By Shaileen Beyer, Librarian, Fiction Department

When times are tough, humor helps. Escape into the happy space of one of these eBooks, available to you free with a Pratt library card or eCard.

Literary Fiction

Romance

by Hannah Lane, Librarian, African American Department

This year’s theme for Jazz Appreciation Month is Women in Jazz. You may already be familiar with such Black Jazz greats as Duke Ellington and Wynton Marselis, but how much have you heard about the Black women who also shaped the genre, such as Mary Lou Williams, Tiny Davis, Ella Fitzgerald, Blanche Calloway, Billie Holliday, and Clora Bryant? Our doors at the Pratt may be closed, but we’re taking this opportunity to celebrate powerful Black women in Jazz by connecting you with some of our wonderful, digital resources.

A brief history of Jazz

And they wouldn’t be incorrect. During the 1930’s in cities like New York, St. Louis, Chicago, and Kansas City, important developments in the genre emerged and numerous legendary Black Jazz artists rose to fame. Countless standards from “Take the A Train,” “East St. Louis Toodle-oo,” and Lucky Millinder’s “Savoy” honor the musical legacies of Black communities in these vibrant settings.

And just as many Jazz standards recall the place where the deeply diverse, Afro-diasporic music was born–near the mouth of the Mississippi river, in the cosmopolitan port city of New Orleans, Louisiana. There, in the first decades of the twentieth century, Black musicians (many, people who survived slavery and their descendants) brought the music to be. At the same time, millions of Black families, workers, musicians, and artists were leaving the South for economic opportunities in northern and midwestern cities, as well as to escape the terror that was ripping throughout the south with the rise of racist violence and organized, white supremacist groups. Jazz moved throughout the United States with these hopeful Black travelers, and set down new roots in the burgeoning, new centers of Black arts and culture that they created.

Jazz Appreciation Month,” Smithsonian Museum of American History website.

Artist such as Count Basie and Duke Ellington rightfully live on in our historical memory of Jazz music, but they weren’t alone. Since the late nineteenth- and early twentieth century, Black women have been key innovators in Jazz and Blues music. Think, iconic vocalists like Gertude “Ma” Rainey, born in Columbus, Georgia in 1886, or Bessie Smith, born in Chattanooga, Tennessee in 1894. Ma Rainey, “Mother of the Blues” and Smith, “The Empress of Blues” are regarded as two of the most influential vocalists in American popular music.

Throughout the month of April, the African American Department will introduce amazing Black, women Jazz vocalists, composers, and bandleaders who, likewise, left immortal legacies in American popular music and culture. In the meantime, enjoy these digital resources about Jazz and the Blues in African American history!

For more Jazz Documentaries click the links below:

Jazz: A Film by Ken Burns

T’Aint Nobody’s Bizess: Queer Blues Divas of the 1920s

Mientras tanto, la biblioteca tiene muchas actividades divertidas, recursos educativos y libros, películas y más gratis disponibles en línea, incluyendo estos videos que hicimos especialmente para Dia del Niño. ¡Echar un vistazo!

In the meantime, the library has many fun activities, educational resources, and books, movies, and more available online, including these videos that we created especially for Dia del Nino.

¿Qué necesitas? / What do you need?

Acceda a los recursos de la Biblioteca Pratt con una computadora, tableta, eReader o smartphone y su tarjeta Pratt Library.

Access Pratt’s resources with a computer, tablet, eReader, or smartphone and your Pratt library card.

No necesita identificación para obtener una tarjeta electrónica.

You don’t need ID in order to get an eCard.

Descargas y streaming gratis / Free downloadable and streaming media

Su tarjeta le da acceso a medios descargables y de streaming para niños, adolescentes y adultos.

Your card gives you access to streaming and downloadable media for kids, teens, and adults.

Saque libros electrónicos o audiolibros, películas y programas de televisión, música, revistas y más con su tarjeta Pratt Library. 

Check out ebooks and eaudiobooks, movies and TV, music, magazines and more with your Pratt library card.

Club de Lectura de Primavera / Spring Reading Club

Muéstranos qué estás leyendo y haciendo para Spring Reading usando el hashtag #prattspringreading

Show us what you’re reading and doing for Spring Reading using the hashtag #prattspringreading

Aprende desde casa / Learn at home

Aprende desde casa con nuestros recursos digitales para estudiantes. Hemos recopilado recursos de la Biblioteca Pratt para ayudar a los estudiantes durante este tiempo sin precedentes, incluidos varios recursos académicos completamente nuevos. Con una tarjeta de la Biblioteca Pratt, los estudiantes pueden encontrar materiales de estudio, conversar con un tutor en vivo, obtener ayuda con la tarea y más. Para obtener aún más recursos educativos gratuitos en línea, consulte esta inmenso lista.

Learn at home with our digital resources for students. We have compiled Pratt library resources that will help students during this unprecedented time, including some completely new ones. With a Pratt library card, students can find study materials, talk to a live tutor, get help with homework and more. For more free online resources, check out this immense list.

Recursos para aprender a codificar / Learn to code

¡Ahora es el momento perfecto para para practicar habilidades de codificación! Muchos sitios ofrecen lecciones gratuitas de codificación, que incluyen:

This is the perfect moment to practice coding skills! Many sites are offering free coding lessons, including:

• Codecademy
• freeCodeCamp
• Scratch
• Code.org
• Github

Eventos en línea / Online events

Nuestras bibliotecas están cerradas, ¡pero tenemos muchos eventos virtuales en línea! Explore nuestros eventos virtuales y asista a talleres en línea, grupos de escritores y mucho más desde la comodidad de su propia casa.

