog for others to enjoy! 

1. TALK TOGETHER: Talking about books and what is going on in your child’s life will help to improve your child’s language and vocabulary skills. Cognitive scientists from MIT found that conversation between an adult and a child can actually change and enhance a child’s brain physiology (Association of American Universities, 2018)! Active Reading, or the practice of reading aloud a children’s picture book by asking questions, building vocabulary, and making connections to the child’s world and experiences, is a wonderful way to talk together as a family. Charlotte Mecklenburg Library provides Active Reading Family Workshops and Active Reading Training programs to help you and your family have meaningful conversations about books together.  

1. LEARN AS A FAMILY: There are many ways to learn together as a family at the Library. Programs are available daily that you can attend together as a family including storytimes, story explorer programs, puppet shows, and more! Check out books and discuss what you learn together as a family and share it with others. Books with step-by-step instructions can teach your family a new recipe, craft, or activity to enjoy, while improving literacy skills.  

1. SPREAD THE JOY OF LITERACY: According to the Handbook of Family Literacy, family literacy refers to the spoken and written communication within a family, as well as the family’s efforts to improve and support a child’s literacy and language development (Van Horn, 2012). When parents, caregivers, and adults in a child’s life share their enthusiasm for literacy, a child’s attitude and perception about literacy improves as well. Allow the children around you to see adults reading, writing, talking, and learning, and they will follow suit!  

We look forward to your family making great use of all that Charlotte Mecklenburg Library has to offer! Read often and aloud as a family, write frequently, talk together, learn as a family, and spread the joy of literacy.   

This blog was written as part of Charlotte Mecklenburg Library's Black Lives Matter program initiative. Learn  more about the program and corresponding events here.

The blog was written by Lawrence Turner, an adult services librarian at South County Regional Library.

An anonymous quote about marriage says: Marriage stands the test of times when both you and your spouse work towards making things better. And we are tested the most when we face adversities. If you can sail through the adversities as one, as a team, then you have won half the battle.

In the United States, that quote is put to the test with the legality of certain marriages.

The Respect for Marriage Act is in its final stages of passing in Congress as ends its session this year. Legislators sponsored the measure to preserve same-sex marriage, as a defense to guarantee it against a possible Supreme Court challenge. Interracial marriages were roped into the legislation proposal for the same reason.

Whereas same-sex marriages received Supreme Court support for legalization nationwide in 2015, and garnered public approval at a new high at 71% according to a May 2022 Gallup poll, interracial marriage is a much older social custom.  In 1967 the Supreme Court validated interracial marriages in the Loving v. Virginia case.  Last year, the Gallop Poll found the public approved interracial marriage at a new high of 94 percent. When the question was first polled in 1958, approval was at four percent.

While interracial unions are accepted to a large degree in the U.S., its early history can stand a brief peek in the spotlight. A genuine timeline of attitudes to interracial marriage should go back to the nation’s founding as it started as colonies. In 1968, the Los Angeles Times-Washington Post News Service reported in a story that contempt for intermarriage grew as the population and influence of white women increased in settlements which previously had very large white male numbers. Herbert Moller, a sociologist, said, “…Through their enhanced influence on family and community life, women became more or less unintentionally the foremost agents in the establishment of racial barriers.”     

As to be expected, laws followed to enforce these attitudes.  In Sheryll Cashin’s book, Loving: Interracial Intimacy in America and the Threat to White Supremacy, she writes Virginia’s first comprehensive slave code in 1705 made that point. Enslaved Africans during that year lost rights they had previously enjoyed equal to white indented servants.  As a result, the white servants—i.e., white individuals—gained new privileges to bond closer to slaveholders. The code “included penalties against interracial marriage” while not doing the same for “master/slave sex, which would become the dominant form of interracial sex in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.”  

