Benjamin Franklin: In Search of a Better World

Until April 24th, the first floor of the Terrebonne Parish Main Library will be the temporary home of a travelling exhibition about founding father Benjamin Franklin entitled Benjamin Franklin: In Search of a Better World. The exhibition was organized by the Benjamin Franklin Tercentenary of Philadelphia and the American Library Association Public Programs Office. The creation of the exhibit was also made possible by a generous grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities.

The Terrebonne Parish Main Library is located at 151 Library Drive, across from the Civic Center. Interactive computers have been set up to allow patrons to explore more aspects of the exhibit and we encourage the public to check out materials dealing with the life, accomplishments and philosophy of Benjamin Franklin.

For more information, call 985-876-1733 or email us.

Database of the Week: ReferenceUSA

You need to find the phone number to the headquarters of the business whose product just broke on you...Or maybe you're curious about a high school friend's whereabouts; is he still in Louisiana?...Or perhaps you or someone you know is a salesperson looking for sales leads...Or maybe you're just curious about who lives within a mile of you...

ReferenceUSA is a database the Terrebonne Parish Library System subscribes to to make it easier for our patrons to find telephone numbers for businesses and residences all over the United States. You can find a convenient link to the database on our website or at the website of the Louisiana Library Conection/Consortium, a collaborative service of individual parish libraries and the State Library of Louisiana.

Click here to take a look at a handy user's guide to the ReferenceUSA Business module.

Books For Sale by the Bag and By The Inch!

Want to add a few volumes to your home library without breaking the bank?

On Friday, March 27th and Saturday, March 28th, 2009, the Terrebonne Parish Library System and the Friends of the Terrebonne Parish Library are holding a book sale at the North Branch. On those days, the North Branch library, located at 4130 West Park Avenue (directly across from HL Bourgeois High School), will be open from 9am-4pm.

The North Branch is closing for a little while (like two years or so) while it is thoroughly remodeled from top to bottom and, of course, room needs to be made in the collection for the fresh, new books to come. To that end, all the books we need to clear out will be left on the shelf in subject order so you can come and take a look.

At check out time, pricing will work like this:

On Friday, the books you want to buy will be stacked up and measured and you'll be asked to pay 75¢ per inch.

On Saturday, you can fill up a brown paper bag for $3.00.

All money from the sale will benefit the Friends of the Terrebonne Parish Library.

For more information, contact Amy Whipple at awhipple@terrebonne.lib.la.us

Lions Club Eyeglass Recycling

Do you have some old eyeglasses? Maybe your prescription has changed or they're just not quite your style anymore? Don't throw them away!



From now until April 24th, you can bring your old glasses to any branch of the Terrebonne Parish Library System and drop them off and we'll make sure they get into the hands of the Lions Club International. The Lions Club collects and reuses prescription glasses for charity. Children's glasses are especially needed, according to the Lions Club, so consider whether that pair of eyeglasses collecting dust for sentimental reasons might do more good on the face of a child squinting at the blackboard somewhere.

For more information, contact the Terrebonne Parish Library at 985-876-5158. Or email us. You can read more about the Lions Club eyeglass recycling program here:

"Lions Recycle For Sight"

Reference DVDs

The Terrebonne Parish Library System recently added some DVDs to its collection which, because of demand and cost, we can't allow to check out. However, patrons can ask for them at the reference desk and, upon leaving some form of identification, can take them to one of our public-access computers. Our computers are equipped with software that make it possible to watch NTSC-encoded (American) DVDs.

The DVDs can be moved between branches for patron convenience, but cannot leave any library building without special permission.

The DVDs available are:

-CDL Skills and Road Test: Straight Trucks

-CDL Pre-Trip Inspection Test: Straight Trucks

-CDL Skills and Road test: Tractor Trucks

-CDL Pre-Trip Inspection Test: Tractor Trucks

-CDL Written Test Refresher

-The World According to Google

-Information Literacy: The Perils of Online Research

-The Vocabulary of Film and TV

The DVDs are all less than one hour long. For more information about the DVDs, call Reference Supervisor Darryl Eschete at 985-876-1733 ext. 242 or email deschete@terrebonne.lib.la.us

Dularge Grand Re-Opening!

The Dularge Branch library is open and back in business, but we hope you'll join us Saturday, March 21st for the official ribbon-cutting on the new, improved and much-better-looking building!



The renovated Dularge Branch, located at 837 Bayou Dularge Road, features:

-an expanded collection of new books

-new areas for kids and teens

-a new DVD collection

-books on CD

-new computers

-more public space and parking

To contact the Dularge Branch, call 985-851-1752 or email them at dularge@terrebonne.lib.la.us

Do-It-Yourself Interlibrary Loan

No library can own every book ever written...but we can probably get a copy if you give us enough time! We have a service called "Interlibrary Loan," which is just a fancy way of saying "getting stuff from other libraries."

You can enter your own interlibrary loan requests if you can't find an item in our collection. The video below--featuring Terrebonne Parish Library's own Interlibrary Loan specialist Keisa Arceneaux--will tell you how.

If you have any questions about the service or want to take part, just e-mail Keisa!