Free Preservation Workshop Saturday!

The sun is going to be out (we hope) or at least it will have quit snowing (we hope) so that everyone can easily get to a preservation workshop we are hosting this Saturday at 1 pm in the library auditorium.We have a very lively speaker coming to tell you how to take care of that family bible that is falling apart, or those pictures that are yellowing, or any old items that you love and want to keep in good condition. In fact, the workshop actually works much better when people come and bring lots of examples of their family heirlooms to discuss in terms of their long term care and storage.

Our speaker, Randy Silverman, is the Preservation Librairan at the University of Utah's Marriott Library. and he's had over 30 years of professional experience in this field. Mr. Silverman is very passionate about his work and he brings a lot of energy and knowledge to his workshops.  I am sure this is one you won't want to miss!

Susan 

 

Just Desserts for Single Adults

We had a great time last night at the Single Adult Night of Comedy and Improv! Here's a few pictures from the event:


The improv group played out a variety of scenarios with some help from the audience.


We had sign-ups to receive e-mail reminders of upcoming single adult programming. If you would like to receive e-mail, RSS, or telephone reminders please call Elizabeth, 723-5850.


Refreshments were enjoyed by all!


We'll be continuing our single adult programming on Tuesday, 26 February 2008 at 7:00 p.m. when we'll be hosting "Just Desserts". The program is the second in a series of programs the library is starting for Brigham City’s growing single adult population. These programs are planned for singles between the ages of 18 and 35. The library is located at 26 E. Forest Street. Come and enjoy an evening of "Just Desserts" with other singles from the area - and remember, save some room for dessert. For more information, or if you'd like to volunteer to bring a dessert, please call Elizabeth, 723-5850.

Come Join the Fun!

Single Adult Night of Comedy and Improv - This Tuesday Night!

Tuesday, 29 January 2008 @ 7:00 p.m.

You’ve seen them in Salt Lake.
You’ve seen them in Ogden.
And now - this Tuesday - you can see them at the
Brigham City Public Library!

On Tuesday, 29 January 2008 at 7:00 p.m. a professional improv team organized by Matt Speer will perform at the Brigham City Library. The program will get the audience involved and include some games! This program will kick off a new line-up of programs the library is hosting for Brigham City’s growing single adult population. These programs are planned for singles between the ages of 18 and 35. And don’t forget the best part – it’s FREE! Matt Speer and others on his team have performed in comedy clubs throughout the state and we are very excited to have them kick-off our single adult programming series. Come and enjoy an entertaining evening of improv and comedy with other singles from the area. For more information please call Elizabeth, 723-5850.

Come Join the Fun!

Single Adult Night of Comedy & Improv

Tuesday, 29 January 2008 @ 7:00 p.m.

You’ve seen them in Salt Lake.
You’ve seen them in Ogden.
And now - this January - you can see them at the
Brigham City Public Library!

On Tuesday, 29 January 2008 at 7:00 p.m. a professional improv team organized by Matt Speer will perform at the Brigham City Library. The program will get the audience involved and include some games! This program will kick off a new line-up of programs the library is hosting for Brigham City’s growing single adult population. These programs are planned for singles between the ages of 18 and 35. And don’t forget the best part – it’s FREE! Matt Speer and others on his team have performed in comedy clubs throughout the state and we are very excited to have them kick-off our single adult programming series. Come and enjoy an entertaining evening of improv and comedy with other singles from the area. For more information please call Elizabeth, 723-5850.

Come Join the Fun!

Flap, Jump and Shimmy into Reading

By Michele, Children's Librarian

If you are singing The eency weency spider song or dancing along with The Crazy Dance Contest by Jim Gill, you must be attending Preschool Story Time. There is nothing cuter than a dozen children age five and under blowing kisses and wiggling along to a story. But look closer at the jumping, clapping and animal sounds and you will see a method behind all this silliness.

Programs at the library are all about promoting children's literacy develpment. We need to help children develop in the following six areas: Print awareness, vocabulary, print motivation, narrative skills, phonological awareness and letter knowledge. Picture book reading provides children with many of these reading-readiness skills.