Our library buildings are closed, but we have many virtual events online! Check out our virtual events and try an online workshop, writing group, and much more from the comfort from your own home.

No necesitas una tarjeta de biblioteca para disfrutar de estos eventos.

You don’t need a library card to enjoy these events.

Hemos enumerado muchos de los servicios y materiales de Pratt para niños, pero la biblioteca también tiene muchos recursos valiosos para adultos. Nuestro sitio web tiene información actualizada sobre COVID-19 y libros, música, revistas y películas para adultos, incluidas muchas películas en español en la app Kanopy.

We have listed many of the Pratt’s services and materials for children, but the library also has many valuable resources for adults. Our website has reliable information about COVID-19 as well as books, music, magazines and movies for adults, including many films in Spanish in the Kanopy app.

Por favor, ten cuidado. La biblioteca está aquí para ti.

Please stay safe. The library is here for you.

The Pratt Library continues to serve our community

As we wrap up National Library Week, we are celebrating in a very different way.  In mid-March the Pratt Library closed its doors to protect the health and safety of our customers and staff during the COVID-19 pandemic. But that has not stopped staff from working tirelessly to serve Maryland.

Here are just a few things that are happening at the Pratt:

• Hundreds of staff are working from home to provide services

• A robust schedule of daily virtual programs has been developed including Writers CRIBS! and Virtual Storytime. 

• Librarians have conducted more than 1200 live online chats to answer customer references questions.

• More than 3,000 new customers have signed up for digital eCards.

• Workforce librarians are providing one-on-one email consultation with those who need umemployment help (gojobs@prattlibrary.org) and small businesses (bc@prattlibrary.org)

• An educational webpage has been set up to help parents find resources for home schooling their students including live online tutors. 

• Collections staff members are working with City Schools to launch new educational databases like Tumblebooks and Scholastic.

• Staff are using Teen Center sewing machines and 3D printers to make PPE for healthcare workers

• A web guide has been developed to provide accurate sources of information on COVID-19.

An Interview with writer, speaker Bea Johnson and Lauren Read, Librarian, Business, Science, & Technology Department

Lifestyle changes are often made in incremental steps.  For this approach, is there a big-impact swap that you suggest as a first step?

Learn to say no is my first rule.  Refuse what you do not need. In such a consumer society, accepting is condoning.  Every time we accept a toothbrush at the dentist, a plastic bag at the store, a straw at the café, we create the demand to make more of something that quickly becomes trash.  Learn to say no on the spot; find a sentence for you to make it easy to politely decline, and people will accept and respect it. It takes three weeks for habits to form, this included, so take a second to ask do you need it first.

Many people may look at the zero-waste lifestyle as intimidating, and we know that your talk – and your book – address those things that might hold people back or that people think are too difficult.  What’s one misconception you’d like to point out to Baltimoreans in advance of your talk?

The zero waste lifestyle is the complete opposite of the mainstream understanding.  It does not take more time; it saves time. It does not cost more; it saves money. It helps the environment, yes, but also improves our standard of living.

Zero Waste Home is available as an e-audio through RB Digital.

Although thinking and living in terms of zero waste isn’t entirely focused on products, and overall, secondhand and built-to-last items rank highest, there is a lot of overwhelm to make the perfect choice among countless ones.  How do we balance making ethical product choices and not going crazy with options? Something to do with simplicity, perhaps…?

The best product is the one that you don’t buy.  Before you buy, ask do you even need this. We live in a consumerist society, created by manufacturers and marketers, creating fictitious need, promising time and money saving.  In the end we find that it’s the opposite: we must go to the store, buy, transport, stow, use, separate to dispose of “properly,” go back and buy more. There are simple questions to ask yourself.  Is this a quality, reusable item? Can you buy it secondhand [non-food] or in bulk [food]? Boost the secondhand market rather than the new manufacturing one.

A related area of overwhelm is caring for what we have.  I know to enjoy my strengths, such as cooking, and outsource my weak areas, like tailoring.  What’s your best advice to encourage people to fix rather than replace items?

When you adopt zero waste practices, you consider the whole life-cycle of things, and that includes repair.  Libraries can offer workshops to teach such skills. I wish it was more common in the U.S.

I know Baltimore has plenty of community gardens to get involved with.  What are some of your favorite ideas for connecting with community whilst keeping these practices?  

Whether you shop at the grocery store or the farmers’ market, bringing your reusables, it forces communication and creates interaction with staff and others.  It fosters communication, which over time can create great relationships. Shopping secondhand tends to be local, so it’s an added way to get to know your community members.  Renting items, also, creates bonds. In apartments, too. Even composting. There are social aspects to sharing.

Finally, libraries play a fine role in facilitating a sharing economy, especially when it comes to books, music, and movies, and in some places games, art, tools, instruments, bikes….  We’re also a third place for people to gather and collaborate in a noncommercial way. In your travels, have you noted a spectacular way that a library is promoting sustainability?

Overall, people can start looking at libraries as a space that goes beyond books, hosting workshops making useful things, having me talk, for instance.  Tool libraries are fantastic; my library has a seed library, and I wish they had created a tool library first, but people use our library like crazy. I think a lot of people go straight to the bookstore because they don’t realize how updated libraries are.  In France, they have toy libraries: I really like that.