Downtown Christmas Scavenger Hunt

Through the entire month of December, pick up your clues for the Downtown Christmas Scavenger Hunt at the Corydon Branch in the Youth Services Department or through Curbside Pickup.

If you have any questions, please contact the Youth Services Desk at 812-738-4110.

New at HCPL: Advancing Racial Equity Collection

The Harrison County Public Library is a recent recipient of the Indiana Humanities Advancing Racial Equity Collection Development Grant, which allowed the library to add titles to the OverDrive collection and physical library collection. Indiana Humanities said of the project, “Our goal is to help Hoosiers think, read and talk about racial injustice and systemic racism and to support libraries as key public humanities organizations in this work.” This project is made possible by a grant from Lilly Endowment.

You can access OverDrive from your web browser by clicking here. If you would prefer to access these titles from the Libby app on your mobile device, you can download Libby from the Apple App Store and Google Play. To log in, select Harrison County Public Library and enter your HCPL card number and PIN. If you need assistance with your PIN, please call your HCPL branch or send an email that includes your name and card number to eps_admin@hcpl.lib.in.us.

These titles are from OverDrive and Libby
Click on a title to view in OverDrive

These physical items have been added to the library collection.
Click a title to access in the HCPL Enterprise catalog

Black History Activators
I am Alfonso Jones
Polite Protest

Lanesville Free Little Library

See the newest Little Free Library

As a part of the collaboration between Arts Alliance of Southern Indiana and Harrison County Public Library, a new Little Free Library is now on display at the Lanesville Branch.  “Know, Read, Grow” was painted by Providence High School art teacher Stephanie LeBrun.  The LFL will be installed at the Lanesville Elementary School; the dedication date will soon be determined.

Join in the Big Library Read: Reverie

The current Big Library Read available from OverDrive is Reverie by Ryan La Sala. Join the discussion & borrow the featured title from our digital collection.

? Click here to join the discussion. A discussion guide is available here.

ReverieInception meets The Magicians in this wildly imaginative story about what happens when the secret worlds people hide within themselves come to light.

All Kane Montgomery knows for certain is that the police found him half-dead in the river. He can’t remember anything since an accident robbed him of his memories a few weeks ago. And the world feels different—reality itself seems different.

So when three of his classmates claim to be his friends and the only people who can tell him what’s truly going on, he doesn’t know what to believe or who he can trust. But as he and the others are dragged into unimaginable worlds that materialize out of nowhere—the gym warps into a subterranean temple, a historical home nearby blooms into a Victorian romance rife with scandal and sorcery—Kane realizes that nothing in his life is an accident, and only he can stop their world from unraveling.

Author Event: Don’t miss a live, virtual event with author Ryan La Sala on November 10 at 2pm ET. Click here to register today!

Professional Book Nerds

Bonus Big Library Read episode with RYAN LA SALA!

The author of Reverie and overall wonderful human joins Adam back in January

Click here to read a letter from the author.

Dig in to HCPL’s online Digital Archives

By Teresa Douglass, Genealogy Assistant

Ever been curious about what Harrison County was like in years past? Like to look at old photographs? Researching your family history? Have a parent or grandparent that attended an early Harrison County school or an ancestor that was a World War II veteran?  If you answered “Yes” to any of these questions, then you should check out
HCPL’s Digital Archives.

HCPL’s Digital Archives is a website displaying numerous collections of images that reflect the rich and varied history of Harrison County and its residents from the early 19th century to the near present. Collections range from historical records and documents to a vast assortment of photographs of people, places, and events. Come and explore, you’ll be amazed at what you find! For example …

  • See what it was like to attend a one-room rural schoolhouse, take a tour of the many mills that once flourished throughout the county, and visit some of the county’s churches as they once were.
  • Attend the Pancake Festival of the 1960s or view the floats, bands, horses, and beauty queens in the Centennial Fair Parade and the Indiana Sesquicentennial Parade.
  • Go to the fair – See a ticket from the first Harrison County Fair in 1860, or what the fairgrounds looked like in 1900. Read a program from a 1939 horse race and find out who the grand champion livestock winners were in the 1940s.
  • Travel over early roads and bridges, ride the LNA&C Railroad, and catch a steamboat down the Ohio.
  • See some of the many Harrison County residents who served in the military during WWI & WWII.
  • Visit downtown Corydon in the 1880s, 1910s, 1930s, and 1960s, and observe how the town has evolved. Notice the change in streetscapes, and what buildings and houses are gone and which ones remain.
  • View Corydon baseball clubs from the 1890s and basketball teams and players from 1916 through the 1950s. See routines of Corydon cheerleaders from the 1940s and 50s.

