From the Director
Library news and happenings.
Q: What's a Bag-of-Books Sale?
A: The annual Friends of KPL booksale with books at $2.00 for a bag full OR 10¢ a book.
Q: Where and when?
A: Van Deusen Room, 3rd, floor Central Library, Saturday, January 26, 9 am - 3:30 pm
Q: Why?
A: Build your home library, help clean out the Friends storage area, raise money for the Friends generous support of the library
Q: What does the library do with the money from the Friends?
A: Provide summer reading games for all ages, support Reading Together and Global Reading Challenge, help fund concerts
Q: If I come to the sale, what else could I do downtown that day?
A: Shop in the Friends Bookstore on the lower level of the Central Library, check out a book or movie from the library, ask a reference question, play in the children’s room, stroll on the downtown mall
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Friends Bag-of-Books Sale
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/friends/bookstore/sale/
The awards and “best of” season continues in the entertainment and publishing fields. The Library of Michigan just announced the “2013 Michigan Notable Books.”
This designation began in 1991. Each year 20 books published during the previous year are featured. The books are about, or set in Michigan or the Great Lakes region, or are written by a native or resident of our state. Fiction and nonfiction titles with a wide appeal on an array of topics are selected.
In the news release announcing this year’s choices, our state librarian, Nancy Robertson, wrote that “this program successfully shines the spotlight on the number of talented writers and illustrators we have in Michigan; these books help tell Michigan’s story.”
By coincidence, I happened to be reading Detroit City Is the Place to Be, one of this year’s selections. I’ve also added several titles to my ever-growing list of books I’d like to read.
I hope your reading year is off to a good start; mine is.
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Michigan Notable Books
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http://www.michigan.gov/notablebooks
Year end brings a time of reflection. As I look back on 2012 for the library, many events and milestones immediately come to mind.
We were honored to be awarded a Citation of Excellence for superior customer service from our state librarian at our annual conference. It affirmed our commitment to superior service with a can-do attitude in a cost effective manner.
Our 140th birthday celebration with author Susan Orlean was a highlight of the year and we were pleased it was one of the top entertainment events on MLive.
We launched First Saturday @ KPL, a monthly program for school age children last spring, hosted all KPS first-graders twice this fall, and kept kids reading over the summer through our summer reading games. Through these efforts, kids checked out 19% more books this year than the year before!
We bonded with author Luis Urrea when he visited as our Reading Together author, launched our Geek campaign in the Do-Dah Parade, graduated the first class of our Nonprofit Leadership Academy through ONEplace.
Of course we continued to provide materials for reading, viewing, and listening and assistance at a variety of public service desks at Central and branches.
It was good year at the library and we are ready to move on to 2013.
Best wishes for the new year; come visit soon.
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Year-End Thoughts
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http://www.kpl.gov
It is the time of year when we all receive many requests for donations from a wide variety of local, regional, and national organizations.
The library does not conduct an annual fundraising campaign nor send out a solicitation request. Our only fundraiser is our annual Great Grown-Up Spelling Bee to raise funds to buy books for distribution through our Ready to Read program.
Of course donations to the library are always welcome and greatly appreciated.
A donation can be designated for a specific collection, such as large print or children’s; a location, such as your neighborhood branch; or a service such as Local History, Teens, or Ready to Read. Undesignated gifts are directed where they are needed most.
And don’t forget our good Friends; your donations of gently used books and audio visual material are always appreciated.
We appreciate if you think of the library when you are considering your year-end giving.
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Support the Library
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My Ideal Bookshelf was recently published. We have it in our collection, although it is checked out and I haven’t yet seen it. I have read about it, however.
The premise is that the books we keep, let alone read, say a lot about who we are and how we see ourselves. The author asked dozens of cultural figures – authors, filmmakers, chefs, architects – to select a small bookshelf worth of books to represent themselves.
What books would you select if you had been asked? I’m still pondering this for myself. As I look around my bookshelves at home, I see favorite novels, biographies of presidents especially Lincoln, memoirs by women, some autographed children’s books. I’m not sure these are the ones I would select to say who I am but for various reasons and at various times, those are the books I have chosen to have on my shelves.
What’s on your shelf that says who you are? If you can’t select the entire shelf, how about one title?
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My Ideal Bookshelf
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The library and Kalamazoo Public Schools (KPS) recently partnered to bring children’s book author and illustrator Patricia Polacco to town for a day and what a day it was!
