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February 2023 | PATRON NEWSLETTER
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Laura Cole Library Director
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Many of you have probably heard about the open access artificial intelligence platforms available on the Internet. One such software explains on its homepage that it will accept user prompts such as "Explain quantum computing in simple terms" or "Got any creative ideas for a 10 year old’s birthday?", and generates responses. Think Siri or Alexa on steroids. The software boasts capabilities such as "Remembers what user said earlier in the conversation" and "Allows user to provide follow-up corrections." It does have limitations, however, at least for now, and is clear about those as well. I really wanted to try it out. I gave the prompt - "write a roughly 200 word newsletter blurb for an all digital public library named BiblioTech from its Director." Here's the result: Dear BiblioTechie, Welcome to the monthly newsletter for BiblioTech! We hope you are enjoying the many benefits of being a member of the world's first all-digital public library. Firstly, I am proud to announce that BiblioTech continues to break records for digital book checkouts, proving the demand for accessible and convenient reading materials. Our team is constantly working to expand our collection, adding new releases and best-sellers to keep up with the growing needs of our patrons. This past month, we added hundreds of new e-books and audiobooks to our collection, covering a wide range of topics and genres. From classic literature to the latest bestsellers, you're sure to find something that piques your interest. Additionally, our virtual programming has been a huge success, providing engaging and educational experiences for all ages. From author visits to workshops, there's something for everyone on our calendar. Make sure to check it out and sign up for events that interest you. Our tech support team is always working behind the scenes to ensure out platform remains user-friendly and glitch-free. If you need any assistance or have any questions, please don't hesitate to reach out to our support team. Finally, I want to extend my gratitude to our dedicated patrons and supporters. Your passion for reading and lifelong learning continues to inspire us and we are proud to serve you. Thank you for being a part of the BiblioTech community. Best regards, Laura Cole Director, BiblioTech I grant you, it's a little generic - but also shocking and a little creepy. The sophistication of this kind of artificial intelligence has far reaching implications in so many different fields. I'd love to hear your thoughts. Please weigh in at bibliotechinfo@bexar.organd let's get the discussion started! Happy Reading (and writing), Laura
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Hoopla The Bonus Borrows Collection is back! Choose from hundreds of titles in this carefully curated collection between February 1-28, the best part is that none of them count against your monthly borrows. Whether you are new to hoopla or a returning user check out this exciting opportunity.
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Valentine's Day Canvas Join our librarian for this unique Valentine's Day craft. Use your creative skills to design a one of kind heart on canvas. A variety of supplies will be provided while they last. All ages are welcomed. Tuesday, 2/7, from 1-4 PM at South, and Wednesday, 2/8, from 1-4 PM at West.
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Press to Start Join BiblioTech West for video game fun, while exploring the storylines. Every 2nd and 4th Thursday of the month at 4:30PM.
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American Heart Month Join our librarian as she shares information and resources that are good for your heart! At South on Tuesday, 2/14, and West on Wednesday, 2/15, from 1:00pm to 4:00pm.
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Who Is Your Favorite President? Who is your favorite president? Join our librarian for information and resources on the presidents of the United States. At South on Tuesday, 2/21, and West on Wednesday, 2/22, from 1:00pm to 4:00pm.
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The Banned Bookshop of Maggie Banks
by Shauna Robinson
I, Maggie Banks, solemnly swear to uphold the rules of Cobblestone Books.
If only, I, Maggie Banks, believed in following the rules.
When Maggie Banks arrives in Bell River to run her best friend's struggling bookstore, she expects to sell bestsellers to her small-town clientele. But running a bookstore in a town with a famously bookish history isn't easy. Bell River's literary society insists on keeping the bookstore stuck in the past, and Maggie is banned from selling anything written this century. So, when a series of mishaps suddenly tip the bookstore toward ruin, Maggie will have to get creative to keep the shop afloat.
And in Maggie's world, book rules are made to be broken.
To help save the store, Maggie starts an underground book club, running a series of events celebrating the books readers actually love. But keeping the club quiet, selling forbidden books, and dodging the literary society is nearly impossible. Especially when Maggie unearths a town secret that could upend everything.
Maggie will have to decide what's more important: the books that formed a small town's history, or the stories poised to change it all.
