December 2011

Library Holiday closings: Dec. 24 & 26
No Storytime Dec. 22 & Dec. 29

Story time : (Thursday morning at 10:00)

Reindeer Dec. 1

Feed the Birds Dec. 8

Christmas Dec. 15

No Storytime Dec. 22 & Dec. 29

Unbirthday Party Jan. 5

Joyous Holidays to all our patrons and a very Happy New Year.

Thanks to Megan Burns for presenting the Reindeer program while Miss Vicky is on vacation. Megan is a regular helper at story time and hopes to become a children’s librarian. She has been the library page for six years and attends Ohio State Marion.

Credit Cards presented by the Delaware County Bank is the concluding program in Making Cents the Delaware County Libraries collaborative financial literacy series. Delaware Main on Dec. 1, Orange Branch on Dec. 15, and the Wornstaff Library in Ashley on Dec. 13 at 6:30.

The Bookmark Society will meet Dec. 1 at 6:30 to discuss The Room by Emma Donoghue. The next meeting will be Jan. 26, 2012.

Game Day is set for Wednesday afternoon, from 2:00 - 4:00 on December 28. Bring a favorite game and a friend or another family member. The library provides some old-fashioned skittles and up to date refreshments. Everybody is welcome.

 

Delaware County’s three library boards held a retreat in October and have chosen publicity of library databases as a joint project for the coming year. A statewide project provides all public libraries with a core collection of databases including magazine articles, language programs, genealogy, and medical resources. This information and much, much more can be accessed through the Internet either at a library or at one’s home. But not everyone (understatement) knows. Awareness, awareness, awareness - that’s the word for 2012.

COOL consortium, a group of eight or nine libraries with a common open source library program, has been meeting regularly and is looking forward to the submission of a grant proposal that would provide funds for the beginning migration to the system. Chauncey Montgomery, director of the Sunbury Community Library has been the prime mover in this project and is first on the list. The Wornstaff Library is currently in a second group that will follow within the year. This is an exciting collaborative solution to programs that are being phased out and increasing technological support requirements.

Book shelf transport is on our wish list. Over a year ago the Central Ohio Symphony offered the library book shelves that were inherited with their Winter Street location. Memory dims but there are two units, probably eight feet long, four feet high, two feet wide needing a big truck and a some burly guys. You’d get a thank you from both institutions.

 

Crafty Book Sale alert : A large quantity of needlecraft books has been donated to the library. We’ve made our list and checked it twice and there are many available for sale. Quilting and needlepoint are frequent topics. Take this opportunity to update your personal collection or to provide a bonus gift for a stitchy friend.

Boring but important That’s the tag line for a column in one of the news magazines. Fitting the bill is the renewal of a four library agreement concerning the distribution of state public library funds. State funds are distributed to each county and any necessary division within the county is determined or approved by the county budget commission. There are three separate library systems in Delaware County : The Wornstaff Library in Ashley, The Delaware County District Library in Delaware (and Powell and Ostrander and the Orange Branch) and the Community Library in Sunbury. The Westerville Library is a school district library with area in Delaware County and as the result of a tax law suit also receives a portion of the Delaware County distribution. An agreement established in the mid-nineties has been in operation since then and will continue.

More Louis L’Amour. Thanks to some other donations we have been able to supplement and refurbish our selection - and share the duplicates.

Inventory is done. There are no statistics at this point but the larger benefit is a more up-to-date catalog. No more “yes, the book is in the catalog but we cannot find it on the shelf” - or (more probably) it is way, way overdue and either way you might as well forget about it though we can order it for you from another library.

Unreturned materials do seem to account for most of our losses and we are trying to be a bit more proactive about overdues. People come and go - and take their checked out books and DVDs with them or just leave them behind. And it was all free.

Happier Holiday Notes on which to end the year and the newsletter. Amidst lots of talk about the pleasures of Christmas in Ashley we are reminded of the pleasures of being the library in Ashley, especially how much we enjoy the personal interaction with our patrons. There are still some benefits in being small.

