Floating Along!

Meinders Library had a float in the Water Tower Festival Parade here in Pipestone. The theme of the parade was Nursery Rhymes and Fairy Tales so how could we not?

Jim and Pat Adams helped me to paint two water heater boxes and two range boxes grey. I then used a darker grey to paint 'stones' onto the boxes, so they would look like castle towers. Maria Korthals helped to put the boxes on the flatbed trailer, loaned by Maurice Bickford, and we hung flower garlands between them to make ourselves a fairy tale castle.

To make the float complete, we asked some of our storytime girls to wear princess costumes and ride the float! They all had silver princess wands and glittery rings and were between the ages of three and ten or so: we had two snow whites, a sleeping beauty, a cinderella, a pochahontas, and several other princesses who had a blast being the center of attention!

And, of course, there had to be books involved. I borrowed a speaker from the school and a headset from Mike Solma so I could read fairy tales from the float as we followed the route. Poeple said they could hear me and everyone really liked our float.

We didn't win, but we had so much fun it doesn't matter. Maybe we'll try again next year!

Summer Reading Update

Summer Reading Program is in full swing and is going great! We've had between 70 and 100 kids each week and they are so excited when they're here! Prizes have been flying out the door, as have the books, and we are so happy to be providing this service.

Our first week involved making pizzas from construction paper and crayons, which was a lot of fun. The variety of the pizzas was staggering.

Week two was a project that involved colors, a paintbrush color wheel that could be hung on a wall. It was a fabulous project.

Week three found all the kids outside the Superintendent's Office painting the sidewalk with home-made sidewalk paint. The art was amazing and we were very sad it rained a day later and washed the masterpieces away.

Summer Cleaning

Okay, so I’m one season too late. Most people get their cleaning done in the spring, but the library had to wait until school was out to begin a few reorganization projects that were sorely needed.

Most people now have DVD players and very few still have a VCR. I do, but only because the DVD and the VCR are the same machine. Our VHS section was completely full and many of the movies had not been checked out for a very long time. Any VHS tape that had not been checked out since 2006 has been weeded from the collection. What’s weeding, you ask? It’s just like a garden: you get rid of things you’d rather not have. And if no one has checked it out in three years, it is highly unlikely it will ever be checked out again. So keep an eye on the next book sale. If you’re interested in VHS tapes, there will be quite a few!

We also weeded our books on cassette section. Cassettes, like VHS tapes, are becoming an old technology and once again, our section was enormous. Following the same rules as the VHS, we have taken anything that has not been checked out since 2006 off of our shelves. Once they are removed from the catalogue, they will go onto the book sale for December.

Magazines were another area where we had too many copies taking up too much space. Most back issues of popular magazines can be found on-line, so keeping five years of each issue was becoming obsolete. Because of that, we now only have the last three years of our magazines. If you need help finding older issues, please let a librarian know so we can assist you.

In other news, we received a grant from Sioux Valley Energy to begin yet another project! We were given $1500 to improve our juvenile non-fiction section and Heather can hardly contain herself. She has chosen several series of books that will be a great asset to the library and that contain current information that will be useful for the kids who read them. The books have not arrived yet, but they should be here by August. Thank you, Sioux Valley Energy!

We also received $300 from the Pipestone Kiwanis to replace some damaged books that were classics. It’s always hard to get rid of a book, but when the book is worn and ragged, it’s definitely time to replace it. Who wants to check out a book that is falling apart? Thank you, Kiwanis!

We have also changed the theme of the children’s library from a jungle/forest theme to a castle theme, so be prepared to see some construction coming soon. Anyone who feels like painting stones or making a few banners for the walls, please let us know!

If you have any questions, or you have a book you need to reserve or renew, give us a call at 507-825-6714. Summer hours for Meinders Library are Monday through Thursday, from 10 AM to 8 PM, and Friday from 10 AM to 5 PM. We are not open on Saturdays from Memorial Day to Labor Day.

06-01-09 Summer Reading Program!

It is once again time for Summer Reading at Meinders Library! This year’s theme is Be Creative At Your Library, which has a lot of potential. We have so many exciting activities, ranging from paper masks and murals, to home-made sidewalk chalk and musical instruments. Our guest presenter this year is Ramona Larson and I’ve never participated in her activities, but she says we have to wear tennis shoes and comfortable clothes, so I bet it will be fun! Meetings for Summer Reading Program will be Thursdays at 2:00 PM, starting June 11. Come in and sign up!