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The Wife Before
by Shanora Williams
A Spellbinding Psychological Thriller with a Shocking Twist New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Shanora Williams weaves an insidiously sexy, twist-filled novel in which a new bride's fairytale marriage fast becomes a nightmare of secrets . . .
Samira Wilder has never had it easy, and when her latest lousy job goes south, things only promise to get harder. Until she unexpectedly meets a man who will change her life forever. Renowned pro golfer Roland Graham is wealthy, handsome, and caring, and Samira is dazzled. Best of all, he seems to understand her better than anyone ever has. And though their relationship moves a bit fast, when Roland proposes, Samira accepts. She even agrees to relocate to his secluded Colorado mansion. After all, there's nothing to keep her in Miami, and the mansion clearly makes him happy. Soon, they are married amid a media firestorm, and Samira can't wait to make a fresh start-as the second Mrs. Graham . . .
Samira settles into the mansion, blissfully happy-until she discovers long-hidden journals belonging to Roland's late wife, Melanie, who died in a tragic accident. With each dusty page, Samira comes to realize that perhaps it was no accident at all-that perhaps her perfect husband is not as perfect as she thought. Even as her trust in Roland begins to dwindle and a shadow falls over her marriage and she begins to fear for her own life, Samira is determined to uncover the truth of Melanie's troubled last days. But even good wives should know that the truth is not always what it seems . . .
"A shocking, sensual thriller." -Tarryn Fisher, New York Times bestselling author, on The Perfect Ruin
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Belle Greene
by Alexandra Lapierre
The transfixing true story of a woman who defied all odds to choose her own destiny.
New York in the 1900s. A young girl, fascinated by rare books, defies the odds and climbs all the ranks. She becomes the director of the fabulous library of the magnate J. P. Morgan and the darling of the international aristocracy, under the false name of Belle da Costa Greene. Belle Greene to close friends.
But the flamboyant collector who turns heads and reigns over the world of bibliophiles hides a terrible secret for the violently racist America of her time. Although she looks white, she is actually African American and, moreover, the daughter of a famous black activist who sees her desire to hide her origins as a betrayal. It is this drama of a being torn between history and a woman's choice to belong to the society which oppresses her people that Alexandra Lapierre recounts.
The fruit of three years of investigation, this novel retraces the victories and heartbreaks of a woman full of life, as free as she is determined, whose astonishing daring echoes today's battles.
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Open Water
by Caleb Azumah Nelson
In a crowded London pub, two young people meet. Both are Black British, both won scholarships to private schools where they struggled to belong, both are now artists-he a photographer, she a dancer-and both are trying to make their mark in a world that by turns celebrates and rejects them. Tentatively, tenderly, they fall in love. But two people who seem destined to be together can still be torn apart by fear and violence, and over the course of a year they find their relationship tested by forces beyond their control.
Narrated with deep intimacy, Open Water is at once an achingly beautiful love story and a potent insight into race and masculinity that asks what it means to be a person in a world that sees you only as a Black body; to be vulnerable when you are only respected for strength; to find safety in love, only to lose it. With gorgeous, soulful intensity, and blistering emotional intelligence, Caleb Azumah Nelson gives a profoundly sensitive portrait of romantic love in all its feverish waves and comforting beauty.
This is one of the most essential debut novels of recent years, heralding the arrival of a stellar and prodigious young talent.
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Creatures of Passage
by Morowa Yejide
With echoes of Toni Morrison’s Beloved, Yejidé’s novel explores a forgotten quadrant of Washington, DC, and the ghosts that haunt it.
Nephthys Kinwell is a taxi driver of sorts in Washington, DC, ferrying ill-fated passengers in a haunted car: a 1967 Plymouth Belvedere with a ghost in the trunk. Endless rides and alcohol help her manage her grief over the death of her twin brother, Osiris, who was murdered and dumped in the Anacostia River.
Unknown to Nephthys when the novel opens in 1977, her estranged great-nephew, ten-year-old Dash, is finding himself drawn to the banks of that very same river. It is there that Dash--reeling from having witnessed an act of molestation at his school, but still questioning what and who he saw--has charmed conversations with a mysterious figure he calls the "River Man," who somehow appears each time he goes there.
When Dash arrives unexpectedly at Nephthys's door one day bearing a cryptic note about his unusual conversations with the River Man, Nephthys must face both the family she abandoned and what frightens her most when she looks in the mirror.
