Voyage to Book Island

Ahoy, Mates! We're off on a summer adventure, cruising the shelves for great things to read! Join us for the summer reading program, and be sure to say hello to Captain Book and long John Silverware!

Taste of the Library

The Taste of the Library on Saturday, July 3oth was very successful, attracting patrons of all ages for delicious food, games, face painting, carnival games, bubble play, and a water balloon toss. The Scavenger Hunt was popular, with individuals and families checking out the web site, our online databases, and the library and collections to answer a variety of questions. Eight lucky winners were awarded $50.00 savings bonds.

Super Stacks of Stories

This summer, as part of our "Superheroes - Powered by Books" program, we collected super stacks of stories for Erie Family Health Center in Humboldt Park. The "Reach Out and Read" early literacy program at the center provides each child with a new book at every doctor visit. Doctors and nurses also stress the importance of exposing babies to books, reading to children, and encouraging reading, giving parents tips on promoting literacy at home. All of our superfriends at the library collected enough books to create a stack almost 3o feet high! These books are especially welcome right now, as many children are coming in for back to school physicals. We will continue collecting throught the end of August, so bring your gently used children's books to the box just outside the Children's Room.

Super Stacks of Stories

This summer, as part of our "Superheroes - Powered by Books" program, we collected super stacks of stories for Erie Family Health Center in Humboldt Park. The "Reach Out and Read" early literacy program at the center provides each child with a new book at every doctor visit. Doctors and nurses also stress the importance of exposing babies to books, reading to children, and encouraging reading, giving parents tips on promoting literacy at home. All of our superfriends at the library collected enough books to create a stack almost 3o feet high! These books are especially welcome right now, as many children are coming in for back to school physicals. We will continue collecting throught the end of August, so bring your gently used children's books to the box just outside the Children's Room.

Super Summer Readers

We've had a great time with the 4oo+ summer readers who participated in "Superheroes - Powered by Books!" It's not too late to complete your summer reading challenges - you can come in to the library anytime before Aug. 20th to claim prizes for weekly reading and receive your completion certificate and prize. Be sure to let your teacher know that you participated in summer reading when you go back to school!

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

The day (or should we say night???) is almost here! Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince will be available at 12:01 AM tomorrow - but not at the library! We don't open til 9! And yes, we have the book, but it does have holds on it. So if you haven't yet used the online patron catalog, this would be a great time to start - just click on "Library catalog", enter the title of the book, and click the red "Request" button. You'll need to put in your name, barcode, and PIN (twice if it's the first time), and then your hold will be added. You can even do it before midnight tonight!

Local Heroes!

We've had a great time with our "Lunch with a Local Hero" series of storytimes. Yesterday Staff Sargeant Zalewski came for a visit and showed us some of her pictures from Iraq. She had money (funny shapes!), newspapers, and coloring books our soldiers made for the kids there. We've got copies in the Children's Room.

She told us that it's very hot and dusty there in the summer - MUCH hotter than it is here. But it gets cold in the winter. They had to wait in long lines for the food, and it wasn't very good. She also showed us pictures of a sandstorm (you have to look VERY closely to see that there's even a truck in the picture) and camels, which are cool even though they stink and they spit. Luckily they didn't spit on her!

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year from the Children's Staff! We're busy during the holiday break, getting ready for our new year and new and old favorite programs. Be sure to check out our web site for new program offerings. Also, we are now able to post photos on the web site - check under "Library News" and "Children's Programs.

And speaking of photos - we recently acquired a digital camera, and as we take photos we plan to make them available on Ofoto so that families can view them at home and purchase prints if desired. For more information, email ellen.cutter@riverforestlibrary.org.

Don't forget that DONUTS FOR DADS begins Saturday, Jan. 8. We'll have coffee for dads, juice & cocoa for kids, and donuts for everyone. Come join the fun!

UNFORTUNATELY........

Unfortunately, some of you kids, despite our best efforts, persist in reading the awful "Series of Unfortunate Events" by Lemony Snicket. Incredibly, in an effort to undermine your unhappiness, we are offering
An Unfortunate Afternoon at the Library on November 6th
for all those underpriviledged individuals with nothing better to do than play ghastly games, create creepy crafts, and eat slimy snacks.... I'd stay away if I were you! But if you are, sadly, hooked on these books, you may want to visit :
www.lemonysnicket.com/

~Miss Ellen

"Rock and Roll Over Dead"
Mystery at the Library,
coming October 22nd.

The murder mystery needs some terrific teen detectives (don't worry, we already have our victim!) Who knows what will happen when intrepid teens and loopy librarians try to figure out WHO KILLED
(oops - can't tell you who bites the dust - or the dust jacket - bad pun...)
Officer Fields stopped in the check on us; He said he'd send a squad car over....
The police will be here - will you??? Sign up at the libary!

~Miss Ellen

Halloween News

Halloween books and movies are now displayed outside the Children's Room, with a limit of 2 books per card.

Read Around the House Halloween Challenge
Our haunted house sheets are ready for families, along with the direction sheet and stickers. Please encourage patrons to participate in this family reading activity!

Trick Or Treat
Our annual Trick Or Treat for ages 2-5 will be on October 29th from 10:30 - 11:30. Wear your costumes that day! (Rumor has it that Miss Sarah is going as a pumpkin... )

Pumpkin Painting
Pumpkin Painting will be on October 29th from 3:30 - 4:30; space is still available! This activity is intended for kids age 4-12.

Blogging 101

I attended the Blogging 101 class today at MLS so I'm going to try putting some of what I learned into practice! Watch for news and notes on this page and hopefully we'll be able to utilize technology to streamline some of we do, share news, etc.

New title for Harry Potter...

No, there's not a new book out (yet!), but the new title is.....

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.

So now we all know, in case anyone asks!!

circ stuff for staff

Just a reminder to all of us ( me especially!) on a couple of good tricks from our inservice training:

When you're looking up popular items that have many holds, you can click on the column heading "HOLDS" to resort from least # of holds to greatest.

When you're looking for a title that comes either singly or as a set, while in summary view, click on view icon to see item record and check staus of set.

Use the claims returned function to track patron history of returned items.

When an item is supposed to be on shelf and can't be found, be sure to change item status to missing. This is especially important with pick list titles, so that the next day's list will assign the missing title to another lending location.