Shepherd Shakespeare to perform two holiday plays at Randolph libraries

ASHEBORO – It’s double the holiday fun with two Christmas tales from Shepherd Shakespeare at the Randolph County Public Libraries in December. 

Pick A Christmas Dream or choose ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas — or see both — December 9-20.

Aimed at children but fun for the whole family, the shows, supported by the Friends of the Library, are free and the public is invited.

A Christmas Dream is the troupe’s version of Louisa May Alcott’s famous short story, a “Christmas Carol”-like tale of a young boy who learns that the greatest gifts are not the ones you receive, but the ones you give.

‘Twas the Night Before Christmas follows Clement Moore, author of the famous poem, as he overcomes writer’s block by acting out his ideas with the help of puppets, found objects and friends from the audience, as the magical tale comes to life.

A Christmas Dream is scheduled as follows:

• Asheboro (201 Worth Street): 6 p.m. Monday, December 16.
• Franklinville (111 Sumner Place): 3:30 p.m. Monday, December 16.
• Randleman (142 W. Academy St.): 4 p.m. Monday, December 9.
• Seagrove (530 Old Plank Road): 3:30 p.m. Friday, December 20.

’Twas the Night Before Christmas is scheduled as follows:

• Archdale (10433 S. Main St.) : 5-7 p.m. Friday, December 13 (show at 6 p.m.; join Mr. and Mrs. Claus for a storytime and photos from 5-6 p.m.).
• Liberty (239 S. Fayetteville St.): 3:30 p.m. Wednesday, December 18.
• Ramseur (1512 S. Main St.): 1 p.m. Wednesday, December 18.

For further information, call 336-318-6804.

True Grass to perform a ‘Country Christmas Concert’ at Asheboro library

 ASHEBORO -- The popular and long-lived local bluegrass and gospel band True Grass will present a “Country Christmas Concert” at 7 p.m. Tuesday, December 3, at the Asheboro Public Library.

The performance, supported by the Friends of the Library, is free and the public is invited.

Over 20 years, the group has played numerous local venues including the Sunset Theatre, the NC Zoo, Randolph Community College, at churches and at corporate events for Klaussner and Energizer, among others.

Founding members Tim Moon and Gary Callicutt remain with the group.

Moon, a well-known music teacher for over 30 years, plays mandolin and sings lead vocals. Callicutt plays bass and sings tenor vocals.

Matthew Nance plays banjo and sings baritone vocals. William Britt plays guitar and sings most lead vocals. Moon’s 17-year-old son Nolan Moon plays blistering fast solos as well as beautiful waltz styles on fiddle. 

The library is located at 201 Worth Street. Call 336-318-6803 for further information.

Asheboro library to close for one day Monday, November 25, for HVAC replacement

ASHEBORO – The Asheboro Public Library will close for the day on Monday, November 25, to accommodate construction work during replacement of the building’s heating and air conditioning systems.

Other libraries in the Randolph County Public Libraries system including Archdale, Franklinville, Liberty, Ramseur and Randleman, will be open as usual. The Seagrove library is closed on Mondays.

The Asheboro library is expected to reopen on Tuesday, November 26, with normal hours, 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. 

While the library is closed, contractors will lift the new heating/air conditioning units onto the roof of the building using a crane. The library is closing for safety reasons, out of an abundance of caution so that no one will be in the building, or entering or leaving, while the operation takes place.

The library generally will remain open and accessible to the public while work is going on, although there may be some disruption in services. The City of Asheboro is providing a temporary heating system during the project.

Work is expected to be complete by January 12.

Friends Bookshop to hold 50% off sale during Asheboro’s Christmas On Sunset

ASHEBORO – Looking for a great way to support your library while getting a head-start on your holiday shopping?

Take 50 percent off everything at the Friends of the Library Bookshop, 226 Sunset Avenue, during downtown Asheboro’s Christmas on Sunset event, 6-9 p.m. Friday, December 13. The sale will continue from 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Saturday, December 14.

Proceeds go to support the Randolph County Public Libraries. The bookshop, staffed entirely by volunteers, is open 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays.

For more information, call the bookshop during operating hours at 336-629-1536 or visit randolphfriends.org.

