If you're interested in writing and talking about writing, plan on attending Francis Marion University's annual Pee Dee Fiction and Poetry Festival. Four nationally known and best-selling authors and poets, and their avid readers, will descend upon the university Nov. 5 and 6 at this year's Festival, which is free and open to the public.

The South Carolina Digital State Documents Depository provides access to publications produced by state agencies and state-supported academic institutions. These publications provide citizens with crucial information about state government, including statistics, annual accountability reports, and data on a wide variety of topics related to the state.

The McCormick County Library has been selected to receive a competitive grant from the American Library Association (ALA) to host a reading and discussion program designed for at-risk teens.

As one of the 50 Great Stories Club grant recipients selected from across the country, the McCormick County Library will work with groups of 6 to 10 teens from the John de la Howe School to read and discuss modern novels.

Designed to increase public awareness of the value, impact and services provided by libraries and library professionals, the Libraries Transform campaign will ensure there is one clear, energetic voice for our profession. Showcasing the transformative nature of today’s libraries and elevating the critical role libraries play in the digital age. Learn more about this campaign here.

Join in the fun and learn more about local authors at an author meet & greet taking place at the Cayce-West Columbia Branch Library of the Lexington County Public Library System on 11/7/15 from 2-5 PM.

The Collaborative Summer Library Program (CSLP) launches the 2016 Teen Video Challenge, a national video competition for teens to get involved with reading and their public library's summer reading program. CSLP is a consortium consisting of public libraries and state library agencies throughout the United States, its territories, and the Cayman Islands. The members of this consortium work together to provide high-quality summer reading materials for public libraries to use in their summer programs with children, teens, and adults.

The South Carolina Arts Commission and Hub City Press invite submissions for the biennial South Carolina First Novel Prize. Guidelines, eligibilty requirements and the application are available online. The application deadline is March 15, 2016. A winner will be announced in August 2016.

The South Carolina State Library is pleased to be the first state library in the country to make the SELF-e digital self-publishing platform available to all libraries in the state as well as our cardholders – for FREE! SELF-e is an innovative collaboration between Library Journal and BiblioBoard that enables authors and libraries to work together, and exposes notable self-published eBooks to voracious readers looking to discover something new. 

The South Carolina State Library is looking for Spring, Summer, and Fall participants for its Digitization in a Box Project!

What is the Digitization in a Box project? The Digitization in a Box Project allows public libraries in South Carolina to borrow scanning equipment, hardware, and software from the State Library to start a new digitization project. 

The University of South Carolina Libraries are offering free advice to those affected by the flood to help stop further deterioration and start the recovery process for damaged books, papers, films, photographs and memorabilia. Librarians and archivists from UofSC are partnering with other state library and archive officials to provide basic information necessary to potentially save damaged family treasures. No registration required.