Menu Planning & Cooking Shortcuts

Effective meal planning can save both time and money.  Discover tips and tactics for both at a free program offered at several Dayton Metro Library locations this spring and summer.  "Menu Planning & Cooking Shortcuts" is presented by Andrea Deckard, a former HR professional who now devotes her career to family budgeting education services.

Her free library program focuses on:

• The Importance of Meal Planning: Learn why and how meal planning can transform your grocery budget, but also your daily routines and the dreaded "witching hour."
  
  
• Beginner and Advanced Meal Planning Tactics: The program will walk you through the different phases of meal planning and teach you the ins and outs of two different "schools of thought," so that you can come up with a meal planning plan that works for you!
  
  
• Time-Saving Cooking Strategies and Shortcuts: Get practical help with how to make the most of the time you spend in the kitchen, making healthy and delicious meals in a fraction of the time!

The program takes place at the following libraries:

Read more: Menu Planning & Cooking Shortcuts

Libraries for a Smarter Future - May 2013 Update

In March, we shared with you the exciting news that we would be able to replace more of our aging facilities with new construction. In this update, we'd like to share some highlights of the new Main Library and some details of how we were able to strengthen our entire facilities plan.

The Dayton Metro Main Library is our library district's centerpiece. We are committed to building a downtown destination that will be an architectural showcase with first-class amenities that exceed our patrons' highest expectations. We will offer expanded services and programming that will include:

• Public space in the new Main Library will increase dramatically from about 28,000 square feet to more than 100,000 square feet with just a minor increase in its current footprint.
• Dedicated areas for Adults, Teens and Children – including Quiet Reading, a Teen Homework Center and activity space, and a Children's Story and Program Room
• More than 90 patron computers, 24 short-term internet stations to search the collections, a 30-seat computer training lab, and WiFi throughout
• Free underground parking for about 150 cars
• A 300-seat theater for library and community programs
• Six rooms seating 30 to 70 people for meetings and gatherings
• 24 rooms for group study and tutoring
• 5,000 square feet of space to share with nonprofit organizations for testing innovative services or providing longer-term programs
• A coffee bar/café

Read more: Libraries for a Smarter Future - May 2013 Update

The Library: A Haven for Creative Types

The library is home to the works of countless authors, artists, poets, musicians, actors and performers.  On our shelves you’ll find the results of their creativity - books, movies and music that inspire, entertain and inform you.  

 Author Crystal Hoblit at Brookville Branch

Crystal Hoblit’s first novel, Catching Raindrops, tells the story of 12-year-old Maggie who visits Dayton in 1913 when the great flood strikes.  She endures heart-wrenching tragedy and harrowing danger as she attempts to escape the devastation.

“I’ve always been intrigued by this event in Ohio history and I wanted to teach a new generation about what happened through this piece of historical fiction,” says Hoblit.

She’ll visit to our Brookville Branch Library on Saturday, June 1, at 2:00 p.m. to talk about the book and her five-year quest to complete it.  Copies of the book will be available for purchase and autographing.