27 June 2014

27 June 2014 The Summer Reading programs have gotten off to an excellent start. This past monday we the the Zoomobile as you noticed on our homepage. It was a fun time and the kids got to pet the bunny on their way out the door. Tuesday there were two sessions of the science fair. The morning session was geared toward the grade school children and the afternoon toward the middle and high schoolers. In the children's department the straw sculpture from both sessions is on display. You can register for the summer reading program until closing time on 26 July. This coming Tuesday the Teen Program is Doctor Who Day. There will be a Doctor Who trivia contest as well as treats and showing a Doctor Who special video. The Brown Bag Classics Club is taking the summer off. If you want to get ahead in your reading,we are going to read East of Eden by John Steinbeck. We'll be back on September 15, the third monday of September. A reminder for everyone, if your overdue fines or lost book fees exceed $5.00, your account will be blocked until the charges are paid down so that the amount owed is less than $5.00. Minimum payment is 10 cents. Next Friday is the Fourth of July and the Library will be closed that day and reopen on Saturday for the regular hours. With summer vacations many people will be traveling, take along an audiobook for the ride. We have a wide slection for young adults and adults and a few for grade school age and younger. Michigan has produced many stars over the years, among them are: George Peppard who is best known for his role in The A-Team but in his movie career he starred opposite Audrey Hepburn in Breakfast at Tiffany's. Madonna was raised in Bay City and attended the University of Michigan. Robin Williams father was an auto-executive and they lived in Bloomfield Hill though Willams himself was born in Chicago. Those old enough to remember the T.V. show, Mork & Mindy, Pam Dawber who was Mindy was born and raised in Farmington Hills. Tom Selleck was born in Detroit and is a big Tigers Fan. Speaking of a Tiger's Fan, Kate Upton was born in St. Joseph. Wally Cox, born in Detroit, was the voice of Underdog. Jana Kramer, the Nationawide Insurance Girl, is from Detroit. Finally, William Lucking, Piney on Sons of Anarchy was born in Vicksburg. I knew there was a lot of talent in town. This list does not include the contribution of Michiganders to the music world, and there are a lot. Thanks to everyone for being patient with staff as we are mastering the new circulation system. There are still a few bugs that we are working out but we are getting on well with it. We are still hoping to offer email notification for overdue and reserve materials before the end of September. The Library of Michigan has just rolled out the updated Mich E-Library or MeL. Go to MeL.org and follow the links. There are buttons for kids, teens, business, health, books & literacy, jobs,legal and government. Under the kids button there is a homework helper, there are games and activities, storytime and about Michigan. For teens there is homework help, the reading zone for you to select books to read and can download to a reader. Life happens and that button can give you advice from social issues to health to vocations and jobs. A great help for teens who are at a rather confusing time in life. MeL is a great resource for the whole family. I encourage everyone to get on and to click on all the buttons to discover all that is available to people living in Michigan who have a card at their local library. Until next week, be safe and read. John

18 June 2014 The Brown Bag Book Club is taking a break during the summer but we will be back in September. We will be reading East of Eden by John Steinbeck. With the Summer Reading Program going on it is too busy to prepare for the book club and there would be scheduling conflicts while the Summer Reading Program is going on. Speaking of the Summer Reading Program, the kick-off day was Monday, June 16, and was it busy. Everything went smoothly with everyone who came in to sign up for the program getting to the proper workstation, getting library cards renewed and getting books checked out to everyone. You can register your child anytime during the Summer Reading Program however, the later you sign-up the more likely the program you want to attend may be filled. Among the programs still open are the Marble runs and straw competition where you construct a track for your marble and race your friends. Then you get to use straws to construct something you would like to see. On July 7 the pre-schoolers will be making rainbows then on July 10 from 6-7 the popular VMS Robotics team returns to fascinate people with their robots. Magician Jeff Wawrzaszek will perform at the library on July 17 starting at 4P.M.and let's face it, magic is always cool. The Teen Program also has some great events. On June 24 the Science Fair demonstrates the fun things you can do with science. On July 1, it is Doctor Who Day with snacks, a trivia contest and movie. CSI Vicksburg on July 15 will test the teens skills in forensic science to catch a killer. On July 22, the Kalamazoo Air Zoo comes to the Library to show amazing ways you can generate electic energy. The End of Summer Reading Party for the Teens in on July 29 and for the Children it will be on July 30. The Library is offering some help for parents as they make vacation plans or just plans to get away for the weekend. For the second year the Library is giving the Michigan Activity Pass (MAP) free. There can be used for places from Ann Arbor to Ypsilanti, Empire to Marquette. The MAP will get you into Yankee Air Museum in Belleville or the Toonerville Trolley, at Soo Junction. Maybe you would rather tour the U.S.S. Mackinaw, the U.S. Coast Guard icebreaker at Mackinaw City or the Gilmore Car Museum at Hickory Corners. To help you find all of these towns, the Library is giving the first 50 parents the newest road map of Michigan printed by the Michigan Department of Transportation. There's a lot to see in Michigan and with a free pass and a map, it makes it easier to go. Did you know that Michigan has the third most diverse agriculture following California and Florida. It is the largest producer of tart cherries, hazel nuts and mint in the United States. While Minnesota may the the Land of 10,000 lakes, Michigan has over 11,000 lakes of 10 acres or more. The only county in Michigan that does not border one of the Great Lakes or have a natural lake is Saginaw County. That is all for this week, come in for a book or a movie, the Library is always glad for your coompany. John

Only 10 days before the Annual Book Sale! At 10:00 a.m. Friday, June 13 the book sale opens with a wide variety of books, movies and audio resources. For the next week the books are being set-up in the meeting room downstairs. There are plenty of books for most reading tastes. All proceeds from the book sale go to support the children services. The book sale also runs Saturday from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. and the last day will be Monday from 10:00 a.m. to noon. Monday, June 16, is also the beginning of our Summer Reading Program, Fizz, Boom, Read! Children will learn how much fun science is by attending programs that cover chemistry and working with animals. The Teen program is Spark a Reaction and the teens will be able to do some science experiments in the library. All students will learn how much science is in our lives everyday. Learn about geodes, those hollow rocks with crystals inside of them. There is a family program on Tuesday, June 10 from 4-5. Pre-registration is required and it is limited to 50 people. This month we are featuring mysteries in our West Window Display. We have Sherlock Holmes, Spenser, and Ellery Queen among others. Take a look at our display and pick up a good mystery. If you are traveling this summer, remember to get an audiobook for the road. We have over 500 audiobooks available on CD's both fiction and non-fiction. Make your trip a listening experience. This Friday marks the 70th anniversary of the Allied Invasion of Europe at Normandy, France. There are very few Veterans left who took part of these landings. It was the largest invasion fleet ever assembled and it resulted in the liberation of France by the end of August and after 11 months, the war in Europe came to an end. Remember you fathers and grandfathers who fought in those dark days. The staff is slowly getting used to the new operating system and out goal is to have a general mastery of it before Summer Reading begins. As the summer comes nearer, remember to check out the Farmer's Market on Friday afternoons for fresh vegetables, honey and real maple syrup. It helps to support our local farmer's and you can't do better than garden fresh vegetables. Until next week, be safe. John

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