Tuesday, June 03, 2008
Crank it out!
May is our “crank it out” month. Students may see it as the end of the school year, but we see it as the last chance to get them the word about our upcoming summer programs at the library system. Staff members check with our local business supporters to see if they will help us by underwriting our many entertainers, refreshments, and craft supplies. Schedules are created for each library, and flyers are printed, checked, printed, check, and the final versions are then sorted and distributed to all the schools to go out in the weekly packets to the parents. This year, we printed over 4,400 flyers for the children and teens.
It is also the time of the year that the Friends of the Chambers County Library System summer newsletter is produced. Over 300 of these gems highlight both library activities and the events sponsored by the Friends. One of those major fund raising efforts was held May 17; the first Gently Used Book Sale of the season brought in several hundred dollars to be put to use in our summer program efforts. Winnie has scheduled a sale June 6 & 7, and Mont Belvieu will finish off summer reading with one in mid-July.
Pride in our Young Adults at Anahuac should be felt by all our citizens. For over three months, teens at the library planned and executed "Ana-Con," an Anime & Gaming Conference day, which was held on Saturday, May 10, from 10 am to 10 pm. Over 100 youth attended from as far away as Sugarland; they heard about it through our Teen Blog on the library webpage and through the library MySpace account, as well as through flyers that the teens produced. The event was wildly successful by any account; and once again, we have Valerie Jensen, Assistant County Librarian, to thank for her guidance and encouragement of the teens.
A visit from Lee College Educational Opportunity Center (EOC) director Jane Brody provided her with the opportunity to introduce her new representative to our library service area. Vanessa Kyle, education specialist, will be visiting the Anahuac and Winnie libraries on a monthly basis to provide assistance to adults interested in starting college, getting a GED, finding financial aid, etc. We have been partnering with the EOC since its inception, and we have even recently hired one of the women who went through the program. The EOC offices are located at San Jacinto Mall, and anyone in the area is welcome to visit there anytime, but occasionally, people with transportation problems find it easier to start at the local library.
The end of the month brought a wonderful Houston Area Library System workshop to Beaumont, and Jackie Brookshire, Melba Prinz, and A. Lynette Parsons attended. The director of the Clayton Genealogical Library in Houston, one of the top 10 genealogy libraries in the country, presented the program. As a result of what we heard and learned, we are planning some library field trips for August and September to take local family history buffs into Clayton; we are looking at upgrading some of our basic “how to” materials at Winnie and Mont Belvieu; and we are planning to work closely with our stalwart new webpage designers (Kathy Fielding and Valerie Jensen) to insure that our local genealogy patrons will have excellent access to materials and resources through the webpage. Not bad for some continuing education training; we’re grateful to the County for putting these travel and training funds into the library system budget.
It is also the time of the year that the Friends of the Chambers County Library System summer newsletter is produced. Over 300 of these gems highlight both library activities and the events sponsored by the Friends. One of those major fund raising efforts was held May 17; the first Gently Used Book Sale of the season brought in several hundred dollars to be put to use in our summer program efforts. Winnie has scheduled a sale June 6 & 7, and Mont Belvieu will finish off summer reading with one in mid-July.
Pride in our Young Adults at Anahuac should be felt by all our citizens. For over three months, teens at the library planned and executed "Ana-Con," an Anime & Gaming Conference day, which was held on Saturday, May 10, from 10 am to 10 pm. Over 100 youth attended from as far away as Sugarland; they heard about it through our Teen Blog on the library webpage and through the library MySpace account, as well as through flyers that the teens produced. The event was wildly successful by any account; and once again, we have Valerie Jensen, Assistant County Librarian, to thank for her guidance and encouragement of the teens.
A visit from Lee College Educational Opportunity Center (EOC) director Jane Brody provided her with the opportunity to introduce her new representative to our library service area. Vanessa Kyle, education specialist, will be visiting the Anahuac and Winnie libraries on a monthly basis to provide assistance to adults interested in starting college, getting a GED, finding financial aid, etc. We have been partnering with the EOC since its inception, and we have even recently hired one of the women who went through the program. The EOC offices are located at San Jacinto Mall, and anyone in the area is welcome to visit there anytime, but occasionally, people with transportation problems find it easier to start at the local library.
The end of the month brought a wonderful Houston Area Library System workshop to Beaumont, and Jackie Brookshire, Melba Prinz, and A. Lynette Parsons attended. The director of the Clayton Genealogical Library in Houston, one of the top 10 genealogy libraries in the country, presented the program. As a result of what we heard and learned, we are planning some library field trips for August and September to take local family history buffs into Clayton; we are looking at upgrading some of our basic “how to” materials at Winnie and Mont Belvieu; and we are planning to work closely with our stalwart new webpage designers (Kathy Fielding and Valerie Jensen) to insure that our local genealogy patrons will have excellent access to materials and resources through the webpage. Not bad for some continuing education training; we’re grateful to the County for putting these travel and training funds into the library system budget.
# posted by Valerie @ Tuesday, June 03, 2008 