Creatures of Passage beautifully threads together the stories of Nephthys, Dash, and others both living and dead. Morowa Yejidé's deeply captivating novel shows us an unseen Washington filled with otherworldly landscapes, flawed super-humans, and reluctant ghosts, and brings together a community intent on saving one young boy in order to reclaim themselves.
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Dear Black Girl
by Tamara Winfrey Harris
Letters From Your Sisters on Stepping Into Your Power "Dear #DopeBlackGirl, You don't know me, but I know you. I know you because I am you! We are magic, light, and stars in the universe." So begins a letter that Tamara Winfrey-Harris received as part of her Letters to Black Girls project, where she asked black women to write honest, open, and inspiring letters of support to young black girls aged thirteen to twenty-one. Her call went viral, resulting in a hundred letters from black women around the globe. In Dear Black Girl, Winfrey-Harris introduces and organizes a selection of these letters, modeling how black women can nurture future generations. Each chapter ends with a prompt encouraging girls to write a letter to themselves, teaching the art of self-love and self-nurturing.
Winfrey-Harris's The Sisters Are Alright explores how black women must often fight and stumble their way into alrightness after adulthood. Dear Black Girl continues this work by delivering personal messages of alrightness for black women-to-be-and for the girl who still lives inside every black woman, who still needs reminding sometimes that she is alright.
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The New Jim Crow
by Michelle Alexander
Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness Once in a great while a book comes along that changes the way we see the world and helps to fuel a nationwide social movement. The New Jim Crow is such a book. This book directly challenges the notion that the election of Barack Obama signals a new era of colorblindness. With dazzling candor, legal scholar Michelle Alexander argues that 'we have not ended racial caste in America; we have merely redesigned it.' By targeting black men through the War on Drugs and decimating communities of color, the U.S. criminal justice system functions as a contemporary system of racial control-relegating millions to a permanent second-class status-even as it formally adheres to the principle of colorblindness. In the words of Benjamin Todd Jealous, president and CEO of the NAACP, this book is a 'call to action.'
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Flowers on the Moon
by Billy Chapata
Social media sensation Billy Chapata shares insight and advice into the powerful world of love, heartbreak, and what comes next. This collection of poetry and prose will justify heartache and inspire the fortitude to survive and prosper.
From Chameleon Aura author Billy Chapata comes his second major poetry collection, Flowers on the Moon. Chapata presents his signature blend of experience and advice through a chaptered series of prose and poetry. Filled with the familiar themes of love, loss, resilience, and growth From Chameleon Aura but with fresh poems and new advice, his touching narrative celebrates humanity for its undeniable worth, and this collection will leave readers warm with hope for growth, rebirth, and, most prominently, self-acceptance.
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The Hate U Give
by Angie Thomas
Sixteen-year-old Starr Carter moves between two worlds: the poor neighborhood where she lives and the fancy suburban prep school she attends. The uneasy balance between these worlds is shattered when Starr witnesses the fatal shooting of her childhood best friend Khalil at the hands of a police officer. Khalil was unarmed.
Soon afterward, his death is a national headline. Some are calling him a thug, maybe even a drug dealer and a gangbanger. Protesters are taking to the streets in Khalil's name. Some cops and the local drug lord try to intimidate Starr and her family. What everyone wants to know is: what really went down that night? And the only person alive who can answer that is Starr. But what Starr does-or does not-say could upend her community. It could also endanger her life.
And don't miss On the Come Up, Angie Thomas's powerful follow-up to The Hate U Give.
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The Crossover
by Kwame Alexander
Part of the Crossover (Alexander) series In this Newbery Medal—winning middle grade novel in verse, twelve-year-old twins and basketball stars Josh and Jordan Bell must learn to deal with problems on and off the court as they navigate homework, first crushes, family and, of course, basketball.
"With a bolt of lightning on my kicks... The court is SIZZLING. My sweat is DRIZZLING. Stop all that quivering. Cuz tonight I'm delivering," announces dread-locked, 12-year-old Josh Bell. He and his twin brother Jordan are awesome on the court. But Josh has more than basketball in his blood, he's got mad beats, too, that tell his family's story in verse, in this fast and furious middle grade novel of family and brotherhood from Kwame Alexander. Josh and Jordan must come to grips with growing up on and off the court to realize breaking the rules comes at a terrible price, as their story's heart-stopping climax proves a game-changer for the entire family.
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For more details or questions, please contact us!
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