Bestselling author Charlie Lovett to visit Liberty

Charlie Lovett

LIBERTY – The Liberty Book Club will host New York Times bestselling author Charlie Lovett at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, November 21, and the public is invited. 

Lovett will discuss his novel The Enigma Affair and talk about his writing. The event will take place in the Liberty Town Council Chamber/Senior Center beside the Liberty Public Library at 239 S. Fayetteville Street.

In The Enigma Affair, a librarian and a professional assassin team up to solve a seventy-five-year-old Nazi mystery and stop a nefarious opponent from wreaking havoc on the world.

Lovett also is author of the novels The Bookman’s Tale, Escaping Dreamland and The Lost Book of the Grail. He has penned five books on Alice in Wonderland author Lewis Carroll, including the biography Lewis Carroll: Formed by Faith, and has lectured internationally on Carroll.

He’s also a playwright, and recently adapted Escaping Dreamland for the stage at the Little Theatre of Winston-Salem.

A Winston-Salem native, Lovett is a graduate of Davidson College and the Vermont Academy of Fine Arts.

For further information, call the library at 336-622-4605.

Local historian to explore Johnstonville, first county seat, in Asheboro library talk

Ryan Beeson

ASHEBORO – Before Asheboro was established in 1793, Randolph County government called Johnstonville home.

The first county seat was located about two miles west of present-day Randleman, on old U.S. 311, about where the WGHP Fox8 transmission towers stand.

Local historian Ryan Beeson will explore the origins of the settlement in “Johnstonville: Randolph’s First County Seat at the Crossroads of North Carolina” at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, November 14, at the Asheboro library.

Before it was named Johnstonville, after the governor at the time of its founding, the place was known as Cross Roads because it sat at the junction of two important byways, the Indian Trading Path and the Cape Fear or Old Moravian Road. The Indian Trading Path predated European exploration and settlement, and the Old Moravian Road was established in 1754 to link Cross Creek (now Fayetteville) with the Moravian settlements that would become Winston-Salem.

Beeson will talk about the importance of these roads in colonial and post-colonial North Carolina, and why their intersection was chosen for Randolph County’s first courthouse and county seat. He also will illuminate early sessions of the county court at Johnstonville, illustrate the layout of the town based on his extensive research, and discuss its likely exact location.

A Randolph County native, Beeson grew up on a dairy farm in Sophia. A history enthusiast, he spends his free time researching local history from the Colonial era through the American Revolution.

A descendant of many early Quaker settlers of North Carolina, he also enjoys researching genealogy and Quaker history. He is a birthright member of Marlboro Friends Meeting, where he serves on Ministry & Counsel.

After graduating Randleman High School, he earned a B.A. in Political Science and a M.S. in Accounting from East Carolina University, where he served as president of the student body.

He lives in Asheboro with his wife Claire and their son Winslow.

The library is located at 201 Worth Street. For further information, call 336-318-6803.

Film prof to discuss social commentary in horror films during Asheboro library talk

ASHEBORO – The history of disability and deformity as represented in horror films is the topic of a talk by UNC School of the Arts film professor Kara Andersen at 4 p.m. Monday, October 28, at the Asheboro library.

The talk is designed for teens and their families, but is open to the public.

Andersen will use stills or clips from classic movies such as James Whale’s Frankenstein (1931) and William Castle’s The Tingler (1959), as well as more recent films, to reflect on how monsters in film often are a reaction to or social commentary on questions of personhood and belonging, disability and fear of physical deformity.

Andersen is Associate Professor and Chair of the Cinema Studies Department at UNC School of the Arts. Her research interests include film theory, American animation, stop motion animation, and materiality, or how physical characteristics of the film itself impacts viewer’s experience watching a movie.

The library is located at 201 Worth Street. For further information, call 3336-318-603.

Franklinville library to celebrate 100th anniversary

FRANKLINVILLE --  The tiny, but mighty, Franklinville Public Library will celebrate 100 years of service at 2 p.m. Sunday, October 13. 

The birthday party will include comments from dignitaries, a display of historical photographs and refreshments from the Franklinville Diner.

Music will be provided by Bad Penny, made up of Gwen Auman and Ron Baughman. Library staff member Lois Warren and her husband Terry also will provide tunes.

