NC Cultural Resources Newsroom

RALEIGH – N.C. Department of Cultural Resources Secretary Lisbeth C. “Libba” Evans read during a story hour for second graders Jan. 9 as part of the kickoff for “Telling Our Stories,” the department’s theme for 2008.  Students from Raleigh’s Wiley Elementary School visited the Cameron Village Branch of the Wake County Public Library, where they heard Evans read “The North Carolina Alphabet” by Pamela George and Walter Brown.

“Telling Our Stories” spotlights the State Library of North Carolina and its services. In the current year, the State Library awarded funding for 146 projects totaling $4,629,570, many of them technology based.

“It may be a surprise to learn that young adults are the largest users of libraries. Today’s high tech libraries offer the resources information seekers need,” said Cultural Resources Secretary Lisbeth C. “Libba” Evans.  Internet users were more than twice as likely to patronize libraries as non-Internet users, according to a recent study by the Pew Internet & American Life Project, and of adult users, the biggest group is “young adults aged 18 to 30 in the tech-loving group known as Generation Y.”

“Library circulation continues to rise,” said State Librarian Mary Boone.  “We circulated almost 50 million books and other items just last year, even as electronic resource use escalates.”

“‘Telling Our Stories’ is a yearlong celebration that showcases the story of North Carolina’s rich arts, heritage, and cultural life,” Evans said.  “The Department of Cultural Resources showcases many ways to share our state’s great stories – through libraries, writers and photographers, singers and dancers, visual artists, our historic architecture and our museums.”

Cultural Resources includes the State Library, the State Archive, 27 Historic Sites, 8 History museums, Historical Publications, Archaeology, Genealogy, Historic Preservation, the North Carolina Symphony, the North Carolina Arts Council, and the North Carolina Museum of Art and its extension, the Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art.  Many programs relating to “Telling Our Stories” will be part of the department’s programming.

Among special events for 2008 are “Far From Home,” a free exhibition at the N.C. Museum of Art that features photography, paintings, and sculpture with the theme of relocation and its impact; “ArtDuckO: Waterfowl Culture in North Carolina,” an exhibit at the N.C. Museum of History that will showcase vintage decoys, Audubon prints, artifacts, and images that tell the story of how ducks and other waterfowl have affected our history and culture; and more than 500 events at state historic sites across North Carolina all year.

Cultural Resources is a state agency dedicated to the promotion and protection of North Carolina’s arts, history and culture.  Now podcasting 24/7 with information about the Department of Cultural Resources, all available at www.ncculture.com.