The-Librarian-Blog

Chambers County Library System – June, 2014

I love to brag about our library and the great team we have.  We all work very hard to provide the public with the best service possible.  One of our most anticipated and fun times of the year is our annual Summer Reading Program.  We spend several months planning and preparing for summer, and our efforts tend to pay off each year.  Over the past few weeks we have managed to enroll over 1,000 kids and teens in the program, and right at 5,000 people attended programs during the first 3 weeks.  We checked out 49,830 items last month including print and electronic, making it the largest circulating month in the library’s history.  That’s something Chambers County should be proud of! 

Summer started off with “Kickoff Week”, designed to encourage signups while offering different activities the first week of Summer Reading.  If you were anywhere near the library you might have seen Sheriff Hawthorne passing out sno-cones, the Chuck-e-Cheese mouse, Chick-fil-a Cow, Mad Scientist Librarians, Balloons and Cotton candy, and much more!  The buildings and parking lots were filled to capacity with kids and their parents eager to get the summer started. 

The weekly programs we have for kids, teens, and adults involves the time and talents of library staff, volunteers, and/or paid performers.  The Friends of the Chambers County Library System are the major underwriters for our summer program, along with county funds, and donations that the staff solicits during our planning phase of the year.  Without the help of these people, our program could not continue to grow in size and popularity.  One of our new programs this year was the Texas A&M Chemistry Roadshow.  Their goal is to entertain and educate through science.  Their program definitely fell in line with our theme of, FIZZ, BOOM, READ! with over an hour of non-stop science experiments.  They’ll be performing in Mont Belvieu on July 8, at 2pm if you want to check them out. 

The library’s eBook and audiobook service, Overdrive, held a challenge to see if libraries could increase their highest circulating month by 25%.  If so, we would receive $1500 in content credit to purchase additional titles.  Of course we love a challenge, so I told the staff to really push the eBook and audiobook services during the month of June with the hopes we just might hit a peak month.  We needed 755 downloads to reach that goal and we did it!  Our total checkouts for June was 765, which gives us credit to purchase popular titles for all ages.  And we welcome your title requests!

County Librarian Valerie Jensen and Assistant County Librarian Annie Vass attended the monthly library design meeting for the new Sam and Carmena Goss Memorial Branch Library in Mont Belvieu.  Annie and I have been working closely with the group to narrow down floor plans and designs.  We’ve also been getting feedback from the Mont Belvieu staff about what they want for the new building.  So much goes into library space planning and design, and it’s such a fun process. 

Adults at Anahuac attended a program presented by Bayou City Paranormal.  Representatives from the group came to share their findings of investigations they did of the Chamber Home, Library, and Dr. Schilling’s office.  The program was standing room only with the group enjoying audio and video clips captured by members of the group.  Want to know if the library is haunted?  Or if General Chambers still looks out his window?  Or if Dr. Schilling has some unfinished business at his office?  Stop by the library and ask one of the staff to share the stories with you.  The next adult programs at Anahuac will take place July 17 at 5:30 with Jim Catalina teaching the basics of wine-making.  And on July 29^th at 5:30 for “Painting with a Twist!”  Registration required.  Call 409-267-2554 to sign up and visit us at www.chambers.lib.tx.us.

Until next month!