From the Library Director

                                Library Life

                with Director

               Autumn Yosten

 

We had a fun filled week at the library this past week, celebrating National Library week. Thank you to all our patrons who played along with social media and in person games and trivia. We had fun with staff dress up days, celebrated community partners and volunteers, and shined a light on library advocacy. Thank you to our Friends of the Library and Adriano’s Pizza for the tasty lunch. If you want to be a part of supporting the library, you can still join the Friends! At the time of writing this article, we still have a few treasures hidden in the library. Maybe you will find a surprise!

 

Our Library offers other free community items, including free Radon Test kits. This partnership with the American Lung Association allows patrons to test for this carcinogen in your home, outbuilding, or business. The kit is easy to use and postage is prepaid to send the kit for testing. Results will be shared with you one day after the test kit is processed. Find more information at Lung.org. 

 

You may remember hearing this past fall that the library was a recipient of the Carnegie Foundation’s $10,000 grant. Well, we have been spending that money this month! We are investing in building infrastructure, new technology, programming support, and books. Lots, and lots, and lots of books! We filled patron requests, rounded out incomplete series, caught up with your favorite authors, and purchased award winning books from across the reading spectrum. Check out what’s new today!

 

Reminder, you can be the first to see a select group of new books at Shelf Indulgence, hosted at Parea on the first Thursday of every month from 6-8 pm. We feature local authors, and our May author is Dan Henderson, whose nonfiction book Rhythm and Pep tells the true story of two Clarinda brothers rise from Southwest Iowa mines to Vaudeville fame. New in May is a sequel event, Shelf Restraint, held the day after Shelf Indulgence. Books not selected by patrons at Parea will be featured in the adult reading room at the library. Come see what we have before it hits the “New Book” shelves. 

 

If you haven’t yet, please take a moment to fill out our patron survey, available on paper in the library, or linked on our social media pages. We will close out the survey soon and look forward to using the information collected to keep the library growing in ways that reflect the community we serve.