The library was established in 1924, making it the first public library in Randolph County. John W. Clark, owner of Randolph Mills, promoted the idea of a library for the education and recreation of mill employees.

The company provided space for the library and set aside a fund to support it. Books were loaned by the State Library Commission, while Clark solicited donations and contributed some his of own books. The library became part of the Randolph County Public Library system in 1940, and the county took over direct operation in 2018.

The library is located at 111 Sumner Place. For further information, call 336-685-3100.

History prof to explore ‘Jack the Ripper’ case in Asheboro library talk

ASHEBORO --In the fall of 1888, the East End of London was terrorized by a string of brutal murders. The murders were attributed to “Jack the Ripper,” a serial killer who was never identified.

Join UNC-Greensboro history professor Dr. Jill C. Bender to explore “‘Jack the Ripper’ and Late-Victorian Crime,” 6:30 p.m. Thursday, October 17, at the Asheboro Public Library.

Jack’s victims were all impoverished women who lived on the margins of accepted society. The murders occurred at night, and there were no witnesses, no clues and no perceivable motive.

The police were at a loss and the murderer never caught.

Bender will place the crimes and the proposed suspects into historical context and consider what the unsolved case of “Jack the Ripper” tells us about late-Victorian society.

Bender is an associate professor of History  at UNCG, and author of the book The 1857 Indian Uprising and the British Empire, among numerous article and book chapters. She is currently working on a second book project in which she examines the famine era migration of women from Ireland’s workhouses to colonies in Australia, Canada and southern Africa.

The library is located at 201 Worth Street. For further information, call 336-318-6803.

WFU prof to explore slavery during Revolution in Asheboro library talk

Dr. Jake Ruddiman

ASHEBORO – What did slavery look like to combatants in the Revolutionary War — white, Black, American and European — as they traveled between regions?

Join Wake Forest University History professor Dr. Jake Ruddiman for “Is This the Land of Liberty? Soldiers and Slavery in the War of American Independence,” 6:30 p.m. Monday, September 30, at the Asheboro Public Library. 

The talk, supported by the Friends of the Library, is free and the public is invited.

Ruddiman will discuss his research into the travel writing of soldiers during the war. The campaigns of the American Revolution carried troops far from their homes and exposed them to unfamiliar enslaved societies. What did these military outsiders see and what did they record?

The war profoundly disrupted the institution of slavery, spreading charged rhetoric about liberty, levying new demand with mobilization and opening opportunities for freedom-seekers. What did Black Americans encountering soldiers traveling with the armies see? What new relationships could they make?

How did these observations and relationships then shape the course of the war? What were the relationships between wartime experiences and new streams of pro- and anti-slavery arguments in the Revolutionary states?

The answers, Ruddiman contends, connect the War of Independence with the generational transformation of the Revolution.

Ruddiman, who received his Ph.D. from Yale, is an associate professor of History at Wake Forest. His first book, Becoming Men of Some Consequence: Youth and Military Service in the Revolutionary War, explores the lives of young men in the Continental Army.

That project led to research into other aspects of the Revolutionary experience, including “Is This the Land of Liberty.” Across his research, Ruddiman’s work as a historian of Revolutionary America explores how people built their lives, reshaped their communities and constructed meaning for themselves and for posterity.

The library is located at 201 Worth Street. For further information, call 336-318-6803.

Learn how DNA led Cox family from ‘myth-tery’ to history in Asheboro library talk

 ASHEBORO – After years of thinking they were descended from Native Americans, one Randolph County family found out the truth through recreational DNA testing.

Join Lindsey Cox for “When Family History Turns Out to Be A Family Myth-tery,” 6:30 p.m. Monday, September 23, at the Asheboro Public Library.

Cox’s talk is free and the public is invited.

Cox will discuss about how her family found that the truth was far different than stories that had been passed down for decades: the family in fact was descended from an enslaved man named Frank Lytle.

Lytle was one of six children of Thomas Lytle, a white man who owned a plantation along Caraway Creek, and an enslaved Black woman whose name is not known.

Thomas Lytle acted to emancipate his children. Frank was freed in 1795, but his brothers and sisters had to wait until the death of Thomas Lytle’s wife in 1815.