Print Awareness is knowing how we follow the written words on a page and how to handle a book. Parents can help by reading aloud everyday. Following the words with your finger as you read and pointing to new words.

Vocabulary is knowing the names of things. Parents can help by talking with your child, tell them the names of new things. Use creative descriptions.

Print motivation is a child's interest in and enjoyment of books. Parents can help by having books available to your child everyday.

Phonological Sensitivity (Awareness) is the ability to hear and play with smaller sounds in words. Parents can use rhymes and play with words. Combine two familiar words with each other to make up a new silly word. For instance; combine Duck and Horse to make a Dorse or a Huck.

Narrative skill is the ability to describe things and events and to tell what happened. Parents take turns with your child telling about your day. Use descriptive words.

Letter Knowledge is knowing that every letter has a different name and sound. Parents teach letter names and sounds together. Read alphabet books together. Teach your child to spell their name and sound it out together.

What you do every day gets your child ready to read. So bring your child to the library, choose some books and stop by one of our programs. It can help you teach your child to love reading, and make your child's day more fun, so get ready to flap, jump and shimmy to early reading skills.

Avoid Summer Brain Drain!

By Michele, Children's Librarian

Did your child's brain shrink last summer? Probably not, but it may have shifted into reverse, according to a study at the University of Missouri-Columbia. The study found that when students return to school after a long summer vacation, they've lost one to three months worth of learning. Like water flowing from a bathtub.

What can you do? Parents can help kids retain educational skills, try some of the following:

1. Keep lots of books around and make regular trips to the library.

2. Think of ways to sneak educational activities into your summer routine, visit museums, art galleries, planetariums, aboretums, state and national historic sites and national historic parks.

3. Consider summer tutoring, summer school, or summer day-camps. Struggling kids can catch up and those who aren't struggling can accelerate learning in areas that interest them.

4. Join the summer Read-at-Home program at our library! Kids read for 20 minutes a day and get the rewards of keeping their skills. They are also rewarded with fun prizes for every page they complete in their summer reading booklets.

The theme for Summer Reading this year is:

"Get a Clue @ your Library"

The Summer Read-at-Home program is open to kids ages 3-17, it is open to residents and non-residents of Brigham City. You do not need a library card to participate. The cost is only $1.00 to keep your kids reading all summer long!

Registration will begin on Tuesday, June 5th and will be on-going during the summer. Prize days and raffle drawings will be held August 8-10th. For more info. stop by the library and talk with one of our staff.

Reading Time: Drop in Fun for Everyone

Free Reading Time has a Successful Year

Did you know that the Brigham City Library has a free, drop-in program for kids? Most of our Storytime programs cost $1.00 and you need to register but Free Reading Time is open to everyone. You can bring children of any age, you don't need a library card, and you can choose to attend either Tuesdays or Wednesdays at 12:00 noon. Reading Time runs from the opening of school (first week in September) to the end of school (last week in May).




As we come near the end of our fourth season of Reading Time, the program is more popular than ever. Since September of 2006 we have had more than 800 people attend!

I am often asked why parents must attend with their children for Reading Time. First, the parents can act as ushers and I can keep my role to story teller. Second, this is a great time to learn storytelling and story reading techniques to use when you read with your own children. Third, many parents and grandparents do enjoy hearing a good story as much as their children.
Thanks to all who have made this program fun to do each week. We will conclude on May 30th but don't forget we will resume again in September!

Old Books, Rare Friends to be Discussed at BookGroup.

This Thursday, May 3, 2007, at 7 p.m. the Brigham City Library will be having it's monthly reading/discussion program on Old Books, Rare Friends: Two Literary Sleuths and Their Shared Passion by Madeline B. Stern and Leona Rosstenburg. Dr. Jan Frost, emeritius, Univerity of Utah, will be leading the discussion.

