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What is Library Codelab?

Library Codelab is a technology series based on the concepts of accessibility, collaboration and fun.  Charlotte Mecklenburg Library and community partners will offer monthly meetups for adults to explore different coding languages through projects and hands-on practice. We offer resources, motivation and access to a community of coders in a non-intimidating environment. At each meeting, we focus on a different coding language or concept and work together on a project.

The meetings are intended as an introduction to a concept, so you understand it enough to supplement the class time with self-paced learning (such as Codecademy, Udacity, Lynda.com). For example, in our JavaScript 101 class, we'll introduce you to JavaScript, use W3Schools to practice together, build a JavaScript function that produces a pop-up on a webpage, then respond to user input. We will meet monthly at different locations throughout Charlotte.

Who is Library Codelab for?

This group is meant for adults with an interest in coding or those who have tried to learn on their own but want or need more support as they learn. If you don't feel ready to attend some of the major Charlotte tech Meetups (Charlotte Devs, Code for Charlotte, Queen City Bytes, etc.) but still want to learn, this is the group for you. Our group allows you to learn from other beginners and ask all the questions. It can also be a great environment for getting a taste of different coding languages to help you decide what you might like to deep dive into. It's really meant as a first step into the world of learning to code.

Do I have to know how to code to join?

Absolutely not. You do need to have relatively good computer skills and a love for technology—but you don't have to know anything about coding before you come. At each meeting we tackle a topic as if we’ve never seen it before, but if you have, it can be great review and help you grasp a topic completely. Most members have tried to learn code on their own, or are at least familiar with HTML, but have struggled with learning it alone or aren’t sure where to go next in their coding journey. Join us at our next meetup to explore all that Library Codelab has to offer!

Upcoming events

 

Library Codelab: Intro to Web Concepts & Tech Careers​ –  Beatties Ford Regional Library, Randolph Room – 2412 Beatties Ford Rd.

This introductory workshop covers the fundamentals of web development in layman terms. This is a no-code workshop. It covers basic concepts like the difference between a client and a server, the difference between backend and front end code, and the typical web development team. The course also includes a brief overview of modern web concepts including cloud/DevOps.

Other Info

The final 30 minutes of the workshop will be dedicated to a round table discussion and open Q&A about tech careers/working in the field. If you have questions around getting started, resources, languages and tools to use, this will be a great time to get them answered. The presenters of this portion of the session currently work in the field and have non-traditional (bootcamp and/or self taught) backgrounds. Their experience includes front end, full stack development, and distributed database knowledge. This class is for people with little technical experience, or those just starting to explore opportunities in the technical field.

Register here  January 25, 10 a.m. to 12 p.m.

 

Library Codelab: Intro to Web Concepts & Tech Careers – Beatties Ford Regional Library, Community Room B

Join us at this program if you are familiar with web concepts, but would like the opportunity to have an intimate, round-table discussion specifically on careers in technology.

Other Info

ABOUT THE PRESENTERS: Cristina Veale is a Developer Advocate at DataStax, QCB Organizer, and Engagement Director of Fleurix Conference. The first meetup she ever attended was an Intro to Web Concepts course(!) which spurred her interest towards frontend development. Cristina has been developing web applications, teaching, and advocating for underrepresented groups in technology for the past five years and counting. Louise Clark is a front end developer at Duke Energy. She decided to switch careers and become a developer after more than a decade of teaching Latin American history at local universities. Louise also has three kids who think it's entirely possible she might code the next Minecraft game someday.

Register here  January 28, 6:00 to 7:30 p.m.

 

Library Codelab: Intro to Programming with QC Bytes​ – Independence Regional, IB Community Room – 6000 Conference Dr.

Queen City Bytes is partnering with Charlotte Mecklenburg Library to bring you a Winter Coding series! Snacks will be provided. You are encouraged to bring your own laptop and charger. Variables? Loops? Syntax? It sounds complicated, but programming is simply providing instructions to a computer. Similar to a person following a recipe, a computer needs to be told step by step what to do in a way it can understand. In this workshop you will learn more about the basics of programming and logic. Attendees will gain exposure to creating flow charts, writing code snippets, and a general approach for building a program.

