28 May 2014

Thank you everyone for your patients while we migrated to a new circulation system. It is a better system and over the next two weeks staff will be getting used to using the new system. This will get everyone up to speed by the beginning of summer reading which begins on 16 June. The new system will enable us to send electronic notifications. This isn't just for overdue notices but we will also be able to contact you when a hold request comes in and to notify you a couple of days before your books are due so you can renew them if you need or remind you to drop them off at the library. Patrons will also be able to place hold requests on line and when you search for a title you will get a photo of the cover and a brief description of the book. That is all in the future and will not be instituted before Labor Day. As mentioned, Summer Reading begins on 16 of June. There is a program on 10 June on geodes. You need to sign up for this program in advance. Details are available on our library home page. The Book Sale is on Friday, 13 June and Saturday, 14 June. We have gotten a lot of donations this past year and there is a wide variety of materials to choose from. If you have older technology, cassette players or VHS players, you can choose from a large selection of cassettes and VHS tapes this year. Among the materials available are Old Time radio shows and/or select from several Disney movies. All proceeds from the booksale go to support the children's services throughout the year. This month the Brown Bag Classics Book Club is reading the Odyssey by Homer. This is the earliest literature in Western civilization. It is the tale of Odysseus as he travels from fighting in the Trojan War on his way home. Here is an interesting fact. The word mentor, meaning a trusted counselor or guide, comes from Odysseus's servant who was entrusted to teach Odysseus's son, Telemecus. The servant's name was Mentor. The Odyssey is also the source of terms and words, Siren, Elyssium Fields, Cyclops and Harpie. The fact that it is a great adventure story also helps to keep the Odyssey in the front ranks of classic literature. Rachel's book group is reading books by Maeve Binchy. With the celebration of Memorial Day, the Library will be closed on Sunday's now until after Labor Day in September. Check out the selection of mystery books featured in the west window by the newspapers and magazines. From Sherlock Holmes to Stephie Plum mysteries have been a mainstay of recreational reading since Edgar Allan Poe wrote the Murders of the Rue Morgue in the 1830's. Today mystery novels are the most popular fiction books checked out of libraries. People will follow a favorite author waiting for the next book to come out. Read for entertainment or read for information, reading is an essential part of life. As Groucho Marx once said, "Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend, inside of a dog it is too dark to read." Until next week.

May 14, 2014

14 May 2014 It has been nearly a month since my last posting and a lot has happened. National Poetry Month featured several poets works in our display case in the lobby and was the focus of the Brown Bag Classics Club. It was eye opening as participants related that the study of poetry in schools as they grew up was rarely offered. I think that it may make an interesting program for adults in the fall. Maybe call it from Beowulf to Benay, something to think about. The Library will be closed on May 21 & 22 as we change operating systems. On the 21st TLC will be downloading our records from their system to Auto-Graphics. This will take most of the morning to do. The Auto-Graphics will take our records and configure the information to work on the VERSO 4.0 system. We will be back up and running at 10:00 Friday morning. Anything that is due on either the 21st or 22nd will be treated as coming in on the 20th so that no one will be charged an overdue fine. May is the month when we get everything ready for the Summer Reading Program. This year it starts on June 16th. The start was delayed a week because of the schools having to make up snow days. The theme for Summer Reading this year is science. Miss Krity and Miss Andrea have several hands on programs that demonstrate the wonder, interesting and amazing things that makes science fun. Registration for Summer Reading starts on Monday, June 16. Board meeting is tomorrow and begins at 6:30 in the basement meeting room, the public is welcome. Next week I will tell you some of the things will be available to card holders. Have a great week John Sheridan

16 April 2014

16 April 2014 Congratulations to all who have gotten their taxes in on time. It seems every year it gets harder to make the deadline because the forms are not available from the government until late January and even into February. With spring comes thoughts of working in the garden and getting the lawn in good shaped. The Library has a display of gardening books on display in the west window above the magazine rack. Everything from pruning, shrubs, complimentary planting and how to get great flowers. This is national poem month and we have a display of poets in our display case in the vestibule of the Library. From Homer to Poe to Robert Frost and Langston Hughes. Come in and enjoy reading a poem or two. On Monday, 21 April, the Brown Bag Classic Club will be discussing poems. We meet in the Library meeting room in the basement from noon to 1:00 p.m. The Library will supply hot water for coffee or tea, you bring your lunch and your favorite poem and we'll talk. Next month we will read James Fenimore Cooper's, The Last of the Mohicans. He is the author of the Leather Stocking Tales, The Spy and The Pilot. We are taking applications for library page. You need to apply at the Library and meet the following standards. Must be at least 14 years old, work Tuesdays and Thursdays from 3-5 and alternate Fridays and Saturdays from 3-5. You must have reliable transportation and pass a simple test. The page shelves the books and other materials, straightens out the shelves and keeps the materials on the shelves in order. We are also looking for a volunteer at the Library to pull the obituaries of local citizens from the newspapers and funeral homes and organize them alphbetically by date in a binder for genealogy research. The volunteer will only need to work for about two hours a week two days a week. Come into the Library and talk with me about this. We will be closed on Easter Sunday. A reminder for our parents and children that we will be ending our storytimes at the end of the month and there will be not programs during May as our staff will be getting everything ready for the Summer Reading Program. I know that many of the children look forward to coming in for the programs each week but there is much that needs to get done before the Summer Reading Program begins. Remember that you can access the Secretary of State online and perform some basic tasks such as renewing a driver's license or state i.d. card or the tags for your car, file a change of address or register for organ donation at, https://www.michigan.gov/sos. On Friday mornings, Andrea does tech tutoring from 10:30 to 11:30. If you need help setting up or using an iphone or tablet or other device bring it in and she can see if she can help you. This is National Library Week and overdue print materials returned this week will have the fines waived. This ends on April 19 at closing time. Until next week, have a Happy and Safe Easter. John