This was not her first visit to KPL – she’s been here several times since publishing her first book, Meteor!, in 1988. We consider her a very good friend of ours as well as the children of Kalamazoo.
Patricia spoke to 4th and 5th graders at Washington Writers Academy and Milwood Elementary schools and to more than 200 children and their families at Central Library, but she is much more than a “storyteller.”
Her presentation as well as her 85 books(!) dealt with her learning disabilities, her family, heroic teachers in her life, the pain she suffered from being bullied. She revealed very personal emotional issues and kids totally related to her. As she signed books after the presentation, she listened to tens of children tell her their stories, how they relate to her story, and how meaningful her books are to them. The book signing line moved slowly but no one complained. They waited patiently for their turn.
Her books are available in the children’s area at Central Library and all branches; there is a message for children that can also be appreciated and understood by adults.
Thanks for visiting KPS and KPL, Patricia. Come again soon.
Photos by Andrea Vernola: (top) Washington Writers' Academy with Dr. Michael Rice, (above) Central Library, Van Deusen Room.
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Patricia Polacco
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http://www.flickr.com/photos/kalamazoopubliclibrary/sets/72157632065580733/
I admit I seldom borrow an audiobook, don’t rent library meeting rooms, check out a CD only occasionally, BUT I do check out tens and tens of books and many movies, and I download ebooks through OverDrive. I live in the KPL district and I get my money’s worth with my library card.
Given the purchase price for a hardcover book, the cost to use a computer at a copy center, and fees to attend a class, the library is a good value for those who even use our services a few times per year.
How much would you pay out-of-pocket for library services? Try our library value calculator. I hope the library is a good value for you.
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Library Value
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The Michigan eLibrary, known as MeL, just celebrated its 20th birthday.
MeL was launched in 1992, just as the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation was funding computers for libraries and internet became affordable through the e-rate program. MeL provided the content.
MeL’s centerpiece is a collection of databases that support homework, small business, job searches, and general informational inquiries. There are now over 1,000,000 full-text article retrievals each year.
MeLCat, the state wide catalog for interlibrary loan, includes the holdings of 415 participating libraries. Each year, there are also over 1,000,000 requests for materials to be shared statewide, by sending the item to a user’s home library or by sending the user to the home library of the item, if it cannot be loaned.
Our statewide system is considered a model of efficiency in the tech world. MeL users consider it a model of the good use of federal money to benefit library services.
Happy 20th birthday to MeL from the 140 year old KPL! It’s a month of library birthdays.
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Michigan eLibrary (MeL)
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Most every day, week, and month has some designation, many of them somehow related to libraries, books, or reading. This week, October 21 – 27 is “National Friends of Libraries Week.”
The Friends of KPL are members of United for Libraries, a division of the American Library Association for trustees, friends, and advocates of libraries. Their mission is to support citizens who govern, promote, advocate, and fundraise for all types of libraries.
As I have often written here, KPL is fortunate to have very good friends. They contribute $50,000 - $60,000 per year to the library, all from the proceeds from their bookstore. A lot of used books pass through their hands.
Their contribution funds our summer reading games for all ages and provides support for many ongoing programs including Global Reading Challenge, Reading Together, and our recent 140th birthday celebration.
One of their goals for the year is to increase their membership. Please consider joining at modest fees that range from $5 for students and $15 for a family, to $100 for a benefactor.
Happy “National Friends of Libraries Week” to our good friends, the Friends of KPL.
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Friends of Kalamazoo Public Library
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It’s TEEN READ WEEK! This week, October 14 – 20, libraries, schools, and bookstores will celebrate Teen Read Week, with events and programs aimed at encouraging teens to read for pleasure and to look to the library for free reading materials. Many studies have shown that teens who are regular readers and library users achieve more in school.
The spokesperson this year is John Green, author of many teen books, most recently The Fault in Our Stars. John visited here several years ago and we feel a special bond with him; I imagine every library he has visited and every teen he has talked to feels likewise….he’s that kind of guy!
KPL will celebrate with a Teen Read-a-Thon on Saturday, October 20. Teen will be gathering pledges of food items for Kalamazoo Area Loaves and Fishes as they read up to six hours at the central library.
If you want to sponsor a teen reader, contact our teen service desk at 553-7807. It will be a win-win event….teens reading leisure materials to benefit our local food bank.
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Teen Read Week
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http://www.alastore.ala.org/detail.aspx?ID=3876