Other Info

This workshop is designed for those completely new to programming. A laptop is recommended, however the library will be able to provide one if needed. All resources will be shared via the library's mailing list and on www.meetup.com/qc-bytes.

Register here  February 1, 1:00 p.m. to 3:30 p.m.

 

Library Codelab: Intro to Programming/Open Lab – Plaza Midwood Library, Community Room, – 1623 Central Avenue

Curious about learning to code, but don't know where to start? Join us for this introductory class focused on how the web works, programming logic and and intro to common programming languages. No computer is needed for this class. Beginners are welcome.

Register here  February 5, 6:00 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.

 

Want to learn more?
Join our email list here or find us on Meetup here.

 

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New name? Yes. It’s also a new building with a new look.

Scaleybark Library is officially closed and the new South Boulevard Library opens in its new location on Monday, January 13, 2020 at 4429 South Boulevard. We invite all customers and community members to come experience the incredible new space which is more than three times the size of the previous Scaleybark Library. Here’s a run-down of all that is new:

In its brand-new location, South Boulevard Library boasts 18,850 square feet – an increase of 13,350 square feet (nearly 300%) from its former location. South Boulevard includes new, reimagined spaces for both children and teens, public computers, children’s computers, three self-checkouts, an expanded community room, a dedicated children’s program room, a quiet reading room, a calming room, five group study rooms, a laptop bar for customers who want to bring their own devices, many collaborative spaces and a vending café that is stocked/equipped with snack and drink machines for customers to enjoy at their leisure.

Looking for a space to get connected? South Boulevard is the place for you. The new Library branch features free Wi-Fi, audio-visual capabilities and a public computer lab. Additionally, avid readers and book lovers alike will also enjoy a 20% increase in the branch’s materials collection, with the largest growth happening in picture books (50% increase), the Young Adult and Teen Collections (45% increase) and World Languages (38% increase).

The new South Boulevard was designed with accessibility in mind. There are two entrances to the branch, one in the front (facing South Boulevard) and one in the back of the building, along with ample parking on both sides. It’s also just a 0.6-mile walk (about 12 minutes) from the Lynx Blue Line’s Scaleybark Station.

South Boulevard Library was relocated to a larger building – approximately 0.4 miles south of its former Scaleybark Library location – to fit the needs of a growing community. The Library is open Monday through Thursday from 9 a.m. - 8 p.m. and Fridays and Saturdays from 9 a.m. - 5 p.m. The branch is closed on Sundays.

New customers are encouraged to sign-up for a Library card on-line or at the branch. Come by and check it out!

Note: South Boulevard Library will celebrate a community ribbon cutting on Saturday, February 15, 2020 from 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Click here for more details

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Money Magnets Club (MMC) was piloted as a start-up social entrepreneurial effort during the Charlotte Mecklenburg Library’s observance of Money Smart Week in 2019 as the brainchild of librarian Teresa Cain, and the program elements were designed and facilitated by community member Alexandra Arrington. It serves as a medium to teach elementary schoolers about and prepare them, pragmatically, for life. Financial literacy, community-mindedness and character education within the framework of business ownership are the key pillars of MMC. Other developmental considerations for the age group served include the one-hour format of the club, reinforcement of literacy and vocabulary, and encouraging calculated risk.

The program draws upon the Money Smart curriculum to teach and demonstrate the concepts of currency, capital, budgeting, lending/borrowing, and investing, among others, as foundational to entrepreneurship. The Charlotte Mecklenburg Library has been a great partner as the launch site to gather free books/materials for families and kids to take home and further their learning.

