Learning & Volunteering at the Library

Home Learning Media are in the display case. These materials were purchased several years ago at the request of homeschoolers. They are available for anyone to check out and can be used to help any child with homework, to provide some enrichment, or as a family project. The home school section has a variety of helpful print material including texts and worksheets. The library also has Discovery Packs that parents may check out for young children. These packs contain books, videos, and materials on many subjects such as insects, careers, and cooking.

Volunteering provides opportunities for getting out and about, increasing one’s awareness of the community, and generally doing good. High school student Averie Kenney has been putting in some volunteer hours as part of a project. She’s read shelves, sorted discarded magazines, and helped with inventory - and has done good for the library.

Valentines to all of you. Roses are red, violets are blue, we love our patrons all the year through. A piece on job satisfaction which cited policemen and firemen as being at the top reminded us of how much we like being librarians. Much of that is thanks to all those people who use the library.

Teens in libraries have been in the news -and some of it has not been good. The internet is a big attraction here and the parking lot is good for skateboarding, though the urge to congregate can be a problem in our small space. There aren’t many places to go in Ashley and teens, too, are our patrons. Generally they’ve been good and cooperative. It could be a worthwhile exercise in intergenerational awareness and tolerance for us all.

More room, more room ! The juvenile non-fiction section gets more crowded all the time and we keep looking for ways to ease the crunch. Some additional bookshelves in the area should help and we’re planning to have them made. Should we hire a professional organizer to go with them??

the New & the Old

The new year is already 1/12 over. We’re adjusting to Barbara's shorter hours. The January rains came and the basement stayed dry - one of the hoped for benefits of the west side ramp and parking area renovations. End of the year reports are still in the works though the clerk treasurer is all done. The magazine list is here and ready for your recommendations. The Flying Circus of Physics was on the shelf when Jearl Walker talked at OWU but the Wanda Brunstetter books have not yet arrived. (soon) And we are all older.

A new pet, a large soft and cuddly jaguar with claws even, has a home in the children’s room. Thanks to thrifty shopper Karen.

The tractor calendar is back. The Delaware NAPA store has again provided our patrons with pictures to enjoy through the year.

The Caldecott and Newbery award winners were announced Jan. 22. The Caldecott best illustrated book winner is Flotsam by David Wiesner and it is available. Wiesner is a third time winner. The Newbery outstanding children’s literature is The Higher Power of Lucky by Susan Patron. That needs to be ordered and there will undoubtedly be a wait. There were three Newbery honor awards and two Caldecott honors. The library does not have any of the honor books. Apparently we would have picked other winners. It would be interesting to read more on the judging and why the awards were made. And always interesting that adults decide.

February 2007 Books & Computers

Computer updates are progressing and by the end of January we should be able to check books in and out with our new system InfoCentre. It will take us some time to become familiar with all the variant ins and outs but the big difference for patrons will be the ability to access the Wornstaff catalog online - that’s at home or wherever an Internet connected computer is available. In the meantime Chad Neeper of Level 9 Networks has been setting up a faster, more secure Internet connection for public users - and making our maintenance easier.

Book donations are generally accepted. Some additions or better condition replacements for the library collection are often provided along with adding to the book sale. There are some books such as older encyclopedias and textbooks that we’d just as soon not have and we’re not equipped to handle large quantities of books. It may make more sense to ask the donator to take that trip to Goodwill. On the other hand one recent donation was cheerfully accepted by a patron- a why I love the library story.