Help the Library

If you use Amazon.com for any of your normal or holiday shopping, you can help the library by signing up to have a percentage of your total eligible sales  donated to the Martinsburg-Berkeley County Public Libraries (MBCPL).

It’s simple. Go to smile.amazon.com then type in or select Martinsburg Public Library Comm A Corp Created By Ord Of Council as your charity. Continue to shop from smile.amazon.com, and Amazon will donate 0.5% of the price of your eligible Amazon.Smile purchases to the MBCPL.

Thank you in advance for helping support the libraries in Berkeley County.

 

Staff Picks: Box Girl

Box Girl
by Lilibet Snellings
2014

Box Girl by Lilibet Snellings is a quirky little book that is fun to read. 

Recent college graduate Snellings, unable to find a job and caught up in an unfulfilled love affair, decides to move with some of her friends to Los Angeles. Like many young people before her, she assumes she will enjoy the warm climate, sunny beaches, and eventually get some acting (or at least modeling) jobs.

Reality quickly sets in Snellings and her friends are forced to move from one outrageously expensive apartment to another and are compelled to work at a variety of very odd jobs. One of these odd jobs is as a box girl at the Standard Hotel. 

Ostensibly a work of art, the box is a large glass box, decorated differently at various times of the year, in which a young woman sits for hours at a time. She is allowed to read, sleep, and cruise the Internet, but she must not interact with or look at any of the guests or hotel staff. And yes, she is allowed to get out to use the restroom! 

At first, Snellings just considers it an odd (but easy!) job. She doesn't think about the social or sexual implications, or about any feminist objections to the "art." A job is a job, after all. But as time goes on (and she has plenty of time to think about her life and listen to those outside the box) she grows more philosophical. She finds hundreds of ways to justify the box in her mind, but admits that when one hotel guest creepily whispers to the desk clerk, "Is she for sale?" it shocks her to her core and makes her realize just how some might be perceiving her and her time in the box. 

This memoir is not just about the box, however, as she recounts many other adventures in Los Angeles, and some of the experiences prior to her move, including what led to it. Ultimately, she decides that the box is a work of art, at least in the sense that it is a reflection of the person looking at it. It can be a reflection of ugly sexism to some or fascinated curiosity to others, but always different. 

Overall, this is a thoughtful, and funny, book written by an intelligent young woman.

You can find this book in our New Section with the call number 702.81 Snel.L.

Marian
Librarian
Martinsburg Public Library

Hedgesville Days @ the new Library

Founded in 1835, Hedgesville is older than the state of West Virginia.

Celebrate the heritage of Hedgesville with arts and crafts, church tours, Civil War historic presentations,  children’s  area, food & treats, drawings, live music and much more…

Saturday ~ October 11

9:00am - 4:00pm

Visit the Hedgesville Public Library  to learn more    about this historic town.   Admission is free !

 

Mini-Ren festival

Mini-Renaissance Festival

 

       The North Berkeley Public Library will host a Mini-Renaissance Festival on Saturday, October 25  from 10:00am - 2:00pm. Members of the Shire of Sylvan Glen (local chapter of the Society for Creative Anachronism) will demonstrate medieval martial arts and weaponry as well as medieval arts and crafts.

       Patrons can observe Medieval Armored Combat and Rapier Tournaments scheduled every half hour during the event. Thrown weapon competitions, including knives, axes and atlatl will be held on the hour. Tournament participation is limited to Society for Creative Anachronism (SCA) members. The public can observe from the viewing area.

SCA members will discuss medieval life with visitors and answer questions relating to costumes and weapons. Choral, spinning and illumination demonstrations will be given throughout the day and there will be displays of costumes and beading.

The public is welcome (but not required) to come dressed in their best medieval-period clothing, but please leave all weapons at home.

Sponsored by: the Friends of the North Berkeley Library and the Shire of Sylvan Glen.

 
North Berkeley Public Library is a branch of the Martinsburg - Berkeley County Public Libraries.

 

ComicFest 2014

The Martinsburg-Berkeley County Public Libraries are pleased to participate in the

Halloween ComicFest 2014!

 

 

Visit ANY Berkeley County Public Library on  October 25th to receive a FREE kid-Friendly,  Halloween-themed comic book!                               

(while the supply lasts)

 

Page to Screen

 

 

Banned or Challenged Books 2013-2014

 The following list and excerpts are from the 2013-2014 Books Challenged or Banned by Robert P. Doyle published by the American Library Association.

He states "Sex, profanity, and racism remain the primary categories of objections, and most occur in schools and school libraries. Frequently, challenges are motivated by the desire to protect children. While the intent is commendable, this method of protection contains hazards far greater than exposure to the "evil" against which it is leveled. U. S. Supreme Court Justice William Brennan, in Texas v. Johnson, said "If there is a bedrock principle underlying the First Amendment, it is that the Government may not prohibit the expression of an idea simply because society finds the idea itself offensive or disagreeable." Individuals may restrict what they themselves or their children read, but they must not call on governmental or public agencies to prevent others from reading or viewing that
material."

Doyle continues "It should be noted that this bibliography is incomplete because many prohibitions against free speech and expression remain undocumented. Surveys indicate up to 85 percent of actual challenges to library materials receive no media attention and remain unreported. Moreover, this list is limited to books and does not include challenges to magazines, newspapers, films, broadcasts, plays, performances, electronic publications, or exhibits. "

Books that the Martinsburg-Berkeley County Public Libraries owns are indicated by the Have in parentheses after the title. Also noted are those that we do not own or which are long overdue. If you wish to read one of those titles, please call  (304 267 8933) and we will get them from another library for you.

Alexie, Sherman
     The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian (Have)

Allende, Isabel
     The  House of the Spirits (Have)

Anaya, Rodolfo
     Bless Me, Ultima (Have)

Atwood, Margaret
     The Handmaid's Tale (Have)

Aylisli, Akram
     Stone Dreams ( Do not own)

Chbosky, Stephen
     The Perks of Being a Wallflower  (Long overdue)

Ellis, Elisabeth Gaynor, and Anthony Esler
     World History (textbook--do not own)

Ellison, Ralph
     Invisible Man (Have)

Erlbach, Arlene
     The Middle School Survival Guide (Do not own)

Follett, Ken
     The Pillars of the Earth (Have)

Frank, Anne
     The Diary of a Young Girl (Have)

Gaiman, Neil
     Neverwhere (Have)

Green, John
     Looking for Alaska (Have)

Ignatow, Amy
     The Popularity Papers (Have)

Lyga, Barry
     I Hunt Killers (Have)

Morrison, Toni
     Bluest Eye (Have)

Myers, Walter Dean
     Fallen Angels (Have)

Naylor, Phyllis Reynolds
     Intensely Alice (Do not own)

Othman, Norani, ed.
     Muslim Women and the Challenges of Islamic Extremism (Do not own)

Rivera, Tomas
     And the Earth Did Not Devour Him (Do not own)

Rosen, Lucy
     I Am Bane (Do not own)

Rowell, Rainbow
     Eleanor & Park (Have)

St. Stephen's Community House
     The Little Black Book for Girlz: a Book on Healthy Sexuality (Have)

Satrapi, Marjane
     Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood (Have)

Stone, Tanya Lee
     A Bad Boy Can Be Good for a Girl (Long overdue)

Walker, Alice
     Color Purple (Have)

Winter, Jeanette
     Nasreen's Secret School: A True Story from Afghanistan (Have)

Winter, Jeanette
     The Librarian of Basra: A True Story from Iraq (Have)