There is no better time to start the process of introducing financial literacy and entrepreneurship than with the elementary aged population we serve (ages 5-11). There is a lack of attention geared toward this age group with the intent of MMC, as the focus of programming and resources have increasingly turned to adults and teens. The benefit of our focus on kids’ experience with these concepts is that their responsible adults are also involved and work with the student to support their learning, as well as reinforce their own understanding. Unlike other popular programs in the area, MMC runs over the summer, in the evenings and on the weekends, and build kids’ capacity and understanding such they can try out a business idea and receive funding support.

The Landscape of Opportunity

Individuals growing up in Charlotte, NC in poverty are not likely to rise out of poverty in adulthood according to the widely read Chetty Study. MMC is one effort to disrupt poverty by providing resources for economic empowerment to kids and their responsible adults in areas most likely to be negatively affected by this trend. We currently run the MMC at the West Boulevard branch of the Charlotte Mecklenburg Library and started a second site at The Nest at Camp North End in July 2019.

The goal is for MMC to have funded, regular rotations of the program at five (5) sites in Charlotte by summer 2021 in collaboration with corporate and community partners. $500 of the raised funds for each site are earmarked for our R.I.C.H. (Responsible Investments in Community Hope) seed capital fund, which will invest up to $25 for those students matriculating successfully through MMC—which includes regular attendance, doing a budget, crafting a business plan, and giving a business pitch in our special R.I.C.H circle format conducive to encouragement rather than competition as they grow their confidence—to launch their business ideas.

View the dates for each class by clicking the buttton below. Sessions are free and no registration is needed to attend.

Money Magnets Sessions

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Sam Shapiro, movie afficionado and Charlotte Mecklenburg Library librarian, is wrapping up his final film series at the start of 2020 as he prepares to retire. Before the director yells ‘Cut!’ we asked Sam to share why he took on this project of love and what he’s been doing through the years with the film series. Here’s the story, in Sam’s own words.

Why did you start the film series?

There was a “classic Hollywood” film series at Main Library before I came on-board, but it had been dormant for several years.A year or two after the Main Library’s renovation in 1989, I realized there existed within the community a great desire to see entertaining films of historic and/or educational significance. And this presented me with a wonderful opportunity, since I had a background in Film History and Film Production before working at Charlotte Mecklenburg Library.

In 1992 I began my film programs at Main Library, when the only way to present them was on 16mm film. There was a certain satisfaction and “art” to operating the projectors, but I really don’t miss the constant anxiety over burned and broken sprockets --- as well as the loud distracting ‘rickety-rickety’ of movie reels. (These days, of course, all I do is press “play” on the Blu-ray player.)

My first film series in 1992 was a six-month retrospective of the comedies, westerns, and musicals of director Howard Hawks, which included Bringing Up Baby, The Big Sleep, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, Rio Bravo and others. In the 28 years since that first series, I have screened at least one feature-film or documentary per month for Library customers. In 28 years with a minimum of 12 movies per year, that’s at least 336 movies. Now that’s a lot of movies!

 

What did you hope the community would take away from various film series through the years?

The response to my film programs has been gratifying. Typically, I draw between 40 and 60 attendees per film, including a core group that attends almost every film (regardless of title or subject).

Although it is easy to access most titles from the comfort of home, folks still love to experience movies communally - inside a dark theater (or auditorium). My attendees also appreciate the fact that the films are organized on a thematic basis, for example, The Thrillers of Alfred Hitchcock; Hollywood’s Golden Era of Musicals; and Down Under: Classic Australian Films.   

Most of the complimentary feedback I’ve received has been for my pre-film introductions. I speak for approximately 10 minutes before each screening, and the audience seems to appreciate the research and trivia that I share regarding the film they’re about to see.

All-time film favorites? With the final Final Four film series, what is your connection to these films?

