Digital Lecture Series

This series of prerecorded digital talks allows you to engage with us on your own schedule and at your own leisure.  Every week will feature a video on a different topic by a special guest.  It’s never been easier to connect with culture!  Just the library, a guest, and you. A good time is just a click or tap away!

How to Talk to Children About Mental Health

View video: https://youtu.be/0QI8IQiG6EA 

If the past year has taught us anything, it’s that talking about life’s challenging topics is crucial but not always easy. In her “Nonnie Talks” series, using illustrated interactions between two children and an older adult, Dr. Mary Jo Podgurski opens the door to communication between the generations by addressing complex issues with grace, humor, sensitivity, and warmth.

Pomp, Pride, and Circumstance: A Charming Tête-à-tête on Diva Worship with Dr. Veronica Bleaus

View video: https://youtu.be/256S–DEmrU

In this special presentation for Pride Month, Dr. Veronica Bleaus will speak about the practice of Diva Worship in the LGBTQ community. Why do Divas hold such importance? How do Divas influence drag performance? And what makes their legacy so endearing and exciting?

All will be revealed, and you may even learn the secrets to becoming a Diva yourself. So touch up that face, strike a pose, and let Veronica lead the way — It’s time to walk the path of utter fabulousness!

An Alternative History of Pittsburgh with Ed Simon

View video: https://youtu.be/DIhE7ixrI90

Shaped millions of years ago by the receding waters of a once great ocean, the land surrounding the confluence of the Allegheny, Monongahela, and Ohio rivers has supported communities of humans for millennia. In the past four centuries, however, it has been transformed utterly and many times over by the people who call it home.

In his lyrical and idiosyncratic new book, Ed Simon follows the story of America’s furnace through a series of interconnected stories!

The American Skyscraper and the History of Building High with Mark Houser

Skyscraper

View video: https://youtu.be/YKsuqh9fT2k

Join Mark Houser, author of MultiStories, to learn the surprising and inspiring stories of these architectural marvels. In this colorful picture presentation, you’ll learn about the rags-to-riches risk-takers of the Gilded Age who invested in these so-called “machines that make the land pay.” By the end of the program, you’ll have even more reasons to “look up” to these soaring structures that proclaimed their owners’ influence and remain as legacies of a fascinating, forgotten past.

Speaking Up: How to Have Difficult Conversations with Kristen Carter

View video: https://youtu.be/_2Skje0hVjE 

Have you ever wished you could say what you were really thinking, without jeopardizing an important relationship?  Do you get uncomfortable, emotional or nervous at the idea of talking to a certain person? There is a better way to have difficult conversations. In her simple yet powerful book, communications expert Kristen Carter provides a step-by-step process that will help you work through any conversation.  Kristen’s unique method, ISPEAQ, will help you feel prepared and empowered to speak up for yourself like never before.  Your voice and your feelings matter!   Here’s how to get them out of your head and share them with the world, calmly and confidently.

The In-Between is Everything: A Talk About Life and Cancer

View video:  https://youtu.be/htK3RFUsZ5Q 

Jen was a busy mom and an entrepreneur when she found out she had stage two breast cancer. Rather than a wake-up call, it became one more thing she had to fit into her already packed schedule.

A couple of years later, Jen was diagnosed with metastatic breast cancer and given a dismal prognosis. Through her faith and resilience, Jen embraces what lies in-between planning and uncertainty, good days and bad days, and ultimately in-between life and death.

The In-Between is Everything is a celebration of resilience in the face of knowing what is to come – the choice to continue to give, and battle the odds through every uncertain day.