This small volume is so rich in anecdote, so warm with a loving friendship of many decades, so precise in its evocative descriptions of the rare-book trade from the 1930s to the present, that it is hard to imagine any reader who would not find pleasure in it. Leona Rostenberg and Madeleine Stern, who are the firm of Leona Rostenberg Rare Books, are now in their 80s, but their elegant writing and limpid descriptions of growing up in Manhattan and the Bronx, studying at Barnard, NYU, and Columbia, and touring Europe as young women show no signs of age. It is to Stern's scholarship that we owe the current rage for the non^-Little Women writings of Louisa May Alcott; it is to Rostenberg that we owe the notion that early printer-publishers influenced scholarship. Her adviser at Columbia had rejected her dissertation upon that topic: she was only granted her degree 30 years later. Their individual voices make both harmony and counterpoint in this joint autobiography; we are wiser and more blessed for the words and journeys they have shared

Next month the title to be discussed is one of my favorite titles from this series: Shelf Life: Romance, Mystery, Drama, and Other Page-Turning Adventures from a Year in a Bookstore by Suzanne Strempek Shea.

This program is free and open to the public. It is funded by Brigham City Library and Utah Humanities Council. You need not have a library card to check out our next title. Come and enjoy!

Sue

Like Shooting yourself in the Foot!
By Michele, Children's Librarian

I often have the comment from parents that we need more programming at the library. I heartily agree, however, we have challenges at the library that make this difficult, which most parents and other patrons don't know about.

First, let's take a look back to 1999 to when I started at the library. At that time we had two programs for children. Story time was held on Tuesdays at 10:30 for six weeks. It was followed by a 4 week session of a Toddler Time program. These rotated and were held three times during the year. Also, we held 1 session of Story Time during the summer on Tuesdays. In 1999 the limits on how many patrons we allowed into a session was ten.

In 2000 we added an additional Wednesday class and upped the allowed attendance to 12 for regular Story times and began allowing parents to come to classes. During this time we also added new features to our programs. Treats and music became common and we bought things like our ever popular parachute. Story time grew in popularity so much, that by fall of 2002 we had added an additional Story time program on Tuesdays at 12:00 . In 2002 we also added our Free Reading Time program on Wednesdays at 12:00, this additional program did not require registration and anyone could come, this helped ease our waiting lists and allowed older/younger children and home school children to participate. Finally, in Fall of 2006, we added a Thursday class to Story Time.

In 2007 we still use the 6 weeks for Story Time followed by 4 Weeks of Mommy & Me (Toddler Time) equalling 30 weeks a year. People ask us why we do not have continuous sessions of programming. Here's why. As you may well know we live in a small building and share one large room for programming. Adults, teens, children's and public/non-profit activities take turns in this space . We also have the annual Friends of the Library book sale in this space each August/September just before and during Peach Days. When we have National Traveling Exhibits, like the Abraham Lincoln exhibit (Fall 2006), we also use this same space. As you can see we have many people and only one space.

Another challenge that our library faces when it comes to more programming for children is that our Children's Staff is not full-time. In 2000 the hours of both the Children's Librarian and the Young Adult/Teen Librarian were 24 per week. In 2006 that was bumped up to 28 per week, and in 2007 the Teen Librarian will bump up to 32 hours per week. Budgeting issues will not allow more hours for the Children's Librarian this year.

As you can see we have increased the programming for children as the demand rose in the past. We would like to always be so responsive. However, our library continues to grow, and as time goes by becomes more and more popular, therefore our librarians also spend additional time in duties other than programming. Collection development, purchasing, processing, and cataloging take many hours. We recently have had problems with rowdy teens in the library and had to spend more staff time on controlling the behavior of those in the library and on the Internet.

We have looked into other options for programming and are planning to use a new concept this summer, having multiple sessions running on the same day at the same time. One session will be for kids 6 and over and one session will remain for those ages 3 to 5. We hope by adding extra sessions and staff we can include more children who want to participate.In the future we may use volunteer storytellers or include other ideas to continue to try and meet the demands.

It is a little like shooting yourself in the foot, the better the programs the more popular they become and the more people want to attend. The more people attend the more programs are needed and the more hours I have to spend on getting ready and holding programs. As a mom once said to me, "My kids think you are like, a rock star!" It's nice to be popular but it comes at a cost.

Comment here to let us know your thoughts or ideas!