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The picture shows wooden tables and chairs, as if in a cafe, with a clock on the red brick interior wall surrounded by a variety of wooden rectangular clocks painted with the flag emblems of various countries.

World Language Collection & Lunar New Year

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The picture shows wooden tables and chairs, as if in a cafe, with a clock on the red brick interior wall surrounded by a variety of wooden rectangular clocks painted with the flag emblems of various countries.
Photo by Farzad Mohsenvanda at Unsplash.

by Mai-Leng O.

Welcome to Howard County Library System’s World Languages Collection! 

Howard County is a diverse and multi-ethnic community where the population comes from a myriad of countries across the globe. The vibrant, multiracial population makes our county an exciting place to be. With the growth of these demographics, HCLS began to enlarge its World Languages collection, consisting of print literature and DVDs, to support the reading and viewing needs of all residents. 

Presently, the print collection consists of many languages, including Arabic, Chinese, French, German, Japanese, Korean, Persian, Russian, Spanish, and several Indian languages such as Gujarati, Hindi, Malayalam, Tamil, and Urdu. The World Languages DVD collection consists of languages ranging from Albanian to Zulu. Many of the DVDs have English subtitles, so non-speakers of the language can appreciate and enjoy movies and documentaries from countries around the world. 

In addition to the physical World Languages DVD collection, we offer streaming video options through the Kanopy and Hoopla platforms. You just need a library card!

We invite you to visit our branches to borrow and enjoy our World Languages print and DVD collections, or visit us at hclibrary.org to access the streaming platforms. Happy reading and watching!

Celebrate the Lunar New Year with these upcoming events:

Lunar New Year: What Animal Are You?  
Mon, Jan 23
all day
HCLS Glenwood Branch
Family; all ages. Drop In. 
Celebrate Lunar New Year at the Glenwood Branch! Are you a lion? An ox? A rabbit? Find out what animal matches your birth year, then decorate a paper animal to join others in this self-directed community art project.
Visit our classes and events page here for more information.

Dim Sum of Crafts 
Mon, Jan 23
11 am – 12:30 pm & 2 – 3:30 pm 
HCLS Miller Branch
Ages 4 & up. Drop In. Allow 30 minutes.
Celebrate the Lunar New Year with a variety of crafts. For more information, visit our classes and events page here for the first sessions and here for the second session.

Mon, Jan 23
2 – 3 pm 
HCLS Savage Branch
Ages 3 & up. Ticketed. Allow 30 minutes.

Visit our classes and events page here for more information.

Mai-Leng Ong is the Senior Materials Specialist at Howard County Library System. She holds a Master of Science in Library and Information Science from the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign.

The movie cover depicts a train in the background, with smoke and fire as if there has been an accident. In the foreground are several people fleeing the carnage, including a man carrying a young child whose face looks back a the train.

Spooky Kanopy Picks

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by Emily B.

Did you know you can use your library card to watch eight movies every month on Kanopy? Here are some spooky films to check out this October.

The image depicts a woman on pointe shoes in profile with her arms raised above her head and her head thrown back. The red of her dress runs down her legs and shoes and onto the ground, puddling as if it is blood.

Suspiria (1977) 

An American ballet student discovers that sinister things are afoot at a prestigious German dance academy. The film is regarded as one of the most influential horror films, with its striking visuals and haunting soundtrack.  

The image depicts a house on a distant hill against the backdrop of a cloudy sky. In the foreground are two men and two women and, superimposed above them, another man looking to the side with a slightly shocked expression and an eyebrow raised. The title of the film has a noose for the "o" in the word "House."

House on Haunted Hill (1959) 

An eccentric millionaire invites five strangers to a party at a haunted house, offering $10,000 to whomever survives the night. Partially inspired by Shirley Jackson’s The Haunting of Hill House, this film has solidified itself as a campy horror classic.  

The movie poster depicts a silhouette of the Babadook surrounding an open door and two windows, as if the Babadook is the house containing them. Viewed through the open door are two children, one perched above the other, both looking out as if into the dark.

The Babadook (2014) 

A widow struggles to raise her young son, who is convinced that a character from a pop-up book is real and lurking around their home. 

The movie cover depicts a train in the background, with smoke and fire as if there has been an accident. In the foreground are several people fleeing the carnage, including a man carrying a young child whose face looks back a the train.

