Recent Articles

NASA resources are coming to western North Carolina, thanks to a new nationwide outreach program. Fontana Regional Library has been selected as one of only seventy-five libraries in the country to participate in the NASA@ My Library initiative. The program is designed to increase and enhance science, technology, engineering, and math learning opportunities around the country, especially for geographic areas and populations currently underserved in STEM education.

The Marianna Black Library Planning Committee put on another fundraiser to build a new library in Swain County on April 17th, at the Fryemont Inn, in Bryson City. There was a wine tasting and plenty of food provided by the Fryemont Inn, and there were over 60 items to bid on from more than 35 local artists, collectors and businesses! Over 100 tickets were sold for the event and a great time was had by all those who attended. Best of all, we raised over $5,000 to put towards a new library in Swain County!

Jackson County Public Library has partnered with Vaya Health to bring a mental health screening kiosk to the citizens of Jackson County. The goal of the kiosk is to increase awareness about common and treatable mental health conditions, to reduce stigma surrounding mental health and asking for help, and to increase access to quality care through local treatment referrals.

A much needed bandwidth increase became a reality for the Nantahala Community Library (NCL) in February. It’s now 10 times faster! NCL’s 1.3 Mbps frame relay connection became a 10 Mbps fiber connection.

The difficult terrain and remote nature of the Nantahala Community Library has prevented telecommunications companies from tackling the installation of high speed Internet. Finally, in November 2015, a company called BalsamWest FiberNet submitted a proposal that would make this possible.

On Saturday, May 6 the North Carolina Writers’ Network-West and the Jackson County Public Library sponsored the NCWN-West “A Day for Writers” Conference. The event drew NCWN-West members and non-members alike and included workshops on writing poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction, YA and children’s writing, and marketing and publishing. City Lights Bookstore was on hand to sell books to attendees and panelists.

Audiobooks are a great way to still get your reading done while you’re doing other things! You can listen while driving, exercising, gardening, or cooking – you name it. Audiobooks promote literacy in children and adults, expand vocabulary, and make a long car journey fly by.

A new traveling exhibition, Native Voices: Native Peoples’ Concepts of Health and Illness, which examines concepts of health and medicine among contemporary American Indian, Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian people is opening at the Jackson County Public Library. A special opening ceremony will kick off the exhibit on June 23rd at 6 PM.

Readers of all ages will explore engineering, science, art, design, and more this summer as the Fontana Regional Library presents “Build a Better World” during their summer learning program. Activities will include science and engineering experiments, hands-on art and design, planetarium shows and more. The 2017 Summer Learning Program is open and free to young people, babies through young adult, with programs, prizes, storytimes, and more.