A Stack, an Omnibus, A Veritable Repository

What do you call a group of librarians? While there's no official name, a large congress of librarians descended on the town of Natchez last week for the annual Mississippi Library Association (MLA) conference. MLA was officially organized 115 years ago on October 29, 1909 and is even older than the Mississippi Library Commission (MLC). (FYI: MLC was created 17 years later in 1926.) You may be wondering what a collection of librarians does at a librarian conference. Shelve your thoughts of rooms of quiet readers shushing one another and let me share the highlights of last week's memorable meeting.

Read with MLC: Retelling of a Classic

Welcome to October, and the tenth month of the 2024 Read With MLC reading challenge! This month's reading prompt is to read a retelling of a classic. Once a tale has been released into the public domain, the sky's the limit when it comes to storytellers and their ability to put their own stamp on an older work. (Want to learn more about when works hit the public domain? Check out one of our earlier posts here.)  Meg Donohue, author of the Wuthering Heights retelling You, Me, and the Sea says that, "Reimaginings present a unique delight to readers because they manage to combine the pleasure of surprising twists with the comfort of a familiar story." Whether you long to hear the "Wicked" Witch's side of the story (Wicked by Gregory Maguire) or you want to see Anne of Green Gables succeed in the modern world (Anne of Manhattan by Brina Starler), there's a retelling of a classic out there you're going to love.

More Than Meets the Eye: Why You NEED a Library Card

When's the last time you visited a public library? Libraries across Mississippi have oodles and oodles of fantastically fun resources for you, the patron, to use. There are 53 library systems with 234 libraries in Mississippi ready and waiting to serve you and, as September is Library Card Sign-up Month, now is the perfect time to step foot inside one of these local community hubs. Why should you visit a library? Well, there's more to them than meets the eye!

Read with MLC: Book in Translation

Welcome to September, and the ninth month of the 2024 Read With MLC reading challenge! This month's reading prompt is to read a book in translation. Why should we read books originally written in languages other than English? Georgi Gospodinov, winner of 2023's International Booker Prize for his book Time Shelter, says, 

When we have ears and eyes (and a translation) for the story of the Other, when we hear and read it, they become a person like us. Storytelling generates empathy. It saves the world. Especially a world like the one we live in today. We write to postpone the end of the world. And the end of the world is a very personal thing. It happens in different languages. Translation gives us the sense that we are working towards this postponement together.

Still, when some people think of translated fiction, their thoughts may immediately turn to dry, ponderous tomes that have no connection to their lives or interests. Luckily, the staff at the Mississippi Library Commission have shared some of their favorite works in translation below.

Support Your Library with a Snapshot!

Have you ever wondered what goes on at your local public library? Do you wish you could support them more, but just can't seem to find the time? Snapshot Day, a yearly celebration of the power of Mississippi libraries, is the perfect opportunity for you to explore.

Read with MLC: Historical Fiction

Welcome to August, and the eighth month of the 2024 Read With MLC reading challenge. This month's reading prompt is to read a work of historical fiction. What drives so many of us to explore the past instead of the present or the future? When Time Magazine(1) asked historical fiction great E.L. Doctorow what the difference was between a historian writing history and a novelist, he responded, "The historian will tell you what happened. The novelist will tell you what it felt like." Experiencing a semblance of what our Cro-Magnon ancestors thought about, living through the American Civil War, dodging accusations during the Salem Witch Trials... These are the great experiences historical fiction offers us.

Read With MLC: The Year You Were Born

Congratulations, y'all! We've made it halfway through 2024 and this year's Read With MLC reading challenge. We dedicated the month of July to reading a book published the year you were born. Sure, reading the latest bestseller can be really satisfying, but reading older books can be a rewarding experience as well. While doing research for a project in 2018, Emily Temple, the managing editor of Literary Hub, noticed that, just like today, the books that were the most popular weren't necessarily the ones that made the biggest impression on society, and therefore, aren't remembered as well. She collected the top ten best-selling booklists from 1918 forward and added in a sprinkling of "classics" from each year. The result is a kaleidoscope of titles of all genres and for all tastes. If you're interested in Temple's findings, here is her list of the most popular fiction and nonfiction books of the past century.

We asked our staff if they've read anything from the year they were born. Check out their thoughts below!