By Edward Hirst

Rowan Public Library

NCLive, North Carolina Libraries for Virtual Education, provides the citizens of North Carolina access to over 200 hours of documentary and educational video programming from the Public Broadcasting Corporation in cooperation with UNC-TV and the N.C. Department of Cultural Resources.

The NCLive Video Collection was chosen by librarians for the support of education and the general interest of the public. The collection includes programming covering the sciences, U.S. and world history, biographies, current events, the arts, as well as a variety of other subjects.

Titles available in the collection include Ken Burn’s “Baseball,” “Jazz” and “The Civil War,” as well as other episodes from series such as “Frontline,” “American Experience” and “Scientific American Frontiers.”

The videos can be accessed from any device — phones, tablets, computers or streaming devices — with a high-speed Internet connection. If you are viewing the videos anywhere besides within the library you will need to log in with your library card number and PIN, which can be requested from any of the library’s locations.

The videos do not require downloading to be played and you are not required to check them out to view them. NCLive is able to offer unlimited simultaneous streaming to libraries throughout the state.

Visitors to the NCLive Video Collection page can view a listing of all of the titles that are available for viewing. The NCLive video collection is now part of Films on Demand which provides access to thousands of high quality videos on business and economics, health and medicine, humanities and social sciences, and science and mathematics, as well as travel and fitness programming, home and how-to videos, indie films, and popular music performances.

Clicking on any title link leads to a brief synopsis of the program, the playing time, a choice of speeds to stream the video, and whether the video is close captioned.

Be sure and check out the new Video Collection from NCLive.

Rowan Public Library holiday closings: Headquarters (Salisbury), East Branch (Rockwell), and South Rowan Regional (China Grove) will close at 5 p.m. on Monday, Dec. 31, and will be closed Tuesday, Jan. 1. All branches resume regular hours on Wednesday, Jan. 2.

Music with Miss Chelsea: Headquarters, Jan. 5, 11 a.m. This upbeat program will teach kids about musical concepts like rhythm and pitch with the help of instruments and fun musical activities. For more information, call Chelsea at 704-216-8269.

Gardening Party Saturdays: South, Jan. 5, 11 a.m. Gardening is cheaper than therapy – and you get tomatoes. Come join us Saturday mornings for Gardening Party, a new monthly club. For gardeners from beginners to experts, country to city, there are topics for everyone to enjoy. January’s topic will be Planning Your Garden, and members decide what next month’s topics will be. Questions? Call Paulette 704-216-7731.

Weekly children’s storytimes and teen programming resumes the week of Jan. 7.

Salsa, Chips, & Salsa: Headquarters, Jan. 12, 3-4 p.m. Receive professional dance instruction from Salisbury’s Spotlight Dance Company and snack on chips & salsa provided by Salsarita’s Fresh Mexican Grill. This program will be held in Stanback Auditorium. Space is limited. To register, call Abby at 704-216-8248 or email info@rowancountync.gov.

Displays: Headquarters, West Rowan High School student art from art class and ‘Stars’ by Salisbury Symphony; East, dolls by Patricia Hollifield; South, South Rowan High School art class artwork.

Literacy: Call the Rowan County Literacy Council at 704-216-8266 for more information on teaching or receiving literacy tutoring for English speakers or for those for whom English is a second language.