Episode Transcript
[00:00:15] Speaker A: Greetings, readers. Welcome to the first May edition of Library News. May brings a sense of momentum and possibility, and here at the Library we're excited to keep that energy going. In this episode we discuss the Elizabeth Porowski Volunteer Luncheon, Summer reading top 10 fiction on Bard and much more. Each year the library and the Iowa Department for the Blind honors their volunteers with the Elizabeth Perowski Volunteer Workshop and Luncheon. This year's workshop and luncheon were held Friday, February 24th as part of the Elizabeth Perowski Volunteer Program. We honor volunteers who have gone above and beyond throughout the year to assist and support the library. For more than 60 years. Elizabeth Perowski of Des Moines was a volunteer Braille transcriber. She taught herself to Braille and was certified in Literary Nemeth and Music Braille by the Library of Congress. She also conducted Braille workshops throughout the country, teaching others how to braille. Elizabeth was still brailing within a few weeks of her death at the age of 97 in May 1996. In honor of Elizabeth, the text on the Elizabeth Porowski Memorial Volunteer Award states for extraordinary spirit and inexhaustible dedication in volunteer service to those who are blind.
Each year, the Elizabeth Prosky Memorial Award and other recognitions are given to our volunteers in appreciation for all that they do for our library.
This year, the Elizabeth Porowski Memorial Award was given to the Friends of the Iowa Library for the Blind. We would like to thank the Friends of the Library for their constant support, advocacy and commitment throughout the year. The Friends raise funds through memberships and events which are then given to the library.
These funds are essential to the success of many programs such as the Iowa Regional Braille Challenge, Year Round, youth programming, the purchase of 3D printers, additions to the Library's collection, and so much more. This year at the Elizabeth Perowski Luncheon, the Friends also presented the library with a check for $12,000.
Congratulations to the friends of the library.
[00:02:09] Speaker B: The fourth stop in our 2026 Peekabox journey was Sydney, Australia.
Sydney was host of the 2000 Summer Olympic Games, which are often called one of the most successful and memorable Olympic Games in history.
Known for its stunning harbor, iconic landmarks, and the welcoming spirit, Sydney brought the world together for a celebration of sport and culture.
The 2000 games were praised for their organization, enthusiastic crowds and focus on environmental sustainability, earning the nickname the Green Games. The opening ceremony featured powerful moments celebrating Indigenous Australian culture and history, making it especially meaningful on a global stage. Do you want to learn and read all about Olympic host cities? It's not too late to get signed up for Picabox. Call the library to get signed up today or go to IowaLibrary blog now
[00:03:03] Speaker C: for top 10 fiction books downloaded from Bard Project. Hail Mary DB 103718 by Andy Weird Ryland Grace awakens on a spaceship far from Earth with no memory and two dead crewmates. As he begins to remember the details of his impossible mission to try to save humanity from an extinction level threat, he encounters an unexpected ally.
The Widow DB 133042 by John Grisham Simon Latch is a lawyer in rural Virginia, making just enough to pay his bills while his marriage slowly falls apart.
Then into his office walks Eleanor Barnett, an elderly widow in need of a new will. Apparently her husband left her a small fortune and no one knows about it. Once he hooks the richest client of his career, Simon works quietly to keep her wealth under the radar.
But soon her story begins to crack. When she is hospitalized after a car accident, Simon realizes that nothing is as it seems, and he finds himself on trial for a crime he swears he didn't commit murder. Simon knows he's innocent, but he also knows the circumstantial evidence is against him and he could spend the rest of his life behind bars. To save himself, he must find the real killer. The Invisible Woman A Thriller DB 134328 by James Patterson and Susan Delallo no one sees her, but she sees everything.
Eleanor Gilbert was once a young woman with a thriving career at the FBI.