Wednesday 2 April 2014

2 April 2014 April has brought warm weather with it and I am glad the winter is over. The Winter Reading Program is over and the winners were as follows. Mary Evelynn Bell won the Grand Prize of the tickets to see Boeing, Boeing and Annie Get Your Gun at the Kalamazoo Civic Theater, a canvass Library bookbag and two ceramic Library mugs. Ruth Ann Littlejohn had the most books read and won a gift certificate to the Vault and two Library travel mugs and finally Velma Cannell was third place and won a gift certificate to Rise-n-Dine and a ceramic Library mug. Thank you to all who participated in our program this year. We are looking for a new Library Page. One of our pages is graduating in June and is leaving us. The page position is six hours a week. Two days during the week and then alternating Friday and Saturday. You need to be at least 14 years old, be able to lift 25 lbs, and pass a simply test. We will take applications until April 20. We expect the person to start in early May. National Library Week is April 13-19 and to celebrate we will forgive fines on late returns on print material only. Fines that are already on your record will still need to be paid. The only fines to be forgiven will be the new fines on the materials you return during National Library Week. Time to think about lawns and gardens. There is a display of books on gardening on display in the west window of the Library in the magazine section. Everything from pruning trees and shrubs to square foot gardening. Books on flowers, herbs and vegetable growing are displayed. This month we are also featuring books made into movies. We will have a display of the books along with the videopack so that you can check out the book and the movie. Watch the movie and then read the book and compare the two. What did the movie cut out? How did the movie differ from the book? Which did you prefer? Come in and take a look at what the Library staff have chosen. Maybe you know of some titles that we don't know about. With April comes the winding down of our storytimes. May is the month used to get everything set for the Summer Reading Program. The theme this year is science and the programs are designed to show that science is fun as well as interesting. The Brown Bag Book Club is reading poetry this month because it is National Poetry Month. Poetry has become the lost literary form and it was the original form for centuries. Poetry was used to pass on cultural stories. The best known example of this is the Iliad and the Odyssey by Homer. For the English speaking world, the epic poem Beowulf is considered the earliest English language work but it was an oral poem long before it was written down. Poetry has been a major literary form up to last half of the 20th century. Some major American poets were Walt Whitman, Henry Wadsworth Longfello, Stephen Vincent Benet, Edgar Allan Poe, Robert Frost, Emily Dickenson, Carl Sandburg and Langston Hughes. Great English poets include Alfred, Lord Tennyson, William Wordsworth, Edmund Spenser, William Shakespeare, Samuel Taylor Collridge, Robert Louis Stevenson, Robert Browning, Robert Burns, John Masefield and Dylan Thomas. It is both a literary and an art form. Today, most of our exposure to poetry is in song lyrics. When people say they have a favorite song, it isn't the music that makes it their favorite, it is the lyrics, the poetry, that make the song. So enjoy a good poem, a good song and celebrate National Poetry month. Until next week, stay safe and visit the Library. John Sheridan

