The-Librarian-Blog

What is your library worth to you?

2012-01-03T15:47:00.000-08:00

The library continues to be one of the biggest attractions in Chambers County and we have the numbers to prove it. Here’s a little snapshot of how Chambers County taxpayers used their county libraries in 2011:

Total circulation: 232,818
Program attendance: 12,337
Walk-in traffic: 163,988
Computer logons (not including wireless): 27,800
Remote logons (databases, website and online services): 64,445

We know how much the public values the services and resources provided by the county libraries, but just how much are those services worth if you had to pay out of pocket? In 2011 it was over $4.6 million dollars. That’s much more than the $18.66 paid by each Chambers County resident for library services. Our year long efforts pay off each year with the hard work and dedication provided by library staff. And for that, Chambers County should be proud. 2011 was another record breaking year with increases all around in circulation, computer use, program attendance and more.

The month of December started with a present to our patrons. December was “Fine Free Month” which allowed patrons to return overdue items and have their fines waived. Many people took advantage of this and were happy to have their account cleared.

The Friends of Chambers County Library System held their annual December book sale at the Anahuac branch. A total of $695 was raised and profits will go towards library services and programs. The Friends sell books, movies and magazines for less than $1 each. Not a bad profit for a few days work.

A couple of Friends members along with the County Librarian met with members of Commissioners Court and Mont Belvieu City Council to discuss a possible partnership with the expansion of the West Chambers Branch Library. Officials gathered to watch the weekly story hours and then adjourned for lunch sponsored by the Friends of CCLS. Great things are in the works for 2012!

County Librarian, Valerie Jensen attended the quarterly Lee College Educational Opportunity Advisory board meeting at the Workforce Solutions office in Baytown. Area librarians meet with Lee College instructors and staff to discuss the educational needs of people in the community. Currently, the Chambers County Library in Anahuac holds GED prep classes for students who need assistance in taking the exam. The Lee College EOC has provided scholarships for area students to pay for the GED test when they are unable to get the funds to pay themselves.

December was also full of programs for all ages. On the 10th, the Anahuac Anime Club along with staff member LaShebia Haskin planned and organized an Anime Winter Ball for teens interested in Japanese Anime and Manga. The “Ball” was held at the West Chambers Branch in the courtroom(due to space issues in the library) and was well attended by people from all over the county as well as Dayton and Baytown. Teens had a great time in costume, playing games, competing in contests and raising money for their yearly Ana-Con convention in the spring.

Branch Librarian Aquilia De la Cruz held a series of Piñata making workshops throughout December. A group of dedicated ladies gathered weekly to work on their piñatas and the end results were stunning. Special thanks to Maria Uribe for sharing her ideas and talent with everyone who attended the programs.

The West Chambers Branch held an author signing with local historians Jean Epperson and Kendon Clark. A steady stream of patrons came to purchase their books and get them autographed. Collectively, Jean and Kendon have written over 5 books about local legends and wildlife in Chambers County.

Children’s programs in December mean Christmas, and along with singing, stories, and crafts, the jolly old St. Nick showed up a couple of times as well. Our programs are geared for the elementary school-aged crowd, while our weekly story hours focus on pre-schoolers. The kids had a great time this year. Kudos to all of our children’s programming people for their work in planning the programs.

Ending out the year was a donation from the Friends of Anahuac National Wildlife Refuge. This donation is used to purchase children’s books on ecology, estuaries, marshes and related topics. It’s important to add to these subject areas of the collection to continue to teach the elementary and middle school students about nature and wildlife as it applies to them locally.

November @ the Library!

2011-12-05T14:54:00.000-08:00

The Texas State Library provides a large group of electronic databases to Chambers County for use by the public. The cost for the databases is $669 per year and without the State Library’s help, it would cost $124,065 if we were to purchase them individually. The combined bargaining power that the State Library uses to negotiate this service for public libraries of Texas is of great value to us; in the State’s fiscal year, which ended on Aug. 31, the databases were accessed by Chambers County residents a total of 9,551 times. That’s over a 300% increase over the past 5 years which goes to show the popularity of our online collections. Instructions on how to use these databases are available at the libraries; the databases can be used at home or in places of business with the proper login and password, which are given to any library cardholder in good standing.

The Friends of the Chambers County Library System were surprised this month with a $1000 Corporate Citizen Grant Award from Entergy. This grant was applied for back in August to assist in the purchase of Early Literacy Stations for children’s computers. Of course there’s still a lot of slack to pick up to finish up the cost of close to $8000, but this definitely gets us closer.
The Anahuac and Mont Belvieu libraries ventured out with their teen groups to the highly anticipated movie release of Breaking Dawn. Anahuac braved the midnight release along with 2 valiant staff members and Mont Belvieu decided to take their group on Friday evening. Both had a great time and raved about the movie, of course.

Local author Lori Kaiser visited the Anahuac branch for Toddler Time as a special guest. She read from her latest book, Simon the Snake, a Christmas story and had the kids loving every minute. She also sold copies of all her books and autographed purchased copies. Ms. Kaiser has written 26 children’s books built around characters whose names begin with the letters of the alphabet.

Our monthly Homeschool Programs at Mont Belvieu continues to be a great success thanks to the creative work of Kim Hart, who manages to get interesting speakers each month to supplement the curriculum of our many area homeschool students. The programs draw children not only from the Mont Belvieu area, but from the mid and eastern areas of the county as well as points north and west. The latest program focused on fitness and nutrition with a special guest from Eagle Pointe.

The Library Advisory Board met for their quarterly meeting in November. Members discussed updating the dress code policy for the library. Two members agreed to serve an additional term. Library Board members are nominated and approved through Commissioners’ Court, and are a part of the administrative arm of the County. They are strictly advisory, however, as their name implies; library system and County policies are carried out by the County Librarian and the staff. The Advisory Board meets 4 times a year, and is composed of 7 members residing across the county.

Our Children and Teen programmers are gearing up for December parties and programs. It’s always an exciting time of year for those age groups because they look forward to the fun activities the library has planned for the holidays and the staff has just as much fun planning the events. And of course we have fun activities for the adults – from knitting classes to book clubs, the library has something for everyone.

October @ the Library

2011-11-01T14:36:00.000-07:00

October was another busy month for the library with over 16,000 items checked out and 300 people attending programs. The children’s librarians were in high gear with their annual after school Halloween parties. Children came in their best costumes to enjoy stories, games and of course lots of candy. The teens in Anahuac and Winnie enjoyed after-hours events with crafts, movies, board games and video games. The teens look forward to these events each year and the spots fill up quick!

Anahuac held its first “Superhero night” where kids of all ages came to make their own capes and masks. Superhero snacks were served and the latest Transformer’s movie was shown.

Anahuac and Mont Belvieu held a “Donuts and Downloads” class to teach patrons how to use their eReaders with the library’s downloadable audio book service. This has quickly become one of our most popular programs due to the rise in popularity of the Kindle, Nook and other eReader devices. The library provides free access to bestselling audio books with our Overdrive service, which of course makes our patrons happy to get the latest eBook for free. We average 160 downloads a month and we expect that number to continue to grow.

Winnie held a Basic Genealogy workshop on the 29th with special guest presenter Victoria Klehn, the director of the Marion and Ed Hughes Library in Nederland. Victoria is a certified genealogist and has been an active researcher for over 30 years. Everyone received a folder full of great resources and was eager to continue their search for long lost ancestors.

Mont Belvieu staff member Nikki Beltram taught a second round of Microsoft Excel classes to county employees. Her classes were once again full and the people who attended left feeling inspired to go practice what they learned. The library has offered several Office classes to county employees and will continue to do so as the need continues. Anahuac staff member Melba Gmelch will start her second round of Publisher classes in November. Offering classes to county employees is not only a great way to save the county money, it also allows employees to learn a new program that can be implemented into their specific job duties or simply increase their knowledge of the software they need for their everyday work.

As I’ve stated before, we’re in transition with our Interlibrary Loan service. We are almost finished with part 1, which involves uploading our records to WorldCat (a worldwide card catalog) and then reloading the records back into our system. Now we wait to start part 2, which includes more of the technical stuff so patrons can do their own ILLs from home. We’re aiming for the end of the year to be up and running smoothly.

County Librarian Valerie Jensen and previous County Librarian, A. Lynette Parsons attended the last HALS System meeting in Cleveland on the 13th. Lynette holds the position of Alternate Lay Representative for HALS for a short time before the system dissolves on December 31st. Member libraries gathered for a last time to discuss issues of concern for libraries involved in the new Interlibrary Loan program, the State library update and any news members wanted to share. Lise Olesen is the Lay Representative for HALS but was unable to attend.

And on a personnel note….we have hired 2 new Young Adult programmers who are currently working at Winnie and Mont Belvieu. Aubrey Hinojosa has joined the team at Winnie and Toya Peters at Mont Belvieu. Aubrey has been heavily involved in outreach and has a couple of programs already under her belt. Toya attended the September TAB (Teen Advisory Board) meeting at Mont Belvieu to meet the teens she will soon be working with. Both girls have great ideas and have jumped right in ready to get the teens excited about the services the library has for them.

September @ the Library!

2011-10-04T13:19:00.000-07:00

It always amazes me what a great library system we have. There are so many people and organizations that make it possible to have the quality library service we offer. Many libraries that are comparable to us in service population, budget, and resources, circulate less than half of what Chambers County Library System does. That means we’re doing something right and we’re not too proud to brag about it! We’re already soaring past last year’s total circulation and look forward to another record breaking year.

September is the time of year our children’s librarians get back into Toddler Time mode with stories, songs, games and crafts for our little patrons. They offer programs each week at the libraries and also go out into the communities to the local schools, day cares or other places that extend an invitation. Over 200 people attended Toddler Time just in the month of September and of course cramming all those moms, dads, grandparents and kiddos into our tiny spaces leaves the noise level a little higher than normal. Patrons who are browsing the shelves often take a peek at the expressions on their little faces as they’re completely mesmerized by the stories. It’s a great thing to watch.

This month also brought Gatorfest to the community and the library had a presence promoting resources and services. Hundreds of people enjoyed the display made by Library Tech Melba Gmelch and several employees rotated hours at the booth passing out bookmarks, and other publications the library produces. The Friends of CCLS sold cookbooks and book bags boasting a $200 profit to be used for programming costs.

Banned Books Week was celebrated at all three libraries with very different and interesting displays. The displays always generate discussion by patrons with the staff wanting more information behind Banned Books Week. Patrons are always shocked at the books on display that have been challenged or banned and it always leads to great discussions about censorship and everyone’s freedom to read.

On September 19th County Librarian Valerie Jensen attended the Southeast Texas Small Libraries meeting in Port Arthur. This meeting is comprised of library people in Dayton, Orange, Jefferson, Hardin, Newton, Liberty and Chambers Counties. We meet twice a year to hash out local issues and ongoing management problems.

The West Chambers Branch in Mont Belvieu held a Salsa Dance Night in observance of Hispanic Heritage Month. Library Tech Nikki Beltram hosted a Salsa dance lesson with a crowd of people learning the basic steps and rhythms of the dance. Samuel Aleman with Sabora Salsa donated his time to teach the class and also gave a brief history of Salsa dance and music.

One of our most popular services is downloadable audiobooks and we are proud to announce that the Kindle is now compatible with the library’s Houston Area Digital Media Catalog. Patrons can now download popular and classic eBooks to a Kindle device or any mobile device running the free Kindle app. The library’s collection of bestselling books are available using a library card and are 100% free. Due to the popularity of the eBooks the library is holding 2 additional download classes in October. Check out the times at your local branch.

And finally, if you haven’t noticed them lately, your local Commissioners and County Judge grace the walls of the library in “Celebrity READ posters”. The American Library Association created a campaign to promote reading by having celebrities pose with their favorite book to be featured in a poster. The library purchased software to customize these posters with our own local celebrities and patrons and they generate quite a bit of attention! Commissioners Abernathy and Senac are the most recent additions, so stop by your library and see if you can spot your County officials.

2011-09-01T07:46:00.000-07:00

August @ the Library System

Scientist Keith Hall at the Cryogenics program!

In the past, August has been our “quiet” month, but not anymore! We don’t have the madness of June and July, but those doors still open, and people come to us for books, computer assistance, and information. Our circulation and walk-in counts are up from last year and the after school rush has officially begun. The staff is busy planning for Fall programming with exciting plans already in the works!

The Library Advisory Board met for the quarterly meeting and members voted on the newest policy for laptop usage in the library which starts September 1. Newest member, Chris Ramsey from Winnie was able to meet the Board and get acquainted with members from across the county.

Houston Area Library System (HALS) Lay Representative Lise Olesen along with the County Librarian and Assistant County Librarian attended the Geographic meeting in Texas City on the 25th. The Geographic meeting is where the HALS system budget and long range plans are discussed. An update of the Texas State Library was also given. This year due to the drastic budget cuts from the State, the Houston Area Library System will dissolve as of June 30, 2012. HALS has provided years of support for the smaller libraries and this loss will definitely be a hard one. As much as we pride ourselves at the library on quality library service due to the continual in-house training and continuing education opportunities, losing HALS won’t be easy for us either. It’s always been nice to know we had that support as backup if needed. But librarians are resilient and plans are already being made to build back up from this loss.

Programming is something the library has become famous for and the staff just loves to see what they can come up with next. In the month of August the staff has put on movie nights, basic pc classes, cheese making classes, Bieber fever, Spanish story times, Cryogenics programs, field trips, book clubs, and more! The patrons always grab our monthly flyers to see what exciting programs are coming up.

The Friends of the Chambers County Library System sponsored a “Private movie night” for the winners of a silent auction from the Winnie Area Chamber of Commerce back in February. The winners were Bubba and Annette Abernathy and as a treat for their grandchildren and their friends, pizza, cokes and a movie were provided on the big screen courtesy of the Friends of CCLS. The kids (and adults) loved the movie and had a great afternoon at the library.

Speaking of Friends, members Jean Abshier Forrest and Leslie Schmitt made a presentation to the Mont Belvieu City Council on August 8th pleading their case for a new building for the West Side. Council members granted the Friends five minutes and the Council was provided with a feasibility study from 2007. Our Friends are great cheerleaders for our libraries and we’re happy to have them in our corner.

And finally, we’ve been dealing with a major transition in our Interlibrary Loan service that will change drastically next month. Another product of State budget cuts, the local lending office in Houston closes at the end of November forcing libraries to jump on board this new program called Navigator by November 1st instead of the scheduled August, 2012. Our ILL service will now expand to allow patrons to request their own books from libraries all over the U.S. with the convenience of picking them up from their local branch. Once it’s all completed, we anticipate an even larger monthly ILL circulation.

Another Successful Summer!

2011-08-04T07:02:00.001-07:00

2011 has been a successful year so far at the Chambers County Library System and we have the statistics to prove it. With Summer Reading winding down we circulated a total of 59,991 items in the months of June and July alone. A total of 24,126 books were read by the kids, 3,023 hours by the teens and 1,220 books by the adults. An overall increase of 26% in enrollment for 2011. Quite impressive! Ending out the summer, our resident funny man, Jeffrey Gardner was back again for another exciting end of Summer Reading show for the kids. Thanks to the Loan Star Libraries grant funding (which unfortunately ends this year), we were able to give the kids another fun year with Mr. Gardner and “Roosevelt the Rat”! Teens also enjoyed gaming events, movies and fun games provided by some energetic staff members!

Mont Belvieu braved a book sale the last week of Summer Reading with several Friends of CCLS volunteers as well as some patrons who wanted to donate their time to help. These volunteers are priceless and we thank them very much for the hard work involved in these book sales. Their efforts paid off with a $795 profit! Speaking of hard workers, the Judge and Commissioners once again provided us with extra help this summer to assist the staff with their busiest time of year. Their time with us ends in a couple of weeks and we’re grateful to have them the short time we did. Their time with us was and always is well spent.

If you’ve been in the Anahuac library lately you’ve probably noticed a little extra noise and movement going on. Thanks to Building Maintenance and the trustees from the probation department, Technical Services is getting new tiled floors. Having just had the meeting room floor tiled a few weeks ago, we’re happy to have this long awaited project completed. A huge thanks from the employees of the library for a job well done and ahead of schedule.

Chambers County Library System is announcing our latest technological venture. Coming soon, library cardholders will be able to check out laptops from all the branch libraries. These laptops were a donation from the Barbers Hill Independent School District and a special thanks goes to their Information Technology division, School Board and Superintendent for this generous donation. Library cardholders will have the ability to check out laptops for in-library use only in compliance with our Circulating Laptop Policy pending approval by the Library Advisory Board.

Our card catalog software, Verso, has a new feature for iPhone users. A free App called “iLib2Go” is currently available for iPhone users only. Apps for Android and Blackberry users are in the works. This free App allows patrons to view their account and search the Chambers County Library System catalog in the palm of their hands. Several patrons have already used this and love the convenience of having the library at their fingertips.

Summer's heating up at the library!

2011-07-05T12:08:00.000-07:00

Patron site visits: 21,481 – up 16% from 2010
Computer logons: 2,644 – up 8% from 2010
Book circulation: 35,077 – up 4% from 2010
Program attendance: 2,656 - up 47% from 2010

Summer fun is back at the Chambers County Library System and once again the heat’s not the only thing breaking records! Summer is definitely here and you can see it in our numbers, not to mention the worn out staff! Between waterslides, gators and space suits, the kids have been checking out tons of books to go along with the weekly program topics. Over 200 people signed up for new library cards in June, double the number from May. With the continued increase in program attendance, it’s caused us to host several programs outside the library in the local community buildings. Not the ideal situation but we’re grateful to have a place to go.

Teens were treated to programs that included tie dye t-shirts, recycled crafts, and banana jousting. Staff member La’Shebia Haskin did a program at Anahuac and Winnie for the teens on downloading audio books and music to iPods, MP3’s and other devices. Of course we can’t leave out the adults! For every 4 books, the adults can enter a raffle to win prizes – and so far we’ve had raffle cans overflowing with entries! And none of this would be possible without our wonderful sponsors and program underwriters. You can see all the sponsors on the link from our webpage: http://www.chambers.lib.tx.us/

Thanks to the County, we have 2 summer workers at each branch to help out with the events and also getting those 35,077 books back on the shelves. These workers are worth their weight in gold and we thank the Court for supplying the help. The kids definitely earn their money! We have another full schedule of activities for July, ending with end of summer parties the week of the 18th. Then we’re back in planning mode for the fall season.

Technical Librarian, Kathy Fielding attended a workshop on Adobe Photoshop to help hone her webmaster skills. Kathy is responsible for the library’s webpage and site visits steadily increase each month due to her work and effort put into the webpage and the fact more people have been checking our summer schedules online.

Assistant County Librarian Adrienne Cain and I attended the American Library Association’s (ALA) annual conference in New Orleans, Louisiana in June. This is the first time the national conference has been held this close to our area and we took advantage of going. ALA is similar to the state’s annual conference focusing on presentations and exhibitions drawing over 25,000 attendees from across the country. We spent our time attending programs on topics like social media, professional development, marketing, technology and the latest trends in the library world. As with all the conferences and programs we attend we came back inspired and will look where some of these ideas fit into the library’s mission.

Last summer we finally had our authentication software installed on all the public computers. As an add-on to this software we purchased Cassie SPOT which is a wireless network authentication and printing solution allowing laptop users the ability to print on any of the library’s public printers. Look for this feature in the next couple of months. We’re excited about this software and hope it proves as successful as the authentication.

