January library events & classes www.portagelibrary.info
what’s inside
early literacy programs
this month’s newsletter PAGE 2 Storytime PAGE 3 January 3-14 Library Programs
PAGE 4 January 17-25 Library Programs PAGE 5 Jan 26-Feb 4 Library Programs PAGE 6 Overdrive PAGE 7 PDL’s Website PAGE 8 What’s Coming in February
library hours Monday – Thursday 9:00 AM – 9:00 PM Friday 9:00 AM – 6:00 PM Saturday 9:00 AM – 5:00 PM Sunday 1:00 PM – 5:00 PM
library board Betty Lee Ongley Library Board Chair Alisha Siebers Library Board Vice Chair Michele Behr Library Board Trustee Stephanie Brown Library Board Trustee
MOTHER GOOSE STORYTIME
EVENING STORYTIME
Monday, January 9, 16, 23 9:30 AM and 10:30 AM INFANT/TODDLER This special time is designed for children from birth to 23 months. Delight and stimulate your baby’s senses with books, rhymes, and music. A developmentally appropriate playtime will follow. No registration required.
Monday, January 9 6:30 PM PRESCHOOL We have a wonderful 30 minutes of stories, movement and creativity prepared for parents to enjoy with their little ones. We also have a special visitor coming in to meet everyone! REGISTRATION IS REQUIRED.
TIME FOR TWOS
SATURDAY STORIES
Tuesday, January 10, 17, 24 9:30 AM PRESCHOOL Interact with your 2 year old to nurture a love of books. We will learn letters, sounds, new words and self expression through books, fingerplays and creative movement. No registration required.
Saturday, January 21 10:00 AM PRESCHOOL Share your love of books and learning. Come on in and listen to books, stories, rhymes and creative movement with your children. No registration required.
PRESCHOOL STORYTIME Wednesday, January 11, 18, 25 Thursday, January 12, 19, 26 10:30 AM PRESCHOOL Preschool age children will enjoy stories together and build language skills while listening to stories, expressing themselves creatively. They will be learning letters, new words, and learning new skills to prepare them for a life time of reading. No registration required.
Annee Dunn Library Board Trustee Martha Pacheco Library Board Trustee & Liaison to the Friends of PDL Joe Yantis Library Board Trustee
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portage district library 300 library lane portage, mi 49002 269.329.4544 www.portagelibrary.info
programs & events COMBAT VETERANS’ WRITING GROUP Tuesday, January 3rd • 6:30 PM ADULTS This series of writing workshops for veterans focuses on short narratives about serving in the military during wartime. No writing experience is necessary. This series is led by Margaret von Steinen, writer and communications officer for WMU’s Haenicke Institute for Global Education, and runs the first and third Tuesday nights starting January 3, 2012. Programs run through March 20th. For more information, please e-mail Margaret at mvonsteinen@chartermi.net. No registration required.
PORTAGE COMPUTER USERS CLUB Thursday, January 5th • 10:00 AM ADULTS Drop-in computer question and answer session. No registration required.
LEGO BLOCK PARTY Thursday, January 5th • 5:30 PM ALL AGES LEGOS are awesome! Not only are they great for strategic thinking, planning ahead, fine motor skills, imagination, architectural art, and problem solving; they are fun. Your children will love being social with other LEGO creators of all ability levels. No registration required.
LEGOS! LEGOS! LEGOS! Friday, January 6th • 10:00 AM ALL AGES Come on in and express your creativity. LEGOS of various sizes will be provided for all ability levels. No registration required.
january 3-13
MEET THE CHEF: INCORPORATING FRESH FRUITS & VEGETABLES INTO YOUR DAILY FARE Wednesday, January 11th 2:00 PM & repeated 5:00 PM ADULTS A cooking demonstration including quick and easy vegetable and fruit dips, fried rice with seasonal veggies, and chocolate beet cupcakes. Our chef is Hether Frayer who specializes in fresh, fun food dishes. Register by calling 329-4542 Ext. 600 starting Wednesday, December 28th at 9:00 AM. There is a $5.00 fee at the door. REGISTRATION REQUIRED
PORTAGE COMPUTER USERS CLUB Thursday, January 12th • 10:00 AM ADULTS Drop-in computer question and answer session. No registration required.
