The Akron Digital Media Center is celebrating its new location and wants the public to get in on the action.

The ADMC will host an open house event May 17 from 4 to 6 p.m. at the the Akron-Summit County Public Library. Admission is free and refreshments will be provided as well as the chance to win prizes.

The ADMC is a nonprofit digital media group that works to enhance coverage of community news and information. The media center launched in 2010 to help engage citizens in digital storytelling and the project has trained more than 550 Akron area residents. Training was previously conducted at the local newspaper, the Akron Beacon Journal. The center reopened in February in a newly created space in the Akron-Summit County Public Library's Main Library in downtown Akron.

The Akron-Summit County Public Library auditorium was the venue for a multimedia presentation featuring John "Derf" Backderf's new 224-page graphic novel "My Friend Dahmer." Backderf was friends with the future serial killer when both were members of the Class of 1978 at Revere High School. Wednesday's crowd mostly filled the seats and was held spellbound, jolted and revolted, and at times moved to laughter as Backderf related his memories of the emotionally expressionless Dahmer.

Said Backderf: "The book turned out to be all I wanted it to be. I wanted to recreate Jeff's world. So the book is a period piece about the '70s and that is a factor in Jeff becoming Jeffrey. Read it like you view a film. Look in the background to see the layers. The theme is isolation. Jeff had a blank face, an emotionless expression. His backyard clubhouse was the final step into his world...isolated.

The Akron-Summit County Public Library auditorium was the venue for a multimedia presentation featuring John "Derf" Backderf's new 224-page graphic novel "My Friend Dahmer." Backderf was friends with the future serial killer when both were members of the Class of 1978 at Revere High School. Wednesday's crowd mostly filled the seats and was held spellbound, jolted and revolted, and at times moved to laughter as Backderf related his memories of the emotionally expressionless Dahmer.

Said Backderf: "The book turned out to be all I wanted it to be. I wanted to recreate Jeff's world. So the book is a period piece about the '70s and that is a factor in Jeff becoming Jeffrey. Read it like you view a film. Look in the background to see the layers. The theme is isolation. Jeff had a blank face, an emotionless expression. His backyard clubhouse was the final step into his world...isolated.

Survivor speaks at Akron holocaust commemoration event at Akron-Summit County Public Library

When Leo Silberman was placed in a concentration camp as a young boy in occupied Poland, it was also the site of a Jewish cemetery. “We were forced to use the tombstones from the graves to pave the streets of the camp,” said Silberman, who recounted his harrowing experience as part of a Holocaust Commemoration ceremony last week at the Akron-Summit County Public Library.

Titled “Children of the Holocaust 1933-1945,” the city of Akron event also included an awards ceremony for local students, who submitted creative writing, artwork and mixed media, paying tribute to the children affected by the holocaust.

When the Germans invaded Poland in 1939, the Jews were forced to wear armbands bearing the Star of David, said Silberman, who was 14 at the time. “They took away our businesses and property, making life way hard.” The Jewish residents were also restricted from traveling one mile outside of the city limits, he said.

For the 26th consecutive year, the city of Akron will commemorate the events surrounding the Holocaust and World War II at the Akron-Summit County Public Library. The community is invited to 2012 City of Akron Holocaust Commemoration April 17 at the downtown library, 60 S. High St., Akron. The event is free and open to the public.

The student awards ceremony for winners of the 24th annual Holocaust Arts and Writing Contest, the educational element of the project, begins at 11:30 a.m. The commemoration ceremony follows at noon.

The theme for this year’s commemoration and Arts & Writing Contest is "Children of the Holocaust 1933-1945."

A special parent training event entitled “Read Together, Sing Together, Play Together, Learn Together!” will take place April 5 from 6:30 to 8 p.m. at the Children’s Library of the Akron-Summit County Public Library in downtown Akron. The event, presented by the Akron-Summit County Public Library and Child Care Connection, is part of this year’s 25th Anniversary Child & Family Awareness Month celebration coordinated by Summit County Children Services.

In this program, trainers Laura McFalls and Trish Saylor of the Akron-Summit County Public Library will explain how play helps young children learn skills needed for life and how through joyful, hands-on play experiences with adults, children gain a love for learning.

Community members will have increased access to free digital media training and equipment, thanks to a new partnership between Akron Community Foundation and the Akron-Summit County Public Library.

The Akron Digital Media Center, funded by Akron Community Foundation and the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, reopened today in a newly created space on the first floor of the downtown Main Library, offering another resource for library patrons and increased community visibility for the media project that has trained more than 500 residents.

The media center was launched in 2010 to help cultivate local storytelling and community news gathering. It offers free multimedia workshops in blogging, news writing, photography, videography and video editing, as well as one-on-one mentorships that train community members to serve as journalists and neighborhood storytellers in the digital age.

When people often think of reading, they think of books they read for fun, for work or books they read because a teacher forced them. But reading is more than a book with pages. Learning to read opens doors to new worlds.

Or at least Carolyn Burrier thinks so. She wants people to get involved this February with the Fifth Annual Family Reading Festival Feb. 4 and the Ninth Annual Day of Reading Feb. 8.

Burrier, youth services coordinator at Akron-Summit County Public Library, maintains the This City Reads! program. The concept started 12 years ago as a discussion of community engagement for people of all backgrounds, and eventually the concept focused on reading.

Darrin Henson knows a lot about movements -- whether it’s civil rights or dancing.

The nationally recognized choreographer and actor will be this year’s keynote speaker at the annual Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. lecture at the Akron-Summit County Public Library Jan. 15 at 2 p.m. Carla Davis, director of marketing and communications for the library, said Henson’s topic, “Today’s Movement,” will bring Dr. King’s message to a younger crowd.

“We specifically chose Darrin because he is a good bridge between Dr. King’s generation and the younger generation,” Davis said. “He embodies Dr. King’s principles.”

A number of medical advances have arisen from clinical trials. Sometimes, they can even revolutionize medicine. For example, a clinical study in Pittsburgh determined that the lumpectomy (known as a “breast-conserving” procedure) is as effective in breast cancer treatment as a mastectomy, or full breast removal, said Karen Snyder, a manager at Akron’s Austen BioInnovation Institute.

A series of informational meetings about the benefits of medical health research kicked off last week at the Akron-Summit County Public Library’s main library in downtown Akron.

Although there sometimes are risks involved with medical studies, it’s a chance to make a difference and help discover new treatments. “We want to increase the amount of research in the area, but to do that we need volunteers, and we need informed volunteers,” she added.