Train to Busan (2016) 

A man and his daughter attempt to survive a rapidly-spreading zombie infection that breaks out while they are on the train. This record-breaking Korean film will soon undergo an American remake. 

The movie cover depicts half of a woman's face from the neck up; she wears a coronet of flowers and greenery and appears frightened or distressed.

Midsommar (2019) 

A woman accompanies her boyfriend and his friends on a trip to Sweden for a midsummer festival and chaos ensues. Don’t let the beautiful setting and cheery color palate of the film deceive you – Midsommar is one of the most disturbing horror films I’ve ever seen.

The movie cover image depicts two children standing at the end of a hallway flooded with water. There are doors to their left and high windows to their right all along the sides of the hall. One child looks straight at the camera; the other is looking down and wears a facial-obscuring hoodie.

Dark Water (2002) 

A woman, in the midst of divorce negotiations, moves to a run-down apartment with her young daughter. A mysterious ceiling leak and ghostly appearances ensue. In 2005, an American remake of this Japanese film starring Jennifer Connelly was released.

You can borrow Midsommar, Dark Water, Train to Busan, The Babadook, and House on Haunted Hill on DVD, too.

Emily is an Instructor & Research Specialist at the Central Branch. She enjoys reading, listening to music, and re-watching old seasons of Survivor.

Collage of black and white photos and color blocks in red, green, blue and yellow with "Summer of Soul" overlaid.

June is African American Music Appreciation Month

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Collage of black and white photos of musicians and color blocks in red, green, blue, and yellow with "Summer of Soul" overlaid.

by Jean B.

Count Basie. Billie Holliday. Duke Ellington. I am an enthusiastic jazz fan, and I appreciate that sliver of African American music all year long, not just in June. But the musical expression of Black experience and artistry certainly isn’t limited to jazz or any other single genre. Gospel, rhythm and blues, soul, hip hop, rap, classical, rock and roll, techno, musicals – African American Music Appreciation Month provides a great opportunity to acknowledge and explore the tremendous breadth of African American musicians, composers, styles, and music entrepreneurs. Established in 1979 as National Black Music Month, it has been proclaimed by every U.S. President from Jimmy Carter to Joe Biden. So for this 43rd annual celebration, use HCLS as a portal to enjoy more of what you already like or discover something entirely new.

Expand Your Playlist
If you’re looking for new tunes, HCLS offers thousands of CDs across all genres to borrow. Using your library card and PIN, you also can stream music from Freegal. Not only can you search for favorite artists or songs, but you can find already curated Black Music Month playlists – like the one created by the Central Arkansas Library System with ten hours of music, ranging from Jimi Hendrix, to Sister Rosetta Tharpe; from Kendrick Lamar to Miles Davis. That’s a lot to appreciate!

Experience Live Concerts
Do you want to imagine you’re there, in concert? Documentary DVDs can bring the live concert experience right into your home. Check out Questlove’s Oscar-winning documentary, Summer of Soul, about the epic 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival that features performances by artists like Stevie Wonder, Nina Simone, B.B. King, and more. Or watch Eminem, Nas, and other hip-hop artists perform on Something From Nothing: the Art of Rap. From our Kanopy service, stream films like Rejoice and Shout: Gospel Music and African-American Christianity, which features legends of gospel like The Staple Singers and The Dixie Hummingbirds, to trace the 200-year evolution and contribution of gospel music in American pop culture.

The cover of I'm Possible: A Story of Survival, a Tuba, and the Small Miracle of a Big Dream features the outline illustration of a red figure playing a black tuba, framed by text.

Explore the Lives of African American Creators
If you’re curious about the life experiences that produced the music you hear, check out some great nonfiction. Be blown away by the memoir of Baltimore native Richard Antoine White, whose dream of classical tuba performance took him from a homeless childhood to a prestigious symphony orchestra career, an extraordinary story he tells in I’m Possible: A Story of Survival, A Tuba, and the Small Miracle of a Big Dream. Or be swept up in the incredible combination of poetry, art, biography, and music history in Jazz A-B-Z: An A to Z Collection of Jazz Portraits, where Wynton Marsalis writes wordplay jazz. I love his ode to Ellington, “a most elegant man” who sought “to educate, to elevate, to urge the earthbound ear and heart alike to soar,” just like the resources at HCLS!

Jean B. is a Children’s Instructor and Research Specialist at the Central Branch and loves reading books for all ages when she isn’t enjoying the outdoors.