Come in costume for stories, puppets, and trick-or-treats. Then head to Main Street for the Halloween Treat Parade!

This event will be repeated at 10:30 am.

In May, the University of Michigan Library will be hosting the Personal Digital Archiving 2016 conference, which will gather experts in the preservation of personal digital material from across the country and globe. While we had all of these experts in town, we thought it would be a great opportunity to have some of them participate in a session that is free and open to the public. Here are some details of the program:

Frances Harrell, Northeast Document Conservation Center
Digital Life Preservers

Frances will open the panel with a presentation on basic preservation approaches to digital content. Her discussion will cover the major risks to personal digital collections and the strategies for preventing permanent loss. The presentation will include methods for identifying, organizing, and storing digital photos, videos, documents, and other personal digital content.

Frances Harrell is a Preservation Specialist at the Northeast Document Conservation Center. She provides preservation assistance to small and medium-sized cultural heritage institutions through assessments, consulting, education, and outreach. She serves as Co-Chair of the Digital Preservation Interest Group for ALA ALCTS Preservation and Reformatting Section and is a member of the Moving Image and Recorded Sound Roundtable for New England Archivists. She also represents NEDCC on the COSTEP MA (Coordinated Statewide Emergency Preparedness in Massachusetts) Executive Committee. She received an MLIS from Simmons College GSLIS and a BA in English Literature from the University of Florida, and has worked in both development and collections management.

Brianna Marshall, University of Wisconsin-Madison

Modern Memorykeeping: From Digital to Tangible
Brianna will explore modern memorykeeping techniques for documenting individuals' and families' lives, connecting the hard work of managing digital photographs with the creation of albums that can be shared and enjoyed. She will frame this talk in the context of how she has created different types of physical albums from her digital collections, an increasingly overwhelming task as the amount of digital photographs we take grows.

Brianna Marshall is a librarian and technologist interested in developing library services to support research and scholarship. She currently works as the Digital Curation Coordinator for the University of Wisconsin‐Madison, where she leads the interdisciplinary group Research Data Services and manages UW's institutional repository. Brianna is also a scrapbooker, 2015 Project Life creative team member, and de facto archivist and digital stuff wrangler for her family.

Christiane Evaskis-Garrett, ProQuest

Sharing the Family Story: Omeka and Access Omeka and Access
In December 2014, Christiane's father presented her with a box of black and white family photographs ranging from the 1930s to the 1960s. Christiane will discuss how she made a website using the Omeka software. Her discussion will include an overview of scanning equipment, privacy issues with regards to living family members in the photos, filling in gaps in biographical knowledge, and feedback/pushback from family members.

Christiane Evaskis-Garrett considers herself an archival nomad; over the past six years, she's worked as a project archivist for the State of Michigan, an archival consultant for the First Presbyterian Church of Jackson, Tennessee and is currently an Electronic Content Analyst at ProQuest. She also volunteers on a monthly basis at the Ella Sharp Museum in Jackson, Michigan as a cataloger/archivist. Christiane has served on the Michigan Archival Association Board since 2014 and also serves as co-editor for Open Entry, MAA’s biannual publication. She received her Bachelor of Arts degrees in History and Sociology in 2008 from the University of Tennessee - Martin and graduated in 2010 from the University of Michigan with a Masters of Science in Information, where she specialized in Archives & Records Management and Preservation of Information.

The panel will close with a 30 minute Q&A session moderated by Lance Stuchell, University of Michigan

With a funky beat thumping continuously in the background and solid, simple advice from the best Family Hip Hop artist around, you, your child, and your grandma will all be able find the rapper hiding in your brain.

This is a freeflow event, and you'll learn valuable methods in the first 5 minutes.

Stay a little longer, and you'll be up on the mic, debuting your first creation! Fun for everyone who likes to have fun. Bring your brain, your heart, and (if you're going to get on the mic), a little bit of guts!!!

