Library
Happy Holidays from the Library!
Our physical building will be closed on December 24th and 25th as well as January 1st, but we’re open 24/7 online! Check your account, place holds, download ebooks and audiobooks, learn a language, research your family history – all from where ever you are, day or night.
Read On! Winter Lull
It’s the middle of December, so there’s not much new and exciting happening at the Library. We take a break from classes and events each December until after the New Year, so things are pretty quiet these days.
December seems to be when all of our books come back to the Library, so if you’re interested in binge-reading an entire series this winter, now’s the time to get started. You’ll likely find the whole series on our shelves waiting for you to check it out.
Of course, quieter times doesn’t mean we’re not busy. We’re getting a lot of in-house chores done like cleaning out storage areas, restocking class and workshop supplies, inventorying our furnishings and collection, etc.
We’re also using this time to work on some of our Strategic Plan projects. The Library Board decided we will not pursue creating and maintaining a community calendar on the Library’s website – other organizations are tackling this project and we don’t want to duplicate their effort or muddy the waters.
The Board also decided we will begin the design and writing of an electronic newsletter for anyone interested in hearing from us from time to time. We still have a lot of decisions to make about the newsletter, but you’ll likely hear about it sometime in the new year.
The biggest item on the Library staff’s Winter-Time To Do List is brainstorming and planning the Summer Reading Program for next year. We average five classes and/or events each week during Summer Reading (not to mention the reading challenge for each age group), so we’ve got a lot to get ready for!
We’d love to see you this month, but we understand that December gets hectic. Your library is always available online (pryorlibrary.org) if you can’t make it into the building. Ebooks, downloadable audiobooks, and more are just a click away!
Read On! Weeding
One of the most difficult things for many librarians to do is weed the Library’s collection. “Weeding” in a library is just like weeding in a garden: you take stock of what you have, get rid of things you don’t need or want, thin out anything that is too crowded, and watch the garden (or library collection) flourish.
Healthy library collections, just like healthy gardens, are tended to, weeded, and cared for on a continuing basis. Because we have a finite amount of space in the library building, we have to make sure we have room for the new materials we purchase by weeding the material we no longer need in the collection.
We don’t take this part of our job lightly and we make every effort to ensure the books we weed from the collection find a new home. That’s why you’ll see a good rotation of books in our book sale ($0.25 for hardbacks, $0.10 for paperbacks), and some books or other items on our free cart.
Generally speaking, when a book is taken out of our collection it is either not being used by the community (usually we look at the last 2-5 years), is no longer accurate (like books with Pluto listed as a planet), or interest in the book has gone down and we no longer need multiple copies. We also look at the condition of our other books to make sure they’re not falling apart or torn up. If they are, and it’s a book we want to keep in the collection, we’ll buy a newer copy of the book if it’s still in print.
An interesting result of regular weeding and collection maintenance like this is that our physical checkouts increase. It may seem backwards, but when we look at the statistics of this year (after we completed a major weeding project) versus last year, our checkouts are up by 600-1000 items every month. For a collection of just over 30,000 items, that’s significant!
Read On! Writing & Learning Express
National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) has come to an end. We had several writers in our writing session groups reach the 50,000 word goal! I was not among this winning group, but I definitely enjoyed the experience and the people involved.
One of the nice things about NaNoWriMo is that the only pressure is to write 50,000 words (or whatever word goal you set). They don’t have to be good words and they certainly don’t have to be words that anyone else will read. For me, knowing this is freeing.
Writing every day (or as often as you can) is a great way to get better at writing, but if you’re looking for something more formal to help improve your writing skills, we have several books in our collection to do just that. From tips on writing good nonfiction to journal writing and descriptive writing, you’ll find some good stuff in our collection.
Our Learning Express online resource has two resource centers that might help too. The first is in the “Adult Core Skills” resource, which covers math, writing, and reading. The second is the “School Center.” The School Center has tests and tutorials for Language Arts, Math, Social Studies, and more for grades 4 – 12.
All of these resources are free, of course, but you will need a library card. Learning Express is a great resource to explore when you have an extra few minutes. I’m always surprised by how much is in there. You can find it through our website by going to “Use Your Library” tab and clicking “Research and Resources.” You’ll know you’re in the right place when you see the lightbulb logo.
We’re taking a break from classes and events during the month of December, but we’ll be back in January with storytime classes on Wednesdays, and something fun for teens and adults the first two Thursdays of each month.