Now decades past solving crimes with the Bureau, she is personally and professionally forgettable, which is exactly what her former FBI boss needs. He disguises Eleanor as a middle aged nanny and casts her as an agent on the inside of his investigation into into a New York art dealer suspected of ties to organized crime. But as Eleanor pushes towards the truth, her superpower anonymity morphs into a fatal flaw. The more the Invisible Woman integrates into her host family, the more dangerously memorable she becomes.
A novel DB 131887 by Alan Levi Questions linger about Theo, a pleasant but mysterious stranger after his arrival in the southern city of golden. Who he is and why he is here. He arrives early one spring and by chance, or is it? He visits a coffee shop where 92 frame pencil portraits are on display. Inspired, Theo sets out on a mission of purchasing all the portraits one at a time and quietly bestowing them on their rightful owners.
Stories are told, friendships are born, and lives are changed. Theo of golden is a beautifully crafted story about the power of creative generosity, the importance of wonder to a purposeful life, and the far reaching possibilities of anonymous kindness.
[00:06:15] Speaker A: The Proving Ground DB 133660 by Michael Conley following his resurrection walk and need for a new direction, Mickey Haller turns to public interest litigation, filing a civil lawsuit against an artificial intelligence company whose chatbot told a 16 year old boy that it was okay for him to kill his ex girlfriend for her disloyalty. Representing the victim's family, Mickey's case explores the most unregulated and exploding AI business and the lack of training guardrails along the way. He joins up with a journalist named Jack McAvoy who who wants to be a fly on the wall during the trial in order to write a book about it. But Mickey puts him to work going through the mountain of printed discovery materials in the case. McAvoy's digging ultimately delivers the key witness a whistleblower who has been too afraid to speak up. The case is fraught with danger because billions are at stake. It is said that machines became smarter than humans on the day in 1997 that IBM's Deep Blue defeated chess master Garry Kasparov with a gambit called the Knights Sack Sacrifice. Haller will take a similar gambit in court to defeat the mega forces of the AI industry lined up against him and his clients.
The Intruder DB 133584 by Freda McFadden who knows what the storm will blow in? Casey's cabin in the wilderness is not built for a hurricane. Her roof shakes, the lights flicker, and the tree outside her front door sways ominously in the wind. But she's a lot more worried about the girl she discovers lurking outside her kitchen window. She's young, she's alone, and she's covered in blood. The girl won't explain where she came from or loosen her grip on the knife in her right hand. And when Casey makes a disturbing discovery in the middle of the night, things take a turn for the worse.
The girl has a dark secret, one she'll kill to keep. And if Casey gets too close to the truth, she may not live to see the morning.
The Surrogate Mother A Novel DB 133731 Freda McFadden Abby wants a baby more than anything, but after years of failed infertility treatments and adoptions that have fallen through, it seems like motherhood is not in her future. That is, until her personal assistant, Monica, makes a generous offer that will make all of Abby's dreams come true. But it turns out Monica isn't who she says she is. The woman now carrying Abby's child has an unspeakable secret, and she will stop at nothing to get what she wants.
Gone Before Goodbye A Novel DB 133207 by Reese Witherspoon and Harlan Coben Maggie McCabe is teetering on the brink. A highly skilled and renowned army combat surgeon, she has always lived life at the edge where she could make the most impact. And it was all going to plan until it wasn't upside down. After a devastating series of tragedies leads to her medical license being revoked, Maggie has lost her purpose but not her nerve or her passion.
At her lowest point, she is thrown a lifeline by a former colleague, an elite plastic surgeon whose anonymous clientele demand the best care money can buy as well as absolute discretion. Halfway across the globe, sequestered in the lap of luxury and cutting edge technology, one of the world's most mysterious men requires unconventional medical assistance.
Desperate and one of the few surgeons in the world skilled enough to take this job, Maggie enters his realm of unspeakable opulence and fulfills her end of the agreement.
But when the patient suddenly disappears while still under her care, Maggie must become a fugitive herself.
