Author: berryvillelibrary

"Our library, our future"

Celebrate Berryville: January

The year 2025 promises to be a historic one for the Berryville Public library and, by extension, for the town of Berryville. Groundbreaking on the new library should happen sometime in the first quarter of the year, so the library should be finished either at the very end of the year or, more likely, in early 2026. Preparation for the new building has made us at the Berryville Library nostalgic and reflective, not just about the library’s history but also about the town’s history. Other seminal moments in Berryville Library history occurred in 1938 and 1978, so we’ll be looking back this year on what Berryville was like then, as well as what it is like now, as we also look to the future.

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Local Roots: December

Lots has changed in the years the Berryville Library has been in our current building. We expect lots will change in the years the library will be housed in the new building we are hoping to break ground on soon. That’s why we think it is so important as we move towards this bigger, better future to remember our roots. To that end, we have created the Berryville Library Legacy Project, which lets donors highlight a piece of local history of their choice by selecting photographs to be displayed on the end of a shelving unit at the new library. We also remain committed to helping create a sense of place through our collection, so we are going to highlight our Arkansas section this year.  Each month, we’ll look at some of the different books and resources in that collection that feature unique parts of the history and culture of Berryville, Carroll County, the Ozarks, and Arkansas. There’s lots to explore about this place we call home! For December, we’re looking at our collection of local interest journals and magazines.

Continue reading “Local Roots: December”

Happy Holidays from the Berryville Public Library!

Hope all of our patrons and blog readers have a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

The library is closed today and tomorrow for Christmas. We’re also closing early next Tuesday, December 31, at 4:30 pm, and closing all of Wednesday, January 1 to welcome in 2025.

However, just because the library is closed doesn’t mean you can’t still use our resources!

Continue reading “Happy Holidays from the Berryville Public Library!”

Book Buzz: Literary Fiction, Dark Fantasy, Show-Stopping Entertaining, and Series Galore

Every month, we’re profiling new-ish releases that are getting critical and commercial buzz. For December, we’re looking at literary fiction set in North Dakota, Hawaii, and Sarajevo; a delightful cozy women’s fiction series about a librarian set in rural Ireland; dark fantasy; nonfiction about eye-catching charcuterie boards; and a couple of very different series of audiobook historical mysteries.

Continue reading “Book Buzz: Literary Fiction, Dark Fantasy, Show-Stopping Entertaining, and Series Galore”

There’s Still Time to be Part of This Story!

As many of you know, the Berryville Public Library has long needed a new building, and we have been raising money for that since 2021.

And, today, we have some very exciting news.

Continue reading “There’s Still Time to be Part of This Story!”

Make Time to Play: December

This year, we’re celebrating play at the library! Everyone knows how beneficial play is for kids, but did you know that it is equally important for adults? It can be a wonderful stress reliever, boosts creativity, alleviates boredom, and may even lower your blood pressure. To that end, every month in 2024, we’re highlighting a different form of play. Each month we’ll have a bingo-style fun card. If you complete all the activities for a blackout on your card, you’ll receive a special prize. The more of the 12 monthly fun cards you complete this year, the better chance you have to win the grand prize and be crowned our annual play champion!

Continue reading “Make Time to Play: December”

Local Roots: November

Lots has changed in the years the Berryville Library has been in our current building. We expect lots will change in the years the library will be housed in the new building we are hoping to break ground on soon. That’s why we think it is so important as we move towards this bigger, better future to remember our roots. To that end, we have created the Berryville Library Legacy Project, which lets donors highlight a piece of local history of their choice by selecting photographs to be displayed on the end of a shelving unit at the new library. We also remain committed to helping create a sense of place through our collection, so we are going to highlight our Arkansas section this year.  Each month, we’ll look at some of the different books and resources in that collection that feature unique parts of the history and culture of Berryville, Carroll County, the Ozarks, and Arkansas. There’s lots to explore about this place we call home! For November, in honor of Family History Month, we’re looking at local history.

Continue reading “Local Roots: November”

Crystal King’s In The Garden of Monsters

Julia Lombardi has no memories of her life before a couple of years ago. In the meantime, she has worked as a model for artists living in post-World War II Rome. When the famous surrealist Salvador Dalí offers her the chance to work as his model for Persephone in an eerie gothic garden called the Garden of Monsters, she jumps on the chance, despite her misgivings. Dalí is offering her a lot of money, and it will only be a week. No matter how bizarre the infamously eccentric artist is or how insufferable his domineering manager wife is, it will only be seven days. What could possibly go wrong?

However, as Julia soon sees, a lot can go wrong in seven days. The Dalís are even more strange and difficult than she had ever bargained for, Dalí himself begins to insist she is Persephone and forces her to eat pomegranate seeds, she hears unsettling whispers in the garden, and she can’t shake the feeling that their intense, mysterious, magnetic, handsome host Ignazio is someone she knows from somewhere. Amid the days of indulging Dalí’s increasingly tyrannical artistic whims and the nights of feasting on elaborate, sumptuous themed banquets in the historic palazzo attached to the garden, Julia herself starts to wonder if she is Persephone. . . .

Continue reading “Crystal King’s In The Garden of Monsters”

Make Time to Play: November

This year, we’re celebrating play at the library! Everyone knows how beneficial play is for kids, but did you know that it is equally important for adults? It can be a wonderful stress reliever, boosts creativity, alleviates boredom, and may even lower your blood pressure. To that end, every month in 2024, we’re highlighting a different form of play. Each month we’ll have a bingo-style fun card. If you complete all the activities for a blackout on your card, you’ll receive a special prize. The more of the 12 monthly fun cards you complete this year, the better chance you have to win the grand prize and be crowned our annual play champion!

Continue reading “Make Time to Play: November”