From the Director
Library news and happenings.
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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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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KPL is celebrating its 140th anniversary this week with an appearance by literary journalist and author, Susan Orlean. What better way for a library to celebrate than to bring a best-selling author to town for a free public appearance.
Orlean’s most recent book is Rin Tin Tin: The Life and the Legend, just out in paperback. It tells the story of Rin Tin Tin’s journey from a puppy on the WW I battlefield to movie star. An earlier book, The Orchid Thief, was made into the Oscar-winning movie, Adaptation, starring Meryl Streep. She has also been a staff writer for The New Yorker.
I hope you will join us Friday night, October 12, 7 pm, Kalamazoo Central High School Auditorium for this free program to celebrate our anniversary. A selection of her books will be available for purchase and signing at the event.
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KPL will join libraries, schools, and bookstores across the country in celebrating the freedom to read during “Banned Books Week,” September 30 – October 6.
Bill and Judith Moyers are this year’s honorary chairs. In this video essay, Bill Moyers talks about how libraries provided his first opportunity to indulge his love of reading and learning and shares his dismay over efforts to remove books from schools and libraries.
This week is an opportunity to remind us all that the ability to read, speak, think, and express ourselves freely is a right, not a privilege. Libraries often lead the efforts to speak out for the right to read; without the help of outspoken supporters, books are still being removed in some communities.
KPL and the American Civil Liberties Union will celebrate our right to decide for ourselves what to read, listen to, and view with a “Readout” on Thursday evening. Local literacy celebrities will read from frequently challenged books.
Join us at this event; celebrate and appreciate your freedom to read, listen, and view.
Bill Moyers on Banned Books Week from BillMoyers.com on Vimeo.
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One of our staff recently gave me an editorial on the importance of “every word.” The author wrote of “pockets of language poverty,” a phrase I had not heard before. One example he wrote about is when parents are unemployed, kids lose the secondary benefit of casual access to workplace words. Hearing the terms that are part of the workplace enhances a child’s understanding of the world.
Increasingly kids are not hearing and learning the words they need to be successful. Reading is one way to learn new words and be transported to different times and places; learning through conversation can be equally important.
This is a good reminder to all of us who work with, live with, know kids…..read with them, encourage them to read, talk with them, share your experiences. We all have a part in giving kids the many words they need to make their way in the world.
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Read
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September is “Library Card Sign-up Month.” 2012 marks the 25th anniversary of this monthly designation during which libraries across the country remind parents that a library card is the most important school supply of all.
The honorary chair this year is two-time Super Bowl champion Troy Polamalu of the Pittsburgh Steelers. You can see him on our website holding a KPL card!
Once again, we will be issuing library cards to all 1st graders in Kalamazoo Public Schools (KPS) who do not already have one. All 1,100+ first graders will visit a KPL location twice this fall. We will have library cards ready for them; they will select a book to take home and check it out on their library card. A few weeks later they will come again to return the book and check out another. We hope this will establish a routine for regular family visits.
If you know a KPS 1st grader, later this month ask them about their library visit and ask to see their library card. Even better ask any student you know to show you their card and if they don’t have one, encourage them to visit any of our locations to register for a card as the first step in becoming a regular library user.
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Library Card Sign-Up Month
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I’m always sorry to see summer and beach reading days come to an end. I admit to having spent many hours sitting on the beach reading this summer BUT not necessarily reading “beach reads.”
“Beach reads” has a bad rap. One definition I saw recently: breezy, lightweight for pool or lakeside reading.” Well, many of the books I read this summer at the Lake Michigan beach do not fit this definition. Among others, I read and recently blogged about The President’s Club. I read The Tiger’s Wife for August book group; Canada, Richard Ford’s new book; A Hundred Flowers; Destiny of the Republic; By the Iowa Sea; The Snow Child; among others, all from our collection.
Although I am hoping for at least one more weekend of beach reading, I’m moving into another season of reading—primarily in my living room instead of the beach—but my book choices aren’t going to change.
What did you read this summer? Do your reading choices vary by season?
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