Neighboring state North Carolina would follow the model from Virginia as other states Cashin writes. Although in a modest dissention, the North Carolina Digital Collections, a web-based Charlotte Mecklenburg Library resource, shows a documented interracial marriage in a colonial record of a “mulatto” (mixed African and European ancestry—an outdated and offensive term) man and white woman in 1725.  The couple came from Virginia.    

Fast forward several hundred years to the present-day United States and consider the changes. Laws and social norms have made tremendous strides to make formerly enslaved African descendants’ full American citizen in legal standing. What may come next is the question: have those deep-seated attitudes about racial separation in marriage changed too?  On the surface, it appears so. Despite brash voices or newsworthy incidents of racial hate, today there is a bottom line for many to be accepting, or at least tolerant, of individuals of different races marrying.

Returning to the earlier mentioned Gallup poll article, it said: Opposition to interracial marriage still exists, but it is quite small. Future measures will indicate whether 94% is the ceiling for approval, or if there is still room for growth in acceptance.

Find stories about real-life interracial couples, the Loving v. Virginia case and more in the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Library, click to access them here.     

It is important to have the right information and support to keep yourself, or someone you love, well. Charlotte Mecklenburg Library and Novant Health are pleased to partner on the Novant Health Wellness Hubs at Charlotte Mecklenburg Library locations. This initiative helps create a sustainable impact by addressing community member’s health and social needs, so every person can achieve their highest level of health.

Speak with a Novant Health team member at no cost at the locations and dates listed below:

April 25 - West Boulevard Library (9:30am - 2:30pm)

May 2 - Hickory Grove Library (9:30am - 2:30pm)

May 9 - West Boulevard Library (9:30am - 2:30pm)

May 16 - Hickory Grove Library (9:30am - 2:30pm)

May 23 - West Boulevard Library (9:30am - 2:30pm)

May 30 - Hickory Grove Library (9:30am - 2:30pm)

The Novant Health Wellness Hub at Charlotte Mecklenburg Library is not open on holidays or during library closures.

The Novant Health team member can help you better understand your needs and connect you to the right health, wellness, and social services.

This will include appointment scheduling for doctors and medical services, as well as referrals for:

· Access to affordable care

· Medication assistance

· Counseling access

· Housing information

· Food resources and more

Call 1-844-644-3578 or visit a Novant Health Wellness Hub at Charlotte Mecklenburg Library to learn more.

This blog was written by Ed McDonald, librarian at SouthPark Regional Library.

2022 is over so let's take a look at which books were most popular with Charlotte Mecklenburg Library readers this year. We pulled circulation data for our adult fiction (both print and digital), adult nonfiction, young adult fiction and graphic novels.

A few listings stood out this year:

• There were a few returns to the top fiction lists this year. The Last Thing He Told Me by Laura Dave was a contender last year and this year her novel was #1 on both the print and digital lists. 
• Digital usage dominated again this year.  The top print novel’s circulation number wouldn’t even have made the digital list. The top print nonfiction book would have been #7 on the digital list.
• Maybe You Should Talk to Someone: A Therapist, HER Therapist, and Our Lives Revealed by Lori Gottlieb returns to the top of the digital nonfiction list this year. This is the fourth year the book has appeared on this list and the second year in a row where it was #1.
• For the second year in a row Sisters by Raina Telgemeier was the most popular graphic novel.

We hope you enjoy going through this year’s lists and be sure visit your local library branch and our webpage and get started on reading the books for this year’s list.