ABC ACTIVITY TIME Friday, January 13th • 10:00 AM- 11:30 AM PRESCHOOL Drop-in playtime including sensory activities, fine and gross motor skills, pocket charts, manipulatives and more. This is a time for your child to practice skills that will help them get ready to read! Open to Preschoolers with their favorite adult. The focus is for parents to participate in the learning process with their child while making it fun! No registration required.
INTRODUCTION TO AMATEUR ASTRONOMY: OUR PLACE AMONG THE INFINITIES Saturday, January 14th • 1:00 PM ADULT & TEEN This program is the first in a five part series titled Introduction to Amateur Astronomy. The sessions are lead by Richard Bell, vice president of the Kalamazoo Astronomical Society. For our first presenta-
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january 17-25
programs & events tion, we’ll travel through our solar system, explore the star clusters and nebulae of our Milky Way Galaxy, and the countless other galaxies in this vast, infinite universe. Registration is required by calling 329-4542 Ext. 600. REGISTRATION REQUIRED
COMBAT VETERANS’ WRITING GROUP Tuesday, January 17th • 6:30 PM ADULTS This series of writing workshops for veterans focuses on short narratives about serving in the military during wartime. No writing experience is necessary. This series is led by Margaret von Steinen, writer and communications officer for WMU’s Haenicke Institute for Global Education, and runs the first and third Tuesday nights starting January 3, 2012. Programs run through March 20th. For more information, please e-mail Margaret at mvonsteinen@chartermi.net. No registration required.
OPEN FOR DISCUSSION: DROP-IN BOOK DISCUSSION Tuesday, January 17th 10:30 AM & repeated 7:00 PM ADULTS The Dirty Life: A Memoir of Farming, Food, and Love by Kristin Kimball Harvard educated journalist Kristin Kimball chucked life as a Manhattan journalist to start a cooperative farm in upstate New York, with a selftaught farmer she had interviewed for a story and later married. In this poignant, candid chronicle by season, Kimball writes how she and Mark infused new life into Essex Farm in upstate New York, and lost their hearts to it. No registration required.
PORTAGE COMPUTER USERS CLUB Thursday, January 19th • 10:00 AM ADULTS Drop-in computer question and answer session. No registration required.
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EXPLORING INTERNET PRIVACY AND OUR DIGITAL FOOTPRINT Thursday, January 19th • 6:30 PM ADULTS No matter who you are, your personal information is valuable. Our personal online lives connect us with people, information, products and services more easily than ever, but our online activities can expose us to identity theft and other targeted online activities by marketers, potential employers and others. Join Kalamazoo Valley Community College Librarian Jim Ratliff to explore Internet privacy and our digital footprints in the era of online public records, Facebook and web directories. The session will also provide suggestions on how to understand and manage aspects of your online profile. No registration required.
TWEEN WINTER FUN Wednesday, January 25th • 6:30 PM TWEENS (3RD-5TH GRADE) Come in from the cold and make fake snow (it feels real!), ice cream in a kickable ball, touchable ice bubbles, and much more at this fun event for 3rd-5th graders. To register 329-4542 Ext. 603. REGISTRATION IS REQUIRED.
THE ART OF THE SHORT STORY: A PRE-VALENTINE’S DAY PRIMER WITH GEORGE DILA & ANDY MOZINA Wednesday, January 25th • 6:30 PM Age Group: ADULTS Come take the chill off and hear stories from two hot short fiction writers. The stories in George Dila’s new collection from Mayapple Press, Nothing More to Tell, have been called “sly and crafty,” “funny, perplexing and heartbreaking,” and “visceral and graceful.” George sees himself as a witness to human courage, compassion, pettiness, and folly. “I write what I see,” he states. Andy Mozina’s collection of short stories, The Women Were Leaving the Men, focuses on the intricacies of intimacy. The stories have been described as “humorous and haunting,” “paragons of realistic un-storybook love,”
programs & events and as “fascinating as quicksilver seen for the first time.” His characters climb and scrape their way toward intimacy, sanity, and redemption against the often-absurd odds of their lives. No registration required.
PORTAGE COMPUTER USERS CLUB Thursday, January 26th • 10:00 AM ADULTS Drop-in computer question and answer session. No registration required.