Another new program finally available is Freegal, free downloadable music. Cardholders are allowed to download 3 songs each week, with their account resetting every Sunday at midnight. After a song is downloaded, it becomes theirs to keep. We’ve had the software up and running for about 3 weeks and as predicted, it’s becoming quite a popular service!

The Chambers County Library in Anahuac ended the month with a “Justin Bieber” program. Branch Librarian Aquilia De la Cruz hosted an event for the “tween” age by having a Justin Bieber impersonator sign autographs and pose for pictures. The event ended up being a huge success with over 50 girls screaming with Bieber Fever. Of course this is yet another draw for the library and we ended up with parents browsing, signing up for library cards and signing up for summer reading. Bring it on, July!

Year 2011 June
Books 26663
Vertical Files 0
Magazines 466
Newspapers 1
Permits 0
Total Print Circulation 27130

AudioCassettes 65
AudioCDs 414
Cassettes (Music) 7
CDs 150
CD-ROMs 4
DVDs 3554
Kits 38
Microforms 0
Optical Disks 1
Videotapes 236
Total A-V Circulation 4469

E-books 0
Equipment 51
Puzzles 1
Rooms, Meeting 17
Public Computer Logons 2644
Database Logons 507
Total Other Circulation 3220
Total Juv Circulation
Total Circulation 34819
Remote Logons 8990

Number of Juv Programs 15
Children at Juv Programs 1655
Adults at Juv Programs 714
Total at Juv Programs 2369

Number of Adult Programs 4
Total at Adult Programs 15
Computer Instruction 0

Number of YA Programs 13
Total at YA Programs 264

Number of Outreach programs 1
Children at outreach programs 4
Adults at outreach programs 4
Total at outreach programs 8
2656

Patron Visits to Library 21481
Site visits: Anahuac 7648
Site visits: Winnie 6043
Site visits: Mont Belvieu 7790

Interlibrary loans returned 117
Intralibrary loans to Anahuac 34
Intralibrary loans to Winnie 34
Intralibrary loans to Mt Belv. 37
Year 2010 June
Volunteer Service Hours 50.5
Hours Open for Patrons 642

Family Card Totals
Patron cards: Anahuac 1991
Patron cards: Winnie 2720
Patron cards: Mt Belvieu 3541
Patron cards: Blocked 947

Collection development:
Book titles added 261
Book titles withdrawn 0
Previous total 91877
New book title total 92138

Magazine titles added 3
Magazine titles withdrawn 0
Previous total 1553
New magazine title total 1556

Audio-visual titles added 0
Audio titles withdrawn 75
Previous total 8059
New audio-visual title total 7984

Other item titles added 6
Other item titles withdrawn 0
Previous total 1612
Other item title total 1618

Percentage/circ: Anahuac 31.32%
Percentage/circ: Winnie 27.97%
Percentage/circ: Mt Belvieu 40.72%

TexShare Cards Issued: 0
Reference question 187

Gearing up for Summer!

2011-06-02T11:40:00.000-07:00

Library Staff member Nikki Beltram teaching Excel to Chambers County employees.

The month of May begins and ends with staff members getting all the details ready for the annual Summer Reading Program which kicks off June 6th. This year, thanks to staff increasing promotions to the teens, we printed right at 13,000 flyers to be distributed to the schools, day cares, and other local businesses. Some of the staff went to the schools to talk to the kids and teens about upcoming events this summer. Summer Reading planning starts in January and even down to the wire we’re receiving reading incentives (coupons, services from corporate underwriters), and we just found out we received a $1000 grant from Wal-Mart for Summer Reading.

The prizes, program preparations, wall displays, and more all provide staff with a lot of prep work for our biggest event of the year. This year the decorations are exceptional at all the libraries with displays showing off the summer reading theme, “Dig up a good book” complete with 3-D trees, dinosaurs and of course displays of our sponsors and donors. Kathy Fielding, the library’s webmaster has also added Summer Reading information to the website which always increases the traffic – in May it generally goes up but this year we’re up 55% from 2010!

Staff members, Melba Gmelch and Nikki Beltram used their computer expertise by teaching Microsoft Publisher and Excel classes to county employees. Classes were on a first come basis and the day the announcement was sent out, all the slots were filled the next day. I received several comments from employees who attended mostly wanting longer classes to learn more! We’ve definitely discovered a need that benefits the county and will continue to offer more classes in August.

The Winnie branch offered 2 teen after hours programs in May. Staff member Christi Silcox has developed quite a following with the teens and saw an opportunity to get them involved in the library. One of their events was a gaming night and the following week they held a scary movie event. All the teens had a great time and are looking forward to increasing the teen activity at the Winnie library.
Speaking of teens, the Anahuac branch held its 5th annual Ana-Con on the 21st. Ana-Con is a mini anime convention for teens in the area and this year the attendance did not disappoint. With close to 100 teens (and several adults) everyone had a wonderful time participating in drawing contests, dance panels, rice eating contests and Ramune drinking contests. Several people came dressed in their best character outfits to show off during the “Cosplay” portion of the day. The Anahuac Anime club was started in 2006 and the charter members from 5 years ago still have a hand in giving the young kids advice – even from their dorm rooms at Baylor. It’s great to see how much the library has an impact on young people.

Staff members Aquilia De la Cruz and Missy Parham are currently enrolled in the online portion of the Small Library Management program. Aquilia has almost completed the program and Missy is just starting off. The Small Library Management program is held by the State Library to provide our “off the street” librarians with some of the background and basic skills that allow them to see the bigger picture of the library world outside their branch walls.

Another online service has just been started at the library. Freegal music is free and legal music available for download from the library’s public computers. Freegal offers thousands of songs and each Chambers County Library System cardholder is allowed 3 songs each week. After a song is downloaded it becomes theirs to keep. We’re anticipating this to be a very popular addition to the library.

And finally, a huge thank you goes out to Building Maintenance for starting work on new tiled floors for the Anahuac meeting room and Technical Services department. We’re regrettably putting a halt to their work due to Summer Reading but we’ve got them down to start back up at the end of July and we’ll be ready! Thanks to our summer helpers who will still be around, we’ll be able to use them for a lot of the boxing up and moving the lighter stuff. The floors are beautiful and we’ve received some very positive comments from our patrons who attend library programs in the meeting room or people who hold their monthly meetings there. We’re ready for June!

April @ the Library

2011-05-03T12:45:00.000-07:00

Egg hunt at the Juanita Hargraves Memorial Branch

April was once again a busy month for the library. On the 26th, the library was presented with a check at Commissioners Court from Entergy. Entergy awarded the library money to update the juvenile non-fiction collection. We are very grateful to Entergy for their ongoing support of the library.

April brought several visits from the Easter Bunny with fun activities for the toddlers and after-school kids. Lots of egg related activities were on hand for the kids and the turnout at all the libraries was “egg-cellent”!
On the 14th, Jean Abshier Forrest represented the Friends of the Chambers County Library System at the Chambers Health volunteer recognition reception. Jean is currently the President of the Friends Board and created a great display featuring numerous library publications, resources, and materials available to the public. As part of the Friends activities, the 5th annual Edible Books Festival was held on April 1st. There were once again many clever entries that involved a lot of hard work! The winners were Debbie and Jordan Holland for their edible creation of Humpty Dumpty. Along with the Edible Books Festival, the Friends Gently Used Book Sale was on its 3rd day of successful sales. The sale generated over $300 with only a few books left. It’s great to see so many people from all over the county show up to the sales. Proceeds from these events help to underwrite library programs and services.

Teens at Anahuac also hosted a fundraiser during the first few days of the month. The Anahuac Anime Club is gearing up for their biggest event of the year. Ana-Con, a small anime convention, will be held on May 21st and requires quite a bit of preparation and organization from the group. It’s great to see the teen’s active and involved in the library. Money raised from the events will go towards new Anime and Manga for the Young Adult collection.

Assistant County Librarian Adrienne Cain attended the Texas Library Association’s (TLA) Annual Conference in Austin. The annual conference draws thousands of librarians from across the state to hear programs on current topics relevant to libraries. Adrienne attended several programs on topics such as social media, professional development, adult programming, and job seeker information. She came back inspired and shared her experiences with the staff. Look for a few changes to come soon! Also at TLA, the Young Adult Round Table sponsored the 4th Texas Teens 4 Libraries program. One of the events that take place at (TT4L) is a book talk program where teens statewide submit book trailers to be viewed at the conference. County Librarian Valerie Jensen led this program back in 2010. Barber’s Hill ISD Middle School teacher, Karen Webb brought her class for a 2nd year and most of them submitted book trailers for the program. One of the teens did a live book talk and caught the attention of the author who personally thanked her for her interpretation of the book.

This month also brought quite a few little ones to the library. The Pre-K and Kindergarten classes from East Chambers ISD visited the library during TAKS week. Children’s Librarian Christi Silcox with the help of Cindy Alegria, took the kids on a tour, heard stories, and ate popcorn. The teachers and students look forward to their visits at the library – not to mention the library staff! It’s great to get the little ones interested in the library!

2011-04-05T12:09:00.000-07:00

Toddler time with Cat in the Hat at the West Chambers Branch

Chambers County Library System – March

Activity in Austin these days means that Texas libraries could possibly lose over $8 million in Federal funds, and perhaps more. At the time of this writing, the CCLS stands to lose access to TexShare databases, a cost of $6612.00/year. Loan Star Libraries, which offers direct aid to public libraries, is on the chopping block as well. The library system has received an average of $10,00.00 per year from Loan Star. And Interlibrary Loan, one of the most popular services we offer, stands to be eliminated (we average about 150 ILL requests a month). With support from patrons and librarians contacting their legislators, some of these services might have some hope. All these things will directly impact Chambers County Library System patrons, but with a talented and creative staff, we will continue to provide the best possible service and collections to the citizens of Chambers County.

County Librarian Valerie Jensen and Assistant County Librarian Adrienne Cain attended the Southeast Region Small Libraries meeting at the beautiful newly renovated Groves Public Library. This group is comprised of library people in Orange, Jefferson, Hardin, Newton, Liberty, and Chambers counties. We meet twice a year to talk about local issues and ongoing management problems. It’s also a great way to share ideas and network with other people in the library field. Chambers County is the bigger system in this group and is often looked at as an example for the smaller libraries in the area.

The Anahuac library has started holding a monthly Spanish Storytime led by Branch Librarian Aquilia De la Cruz. This program has been very well received and Aquilia has tapped into a growing need in the area. She provides stories, games songs and other activites in Spanish. Her next program will be held April 21st. Speaking of filling a need, the Winnie branch held its first Teen Advisory Board (TAB) meeting on the 25th. Children’s librarian Christi Silcox distributed surveys to the East Chambers Jr. High and High School to gather information from the teens and after hearing comments from the teen community she proved successful by having 18 teens show for their first TAB meeting. The group, ages 12-18 discussed future ideas and programs to be held at the Winnie Branch. We look forward to their enthusiasm and it’s a wonderful thing to see teen activity at all 3 branches.

On the anniversary of the birth of children’s author, Dr. Seuss, the National Education Association celebrates its 13th year of, “Read Across America” day. Each year on or near March 2, the birthday of Dr. Seuss is celebrated by encouraging adults and children to read together. All 3 Chambers County libraries celebrated Dr. Seuss’ birthday with a special visit from the Cat in the Hat and celebrated with reading some Dr. Seuss, playing games, making crafts and other fun activities.

Former County Librarian, A. Lynette Parsons presented a Public Speaking workshop aimed at librarians. The workshop was funded by a staff development grant we received back in November. Most of the Chambers County Library System staff attended the workshop and using some unique and fun techniques, Lynette made the participants feel at ease and also more confident when they go out to speak in front of groups or schools.

Bringing the busy month to a close, the Anahuac library started off a double header event hosted by the Friend of the Chambers County Library System. The Gently Used Book sale started on the 31st and ran through the weekend along with the annual Edible Books Festival. Once again, our book sales prove to be some of the most successful events we offer.

Library Receives Nationwide Grant

2011-03-03T05:57:00.000-08:00

Chambers County Library System – February

Budget cuts are being heard everywhere and when times get tough, people flock to the library. Over 13,000 people walked into the county libraries last month to attend programs, check out materials, send faxes, make copies and more. The Job Center has been buzzing with activity and understandably so. Our services are needed more than ever in times like these. When people are looking for work or computer assistance, the library is one of the first places people think of and we’re happy to be here for the community.

February was full of fun activities! Local authors and historians Jean Epperson and Kendon Clark presented a “Living History” program and book signing at the Anahuac library for a crowd of people eager to hear about local legends in the area. There are quite a few resident authors in the area and we gladly support their efforts by hosting book signings and readings.

On February 1st, Adrienne Cain, our new Assistant County Librarian joined the CCLS team. Adrienne also acts as the Branch Librarian at the West Chambers branch in addition to her Assistant County Librarian duties which include her traveling to the branches on a weekly basis doing some administrative work. We’re certainly glad she’s on board!

The Library System was the recipient of a nationwide “mini-grant”. The American Library Association’s Young Adult division hosts several promotional weeks and one of them is Teen Tech Week. Teen Tech Week is a nationwide initiative aimed at teens that highlights non-print resources at the library. The 2011 theme, “Mix and Mash @ Your Library” focuses on encouraging teens to use library resources to express their creativity by safely developing online content. This grant is awarded to 10 libraries each year and with over 1000 applicants, this was certainly an honor.

On the 3rd, the children and teen programmers met to start planning one of the library’s biggest events which is our annual Summer Reading Program. This “meeting of the minds” allowed them to pool resources and share ideas to provide Chambers County with yet another summer full of wonderful activities. We’re looking forward to a great summer!

Programming is always a big item each month, with our toddler times, movies, book clubs and more. This month each of the libraries had Valentine’s Day programs for the school age kids as well as the teens. The preschool ages have their parties in the early mornings, and the after-school crows comes piling in for the afternoon. The Young Adult group had a “Hip Hop Valentine” party with an after-hours movie showing and the Mont Belvieu gang had an “Anti-Valentine’s Day” program featuring some off the wall games that the teens just loved.

The Library Advisory Board met on the 8th, and 1 new member was brought on, and given a thorough indoctrination on their new jobs. The members of the board are appointed by the commissioners and their main duty is to promote library services and programs as well as discuss and approve any policy changes the County Librarian and staff present at the meetings.

And finally, thanks to the commissioners, the library system was able to replace some very well used printers. With over 1,000 pages printed and paid for each month by patrons, it was a welcomed sight to the staff as well as the public.

New Year, New Changes

2011-02-05T10:42:00.000-08:00

Chambers County Library System – January 2011

On January 31st we said goodbye to our County Librarian, A. Lynette Parsons. For the past 15 years she has been the driving force behind the County libraries and retires leaving behind a legacy of inspired employees who with her guidance have dedicated themselves to providing wonderful service to the public. Taking her place is Valerie Jensen, Assistant County Librarian who has been with the system for 15 years. As part of the transition, Kathy Fielding has moved full time to run the Technical Services department, which is the 4th unit of the library system. Tech Services handles all the ordering of library materials and supplies, as well as the many behind-the scenes operations. Kathy has been with CCLS for 9 years, and will continue to serve as the library system webmaster in addition to her new duties. Adrienne Cain has been hired as the new Assistant County Librarian. She begins her life with CCLS on February 1. She hails from Arlington, and received her Master's in Library Science from UNT in Denton. She most recently served a stint at NASA, digitizing and cataloging space photos.

In January, Valerie Jensen and Houston Area Library System(HALS)/Lay Representative Lise Olesen traveled to Silsbee to the annual Geographic meeting where the system budget and long range plans for HALS were discussed. This is an opportunity for libraries in the area to gather and give their input to the Houston area coordinators regarding the needs of their communities and libraries.

At the Chambers County Library in Anahuac, Library Technician Melba Gmelch had her first Job Center orientation. Several job seekers came to heed her advice on interview skills, creating resumes, filling out job applications and more. Melba is also leader of the Library System’s book club held each month at the library in Anahuac and most recently she started holding a monthly book club discussion at the new Wellness Center as part of the library’s ongoing outreach programs.

On January 11th, Mary Abshire of the Juanita Hargraves Memorial Branch in Winnie held her first Genealogy for Beginners” program. Mary eagerly shares her experiences with her own genealogy research and assists patrons who are just starting out or have been searching a while. The Winnie library is starting a regularly scheduled Genealogy Interest Group (GIG) to meet on the last Saturday of each month at 11 a.m

Another Winnie library employee, Scott Crawford has begun taking courses towards a degree in Library and Information Science. Scott began courses mid January and we’re proud he’s chosen this profession to earn a degree.

Thanks to a grant from the Houston Area Library System, Young Adult author, William Hill visited Anahuac Middle School and the West Chambers Branch Library in Mont Belvieu. Mr. Hill has done previous programs at the Library System and treats those attending to a running lesson in how to get ideas, using words creatively, and developing story lines.

The West Chambers Branch held its first overnight “Teen Lock-in” on January 14th. Library Technician Missy Parham, braved a night with 20 teens and several adult chaperones who kept the teens occupied with videogames, board games, and more. A great time was had by everyone involved and the teens look forward to their next adventure with Missy.

Santa seemed to bring a lot of our patrons eReaders for Christmas. As a result, our Overdrive audiobook downloads have doubled for the second month in a row. The Houston Area Digital Media Catalog is part of the Chambers County Library System’s digital media services offering thousands of bestselling audiobooks, videos and ebooks. The Mont Belvieu library is holding a “Donuts and Downloads” program to assist anyone who needs help with transferring digital content to their device. Call the Mont Belvieu library for more information, 281-576-2245.

Members of the Chambers County Library System Book Club at their 3rd anniversary celebration

2011-01-07T11:40:00.000-08:00

Chambers County Library System – December 2010
Drum roll please…..2010 results are in!
Total items checked out: 229,786
Total walk-in traffic: 171,723
Total computer logons: 26,909 (Not including wireless or remote logons)
Total kids, teens and adults attending library programs: 10,846

Whenever we get the chance, we love to brag about our dedicated and talented staff and the hard work they do throughout the year. The numbers above should make anyone proud, especially the patrons who have responded so well to our efforts to provide them with what they want.

December was full of activity at the libraries. The Friends held their “Gently Used Book Sale” at Anahuac on Dec. 3rd and 4th bringing in the largest profit in quite a while. The meeting room was buzzing both days with people loading boxes of books to add to their own personal collections. Donated items tend to take up a lot of space at the libraries and on our weekly site visits we bring whatever has been donated back to Tech Services until the next sale. We’ve been extremely fortunate that most of the time, the trustees have been available to haul boxes from branch to branch for upcoming sales.

Santa made appearances at all the libraries’ after-school Christmas programs. He was the main attraction as the kids waited patiently to tell him what they wanted for Christmas. The children’s librarians do a great job of planning activities for the kids and it’s always a treat to have Santa take a break from his busy schedule to stop in.

The teens at the West Chambers Branch had their first field trip to the movies. Twenty teens attended the debut of the movie, “Chronicles of Narnia: Voyage of the Dawn Treader”. The teens enjoy seeing books come to life on the big screen and always say “the book is better”!

Libraries get a few opportunities to apply for grants each year and one of those is the Texas Book Festival grant. The Texas Book Festival started in 1996, and their mission is to provide additional financial assistance to the state’s public libraries. Since 1996, the Festival has awarded over $2 million in grants to over 600 Texas Public Libraries. Chambers County Library System has received several in the past, and we have applied again this year for additional funds to update the non-fiction and audio book collections.

