Borrow a Kill-A-Watt Meter Kit from the Library

State Library Services has two Kill-A-Watt meter kits available for checkout to Library customers. A Kill-A-Watt meter is a device that measures the amount of electricity used by household appliances. Kits include an operations sheet, worksheets to help users calculate energy costs associated with household electrical appliances and a kill-a-watt meter.

This service is brought to you by Appalachian Power in conjunction with the West Virginia Library Commission.

Library closed Monday September 3

The West Virginia Library Commission will be closed on Monday, September 3 to observe the Labor Day holiday.

Encyclopedia Britannica available outside of the library

The Library offers access to Encyclopedia Britannica Online for locations outside the library.  Contact the Library for more information on how registered Library card members can access this resource or to become a card holder.

Cabell County Public Library speaker location moved

We apologize for sending this to people that it does not necessarily apply to. However, if you would spread the word it would be greatly appreciated.

There has been a change in location for the author speaking at the Cabell County Public Library.  Michael Hingson event will take place on Thursday, August 2, at the Pullman Hotel on the second floor.

We appreciate your patience in this matter! We hope you enjoy this inspirational author.

Capitol Reads

July's Capitol Read is The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery

An enchanting New York Times and international bestseller and award-winner about life, art, literature, philosophy, culture, class, privilege, and power, seen through the eyes of a 54-year old French concierge and a precocious but troubled 12-year-old girl.

Renée Michel is the 54-year-old concierge of a luxury Paris apartment building. Her exterior (“short, ugly, and plump”) and demeanor (“poor, discreet, and insignificant”) belie her keen, questing mind and profound erudition. Paloma Josse is a 12-year-old genius who behaves as everyone expects her to behave: a mediocre pre-teen high on adolescent subculture, a good but not outstanding student, an obedient if obstinate daughter. She plans to kill herself on the sixteenth of June, her thirteenth birthday.

Both Renée and Paloma hide their true talents and finest qualities from the bourgeois families around them, until a wealthy Japanese gentleman named Ozu moves into building. Only he sees through them, perceiving the secret that haunts Renée, winning Paloma's trust, and helping the two discover their kindred souls. Moving, funny, tender, and triumphant, Barbery's novel exalts the quiet victories of the inconspicuous among us.

Visit the Capitol Reads page on the WVLC website for more information and future discussion titles.

Staff Pick of the Week

Megan's Pick

This week's selection is The Taker by Alma Katsu

This book started a little slow for me, but wow, once it got going, I just held on for the ride -Megan

True love can last an eternity . . . but immortality comes at a price. . . .

On the midnight shift at a hospital in rural Maine, Dr. Luke Findley is expecting another quiet evening of frostbite and the occasional domestic dispute. But the minute Lanore McIlvrae—Lanny—walks into his ER, she changes his life forever. A mysterious woman with a past and plenty of dark secrets, Lanny is unlike anyone Luke has ever met. He is inexplicably drawn to her . . . despite the fact that she is a murder suspect with a police escort. And as she begins to tell her story, a story of enduring love and consummate betrayal that transcends time and mortality, Luke finds himself utterly captivated.

Her impassioned account begins at the turn of the nineteenth century in the same small town of St. Andrew, Maine, back when it was a Puritan settlement. Consumed as a child by her love for the son of the town’s founder, Lanny will do anything to be with him forever. But the price she pays is steep—an immortal bond that chains her to a terrible fate for all eternity. And now, two centuries later, the key to her healing and her salvation lies with Dr. Luke Findley.

Part historical novel, part supernatural page-turner, The Taker is an unforgettable tale about the power of unrequited love not only to elevate and sustain, but also to blind and ultimately destroy, and how each of us is responsible for finding our own path to redemption.

This title, and others like it, can be found in the West Virginia Library Commission Reference Library. The Taker can also available for check-out on audiobook (CD)

Library eBook Accessibility Program (LEAP)

Accessible eBooks

This library, in partnership with Bookshare and OverDrive (our technology partner for this site) is pleased to introduce you to LEAP - the Library eBook Accessibility Program. If you have a print disability, are in need of accessible eBooks and are a patron of WV-READS, or WV DELI, sign in to your account, or call your local library, to learn if you may qualify for a free LEAP subscription at Bookshare.