Library Feature Stories

Keep informed about library happenings and read feature stories of human interest. Information about activities, services and library materials that you, the library customer, care about, but the media might not.

Recent Library Feature Stories Blog Posts

National Bookmobile Day!

Wednesday, April 11 is National Bookmobile Day, a part of National Library Week. Learn what surprises await you this week on a bookmobile.

Titanic on Film

April 14-15 marks the 100th Anniversary of the sinking of RMS Titanic. Want to know more of the story? Look for these films about the “unsinkable” ship.

Leave it to Beaver

The landmark case of Parents v. Kids has been argued onscreen in dozens of television series since the 1950′s. One classic of the type is nearly as old as television. Leave it to Beaver began in 1957 and ran for six seasons. The family situations are viewed today as nostalgic, wholesome, middle-class stories of [...]

Growing and growing (at least some of my garden)

So, with this really warm weather, is your garden growing like mine is? Let me qualify that. What is left of my garden from last year is growing like crazy. My lilacs are blooming right now and smell divine. My tulips have bloomed too and look beautiful. My japanese maple tree is just starting to [...]

The Queen of Water

Laura Resau met Maria Virginia Farinango in Colorado where Virginia was a student. They became fast friends and decided to tell Virginia’s story as a young girl growing up in the Ecuadorian Andes. Maria Virginia is a descendant of the Incas, an ancient people of South America.The Spanish conquistadors conquered the Incas and became known as the [...]

Green Fair @ your library April 21

Coming soon, it’s the 5th annual Topeka and Shawnee County Public Library Green Fair being held Saturday, April 21, from 2:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. right here at the library. We’ll have booths manned by more than 25 different organizations all geared to helping you help the earth.

Cooking With Dr. Seuss

It was Friday, the last day of Spring Break. Parents and grandparents were looking for something for the kids to do. The Library just happened to have a program for kindergarteners through second graders at 3 pm, Cooking With Dr. Seuss. Since March is Dr. Seuss’s birth month, using the cookbook, Green Eggs and Ham [...]

For Your Next Meeting, Use our Speakers Bureau

For an engaging speaker to wow attendees at your next meeting, look no further than the Topeka and Shawnee County Public Library’s Speakers Bureau. Choose from professionals with expertise, including technology, art, music, kids’ stories, local history and how to form and facilitate a book club. “All of them were just so professional and so [...]

All Booked Up! Martha’s Entertaining

In this edition of All Booked Up! Kathy and Diana share stories of Martha Stewart and explain why for those planning a special event the library is a great place to start. How many of you remember the entertaining book that Martha Stewart wrote in the 1980s? I do, and I have that book in [...]

Read the Book, See the Show: Miss Nelson is Missing

Miss Nelson is Missing! Join in the fun of finding her at 7pm on April 4 in the library’s Marvin Auditorium. Parents and children are welcome. The book is a favorite of kindergarten through third grade students and has been voted one of the most memorable books of the century. The Topeka Civic Theatre & [...]

Learn More about Free Mailing Service for the Blind

The library is offering customers with blindness or low vision a way to get library books delivered to their home for free. This new service is part of our commitment to serving the community through Red Carpet Services outreach. Large print books and/or books on CD will be mailed to qualified customers in a zippered [...]

Library Story Bloggers

Lissa Staley

Lissa Staley helps people use the library. She is a Book Evangelist, Health Information Librarian, Arts and Crafts Librarian, Trivia Emcee, Classics Made Modern book group leader, and frequent library customer, especially with her preschool children. She reads a new book every few days, but recently loved "Swordspoint" by Ellen Kushner, "Love and Other Perishable Items" by Laura Buzo and "The Reluctant Assassin" by Eoin Colfer and is looking forward to "Homeland" by Cory Doctorow.

Charity Rouse

Charity is a Public Service Specialist working with genealogy and local history reference in the Topeka Room/Genealogy. Her start at TSCPL came as a genealogy researcher soon after the Baker Genealogy Center opened in November 2007. In early 2009, she became a Genealogy volunteer and in May 2010 she came to work at TSCPL. She earned her Master of Library Science degree from Emporia State University in December 2011. One of the Topeka Room programs Charity coordinates is the "Sunday Afternoon with Kansas Authors" series.

Gina Millsap

As the Chief Executive Officer of the Topeka and Shawnee County Public Library, I lead an organization of 225 incredible employees serving a library-loving community of 173,000. With 36 years in the industry, I’ve worked in three extraordinary libraries in Missouri, Iowa and Kansas and have been a library director for fifteen years. I am nationally known for presenting on cutting edge issues, including 21st century librarianship, process improvement, the use of market segmentation to grow and develop library services, and the strategic changes necessary for libraries to thrive in the 21st century. I’m a Library Journal 2007 Mover and Shaker , past president of the Library Leadership & Management Association (LLAMA) of the American Library Association, serve on the board of Library Renewal, an organization working on solutions to ebook and digital content issues for libraries, and am currently a candidate for president of the American Library Association.

Jeff Tate

Jeff Tate is the Digital Branch Librarian. He can help with your ebook and digital audiobook questions and ereader, smart phones, iPads, or other gadget issues, In addition, he can assist with general research questions, library database assistance, and almost anything else you find on our Digital Branch. He also trains, markets, and develops content for the Library's website, ebooks, databases, social media, and other online services. Besides his MLS, he has degrees in American History and American Studies.

Matt Pettit

Matt is a Public Service Specialist for the Topeka & Shawnee County Public Library. His areas of responsibility include outreach library services to nursing homes, senior, retirement and congregate living centers; service to homebound library users; the Kansas Talking Books service; Book Group in a Bag program and the history and sports neighborhoods of the library’s nonfiction collection. Matt also works on technology issues and special projects for the library, including supporting the Red Carpet Service’s Adaptive Computer Center, civic engagement and civil political discourse.