Santa at the library!

Read all about it!

2010-11-04T14:58:00.000-07:00

Teens at the “Haunted Lock-in” at the Chambers County Library in Anahuac

Over 18,000 items checked out, 38 programs for adults, teens and kids and 13,944 patrons walked through the doors. Just another typical month at the library! October always brings a lineup of several Halloween-related events. The staff provided theme programs for the pre-schoolers and after-schoolers at each library and a lock-in for the teens was held at the Anahuac library; all were a huge success! Branch Librarian, Scott Crawford held a Basic Research Paper workshop with a few attendees eager to learn the basics in this hands-on program. Local author Lesa Boutin shared her writing craft with the "tween" age crowd with a creative and fun workshop for all the little budding writers. And Missy Parham and April Malone, the newest employees of the library system have jumped right into the kids programming with some very impressive programs for the little ones.

Staff involvement outside the library included County Librarian A. Lynette Parsons, Assistant County Librarian Valerie Jensen, and Lay Representative Lise Oleson attending the Fall System Meeting at the new library facility in Dayton. The System meeting is an important meeting for librarians to hear the latest reports and issues from State Library personnel. Assistant County Librarian Valerie Jensen presented a webinar for the State Library on “Teen Programs that Work” with over 600 librarians in attendance. These webinars are open to people across the country and using the latest technology, it allows people to “attend” as they would in a regular hands-on workshop.

The Chambers County Library in Anahuac has recently opened a Job Center featuring a private study room equipped with a computer set up for job seekers with resume making software, basic computer skills programs to supplement the monthly in-house computer class, job hunting and unemployment websites, along with websites of some major local employers. The Job Center also includes a collection of books geared to the job seeker and current flyers and publications to assist patrons in their quest to find a job or build existing job skills. We encourage you to stop by and take a look.

The library system dealt with a small appeal this month involving the Federal E-rate program. As a result, our yearly discount went from $2,114.69 to $4,697.46.

Teen Read Week is a national event held in mid-October, and this year’s theme was “Books with Beat @ Your Library”. The libraries featured displays and programs related to this year’s theme by voting on their favorite book on the Young Adult Library Services website. The winner was Catching Fire, by Suzanne Collins. Other programs featured a Glee movie watching marathon.

And as always, we look forward to another busy month as we go into the holiday season.

Gifts from Lots of Sources

2010-09-01T13:15:00.000-07:00

Summer at CCLS has passed us by now, as we turn our sights on the fall and our traditional programming. We have to acknowledge our wonderful summer helper staff though; this year, the students that graced each library were of exceptionally good quality, and provided us with 2,363 hours of help when we needed it most. The “summer helper” program is sponsored over and above the library system budget; it is an extra gift from Commissioners’ Court and Judge Sylvia. The salaries provided to these young people help them greatly in our area, where jobs are scarce, and it is a bonus of $17,131.75 to the library system.

We were lucky to provide 2 extra programs this month which weren’t part of our planned activities. At the West Chambers Branch, those great people at ExxonMobil visited once again with an afternoon of excitement and experiments. At the Chambers County Library in Anahuac, a local teacher held a Spanish-language story hour on the 10th. These events were all volunteer-inspired, and we’re thrilled that these people wanted to work with the library system to enrich the lives of our area children.

The Loan Star Libraries program of direct aid to Texas public libraries concluded its fiscal year on the 31st. Chambers County received just over $10,000 in this program this year, which is funded through the Texas State Legislature. It enabled us to provide additional programming for the summer, to purchase a “poster” printer and supplies, to buy additional microfilm copies of the local newspapers for our archives, and perhaps our best purchase, to buy licenses and install our library authentication software. We’ve already received word that next year’s allotment will be reduced due to action by the Lege, but every additional dime we can get outside of the County budget is always needed, well used, and a benefit to our customers.

A special request by the library system was presented to Commissioners’ Court this month. Due to changes in County procedures, the process for mail was altered, resulting in a need for the library to have a leased postage meter. This will be a great saving of personnel time for the library system, which handles 150 packages and many, many individual envelopes each month. (Those overdue notices can pile up!)

In addition to the meter, the Court also agreed with the IT Department and the library system staff that it was undoubtedly beneficial to lease 16 more computers, replacing equipment that was originally purchased through grants and other funds. Those computers are now over 5 years old, and represent the remaining machines that were in place before the County changed its policies on standardization of equipment. The new leased pcs will provide better opportunities to make all of our library machines on the public side easy to maintain, and less likely to break down.

A Summer Pastiche

2010-08-10T13:16:00.001-07:00

Chambers County Library System – July, 2010

June was a delightful month, weather-wise, for our Summer Reading events. However, the last few days of June, and on into July, was a bit contrary. Several programs, including our Southwest Dairy Farmers Mobile Dairy Classroom at Anahuac, and our infamous waterslides at Winnie and Mont Belvieu fell victim to the rain. Rescheduling such long-anticipated activities several times and getting the word out to the public can be nerve wracking, and also can impact the success of our programs.

But even with those unanticipated issues, our summer events proved once again that, if you have excellent and inspired staff members, good promotions, and a lot of support from financial underwriters, you can draw your communities to the library. Does the number 22,603 sound large? That’s the total number of books read by elementary children in our program – in 6 weeks. Does the fact that 2,653 people bothered to attend our children’s events indicate that there is a continual need and desire for something to do in Chambers County in the summer – especially when it’s free of charge and safe to bring children? If these numbers look good to you – and they do to us – then you know how important to the quality of life the Chambers County Library System is to our residents.

Speaking of financial underwriters, the Friends of CCLS held another of their book sales in July. This one is the annual marathon at Mont Belvieu, held over the last few days of summer reading. Thanks to assistance from the county trustee crew, we were able to haul a lowboy full of books to the west side, where they were joined by a storeroom full of donations already at the West Chambers Branch. The public didn’t disappoint us – they came in droves, and helped fund continuing program efforts for the libraries throughout the calendar year.

The Universal Services group sent word that we have been awarded yet another e-rate discount for the year beginning July 1, 2010. This program has been in place since 1998, and we have received funds or discounts every year but one. In the beginning, huge grants were awarded to help us to set up the infrastructure for public access to the Internet; with the changes that the County’s IT Department has made over the years, the library system is no longer the channel for the other departments, and our awards have shrunk accordingly. This year’s discount is for $2,114.69, which will appear in reduced telephone bills from Windstream. It brings our total award over those 13 years to $143,643.83.

The Houston Area Library System Continuing Education Committee met this month at Anahuac; Valerie Jensen, Assistant County Librarian, hosted the group of which she is a member. She also traveled to Houston at the end of the month to assist with interviews for a technology consultant for HALS. Interviews were on her mind as well in Chambers County; several library system positions opened up in the past few weeks, and she and our branch librarians have been quite busy sorting through applications, setting up interviews, and putting candidates through their paces.

Same Old Record-Breaking June!

2010-07-01T14:58:00.000-07:00

Here it comes again – that same old, year in, year out thing I begin with: Summer Reading has done it again. Our circulation for June is up 1,600 from last year (as it has increased every June for years) and we have added 294 new library card holders this month! The staff must still be running on adrenaline, because they managed to circulate 33,693 items and still have time for 1,801 people to attend programs. The unexpected early storm season did cause a few mishaps and reschedules, but everyone has taken everything in stride, staff and public alike. I just hope the team survives July – we have another full schedule of activities to go before July 17, thanks to the amazing program underwriters who helped us financially and in-kind this year. Party week is July 19, and then the staff gets a short break before cranking up the fall season.

I might also mention that we are fortunate that the County supplies us each year with “summer help” in the form of high school and college-aged students. We have 2 at each library and one in Tech Services this year, and they are kept extremely busy just getting books back on shelves when they come pouring back through the doors. They also are invaluable working with the children who come to the programs, with preparation of craft materials, program room setups, and a variety of housekeeping tasks that we save each year just for our summer elves.

After a 4-year wait, we have authentication software installed at all 3 library sites. The Cassie software sits on all of our public access machines, and patrons no longer have to wait for a staff member to scan their library card for computer access. The software interfaces with our library patron database and provides consistent use for each patron, and cleans up when they leave. It also requires pre-payment prior to printing. This is already showing a savings as patrons are now forced to realize just how many pages they will get if they hit the “okay” button, and the County isn’t losing paper and ink costs on “walkaway” printing. The best part is that library users are insured more privacy when they visit, since we no longer have to maintain paper sign-in records. The staff members are universally ecstatic about the new software, so it seems to be a win-win for all at CCLS.

The Tech Services unit considers Summer Reading time a bit of a breather, since all the prep work is over, and the branch workers are too busy to need us! Our administrative unit utilizes this season of the year to catch up on the cataloging and processing of materials that have been purchased earlier, and this year we’ve been working on inventory as well. An interim edition of the Directory of Elected Officials was released to have on hand till the November elections are over, and a much-needed update of the Chambers County Clubs & Organizations flyer is in the works. And of course, we’ve begun to scratch out ideas for the upcoming budget workshops…

The Merry Month of May

2010-06-03T06:35:00.001-07:00

Ah, May, when the humidity and the temperature rise, and the staff members churn themselves into a feverish pitch of activity, getting the last details ready for Summer Reading! This year, thanks to increasing populations on the west side and to the increase in promotions for the young adults, we printed over 12,000 sheets of paper to promote the children’s, teens, and adult programs for June and July. The flyers then had to be folded and distributed to the schools, and in several cases, staff members went to the schools to present previews of coming attractions.

In-house, the arrival of the reading incentives (coupons and treats from corporate underwriters), the prizes, the giveaways, and the program supplies provide lots of projects. Registration bags were stuffed, sponsor displays were created, signs telling kids how to earn coupons were made (by reading books, of course) and huge wall displays went up at every library site, extolling the theme of “Catch a Ride on the Reading Express”. Our new poster printer, purchased this year from the Loan [sic] Star Libraries Fund, has been in constant production, as Assistant County Librarian Valerie Jensen incorporated the theme clip art, the logos for sponsors, and various other signage through PhotoShop to create our exciting displays. Webmaster Kathy Fielding has been raising the bar on the homepage as she adds the summer activity schedules and additional new services.

The three branch librarians (Scott Crawford, Aquilia De la Cruz, and Kathy Fielding) attended a workshop at the lovely new Jones Library in Dayton on the 20th. This program, titled: “Creating space & promoting collections to underserved populations,” was a repeat of one done last year. The presenter inspired those attending on marketing their libraries to the customer, and each of our branch heads has taken some of those ideas to heart. Given the often tight spaces at the sites, it can be a challenge to continue to keep the libraries fresh and inviting, and these continuing education opportunities provide our line staff with new perspectives on service.

Anahuac held a National Children’s Book Week contest to create bookmarks, and nearly 100 entries came in! New Extension Agent Lindsay Pitre came to judge, and 3 winners had their bookmarks copied and distributed during the week.

Walk Across Texas is a statewide program through Texas A&M, and CCLS is proud to announce that once again, the Happy Bookers team is on the march. Over 200 miles have now been logged by our foot soldiers.

Thanks to changes in the tax laws, the Friends of CCLS were required to update their tax exemption status, which necessitated a huge amount of paperwork this month. Since the Friends were re-activated in 1995, they have poured thousands of dollars into the library system to the great benefit of the public. They are the major underwriter for the summer reading program. On to June!

National, State, and Local Library Events

2010-05-04T13:04:00.000-07:00

To the library world in the state and the nation, April is a big month. That translates to activity in the Chambers County Library System as well. National Library Week was celebrated from April 11 through 17 this year, and we held a “Fine Free” event for those patrons who just love their books so much they can’t get them back on time. Our intrepid overdue notice staff person sent everyone little notes about the event, and many managed to get in during the week with their items, thus avoiding some fees. From January to mid-April we’ve still managed to collect over $7,000.00 on late fees, fax calls, and printing charges. That goes back to the County’s general fund.
The Texas Library Association annual conference occurred during this period, from the 13th through the 16th. Held in San Antonio this year, the last day featured TT4L, the Texas Teens for Libraries program that Assistant County Librarian Valerie Jensen was instrumental in creating a few years ago. She ended her involvement as a major player this year with an amazing “book talk” program that drew well over 400 teens and adults. And in case you think she managed to get any sleep at all prior to that, she also was featured on a webinar that drew a national audience. The topic? Well, of course, it involved young adults. Our girl has got the goods!
Scott Crawford, new Winnie Branch Librarian, attended his first Small Library Management Training session this month. This session (out of 5 held over the next 2 years) involved computer research. In addition to the training sessions, Scott was able to begin meeting some of the area library directors who attended. Valerie and I got together with another group during a Southeast Region Small Community Libraries meeting at the very impressive new Jones Library in Dayton. This group is comprised of library people in Orange, Jefferson, Hardin, Newton, Liberty, and Chambers counties. We meet twice a year to hash out local issues and ongoing management problems.
Melba Gmelch, staff person at Anahuac, helped host our Houston Area Library System workshop that was held on the 7th. The topic: Making an $mpact: building employment resources for your community. This workshop inspired Melba to create a “Job Center” area for the many people who come to the library for help designing resumes, doing online applications, for computer training, and mastering interviews. The collection is coming together on this, and the Winnie and Mont Belvieu sites are working on adding similar areas to their branches. Melba also kicked off her new programming effort, the “Craft Club” on the 24th, and we hope it will grow and interest our residents who like to work with their hands.
Nikki Beltram, staff person at Mont Belvieu, held a successful Microsoft Excel training session last month, and due to demand, will do so again in May. Excel is a great tool, and obviously, people want to learn more about using it. Our monthly computer sessions for bare beginners at each branch show a continuing need for more programs like this for both new and advanced users.
The County Employee Health and Benefits Fair, held on the 15th, was an opportunity for the library system to preach to our peers. Our library booth featured a variety of exercise, disease, and health-oriented DVDs, books, and magazines, in both English and Spanish. We also managed to work in a few items of interest in our general collection, like our online database programs for downloading audiobooks, genealogy materials, and our latest, the online email book club. Quite a few employees who stopped were very interested in what we can offer them.
Speaking of those DVDs and books: I had a chance to look at last year’s statistics (thanks to a staff query) and learned that of the 260,537 items that were circulated to patrons last year, about 70% were print (books, magazines, paperbacks) 20% were audio-visual (DVDs, audiobooks, etc.) and the other 10% were our oddball items that get lumped into “other”. That 20% of a-v translates into a whopping 50,990 items, so even though it’s obvious that the book isn’t dead, and probably never will be, we still have a major market on our hands serving our residents with materials that let them take advantage of the technology on the market today. We look at this information very carefully when it comes time for us to formulate our budgets for the coming year. Our resources for library materials need to provide educational assistance for our learners, general information for those seeking it, and entertainment for all the rest. This ties in with our mission statement, and we take it very seriously.

With Friends Like These

2010-03-04T16:40:00.000-08:00

The Friends of the Chambers County Library System is the independent umbrella group that provides support to the library system through volunteer efforts and through fund raising. Funds come in the form of dues, from small efforts like cookbook and book bag sales, and through large projects, such as the book sales. No one would believe, from the number of donations we receive at the libraries, that the book is dead. Hundreds of older books and other items are received and checked to see if the libraries can use them in the collections on a daily basis. The remaining items are then divided into two groups: the pile for recycling and the pile for the book sales. The events that we hold at each library are major fund raisers and major public relations events. We get immense good will from the public for our super clean books at super cheap prices, and the Friends turn this money over to the libraries to provide programs for the children and adults. Thanks to the County, we are able to transport these loads of materials from one library to the next as we hold the sales. And thanks to the Friends, we have a vehicle to raise this money to make the library events something special for our residents. If you’re ever looking for a way to support the library, helping us to work a book sale is one great way to do it.

The Library Advisory Board met for their first meeting of the new year on February 9, and got down to business with a variety of discussion and action items. A revision of the library system’s policy on meeting room use was approved, and discussion was begun on the system’s Long Range Plan for the coming three years.

On February 16, Anahuac and Winnie were visited by the Lee College Educational Opportunity Center director and the new staff person who will be making regular site visits at Anahuac. The Center provides assistance to adults interested in going on to higher education at any venue, and assists with those trying to get a GED, needing financial aid application help, or other items relating to a return to school. This is just one instance where another service agency utilizes the libraries to approach the public in a convenient site; in another example, the federal census workers will be setting up shop at the libraries beginning in March to assist people with filing their census forms.

February of course includes St. Valentine’s Day, a perfect excuse for a special event day in the area of children’s programming. Our programming totals for children in the month of February show that we had 22 programs, with 232 children and 121 adults attending. Weekly story hours and the special afterschool and home school programs are included in this count.

E-rates, New Staff, New Hours

2010-02-01T14:03:00.001-08:00

The federal “e-rate” program has been in operation since 1998, and with the exception of one year, Chambers County has received this reimbursement on Internet access and phone lines to our libraries. This is done because we provide access to the Internet for the public, and use our phone lines for assisting the public and for faxing. The e-rate program is funded through a small charge on every phone bill in the country. Those few cents each month have provided a wealth of good to the general public.

It does, however, take a lot of paperwork at our end! We filed the first form in November, then the 2nd one this past month. Once we get the award, we then file other forms indicating receipt of service, etc., etc. This year, our proposed reimbursement, or discount for services, totals $5,058.66, which is down considerably from last year’s $9,422.14. This is due to the fact that we at the library no longer get invoices showing our access costs. It’s still quite a savings, and we’re truly grateful. The total awarded to Chambers County from 1998 to date is $141,529.14.

We’ve had quite a shake-up of personnel at the library system beginning this month. After a lot of interviews, we filled the Branch Librarian position at Winnie with a gent named Scott Crawford, who by our good luck, moved to the area for a job his wife took in Beaumont. He’s worked in the St. Louis Public Library system, and did a little time with Dell, and is very interested in being active in the community.

Aquilia De la Cruz has moved up the ranks to Branch Librarian at Anahuac. She’s got a great crew in place to ease her transition to management, and so far, she’s handled everything we’ve thrown at her with a smile and a job well done. Valerie Jensen, our Assistant County Librarian, had been handling that job as well as the tasks in her Assistant job, and now has the luxury of alternating with me on our weekly branch site visits. She’s picking up all the administrative details that she hasn’t had time to work on, but of course, she also has her eye on everyone’s projects at each of the libraries. That’s what we administrative types are for, after all – to keep our fingers on the pulse of the library.

And we’ve finally got the West Chambers Branch open on Saturdays! It’s actually going to take a while just to get the public used to the idea, but those who have heard about it have tested the waters a bit. It’s a huge change for our west side staff, and we altered the hours on the weekdays to compensate for the Saturday schedule. All three libraries are now open 49 hours per week, which may make scheduling our staff a bit easier. Those 11 hour days can be a bit overwhelming, so we’ve moved all of them back to 9 hour days. Each library is still open two nights per week till 7:00 p.m., and with all open on Saturdays from 9:00-1:00, we feel that we’re doing a good job of serving the population when they can get here.

