Adult education is just one of the services of the Catawba County Library System. Part of that learning is through books and audio/visuals, of course, but a goodly amount of instruction is conducted in classroom settings.

For a number of years, the library has offered classes for adults who want to more effectively use their personal computers and navigate the internet. The free 90-minute classes are offered year-round as a public service by trained library staff. Pre-registration is required.

Last year the library offered 67 computer classes. This year’s total should be comparable. Topics include Job Searching, writing a resume, using a blackberry device and work with such programs as Publisher, Excel and PowerPoint. The classes are offered at various library locations to make the learning opportunities accessible to most patrons.

With so many local residents out of work, the library has become an oasis in a troubled sea, especially for those with limited or no computer skills. They must use the internet to file for unemployment and to post a resume.

Judy Foster, senior librarian at Newton, leads some computer classes.

“A considerable number of customers don’t know how to type or how to set up an email address, much less how to navigate the internet, so the library staff has become the community’s teachers in many respects. It is both challenging and rewarding,” Foster said.

Computer offerings go beyond the basics. Twice in the past year, the county library has offered a certificate course in digital literacy. The self-paced classes are offered for up to 10 weeks, or until the individual completes the course, a valuable credential to prove computer literacy to potential employers.

April Green, library services specialist, conducts some introductory sessions. “Interest in these classes remains high,” she said. “More and more people are relying on us to introduce them to personal computers for the first time.”

The library’s free internet access is a lifesaver for many residents, librarians say, because a growing number cannot afford a computer or internet access. The county library system maintains 96 public access computers among its seven locations including Newton, Conover, Claremont, Maiden, St. Stephens, Sherrills Ford and Southwest (Mountain View.)

In addition to technology classes, the library hosts ongoing GED classes at the Southwest Branch for individuals who lack a high school diploma. Registration is handled through Catawba Valley Community College, but the instruction is free.

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Friends of Catawba County Library will meet at 11 a.m. Monday, March 15, at Main Library in Newton.

On the business agenda will be discussion of the ongoing book sale and support of library projects including materials purchases, Summer Reading and support of upcoming author visits.

Friends is a 501c(3) nonprofit organization that serves as a community liaison and support group for the entire county library system. The group welcomes interested members of the community. For more information call 465-8292.

If you’ve ever watched “North Carolina Weekend” on UNC-TV, you’ve seen Bob Garner. He’s the guy who tastes succulent stews, perfect poultry and delectable desserts in the weekly restaurant segment.

Mmmm mmm!

Garner’s appreciative exclamations may sound corny, but they keep viewers tuned in to public television on Thursday and Friday nights.

Local residents will soon get a chance to meet and hear the Barbecue King talk pork in Catawba County. The free program, sponsored by Friends of Catawba County Library, begins at 2 p.m. Sunday, March 21 at the Main Library in Newton. Garner will share the history of Tar Heel pork dishes, discussing the pros and cons of vinegar- and tomato-based sauces, butt-only or whole hog, chopped vs. sliced-all vital subjects for those who love North Carolina’s signature dish.

In addition to culinary history, be sure to stay for complimentary barbecue samples from three local restaurants: Judge’s, Little Pigs and Bennett’s. To top off the afternoon, Barnes & Noble will have books available for sale and signing.

Garner was associated with UNC-TV as a staff member and as an independent producer for more than 10 years before joining the North Carolina state office of AARP as Communications Director in 2000. His books include North Carolina Barbecue: Flavored by Time, an exploration of our state’s long-standing affinity for barbecue. He is also the author of Bob Garner’s Guide to North Carolina Barbecue, a restaurant guide published in 2002.

Friends of Catawba County Library is a 501c(3) nonprofit organization that serves as a community liaison and support group for the entire county library system. The group welcomes interested members of the community. For more information about Friends or the barbecue program call 465-8292.

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Adult patrons are asked to submit their favorite book titles to staff at the Maiden Branch of Catawba County Library System.

According to Branch Manager Betty Jean Stinson, a booklet will be created listing customers’ favorite reads. Adults are encouraged to submit recommended titles and a brief review of their favorite book before April 17. Both fiction and nonfiction titles may be submitted. Forms are available at the branch library.

