A Feed Called schlow-podcast

The Centre County Reads committee has made its selection for Centre County Reads 2020 and it's Alice McDermott's National Book of the Year award-winner Charming Billy!

We chat with three members of the Centre County Reads committee — Schlow's head of adult services Maria Burchill, retired teacher Ellen Coffman, and associate professor of English at Penn State and director of the Center for American Literary Studies Sean Goudie — to find out about the selection process and preview next year's Centre County Reads events.

Centre County Reads: https://www.centrecountyreads.org/

Center for American Literary Studies: https://cals.la.psu.edu/

Alice McDermott: https://www.alice-mcdermott.com/

Schlow is hosting its first Frost Fest on Saturday December 14 and Sunday December 15. The event will have activities throughout the library. We chat with some of the creative team behind creating this inaugural event — Schlow's head of children's services Paula Bannon, children's services librarian Katie Brennan, and head of technical and volunteer services Diane Schmidt.

Frost Fest: https://www.schlowlibrary.org/node/3387

In this month's edition of Meet the Staff, we chat with Schlow's head of IT services Nathaniel Rasmussen, who started at Schlow in 1993 as a page when he was in high school.

In 2018, Nathaniel was named a "Mover and Shaker" by Library Journal fort his work building community partnerships in an effort to bring TV White Space to the community.

The Penn State Thespians return to Schlow December 7-8 for three performances of Frog and Toad in the Community Room. We chat with this year's co-chairs of the thespians, Rebecca Velez and Ryan Castillo, about the organization and putting on a children's show.

Performances for Frog and Toad are 11am and 2:30pm December 7 and 2:30pm December 8.

Penn State Thespians: https://www.psuperformingartscouncil.com/penn-state-thespians.html

With the film, A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood, starring Tom Hanks, coming out, we wanted to reflect on the impact Mr. Rogers had on the lives of people. Nathaniel Rasmussen, Schlow's head of IT services, and Anita Ditz, former head of Schlow's Children's Department, share their fond memories and thoughts on Fred Rogers! 

It's been about a month and a half since Schlow Library joined other public libraries in boycotting eAudiobooks from Simon & Schuster and Blackstone Audio. Other public libraries also are boycotting other publishers because of new restrictions placed on libraries who want their patrons to have access to eBooks and eAudiobooks.

District consultant Brady Clemens and head of adult services Maria Burchill update the boycott at Schlow as well as what's happening nationally between libraries and publishers.

Information on Schlow Boycott: https://www.schlowlibrary.org/news/2019-09-16/schlow-joins-nationwide-publisher-boycott?_ga=2.228867676.1399453481.1573486016-510261925.1540396447

Each year, Jewish Book Month is celebrated the month prior to Hanukkah. This year's Jewish Book Month is November 22 to December 22, and Schlow marks the celebration with book displays in its Children's Department and Adult Services Department.

We chat with Jewish Book Council executive director Naomi Firestone-Teeter about Jewish Book Month and the Jewish Book Council and about the changes that have happened over the years.

Jewish Book Council: https://www.jewishbookcouncil.org/

Paper Brigade: https://www.jewishbookcouncil.org/paper-brigade

With Veterans Day approaching, we dedicate this episode to those who have served or are serving our military. We chat with two local veterans — Vincent Tedesco Jr. and Chris Solo — about their service.

Vincent graduated from Penn State and was commissioned a second lieutenant of artillery in the Regular Army in 1964. He retired from the Army in 1991, after 27 years of service. His military awards include the Silver Star, the Legion of Merit, the Bronze Star, the Defense Meritorious Service Medal, the Meritorious Service Medal, the Army Commendation Medal, the Joint Service Achievement Medal, and the Vietnamese Cross of Gallantry with Silver Star. He commanded three batteries.

Chris is currently a clinical assistant professor of supply chain and analytics in the Smeal College of Business at Penn State. He served 21 years on active duty with the United States Air Force, retiring at the rank of lieutenant colonel. During his military career, he held assignments throughout the United States and in the Republic of Korea, and he served in the intelligence, aircraft program management, and operations research analyst career fields.

Schlow's Fall Fund Drive is in full swing so we thought it would be a good time to chat with the library's manager of philanthropy Molly Hetrick for this month's Meet the Staff episode.

To donate to Schlow: https://www.schlowlibrary.org/donate/make-donation?_ga=2.30738879.1260296095.1571928232-510261925.1540396447

It's our Halloween edition of the podcast. For this episode, we chat with two local thriller authors — J.L. Delozier and Sarah Stephens. The two discuss how thrillers/horrors have changed over the years and what makes a good villain.

J.L. Delozier's books include Type & Cross, Storm Shelter, and Blood Type X, which came out in April. Sarah Stephens's debut, A Flash of Red, came out in April 2016, and her new novel, It Was Always You, will be coming out in November.

J.L. Delozier: http://jldelozier.com/

Sarah Stephens: https://sarahkstephens.com/