CALS Blogs

There is not a shortage of streaming music services, but free services that also include downloads that you can keep? Tell me more.

With your CALS card, you get a number of digital services like e-books, audio books, podcasts, and even magazines. But with Freegal, you also have access to music. Patrons can stream unlimited music as well as download up to 5 songs each week and keep those MP3 files forever.

Ryan Davis is one of the newest CALS Board Members. We managed to catch him between working as the Director of Children’s International at UALR and a CALS board meeting.

Why did you join the CALS board? 
I joined because I asked and because I believe that libraries like schools are an important and vital part of the things we as citizens own in common.

Browse the new CALS Program Guide to find out about all the fun, engaging, and educational programs for all ages happening at your favorite CALS branch during the month of May. This month’s cover features an image from the Clifton Hull photograph collection that was recently digitized by the CALS Butler Center for Arkansas Studies.

View images from the
Clifton Hull photograph collection

View May Programs

If 2020 was largely consumed by scrambling to survive an unprecedented challenge, then 2021 was spent achieving unprecedented successes at CALS. These are the product of hard work and planning by all of our staff. Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, we tasked our outreach team with hitting the streets and bringing the library to the community.

Spring is one of the best times for bird watching in Arkansas (close second would be in Fall when they’re migrating south). Our mild winters and long, warm summers makes the climate in Arkansas perfect for birdwatching year round. Spring time is always an exciting time for bird watching in Arkansas as hundreds of birds begin their annual migration north along the Mississippi Flyway to their northern breeding grounds.

Each of the CALS library branches have a hidden (or maybe not so hidden) secret; special collections that you can only get at that specific branch. At McMath, you can take home native Arkansas seeds for your garden. At Children’s Library you can check out a musical instrument. And at Dee Brown,

April 17-23 is Volunteer Appreciation Week and CALS wants to express a huge THANK YOU to our wonderful volunteers. Close to 400 volunteers donate their time to the library regularly throughout the year. Volunteers age 14 and older are welcome to work at library branches. These volunteers assist with stocking shelves, cleaning, boxing pulled books,

Tell us about yourself (family, job, etc.)

I’m Berit Kimrey; married and mother of two sons living over in North Little Rock*. I work for Heifer International, where I’ve helped families around the world escape hunger and poverty. I’m an avid reader of anything fiction (historical romances, thrillers, mysteries, best sellers) and I maintain a complicated spreadsheet of upcoming releases by my favorite authors.