My Favorite Report every year…

2010-01-06T08:32:00.000-08:00

I’ve been doing these monthly narratives for over 14 years now, and each December, I get to count my blessings for having an incredibly dedicated staff, a very supportive administration, and the general public, who continue to amaze me with the business they bring us, old friends and new. Here’s an annual wrap-up of our statistics for the calendar year; they don’t tell all the wonderful stories and the individual achievements of our library users, but they do give a pretty good impression of the fact that the library system makes a difference in people’s lives.
For starters, we have actually increased our circulation of library items and our walk-in traffic every year for 14 years, including the storm years. This year was no exception: walk-ins to our three libraries are up 10.14%, with an 18% increase at West Chambers. We’re anticipating more walk-ins on the west side with the new apartment and sports complexes due to open shortly. The west side, as anyone can tell you, is busting at the seams (and so is that library branch).
Circulation of materials is also up, even more than the walk-ins. We have a 13.23% increase in total items, with print materials increasing 16.28% over last year. Who says the book is dead? Our total walk-ins for 2009 are 170,154, and our total circulation is 260,537 items.
Of course, everyone always wants to know about our technology statistics. It always seems that the computers are taking over; they certainly have changed how we do business at the libraries. CCLS added two online databases to our budget last year, the first we ever purchased. They are Ancestry.com, a genealogy site for in-house use; and OverDrive.com, a site for downloading books, videos, and e-books. Adding these to the State Library’s databases available to us provided the library system with a 43% increase in use of databases over last year. We have seen increasing use of laptops by patrons visiting this year, thanks to the wifi/hotspot access provided; we even see patrons using laptops in their cars outside after hours! With smart phones now becoming more common, we expect these gadgets will also access our library wifi, giving even more local folks a better bang for their buck.
And of course, programming at the libraries continues to leap forward, with expansion of our efforts to attract teens and adults along with our perennially successful children’s programs. The corporate support we got this year for our Summer Reading Program allowed us to purchase top events at each library, and it showed: our children’s programming increased – hold your hats – 64% over last year! It’s no wonder our staff members were exhausted, as well as extremely pleased.
Teen programs were developed this year at the east and west sides to mimic the success stories at Anahuac; we had over 1000 teens and tweens attending young adult-specific programs, again an increase of 23.35%. We’re working very hard at finding the magic formula for attracting adult audiences and we have baby step successes; we had 396 attendees for our efforts this year, which is way up from last year’s trials, so we’re still quite happy.
We currently have over 8,600 library cards active in our database, and when you consider that these are “family” cards, with more than one person per card, you can see that we have managed to interest a good percentage of residents of the area. Go libraries!

Staff Training and many "thank yous"

2009-12-09T12:33:00.001-08:00

On Monday, November 2, something occurred at the library system that had never happened before: we closed all 3 libraries for an entire day of training for all the adult staff members. It was something that we had a real need for, given the speed with which technology impacts our customers (and the staff who must help them), and given the fact that nearly everyone on staff has been with us for less than 4 years. We worked through a huge list of equipment, computer software, various Internet issues, our library software and library policies. Our children’s specialists had a chance to meet and inventory existing craft and program supplies. Other staff members did our usual monthly “a-v swap”: each month, 1/12 of our collection of DVDs, videotapes, and talking books on cassette and CD rotates between the branches. We even managed to pose for a Christmas bookmark! In sum, it was an event that proved incredibly useful to the staff, increasing their awareness of, and expertise in, the many services we offer. We still have our “experts” on items, but everyone broadened their personal knowledge, which will be invaluable to our public, the people that matter.

The Library Advisory Board met on the 10th and approved updates to our Automated Services Policy, our Printing/Fax Policy, and a new public service to provide laminating for posters. On the 9th, our first basic computer class in Spanish was provided by staff member Aquilia De la Cruz, to a very grateful group of ladies. Many of these same women are in the English as a Second Language Class taught by Valerie Jensen, and funded with federal money from AISD. Our monthly Homeschool Programs at Mont Belvieu continue to be a great success thanks to the creative work of Kim Hart, who manages to get interesting speakers each month to supplement the curriculum of our many area home school students. The programs draw children not only from the Mont Belvieu area, but from the mid and eastern areas of the county as well as points north and west.

And I would like to close this month’s short narrative with a thank you to the various departments of the County that support our efforts at the library system. This month, for example, the Friends of the Library held yet another book sale at Mont Belvieu, and our library patrons continue to be exceptionally generous in their donations of materials for these sales. Things are gathered and sorted (and some recycled) in Tech Services from the 3 libraries, and then they are boxed and must be hauled to the sale sites. We’ve been extremely fortunate that most of the time, trustees have been available to do this for us. Our courthouse-area lawn man has been absolutely phenomenal at the Anahuac Library, finding plants to fill in our bare spots, and making our curb appeal increase the appreciation of patrons visiting the library. When we had a scary mold-looking situation this fall at Winnie, the folks in Emergency Management went to town to ensure the physical safety of the staff and patrons; we’re just glad that issue wasn’t as bad as it first looked. Many other departments support us, of course, like Purchasing, the Treasurer’s office, and Building Maintenance; and it makes our job easier serving the public. So Thanks, everyone!

Come on, Autumn!

2009-11-03T12:18:00.000-08:00

Summer may have lingered in the temperatures, but traditional autumn activity was going on at the Chambers County Library System. With the school year in full swing, students with parents in tow headed for our three libraries to work on assignments. This in turn involves a lot of staff time, with our people running around the stacks to show children where their subject books are, assisting with computer picture printing, and generally providing the sort of excellent service that our patrons are accustomed to in Chambers County. The Accelerated Reader program continues to be a challenge for our library system, with the needs of the children who try to reach their reading quotas far outstripping our abilities to keep up with the increasing number of titles requested. Challenged readers are now allowed to use unabridged talking books that they can use to “read along,” which then involves more purchases and additional interlibrary loan requests.

Staff involvement outside the library included three events this month. The Houston Area Library System Fall Meeting was held in Diboll on the 8th; this is a gathering of the 67 member libraries in 28 counties in east Texas and is part of the official activity affiliated with the State Library. (We are the 23rd largest library, by measurement of our service population, in HALS). A smaller group comprising libraries in Hardin, Jefferson, Orange, Chambers, Liberty, Jasper, and Newton Counties met on the 20th; this group focuses on the issues concerning the practical running of our libraries. And at the end of the month, three of our staff members attended the current session of the Small Library Management training, held by the State Library to provide our “off the street” librarians with some of the background and basic skills that allow them to see the bigger picture of the library world outside their branch walls.

Teen Read Week is a national event held in mid-October, and events at Mont Belvieu and Anahuac were scheduled to feature the theme of “Beyond Reality.” Anahuac ISD art students provided an exhibit of posters featuring the theme, which not only have graced the Anahuac library shelves, but appeared on our teen blog/website.

Month’s end brought a string of Halloween-related events. The staff provided theme programs for the pre-schoolers and after-schoolers at each library, and a lock-in was held at Anahuac for teens. Halloween starts the holiday season off well at the Chambers County Library System!

What a difference a year makes

2009-10-01T12:09:00.001-07:00

Well, this time last year, we were in major cleanup from Ike. Our September 08 total circulation was 9,958, which reflected the closings at Winnie and Anahuac after the storm, and Mont Belvieu’s valiant attempt to keep things normal. We look considerably more “normal” this year, with a total circulation of 19,034. Blessings come in all sizes, and we feel pretty blessed this year!

Our activity schedule picked up again with the start of the new school year. August was much quieter, but now our pre-school story times have generated activity, staff members are visiting the schools and day cares in our outreach efforts, and I even got to talk at an after-hours event. We also hosted an author signing at the West Chambers Branch on the 25th, which was our 3rd such activity this year. GatorFest found staff members and volunteers at the library table in the Education Tent, passing out information, displaying our wares, and doing a little fund raising for the Friends of CCLS.

Our GED and ESL (English as a Second Language) classes started again, thanks to renewed funding from Anahuac ISD; both classes meet on Mondays and Thursdays, and we had to do some major space allocation to work them into available spots. The S.T.A.B. (Student Teen Advisory Board) and the Anime Club began again this month, with planning for October’s Teen Read Week a priority.

Banned Books Week was celebrated, so to speak, at all three libraries, with very interesting, and different, displays at each site. The displays tended to generate discussion by the patrons with the staff, some of it not quite what we might have expected! But that, of course, is part of the whole effort behind Banned Books Week – to get folks talking about censorship, the books that have been challenged, and to get them thinking about their own opinions of same.

CCLS hosted a Houston Area Library System workshop on the 18th, entitled, “Para Los Ninos = For the Children”, which of course, featured story time activities for all pre-school and elementary age children, and included tips on bilingual programming. We had 3 staff members scheduled to attend, but two had to miss due to family issues.

And that brings us to the upcoming flu season. It always happens: parent gets call from school to come get a sick child; parent picks child up from school, and somewhere between school and home, parent and child visit the library to pick up goodies to entertain the child for the duration. While we love the business, we have had far too many occasions where we have headed for the Lysol after the little ones have germed up the general area, alarming both staff and other patrons!
With the more serious threat of the new flu strain, we have posted signs asking folks to take all this into consideration, and we have instructed the staff that they are within their rights to ask patrons to remove themselves and any ill children from the premises. With our small staff, losing even one person to illness can be fraught with problems. In the last two weeks, for example, I have left one library mid-morning to assist at another branch, since we had too many folks out ill. It’s much more prudent to have a sick patron leave, than to have them infect our overworked staff. We don’t want to have to close down a whole building due to lack of warm bodies to work. So everyone, take your vitamins, and if you sniffle, stay home!

The Quiet Month of August

2009-09-02T13:39:00.000-07:00

August is our “quiet” month – not! True, we don’t have much programming going on, and we are definitely taking a breather from the madness of June and July, but those doors still open, and folks still come to us needing books, computer assistance, and information. So our circulation and walk-in traffic for this month are well within our respectable “average” month range. Looks like we will again have an overall annual increase this year, barring any unforeseen closings…

The Library Advisory Board met for the quarterly meeting at the Juanita Hargraves Memorial Branch in Winnie, and members were able to view that facility and a wonderful mural of summer reading photos that were displayed on the wall. Some of those in attendance had not been to that library since it opened, so it was a good chance to view our eastern branch. The board has now met at all three sites this year, and will return to the system offices in November.

West Chambers Branch was the site for what is becoming an annual event: our Library Orientation for Homeschool Parents. We continue to see increases in this particular group of library users; we had 14 adults new to homeschooling that attended this workshop. Library Technician Kim Hart, a homeschooler herself, walked the guests through the many services, both on site and online, that the library system offers to all its patrons, while Erin Hill, our new youth services person, entertained the children.

Staff members Melba Gmelch, Kim Hart, and Mary Abshire attended a workshop in Pasadena presented by the Houston Area Library System. This was a “train the trainer” program on teaching people to use computers, and since each of our branches holds such a class every month, it was an ideal opportunity to give these women new ideas, techniques, websites, and information. Our own classes should improve as a result, and we’re looking forward to a good year.

We didn’t have scheduled children’s programs this month, but the Alpha Day Care at Mont Belvieu made a couple of scheduled trips to the library; the YA/Tween book club met at Mont Belvieu and the Book Discussion Group for adults met at Anahuac; the Writers’ Interest Group met for its two sessions during the month; and movies played at Anahuac and Mont Belvieu.

And finally, our large group of corporate sponsors for the summer reading club received letters and notices about books donated in their names at the three libraries. The Friends of CCLS underwrite this effort on behalf of the library system, and it’s greatly appreciated by the staff and by the sponsors.

Like I said, with 14,881 visits by patrons, who checked out 20,910 items, August was a “quiet” month – NOT!

Not lying with statistics!

2009-08-06T14:34:00.001-07:00

I believe it would be justifiable to say that 2009, with all its economic trials, has been an extremely successful year at the Chambers County Library System. Witness our annual summer reading programs: for June and July of 2009, we experienced an increase of nearly 2,000 circulations over June and July of 2008. Total item circulation for the two months: 56,916!

In the middle of all this frantic checking out of books, magazines, DVDs, etc., we were holding bang-up programs for summer reading. Our end of the program parties featured Julian Franklin Productions again this year, thanks to corporate sponsors, and the kids lapped up the antics of Senor Bunny and his Cowboy pal Jeff, as they provided incentives about reading via lost treasures in the Old West. This company provides us with a list of books they cite in their different programs, and we were able to get most of them on the shelves, along with handouts of the titles, so the kids could remember them and pick them up later. They also enjoyed pizza, sodas, and cake, again underwritten by sponsors.

Before that party, of course, came the Waterslide Day events, paid for by corporate Friends of the Library System. The extreme heat of the past month provided a wonderful backdrop for the 22 foot high slide, which got assembled every morning at 6 at each of the libraries (good thing I wake up early anyway)! And the kids loved it, patiently standing in line for their turns, slurping on icy pops, and generally enjoying themselves as they slid and splashed. The staff members worked themselves crazy monitoring the kids, hosing the slide to keep it from getting too dry or too hot, and occasionally taking a ride down themselves. All part of a day’s work.

All in all, our reading clubs for adults, teens, and children were incredible successes this year. The economy may have slowed, keeping folks closer to home, but our donations for our programs were way up, allowing us to provide entertainment above and beyond our past abilities. That, in turn, enticed more adults in to enter our reading/gift card drawings, and our teens and youngsters in with the welcoming atmosphere they have come to expect at our “community centers.” The library system in Chambers County is not just a room full of books; the staff work extremely hard to provide a wide spectrum of rich materials and services from our share of the tax dollar. We may scale down in August a bit, because frankly, we’re a bit winded, but we already have plans in place to crank back up in September. It’s nice to be needed by so many.

Blowout!

2009-07-01T13:57:00.000-07:00

Chambers County Library System – June, 2008

We should have known. We prepared hard enough. We got some wonderful sponsors, new and old. We lined up some really great events. We got new tee shirts. But we REALLY weren’t expecting a total explosion for this year’s summer reading events. The parking lots became an issue. Space became an issue. Noise became an issue. And we are thrilled!

We have a blowout – Circulation counts for May totaled 17,875 – a very comfortable healthy figure. June of 2008, which astounded us then, totaled 28,216. This month, our circulation total for our three libraries is 32,087, almost double what we did in May. And our walk-in counts don’t include the audiences we had for programs that we had to move out of the libraries due to the crowds.

For the Chambers County Library System, summer reading is comparable to the Youth Project Show, the GatorFest, the Rice Festival, the Fall Fest. Our 6 week program utilizes every bit of personnel we can muster in house, whether part-time, full-time, or summer help, and we draw on the talents at Building Maintenance, Parks, and other county departments as needed. This year we scrambled to get open dates at the community buildings to hold the rest of our programs once we saw what was happening. We expected double, but not triple and quadruple audiences.

The economy factors in, of course. This year, folks chose to travel less and be with their families more. They are looking to the county libraries for that opportunity to go someplace as a family, where the needs of all ages can be met. We’ve had movies, live programs, crafts, and of course, all of the books, music, videos, magazines, and general entertainment that libraries offer. Our teen and adult summer reading programs have seen just as much of an increase as the elementary age programs. We’ve expanded the teen programming to all three libraries, and the teens are slowly (well, you know teens) responding to our overtures.

We have the month of July to continue summer reading; the official events end July 17, and our end-of-summer-reading parties for the teens and kids are the following week. Things tend to get a little calmer after the first few weeks, and August comes as blissful relief, at least until school cranks up. We still have to get through the giant waterslides at the 3 sites, but for now, we are determined to press on; we’re tired, blistered (!) and occasionally we can’t hear for the noise, but we are extremely happy and proud that we’ve made this summer one to remember for our patrons.

Teens Invade, Old Folks Too Busy!

2009-06-09T06:41:00.000-07:00

We began the month with concerns about the flu in public spaces, dealt with another library break-in, and ended in frantic preparation for the annual summer reading events.

One of the most successful events of our year was held on the 16th – the young adult “Ana-Con II”. One hundred teens invaded the Anahuac library for the day, and as the second annual program of this type, it’s a tribute to the teens on our advisory board (S.T.A.B.) who put in hours of effort, along with the staff, to make it a success. It’s also rather nice to know that teens would rather visit the library than do some other traditional adolescent activities.

Our May schedule focused on “Older Americans Month,” but evidently local seniors are much too busy to attend many library events! Still, as with all library programs, you come up with ideas, promote them, and wait to see what happens. Some things are more successful than others, and those are the ones you repeat. It’s always a learning process. Our “senior” programs this month included classic tv programs, rhythmic movement exercise, finance questions and answers, and “bring your grandchild to story time.”

We also had a genealogy program to promote our new online search database, and the audience for that event was extremely excited and appreciative. One of the attendees was with the Daughters of the Republic of Texas, and the local chapter utilized the program materials we had for their meeting at the end of the month. We noticed the increase in usage of the Ancestry.com database as a result this month, so the program was successful on several levels.

Children’s story hours went on hiatus this month, while we printed, collated, and distributed over 3500 flyers to the schools about our scheduled events for June and July. We do a huge percentage of our system’s annual circulation during this period, as the children pour in to our programs and pick up reading materials to fill their summer hours. Our corporate sponsors have increased greatly this year (and in this economy, that’s a big thrill!) so we are having some truly exciting events at each library. We have snakes, cryogenics, waterslides, paintball art, ice cream cone building contests, tie dye, movies, and Twister, among other scheduled programs. It should be a fun summer, if the staff manages to survive it all.

New Statistics, More Training, All Good!

2009-05-06T12:33:00.000-07:00

Chambers County Library System – April, 2009

New services, as well as traditional services and programs, make up our monthly statistical reports that we send to our Library Advisory Board, to the County Commissioners, and to the staff. At the end of each fiscal year, we must compile all these monthly reports and send the information to the Texas State Library. As long as the County meets the local funding requirements for our assigned population, and our collection is the appropriate size per capita, we are certified for another year. This, in turn, allows us to receive additional funding from state and federal sources.

So this month, we began to incorporate some additional statistics. Our two newest services, OverDrive and Ancestry, are online services. OverDrive provides downloadable audiobooks, ebooks, and videos to our patrons at home; Ancestry is a genealogy and history database that is in-library use only. The County provided for these databases this year in the budget; they are the first two we have had that were not supplied through funding by the Texas State Legislature. Those “TexShare” online databases, along with OverDrive and Ancestry logons, make up one new statistic on our report, titled “Database Logons.”

The other “new” statistic is for Interlibrary Loans. This service is provided to our patrons free of charge, and we borrow almost 1500 items a year from libraries throughout the country. The State Library asked us to begin reporting the total loan figure in our annual report, so now we’ve added that to our spreadsheet.

Other items of interest occurred in April that don’t necessarily get reflected in our statistics. The Texas Library Association Conference was held in Houston the first week of April. Thanks to Hurricane Ike, we were afraid we wouldn’t be able to send anyone, since the County had asked to curb travel expenses. As luck (and very impressive applications) would have it, Aquilia De la Cruz, LaShebia Haskin, and Melba Gmelch all received stipends from District VIII of TLA to attend one-day sessions. Valerie Jensen, Assistant County Librarian, was applauded high and low at the conference for her invaluable contributions to the Texas Teens Read program (summer reading) which is just getting started, and for the incredible success of TLA’s TT4L (Texas Teens for Libraries) Day on Thursday of the conference. Valerie basically coordinated the event, and over 400 happy audience members packed the programs provided.

Melba Gmelch and Mary Abshire began their steps toward a Small Library Management certificate with their attendance at their first session, held in Fort Bend County. This is an excellent state-sponsored program that allows “off the street” library staff to learn how to administer and run the local libraries well. Even if you aren’t the Branch Librarian, it’s an eye-opener and helps immensely to understand what is needed to make things work. Their first session was on Collection Development, and they are already looking at our shelves with different eyes!