Even then, the children and grandchildren of the sisters remained enslaved. The families were broken up in 1829 in the largest single sale of enslaved persons in Randolph County history.

As the families of Thomas Lytle’s children grew through the generations, they followed different paths. Some remain in Randolph County, but most migrated north and west. Some came to identify as white, and some as Black. Now, Lytles can be found all over the country.

Cox will share how her family — direct descendants of Frank, uncovered a remarkable family history.

The library is located at 201 Worth Street. For further information, call 336-318-6803.

WFU prof to explore ‘French Culture Today’ in Asheboro library talk

ASHEBORO – With the Paris Olympics coming up, gain insight into contemporary French popular culture with Wake Forest University professor Dr. Amanda Vincent in “French Culture Today,” a talk at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, July 18, at the Asheboro Public Library.

Vincent’s talk, supported by the Friends of the Library, is free and the public is invited.

Her talk will touch on France’s thriving music, film and comics scenes, as well as traditions that remain popular, such as gastronomy and regional culture. Vincent also will discuss how Paris and its region are being transformed for the 2024 Summer Olympic Games.

Her presentation will be accompanied by visuals and small display items. Typical French refreshments will be served. 

Vincent, who holds a PhD. in French Civilization from Penn State University, is an associate professor of French Studies at Wake Forest, where she teaches language, literature and cultural courses, as well as Business French. 

She travels regularly to France, and her research focuses on contemporary French culture.

The library is located at 201 Worth Street. For further information, call 336-318-6803.

Historian to examine southerners in French and Indian War during Asheboro library talk

ASHEBORO – Learn about the role of native Southerners in the Seven Years War, also known as the French and Indian War, in a talk by UNC-Greensboro History professor Dr. Greg O’Brien at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, July 11, at the Asheboro Public Library.

Topics covered will include the war between the Cherokees and colonists supported by the British Army, 1759-1761, and efforts of native people throughout the region to forge peace with each other during a time of imperial war.

O’Brien’s talk, supported by the Friends of the Library, is free and the public is invited.

O’Brien is head of the History Department at UNC-Greensboro. His research and teaching focuses on American Indian history, environmental history and early America. He has penned several books including The Native South: New Histories and Enduring Legacies, and The Ultimate Guide to North America’s Indigenous Peoples.

The library is located at 201 Worth Street. For further information, call 336-318-6803.

Rich Powell

 ASHEBORO – "An Evening with Rich Powell" will feature the nationally-known, Asheboro-based artist and illustrator talking about his work and his new cartoon collection "Ignore this Singing Pig," in a special Friends of the Library Sunset Signature Series event at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, June 22, in downtown Asheboro’s historic Sunset Theatre.

Music will be provided by local singer-songwriter Jack Gorham.

The event is free and the public is invited. The Sunset Series is sponsored by the Heart of North Carolina Visitors Bureau, the City of Asheboro and the Friends of the Randolph County Public Libraries.

Powell is well-known for his work in Highlights Magazine, MAD Magazine and many other publications. His syndicated cartoon panel "Wide Open!" won the National Cartoonists Society Silver Reuben award in both 2001 and 2002.

His line of humorous wildlife art, Callahan's Quest for Adventure, garnered him another Silver Reuben for Product Illustration in 2013, and the Our State television show that featured him illustrating Andy Griffith's "What It Was, Was Football" won the Emmy for Best Magazine Program at the 31st Midsouth Emmy Awards.

Powell’s talk will feature images of his work. A book signing will follow.

The Sunset Theatre is located at 234 Sunset Avenue. For further information, call 800-626-2672 or visit HeartofNorthCarolina.com.

Go aboard ‘Titanic: Ship of Dreams’ in Asheboro library talk

ASHEBORO – The stories of people who boarded the R.M.S. Titanic on April 10, 1912, and sailed off into immortality will come to life in “Titanic: Ship of Dreams,” a talk by Belmont Abbey College professor Dr. Melina Ratchford at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, June 20, at the Asheboro Public Library.

Ratchford also will show her extensive collection of Titanic memorabilia.

Her talk, supported by the Friends of the Randolph County Public Libraries, is free and the public is invited.

