Library Connection Vol. IX, Issue 1 • Spring 2016 • A newsletter for friends of the library
It’s Never Too Early to Start Reading Families are invited to join the 1,000 Books Before Kindergarten program. This nationwide challenge encourages parents and caregivers to regularly read aloud to their children. By reading just one book a night, families can reach the 1,000-book goal in three years and provide their children essential early literacy skills. Research shows that the most reliable predictor of school success is being read to during early childhood. Most importantly, sharing books with children promotes a lifelong love of books and reading. There are two ways to record your books. Download the 1000 Books Before Kindergarten free app or stop in the library for paper log forms. The library is here to help you and your child reach the 1000 book goal!
Melanie Weber Shares Her Story Before Retirement I spent a large portion of second grade at home recovering from a serious illness. My father would often come home for lunch bringing books to help pass the long afternoon. One day he brought me a jigsaw puzzle – horrors! My understanding mother quickly signed me up for the Nancy Drew Book Club and from then on I was rarely without a book in my hand. When I started my first library job at The Himmelreich Memorial Library in 1984, my mother’s comment, “how perfect for you”, proved to be true. My current position, since 1994, as Head of Adult Services has proven to be perfect for me as well. Why perfect? Well, I like to be organized and libraries are all about retrieval of an item or information that has been systematically classified. The conversion from a manual system to an automated system was my favorite library project because it involved learning the building blocks of the software operations that make simple transactions such as checking out a book possible. I like making improvements and the conversion took customer service Melanie Weber to a new level with patrons able to renew online and place holds online any time day or night. And I like working on a team. The conversion project was a success because of the many helping hands of staff and volunteers alike. I like getting presents and opening a delivery of new books is birthday and Christmas morning combined. I like learning new things, maybe not Excel spreadsheets, but certainly all the new e-resources available to our patrons like Overdrive, Hoopla or my new favorite, Flipster, our collection of digital magazines. Definitely not Excel spreadsheets. But what I like most of all and what I will miss most of all is the daily interaction with people who are passionate about books, about movies, about music, about current events, about history; in short, about almost any topic you can think of. Our county is fortunate to have not one but three wonderful libraries and I count myself very lucky to have been part of the Union County Library System.