The 4th Nearly Annual Edible Book Festival was held as always on April 1, and 13 brave souls entered the competition. Two young women from AISD High School carried off the honors this year with a creation based on the book, “Beautiful American Vegetable Gardens.” This program is annually provided under the aegis of the Friends of CCLS. They finished off the month with an Anahuac-based Gently Used Book Sale; proceeds from these events help to underwrite library programs and services.

Success Brings Up Other Issues

2009-03-06T06:15:00.000-08:00

The Chambers County Library System works very hard to make visiting your local library a pleasant experience for everyone. Our efforts have paid off over the years, since we had over 150,000 people walk through the doors and we circulated over a quarter of a million items in 2008.

Occasionally, we have a problem or two, and again, we work hard to make sure that these problems don’t continue and drive away our happy customers. If everyone knows the rules, so to speak, and everyone agrees to abide by them, then the whole atmosphere is better for the customers, for the library staff, and for the community in general.

Shopping is a good example of our problem #1. When you visit a store, you purchase something, and flash a bit of plastic, some cash, or write a check. At the library, you need to do something similar: you flash that plastic library card. This was a big change from a few years ago, when everyone on staff knew everyone who walked in the door. We just can’t operate that way anymore, and absolutely need to know that a library card is in your possession to use our materials and services. If your card is lost, a new set of three cards can be purchased for $1.00, provided that your existing library record is up to date, with no additional charges listed. Your first, card, of course, is still free.

A second problem we are addressing these days is disruptive, unattended children. We aren’t talking about children who come to library programs and movies, or who sit at the computers quietly; the key word is disruptive. Crying, running, making excessive noise, and generally upsetting the other library patrons can result in a frank discussion with a parent about the behaviors. According to the library system policy on unattended children who are not picked up when the library closes, the Sheriff’s Department should be contacted. The library staff is exceedingly busy, as witnessed by those attendance and circulation figures above; they do not replace the attentive care of a parent or caregiver who needs to be aware of the child’s activities.

Another issue that has arisen lately is that of older library visitors who, because the library is welcoming, turn the site into an area for loitering, rude speech, rowdy behavior, and potentially dangerous rambunctiousness. For their safety, and for the comfort of the library patrons who are actually using the facilities for library purposes, our policy again states that the staff should contact the Sheriff’s Department to curtail the problems. The library staff may also contact parents (if the culprits are under 16) and may ban the youngsters from the libraries for some time.

New Author, New Floor

2009-03-04T12:03:00.000-08:00

Lots of things happening this month! Author and staff member Lesa Boutin was featured on the 4th at the West Chambers Branch with an “Author Signing” event to recognize her 2nd book, “Amanda Noble, Special Agent”. We’re quite proud of our “author in residence.”

The Winnie Library finally got their Ike-damaged floor repaired on the 14th and 15th; the water covering the floors had destroyed the mastic that holds the tiles down. As a result, we were able to mitigate some of the noise at the front entrance by replacing some of the tile with the special hard-wearing carpet that all three libraries had installed some years ago. The new storage building that was built last summer (and destroyed by Ike) was also replaced this month with a container box similar to the one at Anahuac. We look forward to having it leveled so we can use it. Our pretty library is looking a bit cluttered with all our out-of-season decorations and equipment scattered about.

The Library Advisory Board met on the 10th, and 2 new members were brought on, and given a thorough indoctrination on their new jobs. All board members, HALS representatives, and the two staff members were in attendance, a first for quite a while. The group decided to travel to the other libraries for their next two meetings, so all members could get an idea of what’s available in each place.

Valentine parties were all the rage of course, with the preschool set having theirs in the mornings, and the after-school crowd whooping it up in the afternoon. The Young Adult group had a Valentine movie (The Wedding Singer) and followed that the next week with a rowdy group learning how to make wallets out of duct tape.

We have finally started an English as a Second Language (ESL) class! Several students have been on our waiting list for over a year, and we are juggling our GED and ESL instructor’s time in order to accommodate these eager learners. New students are more than welcome to both classes, anytime. The instructor is paid through federal funds courtesy of AISD and through the Loan Star Grant Direct Aid to Libraries, courtesy of our state legislature.

Assistant County Librarian attended the Houston Area Library System’s “geographic meeting” on the morning of the 27th, followed by a Continuing Education Committee meeting in the afternoon. This committee is responsible for the activities related to staff at all the HALS sites, and they award staff development funds when available for worthy projects. Chambers County Library System has received several of these grants in past years.

Cool New Services for Our Patrons!

2009-02-26T07:49:00.000-08:00

The Chambers County Library System has two new services available to library patrons. More people are using the Internet and computer online services than ever before, and many have taken advantage of the online databases the library system has offered for several years through the Texas State Library and Archives. Those databases feature homework helpers, medical information, magazine articles, and e-books, and are accessed through the library system’s webpage at www.chambers.lib.tx.us. (Ask us for your login info next time you visit the library)

The Library System’s new online service, Ancestry, is a wonderful resource for researchers of all stripes! With census, birth, marriage, death, military, and social security records, narrowing in on family members and retrieving print copies for your files, has never been easier. Ancestry also has specialized collections, like slave narratives and records from the Freedman’s Bureau for Afro-American searching. Our service is the “international edition,” so you can even search records overseas.
The Ancestry subscription is restricted to in-library use only; we hope you will find many chances to visit us to use it. And if you have been working on family history, but have not used a computer to do so, our staff members will be more than happy to work with you to get you started.

Our second new online service is for all our area residents who listen to books in their cars or on their personal players, and who might be interested in watching movies on their computers. OverDrive.com is a very popular site in the library world, and patrons can download audiobooks to their computers, or download e-books and videos to watch on their computers. Many of the audiobooks can then be downloaded to personal listening devices or burned to cds. Information is available on our website, but only cardholders of the Chambers County Library System are eligible to use the service. It requires a library card number and a password. The library staff can assist you if you are in the library to get started, but the actual downloading is done on your home pc.

Chambers County is changing over to new phone systems, and currently the Courthouse offices in Anahuac and the library in Anahuac have been completed. The library system office number is now 409-267-2550, and the library circulation desk is 409-267-2554. Call us anytime, and check out the best little library system in Texas today – visit your local library in Anahuac, Winnie, or Mont Belvieu!

Business as Usual - We're Busy!

2009-02-04T08:05:00.001-08:00

Chambers County Library System – January, 2009

The new year brought the library system staff back to our regular schedules, and the pre-school children’s Story Time programs, our adult Computer Classes, the Home School program, the Book Discussion Group, and the Writers’ Interest Group events all cranked back up at their usual times. We even had time for some additional special occasions.

On the 7th, Anahuac held an Open Game Day for the teens, and the participants were able to play the Wii and Nintendo software in a large group environment. The Anime Club met twice this month, and the S.T.A.B. (Student Teen Advisory Board) met on the 21st.

The 8th and 9th brought the final book sale of our last-minute rush to Winnie; we have already begun to receive donated materials for the spring book sales. Our GED Prep Class teacher sent another student to take her test and to get her diploma/certificate. We continue to strive for new students in this free class, but retention of the people who need that paper is a real struggle.

Several of the staff members had an online web training session with Overdrive, our new downloadable audiobook, ebook, and video service. Some staff members have been using it with library cards at other libraries, but those new to the service were impressed! We will be unveiling the service as soon as all the technical details are completed.

Lee College’s Financial Aid Department offered free training on FAFSA, the government-sponsored funding package for college students. This was held on the 28th, and Kim Hart was able to attend. Many of our staff members have attended in previous years, and this training really helps when the students start coming in to do their applications online.

Our biggest event this month also took place on the 28th. Thanks to a grant from the Houston Area Library System, author Bill Hill visited CCLS for programs at Anahuac and Mont Belvieu. Primarily a teen author, Mr. Hill treated those attending to a running lesson in how to get ideas, using words creatively, and developing story lines. In between, he threw in magic tricks to illustrate his points, creating a lot of ongoing interest among his teen and adult audience members alike! In a recent development, the Texas Education Association has allowed continuing education units for HALS programs, and several local teachers were able to attend the program for credit, a real added benefit. We were very glad we were able to help coordinate Mr. Hill’s appearances.

A Quarter of a Million!

2009-01-09T12:34:00.001-08:00

A quarter of a million doesn’t sound like much in the national debt (!) but it sounds like a lot when you’re talking stuff that people borrowed from your local library system! The end of December brings us once again to the end of our statistical year, and we were greeted with the circulation total of 230,088 items. This includes a huge variety of what today’s library users expect: books, magazines, paperbacks, newspapers, of course; DVDs, videotapes, music CDs, and talking books; and other items like the use of meeting rooms, equipment loans, and of course, all those folks who use our Internet access, whether on our desktop machines or through our wireless access for their own laptops. It doesn’t count all those people who come in to use our fax machines for sending off their payroll sheets, or FEMA claims, or insurance items; it doesn’t count the copies of all the legal forms we make for people who come in for divorce papers, bill of sale contracts, or other matters; it doesn’t count the numbers of photocopies made. Those are all reflected in our walk-in traffic, though, and that number is just as impressive. Our three library sites had a total of 154,493 folks strolling through the doors for one reason or another, with our West Chambers Branch increasing their walk-in business hugely this past year.

In December, of course, we have a lot of programming events due to the school closings, and the need to insure that everyone gets to see Jolly St. Nick. Special programs were held for the pre-schoolers, for the after-schoolers, and for all ages with extra movie programs. Somehow, we also managed to stage two book sales with the help of the Friends of the Library System, one at Anahuac, and another at Mont Belvieu (Winnie’s will finish off this round in January). And after all this decorating, partying, and keeping up with our regular business, the staff took a well-deserved holiday break. We look forward to the new year with relief!

And the beat goes on and on and on

2008-12-03T07:33:00.000-08:00

Chambers County Library System – November, 2008

One wonders how the staff manages to pack so much activity into one month. With our residents still dealing with storm issues, you’d think they wouldn’t have time to venture to the library for anything more than a fax to FEMA, but many sought us out as an escape from what they had to deal with at home. Here are a few examples: Rhythmic Movement for Seniors program, which was held for 3 weeks at Anahuac. It taught senior citizens simple exercises designed both to improve mobility and to add depth to their mental faculties. Additional sessions are planned after the first of the year and will carry special invitations to veterans.

Young Adult midnight field trip to the opening of the film “Twilight”. Staffer LaShebia Haskins took on the task with pleasure and competence; even AISD band director Kevin Heckaman had to bow to the demanding band students so they could attend AFTER they played at their football playoff game.

Book Discussion Group and Writers’ Interest Group: these two programs are now well-established, and continue to inspire inquiries from our patrons and other potential attendees. Staffer Lesa Boutin continues to work on her professional author skills (she’s publishing again next month) and plans a workshop for beginning writers in the near future.

Homeschool Activity Program: this new monthly event at Mont Belvieu is drawing huge numbers each month, evidence of the large homeschool population in the county. Kim Hart has been featuring science themes at these programs, to work with the curriculum areas used by these students. It’s also a great incentive to draw them to the libraries for additional materials from our shelves.

Pre-school and school-age programs: our traditional toddler story hours are very active at all three sites this year, thanks to our innovative children’s specialists. What they come up with each week is amazing. They are expanding services as well, with programming taken out to the schools, to Met HeadStart, and to other occasional special events.

AISD Life Skills Class visits: twice a week, the students in this special class visit the library, but they don’t just come in to use the computers or the books. They have added work projects to their line of competencies to develop, and the library reaps the reward!

And then there are the Anime Club, the Student Teen Advisory Board (STAB), the Library Advisory Board, the computer instruction classes, and the monthly film programs, all of which occurred in November before Thanksgiving. The staff members earned their time off, and still racked up impressive circulation figures to boot.

After the Storm...

2008-11-03T11:21:00.000-08:00

The long reach of Hurricane Ike continues to touch our library patrons, as evidenced by this month’s statistics. The count for people visiting the library is up from last year, and computer use is up from last year; both of these statistics bear out the traffic we are getting post-storm with faxes to FEMA and filing online. (Libraries aren’t just for readers anymore…) Usage of materials is down a bit; for many of our residents, loss of their homes, or items in their homes, prohibits them from using our materials. We are heartened greatly that our circulation has climbed hugely since the storm, but we will just have to wait out the next two months to see how much bearing Ike has on our year totals.

Programming attendance is very good; our children’s librarians have done a wonderful job not only of planning programs that invite youngsters back, but of expanding the traditional programming to include more than pre-schoolers. We had 660 children and adults attending children’s programs this month, and if you add the adult program attendance and the young adult programs at Anahuac, we reached well over 700 of our citizens! Programming for MetHeadstart, home-schooled children, and visits to school classrooms expand the traditional idea of service to youngsters. And of course, it doesn’t hurt that Halloween fell this month. Our holiday programs, like our free feature films, are always a great draw.

Meanwhile, staff members have continued to reconstruct the library settings, and to continue to find and report items of concern relating to Ike. Mont Belvieu carried off the high circulation and high traffic counts this month, but given the circumstances, the gap isn’t too embarrassing for the other two branches. We are investigating replacement for flooring at Winnie and Technical Services; we await replacement of ceiling tiles at Anahuac; and we greatly appreciate the new roofs over our heads at those two sites.

What a difference a day makes...

2008-10-02T12:13:00.000-07:00

Chambers County Library System – September, 2008

My calendar of library system activities is pretty bare for half of this month! Usually I have to cram things into my report; this time, it’s more about what didn’t happen. We are usually open about 620 hours a month; this time, it’s 299, which included the days Mont Belvieu opened during the “official” down time. Our circulation reflects that loss of time, of course; in August we had a total circ of 19,678, and September shows 9,958.

As for our facilities, we could have fared much worse. We’ll be seeing some roof work and some floor work at both Anahuac and Winnie. We lost a brand new storage shed at Winnie, with a lot of the items in it crushed or drowned. We have over 5,000 items currently charged out to folks, and we are starting to see a stream of people coming in or phoning to notify us that the items are lost in the storm. The mast at the Winnie branch that carried the wire in for our “wireless” network bent in two, so half our computers there don’t have internet access. A large glass pane at Anahuac exploded (or was kicked) a couple of days after the storm, and an armadillo and a copperhead made themselves at home while the entrance was unsecured. Even Mont Belvieu didn’t go unscathed; a power surge knocked out a computer there.

But we are open to the public again, and look forward to returning to our schedule of programming, checking out materials, and helping people at the computers, especially those residents who lost everything and need to get to their insurance and FEMA online. Praise to the County workers who spent days and nights trying to get our communities into some workable arrangement, and thanks to all those countless people from all over the country who came in to help.

All the news that's fit to print

2008-09-03T08:02:00.000-07:00

This month, this narrative is easy – I have so many wonderful things to share. First off, a card from one of our home school parents, who attended one of our home school orientations: “I had no idea we had so many sources we could use. I really appreciate you offering us the library for projects and meetings.”

An email from someone in San Antonio: “I read where the Chambers County Teen Blog won an award so I visited it, and it’s awesome! Congratulations on a great site and for obviously having an involved group of teens in your community.” The award was from YALSA, the Young Adult Services Association of the American Library Association.

Then our Book Discussion Group entered and won a “Participation Prize” from BookMovement.com, which houses our book club info. They will receive books from an author and the opportunity to do a call-in “podcast” during their meeting.

And our local patrons never really get thanked, but they must like us, because just this past month, we have received flowers at the West Chambers Branch, homemade bread at the Juanita Hargraves Memorial Branch, and cookies at the Chambers County Library. Nothing like unexpected rewards for services rendered!

Then, Library Technician Lesa Boutin was accepted into the “Authors in the Schools” program. Lesa is working on her second book, and will be taking vacation time on Fridays for the school year to visit classrooms and work with students on creative writing. Her outreach to the community is another great example of our staff commitment to the public they serve within our library walls.

Staff members Jackie Brookshire, Melba Gmelch, Mary Abshire and I took a staff training day to the Clayton Genealogical Library in Houston, recognized as one of the top 10 genealogy libraries in the country. We attended a short program presented by the library and got an orientation tour. We hope to arrange additional excursions to Tyrrell Library in Beaumont, the Sam Houston Regional State Library in Liberty, and to run up the road to Wallisville Heritage Park. All of this is fodder for staff members to assist our walk-in patrons with their family history searches, and it is of additional use, since these staff members will be working on our Genealogy section of our new revised webpage.

Speaking of which, Branch Librarian Kathy Fielding has been arm-twisting our consultant to get his finishing touches done so we can upload the new look. We have been on our new software for one year on September 10, and we’re ready to make a splash with our splash page! From what I’ve seen, it will be a wonderful change, fully bringing our look into the 21st century, along with the 21st century services we are providing.

Assistant County Librarian Valerie Jensen and I were the subjects of an article on mentoring young librarians this month. It was published in the UNT School of Library and Information Science newsletter.

The Library Advisory Board met on the 12th, and along with promoting new member Sam Little to the position of Chair, they revised policies on Patron Codes of Conduct, the level at which patrons are blocked from library usage (down from $7.00 of fines to $5.00), and created a new policy on Volunteer Assistance.

The Young Adults had two field trips this month, with a midnight excursion to Beaumont for the bookstore opening of “Breaking Dawn” and then to Baytown for a trip to the new skateboard facility.

The new County E-newsletter, created and edited by Valerie Jensen, was released to the County employees on August 30, and departments are responding with requests for information to be included in the next edition.

Houston Area Library System Lay Representative Theresa C. Miller and Alternate Lise Olesen were re-appointed to serve terms by Commissioners’ Court on the 26th, and Ms. Olesen, Branch Librarian Rhonda LeBlanc and I attended the Lay Rep Orientation workshop in Groves on the 19th.

I also attended a meeting of the Lee College Board of Regents on the 21st as a representative of Chambers County, which, with Lee College, partnered on the last round of Telecommunications Infrastructure Fund grants to implement the wireless network now used by both the County and by various other groups, and private citizens in the area. The College won a national award for their work on this “CCCNet” grant project, and were recognized by the president of the award organization, who flew in from San Diego.

Other than that, things have been quiet around here – NOT!