Ratchford’s presentation offers a glimpse into the world of 1912 and the amazing people who traveled on Titanic, the largest and most luxurious ship in the world. Meet the young Robert Spedden and his Stief Teddy bear named Polar; the world’s richest man and his beautiful wife new wife who had to leave New York society under a cloud of shame; and the elderly man and wife who tested the vow “till death do we part,” and many others among the 2,228 souls on board. Experience the world of courage, fear, love and cowardice that is still alive over 100 years after the ship’s sinking.

Study of Titanic has been a 60-year avocation for Ratchford, who has visited all the sites that have Titanic connections, including Belfast, where the ship was built; Southampton, from where it sailed; and Halifax, Nova Scotia, where the bodies were interred. In 1996, she spent a week at the site of the sinking in the North Atlantic.

Ratchford worked in the North Carolina public schools for 31 years. She is currently an associate professor in the Sister Christine Beck Department of Education at Belmont Abbey College, where in 2002 she received the Adrian Faculty Excellence Award.

The library is located at 201 Worth Street. For further information, call 336-318-6803.

Panel of service members to mark Women Veterans Day in Asheboro library talk

Rita Honeycutt

ASHEBORO – Join three local women veterans at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, June 11, at the Asheboro Public Library to learn about their experiences in the military, in recognition of Women Veterans Day observed on June 12.

Speaking about their service:

Rita Honeycutt served in the U.S. Air Force from 2005-2008 before being medically discharged. She was stationed at Port Hueneme in California and McGuire Air Force Base in New Jersey with the 108th Refueling Wing. She now serves as a Veterans Services Officer with Randolph County Veterans Services.

Lisa
Mckinney

Lisa McKinney served as a Personnel Specialist in the U.S Air Force from 2005-2013 and in the Air Force Reserves from 2013-2019. She was stationed in the United Kingdom, Arizona and North Carolina, and served one tour at Bagram Air Force Base in Afghanistan in the Casualty Office. She is currently a Veterans Services Officer with Randolph County Veterans Services.

Merideth Porter served in the U.S. Marine Corps from 2009-2013 and was stationed at the Navy and Marine Intelligence Training Center in Virginia Beach. She is an advocate for veterans, striving to empower veterans and their families with knowledge about health care, housing, career assistance and other needs.

Women Veterans Day marks the anniversary of the Women’s Armed Services Integration Act. The day honors America’s military women past and present.

Merideth
Porter

Currently, there are more than 2 million women veterans who make up 13 percent of the country’s military population.

The library is located at 201 Worth Street. For further information, call 336-318-6803.

Comic-Con returns to Asheboro library for second year

ASHEBORO -- Fans of comic books, pop culture, anime and superheroes are invited to the second annual Randolph County Public Libraries Comic-Con, 9 a.m.-noon Saturday, May 18, at the Asheboro Public Library.

Hosted by Asheboro library Youth Services, the all-ages, family-friendly event will feature 15 comic book authors, illustrators and other creators who will demonstrate their techniques and display their work, which will be available for purchase.

Booths will include original art, rare comics, and related merchandise.  There will be a special effects makeup demo, and photo ops with the Ghost Busters vehicle and the Andy Griffith car.

The event will include an origami demo at 10 a.m. and an anime character drawing demo at 11 a.m. Dress as a favorite character or superhero for a costume contest; judging by age categories will take place at 11:30 a.m.

Artists, authors and others participating include:

• Victoria Aldridge — Andy Griffith car;
• Central North Carolina Ghostbusters — cosplay fan group with Ghostbusters car;
• Chris Gairrusso — writer and illustrator of the G-Man graphic novel series;
• Dan Johnson — writer and editor at RedLine Comics Studio and Comic-Con emcee;
• Jo Knorpp and Fern Singleton, artwork and demonstrations;
• Marshall Lakes — art demonstrations;
• Angela Lombardo — young adult fantasy author of The Katori Chronicles;
• Jennifer McCollom — film makeup artist (Hunger Games) offering special effects makeup demos;
• Hector Miray — books, stickers, merch focused on spiritual themes in geek culture; 
• Rich Powell, artist and illustrator known for his Mad Magazine and Highlights work, “Wide Open” comic strip, and new book Ignore This Singing Pig;
• Chris Rigo — comic books, retro video games and toys;
• Gene Shanks — cartoonist, author of self-published comic series, sketches by request;
• Brian “Smitty” Smith — former Marvel and DC Comics editor, and author of Pea, Bee and Jay graphic novels; 
• Casey Strothman-Evans — pop culture custom creations;
• Xela Strothman-Evans — digital art and hand-painted 3D prints.

