Monday, June 29, 2009

Stop Asking Questions!


The Oklahoma College Saving Plan is proudly sponsoring free admission for dads to the Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History on Father’s Day, June 17, from 1:00 p

At my recent visit to the Sandstone Public Library, branch librarian Jeanne Coffey, and I were talking about how her summer reading program was going. She told me about what happened at one of their special programs.


The Sandstone Public Library held a program called Meet a Musician for kids of all ages on Tuesday, June 16. The program fit perfectly with the Be Creative @ Your Library summer reading program. Peter McGuire, first violinist and John Snow, Principal Oboe from the Minnesota Orchestra visited the library for a demonstration followed by questions.


A small but enthusiastic crowd attended the program. Mr. McGuire and Mr. Snow played their instruments for a while and then paused for questions from the audience. Generally not too many young children fall in love with classical music. But after a few questions, a 4 year old boy spoke up and said, “Stop asking questions….play some more!”


How wonderful that this 4 year old appreciated the talents of these gentlemen. He knew why he had come to the program – to hear the music!


Vickie Sorn, Youth & Community Services Librarian


Photo courtesy of the Pine County Courier

Thursday, June 18, 2009

Needed more than ever

Governor Pawlenty, like it or not, has just done what he feels is best for the state of Minnesota. There is no doubt that something needed to be done; we cannot continue to live beyond our budget. But it's painful and it's scary. Our libraries will no doubt be affected, as will other agencies that exist to serve the public. The problem is that we are already busier than ever and needed more than ever. People who have lost their jobs are coming in to the libraries to look for work and to file for unemployment. They are looking for classes or assistance to update their work skills in order to better prepare themselves for the workforce. They need resources on writing resumes; they need computers to produce these documents, and many need someone to show them how to use that computer.

Tighter personal budgets necessitate looking for free entertainment. We are the best bargain in town, offering all the free reading materials, movies, and Internet use one could want. We also offer many educational and leisure events in our buildings. Attendance at these events, as well as general traffic in our libraries has skyrocketed. We do our best to keep up with this increasing demand for our services. Now we face the possibility of cuts to our operating budget. I know that we will do our best to keep up with our service to the public, but to do so with budget cuts will be extremely difficult. It's a good problem to have when you are needed, but it is still a problem.

Sharon Strack
Branch Manager
Milaca Public Library

Saturday, June 6, 2009

D-Day Anniversary

Today is the 65th anniversary of D-Day: the day 160,000 Allied troops landed along a 50-mile stretch of heavily-fortified French coastline to fight Nazi Germany on the beaches of Normandy. Landings on Utah, Omaha, Juno, Gold and Sword Beaches enabled the march across Europe to eventually defeat Hitler. The History Channel had some excellent programming on today, including interviews with a number of D-Day veterans.

To find information about D-Day, check out the following:

Barbara Misselt, Director