Regular Summer Reading Program is for kids from 5 to 12, but this year we will also be having a Teen Summer Reading Program for older kids, from 12 to 18. The activities for the teen group include redesigning book covers, making movie posters, and watching a few books-become-movies, like Twilight and Inkheart. It promises to be very exciting and what teenager doesn’t need something to do during the summer? Meetings for the Teen group will be Fridays at 2:00 PM, staring June 12th. Come in and get signed up!

Both Summer Programs end at the end of July, with July 30th being the last day for the younger kids and July 31st for the teens.

We are looking for volunteers to help with both reading programs, for those adults out there who need things to do during the summer. We’d like to get a few adults to come in and help with each activity, since we frequently have 50+ kids attending. You don’t need to attend every week and if you only have time for once, we would be glad to have you. If you are interested, give the library a call at 825-6714 or stop on by and fill out a volunteer sheet. We would really appreciate it!

Summer Reading Program is always a very exciting time in the library. Seeing happy faces on happy kids makes all the planning worthwhile and we are so looking forward to the program!

If you have any questions about Summer Reading Program, or you have a book you need to reserve or renew, give us a call at 507-825-6714. Summer hours for Meinders Library are Monday through Thursday, from 10 AM to 8 PM, and Friday from 10 AM to 5 PM. We are no longer open on Saturdays from Memorial Day to Labor Day.

5-14-09 Article in the Pipestone County Star

Sacrifice By a Few Leads to Continued Service for All: Written by Kyle Kuphal

Rather than cut services or jobs, the director and the administrative staff of the Plum Creek Library System (PCLS), which provides interlibrary services to 25 libraries in a nine county region of southwestern Minnesota including Pipestone, voluntarily sacrificed money from their own pockets to continue operating as usual.

A projected five-to-six percent operating deficit drove the PCLS’s decision. With an annual budget of roughly $690,000 in state library funding, the deficit of roughly $40,000 could have resulted in fewer services to area libraries, a reduction to half-time hours for one or two staff members or even a layoff.

However, PCLS employees and director Mark Ranum began discussing alternatives in November and by January had reached an agreement whereby every administrative employee would cut one workday per month to help reduce operating expenses.“It’s really tremendous how the employees came together at Plum Creek,” Ranum said. “The employees solved the problem with that sacrifice.”

Ranum, in order to show leadership, decided to go one step further. He voluntarily gave up his position as director and continues to fulfill the same duties as a consultant. That decision cost him roughly $28,000 in salary and compensation.“I still have a great job,” Ranum said. “I’m as committed as the people that work for me to keep good library service in the state.”

It is the people that work for him, he said, that deserve the credit. By spreading the impact of the projected deficit among the entire staff, they were able to keep everyone’s job safe and continue to provide the services local libraries have come to expect. It also led to PCLS projecting a small surplus rather than a deficit for this fiscal year, which ends June 30.

PCLS Office Administrator Chris Lang said she speaks for all the staff at PCLS when she says they are a dedicated bunch. The main concern of the staff, he said, is to provide member libraries with the support necessary to provide quality service to library patrons in the nine-county region covered by PCLS.“We will continue to be creative and financially savvy as we strive to provide patrons of southwest Minnesota with the excellent library service they’ve come to expect and enjoy,” Lang said.

“They’ve done a great job,” said Stephanie Hall, director of Meinders Community Library in Pipestone. “It tells me that the libraries are the most important part.”

Meinders Community Library, she said, has not felt the pinch of the poor economy and budget cuts as has PCLS. That is due in part to the unique relationship between the Meinders Community Library and PAS High School. Because the library also serves as the high school library it receives funding from the city, county and school district, which has helped prevent budget shortfalls.

“It hasn’t affected us nearly as much as the Plum Creek Library System,” Hall said.About one third of the libraries in the nine-county system have had to make budget cuts. Ranum said he expects that will be the case for the next few years. In a way, it is a bit of a Catch-22 because typically, when the economy takes a downturn, people tend to turn to the local library for entertainment and information. “Consumer information becomes a more valuable commodity,” Ranum said. “People want to continue to live the life they live, but at a cheaper cost.”

Hall said she too expects library use to increase because libraries offer the goods and services that in good times are taken for granted, but in difficult times are considered luxuries. Already she has heard library patrons say they turned off their cable or Internet to save money. Fortunately, they have the local library to fill those needs.