The gateway drug to my life-long-moviemania was the films of Alfred Hitchcock. My parents were permissive and indulgent when it came to movies. I remember (as if it were only yesterday) my mother taking me to a double-feature of Psycho and The Birds when I was only 12, at Charlotte’s old Thunderbird Drive-in. That night was a life-changer! Now I teach the films of Alfred Hitchcock to college students, and a few years ago I facilitated a year-long film series at Main Library and ImaginOn that consisted of 20 Hitchcock classics.   While the movies in my Final Four (or Fab Four) are not top-tier personal favorites, they do represent specific stages or milestones in my life. Like always, prior to the screening, I will provide detail about each film and its importance to the development of my film education. The Miracle of Morgan’s Creek, Next Stop Greenwich Village, The Last Picture Show, and Amarcord are wonderful movies, and I have been waiting (many years) for just the “right opportunity” to present them to my film attendees. That time is now.

 

 

 

The Movies - all show at 2 p.m.:

Miracle of Morgan's Creek - completed

Next Stop Greenwich Village - Saturday, January 18, 2020

The Last Picture Show -  Saturday, January 25, 2020

Amarcord - Sunday, January 26, 2020

Thanks for all you’ve done, Sam, in bringing cinema classics to the community. We wish you the best in your retirement, and we’ll see you at the movies!

 

 

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This blog was written by staff of the Robinson-Spangler Carolina Room 

Did you know that Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. visited the Queen City in 1954, 1960, 1963 and 1966?  



Martin Luther King Jr. was born on January 15, 1929 in Atlanta, Georgia to Martin Luther King Sr. and Alberta Williams King. His father was a Baptist pastor and his mother was a former schoolteacher. Dr. King was highly intelligent and attended Morehouse College at age 15 to study medicine and law. He went on to earn his Bachelor of Divinity degree from Crozer Theological Seminary, followed by a doctorate in Systematic Theology from Boston University. He met Coretta Scott, a singer studying at the New England Conservatory of Music, who he married and raised a family beside in Montgomery, Alabama  

Dr. Martin Luther King (1929 - 1968) addresses crowds during the March On Washington at the Lincoln Memorial, Washington DC, where he gave his 'I Have A Dream' speech. Courtesy of Agence France Presse/Getty Images. 

Dr. King dedicated his life to ending racial segregation in a nonviolent manner. He had many accomplishments in his career, but he first became widely known for his efforts in the Montgomery Bus Boycott in 1955. In 1957, he founded the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), and in 1963, he led the March on Washington where he delivered his famous “I Have a Dream” speech.  

In May 1963, Dr. King visited Charlotte to speak to six black high schools during convocation. Ten days prior to his visit, Johnson C. Smith University (JCSU) students marched downtown to protest segregation.  Martin Luther King Jr. returned to Charlotte in September 1966 to speak to more than 3,000 people at JCSU about moral action and his opposition to the war in Vietnam. 

His dynamic leadership did not go unnoticed, as he received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964. He played a leading role in the passing of the Civil Rights Act in 1964, as well as the Voting Rights Act in 1965 . 

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. statue in Marshall Park 



On April 4, 1968, Dr. King was assassinated in Memphis, TN while supporting a sanitation workers’ strike. The evening before, he spoke at the Mason Temple Church: 



“I’ve seen the promised land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the promised land. And I’m happy tonight. I’m not worried about anything. I’m not fearing any man. Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord.” 

In April 1980, the City of Charlotte dedicated a monument in Dr. King’s honor in Marshall Park. The statue was sculpted by Selma Burke, an African-American artist from Mooresville, NC whose bust of Franklin D. Roosevelt appears on the dime. Martin Luther King Jr. made a lasting impact on our nation and his sacrifices will never be forgotten. 

Main blog photo is of Martin Luther King, Jr. surrounded by media in 1962. Photo courtesy of Getty Images/Ernst Haas.

 

Want to learn more? Checkout our MLK Booklist and listing of Library programming in celebration of MLK Day.

