All Richmond Public Library locations are open to the public. Learn more about our Expanded Access and what to expect on your next visit to the library.

A library book, I imagine, is a happy book.
Cornelia Funke

JXN Project Summer Lecture Series – They Tried to Bury Us


Wednesday, May 19
Online - 7pm

In this second lecture in a six-part series, Melody Short (Jackson Ward Collective) will moderate a panel talk between Ana Edwards (American Civil War Museum and the Sacred Ground Historical Reclamation Project), Shawn Utsey (Virginia Commonwealth University), and Free Bangura (Untold RVA). Panelists will explore Richmond's complex history by uncovering lesser-known stories about Jackson Ward, where Black Richmonders often juxtaposed enslavement and exploitation with entrepreneurship and enterprise.

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Library Reopening – Expanded Access


May 12
All Libraries

Beginning Wednesday, May 12, 2021, RPL libraries will be open to the public. To ensure safe access for all, social distancing and masks are still required. We will continue reopening in phases, and will keep offering digital programs. Visit our reopening page to learn more about our expanded services and what to expect for your next visit to the library.

Hoopla Bonus Borrows


May
Online

Hoopla Bonus Borrows are back for the entire month of May! Any items checked out from the Bonus Borrows collection will not count towards your remaining available checkouts.

2021 YAVA Award Winner



Congratulations to our 2021 YAVA Award winner - Brynne Rebele-Henry! Learn more about Brynne's book "Orpheus Girl" and check out a copy today through our YAVA page. And if you missed the award ceremony, no problem! The whole live stream is now available on our Youtube channel.

Indie Author Contest


Deadline is May 31!

Attention #Virginiawriters! Are you an indie author of adult or YA fiction? The Virginia Author Project is looking to find the best indie-published fiction book in Virginia! Find out more about how you can submit your work - #VirginiaAuthorProject

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2021 Teen Reading Challenge: Shared Talents

Jennifer Deuell
May 14, 2021
2021rplteenreadingchallenge
art
baking
booksforteens
cooking
fashion
ireadya
music
readingchallenge
sports
stem
teenreadingchallenge
teenreads
teentalent
writing
fiction
nonfiction
reading-challenge
reading-recommendations
teens

Welcome to month five of the 2021 RPL Teen Writing Challenge. How's it been going?? If you're completing the challenge in order, this month you'll be focusing on prompt #5 — "Read something by or about a teen who shares one of your talents." Well, let me tell you, this was a hard post to write! That is because you teens are so stinking talented. I did a quick survey on our Teen Discord Server to see which talents you'd like me to cover, and there were a lot! I've tried to combine as many as I could into a few broad categories but this is by...

Slice-of-life graphic novels for all ages

Alexandra Zukas
May 12, 2021
books for adults
children's books
graphic novels
reading suggestions
young adult
book-reviews

So when I say "slice of life," you might be wondering what that means in terms of genre. In slice-of-life fiction, the story focuses on a short episode in a character's life, usually incorporating mundane aspects of their daily routine as a way to discuss the character's interior world. It doesn't generally emphasize plot development (or it at least always plays second fiddle to character development). Slice-of-life graphic novels have this way of always feeling cozy; even when characters are dealing with tough topics, those topics are...

COLONIAL FOUNDERS DAY: And Searching RPL’s New Catalog

kathryn Coker
May 10, 2021
adult
audiobooks
events
history-and-preservation
inform-enrich-empower
law-library

In 2004, the Virginia General Assembly designated May 14th as Colonial Founders Day.  So, I decided for this blog to give a short historical overview of Jamestown and then launch into how we can learn more by searching the library’s new, user friendly catalog. Historical Overview At the direction of King James I, in December 1606, 104 settlers (immigrants) sailed from London with Virginia Company of London orders to construct a stable settlement, discover gold, and find a water way to the Pacific. On May 14, 1607, the...

Music of the Month - May 2021

Ben Himmelfarb
May 7, 2021
book-reviews

Music of the Month is a monthly round-up of RPL's programs and resources related to music. May 2021 Gellman Room Concerts @ RPL Saturday, May 1, 2021, at 2:00 pm, to be livestreamed from the Gellman Room: “A Musical Aviary”—a celebration of our feathered friends with music of composers Camille Saint-Saens, Somei Satoh, Howard Swanson, and Jen Sichler and literature presented by the Chamber Music Society of Central Virginia. Saturday, May 8, 2021, at 2:00 pm, to be livestreamed from the Gellman Room: “Sing...

MEDICAL INJUSTICES

Meldon Jenkins-Jones
May 6, 2021
african-american
Apartheid
Black History
Blood
book recommendations
children
Eugenics
Experiment
Genocide
injustice
Law Library
Medicine
Organ Trafficking
Race
Racism
Red Market
Transplant
adult
black-history-month
health-and-wellness
history-and-preservation
law-library
nonfiction
reading-recommendations

Great strides in medical history have often been made as a result of research and experimentation, and the first human successes were arguably the result of successful experiments, often on animals.  As recently as October 2017, an article in the Richmond Times-Dispatch stated, “Researchers at the Hunter Holmes McGuire VA Medical Center in Richmond have induced heart attacks in dogs, surgically implanted pacemakers into them and trained them to run on treadmills, all in the name of studying heart health in humans.”...