The Enoch Pratt Free Library is joining a small but growing list of library systems in major cities that are doing away with fines for patrons.
Tag: library
Enoch Pratt eliminating all overdue fines in effort to eliminate ‘barrier to access’
Port Discovery Children’s Museum offers Discount Day for Baltimore County Public Library Members – June 25
On Sunday, June 25, Baltimore County Public Library cardholders who present their library cards at Port Discovery Children’s Museum and purchase one regular admission ticket will receive one admission ticket for half-off the normal admission cost as part of Port Discovery’s Baltimore County Public Library Discount Day!
Enoch Pratt’s ‘Food for Fines’ Deal Returns After the New Year
Frequent library users have a penchant for racking up fines for overdue books. Luckily for Baltimore City residents, there’s a way to pay those down while feeding the needy after the holidays.
Enoch Pratt Library’s Major Renovation Begins This Week
When future-you visits the Enoch Pratt Free Library in 2020, it’ll be like stepping into a whole new world.
MICA Librarian Creates Beyonce Study Guide
Beyonce quotes Nigerian write Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie in her pop songs and releases music videos that inspire deep discussion and analysis.
Pushing Pawns: Chess at the Enoch Pratt
Chess is the game of kings, and for no small reason. It takes strategy and intellect, and a wealth of patience. Ron Weasley is a chess master, and the world’s cutest old man plays a game against himself in this animated short by Pixar. Some things are just easier to do when surrounded by other enthusiasts, and I feel like learning chess must be one of those things. I’ve always struggled with teaching myself via YouTube, because there are some things you just can’t get from a free instructional video – a personal touch, and any ounce of quality.
Looks Like Johns Hopkins Students Do Know How to Have Fun After All
I’ll admit, I’d managed to completely avoid the “Harlem Shake video craze” until this morning. But this clip of Johns Hopkins students going nuts in the library makes me happy. It turns out they do know how to do more than just study (and sleep).
Hey, Baltimore — Feel Like Solving a Mystery?
The Maryland Historical Society Library has uncovered a disturbing photo — or, at least, an apparently disturbing photo. A crowd of masked men in dark suits and bowler hats cluster in the corner of the room, staring at a black man who’s standing on a kind of podium. The atmosphere is one of anticipation, of something on the brink of happening — but what? The MHSL archivists have no idea. “What is happening to this man? Why are the men wearing masks? Are they police officers? Are they a jury? Stare a little longer and other questions arise: What year would this be? Why are two of the men seen above not wearing masks? Why does the African-American man seem so calm?” a MHSL representative writes on their blog. And because their own experts (and a few that they imported) haven’t been able to solve the mystery yet, they’re turning to the public. So, what do you think? See any clues?
Read All About It: Ninth Annual City Lit Fest Hits Baltimore Saturday
The ninth annual City Lit Fest is upon us and we at Baltimore Fishbowl can’t wait to see and be seen — scratch that, read and be read; scratch that: We can’t wait to hear these amazing authors, some of whom we know locally, share their work in a festive festival arena. Check the City Lit site (linked above) for more information; scan our press-release-borrowed list of headliners below. Look for the double-asterisk ** nod to know our top picks, but trust this bookish wisdom, too: All CLF events are likely well worth your weekend time! Enoch Pratt 400 Cathedral St.
Baltimore: The City That (Sometimes) Reads
Remember that city slogan that no one likes to talk about anymore? “The City That Reads,” introduced in 1987 by then-mayor Kurt Schmoke, was, as the Utne Reader puts it, “well-intentioned but immediately mockable.” Part of the problem is that Baltimore doesn’t actually seem to be all that jazzed about books. Last year, Seattle residents checked out 18.7 books per resident. In Baltimore? Two.
But new research shows that our apparent aversion to libraries might be changing, in part thanks to the recession. (See? There’s a silver lining to every economic disaster.) Baltimore’s library use rose a whopping 25 percent from 2005 to 2011 — that’s more than any other city in the study except Detroit. However, during that same period, circulation declined by 9 percent, possibly indicating that library visitors were more drawn to the free computers than the free books. Should book lovers be dismayed?