Don’t miss Secret Agent 23 Skidoo at their evening performance at 7:00 at the Kids Rock @ TOP concert series at Top Of The Park

Entertaining your audience is all about going with the flow! Come move, groove and laugh with Josh and the Jamtones! They write songs with 3 goals in mind. Get kids movin, groovin’ and chucklin.'

Get your dancing shoes, warm up your pipes and bring your funny as Josh Shriber (guitar/vox, funny guy) and Pat Hanlin (drummer/vox, partner in funny) write some tunes, put funky dance moves to existing tunes and learn some basics of improv comedy.

Help create a new dance craze or write a funky new song and maybe you’ll find yourself on the main stage of the Ann Arbor Music Fest on Sunday nite when they perform at the Kids Rock @ TOP !!!

Get into the dog days of summer with stories by Laura and Kayla! These puppy tales will have you howling with laughter.

As a special treat, pups from Therapaws will make an appearance!

The award-winning novel The Book Of Unknown Americans: A Novel by Cristina Henriquez is the book selected for Ann Arbor/Ypsilanti Reads 2016. The community is invited to read and discuss this stunning novel of hopes and dreams, guilt and love—a book that offers a resonant new definition of what it means to be American.

The author, Cristina Henriquez, will make a special appearance at Washtenaw Community College on Tuesday, February 23 to discuss “The Book Of Unknown Americans.” Doors will open at 6 PM. The event includes a book signing and books will be for sale courtesy of Nicola's Books.

Henríquez is also the author of the story collection Come Together, Fall Apart, which was a New York Times Editors’ Choice selection, and the novel The World in Half. Her work has appeared in The New Yorker, The Atlantic, The American Scholar, Glimmer Train, Virginia Quarterly Review, Ploughshares, TriQuarterly, AGNI, and Oxford American, as well as in various anthologies.

The Book Of Unknown Americans centers on fifteen-year-old Maribel Rivera, who sustains a terrible injury. Her family leaves behind a comfortable life in Mexico and risks everything to come to the United States so that Maribel can have the care she needs. Once they arrive, it’s not long before Maribel attracts the attention of Mayor Toro, the son of one of their new neighbors, who sees a kindred spirit in this beautiful, damaged outsider. Their love story sets in motion events that will have profound repercussions for everyone involved.

Henríquez seamlessly interweaves the story of these star-crossed lovers, and of the Rivera and Toro families, with the testimonials of men and women who have come to the United States from all over Latin America.

Ann Arbor/Ypsilanti Reads is coordinated by several area organizations, including the Ann Arbor District Library, the Ypsilanti District Library, Washtenaw Intermediate School District, Nicola’s Books, Barnes & Noble, Literati Bookstore, Eastern Michigan University, the University of Michigan, Washtenaw Community College, and many others.

For more information and resources related to Ann Arbor/Ypsilanti Reads, please visit the program's website at aareads.org

Photo credit(at left): Michael Lionstar

"If we could walk with the animals, talk with the animals, grunt and squeak and squawk with the animals...!"

AADL teams up with the Humane Society of Huron Valley for a storytime about animals and how they communicate. An adoptable dog will also be present to help little ones learn how to meet a dog and practice their animal communication skills.

Celebrate Chinese New Year at AADL! There will be Lion and Mongolian Dance performances. You can learn to use a Chinese Yaogu drum, make fun crafts, and take home a traditional Chinese treat.

This program is in partnership with the Ann-Hua Chinese School in Ann Arbor.

The acclaimed percussion group Biakuye returns to AADL for this concert event on Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

In Akan languages of West Africa, biakuye means unity. Biakuye’s energetic performances bring together a wide range of African and Caribbean music and dance. Biakuye’s captivating sound is both deeply grounded and cutting-edge.

Their music reflects the unique journeys of its members, which have taken them from the U.S. to Ghana, Uganda, South Africa, Trinidad, and Haiti.

Join us for jazzy stories performed by the awesome Ann Arbor Storytellers' Guild, many with audience participation!