Summer reading is o.v.e.r.......

Well, the 2014 Lee County Library’s Summer Reading program has concluded! Although it was a dark and threatening day out, we had a wonderful final program at the Lee State Park with our pal Ranger Laura. Her program: “Aquatic and Biotic Factors in Fresh Water Quality” was fascinating!! Although intimidating as that may sound it essentially means water life and how it reflects the quality of the water they live in. To that end, we pulled samples from the artesian well that feeds the ponds. By looking under the electron microscope we could identify various small and microscopic flora and fauna and by looking at their condition conclude that the water quality at the ponds is good to excellent. Yay!! Then Laura pulled out pelts and specimens of some of the wild life that lives in the park. Deer, otter, raccoon as well an assortment of snakes were all displayed and handled by the youngsters. Thanks to Ranger Laura Kirk for a great and informative program. We all learned a lot.
Next we all went to Scoops where the owner Griselda Wilson provided us with a nice lunch of hot dogs, potato chips and, of course, ice cream! She also went out of her way to offer the children cookies and assorted sweets. We were surprised and pleased when she gave out school supplies to the youngsters. Thanks to Griselda for going above and beyond our expectations!!
So this was our busiest and most exciting summer reading program. Thanks to grants from the LSTA and administered by the SC State Library we were able to bring three great programs to Lee County. The EdVenture program kicked of the season, we funded PorkChop Productions presentation and finally the Lee State program closed the season. We would like to thank all our partners for their help: The Lee County Arts Council, Clemson University Extension, Lee State Park and Scoops Ice Cream. We also must thank the parents of the participants who go out or their way to get their children to the programs. Summer Reading is fun, but more importantly it helps students keep their reading skills sharp so they are at an advantage when school starts. So, thanks to everyone and we hope we will see you next summer!
Oh, one more thing: thanks to the SC State Library who donated some children’s books to us to give to our summer readers. We had some left over so we gave them to Griselda at Scoops to hand out. If you would like a brand new children’s book _”Wild About Reading, by Judy Sierra just go to Scoops and present your library card. Viola, you will have a very nice book to add to your collection!

The 2011 Summer Reading Program begins.....

Here are some heroes from Saturdays Kick Off Gala.

Louis and Vicki Moniz. Thanks so much for your help.

Kay Farmer & South Atlantic Canners for letting us use the trailer, and helping me get it unlocked!!

The AmeriCorps volunteers. They were the hands that got the job done.

Special mention for Laresha McDaniel who was my shadow all day. Helped me save my wounded wing. Also helped Brender-boo all day long!

Thanks to all. Hope you all had a good time.
esp

Summer Reading 2011.....

So far we have in excess of 150 youngsters signed up for the 2011 Summer Reading Program. This is a substantial increase over last year and we are thrilled to be offering such a diverse program. Thursday June 16th, we will be offering a production at the Opera House presented by Bright Star Productions. . This event is open to the entire community. African Folktales is a 45-minute production that brings to life the vastness of the African landscape and a variety of clever animals. Join Akili as she shares these exciting tales that were traditionally passed down by word of mouth. With imaginative costumes and lots of audience participation, this production also includes valuable character-education themes. Celebrate world cultures, literature and the art of interactive African storytelling with the newest show in the Bright Star repertoire. The “Library Ladies” hope the entire community will come and join us for this great show. Admission, of course, is free.

New Programs for Summer Reading 2011

Caption: Example of the artwork from the SC School for the Blind at the SC State Library.

Last January Dawn and I went to the SC State Library for a meeting. While there we enjoyed an art installation that was presented by the SC School for the Blind. To say we were blown away would be an understatement. The art work presented was in collage form and it was breathtaking in depth and diversity. From that visit an idea was formed.

This year for the 2011 Summer Reading program we will be offering art classes in collage. Ms. Jess Hindeman and Dawn will be the instructors and will offer sessions for 4th 5th and 6th graders and another for 7th 8th and 9th graders. Session dates are: June 14h and 16th, June 21st and 23rd and June 28th and 30th. The students will be making collages from a variety of natural materials and the only limitation will be their imagination.

After the sessions are completed, our partners the Lee County Arts Council and the Bishopville Opera House will be presenting the art in their main gallery. We are really excited about this great venue because it will offer the entire community the opportunity to view the handiwork of our area youngsters. This is the first year that we have offered this program and we hope we will be able to offer it again and again. Special sign-up sheets are at the library.

It's all true......

“Forget about that image of librarians as mousy bookworms. More and more of today’s librarians must be clever interrogators, helping the patron to reframe their question more usefully. Librarians then become high-tech information sleuths, helping patrons plumb the oceans of information available in books and digital records, often starting with a clever Google search but frequently going well beyond....."

