On February 23, 2011 at 6:30 pm we will be discussing Truman Capote's
In Cold Blood.
Coffee and good conversation will be served.
Thursday, January 27, 2011
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
What is it about this time of year?
There's something about this time of year that makes me want to create things. Apparently I'm not the only one. While searching flickr for inspiration, I came across the title of a book that I thought would be interesting. I hopped over to the Arrowhead website to find that the copies to be had are lost or missing. On to the MNLink Statewide catalog. There I found several systems with the title I was pursuing, and most copies were checked out. See, I'm not the only one with their creative juices flowing. I requested one, and hopefully it will get here before my desire to craft something fades. I have grand ideas of what will be created; but in the words of my father, "Your confidence outweighs your competence." Which may explain all the half finished projects on my sewing table.
Looking for one thing leads to another, and another, and another; until I've got 10 new requests for books! Happens just about every week. Good thing I work at a library. I may get books that I've ordered and wonder "WHY did I order THIS??" But even when I do that, I at least page through them before sending them back. There's nothing so great as a newly found book. You just never know which one is going to give you some kind of treasure. In the words of my mother, "Too many books, too little time." I'm sure she got that saying from some library slogan somewhere--but I'll give her credit for exposing me to this mind-set.
If you find your creative juices flowing without an outlet or would just like to try something new, there are lots of titles available here. There are even more available through inter-library loan. I LOVE inter-library loans. You can get just about anything, from anywhere in the whole state of Minnesota! How great is that??
Looking for one thing leads to another, and another, and another; until I've got 10 new requests for books! Happens just about every week. Good thing I work at a library. I may get books that I've ordered and wonder "WHY did I order THIS??" But even when I do that, I at least page through them before sending them back. There's nothing so great as a newly found book. You just never know which one is going to give you some kind of treasure. In the words of my mother, "Too many books, too little time." I'm sure she got that saying from some library slogan somewhere--but I'll give her credit for exposing me to this mind-set.
If you find your creative juices flowing without an outlet or would just like to try something new, there are lots of titles available here. There are even more available through inter-library loan. I LOVE inter-library loans. You can get just about anything, from anywhere in the whole state of Minnesota! How great is that??
While searching for the picture that lead me to my first book request of the day--so you could see it--I found another picture with the same book, but different ones in the stack. Guess what? I had to make another inter-library-loan book request.
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
Kids LOVE the library!
We're now a week into our new building, and today the preschoolers from next door came over. They have been anxiously awaiting the opening, and have missed their weekly visits here. Today they got to come in for the first time in a couple months. Mouths agape, exclamations of delight; how great it is to see their enjoyment!
Slowly but surely the other kids from the community have been filtering in. For anyone out there who thinks kids just come in to sit at the computers and play games, think again. Today, I ordered the second Percy Jackson book for one kid (and found a couple other books to fill the time until it comes--just in case he finishes those last 20 pages faster than the second book will get here.) We had one other kid asking if her book had come in yet (The Sisters Grimm, book 4). One other kid brought back the books she had to borrow from another library while we were closed and picked out two more from our collection. We've been around these kids for several years, and would never have guessed that some of them would become the readers that they are today. Sure, they initially came in for the movies and computers, but somehow they've also found their way into the stacks of books. Hurrah!!
The headphones did not make the trip over to the new library. They may have all been broken before we shut down. When asked by one of the three kids at the computers this afternoon if we had any, the answer was a resounding "NO." When we suggested that we could put up a donation can for new headphones, their answer was a resounding "YES!" One even offered to donate all of the $40 in his piggy bank.
Now those are the kind of patrons we want for our library!! The fact that they are under the age of 15 means less than their love for the library! Just because they're young, does not mean they warrant some of the scornful looks of some of their elders. They use the library differently than the kids of years past, but they still USE THE LIBRARY! They see it as a great place to be, and we'd love to keep it that way.
Slowly but surely the other kids from the community have been filtering in. For anyone out there who thinks kids just come in to sit at the computers and play games, think again. Today, I ordered the second Percy Jackson book for one kid (and found a couple other books to fill the time until it comes--just in case he finishes those last 20 pages faster than the second book will get here.) We had one other kid asking if her book had come in yet (The Sisters Grimm, book 4). One other kid brought back the books she had to borrow from another library while we were closed and picked out two more from our collection. We've been around these kids for several years, and would never have guessed that some of them would become the readers that they are today. Sure, they initially came in for the movies and computers, but somehow they've also found their way into the stacks of books. Hurrah!!
The headphones did not make the trip over to the new library. They may have all been broken before we shut down. When asked by one of the three kids at the computers this afternoon if we had any, the answer was a resounding "NO." When we suggested that we could put up a donation can for new headphones, their answer was a resounding "YES!" One even offered to donate all of the $40 in his piggy bank.
Now those are the kind of patrons we want for our library!! The fact that they are under the age of 15 means less than their love for the library! Just because they're young, does not mean they warrant some of the scornful looks of some of their elders. They use the library differently than the kids of years past, but they still USE THE LIBRARY! They see it as a great place to be, and we'd love to keep it that way.
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
New DVDs at the Library
Tomorrow we will be getting our new rotation of DVDs in. So if you are bored with the reruns that are on TV and you would like to watch something different, but do not want to spent the money on movie tickets, stop by the library, and check out our new DVDs.
Monday, January 17, 2011
Phone services @ the Library
As of today, we finally have a phone line for the library. If you need to renew your books, have us request the newest books for you or just have a question, you can now dial 218-247-7676 and we will answer.
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
OUR FIRST DAY!!
We are open for business! We are handicap accessible! The computers are up and running! Books are on the shelves! We have heat!!!
It's been a long process and we aren't completely done yet. We haven't been here long enough to know what we're missing or needing. There are still some boxes of books on the floor. There is still a lot of stuff at the old library--up the stairs, through the cold, cold hallway. Sure, we don't have anything on the walls but we don't know what to put there nor do we have funding for extravagant works of art. As a library with one of the lowest budgets in our system, it's amazing that we've gotten ourselves into a new building! We're going to appreciate what we've got (heat! no stairs! heat!) before we start complaining about what we don't have (telephone, drop box receptacle, new magazine subscriptions). We'll just enjoy the heat!
It's been a long process and we aren't completely done yet. We haven't been here long enough to know what we're missing or needing. There are still some boxes of books on the floor. There is still a lot of stuff at the old library--up the stairs, through the cold, cold hallway. Sure, we don't have anything on the walls but we don't know what to put there nor do we have funding for extravagant works of art. As a library with one of the lowest budgets in our system, it's amazing that we've gotten ourselves into a new building! We're going to appreciate what we've got (heat! no stairs! heat!) before we start complaining about what we don't have (telephone, drop box receptacle, new magazine subscriptions). We'll just enjoy the heat!
(It may take awhile, but eventually I will again be able to direct you exactly to that Dean Koontz/Janet Evanovich/Jodi Piccoult/Lee Child book without looking up. ~Alicia)
Hip Hip Hooray, we're in the new building!!
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