6 August 2014

6 August 2014 ---------- August already and less than a month before the start of the school year. The Summer Reading Program parties were well attended and fun for everyone. At the children's party, New York Life was there providing free child I.D. photos and fingerprints for parents. This is a safety benefit for the parents as it provides a way for officials to identify and search for a lost child. I want to thank the United Methodist Church on Main St for making their community room available for us. Over one hundred children and their parents or guardians attended plus our staff members and volunteers. For two hours the children enjoyed games and treats. At the end many hated to leave. Also a big thank you for Miss Kristy who worked so hard putting the Summer Reading Program together. ------ The last party for the summer will be on August 7 for 5:00 to 7:00 p.m. It is the Doctor Who party which had to be cancelled in July due to the power outage in town at that time. There will be treats, a Doctor Who trivia contest and the showing of s Doctor Who movie. ------- I want to remind everyone that there will be a library wants and needs discussion at the next Library board meeting. The needs are to repair the front steps and the brickwork on the building, replacing the carpeting and the furniture re-roofing the library, and replacing the phone system This will be the first major work done on the libray since the addition was put on in 1986. The wants of the library are? This is where you the public are needed. Do we need more computers? Maybe more audio or large print books. Should we be getting more movies or ebooks for Kindle and other electric readers? Does the public want more programming for adults, evening programs? We need your imput. We also need people that will help set up a fund raising committee and to serve on it. The committee would decide what kind of fundraiser to have. An auction or perhaps a pledge drive or maybe a community challenge? The library has been ear-marking some of our income every year in anticipation of the major work updates updates but we can only estimate that we might have 25% of the needed funds. The library will engage architectss, builders and library design firms to get a solid estimate so that we can see what we will need for the upgrade. Once we have the estimates we can see what we will need. The Library Board has decided that a fund raiser would be the best way to accomplish financing of the needed work instead of going for a millage. This way the project will be paid as the work is done and any excess funds can be dedicated to the Vicksburg District Library Foundation which would generate funds to help with future renovations. ------- This September and October we are planning three workhops on finances. These will cover Senior Fraud Protection, Teaching children financial management and the game of Life, which previews the differenct financial issues that nearly everyone faces as they grow up through retirement. These workshops are free and run about an hour. They are presented by PNC and New York Life. ------- The Brown Bag Book Club will be starting again in September and we will read East of Eden by John Steinbeck. It is an American classic and still reads strong today. We will met at noon on September 22. I know it isn't the third monday but the first Monday in Labor Day so we won't count that.------- Until next week, keep reading and remember to come to the Board Meeting on August 21.---------- John