Hot Fun in the Summertime

2008-08-06T07:00:00.001-07:00

As happens every July at the library system, the talk is always about the Summer Reading Program and all of the hooplah surrounding it. This year is no exception, and our summary of events brings to the fore how hard the staff work to make the libraries a great place to be, and how our residents respond to the effort.
Our Adult Summer Reading Club is pretty low-key, with raffle tickets for books read. Even so, 86 cardholders registered, and read 481 books. Winners of our gift card prizes, underwritten by the Friends of CCLS, were Joyce Moon, Carolyn Caldwell, Melodee Schaller, Carolyn Anderson, and W.H. Taylor.
The Young Adult program this year had its own name and theme: “Game On!” with the different library branches featuring raffles, game boards, and programs. There were 147 registered readers, and they read the equivalent of 1,572 books. Anahuac’s readers counted reading time, not physical books, so their time was translated into books read. Winnie held its first Young Adult program, and the photos of kids on their stomachs on skateboards rolling down the aisles are priceless. 151 teens attended programs geared to their age group.
And last but certainly not least, our youngsters, from pre-school through the first few years of grade school, had an even 700 signed up, with 10,036 books read. During the course of the six-week program, our programs had 1,187 attendees, and they were thrilled with zoo animals, clowns with balloons, a troubadour, a waterslide party, some wild and crazy “field events,” a few movies with popcorn, and presentations from several of the County’s Historical Commission members, who enchanted the children with their tales of times gone by. All in all, our celebration of the County’s Sesquicentennial, along with the 50th birthday of the Texas Reading Club, was a rousing success.
And while everyone scrambled to make July great for our customers, other events were occurring. Valerie Jensen, Assistant County Librarian, attended “Annual Assembly,” which is an event in Austin for all the state committee members who work on projects for the year. Valerie is heavily involved with the Young Adult efforts throughout the state, of course, and her groups worked on the teen summer reading projects for 2009.
The Friends of the Library had the third of their “triple header” book sales in July, coinciding with the end of summer reading at the Mont Belvieu branch. We’re awfully grateful that the County provides gents to haul our sale books to the different branches for these sales; the funds raised go towards making these programs we keep talking about so successful.
I met with the AISD Superintendent twice this month; she introduced me to the new district librarian, who in turn, was introduced to our library system and its services. We also had a conference call event to discuss federal funding for our GED classes. AISD provides the funds and we provide the class space and teacher.
Kathy Fielding and Kim Hart made a presentation to a Vacation Bible School group on the west side on the 9th. The branch heads and children’s library technicians submitted (!) to interviews on Monday the 28th, and on the 29th, assembled for a workshop on funding techniques. This workshop was paid for with a staff development grant from the Houston Area Library System, and focused on helping staff to find underwriters for our many programs.
Bringing the month to a busy close, the library system presented Homeschool Orientation workshops to parent/teachers and their children. One was held at the West Branch on the 30th, and another at Anahuac on the 31st. These successful events are now held annually, since our homeschool clientele continues to grow, and since making them aware of the resources we have in our library system is of prime importance.

Yup, we're pretty busy these days....

2008-07-01T14:25:00.000-07:00

Chambers County Library System – June, 2008

January to June, 2007, total circulation: 115,115
January to June, 2008, total circulation: 121,560 a 5.6% increase the first six months.

Once again, this is an incredible growth figure, and truly reflects how the libraries are becoming an integral part of our residents’ lives. Most of you remember that we had a huge increase in circulation last year, and to have any growth at all from that figure is astonishing. Kudos to the staff, who have battled all manner of personal issues in 2008 and still managed to keep the doors open, the phones answered, and the customers satisfied.

It’s hard to decide what else to report on this month, since so much has been happening. The most dramatic has to be our burglary at the Anahuac library at the end of May. Who would want to break into a library? Well, we obviously have something worth coming for! Fortunately, nearly everything was recovered, and damaged equipment has been replaced.

Then we heard from the Universal Services Company, the people in charge of the “e-rate” discounts provided to libraries to help give patrons access to the world of the Internet. We were awarded discounts for another year, which makes 10 out of 11 years we got the goods. The total amount of discounts received, including this coming year, totals $132,107.00.

The new edition of the Chambers County Directory of Elected Officials came out this month, with updates for many of the local city governmental units, school board changes, etc., etc. This publication is very popular, and is distributed to all the offices listed in the Directory. Citizens can pick up personal copies at any of the libraries. A new edition will be out after the November elections, of course.

Thanks to some hard work at negotiation by the Judge, and some serious grading work by Road and Bridge, the library at Anahuac has some additional parking space to the west of the library. Staff are trying to use this new area to allow easier access for our older patrons near the front doors; we hope our healthier patrons will think about parking a few spaces down as well.

Oh yes, we’ve had a bit of Summer Reading going on this month, too! We have 600 children enrolled, and 463 children and adults have attended the programs just this month at the 3 libraries. The Chambers County Historical Commission provided special programs at each branch to coincide with the Sesquicentennial. Representatives appeared in costume, with props from the new museum, to teach the children about life in Chambers County all those years ago. It was quite successful, with the children asking all sorts of questions. It was also rather interesting to find out that several of our Hispanic mothers had used the old flatirons to iron clothes!

And it’s a good thing we have our Summer Helpers, courtesy of Commissioners’ Court. The students hired in this program provide immense amounts of assistance, not only in getting ready for programs, but in performing a wide variety of tasks that our regular staff can’t get to during the year.

The Friends of CCLS charged to Winnie for the second of their “triple header” book sales on June 6 and 7. This was the first time in several years that they held a sale there, and many folks responded, and bought books! Mont Belvieu is the last stop on the Book Sale run, scheduled for July 24 and 25. Those book sale profits came in especially handy this summer; both Winnie and Mont Belvieu literally wore out their DVD players, thanks to those movie programs they have, and the Friends bought new machines for each. The show must go on!

Crank it out!

2008-06-03T11:34:00.001-07:00

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.

Edible Books!

2008-06-03T10:55:00.001-07:00

April 1 may be April Fool’s Day, but in Chambers County Library System terms, it’s the day for the local version of the International Edible Book Festival! Our nearly annual event (last year April 1 was on Sunday) is sponsored by the Friends of the Library, and our entries this year featured a wide and wild variety of thought and execution of items that had some connection to books, and which were, in the end, edible. Staff member Melba Prinz, in her first year of work and her first entry to the competition, ran off with the Vox Populi award with her “A Man, A Can, A Plan” entry, a take-off on a man’s cookbook. We have such fun with these events, and appreciate the Friends for sponsoring them for us. The public enjoys it too, of course, but the staff just can’t wait to see what the next person brings in. It’s part joke, part genius, and all pleasure.

National Library Week, and the Texas Library Association Conference at Dallas occurred simultaneously this year. Assistant County Librarian Valerie Jensen attended, and she had a variety of duties in her committee work with the state as regards Young Adults. In addition to the announcement that the Chambers County Library System picked up three Texas Book Festival grants (one for each branch!), Valerie was recognized for her work this past year in the Young Adult field. And library page Ashli Pingry, and Teen Board member Maritza Hernandez both attended on special scholarships from TLA; they spoke at programs relating to teen activities in the library and helped authors at the vendor areas during autograph sessions. Chambers County was well represented this year.

Movie attendance at the West Chambers Branch, Mont Belvieu continues to prove that the gas price increases are only going to make local event programming more popular. Mont Belvieu is the only one with a regularly scheduled monthly feature film program; the other two branches use the film copyright permissions in other programming venues, and anyway you look at it, having this copyright license as part of our package to provide service to the public has been a great incentive for folks to come to the libraries to take advantage of all the services we offer.

Staff Changes and Technology Tremors

2008-06-03T06:05:00.000-07:00

The more things change, the more they stay the same. We had a few personnel changes this month, but with some fast on-the-spot training, our new people have shaken off the first terrors and are starting to recognize the patterns for service in the public library world. We spent a lot of time trying to reconfigure staff hours; we are still so desperately in need of people at all three sites that we are sending folks from branch to branch when our usual people can’t be there.
The continuing updates on our webpage are proving fun to see and generating a lot of comment from the public. Photos taken by the staff now show up regularly, featuring programs and new items at the library. Case in point: our Easter Bunny, who had story hour in front of the new mural at the West Chambers Branch. What a fun picture to show folks about our children’s programs! Staff members continue to work with our consultant on full redevelopment of our webpage.
Technology drives a lot of work we do these days, of course. We’ve added a couple of new statistics: Patron Remote logons and Teen Blog hits. As our patrons get used to using our new (wonderful!) software, they are beginning to make use of their own passwords to alter their accounts and to make the software work best for them. This statistic will be interesting to watch as the patrons doing this increases. Our Teen Blog, which shows as a link on our homepage, has been up for over a year, and is increasingly popular. And our recent cooperative agreement with the folks at Wii provided us not only with equipment, but with the opportunity to have a contest for some Wii software. Needless to say, our young winner was thrilled, and got his photo in the paper to boot!
And finally, on the technology front, Teen Tech Week (March 3-8) provided Anahuac teens the opportunity to read chapters from a book. The end result? A talking book on cd that students in the county will be able to check out.
Several staff members attended workshops on the upcoming summer reading program and on teen programming. Chambers County hosted one session, which allowed more attendance; and Assistant County Librarian Valerie Jensen was the trainer for that afternoon session and for 3 others in the greater Houston area. It’s awfully nice to have a statewide-recognized young adult guru in our library system!
I mentioned staff shortages earlier – a HUGE thanks go to all those who jumped the river or became quick-change artists to keep our children’s programs going this past few weeks. Cat in the Hat, Easter Bunny, and special guest story hour readers came to our rescue so the children would not be disappointed, and that willingness to go the extra mile is what makes the Chambers County Library System staff the best!

Lots of February Busy-ness!

2008-06-03T06:04:00.000-07:00

The annual General Meeting of the Friends of the Chambers County Library System was held on February 9 this year. The Friends, as an independent group of library supporters and cardholders, is a vital link for the library system to the community at large. Over 250 individuals and business owners hold membership, and their dues, coupled with fund raisers, make up the bulk of funds used by the library staff for programming supplies. They have also been able to provide us with additional equipment and furniture over the years that could not be purchased otherwise. The meeting was lively, and our new Executive Board promises to be enthusiastic and dedicated.

The Library Advisory Board met the following Tuesday, and an orientation meeting of sorts was held for those attending. Development of library system policies is the job of the Advisory Board, and they are also instrumental as part of the process when challenges are made to books in the collection. Library Board members are nominated and approved through Commissioners’ Court, and are thus a part of the administrative arm of the County. They are strictly advisory, however, as their name implies; execution of the library system and County policies are carried out by the County Librarian and the staff. The Advisory Board meets 4 times a year, and is composed of 7 members residing across the county.

Cheryl Attaway, who serves at both the Anahuac and Winnie branches, completed the fifth of her training workshops to receive her Small Library Management certification. This program is sponsored by the Texas State Library and Archives, and Rhonda LeBlanc, Kathy Fielding, and Susie Davis have now all completed the program. Such training gives the “off the street” library workers a chance for some serious looks at things the “professional” librarians learn in graduate school. Topics covered include the budget process, technology, and reference interview skills. Training for these staff members has been paid over the years with a combination of funds from the County budget and from grant funds through the Tocker Foundation in Austin.

CCLS hosted 20 librarians from libraries in the area on the 21st, for a gathering of the “Southeast Region Small Community Libraries Group”. This semi-annual meeting gives us a chance to compare problems, discuss issues going on at the State Library and the Houston Area Library System, and to work on solutions to daily library operations. The Friends of CCLS came through as usual to provide refreshments for the group.

On the Young Adult Front, this month’s activity at Anahuac included a program called “Pimp My Bookcart”, and the library is now the proud owner of an alligator! The teens used plywood and paint, among other things, to create the new creature. The younger set were involved in a coloring contest to win a new Wii Game, and the winner was D’Shaun Richardson

2007 - It was the Best of Times...

2008-01-07T12:05:00.001-08:00

This year closes with a bang, and the staff are whimpering from exhaustion! We have some incredible end-of-the-year figures on library use in beautiful Chambers County. In 2006, our children’s section circulated 55,408 items; in 2007, it was 64,889. Our total library circulation was equally astounding for a one-year change: in 2006, the total circulation was 193,612; in 2007, 238,657! A corresponding increase in visits to the libraries by our residents was also seen: in 2006, we had 124,227 visitors, and in 2007, 151,748 folks walked in the doors.

What’s causing this surge? Is it all from population growth? Believe it or not, the West Chambers Branch, with our highest population, garners 2nd place in our trio. The Chambers County Library in Anahuac holds pride of place, and the huge increases there indicate a major change in the way that residents now view the library as a spot for them to send faxes, make copies, use the computers for all manner of activities, and of course, check out books, DVDs, and other items. Programming has expanded over the past 5 years at Anahuac as well, and that accounts for a lot of traffic.

This off-the-cuff analysis can’t neglect the two branches, however. Winnie, which for years held the crown for our busiest site, has not burrowed below the covers. Indeed, Winnie has also seen large increases, and that big library marquee right on Highway 124 draws travelers off the highway on their way to points south to make use of our services and to inquire about local restaurants. It’s just that Anahuac and Mont Belvieu have forged ahead, and it is to be expected that in a short time, Mont Belvieu will pass Anahuac, due to the sheer force of numbers of people residing in those west side precincts.

I cannot let this report go by without noting that we are doing this with no increase in space, no increase in staff. We’ve had some critical issues as a result; we had to cut service hours over the summer at Anahuac, for example, because we didn’t have enough warm bodies. We’ve traditionally had solid financial support from the County to keep us going, and we got increases in a couple of line items last year and this to help us along. But our Friends of the Library System, and grants that have been awarded to us in 2007, made huge differences in what we could buy in the way of DVDs, large print books, computer equipment and young adult area furniture. We also received $7,000.00 to purchase books in memory of loved ones this year, which is another great tribute from the public – they perceive the libraries as a good place to remember their departed ones.

I’d love to go on and on, but I think I’ll just suggest that everyone keep an eye out for our CCLS Annual Report. We hope it thrills all our library supporters as much as it does us. Happy New Year from the best library system in Texas!

The Bigger Picture

2007-12-03T14:15:00.000-08:00

Chambers County Library System – November, 2007

The Houston Area Library System, made up of the area of Texas reaching from Center down to Bay City and from the Louisiana border out to Columbus, is the largest of the 10 library systems in the state, both by population numbers and by number of libraries. HALS is an administrative unit of the Texas State Library and Archives, and the membership within HALS is made up of both library staff members and “lay representatives”. Theresa C. Miller of Anahuac, and Lise Olesen of Beach City (alternate) are serving in this capacity currently. The Lay Reps are the only ones with voting privileges in the System; library staff members serve in advisory capacities.

In October, Lise attended the Fall System meeting with the County Librarian in New Caney, a time when reports are presented by State Library personnel. In November, she went with Valerie Jensen and Ms. Miller to Lumberton for the annual “Geographic” meeting, where the system budget and long range plans were discussed. Jensen has been appointed to the Continuing Education Committee for HALS, and will be a workshop presenter this spring on the Young Adult Summer Reading Program. The County Librarian has served on several committees since moving into the HALS System 24 years ago, and serves as a consulting librarian for other member libraries. Chambers County is well represented in HALS, and our influence is of long standing. Ms. Miller has been HALS Lay Rep for Chambers County for over 30 years, and has served on a variety of committees.

Another HALS-related organization is the Southeast Texas Small Library Communities group. Chambers County is the largest member of this coalition, which was conceived back in 1995 as a way for the smaller members of HALS to share ideas and concerns about running library operations with few staff members, libraries with no professionals, and libraries in very small communities. The group met at Orange this month, and Jensen and Parsons attended. Chambers County will host the next meeting in the spring.

The Library Advisory Board met on the 13th, and greeted new board member Lisa Haskins with quite an introduction to their work. The long range plan for 2008-2010 was finalized, a policy was discussed on patrons getting additional cards, another policy was changed on costs for printing faxes, and a “Request for Reconsideration of Materials” issue was considered and a decision recommended to the County Librarian. President Lee Ashworth led the group for his final appearance on the Board; he has served as a board member for 9 years with distinction.

The loss of our children’s library technician at Anahuac was a second blow there this year, coming on the heels of the loss of our 20 hpw Senior Texans Employment Program person. We have been advertising to get a new children’ person, and hope that the successful candidate will be able to work some of the STEP person’s hours. We had relied on this federally-funded position heavily. Winnie staff member Cheryl Attaway is helping Anahuac by traveling over each week to keep the Story Hours going until a replacement is found.

New Software, New School Year, New Day

2007-10-04T13:45:00.001-07:00

Chambers County Library System – September, 2007

As most everyone knows, we began September without functioning software, and we anxiously awaited installation and training from Auto-Graphics, the company that sold us our new product. On September 6 and 7, we were inspired, cajoled, and tutored, and we “came up” on September 10. The first two weeks were times of frustration and anguish. The staff saw in the training how great the system was, and the public was fascinated by our new look, with the pictures of the book jackets gracing the screens of their chosen titles, and the ability to search books by the Accelerated Reader Program levels. We were also feverishly trying to implement all the behind-the-scenes decisions that must be made, and the staff needed to cope with not only the changes in how things get done, but with the fact that the earlier software degradation caused additional issues. I got an email from Valerie in the wee small hours of the morning (we were both at home, working on the system, evidently!) and she noted that having access 24/7 to the software just might not be such a good idea, after all! It all would have been a lot different if we had been granted some transition time from the old to the new, but we were just extremely lucky that the Commissioners came through on the purchase, and the new vendor charged in to bring us back to the electronic era.

We are now at the end of our first month with Agent Verso. There are still many procedural issues that await answers, there is a lot of tweaking still going on in the administrative end of things, and the webpage interfaces continue to be re-designed and coordinated. But our stress levels are lowering (although Rhonda says the brain cells die with each new change) and our ability to know “about” where a function can be done in the system is getting better. After all these years, I was able to send the County Auditor a report on the value of the collection – our library items, not counting buildings and furniture, total a whopping $1,611,947.01. We think the libraries are priceless, of course, but at least we have some valid arguments for proving that now.

While all of this was going on, the school year began, and teachers and students pushed our already successful year to what looks like a new high. Our basic computer instruction classes began again, our pre-school Story Time programs all cranked up to great success, and our day-to-day operations continued. Staff members made trips to the schools for short talks, and to local day care centers and the Met HeadStart for programs. The meeting rooms continue to get heavy use at Winnie and Anahuac; we lost our bookings module with the old software, and are trying to make use of Google Calendar to ensure that all the organizations who have signed up before are still listed. We updated our Chambers County Clubs and Organizations Flyer in time for GatorFest, and we are currently embarking on a program to feature local “celebrities” on posters in the library. Look for some of your favorite people on our walls the next time you come by!

Response to comments

2007-09-04T06:27:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone - we received a comment asking about our catalog. The webpage is up right now, but because our automated system has crashed, we cannot retrieve information on the books and movies and magazines. So, for the next week or so, the link to the catalog on the webpage doesn't get you anywhere.

The staff will be training on the new system Thursday and Friday, September 6 & 7, and we will be on the new system live the next Monday. We think you will LOVE the new features! a. lynette

Crashing and Burning, and Cavalry to the Rescue

2007-09-04T06:25:00.000-07:00

Chambers County Library System – August, 2007

It’s said that if March comes in like a lion, it goes out like a lamb. August, 2007 for us started out like gangbusters, but thanks to a very unexpected and rapid decay of our library software, we ended up limping, whimpering, and thrown back to the pen and pencil era.

Our automated software was purchased years ago, and the company was bought out last year. The staff began researching alternatives, and we put a request for new software in next year’s budget. Before the budget hearings were held, the software started crashing. At first, it was every 3 or 4 days. Then it got to be every 3 or 4 hours. The last week of August, it gave up the ghost entirely.

The cavalry enters, in the form of the Commissioners’ Court. Thanks to an emergency request, the new software service was purchased in mid-August instead of January, 2008. A plea from us to the new vendor moved us to the top of the queue, instead of waiting about 8 weeks. When we finally crashed and burned for good, they were already halfway towards our full switchover. We anticipate being fully operational once again by September 10, if not sooner, and the new software has enhancements that have come about over the past few years thanks to new library-oriented technology. The “value-added” content we will be able to provide for our customers will be a real pleasure.