And those are just SOME of the photographs. HCPL’s Digital Archives also contains several historical documents, all of which have been transcribed and are easily searchable. Whether you are researching your family or just curious about local history, these documents provide a glimpse into what everyday life was like for many residents in Harrison County.

Looking for a particular ancestor? Simply type their name in the search box at the top of the page, and the results will show how many times the name appears in the collection and on what pages. You might find that your ancestor was a founding member of the Harrison County Agricultural Society, or a Civil War veteran, or a member of the Woman’s Literary Society. Perhaps your ancestor worked on a tugboat in the 1930s, or had his photograph taken in front of the courthouse before leaving for boot camp. You could discover your parents or grandparents high school commencement program, or the type of brand an ancestor used to mark his cattle. You might be able to glean information on family relations and property ownership through perusing probate, township, or insurance records. And you can search justice dockets to investigate if your ancestors had any disputes with their neighbors, or were involved in something more notorious!

So, come look… explore… discover….HCPL’s Digital Archives.

Click on this link to visit the Digital Archives.

The site can also be reached through Harrison County Public Library’s website – go to Branches and select the Center for Genealogy and Local History, scroll down and click on the button marked Digital Archives – or through Indiana Memory and select Collections Across Indiana, then click on Harrison County on the map; or select “Contributors” at the top of the main page and choose Harrison County Public Library from the alphabetized list. A list of our collection titles will appear, choose any of them and it will direct you to our digital archives.

All items featured on HCPL’s Digital Archives are items in the Frederick Porter Griffin Center for Local History and Genealogy. Visit us in person & explore even more local history. We are located in the original Carnegie Library building at 117 W. Beaver Street, just behind the Main library branch building in Corydon.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Little Free Library

Get a sneak peak of the new Little Free Library!

The Harrison County Public Library is delighted to partner with Arts Alliance of Southern Indiana in establishing a Little Free Library in Harrison County. This Little Free Library is a repurposed newspaper box that was designed and painted by local artist Jason Wright. Once the little library is placed, it will be stocked year-round by volunteers with free books, art supplies and nonperishable food items for our community. The Little Free Library is the first to be established through a collaboration between Harrison County Public Library and the Arts Alliance. This partnership plans to add more little libraries in the future.

From October 12 through November 6, the Little Free Library will be on display at the Corydon branch ahead of its official dedication.

If you would like to donate items to the Free Little Library, your donation of books, art supplies and non-perishable food items are welcomed and appreciated! Please contact the Arts Alliance of Southern Indiana for the drop off locations.

If you would prefer, you can give a monetary donation that will be used purchase these items. If you wish to donate, please click here to visit the Arts Alliance of Southern Indiana’s Little Free Library page. Donations will be distributed to little libraries across our area.

Why donate to a Little Free Library?

  • Academically, children who grow up in homes without books are, on average, three years behind children who grow up in homes where reading is encouraged.
  • Experiencing and creating art strengthen problem-solving and critical thinking skills.
  • Crafting and creating supports language development in pre-school and elementary-age children.

Find your fREADom

Each year, the American Library Association (ALA) Office for Intellectual Freedom records hundreds of attempts by individuals and groups to have books removed from libraries’ shelves and from classrooms. The ALA Office for Intellectual Freedom tracked 377 challenges to library, school, and university materials and services in 2019. In all, 566 books were targeted.

A challenge is an attempt to remove or restrict materials based upon the objections of a person or group; banning is the removal of those materials.

Banned Books Week, which spans from September 27 to October 3, 2020, is an annual event celebrating the freedom to read. BBW spotlights current and historical attempts to censor books in libraries and schools, and brings together the entire book community, including librarians, booksellers, publishers, journalists, teachers, and readers, in shared support of the freedom to seek and to express ideas — even those some might consider unorthodox or unpopular.

Learn more about why books are challenged here.

Click to see the Top 10 Challenged Books in 2019
Click to view Censorship by the Numbers

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Readers across the country and around the world will participate in a Stand for the Banned Read-Out during Banned Books Week 2020.

Visit the American Library Association’s Stand for the Banned Read-Out playlists to view videos from past participants which include videos from Judy Blume, Chris Crutcher  Stephen Chbosky and Dav Pilkey, as well as actors Jeff Bridges and Whoopi Goldberg!

 Where do challenges take place?

 

Reasons for book challenges graphic

Click here to review lists of the most frequently challenged books in previous years.

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