View Programs Here

View MLK Booklist

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Citations: 

“Martin Luther King, Jr..” History. Accessed December 2019.  https://www.history.com/topics/black-history/martin-luther-king-jr 

“Martin Luther King, Jr., Day.” Encyclopedia Britannica. Accessed December 2019.   https://www.britannica.com/topic/Martin-Luther-King-Jr-Day 

“1963- Martin Luther King Speaks to Charlotte’s Black high School Students.” CMStory. Accessed December 2019. https://www.cmstory.org/exhibits/african-american-album-volume-2/1963-martin-luther-king-speaks-charlottes-black-high-school

“1980- King Statue Placed in Marshall Park.” CMStory. Accessed December 2019.   https://www.cmstory.org/exhibits/african-american-album-volume-2/1980-king-statue-placed-marshall-park 

“1983- Martin Luther King’s Birthday Becomes a Federal Holiday.” CMStory. Accessed December 2019.  https://www.cmstory.org/exhibits/african-american-album-volume-2/1983-martin-luther-kings-birthday-becomes-federal-holiday 

"The Legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King in Charlotte.” CMStory. Acccessed December 2019. https://www.cmstory.org/content/legacy-dr-martin-luther-king-charlotte 

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What better place to fall in love than the Charlotte Mecklenburg Library? We don’t mean romantic love alone. All love is welcome here. Familial, platonic, volunteer, literary—you name it.

As an essential community connector, libraries are places where people fall in love with, and among, books – and we want to hear your story. Have you made a new a friend at a Library program or while serving as  a Library volunteer? Maybe a Library employee suggested to you a self-help book that changed the trajectory of your life and your love self. Or, maybe your dog helps shy readers conquer their fears of reading aloud each week through a Paws to Read program at your local library branch and inspiring literacy in children brings you joy.

That’s a whole lot of love to share.

This is your chance to let the Charlotte Mecklenburg Library know how we've helped you fall in love with financial literacy, locate your dream career or introduced you to a life-changing hobby. And, if really did brush hands with the love of your life while looking for a good read at the Library, we want to know about that too.

Share your Library Love Story by Friday, February 7, 2020.*

*Collected stories will be lightly edited (punctuation, spelling, etc.) and used on the Charlotte Mecklenburg Library blog, social media platforms and in other areas where marketing the stories is deemed appropriate. Participation in this survey is voluntary and only first names will be used in public posts.

Thank you for sharing the love.

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The Charlotte Mecklenburg Library has received many questions about the most popular books of 2019. We pulled circulation data for our adult fiction (both print and digital), adult nonfiction, teen fiction and children’s books to bring you the titles that were most popular with Library readers in 2019.

A few things stand out when you look at the lists:

• Fiction rules. Once again, the most circulated book owned by the Library was a novel. This year it’s Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens. 
• And it wasn’t even close! Where the Crawdads Sing almost doubled the number of check outs of second place, Nine Perfect Strangers by Liane Moriarty.
• This was the year of the memoir. Generally, the most popular nonfiction books circulate fewer times than any of the top ten novels. This year, both Michelle Obama’s Becoming and Educated by Tara Westover were more popular than all but the top two novels.
• Charlotte author, Tommy Tomlinson’s memoir, The Elephant in the Room made the top three on our nonfiction list. Coming in third to those two incredibly popular books is almost like coming in first. We are thrilled to see a local writer on our year end list!

 

Print Fiction
Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens
Nine perfect strangers by Liane Moriarty
Long road to Mercy by David Baldacci
The Reckoning by John Grisham
The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides
Past Tense: a Jack Reacher novel by Lee Child.
Redemption by David Baldacci
Summer of 69 by Erin Hilderbrand
Run away by Harlan Coben
Spark of Light by Jodi Picoult

Digital Adult Fiction on Overdrive
Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens
Nine Perfect Strangers by Liane Moriarty
Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng
Crazy Rich Asians by Kevin Kwan
The Reckoning by John Grisham
The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides
The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah
The Tattooist of Auschwitz by Heather Morris
Before We Were Yours by Lisa Wingate
One Day in December by Josie Silver