Print Adult Fiction

• The Last thing He Told Me by Laura Dave
• The Lincoln Highway by Amor Towles
• Judges List by John Grisham
• The Paris Apartment by Lucy Foley
• The Midnight Library by Matt Haig
• The Maid by Nita Prose
• Apples Never Fall by Liane Moriarty
• Wish You Were Here by Jodi Picoult
• Verity by Colleen Hoover
• Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doerr

Digital Adult Fiction

1. The Last thing He Told Me by Laura Dave
2. Verity by Colleen Hoover
3. Apples Never Fall by Liane Moriarty
4. The Paris Apartment by Lucy Foley
5. The Maid by Nita Prose
6. The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Reid Jenkins
7. The People we Meet on Vacation by Emily Henry
8. The Book Lovers by Emily Henry
9. It Ends With Us by Colleen Hoover
10. The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by Victoria Schwab

Print Adult Nonfiction

1. Atomic Habits: Tiny Changes, Remarkable Results: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones by James Clear
2. Crying in H Mart: A Memoir by Michelle Zauner
3. These Precious Days: Essays by Ann Patchett
4. Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind and Body in the Healing of Trauma by Bessel A. Van derkolk
5. 1619 Project: A New Origin Story by Nikole Hannah-Jones
6. Atlas of the Heart: Mapping Meaningful Connection and the Language of Human Experience by Brene Brown
7. Guinness World Records 2022
8. Finding Me by Viola Davis
9. Left on Tenth: A Second Chance at Life by Delia Ephron
10. Vanderbilt: The Rise and Fall of an American Dynasty by Anderson Cooper

Digital Adult Nonfiction

1. Maybe You Should Talk to Someone: A Therapist, HER Therapist, and Our Lives Revealed by Lori Gottlieb
2. Atomic Habits: Tiny Changes, Remarkable Results: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones by James Clear
3. Atlas of the Heart: Mapping Meaningful Connection and the Language of Human Experience by Brene Brown
4. I’m Glad My Mom Died by Jennette McCurdy
5. Crying in H Mart: A Memoir by Michelle Zauner
6. Educated: A Memoir by Tara Westover
7. Born a Crime by Trevor Noah
8. The Palace Papers: Inside the House of Windsor – The Truth and the Turmoil by Tina Brown
9. Finding me: A Memoir by Viola Davis
10. Vanderbilt: The Rise and Fall of an American Dynasty by Anderson Cooper

Print Young Adult Fiction

1. Sisters by Raina Telgemeier
2. Maus: A Survivor’s Tale by Art Spiegelman
3. A Good Girls Guide to Murder by Holly Jackson
4. The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins
5. One of Us is Lying by Karen McManus
6. The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas
7. Hatchet by Gary Paulsen
8. Sea of Monsters by Rick Riordan
9. They Both Die at the End by Adam Silvera
10. Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo

Digital Young Adult Fiction

1. The Summer I Turned Pretty by Jenny Han
2. A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas
3. Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo
4. Heartstopper, Volume 4 by Alice Oseman
5. It’s Not Summer Without You by Jenny Han
6. Heartstopper, Volume 3 by Alice Oseman
7. Heartstopper, Volume 1 by Alice Oseman
8. A Good Girls Guide to Murder by Holly Jackson
9. We’ll Always Have Summer by Jenny Han
10. Siege and Storm by Leigh Bardugo

Fiction & Nonfiction Audio Books (Digital and Physical)

1. The Last Thing He Told Me by Laura Dave
2. Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens
3. Apples Never Fall by Liane Moriarty
4. A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas
5. The Guest List by Lucy Foley
6. The Four Winds by Kristin Hannah
7. The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck: A Counterintuitive Approach to Living a Good Life by Mark Manson
8. 101 Essays that will Change the Way You Think by Brianna Wiest
9. The Paris Apartment by Lucy Foley
10. The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Reid Jenkins

#1 African American Novel

The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett

#1 Graphic Novel

Sisters by Raina Telgemeier

#1 Mystery Novel

The Maid by Nita Prose

#1 Science Fiction Novel

Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir

• Aspects of the University City community that should be reflected in the branch
• Design aesthetics
• Meeting and study spaces
• Technology capabilities
• Type of print and digital collections offered
• Expectations regarding the overall customer experience at the new location

This blog was written by Jasmine McNeil, outreach specialist for Charlotte Mecklenburg Library.

