Category: Themes, Displays, and Library Events

Songs of Peace: Holy War

Alicia Keys brings us this powerful song that looks at the irony of a society that seems to be more scared of sex than it is of war. “Holy War” was first released in 2016 by the acclaimed American singer/songwriter.


If war is holy and sex is obscene
We’ve got it twisted in this lucid dream
Baptized in boundaries, schooled in sin
Divided by difference, sexuality, and skin

Oh, so we can hate each other and fear each other
We can build these walls between each other
Baby, blow by blow and brick by brick
Keep yourself locked in, yourself locked in
Yeah, we can hate each other and fear each other
We can build these walls between each other
Baby, blow by blow and brick by brick
Keep yourself locked in, yourself locked

Oh, maybe we should love somebody
Oh, maybe we could care a little more
So maybe we should love somebody
Instead of polishing the bombs of holy war

What if sex was holy and war was obscene
And it wasn’t twisted, what a wonderful dream
Living for love, unafraid of the end
Forgiveness is the only real revenge

Oh, so we can heal each other and fill each other
We can break these walls between each other
Baby, blow by blow and brick by brick
Keep yourself open, yourself open
Yeah, we can heal each other and fill each other
We can break these walls between each other
Baby, blow by blow and brick by brick
Keep yourself open, you’re open

So maybe we should love somebody
Maybe we could care a little more
So maybe we should love somebody
Instead of polishing the bombs of holy war

What if love is holy and hate obscene
We should give life to this beautiful dream
‘Cause peace and love ain’t so far
If we nurse our wounds before they scar
Nurse our wounds before they scar

Other “Songs of Peace” in this series:

November is Peace Month at your School Library

International Games Month @ Your Library

For the 14th consecutive year we are celebrating IGM@YL here in the School Library in November. Join with us for an amazing month of board games, table games, card games, and other live, in person games. Learn more about the amazing educational power of games. Most importantly, experience the joy of playing games here in the school library!

November is Peace Month

November is Peace Month at your School Library. All month long we will explore issues related to movements for peace in the world, including non-violence, antiwar movements, civil disobedience, peace activism, and more. We will celebrate organizations and individuals who have been champions of peace. We will feature songs of peace. And of course we will share our collection of books and other resources related to peace. Visit us in person, and online, to find out more.

Samhain

The Gaelic Festival of Samhain marks the end of the harvest season and the beginning of winter. Samhain begins at sundown on October 31 and goes until sundown on November 1.

source: wikimedia commons

The roots of Samhain stretch back deep into the prehistoric development of Celtic pagan beliefs. With the arrival of Christianity in what we now know as Ireland and Scotland, the practices of Samhain and All-Saints Day merged over time. Halloween traces many of its roots back to both Samhain and “All-Hallows Eve,” — the night before All Saints Day.

There has been a modern revival in celebrations of Samhain, in part due to the practices of Wiccans and other neo-pagans, as well other people who see it as a as a way to incorporate Celtic rituals into their belief systems. Many others see it as a way to celebrate Irish culture and history. Samhain is often celebrated with feasting and giant bonfires.

Find out more:

Books for Halloween

Halloween is just around the corner, but it is never too late to pick up a scary book. Come down to the School Library to browse our collection of horror and all things spooky. Here are some of our most recent additions:

October is Horror Month at your School Library

Library Hall of Fame

October is Canadian Library Month and International School Library Month. As we celebrate CLM and ISLM each year, we highlight notable librarians who have made significant contributions to libraries and librarianship. We also celebrate librarians who have raised the profile of libraries and librarianship with their fame in other fields. Here are the 2025 inductees into our Library Hall of Fame:

Shiela Egoff

(source)

Sheila Egoff (1918-2005) was one of Canada’s most outstanding librarians. Egoff worked in both public and academic libraries. Egoff was also a writer, a historian, a professor, a literary critic. Among her many accomplishments, Sheila Egoff was Canada’s first tenured Professor of Children’s Literature (at the University of British Columbia.) Egoff was named to the Order of Canada. The Sheila A. Egoff Children’s Literature Prize for excellence in children’s and young adult literature, has been awarded in her name since 1987.

Find out more:

Audre Lorde

(source)

Audre Lorde (1934-1992) spent many of her early years as a teacher librarian in New York Public Schools, before garnering greater fame, and many honours, as a poet, academic, novelist, activist, philosopher, feminist, and more. Much of her work spoke to fight for the freedom and equality of the oppressed and marginalized, including the intersections of race, gender and sexual orientation.

Find out more:

S.R. Ranganathan

(source)

S.R. Ranganathan (1892-1972) is known as the “Father of Library Science”in India. Best known for “The Five Laws of Library Science,” Ranganathan also developed the Colon Classification system. His work not only revolutionized the practices of libraries and librarians in India, but grew in influence throughout the world.

Find out more:

Previous Library Hall of Fame Inductees:

Brian Deer
Ed Greenwood
Zoia Horn
Gene Joseph
Nancy Pearl
Ken Roberts
Leslie Weir
Jessamyn West
Zenodotus


School Library Day AND Drop Everything and Read

Today is Canada School Library Day, BC School Library Day, and the day of the annual DEAR Challenge: Drop Everything and Read.

Library Books about Libraries

Library books about libraries and books. And librarians, literacy, information, reading, intellectual freedom, learning commons, and all topics to consider for Canadian Library Month and International School Library Month.

Drop Everything & Read on Monday

Next Monday the students and staff of our school will rise to the DEAR Challenge: Drop Everything and Read. During the long 2nd block (C block) everyone is challenged to read for 20 minutes.

October 27 is Canadian School Library Day & BC School Library Day. School Libraries are valuable in so many ways. Amongst the most important is how much school libraries can educate students and staff about the massive importance of recreational reading, and how vital school libraries are in supporting students by giving them access to books. We encourage everyone in our school– indeed, everyone in the community at large– to take up the challenge to Drop Everything and Read.

Canadian Library Workers Day

Happy Canadian Library Workers Day to the wonderful Volunteers and Library Science students. October is Canadian Library Month and on the third Friday each year we celebrate the vital role played by workers in all of libraries across the country, including school libraries, public libraries, and more.

October 17 is Canadian Library Workers Day
October 27 is Canadian School Library Day
October 27 is DEAR: The Drop Everything and Read Challenge
October is Canadian Library Month
October is International School Library Month