Adult Nonfiction
Becoming by Michelle Obama
Educated: a Memoir by Tara Westover
The Elephant in the Room by Tommy Tomlinson
Girl, Wash your Face by Rachel Hollis
The Library Book by Susan Orlean
Maid: Hard Work, Low Pay and a Mothers will to Survive by Stephanie Land
Maybe you should talk to someone by Lori Gottlieb
The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying up by Marie Kondo
The Pioneers by David McCullough
Three Women by Lisa Taddeo

Children’s Books
Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Meltdown by Jeff Kinney
I Broke my Trunk by Mo Willems
Happy Pig Day by Mo Willems
Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Getaway by Jeff Kinney
Diary of a wimpy Kid: The Third Wheel by Jeff Kinney
I Really like Slop by Mo Willems
Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Greg Heffley’s Journal by Jeff Kinney
Llama Llama Time to Share by Anna Dewdney
Are you Ready to Play Outside? by Mo Willems
Pete the Kitty and the Groovy Playdate by Kim Dean

Young Adult Fiction
The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas
The Sun is also a Star by Nicola Yoon
On the Come up by Angie Thomas
To all the Boys I’ve Loved Before by Jenny Han
The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan
The Sea of Monsters by Rick Riordan
Turtles all the way Down by John Green
Bridge of Clay by Markus Zusak
Five Feet Apart by Rachel Lippincott
Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi

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Cornelius Library celebrates its 20-year anniversary in February 2020. The Library, located at 21105 Catawba Avenue in Cornelius, North Carolina, opened its doors to the public in February 2000; the result of a joint effort between Cornelius citizens, town leaders, Commissioners of Mecklenburg County and the Charlotte Mecklenburg Library Board of Trustees.

The Library will celebrate its presence in the community with special programs from February 9-15, 2020. Customers and community members are invited to enjoy refreshments, a variety of activities, and the following scheduled events at the branch that week:

Scottish Geneaology
Monday, February 10, 2020 from 1-3 p.m.

Looking for Scottish records on Ancestry.com? Guess what? They are not there because Scotland has its own websites. Shelia Bumgarner of the Robinson-Spangler Carolina Room will present a program created by Dr. Bruce Durie, tutor at the University of Edinburgh, sharing his expertise in Scottish Genealogy. Register here.

Our Charlotte Region
Thursday, February 13, 2020 from 6-7 p.m.

Enjoy an overview of the historic forces that tie together Charlotte and its surrounding communities. Discover stories of Indian trading paths and Colonial settlements, gold mines and cotton mills, banking and today’s booming expansion. Presented by the Library’s Historian-in-Residence, Dr. Tom Hanchett. Register here.

Pete the Cat Storytime
Saturday, February 15, 2020 from 10-11 a.m.

Come celebrate Cornelius Branch's birthday with a special Pete the Cat themed storytime. Special guest, Pete the Cat, will be here from 10:30 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. to meet families and take pictures. Attendance is limited to the first 20 children to arrive with a caregiver the day of the event.

We look forward to celebrating with you.

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Just as babies grow quickly, so have the Baby Storytime options at ImaginOn: The Joe & Joan Martin Center – a place where kids can freely play, learn and explore.

To meet the growing demands of the popular Baby Storytime program, the Spangler Library has added an additional class to its schedule for 2020. Parents and caregivers can now enjoy engaging with their little ones, discovering new sights and sounds through books, songs and rhymes every Monday from 9:30-10 a.m.

Storytime is offered regularly at most Charlotte Mecklenburg Library branches. During storytime, children’s librarians share stories and songs with children to encourage development of the language and pre-reading skills that help kids grow into successful readers.

Click here to see the complete schedule of Baby Storytime at ImaginOn.

We look forward to seeing you soon!

Please contact Spangler Library staff with any questions at 704-416-4630.