Well, it's all true and here at the Lee County Library and we have FUN too!!


..Attributiom: quote from US News and World Report....

It's a steal......

Well, not really a steal. The Librarians are weeding out our Juvenile Fiction shelves and we will be selling our books for $1.00 a volume. If you have youngsters who are into chapter books, this is a great opportunity to increase their library without breaking you wallet.

Come down to the Library and check out the selection. There's always something going on @ your library!!

More Christmas cheer.........

Special thanks to our friends at the Lee County Farm Bureau Woman's Committee. Pictured are Laura Haddon and Mary Adele Tomlinson putting touches to the Agricultural Tree they put up in the library foyer.

The tree features peanuts, soybeans, corn and (of course) cotton. Come down to the library and check it out - as well as a great selection of cookbooks and decorating books for the holidays!

It was a chilly morning......

frost
Originally uploaded by pollyalida

It started out to be a beautiful winter day. It was crisp, clear and cold with a hint of frost on the fields. Who knew that it was going to turn into a red letter day?

On Wednesday last, when I got to work, I thought that the rest of the gang was acting strangely. After I had put my stuff away my director, Dawn Ellen, handed me a big envelope from the SC State Library. Ordinarily large envelopes from the state library are not a good thing so I opened it gingerly. The cover letter started:

“Congratulations! I am pleased to inform you that your application for a grant of Library Services and Technology Act funds has been approved.”

What happened next involved shouting, leaping, dancing and some tears. The entire staff spent the rest of the day on cloud nine. We just never expected that our grant proposal could win out against the larger libraries in the state. What a great endorsement for Lee County and the Lee County Library.

Now we have to get busy and design the programs that this grant will fund. We will be featuring a lot of new programs for children and teens emphasizing education and cultural events. We can’t wait to get started so pay close attention to this weekly column and the blog to keep informed as we roll out the new programs.

Christmas Has Arrived @ the library.....

Everyone who knows our Director, Dawn Ellen, knows her decorating acumen!! It really shows during the holiday season. Make it a point to come down to the library and get some holiday spirit!!

We also have a huge selection of cookbooks, decorating books and lots of holiday magazines.

Bring you little ones, so they can be dazzled with our decorations and check out their own holiday books!

Check out the rest of the pictures here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/leecountypubliclibrary/

Contest Deadline approaches......

Attention Gentle Readers:

If you are participating in the “Letters About Literature” contest please have your entries turned into the library by Tuesday December 7, 2010 so that I can mail them in time to meet the deadline. We are really looking forward to seeing the submissions from our young readers – and we hope to be announcing a national or state winner representing the Lee County Library!

Happy Thanksgiving all........

**Photo Caption: Ms. Carol-Anne Anderson and her son Joseph, age 7, enjoy a moment in the library reading area.**


The Library Ladies would like to wish the entire community a warm and wonderful Thanksgiving. The library will be closed on Thursday November 25th and Friday November 26th. We will reopen on Saturday November 27th.

And the Winner Is.......

For the past three years the Lee County Library has won the statewide photo contest held each year during Library Week. For three years we have won the Best Overall, Most Humorous and gotten three honorable mentions. These contests are sponsored by the South Carolina State Library and all the county libraries compete. Our photos have been published in both state and national publications.

This year, during the South Carolina Library Association annual meeting in October we were awarded not one, but two Presidential Citations to honor these achievements. Because it is a statewide competition to win top honors for three years is quite an accomplishment. We were thrilled by the recognition and thank the SCLA for the honor.

“I was so surprised and shocked when they called me up the second time that I didn’t know what to say,” Director Dawn Ellen said, “I just sort of stammered ‘thank you’ and ran off the stage!”

We also thank our patrons who allow librarian Elizabeth the chance to take their picture. All of our photos are candid shots and with them we try to portray our library in it’s true light – as a community meeting place where curiosity is welcomed and encouraged.

Banned Book Week.......

Once a year, libraries around the United States salute intellectual freedom by highlighting books that have been banned or challenged in school libraries and public libraries. Banned Books Week, which is September 26 – October 3 this year, celebrates our freedom to read materials which may have controversial content or unpopular viewpoints.

You would expect to see books such as Lolita and Harry Potter on the list, but many of the books frequently challenged in schools and libraries are surprising. Here are a just a few examples:
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
The Clan of the Cave Bear by Jean Auel
The Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
A Wrinkle in Time by Madeline L’Engle
Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark by Alvin Schwartz
The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier
King & King by Linda de Haan
The Adventures of Tintin by Hergé
Walter the Farting Dog by William Kotzwinkle (one of my personal favorites)
Come to the library and check one of the banned books out. Open your mind by getting to know a different point of view.

news from the Library...........

Forget myspace it's become the ghetto of the Internet. Using facebook - OK - but for the best of the web, try "Twitter."

