Author to visit March 18

Gary W. Moore, businessman, musician, motivational speaker, and author of Playing with the Enemy, the One Book, One Batavia 2010 selection, will give two presentations at the Library on Thursday, March 18.

Moore will speak at 12 noon at Books Between Bites and again at 7 pm. Tickets (free) are required for the evening presentation.

Playing with the Enemy is the story of the author’s father, Gene Moore—his talent for playing baseball, his stint in the Navy during World War II, and how his experiences as a young man defined his life.

In anticipation of the author’s visit to Batavia, the Library is offering three programs in March that promise to entertain music buffs, history buffs, and veterans.

On Sunday, March 7, at 2 pm, Library visitors can enjoy WWII era singing, dancing, comedy, and a tribute to U.S. veterans, performed by the Festive Singers. Then on Sunday, March 14, at 2 pm, two old-time radio shows will be presented by Those Were the Days Radio Players West.

Guest speaker Phil Lauricella will describe the experience of a soldier on the front in Italy during WWII at “The World War II Rifleman,” Monday, March 15, at 7 pm. Actual uniforms, special equipment, and weapons of the 10th Mountain Division will be on display.

The grand finale of One Book, One Batavia 2010 will be Gary W. Moore’s presentations, which will include book signings and the opportunity for participants to meet the author.

One Book, One Batavia is presented by Batavia Public Library and Batavia High School, and is sponsored by the Friends of the Batavia Public Library. For more information and to register for the programs mentioned above, call 630-879-4777 or visit OneBookOneBatavia.org.

Mark Twain was here!

  Spring in Batavia, and a young man’s fancy lightly turns to thoughts of One Book, One Batavia. A wonderful series of public events associated with this year’s book, Playing with the Enemy, is described elsewhere in this issue.

One Book, One Batavia, a community-wide reading program, was launched in 2003 with The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, an homage to author Samuel L. Clemens, who gave a lecture in Batavia in 1869. Clemens’ visit is commemorated, as well, by a statue at the entrance to the Library. Clemens, better known as Mark Twain, who was then 33 years old, gave an evening lecture in Batavia on 26 January 1869 before a large audience in a downtown hall. The Batavia Lecture Association sponsored the lecture course that included Twain, who was then anticipating the publication of The Innocents Abroad in July 1869. That fall (1869), the Batavia Lecture Association gave way to the Laconian Literary Society—one of the two organizations that founded the Batavia Library Association—and faded into history.

Both organizations were part of the great lyceum movement in the United States, which was an early form of organized adult education inspired by the Lyceum in ancient Greece, the school outside Athens where Aristotle taught. A lyceum was an organization that sponsored public lectures, concerts, debates, dramatic performances, and other forms of entertainment.

Since 2008, in addition to One Book, One Batavia, the Library proudly presents the New Lyceum Lecture Series, programs that promise to enlighten, engage, and entertain—a tribute to the past, when library associations and literary societies brought national speakers to local communities to share their view of the world.

The next lecture, by Monica Eng, is scheduled for Tuesday, April 6, at 7 pm. Both series—One Book, One Batavia and the New Lyceum Lecture Series—offer a look at what libraries can offer their communities in addition to new technology, collections of books and other materials, and access to information. Libraries can create a welcoming place to gather, exchange ideas, and participate in cultural events.

Batavia Public Library is the New Lyceum, and promises to bring the world a little bit closer to Batavia. Visit the Library or its Web site today!

George H. Scheetz
Director