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Would you like to identify a nearby neighborhood street as the scene of a crime? Or learn that your former classmate is now the suspect in multiple murders? Those are the kind of connections one makes when reading Charlotte True Crime Stories: Notorious Cases from Fraud to Serial Killing. The newest book, written by author Cathy Pickens, is the result of crime research of actual events in and around Mecklenburg County.

“I don’t do investigative reporting,” Pickens said. “I’m not knocking on people’s doors. I’m not solving cold cases,” she added. 

Her intention, she said, is to provide a series of “short stories” about memorable cases the public knows, typically through a string of newspaper articles. “I want to condense it and tell it in a digestible way,” Pickens said.

Drawing a figurative circle around Charlotte, Pickens covers cases in her book from neighboring Charlotte cities such as Belmont, Concord, and Shelby to name a few. These cases cover a 100-year span, with chapter four alone touching on gang bootlegging, prostitution, drug trafficking and even motorcycle gangs. 

One of Pickens favorite stories from the book, which brings a smile when she speaks about it, is the trial of a wife accused of murdering her husband in 1926. As she writes in her book, 19-year-old Nellie Freeman was married to Alton Freeman, a thief and unfaithful husband. One fateful day, she asked him if he loved her while hugging him and he replied, “No.” Unfortunately for him, she had a knife in convenient range and used it on him. A murder trial ensued with the prosecutor determined to get a conviction and buck tradition. Historically, Charlotte juries didn’t convict women of murder. This case did not change that streak as Nellie Freeman was found not guilty by reason of insanity. Even so, she was nicknamed “Razor Girl” by the press during the trial.       

Pickens’s venture into true crime followed her interest in writing about it. The previously discussed Nellie Freeman case features a person who committed a crime but afterwards led a quiet, seemingly normal life. Pickens said that many involved in the cases she covered led normal lives. 

Another appeal of the true crime genre for Pickens is its strong draw to women readers. “I think some of it is a sense of self-protection,” she said. “If I can figure this out, then I won’t be a victim. I think a lot of it is what attracts me and others—is that we like to solve puzzles,” she added.     

True crime stories also look at changes in communities and cities. Pickens wrote in an email, “I wanted the stories to capture Charlotte and what’s formed it and what makes it unique and interesting, seen through this unusual lens of crime.” In her book’s last chapter, Pickens notes that the 1990s population boom, troubling rise of crack cocaine and frighteningly high murder rates dramatically changed the character of Charlotte to reflect big-city problems.   

The opportunity for Pickens to publish Charlotte True Crime Stories: Notorious Cases from Fraud to Serial Killing happened quickly after an unsuccessful first attempt at publishing a  true crime book. When she offered to write a true crime history book about Charlotte to a book company she successfully worked with 10 years earlier, the company gave a contract in a week. The focus on Charlotte, its crimes and history were the hook. “That just doesn’t happen," Pickens said. "I was off and running,” she added. 

Pickens is quick to praise the Robinson-Spangler Carolina Room at Charlotte Mecklenburg Library as a tremendous help. “The resources there are phenomenal, and the staff has been incredibly helpful in bringing out stories that I wouldn’t know about otherwise,” she said. “A lot of the artwork (primarily photography used for the book), and copyright permission, came courtesy of the Library and that would be lost if I didn’t have access to those public resources,” she added. The book is also a culmination of many years collecting crime articles, discussing crime as a mystery convention panelist and writing a true-crime column for Mystery Readers Journal. 

Some Library customers may recognize Pickens’s name. In the early 2000s, she began a mystery fiction series featuring an attorney and sleuth set in a small South Carolina town. The Avery Andrews novels mirrored her background as a lawyer and, later, a business professor. Pickens has also worked in higher education. The Library owns three books from the series. 

Will Pickens return to fiction writing? It’s very likely. as she said she has a completed a new novel and has another in development.  Next up though, this year she has True Crime Stories of Eastern North Carolina scheduled for a spring release from History Press and she wants to write about true crime in her home state of South Carolina.