While all of this drama occurred, we continued with film programs, the West Chambers Branch had its rain-delayed End of Summer Reading waterslide event, and we bid adieu to 2 of our summer pages heading off to school. We had an extremely successful orientation to the library’s services for Home School parents at the West Chambers Branch, and we held cooking demonstrations at Anahuac and Mont Belvieu that were just as well received. New teachers at all three schools received flyers about our “teacher cards,” which provide bulk titles at longer than average loan periods.

There was a pajama-time “read-in” at Mont Belvieu, with some of the elementary level school principals starring as readers; the event was sponsored by Starbucks, and they brought the refreshments for kids and parents alike. We welcomed a new Senior Texans Employment Program person to Winnie, and got our long-sought full-time replacement installed at Anahuac. And 250 kindergarteners met Miss Kathy at their BHISD open house event, and were thrilled to receive her goody bags with information about the library.

And the day-to-day operations continued: patrons using the computers for filling out job applications, taking tests, banking, or just horsing around. Patrons looking for books on cooking artichokes, doing Pilates, growing bananas, repairing fishing reels. Moms looking for ways to entertain their children just one more week till school starts. Folks just reading the newspapers. What a wonderful place to visit and work!

Library events and issues in July

2007-08-02T07:43:00.000-07:00

A very successful Summer Reading Program concluded with a week of party events in mid-July. Children in Chambers County read 11,618 books in June and July as part of the Texas Reading Club, held at the three Chambers County libraries. The annual program, which is open to children from the ages of pre-K through 5th grade, ended in mid-July, with 606 children registering. A total of 1,470 adults, teens, and children attended 17 programs held during this time. Nearly 200 adults and teens enrolled in their own reading events, and read a total of 1,618 books.

The Friends of CCLS took advantage of the summer crowds, and staged a two-day Gently Used Book Sale at the West Chambers Branch. It was another huge success, and funds raised will be used to purchase additional programming supplies and equipment for the libraries.

After the sale, a representative from G.E. contacted the library. Employees are building a school in Pakistan, and our unsold children’s books will be heading there soon to help stock a library. Paperback books that have been removed from the library collections have been delivered to the County Jail and to Bayside Community hospital for the use of the inmates and patients.

We are having grave concerns about the state of our library software. We have begun to experience recurring crashes, and rebuilding the software has not created a stable result. After 12 years of use, we knew we were ready for a change, and have put a new software purchase into our budget request for 2008. Keeping the existing software running may not be possible until that occurs. Not having the software will affect the library’s webpage and all of the many functions that we perform in the library. It’s truly amazing how much technology impacts our work and our lives these days.

Katy, bar the door!

2007-07-02T14:27:00.000-07:00

All year long, the staff members of the library system perform their jobs with professional attitudes and commitment to the idea of library service. During the year, they plan the activities that will take place during June and July, our busiest time, when the Texas Reading Club is held across the state.

We have had good years before, and Winnie has always been particularly strong in summer reading, but this year it has been a case of “Katy, bar the door!” Each library in the system has experienced a wonderful turnout every week. Our program attendance this month alone has totaled over 1,000; we have had at least one, and frequently three days every week where we have checked out over 1,000 items. Every staff member is grateful that planning was so meticulous, because there have been very few moments when we have the chance to work on anything but summer reading. With three weeks to go (the last day is July 14, followed by parties the next week), we know we’re on the downhill slide. It’s been wonderful and terrifying at the same time, but everyone should be proud of the staff, and excited that the children, teens, and adults are all getting so much out of their public libraries in Chambers County.

One unfortunate issue we have dealt with this month has been the closing of the Anahuac library for 4 hours each week during June and July. The loss of the evening hours has been a burden on some of our adults, even though we have been open still on Saturday mornings. We will be conducting interviews for replacement staff as soon as summer reading is over, and intend to be back open on Monday and Thursday evenings beginning August 1. Thirty-two hours doesn’t seem like much over 8 weeks, but trying to book staff members through an 11-hour day gets complicated when you don’t have a full complement to work with. And we truly have needed all hands during the day, when our summer readers are crowding the building.

We have been blessed this month at the Winnie library with over 100 hours of volunteer service. A local art teacher has donated a considerable portion of that time to the creation of props for our pirate theme there, and is completing a Mother Goose mural for the Story Hour room. The staff are so excited about the mural that they’ve been dragging toddlers back there just to see the work in progress! It really is clever, and we have already begun advertising our pre-school storytimes that begin in September to the summer crowd.

The Brown Foundation of Houston presented the library with a grant in memory of Anahuac resident Christine Leggett in May. This grant, along with the many donations received from individuals who knew and loved this regular library user, allowed us to purchase a huge number of large print books to add to our collection. Large print is a wonderful alternative when the light isn’t good or the eyes aren’t so hot, and our large print reader numbers are growing each month. We were also able to purchase a piece of equipment that will allow us to read, scan, and store microfilm records via computer, an item that was not financed in last year’s budget. We’re thrilled that Mrs. Leggett’s friends have seen fit to grace the library with these memorials.

Increasing Services, Decreasing Hours

2007-06-04T07:25:00.000-07:00

Chambers County Library System – May, 2007

As of this writing (June 4), the Chambers County Library in Anahuac will go on a “summer hours” schedule, with hours of Monday thru Friday from 8-5, plus our usual Saturday hours of 9-1. This branch has been plagued with a variety of staff health issues for several months, and we have utilized all of our full and part-time resources at all three branches to cover the normal operating hours at Anahuac. During the Summer Reading program, which runs through June and July, library circulation normally increases hugely, and those staff members we have been drawing on will be taxed to their maximum just keeping their own branches open. Anahuac has always been open more (53 hours to 51 and 49) and we hope the closing of 4 hours per week will allow us to cover the summer schedule more adequately. We would also enjoy the luxury of having enough warm bodies to do the job, but sometimes, that isn’t always possible. We expect our commuting residents will feel the pinch on this the most, but we hope that our Saturday morning hours will allow them to visit us till we go back open at night in August.

We have given up the concept that the library system has “slow” months. It used to be that May and August and December were the times we could expect fewer customers, and we could work on desk projects that weren’t as possible when we had patrons who needed our help. We can still notice times when circulation is a bit down, but our site traffic doesn’t stop anymore. A recent national library survey showed that, while only 69% of homes had Internet access, public libraries had 99%. Our access at CCLS is not only there, but faster than a lot of homes, and the addition of our “Hot Spots” has provided a lot of laptop users with additional library time. At Anahuac, for example, a team of oil prospectors have pretty much set up business in the library, utilizing our meeting room areas to work. The computers at every facility are nearly always busy, and while our residents may look like they are just using the computers, they generally manage to grab at least one book or DVD or magazine before they walk back out the door. We’ve also increased our programming: Winnie is planning a weekly movie series in August, which of course, will increase the traffic in what we used to call a “slow” month. Tutoring seems to be developing as a service on the west side, and we have several regular tutors who are trying to find a quiet table where they can work with students needing some assistance. All of these uses of the libraries have changed the concept of what a library is about, and because of our expansion of services and resources, the Chambers County Library System delivers more to our residents.

A short summary of what events we had in May: Hurricane Workshops were held at Anahuac and Mont Belvieu; another video game tournament and lock-in were held at Anahuac; Cheryl Attaway attended the 4th of her 5 sessions of the Small Library Management training; a movie was shown at Mont Belvieu, and a book club discussion for teens was held at Anahuac.

Spring Events & New Authors

2007-05-08T06:16:00.001-07:00

April provided the library system with another opportunity to show the communities some of the things we do best. We kicked off the first week with Easter parties for the young set, and there were various activities in the three branches, from egg hunts to visits by that old rascal himself, the Easter Bunny. The pre-school crowd may have been familiar with Santa, but a 6-foot tall rabbit proved a bit intimidating to most of them!

The Winnie branch staff members were able to take advantage of the County’s offer of CPR classes on the 4th, while the County Librarian covered for them. Staff members at Mont Belvieu, Anahuac, and Tech Services have been trying to work themselves into the monthly classes provided by the Emergency Management department, and we fervently hope that everyone who wants to take the class will have managed to do so by the end of the year. Each of our sites has a defibrillator available, and new rules on these machines, and new standards for CPR techniques make re-training invaluable.

Movies were also popular this month, with the family hit “Happy Feet” shown at Anahuac and Winnie. The IMAX film “Deep Sea” was shown to about 100 ECISD kindergarten students, who visited while others in their building took the annual TAKS test. Suellyn Melder, our Children’s specialist at Mont Belvieu, got a chance to take her show on the road on the 13th, when she set up a booth for the BHISD Ag Adventure Day.

Saturday, April 21 was a bit windy, but the weather was lovely for the Friends of CCLS Gently Used Book Sale. They were joined by the Teen Advisory Board, who set up their own event nearby. The teens held a Yard Sale, and were pretty successful, but the Friends did a great job, drawing in huge crowds. Most of the books were sold, the Friends replenished their coffers, the new Executive Board members were initiated into their volunteer jobs, and Assistant County Librarian Valerie Jensen was extremely glad it all was over at the end of the day. Kudos to everyone involved.!

And to end this narrative on another very happy note, we have an officially published author on staff! Lesa Boutin, Library Tech at the West Chambers Branch, got the first delivery of her new book on April 23. She was promptly called to her old haunts at the AISD Middle School to do a book talk, and her entertaining novel is already selling well. We plan to show her off with author signing events at the libraries in the coming weeks. The title is: “Amanda Noble, Zookeeper Extraordinaire.”

With Friends Like These...

2007-04-04T08:32:00.000-07:00

The annual Friends of the Chambers County Library System meeting was held this month, and true to form, those attending generated a lot of discussion about the best ways to support the library system. The impact that the Friends have on the three libraries is incredible. Funds they raise through dues, books sales, donations, and miscellaneous projects provide an amazing variety of items for library programming and for permanent additions to the County inventory. This year, for example, they voted to buy a computer desk, a display rack, three chairs, an audio-visual cart, and wall decals, in addition to their usual underwriting of the Summer Reading Club. They actually have voted to do more, if they can raise the cash. Every single one of these items is provided to make the libraries better for the public, and the fact that volunteers deliver it all to a government agency proves how much they believe in the library system mission. We have been so very fortunate over the years to have this grassroots support, and it continues to grow. Our Corporate memberships are nearly doubled this year.

The Annual Meeting was followed by our first effort at a county-wide book discussion project, known nationally as “One Book, One Community.” The group that assembled to talk about the book was not as large as the circulation figures showed for the title, but the event was lively, and, surprisingly enough, people wanted to try again. Since we had later comments from folks who didn’t attend, we are deciding what to read next. We’re looking for something a little more “mainstream” this time.

National Read Across America Day was celebrated at all three libraries with our new Cat in the Hat Costume (courtesy again of the Friends of CCLS). Each site had all manner of fun, with cakes, photographs, and of course, Dr. Seuss stories. Our children’s programs continue to be innovative and successful, and our kids’ programming team amazes me with their energy and their ideas. We are expanding their resource materials this year with rhythm bands, jump ropes, flannelboards, and music.

“Teen Tech Week” was a national event observed at Anahuac on March 9. The local crowd assembled after hours at the library to work through all the new technology issues, and of course, to use the new technology to the max! The fast pace of change with cell phones, iPods, game software, and the many interactive game and social sites on the Internet means that everyone can use assistance in keeping up-to-date, and who better to ask than the teens, who always ask each other first. Anyway, it was another success for Young Adult programming at the library.

Kathy Fielding and I attended the latest Small Community Libraries meeting in Nederland, where we heard gloomy updates about the state of the financial largess that we receive annually from the Houston Area Library System (HALS). We are not very confident about the outcome of the State Library plan that the Legislature will have to fund, and we expect to lose at least $10,000.00 this next year that came to us from various HALS concerns. This will mean about a 20% cut in our books, DVDs, and a new computer which we have received each year.

Just another month at the Library System

2007-03-07T10:43:00.001-08:00

February, 2007

It was just another month at the library system. The children’s weekly story hour programs were presented to excited, happy children. Basic computer instruction classes were held. Movies were shown after school. GED test preparation classes were held twice a week at Anahuac. The weekly Tai Chi class met. The Writers’ Interest Group carried on over at Mont Belvieu a couple of times. The Teen Advisory Board got together to plot more fun and games.

Because it was a holiday month, there were Valentine programs at each branch, including the teen’s “Stupid Cupid Chocolate Festival.” Since national “Read Across America” Day was March 2, there were special Cat in the Hat events the last week of the month. Since it was time for the quarterly meeting, the Library Advisory Board met, hosted by Assistant County Librarian Valerie Jensen. Since there were a couple of holidays during this short month of February, we didn’t have as many hours to be open as usual.

In spite of that, we had 9,887 people walk through the doors. We had 501 children and adults at our programs. We had 1,647 people who used our public access computers. We had 460 people who went to our library website. And just to show that the death of the book is highly overrated, we had 15,627 items checked out of our libraries in Chambers County during the month of February. All in all, it was just another month at the library system....

New Beginnings Behind the Scenes

2007-02-01T16:03:00.000-08:00

Chambers County Library System – January, 2006

January 1 brings good tidings for County departments, because the new budget year kicks in, and we can breathe a sigh of relief. The bulk of our “discretionary” funds for books, magazines, and supplies, is usually spent between January and April, and by December, we are holding our breath to squeak by. Our regular vendors are all aware of our new budget funds of course, and they descend during December and January to tempt us with all those titles we so want to provide for our patrons. It’s a juggling act to buy what we need and to keep it in line with the budgeted funds.

Once the books start arriving, the Technical Services division of the library system becomes chaotic. CCLS actually operates with 4 separate units: we have the three branches, where citizens use all our library services and collections, and then there is Tech Services, where the ordering, paying, organizing, and distributing of items to the branches occurs. Tech Services deals with the inventory of items, handles all the incoming and outgoing interlibrary loan books, and tracks the overdue cash that comes in for delivery to the County Treasurer. The County Librarian’s office is part of this mix, so the grant writing, new releases, and shameless marketing are all done from this division as well. I tell the staff that the branches are the pretty faces, and Tech is the muscle!

But please don’t get the idea that those “pretty faces” do nothing but check out books. We have just finished submitting our annual report to the Texas State Library, and this year, we have exceeded expectations in a big, big way. The branches have increased walk-in traffic and circulation by over 20%, and programming increased by half. Those amazing figures translate to even more residents utilizing what the County provides in this best of “quality of life” services. It’s a great use of tax dollars for many, many citizens.

On the 19th, we were privileged to host a workshop presented by the Houston Area Library System. It was attended by area librarians, and two of our staff members were able to attend as well. Rhonda LeBlanc and Lesa Boutin walked out with yet more book requests for titles that they just had to have to share with their patrons. More work for Tech Services!

Alice Breaux and Lesa Boutin received their Librarian Certifications from the Texas State Library and Archives this month. All full-time staff maintain their state certifications through a minimum of 10 hours of continuing education each year. Thanks to education and training funds in the county budget, we are also able to provide several part-time staff members with opportunities to improve their service to the public.

What a great 2006!

2007-01-04T13:57:00.000-08:00

I have had the great good fortune to be the County Librarian for these past 11 years, and it is good both because of the support we have received from the County administration, and because the recipients of our services have responded so positively to our efforts. Our end of year circulation has risen each year for the past decade (with only a tiny bump due to our hurricane events last year), but this year, it has soared! Here is a short summary:
2005 2006
Total items circulated: 159,768 193,612
Total visitors, all sites: 102,637 124,227

This ignores our public access computer activity, our big programming numbers, and a host of other new areas into which we ventured in 2006, but the sheer differences in one year are just amazing. Look for our Annual Report soon – it will be a humdinger!

As for our normal December activities, well, our Friends of CCLS book sale at White’s Park on the 2nd involved the Friends’ Board, members of the Teen Advisory Board, several staff members, and the valiant County Trustees, who hauled everything for us. Our book sale buyers descended like flies, but they also stuck around to look at the other vendor booths at the bazaar. It’s a win-win situation for all concerned. The proceeds from this sale and one held earlier allowed us to buy some much-needed shelving for Winnie and Mont Belvieu.

Children’s programs in December mean Christmas, and along with singing, stories, and crafts, the jolly old elf showed up a couple of times as well. Our programs are geared for the elementary school-aged crowd, while our weekly story hours focus on pre-schoolers. We had great numbers for all events, of course, and even greater photos of the children having a grand old time. Kudos to all of our children’s programming people, new and old, for these successes through the year.

The staff of the three branches got together for a “technology” workshop on the morning of the 14th, prior to the County employee holiday dinner and service awards event. Keeping all staff members up to snuff in the fast-changing areas of technology is always a challenge, and the chance to have everyone together means the public will get consistent service when they come in with their problems. We reviewed CD burning, scanner use, digital cameras, and the electronic books we added to our database.

We’re looking forward to a great 2007.

Databases, Story Hours, and Budding Authors

2006-12-04T14:32:00.000-08:00

The Texas State Library provides to Chambers County a large group of electronic databases for use by the public. The cost for the databases, (for which we pay $494.00 per year), would cost $117,122.00 if we were to purchase them individually. The combined bargaining power that the State Library uses to negotiate this service for the public libraries of Texas is of great value to us; in the State’s fiscal year, which ended on August 31, the databases were accessed by Chambers County residents a total of 1,999 times. Instructions on how to use these databases are available at the libraries; the databases can be used at home or in places of business with the proper login and password, which are given to any library cardholder in good standing.

Library children’s programming continues to showcase the wide range of instruction and entertainment available for preschool children. Our weekly events at each site include crafts, music, stories, and the talents of our three “story time ladies”. A spur of the moment Children’s Book Week Poster Contest at Anahuac resulted in nearly 50 entries from children who created art about their favorite books. Music and rhythm bands are a major feature for the tiny toddlers at Winnie, and their coordination and ear training are improving as a result. The Mont Belvieu weekly programs continue to provide adults with proof that, given the proper instruction, even small children can create wonderful crafts. The library system’s Story Time Collection of puppets, finger plays, and other realia are getting heavy use these days, and the “story hour corners” at each library provide changing decorations and themes to entice youngsters of all ages to visit.

Library computer instruction for the public continues to expand. This month, Valerie Jensen took her 4-night Microsoft Office class series to the West Chambers Branch to give west side folks a chance to improve their computer skills. The class has been held every other month at Anahuac for some time now.

The Writers’ Interest Group continues, with aspiring authors in the area learning of the semi-monthly meetings as word about the support group gets around. The new magazine, “Hometown Journey,” which is published in Mont Belvieu, has been highlighting the group and other library activities in its pages.

The “geeks” at Anahuac wanted to spend their Thanksgiving holiday at the library, so several of them gathered for an all-day “Star Wars” marathon. With six films to view, it took a long day and night to get them all in, and there were some bleary eyes (including the valiant staff person!) when the projector was off and the library doors closed. But what better place for teens to be than their local library on their days away from school?

New Commish Gary Nelson, after just a few days in office, has already noted the busy library atmosphere in the West Chambers Branch. We’re very pleased to have him aboard, and look forward to his support of the library system and its mission to serve the residents of our wonderful county.

