January 2008

Storytime

Unbirthday Party Jan. 10

Warm & Cozy Foods Jan. 17

Let it Snow ! Jan. 24

Groundhogs & Shadows Jan. 31

Chinese New Year Feb. 7
(Year of the Rat)

Evening Storytime will be

Wednesday evening

January 23 at 6:30.

Let it Snow !

Will be the theme.

Coming events:

Homeschool Booktalk Feb. 12. 10:30 a.m.

The topic will be Rise and Shine.

Taxes: We have begun to receive tax forms which will be on the rack inside the front door. These forms are provided by the IRS and are free. Additional forms can be downloaded from the irs.gov website. We have a list of forms affected by the recent changes in the Alternative Minimum Tax. The library charges ten cents a page for downloaded forms and any other copies. 1099s and W2s for employers are available at the desk.

VITA assists persons with low income in filing their forms electronically. The Delaware County Bank will provide a savings account (if necessary) to enable electronic transfer of funds. This is the fastest way to get your refund and will ensure that all who are qualified will get earned income credit. VITA preparers will be at the Wornstaff Library on Saturday Feb. 9 from 10:00 to 5:00. This is a free service. Registration is helpful. Call 2-1-1. Please bring all your information with you.

A Delaware VITA site will be open Wednesdays and Saturdays. AARP help for seniors is available at the Delaware County District Library and The Sunbury Community Library.
Comments can be made on - and about - our web site. The December newsletter thanked Lauren Shirk for posting announcements of village meetings. We were reminded by a council member that the village news letter posts notices of all meetings and lists them in the regularly published newsletter. Liz writes the library newsletter. Susan set up the website, and maintains and posts items to it.

Statistics for the year won’t be available until next month but monthly comparisons indicate some general trends. One - all the surveys are correct - people read less than they did last year, ten years or twenty years ago. Our video/DVD circulation has decreased for the first time in years. Not even the demise of Ashley’s video store has changed that. People coming in and out of the library has remained pretty constant but a higher percentage is juvenile traffic - and Internet use has essentially doubled. I sense a relationship. Watch for more specific figure. Do your own analysis.

Magazines are discarded in January. Most of the previous year’s issues are not kept. The use is limited; we don’t have space; and specific articles are usually available online. These magazines are given away free. If you are interested in back issues of a particular magazine please ask.

Discovery Packs provide books and activities for preschoolers. Three new additions are Fire Engines, Getting Ready to Read and Fractions.

Thank yous are also appropriate at the end of the year. It’s possible to list all the staff and the library board members, and volunteers but more problematic in relation to patrons. It takes them all to make a library - especially people using the library. Just having the resources sitting on the shelf isn’t helpful. The whole purpose of the library is to be an active part of the community. Thanks for all the goodies and cards and donations and special thanks for all the daily interactions. We need you. We appreciate you.

Interlibrary loan is one anticipated statistic . It’s always been possible to get books from other libraries and we’ve tried to make people aware of that. Thanks should also go to all those libraries from whom we’ve borrowed books. Starting in July we have been able to return that favor by loaning to other libraries. And even though our patrons can’t request books from other libraries by themselves they seem more willing to ask. MORE isn’t always better but this may be one case where it is and we’re looking forward to even more MORE next year.

Happy New Year to all. The library has lots of aids for those New Year’s resolutions : dieting, not smoking, breaking bad habits, learning how to play the guitar, keeping up on the news and the political candidates, watching the 100 best movies. We’d also accept suggestions for our improvement.

Chinese New Year February 7. The Year of the Rat.

The Best of 2007 is a popular end of the year topic, well represented in collections of poetry, science writing, political writing and cartoons, an the list keeps growing. The library has the ones specifically listed. Individual selections are relatively short, and the authors vary as do their styles and opinions.