[00:09:42] Speaker B: Nash Falls DB 131313 by David Baldacci Nash is an intelligent man, tough but fair minded.
He has a wife and a daughter and a very high level position at Sebratic Investments, where his innate skills and dogged tenacity have carried him to the top of the pyramid in his business career.
Despite never going on grand adventures and always working too many hours, he has a happy and upscale life with his family.
However, following his estranged Vietnam veteran father's funeral, Nash is unexpectedly approached by the FBI in the middle of the night. They have an important request become their inside man to expose an enterprise that is laundering large sums of money through Simbradic.
At the top of this illegal operation is Victoria Steers, an international criminal mastermind that the FBI has been trying to bring down for years.
Nash has little choice but to accept the FBI's demands and try to bring Steers and her partners to justice.
But when Steers discovers that Nash is working with the FBI, she turns the tables on him in a way he never would have contemplated, and that forces Nash to take the ultimate step both to survive and to take his revenge. He must become the exact opposite of who he has always been, and even that may not be enough.
The Baby On My Doorstep DB134741 by Miranda Smith I thought my sister was killed a year ago, but now her baby is on my doorstep. I'm drinking a glass of wine in my quiet empty house listening to the silence and wondering if I will always be this lonely. And then I hear the knock. When I open the door, I can't believe what I see. A small bundle, pink fists waving weakly under a patterned blanket. Gorgeous deep blue eyes blinking up at me.
A baby. I rush to pick her up, clutching her tightly. Who can she belong to?
Why would someone abandon her at my door?
I call the police and social care, but I could never have predicted what happened next, because when they run DNA, the baby is related to me. She's my sister's child. But that's impossible. My sister was murdered a year ago, wasn't she?
Private Rome A murdered priest, A city full of secrets DB134749 by James Patterson and Adam Hamdi A priest is murdered and a private agent is the number one suspect. Jack Morgan is in Rome celebrating the opening of a new local private office when the party takes a deadly turn. Private agent Matteo Ricci is found at the party standing over the body of a dead priest with a gun in hand, swearing he did not kill the man.
As Jack tries to prove Mateo's innocence, he uncovers a much deadlier conspiracy which leads him straight to the heart of the Vatican. With corruption closing in on all sides, Jack must decide who he can trust before the city falls.
[00:12:56] Speaker C: The signup for the Youth Summer Reading Program is coming soon. The theme for this summer is Unearth a Unleash youh Inner Explorer. It will run from June 8 through July 31. Programs will be conducted virtually on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays from 1 to 1:45pm Stay tuned. For more information.
Join Denise Bean, our Youth Librarian, for these great programs. If you have any questions about our youth library programs, reach out to Denise Bean, Youth Services Librarian Denise Beanline, State IA, US or 515452.
[00:13:39] Speaker A: Save the date the library will be a part of the Downtown Des Moines Farmers market on Saturday, May 30. From 7am to 12pm we will have a booth offering a hands on Braille activity while spreading awareness about Braille literacy, the library and the department. If you are in the area, stop by and say hello.
[00:13:56] Speaker B: The National Library Service's Many Faces of Bard program will be held Thursday, May 14 at 6pm the topic for May's program will be typing text using the DA2.
After a presentation and demonstration, we will take your questions about all things barred for the remainder of the hour.
NLS Smart Speaking to the Smart speaker will be held Thursday, May 21 at 6pm and that all May eread will be held on Tuesday, May 26th at 6:00pm all programs are held via Zoom and the topics for smart speaking to the smart speaker and any and that all may eread have not been released yet. Check our blog, IowaLibrary blog for updated information.
Contact the library to get more information or go to www.loc.govnlS.
[00:14:52] Speaker C: the library will be closed Monday, May 25, in observance of Memorial Day. Please don't hesitate to contact the library with any questions or comments at 515-281-1323 or by email at librarylind state ia us.
The library is open Monday through Friday, 8am to 4:30pm Happy read.