Also present will be library Youth Services staff from Asheboro, Archdale and Liberty to promote the “Adventure Begins at Your Library” summer reading initiative.

Support for Comic-Con is provided by the Friends of the Library.

The library is located at 201 Worth Street. For further information, call 336-318-6804.

Historian Kevin Duffus to recount harrowing Outer Banks rescue in Asheboro library talk

Kevin P. Duffus

ASHEBORO – During World War I, on August 16, 1918, the German submarine U-117 torpedoed the
British freighter S.S. Mirlo off the Outer Banks of North Carolina.

 As the freighter sank, six courageous Coast Guardsmen of the Chicamacomico Lifeboat Station at Rodanthe sped to the rescue.

The crew’s heroic effort to save the lives of the 51 British sailors is the topic of “Into the Burning Sea: the 1918 Rescue of the Miro,” a talk by researcher and author Kevin P. Duffus at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, May 7, at the Asheboro Public Library.

The talk is free and the public is invited.

The Mirlo’s cargo was gasoline, forcing the rescuers to enter a hellish inferno of explosions and toxic fumes, and a maze of black smoke, imperiling their lives to save strangers in distress.

Duffus is a noted North Carolina author, filmmaker and research historian who has made numerous discoveries. At age 17, he found, explored and identified a sunken Confederate gunboat in an eastern North Carolina river.

In 2002, he found the 1853 Cape Hatteras Lighthouse Fresnel lens, missing since the Civil War. His book The Lost Light: A Civil War Mystery, tracks the light’s 150-year odyssey.

Duffus also is author of Shipwrecks of the Outer Banks: An Illustrated Guide and The Last Days of Blackbeard the Pirate. In 2012, he penned War Zone: World War Two Off the North Carolina Coast, which won the Willie Parker Peace Award.

Television documentaries he has produced have received the George Foster Peabody Award, the World Hunger Media Award, the Edward R. Murrow Award and the National Education Award.

Named North Carolina Historian of the Year in 2014, Duffus will publish his fifth book, a history of Bald Head Island and Cape Fear, on June 1.

The library is located at 201 Worth Street. For further information, call 336-318-6803.

Asheboro library talk to address joys, challenges of caregiving

David Caughron

ASHEBORO – Despite the challenges and stressors associated with caring for another, many caregivers
would describe their role as one that brings joy and purpose to their lives.

Join David Caughron, Hospice of the Piedmont Vice-President of Community Engagement and Education, at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, April 25, at the Asheboro Public Library, for a conversation about how to cultivate the benefits of caregiving while also acknowledging the difficulties and uncertainties.

Whether you are a caregiver yourself or know someone who is, recognizing the “hard but good” aspects of this important role can help you reframe your understanding of caregiving.

Caughron has been a part of Hospice staff for 14 years, starting as director of Marketing and Development. Prior to joining the organization, he served for four years on its board of directors.

He serves as chairman of the Tourism Development Authority Board of Directors, on which he has served for 25 years, and is a member of the Randolph Rotary Club.

The library is located at 201 Worth Street.

Randolph libraries to close for Staff Development Day on Friday, April 19

 ASHEBORO – All seven Randolph County Public Libraries locations will be closed on Friday, April 19, for a Staff Development Day.

The libraries in Asheboro, Archdale, Liberty, Randleman, Ramseur and Seagrove will reopen at their usual times Saturday, April 20, and Franklinville will reopen on Sunday afternoon.

“The last thing we want to do is inconvenience those who rely on the library every day, but we believe that this one-day hiatus will benefit the people we serve in the long run, allowing us to recharge our batteries in a learning environment,” says Library Director Ross Holt.

Staff Development days are common among libraries around the state, but this will be the first in Randolph County.

During the event, staff will participate in sessions on customer service, safety, strategic planning, mindfulness, and resources provided by NC LIVE, the state’s online library.