ABC ACTIVITY TIME Friday, January 27th • 10:00 AM-11:30 AM PRESCHOOL Drop-in playtime including sensory activities, fine and gross motor skills, pocket charts, manipulatives and more. This is a time for your child to practice skills that will help them get ready to read! Open to Preschoolers with their favorite adult. The focus is for parents to participate in the learning process with their child while making it fun! No registration required.
INTRODUCTION TO AMATEUR ASTRONOMY: DISCOVERING THE NIGHT SKY
jan 25-feb 4
MUFFINS AND THE MARKET Thursday, February 2nd • 9:00 AM This Morning Investment Discussion Group features informative market discussions, strong coffee, & yummy baked goods. Free-ranging talks may cover a new investment information source, ways to investigate a market sector, or a type of investment vehicle. No registration required.
PORTAGE COMPUTER USERS GROUP Thursday, February 2nd • 10:00 AM Drop-in computer question and answer session. No registration required.
RESUME HACKS: A QUICK RESUME MAKEOVER Friday, February 3rd • 11:00 AM We can help! Bring your resume and we will look it over, especially with regard to proofreading, formatting, and language. No registration required.
FRIENDS OF THE LIBRARY BOOK SALE Saturday, February 4th • 9:00 AM Thousands of books for sale.
FOOD: ONE FAMILY AT A TIME
Saturday, January 28th • 1:00 PM ADULTS & TEENS In this program, you will learn how to find any star or constellation in the night sky with the use of a simple star map. We’ll also look at several of the best books geared toward the novice stargazer and the many sophisticated planetarium programs for your home computer. Registration is required by calling 329-4542 Ext. 600. REGISTRATION REQUIRED
December 9th - January 29th This is an exhibit that demonstrates the work done by several local and international organizations to teach people how to better grow and prepare their own food. These organizations are helping people to help themselves by using knowledge and understanding of local conditions and resources. Where appropriate they also supply improved seed and animal varieties and more productive farming methods attuned to local conditions. Participating organizations include Foods Resource Bank; Tillers International; Kalamazoo Loaves and Fishes; and Fair Food Matters.
TIME FOR TWOS
SOLO GALLERY
Wednesday, February 1st • 9:30 AM Age Group: PRESCHOOL Interact with your 2 year old to nurture a love of books. We will learn letters, sounds, new words and self expression through books, fingerplays and creative movement. No registration required.
January 6th – February 24th VJ Kline & Frances Ballay-Wagner. Acrylic, watercolor, and oil painting.
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http://pdl.lib.overdrive.com
programs DOWNLOADING TO YOUR E-READER: AN OVERVIEW Thursday, January 19th • 2:00 PM ADULTS This workshop will offer an introduction to Overdrive, the difference between ePub and PDF formats and a demonstration on downloading your books to an eReader. To register call 329-4542 Ext. 600. REGISTRATION REQUIRED
E-READERS USERS GROUP January 24th • 10:00 AM • Long and Gourdneck Lake Rooms The Portage District Library is forming an E-Readers Users Group. It is our hope that beginners, pros, long time user of E-Reader's will join together to discuss and learn about the E-Reader environment. This will be a place to discuss current issues, errors and how we resolved them or not, and to bring in speakers about various topics relating to E-Reader’s. For more information, contact Shirley Newberry 269.329.4542 Ext. 719 or by email, snewberry@portagelibary.info No registration required.
what’s coming in february! Resume Hacks February 3rd A quick resume makeover Friends of the Library Book Sale February 4th Thousands of books for sale 2012 Region 5 Student Art Show February 5th – 29th Michigan Art Education Association Exhibit
CPR Babysitting Basics February 11th Read All About It February 12th A discussion of the Great Michigan Read: Arc of Justice Business Research Essentials February 13th An introduction to business resources
LEGO Block Party February 9th Come on in and express your creativity
X-Men of the Wild February 16th Explore the super powers of birds and learn how they survive in the wild
CPR Heartsaver AED February 9th
Open for Discussion February 21st Warmth of Other Suns by Isabel Wilderson
Introduction to Amateur Astronomy February 11th Binocular Basics
ABC Activity Time February 24th Drop-in Playtime