This year’s summer reading includes two EXTRA-special events.
On Saturday afternoon, June 29, summer reading participants and their families are invited to a Summer Reading Swim at the Brainard swimming pool. We’ll carpool from the library.
On Wednesday afternoon July 3, we’ll LEARN TO FISH at Wildwood Lake, with instructions, equipment, and bait furnished by Nebraska Game and Parks. We’ll carpool from the library for that event, too.
Watch for more details.
Posted in Events, Kids, Summer Reading, Teens, Volunteers
Summer Reading begins on Wednesday, May 29,. 2013, with a special program for kids ages 3-16. Registration packets are available at the library and HERE (just click). Registration is required for all participants and volunteers.
Teens who will be in at least 7th grade when school starts can participate as Teen Leaders and receive volunteer credit for helping to make the program the best it can be for the younger kids.
Library cards are required to check out library materials. There is NO FEE for library cards or for participating in the summer reading program.
Posted in Events, Kids, Special Programs, Summer Reading, Teens
This is just a reminder that the library is closed for spring break on Saturday, March 30.
Posted in Closings
Valparaiso Public Library is in very good company as a member of the Pioneer Consortium. Last week South Sioux City last week and Arapahoe “went live.”
In not quite two years, Pioneer has come a very long way. The first site (the 10 Lincoln City branches) went live on May 4, 2011. The counts after that load were 304,662 Marc records, 895,343 items and 187,957 patrons. After the Arapahoe and South Sioux City loads, the full system counts are 599,913 bibs, 1,520,650 items, and 332,474 patrons.
Pioneer’s members now include 28 branches representing 18 library systems. That’s a major accomplishment for a brand new consortium.
Visit our online catalog, click on the option that lets you view all the libraries’ items instead of just Valparaiso’s, and you’ll see what this means!
Posted in Improvements, Pioneer Consortium
Woman’s Club Members will put on a retrospective show which is sure to entertain next week. Those who can still wear them will model their wedding dresses — and a daughter or granddaughter may step in for some who can’t. Others will bring photo albums of the event.
This is one more way to share community memories. We’re hoping to add photos and other memorabilia to our local Heritage Collection from this event.
Posted in Events, Woman's Club
For the past two years, I’ve served as Secretary for the Pioneer Consortium’s Executive Council (Council officers’ terms are limited to two years). I’m grateful to have had this opportunity to work with other library directors, networking and learning about resources and ways to improve library services. As a member of the Public Relations and Training committees, I’m looking forward to continued active involvement in the Consortium.
The Council Officers for 2013-13 include President, Pam Soreide, Holdrege; Vice President, Robin Clark, Sump Memorial Library, Papillion; Secretary, Curtis Brundy, Western Nebraska Community College; Treasurer, Vicki Perrie, Superior. Pat Leach, Lincoln City Libraries, will serve on the Executive Council as immediate past president.
The Pioneer Consortium includes a growing number of Nebraska libraries who share Pioneer’s version of Koha, an Open Systems ILS (Integrated Library Management System). This is the system that lets us keep track of the items in our collection and our patrons. It also provides you with your online connection to our catalog –just click the catalog link. You can search ALL the member libraries catalogs OR just Val’s — and you can keep track of your checkouts and holds and even keep your own lists. We’re hoping more and more of you use this online connection.
Posted in Catalog, Pioneer Consortium
The program at the Feb. 21 Woman’s Club meeting will focus on tablet computers and readers, including IPads, Kindles, Nooks, and others. More and more people are using these devices as readers and for email and general internet access. Sometime in the not-too-distant future, Val Library hopes to offer digital materials to patrons, and this is a good chance to see how to download and use them. We hope there’s a good turnout for this event.
Posted in Adult Education, Adults, Events, Special Programs, Woman's Club
Thanks to help from Pioneer Consortium’s tech guru Andrew Sherman, three patron computers now are connected to the color printer. They say the third time’s the charm, and Sherm is the third tech support person who’s worked on this for us. Thank you, Sherm, for figuring out what was wrong — and making things work! Thank you, patrons, too, for your patience.
Posted in Improvements, Pioneer Consortium
At yesterday’s regular bi-monthly meeting, the Board amended Library Policies to allow waivers of the card fee for non-village residents. The Board then passed a motion to waive that $20 household fee for the entire year of 2013.
Why the change? We’re about to begin a drive to increase use of the library by both Village residents and those who live in the surrounding area. Plans are afoot to interview patrons, survey non-patrons, and launch a variety of new or increased programs and activities.
Our thanks to South Sioux City library for providing inspiration and ideas via their NCompass Live webinar, “Turning Your Library Around,” which the Board watched and discussed after the meeting.
The regular meeting of the Library Board is Tuesday Feb. 5, 7 p.m., at the library. Public participation is welcome.
Posted in Board
