Do you HOOPLA? Hoopla is a groundbreaking digital media service that allows Richmond Public Library card holders to borrow movies, music, audiobooks, ebooks, comics and TV shows - up to six borrows per month.  Hoopla content can be accessed on your computer, tablet, or phone – and even your TV!  Borrowed content can be streamed immediately, or downloaded to phones or tablets for offline enjoyment later.   (Pro tip: download content to your device from any library branch, using RPL wi-fi, and then read, watch, or listen at...

Welcome back! I hope my intro post to this year's RAD Reading Challenge has you all excited and ready to dive in! I'm starting out my challenge with the first prompt — read a graphic novel. I think this is a great way to start off the year because graphic novels are fun, visiually satisfying, and tend to be shorter than a traditional novel so there's a high chance of success for completing this prompt. For my graphic novel I chose Almost American Girl by Robin Ha. This book has been on my radar since last year when it was nominated for...

For me, the new year always brings a new reading challenge. In 2020 I completed and wrote about the Read Harder Reading Challenge. And last year I created my very own — The 2021 RPL Teen Reading Challenge. Each year I would say I have moderate success with these. I've discovered some new authors, genres, and books that I may not have otherwise. But I've also read some duds. So why do I return to these challenges year after year, you might ask? The answer, simply, is that they get me out of my reading comfort zone. As a librarian, this is...

So, we’ve come through well over a year of quarantine. It has become clear that physical health, including astrong immune system, is very important. This is a good time to revisit, or modify, many traditional foods and ways of preparing them. We can’t help but be distracted or influenced by the whole foods plant-based eating lifestyle that is being promoted by naturalists, athletes, chefs, and even medical doctors. Plant-based diets are everywhere--on television, social media, and the internet. Often we find ourselves inundated by...