The finished booklet will be displayed in the Maiden Branch during May.

Stinson said that the project is a way to encourage adult reading and highlight books that others may be interested in considering.

For complete information, contact the Maiden Branch Library at 428-2712.

Catawba County Library System will observe Teen Tech Week with special youth activities at the Main Library in Newton.

April Green, team leader in Youth Services, said the department has designated Tuesday, March 9, as “Wii Day.” From 3 to 5 p.m. that Tuesday teens are invited to play the Wii or challenge library staff.

For the uninitiated, Wii (pronounced “we”) is a video game console released by Nintendo. Similar to the Microsoft Xbox360 and Sony Playstation 3, Wii offers a wireless controller.

On Thursday, March 11, teens will gather at 4:30 p.m. to create a library promotional video.

“They will write lyrics and put them to music in a song or rhythm and rhyme format,” Green said. Once the creation is finished, teens will be video recorded.

Teen Tech Week, to be observed March 7-13, is a national initiative sponsored by the Young Adult Library Services Association and is aimed at teens, their parents, educators and other concerned adults. The purpose of the initiative is to ensure that teens are competent and ethical users of technologies, especially those that are offered through libraries such as DVDs, databases, audiobooks, and videogames.

The county library system has more than 77,000 registered borrowers. About a third of them are age 18 or younger.

Local patrons are able to enjoy audio books with miniaturized technology, thanks to generosity of Friends of Catawba County Library.

Nearly $1,100 worth of “Playaway” books were purchased for the county system recently.

Playaways are smaller than a CD, bigger than a matchbox, and users simply plug headphones into the stand-alone audiobooks. Because users don’t need a specific listening device, they can be enjoyed most anywhere-while jogging, doing housework, taking trips.  There’s nothing to download and no special equipment to buy. If you don’t have your own earphones, you can pick up a set at the library.

“The idea is to get more books into your life as easily as possible,” said Lynne Bolick Reed, library services coordinator in Newton. “Playaways have been popular with customers since we introduced them last year. We are grateful to Friends for funding books in this format.”

Among the popular authors represented in the Friends purchase are Nora Roberts, Stephen King, J. D. Robb, Danielle Steel, Harlan Coben and David Baldacci.

For more specifics about Playaway books, check with any branch or log on to http://www.catawbacountygovernment.library  and enter “Playaways” when searching the catalog.

Due to inclement weather, Woven into History, a program on early American textiles, been postponed from March 2 until 5 p.m. Tuesday, March 23, at the Main Library in Newton.

Melinda Herzog will give the illustrated talk on early American linens, quilts, coverlets and other domestic textiles from the colonial period through the 19^th century. Herzog, a textiles preservation specialist, serves as executive director of the Catawba County Museum of History.

Herzog’s quilt identification session remains scheduled for 5 p.m. Tuesday, March 9 at the library. Audience members may bring up to two quilts for pattern identification and dating during the March 9 session.

Both programs are free and open to the public. Questions should be directed to Tammy Wilson, public information officer for Catawba County Library System, at 465-8661.

Catawba County Library System has partnered with the Catawba County Youth Council to promote literacy among young children.

April Green, library services specialist in Youth Services, said Youth Council volunteers will lead selected family story times at Newton and St. Stephens this spring.

“This is a win-win opportunity for the library, youth and children,” Green said. Volunteers will gain some valuable experience, children will enjoy their stories and library staff can be freed up to serve other patrons.

Youth will lead the family story time at the Main Library beginning at 6:30 p.m. Monday, March 1 and 15, April 5 and 10 and May 3 and 17. The youth will pick a theme and offer a very interactive story time including stories, songs, action rhymes and crafts.

A similar program will be hosted at St. Stephens Branch during their evening story times at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, March 9, April 6 and May 11. Ridgeview Branch Library in Hickory will also host Youth Council story times at 4:30 p.m. on Monday, March 29, April 26 and May 24.