November 2011

Story time : (Thursday morning at 10:00)

Bread & Butter        Nov. 3

Squirrels        Nov. 10

Thanksgiving        Nov. 17

No Storytime        Nov. 24

Reindeer        Dec. 1

Fraud, a program on protecting your money,  will be presented by a representative from the Delaware County Bank on November 15 at 7: 00 at the Wornstaff Library. This program is also available at the Delaware County District Library on Nov. 3. Right on the Money, a family program, is available at the Orange Branch on Nov. 9 and at The Sunbury Community Library on Nov. 10.   All of these programs are in the Making Cents : A Financial Literacy Series jointly promoted by the libraries of Delaware County.

The Buckeye Book Fair will be held in Wooster on November 5.  Fliers with complete listings of authors, books and activities are available at the library.   The focus is on authors from Ohio and books about Ohio.  Talk with the author, buy signed, discounted books.  Visit Lehman’s Hardware and the surrounding Amish community.  Enjoy the day.

The Bookmark Society will meet Thursday Dec. 1, and will read Room by Emma Donoghue. The next meeting will be Jan. 26. All are welcome.

Christmas in Ashley is coming Dec. 3, looking for as enjoyable, festive, and successful a celebration as last year.  Clean milk jug donations  may be made at the library to expand the luminary route.  Individuals outside the route are encouraged to put out their own luminaries. Milk jug design and a candle signup are available at the library. Scouts will deliver candles to those needing them. 

Movie night showed Red Riding Hood and served popcorn and soda.  Nine persons attended and one of them suggested making this a weekly event. Once a month might  be more feasible. Is there a better evening? Do we need permission slips for PG-13 movies?? Could we have a monthly movie discussion group similar to a book club?

Family / After School Science   We’ve been looking at a grant that could be used for materials and programs encouraging young people’s interest in engineering and electricity.  It seems like a worthwhile project - especially  programs which would involve hands-on making things and experimenting.  Materials for projects would be helpful  but books, etc. are harder to come by.  We have all the Popular Mechanics DVDS for kids and a good selection of hands-on science.  Comments?

Daylight Savings Time ends on Nov. 6, a little later in the United States than usual or than a few other countries. Russia is just not going to change having decided that it is too confusing for both cows and people and better suited to our present more urban life style. Some northern areas won’t be light until 10:00.  You can save that daylight for later in the day but you can’t make more of it.  

Veterans’ Day Remembrance Day  Armistice Day, - remember all our service men and women.

National Caregivers Month is one of November’s designations.  The Delaware Council for Older Adults certainly recognizes the value of all those individuals who serve as caregivers. The Council provides many services for older adults which complement and ease the caregiver’s work, along with support groups for caregivers. A display at the library highlights those services to both older adults and caregivers. 

Adoption and Foster Parenting is the focus of another display featuring informative pamphlets and promoting the need for participants.  The Delaware Orange Library will celebrate adoption with an Adoption Open House on November 14 from 9:30 - 11:00.Call the Delaware County Jobs and Family Services for any questions : 740-833-2340. 

Book Clubs abound.  There’s the Bookmark Society at the Wornstaff Library. There’s a men only one in Delaware.  Books are printed with book club guides in the back.  Then there are two rather beyond the norm possibilities in the area - The Shakespeare Club and The Joyce Group.  Both are trying to recruit new members.  The Delaware Shakespeare Club was founded in 1878 and is the oldest Shakespeare Club in America and the oldest social group in Delaware. If you like plays and books they are your kind of people.  They next meet Nov. 10 and the topic is Unruly Women. For more information call John Kneisley 740-363-3245. The Joyce Group is about 100 years younger and has been reading Finnegans Wake by James Joyce. The end is near but fortunately the final sentence is concluded on page 1. Joyce said he wanted anyone anywhere in the world to be able to open the book and enjoy.  It does seem that it connects with everything and vice versa with lots of word play and way too much fun.  Ask Elizabeth Barker 747-3909.  

New DVDs include Water for Elephants, Bridesmaids, Rodrick Rules, Comics without Borders, Yoga, Winnie the Pooh, and Hanna.  This month’s PTO donation was Zookeeper.