“We are in the business of taking care of the needs of the community and Plum Creek is definitely doing that too,” Hall said. “They keep us all connected. I think it would be very difficult to be a library on your own without that support.”

All citizens need to stay connected, she said, is a library card — and that’s free.

5-18-09 Boardgames at the Library

One of my favorite memories as a child was sitting down with my family to play Trivial Pursuit. Sure, my father always beat me and my mother seemed to know every literature answer in the whole game, but it was still a really fun way to bond with my parents, more so when I got an answer right (My father can still beat me, by the way, 30 years later - darnit).

I know you can buy Trivial Pursuit at Toys-R-Us, but with the recent economic situation, wouldn’t it be nice if you could check it out at the library? Especially if you think you might not play it enough to warrant purchasing it.

I would love to have a small selection of board games that patrons could come in and check out to take home for a game night. It would also be nice to have some games on hand for when it gets colder and we hold game nights here at the library, perhaps even a championship if we’ve got more than one copy for people to play at a time.

Take a look in your closet – you know, the one you put stuff in when you want to forget about it. Are there any games in there? Do they have all their pieces? If so, I would like to encourage you to donate them to Meinders Library so we can put them out on our shelves to be checked out. Good games should never just collect dust in a closet, they were meant to be played!

Also, when you have a chance, come in and check out our new books, both fiction and non-fiction. We’ve got some really great titles in right now and I’d like to encourage everyone to try reading something they normally wouldn’t pick up. I tried that recently and it turned out to be a great experience! For those of you who don’t know, I am an avid fantasy reader (weirdo!) and I rarely, if ever, will choose anything else, much less fiction geared specifically towards women. If it doesn’t have swords and dragons, I usually won’t read it. Maybe I’m just growing up (heaven forfend), but I read Confessions of a Shopaholic and I really liked it! In fact, I plan on reading the rest of the series. If it worked for me, it will work for you! So stop by and try something a little different.

Meinders Community Library is open Monday – Thursday from 10 AM to 8 PM, and Friday and Saturday from 10 AM to 5 PM. If you would like to place a book on hold or have any questions, please give us a call at 825-6714.

5-4-09 Adopt a Book For Children's Book Week!

One of my favorite times here at the library is story time. Though I am not the reader (usually), I love to hear the small voices raised in appreciation or participation in the story. There are few things better than that sort of noise. Encouraging children to read is one of the major missions of a library, or at least it should be. And believe it or not, there’s a week of the year that specifically exists to support that endeavor.

Children’s Book Week was started in 1919, with Children’s Book Council coming onto the scene in 1944. Since then, the Council has administered the celebration week and chosen the dates. Traditionally, Children’s Book Week has been the week before Thanksgiving, but the dates were changed in 2008 and now, the celebration takes place in May, which is just around the corner!

The Children’s Book Council encourages libraries and bookstores, as well as parents, to show children how beautiful the written word can be by introducing them to new books and new worlds, beyond what they can experience here at home.

Children’s Book Week for 2009 will be May 11- 17 and to celebrate, Meinders Library is having a Book Adoption Fair from May 5 until May 22. Over 100 children’s and young adult books will be on hand for adoption at the library during those three weeks.

Adopting a Book? How do you do that? Any private person or business is welcome to come in to the library and select a book that they enjoy or that speaks to them in some way. (My personal favorite – Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus!) Each book will have a sheet inside with the price. Once that price is paid, a bookplate will be placed in the book before it is put on the shelves, indicating who purchased it.

This idea is great for birthdays, memorials, or just plain fun! We will have single books on hand, and series books (three to five in a group) that families can adopt – one for each member – which is a fun idea for a Book Week present! And come on, who doesn’t need an excuse to buy presents, much less to buy books!?

Come in and visit us, even if you don’t feel like adopting, and treat yourself to a good spring read. We’ve got new books coming in every day, both for children and for adults, and we can find something for any sort of reader, from the serious mystery fan, to a non-fiction sort of person. We’ve got the perfect book for you!

Remember, if you don’t see it on the shelf but you simply have to read it, please let a staff member know so we can get it for you through our interlibrary loan.

Meinders Community Library is open Monday – Thursday from 10 AM to 8 PM, and Friday and Saturday from 10 AM to 5 PM. If you would like to place a book on hold or have any questions, please give us a call at 825-6714.