The Youth Council is a leadership program for selected high school students. Currently, 28 qualified students represent each local high school and five community organizations. The Council was organized in 2008 to identify issues and develop projects to address them.

The Youth Council represents the second such partnership with the library. Since Winter 2009, teens from Newton Health & Science High School have tutored elementary school and middle school students on Tuesdays and Thursdays at Main Library. Hours of that free service are 3:15 to 4:30.

Catawba County Library System, a service of Catawba County Government, has some 77,000 registered borrowers. About one-third of them are age 18 or younger.

Irish literature. Two names most people think of are James Joyce and William Butler Yeats and for good reason. Both were instrumental in redefining 20^th century literature not only in their native Ireland but throughout the world.

Joyce, who went into self-imposed exile in the early 1900s and Yeats, who served as an Irish senator, were in tune with the quest for independence when the Irish Republic was established in 1922.

Both authors are well-represented in collections of any public library, the Catawba County Library notwithstanding.

Joyce, , best known for Ulysses, details the day of June 16, 1904 in and around Dublin. The book, one of the more difficult to get “into” is a whopping783 pages. Bloomsday is a commemoration observed annually on June 16 in Dublin and elsewhere to celebrate the life of Joyce and relive events in Ulysses The name derives from protagonist Leopold Bloom. Thursday, June 16, 1904 was the date of Joyce’s first outing with his wife-to-be who inspired the character, Molly Bloom.

Joyce’s other classics: Finnegan’s Wake, Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man.

Yeats, born 17 years before Joyce in 1882, was a multifaceted character who dabbled not only in politics but mysticism and Irish legends. He was instrumental in the Irish literary revival and co-founded the Abbey Theatre, Dublin. In fact, his weakness for women led to personal turmoil as well as inspiration for his literary figures. He won a Nobel Prize in 1923.

You think you’ve never heard a Yeats verse? How about “A terrible Beauty is born” from the poem, “Easter 1916″ or “That is no country for old men” from “Sailing to Byzantium”?

Ireland’s reverence for creative writers has resulted in tax breaks over the years. It’s no wonder that the island slightly larger than South Carolina, has continued to produce so much literature per capita. Among the other greats, Jonathan Swift, T. S. Eliot, Oscar Wilde, Samuel Beckett, George Bernard Shaw, C. S. Lewis.

The tradition continues. If you haven’t picked up a contemporary Irish author, consider:

Seamus Heaney, winner of the 1995 Nobel Prize in Literature, makes the lions’ share of poetry sales in Ireland and throughout the world. Locals may remember his appearances at Lenoir-Rhyne College through arrangements of his bibliographer, Dr. Rand Brandes. His works in the county library system include a translation of Beowulf, Death of a Naturalist, District and Circle, Finders Keepers and Opened Ground, among others.

Edna O’Brien, celebrated novelist who’s still publishing at 79 years old. Her best-known titles: A Rose in the Heart, House of Splendid Isolation and The Light of Evening, to name a few.

Roddy Doyle, winner of the 1993 Booker Prize with his novel Paddy Clarke Ha, Ha, Ha, treats serious subjects with wry humor. Other noted works:  The Commitment, The Woman Who Walked into Doors, The Deportees.

Marita Conlon-McKenna, a celebrated Dublin children’s author, began her career writing about the Irish potato famine. Her “famine trilogy” includes Under the Hawthorn Tree, Wildflower Girl and Fields of Home.

Check for these and other titles at the Catawba County Library or go on-line http://www.catawbacountync.gov/library

Hours at the St. Stephens Branch Library will be reduced on Thursday evenings, as of March 11, according to Karen Foss, director of Catawba County Library System.

The branch will close at 6 rather than 8 p.m. on Thursdays. Foss said that the change is due to a reduction in staff.

All other library hours will remain the same. The branch is open from noon to 8 p.m. Mondays and Tuesdays and 9 to 6 Wednesdays, Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays. Sunday hours are 2-6 p.m. during the school year (September through April.)

The St. Stephens facility is located at 3225 Springs Road NE, Hickory. Branch manager is Debbie Hosford.