Starting Sunday, February 5th and continuing through Sunday, April 15th, AARP Tax-Aides will serve taxpayers with low- and moderate-income, with special attention to those age 60 and older. Drop-in service will run from 4:30-7:30pm on Tuesdays and 1:30-4:30pm on Sundays. Learn more here...

On Wed., February 8, Sandra Clarke, founder of the Jukwaa Theatre Company, will perform her new one woman work based upon the lives of the Delaney Sisters.

Clarke will depict the sisters during the days of Jim Crow and legal segregation, based upon stories from their book, Having Our Say: the Delaney Sisters’ First 100 Years. This performance is sponsored by the library and the Seacoast African American Cultural Center. More info here...

Come early to get a seat for The Help on Thursday, Feb. 9th at 6:30pm in the Levenson Room. The film depicts an aspiring author during the civil rights movement of the 1960's who decides to write a book detailing the African-American maid's point of view on the white families for which they work, and the hardships they go through on a daily basis. Learn more here...

This month, the library launched the Artist Curated Book Display series, which invites an artist from the community to create a display of ten items that inspire them from the library collections. Alongside the display the artist will showcase an example of their work. Roger Goldenberg, a Portsmouth artist, known for his jazz-inspired, highly textured abstract work, has curated the first display.

Join us on Wed., Feb. 15th, as UNH professor Jeffrey Bolster discusses his book Black Jacks: African-American Seamen in the Age of Sail. Reconstructed through years of painstaking research, this richly illustrated story explores the rise and fall of black seafaring and the critical role sailors played in helping forge new identities for black people in America. Learn more here...

Our winter film series ends on Feb. 23rd with a showing of Glory at 6:30pm. Click here to learn more.

Jan. 12th: Midnight in Paris Jan. 26th: The Guard

February 9th: The Help February 23rd: Glory

Did you know the Portsmouth Public Library has bought additional downloadable ebooks and audiobooks that are only available to Portsmouth Public Library members? These items are referred to as Advantage titles.

 

To take advantage of these Advantage titles, be sure to sign in to your account as soon as you arrive at the NH Downloadable Audiobooks/eBooks website. More info is available here, but feel free to call us with questions, 603-427-1540.

You can now easily search the library's catalog on your smartphone (iPhone, Blackberry, Android, etc.)! You can even request and renew materials as well as access your account information. To get the mobile catalog directly, go here with your smartphone's browser. Or go to our mobile home page and click on the link for the library catalog. Have questions, call 766-1711 or send us an email. Learn more here...

Library patrons 18 years and older can borrow one of the library's eight ebook reading devices:

• 4 Amazon Kindles
• 2 Barnes & Nobles Nooks
• 2 Sony Readers "Touch Edition"

Learn more about this new service, including what books come preloaded on the devices and how long you can borrow each device. Or to put a request on one of the devices, or find out if they are available right now, click here.