Keynote speaker will be Dr. Leisha DeHart Davis of the UNC School of Government. Her topic will be “Emotional Labor for Librarians,” which stems from her work on strengthening the capability of local government employees to respond effectively to a wide range of public needs.

Book drops will be open during the day, and the library’s full complement of online resources, from ebooks and downloadable audiobooks to Tutor.com and powerful research resources, will be available as usual.

For further information, contact the Asheboro library at 336-318-6801 or visit www.randolphlibrary.org/staffday.

‘One-On-One Resumé Building’ workshops coming to Archdale library

ARCHDALE – Gain the fundamental skills needed to create an effective resume in “One-On-One Resume Building,” Wednesday, March 13 and Monday, March 18, at the Archdale Public Library.

Individual, one-hour coaching sessions with Randolph County Public Libraries Digital Services Librarian Harris Mason will be available between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. on each day. To sign up for a session or for further information, call 336-431-3811 or visit the library.

The sessions are free and all ages are welcome.

Participants will learn how to construct a compelling resume by mastering key sections such as contact details, summary/objective statements, work history, education, and skills. Through guided instructions, they also will discover the art of tailoring their resumes to specific job opportunities, and honing formatting techniques for a polished, professional appearance.

The library is located at 10433 S. Main Street.

Archdale library history talk to focus on Lytle family

ARCHDALE – On November 28, 1829, 38 enslaved children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren of two Lytle sisters were sold in Randolph County.

It was the largest single sale of enslaved people in the county’s history.

Genealogist Kendra Lyons will delve into the story in “Lytle Family: How Thomas Lytle Tried to Free His Slaves, and What Went Wrong,” at 6 p.m. Tuesday, February 27, at the Archdale Public Library. Lyons’s talk is free and the public is invited.

The story starts with Thomas Lytle, an early Randolph County citizen who owned a large plantation on Caraway Creek. With an enslaved black woman whose name is not known, he fathered four sons and two daughters.

Lytle died in 1794. In his will, he emancipated his children, but for five of them — including daughters Esther and Pink — freedom did not come until Lytle’s wife died in 1816. By 1829, Esther and Pink had children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren — all of whom remained enslaved and were subject to the sale.

Lytle descendants nationwide — some of whom identify as white and some as black — held a reunion in September at Marlboro Friends Church in Sophia.

Lyons is genealogy specialist in the Randolph Room, the local history and genealogy service of the Randolph County Public Libraries.

The library is located at 10433 S. Main Street. For further information, call 336-431-3811.

Cat in the Hat to visit Randleman library

RANDLEMAN – Celebrate Dr. Seuss’s birthday with the funniest, most mischievous cat you’ve ever met — the Cat In the Hat!

The Dr. Seuss classic, as envisioned by Caleb Sigmon and his troupe, Sigmon Theatrical, springs off the page and bursts into life at 4 p.m. Thursday, February 29, at the Randleman Public Library.

It’s free and the public is invited.

The show features colorful costumes, puppets, exciting music and circus feats. The interactive, audience-participation event will have viewers on the edge of their seats.

Be sure to stick around after the fun, family program for photos and silliness during an exclusive meet-and-greet.

The library is located at 142 W. Academy Street. For further information, call 33-6498-3141.

Kids – get close up with volcanoes in Asheboro library event

ASHEBORO – Since the dawn of time, volcanoes have filled us with wonder and terror.

Kids ages 8-12 are invited to learn about them in “Volcanoes: Mountains of Rock and Fire,” an interactive program led by North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences educator Luka Rolleri at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, February 20, at the Asheboro Public Library.

Due to the hands-on nature of the activities, space is limited, so call 336-318-6804 to sign up.

Volcanic rock has given us tools, countertops and island chains. The fertile soil has nurtured civilizations, and violent eruptions have ended them.

Using real, hands-on specimens and interactive activities, Rolleri will demonstrate what ancient eruptions can tell us about volcanoes today.

Rolleri has been with the museum for four years, during which time he has developed programs on a variety of topics ranging from dinosaurs to giraffes to the Titanic. He holds an undergraduate degree in anthropology, and is passionate about connecting people to the human stories behind science.

The library is located at 201 Worth Street.