From the Director
Library news and happenings.
“National Bookstore Day” is Saturday, November 7. It is a day to celebrate bookselling and the vibrant culture of bookstores.
Kalamazoo is fortunate to have a bookstore, operated by the Friends of KPL, located on the lower level of the central library. The gently used books they sell are donations from the community and some discards from the library collections.
Proceeds from the store support many library programs and services. This past summer the Friends funded our summer reading games for all ages. They also support Reading Together, Prime Time Family Reading, and author visits.
Books are modestly priced – it’s a good place to build a home library. Even library users like to own some books! Watch their website for even better bargains during their sales.
Happy National Bookstore Day to our good Friends.
Come visit the library – and the bookstore!
(originally posted 11/5/2009)
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National Bookstore Day
national-bookstore-day-logo-160
http://www.publishersweekly.com/article/CA6696364.html
Banned Books Week (BBW), which celebrates the freedom to read, will be observed September 26 – October 3. This annual event reminds us not to take this precious democratic freedom for granted.
Each year, some books are targets for attempted banning. Thanks to the efforts of librarians, teachers, and booksellers most are maintained in collections. BBW reminds us annually of the importance of our First Amendment rights and the power of literature, and draws attention to the danger that exists when restraints are imposed on the availability of information in a free society.
KPL and American Civil Liberties Union of MI, SW Branch, are sponsoring a BBW Art Contest, and at Art Hop on October 2, local celebrities will be reading from banned books.
Come visit soon; exercise and celebrate your freedom to read whatever you want to read!
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Banned Books Week poster (American Library Association)
bbw-mockingbird-160
http://www.ala.org/ala/issuesadvocacy/banned/bannedbooksweek/ideasandresources/free_downloads/bbw_mockingbird_lg.JPG
Did you see the current issue of Newsweek magazine? The cover is “What to Read Now.” The article lists fifty books the editors have determined “open a window on the times we live in, whether they deal directly with the issues of today or simply help us see ourselves in new and surprisingly ways.” On their website, they list their “Top 100 Books of All Time,” a different spin than the fifty titles.
As I freely admit, I’m drawn to lists. My first instinct was to check off those books I’ve read. Between school and leisure reading, I’ve read quite a few, although not as many as I would have thought. I haven’t checked our holdings for these titles, but I’m assuming we have all or almost all of them.
#1 on the “Top 100 Books of All Time” is War and Peace by Tolstoy. OK, here comes the tough question: what is #1 on YOUR list? I’m still pondering that question...
Make your list, visit one of our locations, and start reading a “top” book!
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Newsweek: “What to Read Now. And Why”
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http://www.newsweek.com/id/204300
I read the book Balloons, Balloons, Balloons ten times today and I said the word “balloons” about 300 – 400 times. I thoroughly enjoyed it each time, especially with my ten appreciative audiences.
I was a reader today at “Party in the Park,” KPL’s Ready to Read celebration of the nationally recognized “Stand for Children Day.” Over 1,400 preschoolers and their caregivers gathered in Bronson Park for an hour to hear stories read by local community leaders and costumed story book characters. The readers moved from one small group of preschoolers to another.
This fun event has a serious purpose: to focus community attention on the fun and importance of sharing books with young children. And fun it was….who couldn’t enjoy having ten preschoolers shout “balloons” repeatedly! The balloons had tough competition though from Clifford the Big Red Dog, the Man in the Yellow Hat, Madeline, and other familiar story book characters who were there.
Thanks to all the volunteer readers, the organizers and helpers, the caregivers and the children….and the rain even held off until it was over!
Remember to read to all the children in your life.
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Balloons, Balloons, Balloons
0525459405
Judith Krug, Director of the American Library Association’s Office for Intellectual Freedom, passed away last month. She was the office’s first and only director since it was established in 1967.
She was THE champion for librarianship’s core value: intellectual freedom… the right of Americans to free expression, freedom of inquiry, and privacy in the pursuit of information.
She also headed the Freedom to Read Foundation and was the driving force behind ALA’s battles over censorship of the news media, books, films, the internet.
We acknowledge intellectual freedom in our mission statement as do many libraries: “KPL champions reading, ignites imagination and ensures access to information and ideas.”
She defined and fought for the principles that have become basic to our country’s public libraries and library patrons. The challenges continue, perhaps even more so, as society increasingly moves from a print world to an electronic world.
We uphold her principles and treasure her legacy.
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Judith Krug (American Library Association photo)
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http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/15/us/15krug.html?_r=1
Earlier this spring, the American Library Association sent a letter to President Obama. Not surprisingly, the association stressed that “libraries are perfectly positioned to disseminate information relevant to the issues and challenges that face us as a nation.”
The letter also cited the increase use of libraries; our role in life-long learning; various federal programs that impact libraries including No Child Left Behind and the USA Patriot Act; and the need for more funding.
