Blog Entries

June is Audiobook Month and it’s a great time to try out an audiobook, if you have never given them a chance.  Why audiobooks?  They offer just one more way to enjoy more BOOKS!  What’s better than that?  If it’s hard to find time to sit down and read a book, an audiobook will make cooking, cleaning, working out, and other errands, more entertaining!  Make long summer road trips with the children a breeze with a family-friendly audiobook playing.  Listening to books can create a different experience for readers of all ages ...

It is officially summer! School is out, Parrot Island is open, and the Teen Summer Lottery has begun. The Teen Summer Lottery is our version of a summer reading program for people between the ages of 13 and 18. If you are 12 years old, you get to choose between participating in the Children's Summer Reading Program or the Teen Summer Lottery.

You may sign up at any library location at any time during the Lottery, which runs from June 1-July 31. It is best to sign up at the location where you will pick up your prizes. 

The rules ...

Join us for an evening with Athlete, Author, and National Geographic Adventurer of the Year Jennifer Pharr Davis on Tuesday, June 11, at 7 PM at the Main Library (3201 Rogers Avenue, Fort Smith).  Jennifer Pharr Davis is a lover of long journeys and good stories.  She is an author, speaker, record setter, and 2012 National Geographic Adventurer of the Year who has covered more than 14,000 miles of long-distance trails on six different continents.

In 2011, she set the overall fasted known time on the 2,181-mile Appala...

Neil Gaiman once wrote that "a library is a place that is a repository of information and gives every citizen equal access to it. That includes health information." Mental health conditions are common among teens and young adults. 1 in 5 teens and young adults live with a mental health condition. At the Fort Smith Public Library, we want to help teens find the information and stories they need to understand mental health. 

Since May is National Mental Health Awareness month, we want to raise awareness of mental health and fi...

The children’s summer reading program encourages reading for pleasure and is designed to minimize summer learning loss. The objective of the summer reading program is to keep kids actively engaged in reading while encouraging family involvement at the same time. Preschool children who are too young to read independently can also participate. Because the best way to raise a reader is to read to a child, they will receive credit for the books read to them.  The theme this year is A Universe of Stories, so get ready for a universe of fun!

Let your mother know how much she means to you with a handmade Mother's Day Card from May 1 - May 11.  Stop by the Dallas Street Branch Library and use your creativity to make your own personalized card for Mom!  This drop-in do-it-yourself craft activity is open to all ages during regular library hours.  All materials are provided at this free program. 

The Association of American Publishers launched the first Get Caught Reading Month in 1999, to encourage a love of reading at all ages.  This nationwide campaign is now managed by Every Child a Reader and supported by the Lois Lenski Covey Foundation.  Ads and posters portray famous actors, authors, athletes, singers, and even well-known book characters taking up the cause to get “caught reading” a book.

In May, the staff at the Miller Branch wants to catch you reading!  A display in the library entrance shows off some of our customers who were "busted" reading insi...

Have you ever tried to pick up one of the letters on the sidewalk in front of the Main Library?  You are not alone!  Many of our library visitors, both young and old, attempt to pick them up when they spy them on the ground.  The bronze letters spell out the title of the sculpture in the fountain "T-R-A-N-S-E-N-D-U-R-A-N-C-E" beginning with the "T" at the fountain and ending with the "E" in front of the building.  The sculptor, Douglass Warnock, entitled his work Transendurance, a compound word inspired by the two qualities he thought best exemplified the strugg...

Kanopy showcases more than 30,000 of the world’s best films, including award-winning documentaries, rare and hard-to-find titles, film festival favorites, indie and classic films, and world cinema with collections from Kino Lorber, MusicBox Films, Samuel Goldwyn,The Orchard, The Great Courses, PBS and thousands of independent filmmakers.  Kanopy provides access to films of unique social and cultural value; films that are often difficult or impossible to access elsewhere, and programming that features diversity, with a wide array of foreign language films and films on race, and current ...

The Miller Branch Library recently hosted a special storytime event on the evening of March 26th.  Children were encouraged to wear pajamas and bring a beloved stuffed animal to cuddle with while they enjoyed the storytime, which featured monster stories, monster songs, and a pajama craft. 

After storytime, children answered a questionnaire about their stuffed friends and "checked them in" to the library for the night.  Once the library closed for the evening, the stuffed animals settled down for a rest...  Or did they...?

Photograp...

Get ready for the release of Marvel’s Avengers: Endgame with our DIY Superhero Art activity at the Dallas Street Branch Library.  This drop-in Do-It-Yourself activity will allow you to use your creativity to create your own superhero art using optional stencils or tracing paper.  Superhero graphic art coloring will also be available.  Make your own superhero comic strip if you feel like it!  This activity will be available April 22 - 27 and is open to all ages.

Every April we celebrate National Poetry Month, which was started by the Academy of American Poets in 1996. 

National Poetry Month aims to encourage people to read poems, increase the attention paid to poetry by the media, and encourage support for poets and poetry. For more information about the Academy of American Poets’ celebration, visit their website.

Keep reading to find out how you can celebrate National Poetry Month at the library. 

This April at the Main Library&nbs...

April is National Poetry Month!  It is the largest literary celebration in the world and is celebrated by readers, students, teachers, librarians, booksellers, publishers, bloggers, and, of course, poets (poets.org). Poetry holds an important place in our culture and our lives. Poetry has a special place in our children’s lives as well.  Some of the first poems babies hear are Mother Goose rhymes such as Patty Cake, This Little Piggy and Mary Had a Little Lamb.  The rhythm, rhyme, and parental interaction are all bricks in the foundation of early literacy skill...

Spring is coming in hot and bringing some hot new releases.   Check out our most anticipated new releases hitting the YA section.

Back at it after her mega-hit The Hate U Give, Angie Thomas released On the Come Up in February, and we couldn’t wait to get our hands (and eyes) on it.

Sixteen-year-old Bri wants to be one of the greatest rappers of all time. It’s hard to get your come up, though, when you’re labeled “trouble” at school and your fridge at home is empty after your mom loses her job. But Bri’s success is all that stands between her family and homele...

What happens at the library after the lights go out?  Bring your favorite stuffed animal to the library for our annual Pajama Storytime & Stuffed Animal Sleepover and maybe you will find out!  Kids of all ages and their families are invited to the Miller Branch Library on Tuesday, March 26th at 5:30 PM for a very special bedtime storytime.  Children are encouraged to wear pajamas and bring a favorite stuffed animal friend.  After everyone enjoys some bedtime stories, songs, and a craft, the stuffed animals will then have the opportunity to stay at the library for a s...