26 March 2014

Sunday is the last day to turn in you slips for the Grand Prize drawing for the Adult Winter Reading Program. The drawing will take place on Monday morning, 31 March. There is still time to get at least one entry into the drawing. If you are at least 14 years old and would like to work in the Library, we have an opening coming up for the page position. We are looking for someone who is able to work late afternoons from 3-5 two days a week and alternate Fridays and Saturdays from 3-5. You need to be able to lift at least 50 pounds and take an ability test. The successful candidate will start in May. While the minimum age for the position is 14, anyone older who would be available during the scheduled hours is welcome to apply. The Library has the Federal 1040, 1040 EZ and 1040A tax forms and instruction booklets as well as the State tax booklets with the forms. They are available until they are gone, the Library WILL NOT reoder any forms or booklets this year. Later in April the Library will be hosting the PNC Bank Financial Basics workshops they will cover using a checkbook, credit cards, budgeting and other basic financil facts you need to know. It is open to the public but we must restrict it to about 25 people. These are free workshops and sign-up sheets will be available after April 1. Pawsome readers will be in the Library on April 15 from 4-6 and April 17 from 5-7. Sign-up sheets are now at the circulation desk. Please call or register in person, no emails please. National Library Week is April 13-19 and this year we will forgive the fines on print materials that are returned that week. The amnesty is only on print materials. You will still have to pay the overdue fines for CD's and DVD's. A reminder; there is no eating allowed in the stack area of the library. The only areas where the public may eat is in the meeting room in the lower level of the library. Drinks are allowed if they are in covered containers and you are not using a computer. We appreciate your cooperation on this. In April, the staff picks for reading will feature books make into movies. The books and the pick card for the movie will be displayed so you can watch the movie and compare it with the book. To Kill a Mocking Bird, Gone With the Wind, The Hunger Games, The Bourne Identity, and Jurassic Park are examples of books made into movies. What do you do when you have a DVD that freezes up or an audio book that skips and stutters? When you return the item, let a staff person know. Most of the time the disk needs to be cleaned. We are able to clean them so they are ready for circulation. If a book has pages coming loose or if they get torn, let the staff know and we can repair it and put it back into circulation. The book for the Thursday Book Club is Orphan Train by Christina Baker Kline and the Brown Bag Classics Club will be reading poetry for the month of April. Did you know what the words rant, undress, frugal, courtship, gloomy and laughable have in common? They were all credited as being created by William Shakespeare. In all, Shakespeare is credited with introducing over 1,700 words into the English language. In Shakespeare's lifetime over 30,000 words were added to the English language. Remember that the Library appreciates all gifts and donations for the support of the library and to purchase materials for public use. Until next week, continue to read and stay safe. John Sheridan

19 March 2014 Only 11 days remaining in the Adult Winter Reading program. Still possible for you to enter for the Grand Prize drawing of tickets for two to see, Boeing, Boeing and Annie Get Your Gun. Remember view, read or listen to 15 titles from the library collection of movies, books and audiobooks and you get one chance for the drawing. For the first ten titles, you get an insulated lunch bag and for every five titles you view, read or listen to after the initial fifteen books and you get an additional entry for the Grand Prize. There will also be second and third place prizes. April is National Poetry month and to celebrate, the Brown Bag Classics Book Club will be reading and discussing poetry, especially from authors works before 1950. We have several books on poetry behind the circulation desk. So if your tastes run toward Longfellow or Dickinson, Stephen Benet to Edna St. Vincent Benet, pick up a poetry book and join in the discussion. In April we will be changing circulation systems. The new system allows us to contact you by email. It sends a reminder two days ahead of the due date on long term check outs and then sends out the overdues by email. Staff will be asking you if you want to notified by email when you check out. The new module for the catalog will show you the cover of the book in most cases and give a short description of the book. If you are looking to do some volunteer work, the Library needs someone to come in once or twice a week to pull obituaries from the papers and funeral home websites, make copies of the obituaries and place the copies in the obituary binder. We are also looking for a page. Our page, Kylie, is a senior in high school and will be leaving us by the first of May. The page works six hours a week, alternating Fridays and Saturdays with the other page. You must be at least 14 years of age,be a freshman or will be a freshman by September and have reliable transportation. Apply in person at the Library. Looking for something good to read? On the southside of the circulation desk we have a cart of books with the staff best reads. This month we are concentrating on fiction. In April we will have books made into movies. Remember that we display books on the window sill in the magazine section. Next month we will have our gardening books out so you can get your lawn, gardens and flower beds ready for the new growing season. Traveling? Check out our audiobook collection. A great way to make a long drive enjoyable. Until next week, stay safe. John Sheridan, Director

5 March 2014 It's March and still feels like January. Stay inside, keep warm and read a good book! This is the last month of the Adult Winter Reading Program and there is still time to participate. After you register at the Library, for every five titles you read, view or listen to, count toward the fifteen titles you need to get an entry slip for the Grand Drawing. For every five titles you read after the first fifteen, you get an addition entry slip for the Grand Prize. The Grand Prize this year is two tickets for the play Boeing, Boeing in April and two tickets to see the musical Annie Get Your Gun in April at the Kalamazoo Community Theather. The program ends on March 30 and the drawing is on March 31. Come in and see the new paint job at the Library. It is hard to believe what a difference a new coat of paint can make. When the sun shines in the afternoon, the adult area just glows in a warm light. Much better than the putty color of the walls before. Our Board President, Judy Imanse, chose the colors and the Library looks fabulous. This part of the renovation was paid from the Library's endowment fund. The fund is set up to allow part of the interest accrued to be put into a fund that the Library can use for projects such as the painting. You can donate to our endowment fund by designating a gift to the Library to be deposited to the fund. Other areas that you can donate to help the Library are for the Summer Reading Program, toward the purchase of books, DVD's, CD's magazines or other Library materials. In spite of the increased costs to the library because of inflation, the Library has been able to maintain a high level service because of the generous donations of Library patrons. The selected author for the Brown Bag Classic Book Club is Ernest Hemingway. We have severl of his works available behind the circulation desk. Come and join us on March 17, at noon in the meeting room in the basement. Bring your lunch along and enjoy the discussion. Next month is National Poetry month and we will feature American poets. Keep warm and we'll see you at the Library for a book or a movie or an audiobook. John