Instant blogging in 140 characters or less. Gets you to say what you need without superfluous verbiage. Also the best links for almost instantaneous news.

Found this little nugget. Check it out: http://tinyurl.com/be9d3q

SC Book Festival

The 13th annual SC Book Festival will be held at the Columbia Metropolitan Convention Center, Columbia, SC on February 27–28, & March 1,2009. On Friday, February 27th, the festival will feature workshops at various locations around Columbia during the day. These workshops have a charge attached to them. If you are interested in attending call the Library for the fees. On Saturday and Sunday of the festival all events are free. The weekend activities feature award-winning authors discussing their works and other interesting literary topics. The Exhibit Hall will be filled with authors autographing books. Over 100 exhibitors set up their booth spaces where you can shop all weekend long for that special literary treat. All events are open and free to the public, no appointment, registration or reservation required.

This year’s featured authors are Ernest F. “Fritz” Hollings, Mary Alice Monroe, Scott Turow and many, many more. Call the library, or check the Book Festival web page for more details.
www.scbookfestival.org. Of course, the Lee County Library is again partnering with the Book Festival by providing volunteer services. We hope to see you there!!

More thoughts from the Library.....

Recently there has been a spate of national news stories on the value of libraries to their respective communities. On MSNBC, in December there was a great story about how libraries offer such a strong resource during economic hard times. There were similar stories on CBS, ABC and NPR.

If you are a regular reader of this column, you know that I try to treat topics with a light touch – attempting to use whimsy and humor – to brighten the perception of the staid old library. Well, today I’d like to get a tad serious about a serious topic.

Any library is an asset to the community, and here in Lee County our library is much more than a building with books in it. The library is a full service learning experience. Daily the librarians help patrons search for jobs, set up e-mail addresses, tutor on various software programs and help students with homework assignments. Additionally we partner with several community organizations to offer programs and presentations. We also partner with several national and state wide organizations to offer services that would be unavailable otherwise.

Currently we are partnering with the South Carolina Bar Association to offer free legal advice. Also, the Federal Trade Commission has contacted us to help with the transition to digital television that is to take place on February 17th. Last week the Social Security Administration contacted us to help them offer resources for both Social Security Benefits and Medicare Benefits. True, all of this information is available via the internet or other county resources, but how many places have ALL this information under one roof.

Marketing your library 2.0.....

Since my primary occupation is to promote and market the Lee County Public Library "brand", I found the following an interesting marketing concept regarding social networking.....

Simple Social Media Truths

1. Everyone thinks they are a social media expert.
2. Everyone is not a social media expert.
3. Not every company should have social media initiatives.
4. We’re all still figuring this out.
5. Conversations are important, but not as important as some people will have you believe.
6. Traditional advertising isn’t dead and won’t be for a while, if ever.
7. Blogging is hard work.
8. Twitter will not make or break you.
9. Don’t always cave to the mob.
10. The barriers to action are now so low that it’s incredible easy to act without thinking it through.
11. If you speak your mind, you are going to piss someone off eventually.
12. There’s no excuse to not be listening to the conversations online.
13. If the words “unless we get caught” are part of your plan, quit now.
14. Purists, Pessimists, and Doomsayers are almost always wrong.
15. The wrong way to do things is always the easiest.
16. There is still a ton of potential in this space.

This was posted on "LibraryTrax" and attributed to Matt J. Macdonald of Charleston SC.

It's official......

This just in from the US News and World report:

Librarians - Best job for 2009!

See full story here:

http://www.usnews.com/articles/business/best-careers/2008/12/11/best-careers-2009-librarian.html

Overview:
"Forget about that image of librarians as a mousy bookworms. More and more of today’s librarians must be clever interrogators, helping the patron to reframe their question more usefully. Librarians then become high-tech information sleuths, helping patrons plumb the oceans of information available in books and digital records, often starting with a clever Google search but frequently going well beyond....."

Well, it's all true and here at the Lee County Library we have FUN too!!

Still the best deal in town....

Following is the link for MSNBC's report on Libraries aired on December 10, 2008. Check it out:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3032619/#28165432

During Hard Times, we are still the best deal around.

Gettin'our library mojo goin'.....

I have FINALLY gotten the Lee County Library Card Catalog successfully linked to our web page. This has been an ongoing problem and I am pleased that it is finally resolved. The only way I knew that there was a problem was through patron feedback. Several patrons called to tell me the link was broken. Because of their input the Library was able to once again offer this on line service. Right now, you will be able to look up books on the on-line catalog. However, you cannot reserve the books on line – you will have to call the library and we can reserve your books for you. I will tinker with the catalog and see what needs to be done so you can reserve, order and renew books online. That will be at the top of the 2009 “to-do” list.