Submitted by Joanne Garrett

Check out these highlights from some of the unique offerings patrons enjoyed systemwide March 20–26, 2025.

How to Start a Podcast at Cumming Library (3/23)
17 adults
“Our ‘How to Start a Podcast’ hosts were two sisters from Ohio who began a podcast, Mom's Wooden Spoon, after they discovered old (and somewhat questionable) recipes while helping their mother move. Fun recipes included beef brownies, a beef lemon jello concoction, and a variety of other beef, gelatin, and/or mayonnaise-based recipes. They said the bad recipes are their favorite episodes to film. Kristen and Carrie covered the basics of starting a podcast of your own. Patrons left equipped with the knowledge of how to start their own podcasts! They were very engaged, quickly taking notes even though Kristen said she had an outline to hand out at the end. They also asked many questions throughout and during the official Q&A session.” - hosted by Brianna Schantz 

Mom's Wooden Spoon podcasters shared their recipe
to successful programming with patrons.

Author Talk with Dr. Ashley Baker at Sharon Forks Library (3/25)

21 adults

“We had a great turnout for author Dr. Ashley Baker's program tonight. Dr. Baker did a presentation about her publishing journey and being a psychologist writing psychological suspense. She answered about a dozen questions from the audience and read a chapter from her book The Furious Others and then signed copies of her book. Many people wanted to talk to her and take photos and complimented the program. She had a lot of great advice for aspiring writers about working with a small publisher instead of having an agent and the process of cover art, editing, and royalties. She also talked about her motivation for writing The Furious Others, which includes giving a voice to victims of violent crime and talked about her upcoming projects. She was a great speaker who you would have thought had given many talks and had a great rapport with the audience even though this was her first author talk. I hope we will have more programs like this as she publishes more books.” - hosted by Alicia Cavitt

Dr. Ashley Baker shared professional advice with aspiring writers
and read from her most recent book The Furious Others.

Women's History Presentation at Senior Services at Charles Place (Outreach) (3/25)

50 adults

“We do a special program for Senior Services every three months, and this month was our Women's History Day! Many of our seniors do not drive, so they take the bus to the senior center and to the library. We learned about many obscure women in history who were scientists, inventors, mathematicians, and doctors. They faced great odds and discrimination, but carried on their work to the benefit of millions. One lady of 83 years has just moved to Georgia, and she was joyfully singing the praises of our library and the services we offer. She stated that she was just sitting in her apartment watching TV all day before she moved here where we have a library that engages the community and has so many programs for our older population!” - hosted by Jeanine Thompson

Up & Cumming Writers at Cumming Library (3/20)

12 adults

"Patrons discussed prior sessions and were able to see progression and improvement between sessions. Two new patrons were able to submit and have their work engaged with and critiqued. They talked about the characters they have created and the difference between the original iterations. One of the new patrons contributed a historical fiction piece that was able to have some interesting dialogue about." - hosted by Isa Caraballo

Books and Babies at Hampton Park Library (3/24)

12 children, 12 adults

"Today, we travelled to Australia in our ‘March Around the World’ series. We greeted everyone with G'day as we sang our ‘Hello song.’ We bounced to ‘Toast in the Toaster,’ and ‘Jump, Jump, Jump, goes the Kangaroo.’ We sang the song, ‘Barramundi’ and talked about some of the animals native to Australia. I passed out our felt storyboards with 3 different colored felt shapes with a baby kangaroo hiding behind one of them. I encouraged them to play the peek-a-boo game, ‘Kangaroo, Kangaroo, where are you?’ as they lifted the shapes to find the kangaroo. I also encouraged the grownups to use the boards to point out colors, shapes, and count the number of shapes with their little ones. They enjoyed some independent reading time with the board book, ‘Wiggles.’ I played a traditional Aboriginal song, ‘Inanay’ during our bubbles time and we finished up with playtime. We had a couple new families join in today along with our regulars. I love how everyone is so welcoming to our newest families and strives to make them feel right at home." - hosted by LeAnne Craig