The budget the President recently submitted did include a slight increase in federal funding for libraries through the Institute of Museum and Library Services, primarily for state library agencies.
In Michigan some of the federal money to the Library of Michigan is a match to state money which funds MeLCat and MeL databases. The federal and state funding needs to continue if those services are to be available to our patrons.
I’ll keep you informed as budget deliberations and the impact on our services becomes clearer.
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President Barack Obama discusses the 2010 budget
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http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/
In June 2005, then Senator Barack Obama spoke at the national conference of the American Library Association in Chicago. Like most in the audience, it was the first time I had heard him speak, really the first time I was particularly aware of him.
Among many comments tailored to the librarian audience he said, “Libraries remind us that truth isn’t about who yells the loudest but who has the right information.”
All libraries work hard to gather, make available, and use information. We even have it in our mission statement: “Kalamazoo Public Library champions reading, ignites imagination and ensures access to information and ideas.”
Information is a focus for libraries. It’s encouraging to have heard our president acknowledge the importance of the right information and the role of libraries in providing it.
Come visit soon or call us…..we are in the information business.
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American Libraries, August 2005
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http://www.ala.org/ala/alonline/resources/selectedarticles/obama05.cfm#interview
Happy NLW... …..National Library Week, that is.
National Library Week is an annual celebration of the contributions of our nation’s libraries and librarians. All types of libraries participate – school, public, academic, and special. This year’s theme is “Worlds connect @ your library” for the week April 12 – 18; the honorary chair is best selling author and actress, Jamie Lee Curtis PDF.
Rev Jesse Jackson, president and founder of Rainbow PUSH coalition, will kick off this year’s observance at a reading event. Other events at the national level include the release of the report “The State of America’s Libraries” and “Top 10 Most Challenged Books of 2008,” Tuesday as “National Library Workers Day,” and Thursday as “Support Teen Literature Day.”
KPL will celebrate NLW with the highlight of this year’s “Reading Together” program: author Rick Bragg speaking at Kalamazoo Central High School on Tuesday, April 14, at 6:30. We have several other programs that week as well…check our calendar.
Help us celebrate….come visit or come to a program. Indeed we can connect you to the world.
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National Library Week
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http://www.ilovelibraries.org/nationallibraryweek/
In his first address to Congress, President Obama mentioned reading and libraries!
He encouraged parents to read to their children. Although he didn’t elaborate, I’m sure he meant read to your newborn, your toddler, your preschooler to prepare them to learn to read when they enter school. That’s the focus of our Ready to Read program.
But also read to and with your children as they learn to read; model the joy of reading, share your love of books. It’s special parent and child time together.
When President Obama introduced the young girl in the audience with Michelle Obama, he said she had written to him using a computer at her local public library. She asked him what he could do to make her school better.
"And I think about Ty’Sheoma Bethea, the young girl from that school I visited in Dillon, South Carolina – a place where the ceilings leak, the paint peels off the walls, and they have to stop teaching six times a day because the train barrels by their classroom. She has been told that her school is hopeless, but the other day after class she went to the public library and typed up a letter to the people sitting in this room. She even asked her principal for the money to buy a stamp. The letter asks us for help, and says, 'We are just students trying to become lawyers, doctors, congressmen like yourself and one day president, so we can make a change to not just the state of South Carolina but also the world. We are not quitters.'" ~ President Barack Obama, Address to Joint Session of Congress, 24 February 2009
I don’t remember previous presidents mentioning reading or libraries in speeches to Congress. I was listening more carefully than I have in the past though.
I agree with him... ...read to your children, come use a public computer at the library.
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The Barack Obama READ Poster
obama-read-poster-160
http://blogs.skokielibrary.info/answer/2009/01/14/the-barack-obama-poster/
WWMT recently ran a story on their website and on the local newscast about KPL. They were following up on the many stories in the national print and broadcast media about the surge in library business in these tough economic times.
I told the reporter what I have written on this blog and in Link, the library newsletter, that our circulation is up almost 10%, with a 25% increase in AV materials. Program attendance, registration for computer classes, computer usage, use of our meeting rooms… all up.
One patron in the WWMT news report commented that our AV shelves are sometimes empty. Some days the shelves of new AV materials are rather bare. It’s a high priority to get returned items, especially new, popular ones, back on the shelves ASAP. However, we have a strong collection of older titles too….ones you may have missed or ones worth watching or listening to again.
We’ve pleased our local TV station followed-up the national stories with the local experience. It is still another opportunity to remind viewers of our resources and that there is no charge to borrow any materials, including AV items.
Come visit soon.
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KPL on WWMT
wwmt-feb-25-160
http://www.wwmt.com/articles/cost_1359558___article.html/resource_saving.html