The Black Entrepreneur Series (BE Series) highlights Black Businesses and business owners in the Charlotte area. Find out how these entrepreneurs got their start, by joining us every week for the month of February for in-depth interviews and Q&A.

WEEK 1 (2/1-2/4)

BE Series 2023: Simply Skin Face & Body Spa - Dr. Nicole Calhoun, owner of a well-known spa in South Charlotte. Find out how she got her start, some challenges along the way and her goals for the future.

WEEK 2 (2/6-2/11)

BE Series 2023: McNeil Pressure Washing LLC - Meet the owner/operator of a local family-owned business, Malcom McNeil. Find out what sets his company apart from similar businesses in the area, and how he got his start into entrepreneurship.

BE Series 2023: The Real Estate Butterfly Firm - Christy Mercer Forbes is the Owner/Broker of The Real Estate Butterfly Firm. Find out more about her business, and the moves she’s making to be successful.

WEEK 3: (2/13-2/17)

BE Series 2023: Monument Real Estate Partners - Meet Johnny Walker, a commercial Real Estate Broker. Find out about his road to success and get some great advice about how to become a successful business owner.

WEEK 4: (2/20-2/25)

BE Series 2023: Agape Therapeutic Wellness - Charday Graham discusses how she became the owner of her own mental health practice, and her journey to how she got to where she is now.

BE Series 2023: Royal Oils Grooming Company - Owner of Royal Oils Grooming Company, Andre Russell shares his beginning to entrepreneurship. Learn about his journey and his products.

View the entire BE Interview Series Playlist here

This blog was written by Darrell Anderson, marketing & communications specialist for Charlotte Mecklenburg Library.

The stock market can be intimidating. Getting help with financial planning and investments can be costly. Who do you trust, how much do you invest, when is the right time, how much do you need to start? Even DIY investing can be costly because of the fees associated with research sites. But, you can get started today with FREE resources available at Charlotte Mecklenburg Library. All you need is your library card.

Access online investment resources for FREE

With your library card, you have access to several online resources to help you get started with smart investing.

Marketscope Advisor (CFRA) provides independent, differentiated and actionable analysis to help you make better investment and business decisions. Includes S&P Global’s Equity and Fund Research business, a leading provider of independent research and commentary with offerings focused on stocks, ETFs and mutual funds as well as sectors and industries.

Mergent Online is an electronic database that is easy to use and has global business and financial data for companies worldwide.

Morningstar Investment Research Center offers real-time investment research; access to financial information about publicly traded companies, company contact information, company profiles and analyst reports; and industry peer comparisons.

Value Line Investment Survey offers advice on which stocks to buy, hold and sell. Access investment advice on stocks, industries, mutual funds, options and convertibles.

Check out some useful reading materials

In addition to the online resources and programs, the Library offers FREE investment e-magazines, magazines, periodicals and books. Access The Economist, Forbes and Entrepreneur in magazine or e-magazine formats. Check out books like The Only Investment Guide You’ll Ever Need by Andrew Tobias and The Handy Investing Answer Book by Paul Tucci for expert tips and tricks to make the best of your personal finances. Find these and more investment titles in our catalog.

The 2023 Community Read program is designed to help our community by creating community dialogue around themes of friendship and promoting a community of readers, learners and creating a platform for discussion. Thanks to the generosity of our sponsors Charlotte Mecklenburg Library Foundation and National Endowment for the Humanities, the Library is able to give away a limited number of books at our branch locations. Beginning February 1, 2023 customers can request a free copy of one of the four Community Read titles to keep.

Book pick up will continue while supplies last. Call or visit your local branch location for more information. Each of the four Community Read titles are available for checkout in our collection as well with a Library card.

Everyone in the community can participate in Community Read: read a book, share perspectives, attend a program, engage on social media and build a stronger community together.

Visit the Community Read page for additional information, to register for programs take join the Community Read challenge today.