October at the Library

2006-11-06T08:30:00.000-08:00

The seasonal round of holidays has begun in earnest for CCLS. Halloween appeared in various forms with programs for the smallest children in costumes, and haunted libraries for the older crowd. West Chambers Branch, Mont Belvieu, resurrected their version of the haunted library, and had a spirited time, with weather appropriate to the event, including lightning, tornado warnings, wind, and rain. The lighter crowd gave the west side gang an opportunity to see what kind of an effort it takes to put on a program of this sort, and the Anahuac event on the 30th provided them with an example of how successful an event it can be, for a huge crowd attended. Nearly all the decorating and all of the whooping and screaming was handled by junior and senior high school students, who were exceedingly enthusiastic about participating. The pre-school programs had attendance that exceeded expectations, and staff members were sent scrambling to the cabinets and down the street for extra last-minute supplies. We can’t wait for Christmas!

We had an interesting statistical event in our branch circulation totals this month, and I’ve not been able to remember it ever occurring in my 11 years here. The percentage of circulation for all three branches was 33%; we had to go past the decimal point to find any differences. We’ve had two branches in dead heats before, but never have all three been so even in the area of checked out materials. We also have, at the end of October, exceeded our circulation total of the entire 2005 year. Congratulations, staff: keep those running shoes laced and take your vitamins – your adoring public depends on you.

Anahuac’s Teen Advisory Board kicked off this month, and in true teen spirit, they already have a blog with their photos on it! They were instrumental in the activities at Anahuac involving Teen Read Week, when a Dance Dance Revolution contest was held. A new “Writers’ Interest Group” has formed thanks to staff member Lesa Boutin at West Chambers; I never knew there were so many aspiring local authors. Our new children’s librarians at Mont Belvieu and Anahuac have set up regular visits to the local large day care sites, along with their in-house programming, and Cheryl Attaway on the east side has great plans for the new rhythm band sets that the story hour crews will be sharing. The Friends of CCLS also purchased each children’s program site a new flannel board to replace our cardboard and felt contraption of many years’ duration.

Bayside Hospital’s annual health fair provided us with another outreach opportunity this month, and a bit of research was provided to assist Our Lady of Light Catholic Church in Anahuac to assemble a display for the 250th anniversary of the Mission that was established on the Trinity River. (It was the first Catholic presence in the Beaumont Diocese). Rhonda LeBlanc and I attended the Southeast Region Small Libraries meeting, where we got heavily involved in events surrounding the State Library’s Sunset Review and proposed budget for the coming legislative session. The Texas Library Association District 8 annual meeting was attended by Valerie Jensen and Lesa Boutin; Valerie helped to present one of the programs. Staff training included an online legal resources class in Richmond, attended by Ms. Boutin; and several staff members have completed online training this month from both the Mindleaders website (funded by the County) and two different courses on the Houston Area Library System website.

Adopt-A-Shelf Program

2006-10-12T13:34:00.000-07:00

Release date: October 12, 2006
Contact: A. Lynette Parsons
409-267-8263

The Chambers County Library in Anahuac is taking a tip from the Texas Department of Transportation. We are offering residents the opportunity to “Adopt a Shelf” in a new program. Volunteers who are interested in offering their services for one hour each month are encouraged to visit the library and to take the pledge to adopt a section of the library collection to keep in good order. You won’t have to walk a mile in the hot sun to do volunteer work for us, but we can guarantee you’ll get some exercise!

Our inspiration for this program was one of our steady customers, who already feels as if a certain section of the library is “her” set of shelves. Volunteers who can “read” the shelves, to put the books in Dewey order (if they are non-fiction) or alpha order (if the books are novels) take a huge burden off the staff members, who spend a good bit of time just trying to make sure the books are where the catalog says they are. A book that is mis-shelved is as good as missing, and there are a variety of reasons why books can end up in the wrong place.

Shelf adopters will receive a short training session, and can choose a section to call their own. Then, once a month, they report for duty, read their shelves, deliver any problems to the staff, and check off their completed assignment on our chart. If it turns out that, after volunteering, your circumstances change, we will thank you for your time and hope to see you in on a customer basis, no hard feelings.

Many people find the library a wonderful place to visit, and sometimes wonder what it would be like to work here. This is a great opportunity to find out, and those service hours you contribute also provide us with a visible example of how our residents are willing to support good library service in the county. Volunteer hours are tallied each year and are included in our annual report that goes to the Texas State Library and Archives in Austin.

For more information on the Adopt-A-Shelf program, contact Assistant County Librarian Valerie Jensen at 409-267-8261, or email her at vjensen@co.chambers.tx.us. You can ask about the program on your next visit to the library, too!

September At CCLS

2006-10-03T10:49:00.000-07:00

Autumn did not arrive with any discernable change in the temperature, but there was a definite upswing in activity at the three Chambers County Libraries. Children’s programming has long a been a tradition in the libraries, but the recent staff changes have resulted in new people handling programs at Mont Belvieu and Anahuac, and a restructuring of the program at Winnie. These staff members met twice this month at Anahuac, to swap ideas, get some insight from the old hands, and to find out just what treasures lurk in our craft supply corner. Winnie has developed a charming story hour corner in the big meeting room. Mont Belvieu’s programming has come on like gang busters, and included visits to day cares as well as in-house programs. Anahuac’s programs begin the first week of October, and we pray for comparable success in reaching the parents of the little ones, who must bring the children to the library for any of our efforts to be successful. Great games are afoot!

Adults were treated at all three sites to a Scrapbooking Workshop this month. Local scrapbook expert Maridee Trahan of Winnie taught everyone how to develop a page using a variety of tools and accessories.

GatorFest attendees got to see the library YA gang, along with Valerie Jensen, at the booth in the Education Tent this year. It was a very well-attended event, and Valerie was pleased with the results. AISD held an open house at the high school on the 18th, and Valerie set up a “Napoleon Dynamite” display that attracted a lot of attention. The AISD Superintendent has also asked me to serve on her “Key Communicators” committee for the coming year, and that group met on the 19th.

I had an interesting experience this month: for two separate days, I assisted with the Houston Area Library System interview process for a new consultant. I was the official “member library” representative, and we interviewed people not only in person, but by video conference. The strictures placed on the City of Houston for such interviews were a challenge in themselves, but the panel doing the job were thorough, and a candidate has been selected to assist all of HALS, as well as Chambers County Library System, to improve our Texas library services

Lee College Educational Opportunity Center held an advisory board meeting on the 19th, and then director Jane Brody paid a site visit on the 26th, during Victoria Southworth’s regularly scheduled session. We are investigating hosting a GED prep class, paid for by EOC grant funds, this coming spring.

Staff members Valerie Jensen and Kathy Fielding, along with HALS Lay Representative Theresa C. Miller and Alternate Lay Rep Lise Olesen, attended the Fall System Meeting for HALS on the 13th in Bellaire. Kathy was recognized for completing the State Library sponsosred Small Library Management Training program, and Valerie was introduced for her work in beginning a Young Adult listserve for the HALS member libraries.

August at the Library System

2006-09-14T13:50:00.000-07:00

Library staff didn’t have too much of a break after Summer Reading this year. Even without our usual story hours and computer classes, we managed to work in a good bit of activity, and with the schools beginning their year earlier, our changeover from summer visitors to students was almost unnoticed. Add to that a couple of medical issues for families of staff members, a retirement, and interviewing for new staff, and you have a busy month.

Kathy Fielding attended a Houston Area Library System workshop on “Creating Library Spaces for the 21st Century” on the 4th. That tied in nicely with her transition into the Branch Librarian position. She has been developing the new Young Adult corner at Mont Belvieu to rave reviews. Her efforts were added admirably by a Gently Used Book Sale held at Mont Belvieu on the 11th by the Friends of CCLS; funds raised helped to purchase furnishings for the YA area.

The Library Advisory Board met on the 8th for their quarterly meeting, and approved a new Interlibrary Loan Policy. The Policy was mandated for our continued participation to borrow items from other libraries. We have had 758 interlibrary loan transactions so far this year alone, so our use of the service is extensive. We added “e-books” to our database recently, and several patrons have decided, after seeing the e-book citation in the catalog, that they want a hard copy, so our interlibrary loans increased as a result of that new innovation. The students are also learning about e-books, particularly the Cliff notes study guides…

A budget hearing for the library system was held on the 10th, and thanks to intensive effort by the Auditor’s Office staff and the County Judge, we have already learned of the final decisions on our departmental budget for 2007. This is a first, and it will help immensely in our planning for the next year, with both our county spending and our grant applications. Thanks to the Commission and all involved with the process!

The library system participated with a booth at the Winnie-Stowell Chamber of Commerce “Best of the Area” event on the 15th. It was a first for us, and a good way to feature the library system to area residents who may not have thought of us as a service they can utilize.

Rhonda LeBlanc, Alice Breaux, and Kathy Fielding attended a workshop on the 23rd dealing with services geared to the growing population of those over 50. They made sure that I was privy to all the “special needs” I might be experiencing!

On August 30, the West Chambers Branch greeted well over 100 visitors who graced the library to bid Branch Librarian Susie Davis a fond farewell. Susie has retired from active duty with the County, but the many patrons, fellow staff members, and relatives who attended provided her with a host of good memories to take with her. As many of the patrons stated over and over, “Susie will be missed.”

July at the Library

2006-08-18T06:51:00.000-07:00

Once again, our Summer Reading Program events made library system sites bustle with activity and reading. Our final figures for the reading program, and the ancillary adult and teen programs, are good, good, good: 551 children read 8,523 books; 45 adults and 96 teens entered our raffles, reading a combined total of 903 books in the 6 week period.
As for programs, we had 715 attendees, children and adult, at the children’s events, and another 96 at the young adult programs held at Anahuac.

At the end of the month, we received a wonderful surprise. Due to our high circulation on a Spanish language DVD grant from the Houston Area Library System, we were awarded funds for additional DVDs. In the space of 4 hours, we literally scraped for every exercise, gardening, college-bound reading title, children’s learning materials, Hallmark Hall of Fame, and other feature film titles that we had desired to order. Our wish list was huge, but this bonus grant took it all. We are so excited at this unexpected largesse, and patrons will soon have the benefit of it all. Titles are arriving daily, and will be gracing our branch shelves as soon as we can process them.

Our growing Young Adult collections at the three libraries have resulted in a burst of reserve requests by teenagers! The Graphic Novel collections are a relatively small group right now, and they are marching back and forth as the teens learn about them and ask for them. The regular fiction titles are also getting hard use, and the new YA area at the Winnie library is starting to draw the teens to that corner, just as it did once the Mont Belvieu and Anahuac corners were established.

Thanks to immense effort by summer helpers at Anahuac, over 500 packets were prepared for the three schools systems and distributed in July. All the teachers received information on long-term “Teacher” cards, and learned about the free online databases we carry, funded by the State Library. The packets had die-cuts of a pirate, a panther paw, or an eagle, part of the die-cut equipment funded by the Friends of the Library. I can testify that gluing those die-cuts on the bags took patience and digital dexterity!

We ended July with a flurry of staff changes, as we prepared for the retirement of Branch Head Susie Davis in August. We have moved people branch-to-branch frequently over the years, and this cross-training has proved invaluable, but our current situation necessitated some more structured coverage of positions at the branches and in Technical Services. We also hired a new part-time Children’s Librarian at Mont Belvieu, and are in the process of interviewing for one at Anahuac. Once they are in place, our super-duper Children’s expert, Rhonda LeBlanc, will work them over and train them for developing dynamite programs to equal hers at Winnie.

One more interesting fact: the percentage of circulation for each branch, listed below. We frequently talk about the West Side growth, and when school is in session, their usage approaches 40% for the system. During the non-school vacations, however, the other two branches make great strides, and during the Summer Reading program, Winnie rules!

Summer Reading Program Results & Thanks!

2006-07-21T12:55:00.000-07:00

The Chambers County Library System congratulates the 715 children who enrolled in the 2006 Texas Reading Club. This year, 8,523 books were read by the children at the Anahuac, Winnie, and Mont Belvieu libraries. Participants of the program, designed for children from pre-school through 5th grades, attended events with a sports theme, tying in with the Texas State Library theme this year of “Reading, the Sport of Champions.” Children who reached the goal by reading 12 books in the 6 week program period were awarded certificates of completion, and parties were held at each branch to celebrate their achievements. Sponsors of the parties included the Barbers Hill Bank and Sam Karim of Valero in Mont Belvieu, Security State Bank and Sunrise Grocery in Anahuac, and the Winnie-Stowell Noon Optimist Club, Family Dollar, Finch & Company, and Creative Selections in Winnie. Reading incentives during the summer were provided by Dairy Queen, and Sonic Drive-In of Winnie, Texas Brine Company of Mont Belvieu, McDonald’s of Mont Belvieu and Hankamer, Station KWBB of Beaumont, and the Friends of the Chambers County Library System.

Adults and teens participated in their own reading clubs: for every 4 books read, a library patron submitted a ticket for a drawing. This year’s prizes included dinner gift cards, movie ticket cards, a book bag or cd case, and tickets to area attractions. The Friends of the Chambers County Library System underwrote the prizes in conjunction with Station
KWBB in Beaumont. Winners of the “Dinner and a Movie” raffles are: Wilma Quin and Maritza Hernandez at the Chambers County Library, Anahuac; William Skinner and Bonnie Marberry at the Juanita Hargraves Memorial Branch, Winnie; and Denesse Malone and Juanita Beauxis at the West Chambers Branch, Mont Belvieu.

Books placed in the collections of the Chambers County Library System to honor those who supported the 2006 Texas Reading Club:
At the West Chambers Branch, Mont Belvieu: To honor the Barbers Hill Banking Center: Lasso Lou and Cowboy McCoy. To honor George Espanlaub, McDonald’s of Mont Belvieu: Texas Zeke & the Longhorn. To honor Texas Brine Company: The Land of Hungry Armadillos. To honor Sam Karim, Valero of Mont Belvieu: Petting Zoo. To honor Marcus French for his musical program: Walk the Dog. To honor Dairy Queen of Mont Belvieu: Pete and Polo’s Big School Adventure. To honor Waffle House of Mont Belvieu: Nicky and the Fantastic Birthday Gift.
At the Juanita Hargraves Memorial Branch, Winnie: To honor Dairy Queen of Winnie: Dog Wash Day. To honor Sonic Drive-In of Winnie: Josefina Javelina. To honor Joe Dore, Family Dollar Store of Winnie: Eaglet’s World. To honor Tina Drake of Creative Selections: Happy 4th of July, Jenny Sweeney! To honor Myrna Finch of Finch & Company: Cowgirl Rosie and Her Five Baby Bison. To honor the Winnie-Stowell Noon Optimist Club: Trick or Treat Countdown. To honor the Friends of the Chambers County Library System: Fat Chance Thanksgiving. To honor program presenters A. Lynette Parsons and Jacquelin Lopez-Brookshire: Ten Little Bears, and, Hugs & Kisses.
At the Chambers County Library, Anahuac: To honor Donna Ramirez, Blimpies: Let’s Hang and Dangle. To honor George Espenlaub, McDonald’s of Hankamer: Halloween Hoots and Howls. To honor Security State Bank: Sneakers, the Seaside Cat. To honor Sunrise Grocery: Littlebat’s Halloween Story. To honor Shontele Fontenot of the City of Baytown’s Parks Department for her program on hip-hop: The Foot-stomping Adventures of Clementine Sweet. To honor Marcus French for his musical program: We, the Kids. To honor A. Lynette Parsons for her programs on Tai Chi and Chinese Jump Rope: Let’s Leap and Jump.

2006-07-07T06:01:00.000-07:00

Summer Reading exploded at CCLS this year, with a wonderful surge of interest by the youngsters, who have enrolled this year in a big way. Our programs have been very well attended, and all the libraries are featuring events nearly every week. Interest in the adult and young adult reading raffles has also grown, from the looks of the stubs in the raffle cans. Programs have featured baseball, Chinese jump rope, Tai Chi moves, and other events to focus on this year’s theme: Reading, the Sport of Champions. The program continues through July 15, with more programs and movies to be presented, as well as our famous “End of Summer Reading” parties, where the children receive their certificates for a job well done.

Our database is in the process of a huge growth spurt at this writing; over 28,000 title records for “e-books” have been loaded into the system, and we are editing them for easy understanding and access by the patrons and the staff. This will increase our database size by 20%, and provide another method for patrons to get the materials they need. The actual e-books are housed in the Texas State Library TexShare database site, which is reached through our webpage with a password provided at our libraries. Patrons can “check out” a title for reading, and can copy and paste parts they need, if they are doing a term paper, for example. The books include titles like the classics, and everything else from engineering materials to dog raising.

The library’s webpage continues to alter in content and look, with several staff members adding tweaks and features. The “Librarian’s Blog” and the “Teen Blog” are both receiving comments from readers. We are currently attempting to add the Wallisville Age Index, which was created by Assistant County Librarian Valerie Jensen as part of her grad school project, for access by the public. It is housed in the “Special Collections” part of the webpage, but we haven’t got it working yet. That takes a little assist from the IT Department.

We continue to receive help from the county to enhance our facilities each month. Our storm-damaged marquee sign at Winnie was anchored firmly back on its base by the Building Maintenance folks, who also worked with the county fathers to get a new roof on the building. The IT Department transferred a few of the unused wireless network computers from the Pine Island site to the library system, where they will get a real workout at last. And of course, the wonderful Parks Department fellows have been hard at it making our block look good in spite of thunder, lightning, and rain. The lawns are lovely and green.

The Houston Area Library System has once again awarded us with a Technical Improvement Grant, and we will be receiving a new computer in the fall as a result. Funds from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation were received for the most recent upgrade to their ongoing efforts to provide computer access to those who can’t get it elsewhere. Those machines will be purchased before December. And the Texas Loan Star fund grant provided a new computer with a Spanish operating system this month for Anahuac, to be added to the wireless network.

2006-06-12T07:58:00.000-07:00

The library system received wonderful news this month from two different corporate sources. The Entergy Foundation presented a check for $200.00 as part of their annual corporate giving plan. Late in the month, the Texas State Library sent paperwork on the Gates Foundation Public Access Computer Hardware Upgrade grant (Gates PAC HUG). The libraries received a grant from the Gate Foundation back in 1998, and this new grant, which will total $5,000.00, will help replace the old machines. In a related item, Loan Star Grant Funds are paying for a wireless desktop for Anahuac with a Spanish language operating system and Spanish language Office software. The Lone Star Grants are part of direct aid to the libraries of Texas from the State Legislature/State Library.

Our county youth continue to make us proud to have them in the libraries. Anahuac featured a lock-in on the last day of school, and the major power outage that covered mid-county ended just in time for the wild rumpus to start. When planning the events for the lock-in, the teens informed Assistant County Librarian Valerie Jensen that if they were not allowed to turn over the net proceeds to the library for books and DVDs, they were calling off the lock-in. These are true Friends of the Library System, indeed!

2006-05-17T11:43:00.000-07:00

The Chambers County Librarian welcomes you to this marvel of modern technology. When I arrived at the library system 11 years ago (June, 1995), we had a total of two computers in the system. Today, thanks to the support of the County, the State Library, a host of grants, and the federal "e-rate", we provide access to the Internet with 26 public access machines. The libraries provide access to fax machine services, copiers in color or black and white, classes to learn to use computers and software, and scanners for copying documents to computer files.

Our webpage has been in place since 1998, but it has been only in the past year that it has become more than a plain Jane. Thanks to our WebMaster Kathy Fielding, and our Assistant County Librarian Valerie Jensen, the page looks great! Valerie began our Teen Blog last year, and the area youth find it a wonderful source of library-related information. They are also very good about sending us comments. We hope the addition of the Librarian's Blog to the webpage will inspire techies of all ages to send us comments on topics that I address, or on issues related to the library that haven't come up before.